Tuesday, February 08, 2005

It's a Hydroelectric power project, deal with it

Expect a lot of bellyaching about big bad hindu India denying water to the land of the pure.

WB says it can't stop Delhi from work on Baglihar Dam

From MEHTAB HAIDER
ISLAMABAD - World Bank President James D. Wolfensohn has said that the Bank would take about two weeks for appointing a neutral expert on the Baglihar Dam dispute and its findings would be binding on both Pakistan and India.
He, however, showed his reluctance to give any specific timeframe for reaching the conclusion, saying that he was not in position to tell exactly how much time the expert would take for drawing his findings on this dam.
“Currently, we are in process of analyzing facts under the Indus Basin Treaty and the appointment of neutral expert will not take months and years but two to three weeks.
“The top General Council of the WB will review the whole issue of Baglihar and I don’t think that the expert will take too long time but I cannot prejudge the situation in this regard,” James Wolfensohn told a Press conference at the end of his three-day visit to Pakistan on Tuesday.
Flanked by the WB’s Resident Chief John Wall and other senior level officials, Wolfensohn said that the WB had no authority under the Treaty to stop New Delhi from doing construction work on Baglihar dam.
Answering another query about the controversial dam, he said that he did not want to become subject of dispute in this regard and the process was clearly mentioned in the Treaty which would be followed by the Bank.
“We are not guarantor in Indus Basin Treaty but if dispute emerges between the member states the findings of expert will be binding on both the countries,” he added.