Open letter to His Excellency Félix Antoine Tshilombo Tshisekedi, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Regarding: Inga 3, a very risky project for the Democratic Republic of the Congo and its people
We, the organizations that form the Coalition des Organisation de la Société Civile pour le Suivi des Réformes et de l’Action Publique (CORAP)...are hereby submitting our concerns about the implementation of this project... With respect to the Inga 3 project...CORAP...[has]...noted that...the authorities in charge of the project have not shown any positive intentions of taking into account the legitimate grievances of the Congolese people in generally, and specifically those in the local communities that the project would affect...CORAP had made its support for the project contingent on addressing the concerns of Civil Society with respect to:
1. The population's access to information:...there is no official mechanism for accessing information about the Inga 3 project... which is being implemented by the project management entity. As a result, most leaders of the country’s institutions, members of Parliament, and certain government officials have not been informed about the project and its developments, and broad swaths of the population even less so. This has raised the question: Why is the contract for the world’s largest hydropower site being negotiated behind closed doors and who is it benefiting?
2. The actual involvement of Civil Society and local communities throughout the process: Civil Society and local communities are stakeholders in the project, but they keep finding themselves left out of the process, because they are absent from all places where the issue of the Inga 3 project is being handled...now they are being completely excluded by those in charge of that process. This practice violates the safeguards policy of the African Development Bank and other provisions of Congolese law...
3. The carrying out of environmental and social impact studies: With the support of the African Development Bank (AfDB)...prefeasibility studies were conducted and...we currently note that there have been no environmental or social impact studies, even though the law on fundamental environmental principles establishes that the carrying out of environmental and social impact studies is a prerequisite...
4. The compensation of the victims of Inga I and II: The erection of the Inga I and II dams caused the loss of land by Inga communities, some partially and others totally. The Makuku Futila Clan is one community that lost all of its lands and became completely landless...the Congolese government has had trouble implementing a relocation and resettlement plan for over 37.000 people who will be displaced by the construction of this initial phase of Grand Inga. An inventory of the assets of the communities of five villages at the Inga site... concluded that the impact of the Inga 3 project on the population will be very large, and that it will not provide any solutions for improving the communities’ living conditions...