Aren’t they loud enough?

Hemantha Withanage
Executive Director, NGO Forum on ADB

Around four thousand people rally against the Asian Development Bank during its 39th Annual Meeting held in Hyderabad in May 2006. They uttered “We can survive without ADB.”

Most people join the rally was for safeguarding safeguards. The civil society demanded “No to Displacement,” “Respect indigenous rights,” “Stop destructive development,” “ADB Quit India,” “ADB Out of Water and Power,” “Make ADB accountable to the People,” “Our lives and resources are more important to us than your dams. Stop taking them away from us,” “Better off without the ADB,” “ADB- compensates KJDRP affected people in Bangladesh,” “Junk ADB to stop degradation and metabolism of nature and society,” “ADB Hands off our water our health our forest, our livelihood, our environment.” The civil society even rephrased ADB as “Anti-democratic Destructive Burden.” Meanwhile Greenpeace demanded: “ADB Quit Coal” and said Climate change! Party is over.” The affected people of Mae Moh coal power plant in Thailand offered a bowl of coal to the ADB president during his meeting with the civil society.

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Accountability Mechanism: A jailbird of bureaucracy

Hemantha Withanage
Executive Director, NGO Forum on ADB

Asian Development Bank proudly presented its new accountability mechanism as the medicine for its project-related disputes in 2003. When presenting, former ADB President Tadao Chino said, “I am confident that with support from all stakeholders, the Accountability Mechanism will satisfy their demand that ADB address the complaints of project-affected people on the ground and establish a transparent process that will increase ADB’s accountability.”

Theoretically, it provides mediation through the Special Project Facilitator (SPF) and a verdict on the violation of ADB policies through the Compliance Review Panel (CRP). But after two years of its existence, has it delivered any solutions to people’s issues?

The recent CRP monitoring report on STDP, which was issued in July 2006, shows that the ADB management and the Road Development Authority have not complied with most of the remedial action proposed by the CRP report issued in July 2005. Said report was a response to the complaints made by project affected people.

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