PLANS to turn the Himalayas into a hydroelectric powerhouse for southern Asia suffered last week when the World Bank abandoned plans to provide a loan to the Nepalese government for the Arun III dam. The scheme was the first of three dams with a total capacity of 1500 megawatts planned in the Arun valley.
The withdrawal follows completion of an independent study for the bank in June, which found that the Nepalese government had broken the bank鈥檚 rules on environmental assessment of large construction schemes. The study had been prompted by opposition to Arun III from environmentalists in Nepal and the US. 鈥淲e support smaller, cheaper, less damaging and more efficient hydrodams,鈥� says Gopal Siwakoti of the Arun Concerned Group in Nepal.
According to the country鈥檚 Water and Energy Commission, the valleys could provide more than 40 000 megawatts of generating capacity, making Nepal one of the world鈥檚 largest untapped hydroelectric sources.
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