resettlement

A quick visit to the Kolubara mining basin reveals that the resettlement there looks nothing like the presentation from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

People from the Kolubara mine basin in Serbia have many stories to tell about the hardships they face due to the lignite mining operations. Serbian Bankwatcher Nikola Perusic adds his account to two stories in the guardian and in Bankwatch Mail 56.

On a visit to the Kolubara mining complex in Serbia, Bankwatch staff was denied a meeting with the mining company, because of them caring for the environment.

Earlier this week we published an overview of two Central Asian mining projects financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development - the Kumtor gold mine in Kyrgyzstan and the Ukhaa Khudag coal mine in Mongolia's south Gobi desert, which is part of the much larger - in fact the world's largest - coal deposit at Tavan Tolgoi.

Before making any decisions on the planned EUR 80 million loan for the Kolubara lignite mine project in Serbia, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s Board of Directors should take note of the controversy the bank will get involved in. Not only are the climate impacts of lignite well known, but the project is also indirectly connected to the resettlement of nearby residents.

Bankwatch’s coordinator in Serbia Zvezdan Kalmar finds himself in a situation similar to the one when campaigning on the Gazela bridge project: Roma families live in uncertainty about when they’ll be resettled to make way for road construction, all the while with little influence about how decisions are made.

Roma's discrimination in Serbia is to be discussed by the UN. Serbian member group CEKOR is contributing with experience from the Gazela resettlement process.