Tag: world bank

World Bank water project may require Government to acquire land and make changes to land laws

International financial institutes, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the European Union, will be funding a multi-million dollar project to build infrastructure for water and sanitation. The project will be implemented primarily by Solomon Water, the national body responsible for water and sanitation services in the country. The World Bank says the project will align with policy objectives relating to health, safety and economic growth, reduction of public and environmental health risks, building climate change resilience, as well as empowering women. (Source: Solomon Star, 23 May 2019)

The World Bank anticipates that the project will inevitably require some land to be acquired, particularly around Honiara, and has developed a policy to address this issue. If land will need to be acquired, then the proper identification of the landowners, including identification of their claimed land boundaries, will be necessary. The process of identifying landowners and their land boundaries, training of land acquisition officers, and setting up the appropriate systems and processes to deal with the process including any disputes are probably already underway. Changes to the current land laws are also likely so as to align with the project objectives. Government as well as civil society buy-in will be essential to the success of the project and the World Bank and the other international financial institutes, development-aid donors supporting the project, as well as development-aid recipients co-opted in the project will have an interest in the project being viewed in a positive light. The article in the Solomon Star exalting the potential benefits of the project fulfills that role.

#empirestatebuilding

World Bank launches new program to end world poverty again

The World Bank has launched another program aimed at ‘helping’ ‘poor’ countries such as the Pacific Islands countries. The project is called the ‘Human Capital Project’, which is described as an ambitious global initiative to accelerate investments in people around the world. Part of the project includes a ‘Human Capital Index’, which measures the amount of human capital a child born today can expect to attain by the age of 18 given the quality of health and education in the country where he or she lives. Under the Index, a child born in the Solomon Islands today will only be 44 percent as productive when he or she grows up as would have been the case with optimal health and education services. According the World Bank, this Index will create the political space for national leaders to prioritise transformational human capital investments. (Source: Solomon Star)

Fortunately, the World Bank in identifying this ‘problem’ has also been able to come up with a ‘solution’ to address the problem. The solution will, of course, involve the Pacific Islands countries’ Governments ‘working together’ with the World Bank. The World Bank has worked in the Solomon Islands for many years and therefore has lots of ‘experience’ in the area of ‘eliminating poverty.’ Despite this, according to the World Bank’s own analysis, Solomon Islands remains a ‘poor’ country.

#developmentaidindustrialcomplex