WASHINGTON — A World Bank-backed coal plant in South Africa is seeking to delay the implementation of pollution controls, a request that is raising new concerns about the bank’s ability to enforce environmental standards on projects it supports.
In April 2010, the World Bank approved a $3.75 billion loan to the South African public utility Eskom to build the Medupi coal-fired power plant, which would be one of the largest power plants in the world. The loan was highly controversial, with the United States declining to vote on it due to concerns about its contribution to global warming. One of the conditions for the loan’s approval was that the plant would have to install a type of pollution control known as flue gas desulfurization equipment to abate the release of harmful emissions like sulfur dioxide, a dangerous pollutant.
BIC’s Nezir Sinani quoted in the Huffington Post feature. See his quote, along with the rest of the article on Huffington Post.