Environmental justice and developmental organisation groundWork’s media officer Megan Lewis says the World Bank does not realise or act on the need to call for immediate action when evidence of damage, owing to projects it is involved with, is visible, such as the impact that State-owned power utility Eskom’s Medupi power station has on the surrounding community in Lephalale, Limpopo.

Greenhouse-gas-emitting energy and extractive industry projects like the coal-fired Medupi power station are renowned for negatively impact- ing on the environment and local communities, adds nongovernmental organisation (NGO) Gender Action climate change programme manager Sarah Little.

Although these projects may bring short-term employment opportunities, they usually fail to improve community infrastructure or reduce systemic poverty, she states.

“To produce electricity, Medupi will have huge health impacts and increases the effects of climate change. “The construction of coal-fired power stations and their subsequent production of electricity using dirty fossil fuels as an energy source, upon which they insist, cannot be considered as development for the people of South Africa,” says Lewis.

She adds that the communities next to these power stations and the related mines that feed the power stations, often do not have access to affordable energy and are exposed to harmful consequences ranging from asthma and respiratory diseases to various cancers that arise from the burning of fossil fuels. This being the case, the World Bank says it will look into future moni- toring of the situation by imple- menting initiatives such as air-emissions testing and water-transfer proposals.

“groundWork produced a report in 2009 called ‘The World Bank and Eskom’, where we highlighted the climate and financial implications of the construction of the project as well as its environmental impacts and legacy. groundWork and Earthlife Africa Johannesburg supported two requesters in Lephalale to lodge a complaint with the World Bank inspection panel to review the environmental, infrastructure and social impacts of the development of the Medupi power station,” states groundWork climate and energy justice campaign manager Sizwe Khanyile.

Khanyile adds that the outcome is that the World Bank will play an oversight role in the operations of the plant, while allowing South African laws and country systems to ensure that environmental policies are adhered to.

However, Eskom points out on its website that an environmental management plan is conducted before any major projects can be implemented. The Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (now Water and Environmental Affairs) approved the project from an environmental perspective and construction started in May 2007.

The supercritical design of the power station is a first for Eskom and the higher efficiency will result in better use of natural resources, such as water and coal, and improved environmental performance. “Medupi will be the biggest dry-cooled power station in the world,” says Eskom.

Environmental education also forms an integral part of the project, says the utility adding that in response to the claims, local people are constantly given information about the environmental impacts and the fauna and flora on site, as they work. The Medupi local Environmental Monitoring Committee has been involved in the monitoring of the project and will continue to do so, notes Eskom,

pointing out that any construction activity by its very nature is short term. “Medupi has made significant strides in improving the infrastructure of the local communities,” says the utility. These include, but are not limited to: R11.5-million in the upgrading of the initial 2.2 km of the D1675 road leading to the project site, provision of two 10 MVA transformers for electrical expansion capacity, R2.3-billion housing developments, improvements in schools, crèches and healthcare facilities, classroom cabins donated to schools and the construction of new sewerage treatment plants.

Eskom adds that Medupi empowers the local communities through job training that allows them to become self-sustaining through the training that they receive and, makes them employable through the training that they have received. People employed on the project do eventually leave with an improved skills base. Through the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa, the community will be upskilled on different skills categories and 1 536 community members have completed training to date. Thirty-eight local business entrepreneurs have graduated through the Eskom Contractor Training Academy in partnership with Edupark Section 21 Company of the University of Limpopo, which was brought about by the existence of the Medupi Project.

Medupi also pays the salaries for six teachers in local schools and employs 7 259 locals directly, of which over 4 000 are first-time employees who gained skills on site. The remaining 1 815 are indirectly employed through companies providing support services.

Medupi also has a 50-year footprint, highlights Eskom, which adds that while the economic activity will not be as aggressive as it is currently, there will be economic activity, within the area that will be generated by the operational power station.

Gender Action has identified Medupi and its related infrastructure as a potential hotspot for gender injustice, which was a factor that previous research on similar extractive industry projects on the continent identified. Drawing from this research and using its Gender Toolkit for International Finance Watchers, Gender Action trained participants to conduct a gender analy- sis, in February, of the Eskom Investment Support Project to identify and deal with gender injustice and women’s rights challenges. Participants learned how to conduct qualitative research to assess the gender impacts of Medupi through surveying local ‘beneficiaries’ on the ground.

Gender Action states that women living in the area have already been subjected to the effects of the power station, in addition to facing the current and future environmental and health issues at Lephalale. The area has a large male population, as a result of the influx of men from other provinces in South Africa and across its borders, who are working at Medupi. “This places a strain on the already limited infrastructure, such as housing and sanitation, and promotes prostitution,” says

Gender Action, which also trained affected local community members and representatives from civil society organisations across South Africa on gender issues and on using international financial institution analytical tools, tailored for advocacy, to decrease and “mitigate Medupi’s harmful gender impacts”.

“As a result of pressure from the community, groundWork and NGO Earthlife Africa, and the World Bank’s inspection panel compiled a report in 2010 investigating environmental and social risks that the Medupi power station would create. “Last year, the World Bank publicly agreed with this report and the risks it stipulated, particularly those relating to the South African governance system not being able to fully meet and comply with the bank’s policy.

“This is specifically related to noncompliance and inconsis- tency in the following areas:

• the assessment of equivalence and acceptability, particularly on issues pertaining to the assessment of cumulative impacts, independent expert oversight and capacity constraints;
• the impact on air quality, health, water resources, public infrastructure and services; and
• the inadequate consideration and economic analysis of alternatives and risks, particularly with regard to water and air externalities,” concludes Lewis.