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dam-l DECISION ON RALCO LAND SWAP DEAL POSTPONED
CHIP News for November 20, 1998
>SOURCE: EL MERCURIO
>SOURCE: LA TERCERA
> -- DECISION ON RALCO LAND SWAP DEAL POSTPONED.
>Continuing internal problems at the National Corporation for the
>Development of Indigenous Peoples, Conadi, will mean the
>organization would not address the legality of proposed land swap
>arrangements essential to the development of the Ralco Dam
>project until December or possibly next year, Conadi counsel
members said Thursday.
After a four-hour Conadi meeting yesterday, indigenous
leaders said internal reorganization and 1999 budget matters
must be dealt with before addressing the thorny land swap issue.
Conadi has been the center of the controversy surrounding
the Ralco Dam construction because eight of approximately 100
indigenous families impacted by the dam's construction have
refused to accept the land-swap deal offered them by power
company Endesa. Their refusal has meant a significant delay in
the dam's construction, and has pitted the Frei government's pro-
development policy against a Conadi sensitive to the needs of its
constituency.
Two successive directors of Conadi - both critical of the land
swap deal proposed by the power company - have been removed
from their leadership position by the Frei government in an
attempt to stack the Conadi board with members favorable to the
Ralco Dam project. The Conadi board is composed of eight
indigenous community representatives, eight government
appointed representatives and a government-appointed director.
Chile Information Project
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Aleta Brown
Campaign Associate
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way
Berkeley, CA 94703 USA
Phone: 1.510.848.1155
Fax: 1.510.848.1008
email: aleta@irn.org
http://www.irn.org