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dam-l SARA asks for Dam moratorium/LS
This was sent by a colleague on May 5, it is from SAPA news service:
>RIVERS ASSOCIATION OPPOSES DAMMING OF RIVERS
>
>The Southern African Rivers Association (Sara) on Tuesday called on Water
>Affairs Minister Kader Asmal to declare publicly before the June 2 election
>that no more large dams would be ratified or built until alternatives had
>been studied.
>In a statement Sara national administrator Graeme Addison said the
>organisation was opposed to the building of new large dams on the Tugela and
>Bushman's rivers in central KwaZulu-Natal. He called on Asmal to seek
>alternatives to "the destruction of South Africa's wild and scenic
>waterways".
>"Sara calls upon (Asmal), who is president of the World Commission on Dams,
>to declare publicly in the run-up to the general election that no more large
>dams will be ratified or built before the technical and policy alternatives
>have been studied and reported on.
>"We suggest that a national commission be appointed and that amongst other
>things it should designate river courses that may not be touched by damming
>or other constructions," Addison said.
>He said it was not in the national interest to impound any undammed rivers.
>"No matter how many dams are built, the country will run out of water within
>20 to 40 years at current rates of water wastage."
>The association said water recycling, desalination of the sea, and demand
>side management to limit water usage, were sensible alternatives to damming.
>
>
>MOZAMBIQUE-ENERGY
>INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION SOUGHT OVER MOZAMBIQUE POWER TARIFFS
>
>Operators of a hydroelectric dam in Mozambique and its main South African
>client are seeking international arbitration over a tariff dispute, a
>spokesman for the operating company said Tuesday.
>Portugal's Hidroelectrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB), wants to increase a 1988
>tariff of two US cents per watt, but the main South African client, Eskom,
>does not agree.
>HCB insists that the tariff is out of date and must be increased if the
>company, heavily affected by a 16-year civil war which ended in 1992, is to
>be remain profitable.
>The dam is 82 percent owned by the Portuguese state, the former colonial
>power, and the remaining shares are held by Mozambique.
>The rehabilitation of the 900 kilometre (560 mile) power line to South
>Africa was completed more than a year ago, but HCB has allowed no
>electricity to flow to the South African grid due to the disagreements with
>its traditional client.
>The only consumers at the moment are Mozambique itself and neighbouring
>Zimbabwe. Malawi has also expressed interest in HCB electricty and
>negotiations have begun.
>
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Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
and Editor, World Rivers Review
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
Tel. (510) 848 1155 Fax (510) 848 1008
http://www.irn.org
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