23 Mar 2010

Yet another irresponsible action against the Gibe project, lacking in technical and scientific merit. All critical statements contained in the appeal from Survival, even though they may appear intriguing for non-professionals, are either false or the result of basic arithmetical and technical errors, if not actually macroscopic errors of fact. And they have been evaluated as such and disproven in the most authoritative international settings, like the BEI and the African Development Bank (ADB). One need only point to the alleged drop in the level of Lake Turkana which, because of the project – according to the critical organisations – would experience a 12-meter drop, with effects they call disastrous. In fact, there is no such drop; the figure mentioned is purely the result of a gross error (15 times over!) in calculating the volume of the dam’s flooded area.
Salini Costruttori notes that the Gibe project is the result of the work of hundreds of engineers including some of the world’s most renowned professionals, and that thousands of technicians and workers of various nationalities are working on the project: a project that has been vetted by the most authoritative Ethiopian and international bodies .
The usual critical suspects who, under various names and acronyms, are challenging the Gibe project, are all traceable back to a single organisation opposed as a matter of “principle” to hydroelectric projects: in the past it has led senseless campaigns against similar project. They  feed this empty and self-referential controversy, marked by sheer ideological prejudice in the hope of thwarting the praise the works are garnering in all international venues - while gaining notoriety for themselves.
Salini stands by its policy of open books and full disclosure to the public of information about its projects, and the adoption in its own blog and Internet site of special spaces open to discussion and criticism, but it hereby announces that it will defend itself everywhere from further groundless, defamatory attacks that seriously damage not only the Company and the dignity of its technicians and workers but also and above all development throughout the Horn of Africa.
With the Gibe project, in fact, it will be possible to ensure as much renewable, clean energy as two medium-sized nuclear plants could produce, thereby permitting sustainable development of one of the world’s most depressed areas.