Although mega dams can have devastating impacts on ecosystems and indigenous communities, many of the world’s poorest countries still see them as a way to fill gaping holes in their energy supplies.
One such project is the Inga Ill dam, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The dam is a part of the larger Inga project, which when completed will be the biggest dam project in the world, almost twice as big as the Three Gorges Dam in China.
In March 2014, the World Bank awarded the project $73 million to carry out environmental and social impact assessments, however two years later, these assessments have yet to begin, and the advocacy group International Rivers now fears that construction of the project may be rushed ahead without them.
According to International Rivers the head of the Grand Inga Project Office, recently announced that construction of the dam was set to begin by 2017, whether or not the relevant impact assessments had taken place beforehand.
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