One of the most controversial World Bank projects ever, this $4.2 billion pipeline fails to beat the "resource curse"
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Location |
Chad, Cameroon
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Status |
Active
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The $4.2 billion Chad-Cameroon Oil Development and Pipeline Project is the largest private sector investment in sub-Saharan Africa. Led by Exxon-Mobil with financing from the World Bank and International Finance Corporation (IFC), the 1070 km pipeline remains among the most controversial World Bank Group projects in the institution’s history. Until the project was thrown into crisis in 2006, it was the World Bank’s foremost test case of how to beat the “resource curse” and harness oil production for poverty reduction. In 2000, the World Bank Group approved support for the pipeline despite civil society calls for a moratorium until government capacity was reinforced, democratic institutions strengthened, and the country’s human rights record improved. Construction was completed in 2003, a year ahead of schedule, while capacity building measures in Chad and Cameroon lagged behind. The World Bank suspended its lending to Chad in 2006, after the government reneged on its promises to devote a percentage of its oil revenues to social spending. Although the political situation in Chad remains unstable and government will to prioritize poverty reduction is questionable, the two parties have since reached an interim agreement to resume Bank lending and unfreeze accounts holding the country’s oil revenues.
Since the late 1990s, BIC has been working with Chadian and Cameroonian civil society organizations to share information about project developments and amplify local concerns and recommendations. With these partners, BIC has advocated for increased international scrutiny of the pipeline and the emerging petroleum sector in Chad, greater transparency, and accountability of project sponsors for promises that the petroleum development would contribute to poverty reduction and avoid social and environmental harms. BIC has conducted numerous field visits to Chad and Cameroon, and supported lobbying activities by civil society representatives from both countries. In 2005, BIC co-authored a ground-breaking report on the Chad-Cameroon pipeline with Catholic Relief Services.