The story appears on

Page A12

December 23, 2015

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

HomeWorld

Sex-abuse claims nix WB project

The World Bank has canceled a US$265 million infrastructure project in Uganda after a review found evidence of misconduct by a government contractor, including sexual harassment of female workers and road workers having sexual relations with underage girls.

The project, which included the construction of about 225 kilometers of road in western Uganda, began in 2009 with the bank giving an initial backing of US$190 million. An additional US$75 million was approved in 2011.

In a statement issued on Monday, the bank said it had received a request in September to investigate a range of allegations made by the affected communities. The statement did not identify the company involved by name.

鈥淭he multiple failures we鈥檝e seen in this project ... are unacceptable,鈥 World Bank President Kim Jim-yong said. 鈥淚t is our obligation to properly supervise all investment projects to ensure that the poor and vulnerable are protected in our work. In this case, we did not.鈥

He said both the bank, the Ugandan government and the contractor were responsible for the failures.

The World Bank is one of the major sources of relatively cheap credit for the East African country, providing crucial funding for projects in key sectors.


 

Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

娌叕缃戝畨澶 31010602000204鍙

Email this to your friend