Arun III

In 1995, World Bank President James Wolfensohn cancelled the Arun III project “in agreement with the government of Nepal” following pressure from activists in Nepal and abroad who objected not so much to its environmental impact as its cost. In 2017, India started work on the Arun III, now expanded to 900MW.

Excerpts of the report commemorating 10 years since Arun III was cancelled, published 20 years ago this week in issue #223 26 November – 2 December 2004:

It was going to be Nepal's biggest hydroelectric project, and had construction gone ahead the Arun III would now be nearing completion.

With a price tag of $1.082 billion, it would have cost more than the kingdom's annual budget and generated 202 megawatts from the mighty Arun River near this town in eastern Nepal.

Some here have still not forgiven Kathmandu-based activists who killed the project that they thought would have transformed eastern Nepal. The World Bank itself was badly burnt, it has kept off hydropower ever since and only recently hinted at taking a new look at potential projects. It was on 5 August 1995, after a year of mounting international protests that the World Bank's newly-appointed president James Wolfensohn announced he was pulling out of Arun. The Japanese and German governments were under firece pressure at home too.

Arun III was one of the first examples of internet-based international activism. The International Rivers Network, Friends of the Earth Japan and German green groups joined Nepali activists opposed to the project to successfully lobby against the Bank and bilateral donors. 

For archived material of Nepali Times of the past 20 years, site search: nepalitimes.com