Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Ethiopia dam with Harsco connection fuels protests

By Jim T. Ryan

June 15, 2010

A proposed dam in Ethiopia, which Cumberland County-based Harsco Corp. is providing equipment to help build, is coming under fire from international advocacy groups that say the dam will displace eight indigenous tribes downstream.



Survival International, a California-based advocacy group, said protests today outside the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rome were aimed at convincing the government not to fund the Gilgel Gibe III dam project. Italy could give Ethiopia a $307 million loan for the dam’s construction, according to Survival International.

Harsco has a $2 million contract to provide concrete-forming equipment for the dam construction, as well as related engineering support, according to the company. The Italian construction firm Salini Costruttori is building the dam for hydroelectric power on the Omo River.



The international attention the dam has garnered because of suspect approval processes and the effects on people downstream is not something that would regularly be on Harsco’s radar, spokesman Ken Julian said.



“We’re a contractor,” he said. “Those issues go beyond our purview and involvement.”



If the project were to be delayed, that would just postpone Harsco’s work to a later date, he said. If the dam construction was cancelled, Harsco would move on to other projects, and the impact would be small, he said.



Harsco, with headquarters in Wormleysburg, reported annual revenue of $3 billion in 2009.



The company’s stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol HSC.

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