Summary of the Request

The Requesters allege potential environmental and health damages linked to the intervention of the Reconquista river as contemplated in the Program.

- Decline of the quality of water and bad environmental conditions caused by the dumping of pollutants.

- Dismantling of the drainage and piping system, including water systems, sewage drains, and opening of streets related to the Program.

- Impact on safety caused by increased risk of flooding.

Finally, the Request alleges a lack of relevant information about the Project and deficient public consultations with the impacted population.

Recent actions

On July 7 2022, MICI submitted, for information, the Second Annual Monitoring Report to the Board of Executive Directors.

Past actions

On May 14, 2019, MICI notified the Requesters and Bank Management of the registration of the Request.

On August 2, 2019, MICI determined that the Request was eligible because it met all the eligibility criteria established in the MICI Policy.  The eligibility determination finds that only 9 of the 13 Requesters have raised allegations that fit the definition of harm set forth in the MICI-IDB Policy, therefore any processing of the Request by the MICI would be limited to potential noncompliance associated with those allegations in particular.

This determination of eligibility is not an assessment of the merits of the Request or of the issues contained therein. It also does not represent an approval to investigate the compliance or non-compliance of the Bank with its Relevant Operational Policies.

The Request was transferred to the Consultation Phase following the request of the Requesters.

On September 13, 2019 MICI published the Consultation Phase Assessment Report. The document determines that conditions are favorable for initiating a dispute resolution process facilitated by MICI.

On November 4-5, 2019, MICI carried out a mission to Argentina. During the mission, MICI facilitated two dialogue sessions in which the Parties reached an Agreement.

On November 19th, 2019, the Consultation Phase Report, including the Agreement reached and the Monitoring Plan, was sent to the Board of Executive Directors for their consideration by short procedure. The Board approved the Monitoring Plan on December 13th, 2019. As a result of the approval, the Monitoring Stage began.

Update on the Agreement’s State of Compliance

On January 21, 2021, MICI facilitated the third monitoring meeting between the Requesters, UCEPO, COMIREC, and IDB Management. During the meeting, the Coordination and Execution Unit (Unidad de Coordinación y Ejecución de Proyectos de Obra del Ministerio de Infraestructura de la Provincia de Buenos Aires (UCEPO)) and the Reconquista River Basin Committee (COMIREC) in collaboration with the Water Authority (ADA) presented the agreement’s state of compliance.

In December 2020 and January 2021, significant progress was made on item “1. Surplus landfill in the Relief Channel or intervention that addresses the problem”. COMIREC noted that it has received the hydraulic model delivered by the consulting consortium charged with preparing the comprehensive management plan for the basin. According to the information reported, the hydraulic model serves as an analytic tool that will evaluate alternatives for flow management and possible interventions, such as a surplus dump. In this regard, COMIREC will carry out the respective analyzes, the results of which will be approximately available in May 2021.

Regarding water quality control, COMIREC reported that they were working on a project that will include 70% of the agreed control points. As for the remaining 30%, whose monitoring is carried out by the Water Authority (ADA) and the Luján River Basin Committee (COMILU), UCEPO will share the information that ADA and COMILU provide. With regard to dump mapping and spill control, ADA mentioned the establishment of a Program for the Management of Liquid Effluents with Industrial Strengthening (GELFI), which monitors different industries.

Finally, IDB Management reported that the social and environmental impact assessments for the three construction projects to which the Bank's no-objection was requested in 2020 and which are part of the Reconquista River Environmental Sanitation Program (AR-L1121), include an analysis on the cumulative impacts to the Delta.

On March 12 2021, MICI submitted, for information, the First Annual Monitoring Report to the Board of Executive Directors.