Summary of the Request

The Request raises a series of harms related to the Program, specifically related to the relocation of the electric sub transmission lines, among which are:

· Health impacts caused by the radiation generated by the lines, since they would be relocated to an inappropriate distance from highly traveled roads.

· Impacts to the Requesters’ living conditions as they claim that there could be a possible economic impact caused by investors withdrawing from the tourist areas because of the new line location.

· Environmental impact because the sub transmission line could affect the birds that fly between the coastal area and the mountains in the area.

· Poor risk assessment since the lines would be placed in high-risk areas where there could be landslides caused by seismic events, in addition to limiting tsunami and earthquake evacuation routes.

· Additionally, the Requesters allege that the project did not carry out adequate public consultations and socialization of the program impacts prior to the start of the construction work.

Recent actions

After verifying that all the agreements reached by the Parties were fulfilled, the Mechanism produced a Case Closure Report that was distributed for information to the Board of Executive Directors on July 14th, 2022. With such Report, MICI’s activities related to the case management are concluded.

Past actions

On April 27, 2018, MICI notified the Requesters and Bank Management that the Request was registered.

On May 30, 2018, after the period established for Management’s Response, the Project Team requested that MICI suspend the process for Eligibility determination (paragraphs 21 and 23.C of the MICI Policy), to make corrections to the project. Management's request includes an Action Plan and Schedule to carry out different activities, among which are the creation of an environmental and social evaluation, the socialization of documents with relevant information about the Project, and a public hearing with the interested parties.

The Director of the MICI granted Management the period of suspension of the process for Eligibility determination, for 45 working days, which ended on August 2, 2018.

MICI requested an extension to the eligibility process, which ended on October 17, 2018.

On October 17,2018, MICI determined that the Request was eligible as it met all the eligibility criteria established in its Policy.

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

On December 14, 2018 MICI issued the Consultation Phase Assessment Report, finding that the Parties demonstrated the will to initiate a dialogue process. With this action, the Consultation Phase process begins.

On April 17th, 2019, the Third Dialogue Session facilitated by MICI took place, and the Parties reached an Agreement during that Session.

On June 19th, 2019, the Consultation Phase Report, including the Agreement reached and the Monitoring Plan, was distributed to the Board of Executive Directors for their consideration by short procedure. With the approval of the Monitoring Plan by the Board on June 26, 2019 the Monitoring Stage began. 

On July 7th, 2020 MICI submitted, for information, the First Monitoring Report to the Board of Executive Directors.

On July 9th, 2021 MICI submitted to the Board of Executive Directors the Second Monitoring Report. The Report was distributed to the Board, for information, on July 23rd, 2021.