George Soros works to push hydropower programs into overdrive

摘要

Highly active in Africa, thernfoundation of the Americanrnbillionaire is taking a close interestrnin Congo-K’s hydropower projects.rnAmerican billionaire George Soros isrndisplaying a keen interest in the megarnInga dam project. His Open SocietyrnFoundation (OSF) is bankrolling workrnby Belgian researcher Elisabeth Caesens,rnwho once headed a program at the CarterrnCenter that promoted good governancernin the mining industry in Congo-K. Caesensrnis now anxious to introduce greaterrntransparency in the country’s powerrnbranch, a concern that ties in with thernOSF’s new commitment to Kinshasa. Thatrninvolvement was illustrated by its movernto finance a seminar on security in Congo-rnK held in Brussels on Dec. 7. The OpenrnSociety Justice Initiative also providesrnfinancial assistance to Congolese nationalsrnwho filed suit against the Swiss goldrnrefiner Argor Heraeus. The OSF hasrnequally retained the services of otherrnexperts to look into issues related to thernInga project. In early January, it hired thernformer American envoy to Pretoria (2013-rn2016), Patrick Gaspard. During his stintrnin South Africa he monitored energyrnquestions and, in 2014, denounced thernway that Eskom had awarded a contractrnto Areva to supply generators for thernnuclear power station at Koeberg.