about us

 

Compliance Advisor Ombudsman
 
about us
compliance
advisor
ombudsman
archive
home



CAO site web

 

cao-compliance@ifc.org
tel: 202 458 1973
fax: 202 522 7400
 

Jordan- Gateway

Project

The Jordan Gateway project is a project to develop, construct and operate an industrial estate, including the development of infrastructure, offices, and factory for rent designed to host high-tech and high value added industries. The total estimated project cost in 2001 was at US$35.6 million and covered approximately 65 hectares (ha) located at the Israeli-Jordanian border along the Jordan River. The site occupies agriculturally unproductive land in the otherwise fertile Jordan River valley about 70 km north west from Amman and 40 km west of Irbid, Jordan's second largest city with a significant industrial base.

IFC Interest

The proposed IFC investment in 2001 was a loan of up to US$10 million from IFC's own account.
Environmental and Social Context

The Jordan River is of special spiritual and cultural significance to the people of Israel, and at the time of the complaint Israel had tentatively listed the river as a World Heritage Site. The project site is also located near a nature reserve. The project site is a contiguous space straddling two countries but is, in fact, a Free Trade territory. The company and IFC determined this to be a requirement in order to benefit from various Free Trade agreements, therefore other possible sites were limited or unacceptable because of these restrictions.

   
Request to CAO

The complainants, local individuals from the area of the planned Gateway industrial park project, expressed concerns such as:

  • Environmental and social impacts of the Gateway Project in Jordan; and
  • That the historical and cultural significance of the Jordan River would be negatively impacted.

 
CAO Action

 

The CAO wrote an assessment letter to the complainants, dated February 6, 2001. Following this assessment letter, the CAO in a memorandum to the President and in its statement to the Board recommended to IFC that:

 

  • Jordan Gateway Project management and IFC management ensure a project brief be prepared and circulated to affected people;
  • Jordan Gateway Project management and IFC management look in detail at ways to encourage community dialogue over time and as the phases of development unfold; and
  • The IFC project team ensures that in ongoing project supervision communities on the Israeli and Jordanian sides are visited and their opinions and suggestions canvassed actively.

 
Current Status

The complaint was closed January 19, 2005.

Received
Appraisal
Assessment
Closed
5 days
15 days
30-90 days
Complaint Closed

Acknowledged
January 12, 2001.

Accepted January 31, 2001
Assessment Letter Dated February 6, 2001
January 19, 2005

 

Documents

 

 

 

This page last updated: 6/21/2006