Korinna Horta and Lori Pottinger
Los Angeles Times
September 21, 2005

In the lead up to the annual meetings of the World Bank this weekend in Washington, where Africa will be high on the agenda, economist Korinna Horta and Lori Pottinger of the International Rivers Network Africa program claim the bank’s plan to pursue investment in large-scale infrastructure projects for the continent needs rethinking, based on the failure of past mega-projects in Africa, such as the corruption plagued Lesotho Highlands Water Project. The Lesotho example, say Horta and Pottinger, “shows that something is terribly wrong in the current development model – and unfortunately, it is not an isolated case.” A fundamental flaw, they say, is that most international aid efforts are “not accountable to their intended beneficiaries.” Horta and Pottinger urge World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz to champion “real change” by enabling poor populations in effected countries to set their own priorities, including the option to choose smaller, decentralized development projects that often prove better suited to meeting their basic needs.

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Los Angeles Times