World Bank clarifies

In your article entitled Indramayu to build giant dam to increase rice production (The Jakarta Post, July 29, you quoted a source, Abdul Mutholib, Head of the Indramayu Irrigation Office as saying: "The World Bank had prepared the funds to finance the (Jatigede) dam, providing that the central government acquired the land".

I would like to clarify that the World Bank has no plans to finance the Jatigede dam. The World Bank is occasionally, and erroneously, associated with the financing of the Jatigede dam, perhaps because we provided financing in the past to the government to conduct a feasibility study for the dam, including its environmental and social impact.

Since then, there have been no requests from the ministry for the World Bank to provide financing for the dam, nor, based on the completed study, would we be inclined to do so.

MOHAMAD AL-ARIEF

Communications Officer

World Bank Office

Jakarta