Closed
* Admissibility date reflects the date the case was officially registered. All other dates pertain to the date in which a stage was completed.
Case Description
Complaint
On 27 June 2017, the EIB Complaints Mechanism (EIB-CM) received a complaint alleging inadequate compensation in relation to the project “Georgia East-West Highway" (2010-0571), Georgia.
Conclusions and Recommendations
In the present case, the EIB-CM found that the complainant was compensated only for the parts of his plots of land, which fell within the impact zone of the highway project. However, he was not compensated for the residual parts of the plots, which had become inaccessible because of the implementation of the project. He was not provided with a clear justification for the lack of compensation.
The EIB-CM considers that the current situation of the complainant is not in line with the EIB’s social standards, which aim to mitigate any adverse impacts arising from the affected persons’ loss of assets, or access to assets and/or restrictions of land use, whether temporary or permanent, direct or indirect, partial or in their totality. In addition, the present situation is not in line with the principle of improving or at least restoring the social and livelihood resources of the project-affected people at their pre-project level.
The EIB-CM recommends that the Bank’s services work with the promoter in order to address the complainant’s specific case and find an acceptable solution to his situation in line with the EIB’s social standards. These arrangements could for example include reaching an agreement for the acquisition of the residual lands or reaching an agreement to compensate the complainant for loss of the purpose and decrease of commercial value of the Residual Land Plots or assisting the complainant to successfully regularise his right of way with the owners of the neighbouring land plots. It needs to be noted that in order for the Bank to address this as a complaint with the promoter, it would be required from the complainant to waive confidentiality.
The EIB-CM will monitor the implementation of its recommendation within 12 months from the issuance of this Report.