The World Bank is under scrutiny for alleged procedural failures in financing the Rogun Dam project in Tajikistan. Critics accuse the bank of neglecting to properly assess potential environmental and social harms linked to the massive hydropower project.
On April 8, the World Bank’s Inspection Panel, an independent oversight body, announced it had registered a formal complaint about the bank’s role in the Rogun Dam. The complaint requires a response from bank officials within three weeks. After that, the panel will decide whether to launch a full investigation.
The complaint was filed in February by two citizens from Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. They were supported by Rivers without Boundaries, an environmental group based in Kazakhstan.
Rivers without Boundaries issued a statement saying, “The Rogun project, as it stands, poses a huge threat to environmental stability and the well-being of millions in Central Asia.” The group argues that the World Bank approved funding despite relying on an incomplete and outdated Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA). They say this assessment fails to fully consider the cross-border risks and cumulative damage the dam could cause to ecosystems and communities along the Amu Darya River basin.
The complaint describes the Rogun Dam, which now costs over $8 billion, as one of the “most expensive and lengthy false solutions” to Tajikistan’s energy shortages and carbon emissions challenges. A 2024 study by Rivers without Boundaries called Rogun a likely “white elephant,” suggesting the dam might become outdated and unprofitable before it is fully operational.
In December, the World Bank approved a $350 million grant to help complete the dam’s first construction phase. If finished as planned, Rogun would be the world’s tallest dam, producing 3,600 megawatts of power annually. Bank officials have called it a “transformative clean energy project” that would improve energy security and reduce carbon emissions in Central Asia.
Early review by the Inspection Panel found the complaint “not frivolous, absurd, or anonymous.”
The complaint charges that World Bank officials used outdated and flawed data to assess the dam’s environmental impacts. It warns that the dam’s reservoir could reduce flow in the already strained Amu Darya River by at least 25 percent. This could trigger a “progressive catastrophe,” harming the lives of up to 10 million people living downstream.
One of the strongest criticisms is that the bank failed to share project documents with affected communities in Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The complaint also says there were no meaningful consultations with these groups, a breach of the bank’s own safeguard policies.
While the Inspection Panel has yet to decide on a full investigation, environmental groups are already calling for an immediate halt to Rogun’s construction.
Rivers without Boundaries urged, “The World Bank and other financiers must suspend funding until a thorough, independent, and transparent investigation addresses all concerns. Proper measures must then be put in place to prevent and reduce the project’s negative effects.”
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