Compared with the US energy company AES and the Spanish firm Endesa, the Norwegian partly aid-financed hydropower company SN Power has well-developed policies on corporate social responsibility (CSR), a new report by the Dutch SOMO research institute concludes.

The average size of SN Power’s investments is set to quadruple in the coming years. SOMO predicts that as projects get bigger, conflicts over ecological impacts and affected communities are likely to increase.

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Danida consultancy pie grows for first time since 2001

Past Danida Annual Reports have shown how the Danish aid consultancy market has been shrinking since 2001 - from DKK 808 million to just DKK 421 million in 2007.

The Foreign Ministry is still not satisfied with Sida’s handling of consultancy procurement, and is again pushing the agency to improve its practices. The Ministry wants Sida to publish procurement statistics in next year’s Annual Report.

The World Bank’s corruption investigation of the Norwegian consultancy company Norconsult in Tanzania is still not closed. The company has not been blacklisted and continues to bid on World Bank projects.

Norway plans to finance a project for groundwater exploration that would provide drinking water to Dar es Salaam. Tenders are to be announced shortly.