Conducting public consultations on the results of an independent assessment of the project for compliance with the EBRD requirements

Client: JSC "Almaty electric Stations" / EBRD

Location: Kazakhstan

Project: Public consultations on the project of replacing an old inefficient coal-fired power plant with modern combined cycle gas turbine units located at the Almaty CHP-2 site.

ENSOR approach:

ENSOR prepared presentation materials reflecting the assessment results and discussed them in detail with the Client:

• Some sensitive issues have been identified, the presentation of which requires a special approach;
• A consultation strategy was developed, including answers to potential "difficult questions", and the previous experience (both consultant and client) of communication with NGO representatives and local activists was taken into account

Then a meeting with stakeholders was held, which was attended by more than 80 residents of the areas adjacent to the territory of the future construction, representatives of NGOs and activists / opinion leaders of the city. The Consultant's representative presented the Project presentation and the results of the EBRD compliance assessment; within his competence, he answered the questions posed by stakeholders and he recorded the questions answered by Client´s representatives.

Result:

After the consultations, a report was released containing the minutes of the meeting in Russian and English, with explanations of how the comments of stakeholders would be taken into account.

Thus, the requirement of the Project's lender, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, regarding disclosure of information and interaction with stakeholders on the implementation of projects financed by it was fulfilled.