public disclosure authorized - world...

Pub

lic D

iscl

osur

e A

utho

rized

Pub

lic D

iscl

osur

e A

utho

rized

Pub

lic D

iscl

osur

e A

utho

rized

Pub

lic D

iscl

osur

e A

utho

rized

Pub

lic D

iscl

osur

e A

utho

rized

Pub

lic D

iscl

osur

e A

utho

rized

Pub

lic D

iscl

osur

e A

utho

rized

Pub

lic D

iscl

osur

e A

utho

rized

THE WORLD BANK

Management of

Environment and Social Issues in Highway Projects

in India

Sonia Chand Sandhu, Mridula Singh, Tapas Paul,

S. Vaideeswaran, R. Viswanathan

South Asia Environment & Social Unit (SASES)

Published by Environment and Social Development Unit, South Asia Region, The World Bank

(India Country Office), 70 Lodi Estate, New Delhi 110003

Internet : www.worldbank.org/in

Published in May 2006

Copying and/or transmitting portions or all of this work without permission may be a violation of applicable law. The World Bank encourages dissemination of its work and will nornially grant permission to reproduce portions of the work promptly.

The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed herein are those of the author(s), and do not necessarily reflect the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.

The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgement on the part of The World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries.

Cover design Gulshan Malik

Photos The World Bank, New Delhi Office

Editorial & Production Consultant Tapan K. Ghosh

Printed at IPP Ltd., Noida, U.P., India

The Dissemination Notes contained within these covers is the result of a three-year study designed to improve and mainstream the management of environmental and social concerns in highway projects in India.

Fifteen projects, including both those under preparation as well as those under implementation, were examined. A series of interviews with all concerned parties and stakeholders were conducted and twenty critical issues were identified and analyzed. The key findings and recommendations are presented as stand-alone "Dissemination Notes" to facilitate wider, need-based utilization.

Highway projects represent complex systems that demand significant amounts of time, effort and expertise. The Notes demonstrate that, while the level of appreciation and understanding of environmental and social issues associated with the development of highways is still evolving, greater and more effective attention is being paid to them, and this is particularly evident in projects initiated after 2001. The recommendations set out in the Notes have, in turn, increasingly been adopted as guidelines for application to Bank-supported highway projects, and hopefully they will also serve, more generally, as a contribution to the design and development of projects that more fully address environmental sustainability and social acceptance objectives.

The authors of the Notes have tried to present a balanced perspective with regard to the issues identified and discussed, and the recommendations are intended for a broad audience, including Clients, Consultants and Contractors involved in the development of the highways sector.

Jeffrey S. Racki

Acting Sector Director South Asia Environment and Social Unit

This review has benefited from the cooperation, guidance and reviews from many Bank staff in the New Delhi and Washington DC offices. Among them are Sujit Das, Alok Bansal, A. K. Swaminathan, Piers A Vickers, and Arnab Bandyopadhyay (SASEI); Jeffrey S. Racki, R. R. Mohan, Warren Waters, Sanjay Srivastava, Asif Faiz, Richard Ackerman, Carter Bran- don, and L. Pannerselvam (SASES); Juan Gaviria (LCSFP); and Jean Roger Mercier (ESDQC).

The team appreciates the continuous guidance provided by the senior resource advisors -

Anil Somani (EASTR) and Guang Zhe Chen (SASEI). The team thanks Bilal Rahill and David Hanrahan (SASES) for their invaluable strategic support and periodic reviews. The team also thanks Chistopher J. Hoban (EACPF); Juan D. Quintero and Ann Jeanette Glober (LCSEN); and Chaohua Zhang (EASSD) for their valuable peer reviews of the draft report.

The team recognizes the constructive contributions made by a number of senior government officials, project managers from the project implementation units, consultants, contractors and NGOs engaged in the planning and construction of highways in India. They include:

Dr S.K. Agarwal of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India; Dr Esther Malini of Tamil Nadu Road Development Corporation;

Messrs L.V. Nagarajan, Tippeswamy, Nadaf, and Dr Hanumappa of Karnataka State Highway Improvement Project; Messrs Murahari Reddy and Mahendra Reddy of Andhra Pradesh State Highway Project; Messrs Vijayalakshmanan, Prabhakaran and Ms. Hemalatha of Tamil Nadu Road Sector Project;

Messrs Ravi Prasad and B. K. Sinha of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways;

Messrs V. K. Sharma, Soni, C. V. Tiwari, A. K. Mishra, Sandeep Khare, S.K. Singh, Jauhri, and S.K. Singh of the National Highways Authority of India;

Messrs Nelson Hails, Saha, Ranjan, Antony, and Vamsi (Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick); Thomas, (Sverdru~ Inc); Sambandam, Malhotra and Harendra Sharma (BCEOM); Das Gupta, P. K. Mukhopadhyay, and Ashish Sinha (Intercontinental Consultants); Pramod Kumar (SMEC); A. G. Sarkar, Ghosh, and Ms Amita Bhatnagar (STUP Consultants); James McClung, Sundarajan and A. Debnath (Louis Berger Inc); D r Partho Ghosh (Operations Research Group); Dr Madhusudan (Lea Associates South Asia Pvt. Ltd.);

Messrs Roy and Tripathi (IRCON); H. Khazai (Kaysons Construction Company, Iraq); B. Dharma Teja and Pandey (Som Datt Builders Limited); Dua and Shrivastava (Oriental Constructions); J. S. Bhullar and D. S. Pannu (LG Engineering Company);

+ Messrs Subash Mishra and Haider Abbas (OASES); Tapas Mandal (SAFHI); Mishra (Study point); Dr Udayan Banerjee and Ms Neena Singh (Environment Resource Management); Dr N. K. Singh, Dr Sujit Singh, and V. Venkat Rao (independent consultants).

The team acknowledges the contribution of Tapan K. Ghosh, who painstakingly copy-edited these Dissemination Notes. Bela Varma (SASES) provided valuable research assistance, editing and logistic support.

The Authors

Foreword Acknowledgments

1. Terms of Reference for Environment Assessment & Social Impact Assessment Processes

2. Covering Environmental & Social Issues at the Inception Stage of Project Preparation

3. Enhancing the effectiveness of Environment & Social Screening

4. Quality of Environment Assessment & Social Impact Assessment Reports

5. Using the Baseline Studies

6. Analyzing Impacts & Mitigation Measures

7. Analysis of Alternatives

8. Community Consultations in EA and SIA Processes

9. Role of Independent Reviews

10. Using Implementation Experiences

11. Consultancy Constraints during Preparation of Environment Assessment & Social Impact Assessment

12. The Role of Supervision Consultants

13. Contractors' Environment and Social Management

14. NGOs and the Resettlement Action Plan

15. The Clients' Management of the Environment Assessment & the Social Impact Assessment Processes

16. Institutionalizing Management of Environment & Social Issues in the Clients' Organization

17. Mainstreaming Environment and Social Considerations in the Project Cycle

18. Model Terms of Reference for: Part 1A. Environment Assessment -National Highway Projects Part 1B. Environment Assessment -State Highway Projects Part 2. Social Impact Assessment

19. Supervision Protocols for: Part 1 Implementation of the Environment Management Plans Part 2 Resettlement Action Plans

20. Incorporating Environment Management Plan into Contract Documents

Addendum

Page

The Government of India (GoI) has substantially increased its focus towards road infrastructure development, over the last five years. In terms of investments, the Go1 has proposed an outlay of US$2 billion per annum over t h e next 10 years as a par t of its programme. In turn, this has resulted in a number of road projects being proposed to the World Bank for funding and the road sector now constitutes a significant part of the Bank's lending portfolio in India.

The economic benefits of road development are well established. Increased road capacity reduces travel time and lowers transport costs while increasing access to markets, jobs, education and health services. While the availability of good road transport assists econornic growth, there is also the likelihood of nega-

tive environment and social impacts if proper management is not adopted during design, construction and operations stages of road development.

In order to encourage the adoption of environmentally and socially sound management practices, certain Environment Assessment (EA) and Social Im- pact Assessment (SIA) processes have been made mandatory for the projects seeking the Bank's financial assistance. The Bank's process for approval of funding is quite complex. There are a number of stages throughout the preparation and implementation phases beginning with inception and ending with project completion. As the idea is to better mainstream environmental and social concerns in highway projects, the attempt here has been to exanline all the stages where EA/SIA processes are supposed to be, o r should be integrated. A separate Dissemina-

Highways Projects funded by World Bank in

Note: I

S. No.

Andhra Pradesh State Highways Project

Gujarat State Highways Project

Tamil Nadu State Highway Project

KarnatakaState Highways Improvement Project

Third National Highway Project (TNHP)

Grand Trunk Road lrnprovement Project (GTRIP)

Tindivanam - Trichy (NH-45)

Trichy - Madurai (NH-458)

Orissa State Roads Project

Kerala State Transport Project

UP State Roads Project

Project

Mizoram State Roads Project

Manipur State Highways Project

Madhya Pradesh State Roads Project

Allahabad Bypass Project

Lucknow-Muzaffarpur National Highway Project

gures in parenthesis indicate IBRD Loan amount for the p

Cost ($ million)

756 (589)

836 (397)

jects. * Dropped aft€

India (1995-200

Approval Date

May 1997

August 2000

June 2003

April 2001

May 2000

May 2001

March 2002

December 2002

March 2002

October 2003

preparation phase

'1 Current Status

Complete

Near Complete

lmplementation

Implementation

Implementation

lmplementation *

Implementation

lmplementation

lmplementation *

With ADB

Implementation

Implementation

tion Note in fact has been included on iniproving integration of EA/SIA issues in the Bank's Project Cycle (Note 17).

Over the last five years (since 1998), the Bank has gained considerable experience in facilitating these EA and SIA processes. Arising out of this experience, the Bank has recognized the need to strengthen current approaches adopted to address environment and social issues in road projects. This is particularly relevant to the Indian scenario, where management of environnient and social issues is a comparatively new field. It is in this context that this study was carried out.

The key objectives o l ille Review are:

T o review the Bank's approach towards addressing and managing environment and social issues in srate and na~ional highway projects in India between 1994 and 2001.

T o distill good practices in the application and effectiveness o l lnaliagelllent practices adopted to address environment and social issues in Bank and non-Bank projects in India.

The core Learn included Sonia Chand Sandhu (Envi- ronment Specialist), Mridula Singh (Social Develop- ment Specialist), Tapas Paul (Environment Special- ist), S. Vaideesuraran (Environment Consultant) and R.Viswanathan (Consultant for this assignment). 'l'his core team was guided by a team of advisors, which included Guang Chen (Sector Manager - Transport), Anil Somani (Senior Environment Specialist) and Bilal Rahill (Senior Environment Specialist). The core team carried out all the activities pertaining to this Review, including secondary research, primary meetings/discussions and the writing of this repori. Periodically, the core team had individual consultations with the advisors on the coverage, methodology and content of this Review.

In the terms of coverage, the following points are to

be noted:

This Review is restricted to national and state highways projects.

The Review does not cover roads that form part of the urban infrastructure o r rural development projects.

The specific focus areas within the roads and highways sector were not predetermined. The approach to identify focus areas was flexible and evolved with the progress of the Review. How- ever, by and large, the focus areas were identified through the desk analysis that was initially conducted. An attempt was made to address as many areas as possible. Therefore, the depth of study varies in the different areas. This was accepted as the Review was to be completed within a restricted timeframe. In some areas, the findings and recommendations were drawn primarily fro111 the secondary research whereas in others, these were based solely on the primary meetings conducted.

In the primary meeiings, discussions were held with the project implementing agencies, consultants, NGOs and other external stakeholders. Opinions, views and suggestions from within the Bank were sought through workshops, informal discussions and sharing of draft reports.

Although originally intended, projects from other countries were not covered. With the progress of the Review, it was decided to re- strict the study to the Indian context alone.

The Review included the following distinct stages: (i) secondary research and desk analysis, (ii) interim workshop to share the findings of the desk analysis, (iii) primary meetings i.e., discussions with project implementing agencies, consultants, contractors and external stakeholders including N G O s and government representatives and (iii) report drafting and finalization. The discussions were qualitative in nature and detailed questionnaires were prepared to help conduct them. IVo structured data-intensive surveys were

2 Management of Environment and Social Issues in Highway Projects in India

administered. Feedback obtained from the discussions along with the secondary research findings formed the basis of this Review. All three stages of the Re- view were complered between end-2001 and mid- 2003. All members of the core team carried out this Review along side the regular work at the New Delhi Office.

Desk Analysis/Secondary Research

The desk analysis focused on the EA and SIA reports and the SASES comments that were given prior to their finalization. EA and SIA reports including 111- ception, Screening (including Feasibility), SEA, Project EA, Project EMPs and RAPS were studied. Although, this desk analysis was largely qualitative in nature, a simple evaluation mechanism was developed to reduce subjectivity. For each type of report, attributes were assigned. Criteria against each attribute were identified and scored. Rased on the scoring, attributes were graded. The findings vis-i-vis the different reports were determined from this evaluation. The key issues for further investigations were identified from the findings. While the different reports were being studied, the identification of good practices was carried out in parallel. A fairly exhaustive list of good practices was based on the information available with the core team.

Interim Workshop

Following the completion of the desk analysis, an interim workshop was conducted in New Delhi in March 2002 to share and discuss the findings and to determine the way forward. This workshop was well attended with active participation from both the infrastructure and social development teams. In this workshop, feedback was obtained on the key issues and on the good practices identified for further study. This feedback was subsequently incorporated.

Primary Meetings

The project implementing agencies, consultants, contractors and NGOs were broadly identified as the target groups for the primary meetings. Appropriate questionnaires were prepared for each target group to help conduct discussions. Distinction was also made between the environment staff, social staff and project

director/team leader while formulating these questionnaires.

By and large, the questionnaires were administered, in the offices of the implementing agencies, consult-

- -

ants and NGOs. In certain instances, the feedback was collected along with field/site visits. Confidenti- ality was assured to the respondents, and frank feedback was sought. Detailed recording of the discussions was carried out in the questionnaire format subsequent to these individual meetings. The complered questionnaires are available with the core team.

Additional information was collected on the good practices identified during the desk analysis and primary meetings. This was mainly done through the contacts of the core team.

Information Compilation and Assessment

The core team studied both the secondary and the primary information closely. The views, opinions and suggestions expressed during the primary meetings were carefully assessed and erroneous feedback was distilled out. The core team's own views, opinions and expertise played a significant part in translating the information collected through the secondary and primary research into a form and structure that is tan- gible for the Bank to use. The information compilation and assessment was done in parallel to the preparation of the report.

Report Compilation & Structure

The Review Report has been brought out as a volume containing some 20 self-contained Dissemination Notes. These are for independent dissemination and use. The structure adopted for these include a brief background, findings and recommendations. As these notes are mutually exclusive of each other a reader of the complete volume would have to tolerate and ele- ment of repetition. Certain specific outputs of the Review have been incorporated in the Annexes, and can be disseminated as self-contained notes. The top- ics covered under the Dissemination Notes are as under:

1. 'Terms of Reference for Environment assessment & the Social Impact Assessment processes

Introduction 3

2. Covering Environmental & Social Issues at the Inception Stage of Project Preparation

3. Enhancing the effectiveness of Environment & Social Screening

4. Quality of Environment Assessment & Social Impact Assessment Reports

5. Using the Baseline Studies

6. Analyzing Impacts & Mitigation Measures

7. Analysis of Alternatives

8. Community Consultations in Environment assessment (EA) and Social Impact Assess- ment (SIA) Processes

9. Role of Independent Reviews

10. Using Implementation Experiences

1 I. Consultancy Constraints during Preparation of Environment Assessment & Social Impact Assessment

12. The role of Supervision Consultants

13. Contractors' Environment and Social Man- agement

14. NGOs and the Resettlement Action Plan

15. The Clients' Management of the Environ- ment Assessment & the Social Impact As- sessment Processes

16. Institutionalizing Management of Environ- ment and Social Issues in the Clients' Organi- zation

17. Mainstreaming Environment and Social Con- siderations in the Project Cycle

18. Model Terms of Reference (TOR) for (i) Envi- ronment Assessment for National Highway Projects & State Highway Projects and (ii) Social Impact Assessment Processes

19. Supervision Protocols for Implementing (i) Environment Management Plans and (ii) Resettlement Action Plans

20. Incorporating Environment Management Plan into Contract Documents

Peer Review and Final Report

The report before being finalized was peer reviewed, and the review comments were incorporated in the final report.


Note 1

Terms of reference (ToRs) are the core instruments that detail the ambit of work and responsibilities for agencies/professionaIs engaged for the project. This dissemination note provides key findings and recommendations based on an analysis of the effectiveness and adequacy of various TORS to guide and direct quality EA and SIA processes. These include TORS for EA and SIA Preparation. Independent Reviews, Supervision Consultants, NGO implementing the PAP, Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Consultants, Technical Audit and Quality Assurance (TA) Consultants.

Model ToRs for preparation of EA and SIA provided in Dissemination Note 18, were drafred based on these recommendations.

Environment Assessments (EAs) and Social Impact Assessments (SIAs) are essentially the responsibility of the project implementing agency. These are generally carried out by consulting organizations (referred hereinafter as "EA o r SIA consultants"), bdsed on TORS developed for the purpose. Subsequently, the outputs of the EA o r SIA consultants are assessed based on these ToRs. A well-developed TOR tends to ease their job, and often even reduces the cost of consultancy services. Therefore, clarity and compre- hensiveness of the TOR is a crucial step in determining the nature and quality of the EA and SIA report, which is the final output and means of communication of the entire study to the decision makers and the various stakeholders in the project. The EA report ultimately reflects the requirements and stipulations specified in the TOR. Ideally, to develop a good TOR, the project implementing agency also needs to have its own team and brainstorm on some of the likely major environment and social issues that the project would need to address.

The 'I'oRs for the preparation of EA and SIA, for the State roads projects under the State Technical Assis- tance (TA) loan were drafred in 1995. All consultant appointments were based on these initial TORS. Since 1998, the Bank's operdtional directives related to environmental assessment and involuntary resettlement have been succeeded by operational policies, namely, OP 4.01 and OP 4.12 respectively. The project preparation process has also evolved to comply with the

new policies. This has resulted in enhancing the technical quality and content of the EAs and SIAs. In this context, although the EA and SIA processes have been modified in all the projects during their preparation, the ToRs were not updated, perhaps due to contractual obligations of the projects.

ToRs FOR EA AND SIA PREPARATION Findings

The TORS were prepared in rather broad terms and followed a "one shoe fits all" approach. It is crucial for the TOR to be specific, comprehensive and c l e ~ r , in order to determine the nature, scope, methodology and technical contents required of the EA and SIA. Earlier, the ToRs were not able to establish boundaries of the assessments. Further, assessment of impacts was done in a very subjective and qualitative manner, as quantitative prediction tools were not specified in the ToRs. Survey requirements were not specified, which led to a vast collection of unfocussed baseline data. Analysis of alternatives was carried out mainly as a justification exercise only for deviations from existing alignments, and not genuine consideration of design and engineering options. This lack of project specificity resulted in varying interpretations by the EA and SIA consultants, adversely affecting the quality of the process and the reports. Illustrating this aspect is the TOR for the EA for the Mizoram States Road Project that did not provide any direction or highlight issues that needed greater attention

such as the general eco-fragility of the region, ment andtuning ofthe EA and SIA outputs remains biodiversity, o r additional environment management measures for hill road construction. The result was that initial outputs of the EA consultants were sub- standard with the Environment Management Plans (EMPs) being quite similar to those applicable in the plains. The reports went through a number of revi- sions and took a long time to be cleared by the Bank. This delayed project processes at many stages.

Lack of clarity in Output requirements. This left the TORS open to varied interpretation with respect to the expected outputs. For instance, the scope and purpose of the resettlement action plans to be prepared on the basis of SIA was not clear. Sometimes, the purpose was interpreted as providing an indicative budget and planning for implementation mechanisms required for the clearance for the project. At other times, it was seen as a document to be implemented by the borrower/client with help from Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs). The scope and timeframe required for the preparation would also differ accordingly. Moreover, this led to communication gaps between the borrower/client and others including the Bank, both in the assessment process and the content of deliverables required at every project stage.

Personnel, time and budget requirements for the completion of EA and SIA were underestimated. In a majority of cases, this was an inadequacy within the Project Coordination Consultants (PCC) teams, who showed requirement for environment and social inputs only for a period of six months. In reality, the role of the environment and social expert continues throughout the project preparation stage (about two years). The ToRs also prescribed a previously established guideline of recruiting international experts with 10-15 years experience. This was rarely provided due to the cost. It was difficult to find Indian EA and SIA professionals with relevant 10 or more years' experience. ToRs did not specify any sub-professional o r support requirements for the EA and SIA, and most

a major weakness. The ToRs have not been quite clear on the correlation with other aspects of project preparation, resulting in the lack of integration with engineering design and stakeholder consultations. In addition, the relative importance given to the environment and social professionals within the PCC is generally low (Several delays occurred while ensuring integration to enhance the quality of the project). For instance, it is expected that the Rehabilitation Ac- tion Plan (RAP) be submitted as a parallel output of the preliminary project report. However, the design was often changed during the detailed design stage with no inputs from the SIA consultants. Due to this, the final designs in the projects examined did not reflect outputs from the EA and SIA.

Stakeholder consultation requirements are not explicit. Previously, in road projects, the interaction with commurlities has not been carried out in a manner that is expected today as per Bank policies. How- ever, the ToRs were not explicit enough to provide the right kind of direction to the borrower/client to carry out and document public consultations

Recommendations

TORS for EA and SIA processes should be flexible to accommodate changes during project preparation. Certain flexibility is required to adapt to changes that may occur in an evolving project development process. These could be changes in requirements due to a

policy change in the Bank [transition from Opera- tional Directives (ODs) to Operational Policies (OPs)] o r modifications in the assessment process due to the identification of a critical environment issue. Formal- izing these modificatio~ls to the TOR is very crucial for the assessment process to be re-directed. These are usually suggested through verbal communications and during discussions, but have a bearing on the time, manpower and budget planning. Some flexibility in the TOR will help in reducing delays that are caused due to inadequate planning.

EA and SIA teams comprised only one person work- TORS for EA and SIA processes should be project- ing on environment and social aspects. This greatly specific in terms of the scope, resources required limited the quality and schedule of outputs. and outputs expected. The TORS should specify the

manner in which environment and social concerns Coordination with other aspects of project develop-

need to be integrated and documented in the Prelimi-


nary Projcct Report (PPR), Dralt Project Report (DPR) and contract documents. Guidelines for carrying out consultations, docunlentation of their outputs and extent of influence on engineering designs also need to be specified. The time required for EA'and SIA should he associated with the scope and nature of impacts, and setting a fixed timeframe may not be appropriate. As regards 11eed for specific expertise, it may be necessary in certain cases to focus on creden- tials rather than years of experience of a specialist. Therefore, a generic nlodel TOR should always be modified to suit the specific project needs.

The PCCs for the projects comprise a consortium of consultants, including those for the EA and SIA. The Category A projects of the World Bank require that the FA be conducted independent of the P C C to corn- ply with Bank's OP 4.01. The EAs and SIAs were, therefore, reviewed by an independent team of consultants to ensure that the Assessments were not biased, and the outputs were integrated in the engineering designs. Since independent reviews are required before project appraisal, time is an important factor. The output is a review report, which identifics gaps and inconsistencies in the EA and SIA processes and reports, with reco~nmendations on how these can be overcome or improved. These shortcomings are addressed in the final version of the EA and SIA outputs that are submitted to the Bank for a p p r ~ i ~ a l . The follouling emerged from the analysis of these ToRs.

Findings

The assignment and outputs changed and were beyond the scope of the TORS. In almost all cases, EAs and SIAs carried out by the primary consultants there was scope for substantial improvement in technical content and reporting quality. In most cases, these reviews tended to become problen-solving exercises with a focus on providing solutions to the deficiencies in the EA and SIA carried out by the primary consultants. Hence, the review consultants were encouraged t o re-validate a lot of baseline data, monitoring and consultation inputs. They ended up completing the gaps identified durivq the review and preparing the final reports instead of just helping the pri- rnary consultants. In solne cases, this led to a duplica-

tion of effort and a resource drain on the project implementing agency. The linking of the review with the consolidation has also led to a lack of unbiasedness in the independent review.

The TORS did not provide for additional resources that may be required during the review. In many instances, the project implementing agency preferred that the EA and SIA outputs be consolidated and fi- r~alized by the independent reviewer. The scope of work increased in all the independent reviews conducted. These aspects were not clearly specified in their ToRs, and and not accounted for with respect to resource allocation. This led to the need for modifications to the contract which caused further delays in the project preparation process.

Recommendations

The TOR needs to have only a "review" focus. Com- bining the review with the consolidation of reports is not a good practice and should be delinked. If the draft EA and SIA outputs require substantive changes as an outcome of the independent review, then this should be done by the I'CC. If this is not possible due to some reasons, then a separate contract should be worked out for the consolidation of the EA and SIA reports. The independent review consultants can be allowed to bid for the consolidation, only after submitting the review report to the Bank.

Supervision consultants arc appointed to supervise the contractor activities during project in~plementation. Ge~lerally, these are also a consortium of consultants, with the team leader belonging to the lead consultant, carrying out the supervision. The findings and recoinmendations related to the TORS for supervision consultants are as follows.

Findings

The TORS for supervision consultants do not cover environment management as a part of the overall objectives. Generally, supervision consultants tend to view environment management as less important and an activity that is "taken for granted". Provision is made for only one environment officer within the Supervision Consultant's team, with the roles and re-

Terms of Reference for €A & the SIA Processes 7

sponsibility included in the TOR. This directs the environment officer to ensure that the environment management plans (EMPs) are implemented but provides no powers to sign, approve or levy penalties on the contractor. The supervision of environment management requires a holistic approach and cannot be effectively achieved by one officer. In addition, the role of the environment officer is not seen as an integral part of other project activities and the position is not vested with adequate decision-making responsibilities. A number of other social issues though not related to resettlement, also need to be monitored during construction works, such as the compliance with labor and welfare laws, including those for women laborers and consultations to inform people of safety during construction.

The evaluation of the environment officer is not part of the criteria for the selection of the consultants. Consulting companies o r consortiums bid for the supervision assignment and the project implementing agency evaluatcs the bid in line with the TOR. In some cases, the curriculum vitae of the environment officer is overlooked during evaluation. In other cases, the environment officer is not evaluated at all. This reflects the level of importance given to the recruitment of an environment officer.

Recommendations

TOR should emphasize the role of the supervision consultants in implementing the EMP and management of other social issues. EMP should bc implemented simultaneously with construction-related activities. Apart from including the roles and responsibilities of the environment officer, there is also a need to refer to the responsibilities of the other team members vis-8-vis environment management. For instance, the materials engineer should ensure that the quarries in use are not located in ecologically sensitive areas. In addition, the contractor's role vis-a-vis management of social issues should be stipulated in the supervision consultant's TOR.

Explicit decision-making authority for the environment officer should be specified. The environment officer should be given sufficient authority to monitor the EMP and suggest penalties if the contractor does not show appropriate environment responsibil-

ity or involve higher officials as the case may be. An environment officer without these powers in the supervision consultant's team will be futile. The TOR should be specific in this regard.

TOR FOR NGO IMPLEMENTING THE

REHABILITATION ACTION PLAN (RAP)

All the projects hire services of N G O s to work in close coordination with the project authorities to implement the RAP which is prepared by the primary consultants. Essentially, the responsibility is to facili tate t he implementa t ion of R A P so t ha t encumberance-free stretches are handed ovcr to the civil contractors. The scope of work involves the following: to consult with individual affected families; verify, assess and evaluate losses of affected families; ensure relocation and rehabilitation; coordinate with district administration, panchayats and rnunicipal bodies to facilitate rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R), and document and monitor process and progress of R&R activities.

Findings

Quality of RAP determines the scope of work and not the TOR. The TOR is prepared on the assump- tion that thc baseline information provided through the census of potentially affected people, carried out during the preparation will be realistic to the extent that NGOs will be able to verify the data. However, most projects reviewed reveal that the data was either incomplctc, o r the Project Affected Persons (PAPs) listed in the RAP were not getting affected as projected. O r with substantative changes in the alignment during the implementation others who were not affected earlier may fall in the affected category. Thus the N G O s wcrc often required to carry out fresh census of the affected. This involves re-surveys, measurement of properties, and identification of relocation sites among other activities, that often goes beyond the scope indicated in the TOR.

The TOR is not modified to accommodate variations in scope of work, especially related to design alignment changes. Implementation of RAP is initiated with the verification of PAPs by the NGOs to rccon- firm the list of PAPs as indicated in the RAP. This list is based on the final design prepared. However,


the final list of affected people depends on the changes introduced during implementation. Since the NGOs are mobilized much in advance of supervision consultants and contractors so that they are able to complete the impleme~ltat ion t o a large extent, the changes to alignment introduced during the course of construction has often led to NGOs re-doing the exercise. N o t only does this process duplicate the workload but often increases it. This dimension is not even considered in the TOR.

Lack of scope for allocating upfront financial resources to the NGOs. Mostly NGOs support thcm- selves through grants and donations for specific programs which leaves them with no scope to divert funds from other programs.The implementation of RAP is process-oriented which finally culminates as an output. They are paid for their services at the end of each output, i.e. completing the preparation of micro-plans, relocation and rehabiliation. This limits them from carrying out the implcmcntation of RAP with all the required resources upfront.

Lack of clarity on expected support from NGOs to monitoring consultants. Monitoring is generally carried out by NGOs. In some projects external agencies provided the support. T o be able to provide the back-up, extensive consultation with NGOs on the progress made towards the implementation of RAP, project field offices and field surveys were expected of the external agency. However, overlapping of work with another agency was viewed as an imposition of another organization for reporting. Moreover, the type of coordination required by the N G O LO facilitate monitoring was not even on their agenda.

Recommendations

Project implementing agencies should be flexible to include modifications to the TOR. A preliminary assessment of the base document should be made. If there are any changes, it should be indicated in the i~iception report highlighting the areas for modification in the TOR. During construction, specific changes introduced in the design that have a direct bearing on different people getting included or increase in the number of affected people should be recognised. This will establish the likely resources and manpower required to implement the RAP.

Provision should be made to negotiate the schedule of payment. The amount paid should be linked appropriately to the stages of implementation of RAP. The initial installment should be adequate enough to carry out the processes required for the preparation of micro-plans and finalization of individual's entitlc- ment. This should be reflected in the TOR.

Demand to hire services of external agencies was felt in two projects (out of 15 reviewed) as the number of PAPS was very high. Project implementing agency required support to develop a uniform system for regular monitoring and to guide the implementation team on identified bottle-necks. In addition, the purpose was to provide an independent asessment of the outcomes of the R&R policy. The present review came out with the following:

Findings

Role of the monitoring agency was not clear. In both the projects, the understanding with which consultants carried out monitoring was more from "polic- ing" the work of NGOs and fault finding. Over a pried, suggestions 011 areas to improve implementation, which included formats for development of micro-~lans, methods to evaluate assets, was recognized as a part of their work.

Reporting mechanisms delayed the process of decision-making. Often, the M & E consultants send feedback directly to the project implementing agency's head office and the field units are not kept in the loop. This has led to time lags in solving problems. In some situations, issues were raised without recon- firmation from the field units.

Recommendations

Monitoring and evaluation should be a separate consultancy. In most projects, monitoring is being carried out by the project implementing agency the~n- selves and consultants are hired for impact evaluation studies. Keeping the two agencies separate will ensure that objectivity is maintained. In case there is a need to hire external services for monitoring, they should be limited to establishing systems that can be

Terms of Reference for EA & the SIA Processes 9

adopted by NGOs and project implementing agency at an early stage of implementation. This will ensure that monitoring is rnainstrearned with the overall impletnentation and speedy decisions are taken.

Monitoring should go beyond outputs to include outcomes. One of the objectives should be to link monitoring to the outcomes of R&R policy. This will enable the agency to develop appropriate indicators and take corrective measures, if required.

TOR FOR TECHNICAL AUDIT & QUAL- ITY ASSURANCE (TA) CONSULTANTS

Historically, there has been the understanding that maintenance works cause no environment and social impacts and do not necessitate specific management plans. This aspect was, therefore, not covered in the TOR for TA consultant or PWD (in some projects PWD was solely responsible). It was in the more recent projects (after 2001) that an Environment and Social/Resettlement Management Plan (ES/RMP) was formulated. This uses a checklist based approach to ensure that erlvironment and social issues are identified and appropriately addressed. The ES/RMP is attached as a part of the maintenance roads contract documents.

Findings

Management of environment and social issues are ignored in maintenance works. The TOR for the TA

consultant does not include addressing and managing environment and social issues, apart from men- tioning that the ESMP needs to be implemented. This arises from the assumptions that there are no environment and social impacts associated with maintenance works. It is then left to the judgement and understanding of the TA consultant to ensure - that the implementation of maintenance works is approached in a manner similar to the upgrading component in all aspects.

Recommendations

Management of environment and social issues should be included in the design and implementation of maintenance component and shodd have a similar approach to the upgradation component. Mainte- nance works are usually spread widely across the State and implemented by many contractors. Therefore, it is essential that there is a systematic and uniform approach to addressing environment and social issues. Since the TA consultants carry out a periodic supervision, environment management/implementation guidelines, supervision formats and monitoring requirements need to be prepared at an early stage and disseminated appropriately to PIU contractors in a timely tnanner so that the ES/RMP is implemented effectively.


Note 2

The Inception Report for a project provides the method and a work plan for carrying our Environment Assessment (EA) and Social Impact Assessment (SIA), and outlines the essential links with engineering designs and other project preparation milestones. This dissemination note based on a review of 14 projects, highlights the key findings and presents recommendarions illustrated with the help of a good practice example.

The work plan for EA and SIA processes, generally includes a description of tools and methods, schedules of deliverables, with clear linkages to the engineering plans, designs and other project preparation activities. It outlines the method to address project- specific issues gathered from preliminary surveys and consultations with the project proponent and other stakeholders. It should ideally be based on the TOR. An upstream resource plan, specifying the allocation of personnel and budget for the EA and SIA ensures that the work plan is implemented as planned. It is also a good tool for the project implementing agency t o monitor progress of work vis-i-vis the TOR require- men ts.

Findings

In most projects, a wide variation was observed in outlining the methods and specific work plans for carrying out the EA and SIA. T h e accompanying table summarizes the quality and coverdge of the key requirements in the inception reports of the projects that were reviewed. The rating averaged between good and fair in terms of coverage of the work plan and the re-

sources allocated. The wide variation led to delays in the overall project preparation. From the duration taken, it is clear that 11 of the 14 projects took more time than stipulated in the TOR.

Inception reports were not reviewed earlier in a majority of cases. The comments on the environment and social aspects at the inception stage were only available for 4 of the 14 projec~s. An opportunity was

Good Practice - Utility of Early Reconnaissance & Rapid Assessment in Preparing the lnception Report

In the Gujarat State Highways Project (1 997) the inception report included a work plan based on the outcome of an early reconnaissance and rapid assessment survey. This survey included the physical identification of environmental and social features in each 1 km length and up to 50m on either side of the ROW were recorded. Consultations with stakeholders provided further perspectives on the features that were identified. These features were tabulated, scored for their importance using weights and analysed to identify the tentative environmental and social hotspots.

Kilnmeter

. . . . . .. , . % x ~ r l Envnn,nmenlal R ~ l m r < e ~ Km lor Conidor I b K I I U ~ P I P ~ - W I ~ P D i * l r i b ~ l i ~ n "I I ~ ~ d l i l > n I)( 51gnilicanl Cnv~ronmmtal Rrrourcrr or Putenlaal Impact, on Each Curridor

Issues at Corridor Level Comparative Gaunt Chart depicting Issues of All Corridors

Done at the inception stage, this survey and rapid assessment were used in modifying the work plan earlier proposed by the consultants at the time of bidding for the assignment. The lnception Report proposed the following changes in the EA and SIAapproach for the project:

St&m&d&methods&: The TOR (and the consultants' bid) stipulated completion of a sectoral EA forthe 800km project roads (selected out of 1500km of candidate roads) and full EAs for all individual project roads, within 8 months. Given the long development timetable, the uncertainty as to which 800km corridors will be improved and the ecological and cultural variations amongst the corridors recorded during the reconnaissance, it was argued that the total work couldn't be completed within 8 months. Therefore, the lnception Report proposed that (a) the sectoral EA would cover all 1500km of candidate roads, and (b) the sectoral EA and full EAs for only the Phase-l roads would be completed in 8 months; and (c ) EA and SIA preparation services would be extended over 24 months to complete full EAs of the project roads included in the subsequent phases.

. . A d d l t l o n a l o rofessionai: The reconnaissance pointed out to the presence of large number of cultural properties and special forms of traditional built-up development. The inputs of aconservation architect for addressing the project-induced impacts on the built form and buildings with high cultural and architectural values was added to the personnel deployment schedule proposed earlier.

The utility of the modifications to the EA and SIA approach was evident from the way project preparation went without hiccups. (The project preparation activities started in February 1997, the SEA and the EA for Phase I were of a standard acceptable to the Bank in January 1998, and all Gol clearances for Phase I were obtained by April 1998.) While a quick reconnaissance is conducted in many projects, it normally does not examine social/environmental issues. Experience in this project suggested that a broader reconnaissance and quick social/environmental assessments during the inception stage could be useful tools.

thus lost at an early stage of these projects to t ream- line the EA and SIA processes.

EA and SIA methodology is not detailed as a part of the work plan in most Inception Reports. The likely environment and social issues gathered from the reconnaissance surveys and consultation with stakeholders are not reflected in the EA methodology. In only 3 of the 8 inception reports reviewed, the work

plan was satisfactory, with EA and SIA outputs defined for every project stage, along with impact assessment techniques and models. In the Gujarat State Highway Project (GSHP), the timing and the quality of the assessments helped project development with value additions at each project stage. Impact assessment techniques and models were specified as a part of the initial work plan itself.

12 M a n a g e m e n t o f E n v i r o n m e n t and Social lssues in H ~ g h w a y P r o j e c t s i n India

Good Practice - Re-planning Resource Requirements for EA and SIA at Inception Stage

7 heTrichy -Madurai (NH-45B) project(l999) involved upgrading of an existing district road to 4-lane dual carriageway national highway standards, for a length of 125km. The consultants had proposed in their bid documents inputs of two key professionals (1 each for environmental and social) and 4 support personnel (2 each for the environmental and social aspects) for carrying out the EA and SIA for the project. No separate provision for environmental surveys was made.

During the inception stage of the project, reconnaissance surveys were undertaken wherein social/environrnentaI issues and resources in the vicinity of the road were identified and tabulated. The surveys helped in providing a broad understanding of the potential impacts, and an estimate of EA and SIAworks required. The surveys also indicated that the upgrading would require many realignments, geometric improvements and significant land acquisition. To take care of the complexities involved, the Inception Report proposed the following changes: . Additional inputs of landscape and architectural conservation experts;

Continuous deployment of seven support professionals (3 for the environmental and 4 for the social aspects) for the entire EA and SIA preparation period; and,

Provisions for environmental and social surveys were made.

According to the consultants and the project officials, these early augmentation and budget redistribution were useful in ensuring the quality of EA and SIA outputs in the project. It should be noted that this case - where the changes were based on outconles of extensive site reconnaissance and rapid social/environmental assessment, is not equivalent to the commonly occurring re-planning or rescheduling of professional inputs in many other projects - where the changes are done mainly to accommodate administrative requirements, or if the proposed professionals could not be actually mobilised.

Resource allocation plans do not cover EA and SIA activities. Most Inception Reports did not commit personnel for deployment or support facilities for carrying out EA and SIA. Although key personnel, one each for the environment and the social aspects, was proposed in most projects, deployment of support professionals was mentioned only in two projects (GSHP and NH Trichy-Madurai project). This helped the key professionals to focus on the analytical content of the EA and SIA. None of the projects proposed any specialized expert inputs, even when specific issues such as natural habitats and biodiversity had been identified during reconnaissance. In the Kerala State Trans- port Project, this was a major cause of delay in project preparation. The lack of a waterways specialist to lead the EA and SIA process for the pilot waterways component led to a sub-standard assessment with very poor report quality. Similarly, the lack of a biodiversity specialist in the Mizoram State Roads Project led to substantial delays in project preparation and quality of design. This was exacerbated by the weak understanding of biodiversity issues in the State, related engi-

neering, and the impact induced by the road project.

Recommendations

The TORS for EA and SIA should specify the contents of the Inception Report. TORS should contain explicit reference to the work plan and the methodology. The approach to developing the work plan and methodology should also be mentioned, i.e. through preliminary consultation with the stakeholders and a reconriaissance survey to help identify the key environment and social issues.

TOR for the screening should be modified after the inception, if necessary. If the gaps/deficiencies are identified during inception, then the TOR should be modified. The Bank's environment and social specialists should proactively discuss the Inception Re- port with the project implementing agency and the PCC. As an outcorne of these discussions, the boundaries of the environment and social screening should be firmly agreed upon.

Covering Environmental and Social Issues at the Inception Stage of Project Preparation 13

Note 3

~NHANCING THE EFFECTIVENESS

This dissemination note encapsulates the key findings and provides specific recommendations for strengthening environment and social screening, including scoping as a specific output and integrating screening findings in feasibility studies. These have been illustrated with the help of good practices on screening that were identified during this review.

Environment Assessment (EA) and Social Impact Assessment (SIA) processes begin with screening, covering the roads proposed in the feasibility study. The purpose of screening is to get an overview of the nature, scale and magnitude of the issues in order to determine the scope of the detailed EA and SIA that would be subsequently carried out. After identifying issues, the applicability of the Bank's environment and social safeguard policies is established along with Government of India's regulatory requirements. Based on this, boundaries and focus areas for the EA and SIA along with the use of specific instruments are determined. Project roads are classified based on their . . . . environment and social sensltlvltles, and an inventory of features is presented in the form of strip maps. The screening also provides preliminary indications for preparing the draft resettlement and rehabilitation (R & R) policy for the affected people.

Findings

The time allotted or available for screening was insufficient. Adequate time for screening was noted only in a few projects. Screening was often compressed and not given the required attention, as the focus was on the detailed EA process and the preparation of the various EA reports.

Scoping was a weak link. In all the projects, although screening brought out some environment and social issues, limitations and constraints of what could be accomplished during the EA and SIA processes and how these would impact project implementation, were not clearly identified. In some projects, for example, the Third National Highway Project, important issues emerged during the implementation phase,

such as the provision of compensation to people living on designated "abadi" land. These took substantial time and resources to resolve. Had this been identified during screening as a critical issue, it could have been further evaluated during the SIA, resulting in saving time during the implementation phase. An exception however, was the Kerala State Transport Project, where specific scoping workshops were conducted as part of screening, and road safety emerged as a critical issue. Though road safety was not covered as a part of the EA and SIA, several separate studies on road safety were carried out as a part of project preparation and a road safety audit was proposed to be carried out on the design.

There is no uniformity in the way screening of social issues is carried out and the utility seems limited. Screening of issues is being done in quite an unstructured manner. Appropriate tools, such as Sam- pling, interviewing, etc. are not used effectively and questionnaires are not field tested before wider administration. Consultation is restricted to just hap- hazardly "talking to people" along the right-of-way. Objectivity is often lost in such an exercise along with glaring gaps in the identification of issues. For example, most projects did not identify issues related to outdated land records, the involuntary resettlement issues and problems of share croppers.

Environment and social issues are addressed in the feasibility studies using the screening reports in a limited manner. Feasibility studies are conducted for all the projects to prioritize and select the feasible roads/routes for inclusion in the final investment program. The focus of the feasibility studies is on engineering, economic and financial analyses.

Good Practices - Screening Methodology

In Trichy-Madurai (NH-45B) project, screening methodologies were based on evaluation of the VECs identified along the project road, using a modified BEES approach. The screening enabled the identification of homogenous sections with respectto environmental and social sensitivity. The screening provided inputs to finalisation of the design, choice of the widening options, and the scoping of the EA and SIA. The methods worked out for environmental and social screening are presented in the Figures below.

Figure 1 Methodology for Environmental Screening D.lphl Tcehnlqm - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I-

Figure 2 Methodology for Social Environmental Screening

Proj

D

0

ect-induced impact on the various VECs were evaluated for every km section of the project corridor, in the following steps:

Identifying Valued Ecosystem Components (VEC);

Inventory of physical, social and cultural environmental features. The detailed strip maps recording information on natural, social and cultural environmental features, from field surveys, secondary sources and consultations;

Transforming VEC parameter estimates into an Environmental Quality (EQ) scale of zero to one through value function graphs;

Assigning parametric importance units (PIU) to determine the relative significance of the individual parameters;

Evaluating the current environmental quality without the project, by multiplying the EQ values by the PIU for each component, at a given section. The summation of the score for each of the component gives the compositeenvironmental quality score on a given section [ES,, = C EQ, , x PI U<];

Evaluating changes in environmental quality with the project, adopting a worst-case scenario approach [ A EQL, = (EQcGx PIUc.) (PI<< x Ct)l;

Evaluating environmental quality with the project [ESP.= C(EQ,,x PIU) - AEQ- or, ESP, = C{EQ,,x PIUc} {I-( PI_ x Ct,)];

ES,, i s the base scenario composite environmental score on sections; ES,,, is composite environmental score with project on section s; EQ<\ is relative environmental quality value for component c on section s; PIUL is parametric importance unit for component c; [AEQ,% is change in the environmental quality value for component c on section s; PI_ is relat~ye potential impact value for component c on section s; Ctc IS the impact category (magnitude) for component c.

Categorizing the road sections into homogenous very high, high, medium and low impact sections based on comparison of (a) environmental quality scores and (b) the project induced changes in the environmental quality.

Enhancing the Effectiveness of Environment and Social Screening 15

Good Practice - Determination of Impacts at Screening Stage

To compare the environmental quality along different sections of the road (for the baseline scenario and due to the project scenario) each of the VEC's were evaluated through a common quantifiable Environmental Quality (EQ) scale.

At the screening stage quantitative information on the VECs are not collected. Therefore, determining how the variation in each of the VECs affects the quality of environment would involve subjectivity. Also considering the qualitative data, it would not always be possible to determine such relationships. therefore, the EQ scale was determined strictly on a relative basis, using an Ogive chart. For the purpose the entire corridor is divided into one-Km sections. t h e observed parameter values for each of the sections are sorted in increasing order of environmental quality along with the corresponding frequencies of occurrence. Percentage cumulative frequency representing the relative environmental quality is plotted against the observed parameter values. Environmental Quality may vary between 0 to 1, with 0 representing the worst quality and 1 .O representing best quality in the context of the study area. Any EQ value signifies that the corresponding parameter value is better than or equal to that percentage of the sections. Value function graphs for parameters that are quantified are presented as continuous line graphs. If thedata for the parameter is qualitative, a discrete VF graph is generated.

The methodology for working out the value function graphs of a VEC (soil productivity). VECs have been described in the following section.

Example- Soil Productivity: Soil productivity is dependent on the soil composition in terms of percentage of clay, loam and sand content and soil irrigability. Hence the two indicators of irrigability and clay, loam & sand content are used for determining the EQ values for productivity. The 16 types of soils in the region are ranked according to increasing order of clay, loam and sand content as well as irrigability. The productivity rankings for the soil type are arranged in ascending order and frequency of occurrence isdetermined. Cumulative frequency applied to give EQ Values. The productive clayey soil, with a higher water retaining capacity, best suited for paddy cultivation representing very good quality (EQ - I) , and the sandy soil not suited for agricultural purposes representing very poor quality (EQ - 0). The EQ values are plotted to give the VFG for Soil Productivity as shown in below.

"." LOW MEDIUM HIGH

Soil Productivity

However there are limitations in the way findings from screening were assessed and included in the feasibility study. These are:

First, the methods for arriving at the costs, i.e. the financial costs, are generally thumb rule driven. The absolute cost is determined as costs per km length of road or assumed at approxi-

mately 1% of the project costs. In only 4 projects (out of 14 reviewed), the costs were worked out satisfactorily.

Second, the social costs include only the land acquisition costs and not costs for other R & R assistance.


Good Practice - Surveys during Screening

In the Clttar Pradesh State Roads Project (2000) separate environmental and social survey teams were employed. The findings of the social and environmental screening exercises were later merged to provide inputs to the selection of the roads for improvement.

Social screening was based indicators such as (i) estimates of potentially impacted population, (ii) number of structures potentially impacted, (iii) presence of indigenous population groups, (iv) potential impacts on the religious and community structures, and (v) the possible livelihood impacts. Data on these were collected through strip maps, field surveys, secondary surveys and preliminary consultations with stakeholders. Two teams, each comprising of 5 investigators and a social scientist weredeployed for carrying out these surveys. While the investigators inventoried the structures and properties, the social scientist conducted iriformal discussions with the community to have an insight on their socio-economic profile, perceptions on the project and sources of livelihood. The social indicators were quantified by assigning scores based on their importance. Based on the evaluation of the social indicators, the potential impacts of the various alignment options were quantified. Potential impact scores per kilornetre calculated for the various roads formed inputs to the project's overall feasibility study.

tnviron~nental screening parameters included (i) the natural environmental features, (ii) the built environment along the roads, (iii) land use, (iv) infrastructure development activities in the project area, and (v) presence otspecial ecological resources in the project's influence. The survey teams collected datathrough limited tield survey and secondary sources. Each of the parameters was graded into high, medium and low for each corridor. The overall environmental quality and sensitivity ot each road was decided based on the collective parameter scores, which were inputs to the feasibility study.

Third, no attempt is made to value the environmental and social benefits in the feasibility analysis.

Fourth, environment and social costs were integrated with the overall sensitivity analysis in only 5 of the 14 projects reviewed. In the rest, the sensitivity analysis was done solely on engineering, econornic and financial basis.

Last but not the least, the costs included are solely financial costs, and not economic costs. The econornic analysis needs to incorporate the environment costs and benefits, to ensure that environment issues are given adequate consideration in establishing the project feasibility. Methods such as opportunity cost calculations and valuation techniques are not used to determine the environment costs and benefits.

There are limitations in the way the Valued Ecosys- tem Components (VECs) are considered during screening. Generally, the VECs and the impacts on them are identified during screening. The Review indicated that only 4 of the 14 projects carried out an inventory of VECs, and the identification of VECs is based more on prior experience than site visits and consultations. Therefore, the identified VECs are similar across all projects and no new project-specific issues emerge from

the nature and magnitude of impacts o n VECs, through screening criteria or proven methods was attempted in only four projects. The rest of the projects established the impacts qualitatively.

Stakeholder consultation during screening was used solely to introduce the project. The feedback from consultants and the clients revealed that the preliminary consultations during screening turn out to be information dissemination sessions with no substantive input to the project design or planning. An exception was the Kerala State Transport Project, wherein stakeholder consultations provided useful inputs to project design during screening itself (See Box: Scoping Workshops.)

Recommendations

Screening needs to be improved in both methodology and content. The following specific improvements are suggested:

Stakeholder consultations during screening should go beyond project information dissemination. Recognizing that information dissemination is inevitable when the first contact with the public is made, more time and resources should be allocated to obtain public views and concerns on the project.

the screening. In addition, quantitative estimation of Screening should have more analytical content.


It should go beyond a description o r inventory Good Practice - EA and SIA Scoping Workshops of environment and social features o r mere data collection and compilation exercise. These identified features must .be analyzed in the context of the proposed improvements and the impacts that they may cause.

Time allocation for screening and involvement of key professionals should be increased. Since the screening stage is just considered a formality, junior professionals tend to carry out screening without the key professionals, who involve themselves only in the EA and SIA report preparation. Key professionals should invest time from the screening stage itself and continuity of involvement should be emphasized.

Scoping should be included as a well-defined output from screening. The consultants should scope issues for further focus in the rest of the EA and SIA using the overview of the environment and social issues. The TOR should then be modified for the detailed study. These issues should be based on the nature, scale and magnitude of the environment and social impacts. Whenever issues of importance are identified but are beyond the purview of the project, e.g. induced developments, then a separate mechanism outside of the EA and SIA processes to address these issues should be developed. There should be a general consensus between the consultants, borrower/client and the Bank on these "scoped aspects. In addition, public and stakeholder views should be adequately considered, as these Are the areas that would be comprehensively covered in the EA and SIA.

The screening report should clearly indicate translation of screening outputs into the feasibility report. A separate chdpter-could be included in the feasibility report translating the findings of the screening into cost information, both financial and economic which are required for the feasibility analysis. 'The basis for the costing should be clearly specified and should use realistic assumptions. The cost information should be provided in such a manner that it is easy to incorporate it in the sensitivity analysis.

The nature and scale of social impacts should be iden-

The need for scoping of EA and SIA was not specified in the terms of reference for the consultants, and is therefore not attempted in most of the projects (even ifscoping is understood to be integral part of the EA process). The one exception is the Kerala State Transport Project, where scoping was formally undertaken.

Scoping workshops were organized during social1 environmental screening to understand concerns of the public, the NGOs and the other stakeholders; and to identify issues to be examined in detail during subsequent stages of the EA and SIA. To maximize participation and to ensure a wider representation of the stakeholders, 3 regional workshops were organised (one each in Northern, Central and Southern Kerala). These workshops were preceded by information dissemination to the stakeholders about the project's overall objectives.

The outcomes frorn the scoping workshops were: (i) a list of key issues which dominate the pilblic domain, (ii) a broad understanding about the overall priorities of the stakeholders, and how the project is perceived by them, (iii) guiding ideas about what the stakeholders would want to be incorporated in the project's plan and design, (iv) specific issues which would arise due to or in conseqirence of the project, including impacts on environmental and ecological resources, and (v) the content of EA and SIA. These were greatly helpful in scoping of the EA and SIA in the project. The key issues identified and concerns raised in the workshops were included for detailed examination in the €A and SIA or in other aspects of project design. A major associated outcome of these workshops was that they identified a number of site-specific issues before detailed surveys were undertaken.

In some other state road projects, regional stakeholders' consultation workshops were organized. The essential difference between these and the scoping workshops in Kerala is that these were more a tool for information dissemination to the stakeholders than a process of obtaining their views and perceptions on the project. These workshops involved a wide spectrum of stakeholders, and the primary focus was not on the content of EA and SIA, nor on the potential impact on resources and processes deemed important by the stakeholders. A single workshop in each projectwas organized in the capital of the state, not in the regions, and did not facilitate participation of stakeholders frorn all over the state

tified to determine the applicability of social safeguard policies, and to initiate development of the R&R policy. Inventory of all properties should be shown on strip maps. These should be clearly linked with information collected for location reference as part of engineering survey. Video recording of the entire highway stretch should be carried out along with the engineering survey. Appropriate and established


Good Practices - Inventory of Environmental and Social Features using Strip Maps

Strip maps to inventory the environmental and social features were prepared in all the projects reviewed. Though these strip maps provide an understanding of the features within the direct areaot influence, the information collected (normally through windshield surveys) is insufficient to be able to add value to the choice ot improvement options, or in determining the level of potential impacts. l ~ h e windshield surveys are carried out using very sirnple formats and the survey teams move at speeds of 20-30km/h, stopping only when special features are noticed. I h e data collected is presented in straight-line diagrams. The accuracy of these rnaps is normally 50- 1 001n along ttie road and 5-10m perpendicular to the road. This level ot accuracy is not useful for a detailed feasibility or engineering study. For example, these maps do not help to understand the changes in the level of environmentallsocial impacts corresponding to change in thedesign width of road tormation or height of embankment or shifting the road sideways. More important, the straight-line strip lnaps do not yield information when geometric improvement i s required (such as reduction of road curvature).

On the other hand, a very detailed and accurate strip map produced through actual topographic surveys (equivalent to the topographic base maps normally produced, superimposed by data on environ~nental/social features) takes time, and is costly. Such maps would take about 4-6 months to prepare, arid by thattime their usefulness in teasibility study, or choice of options to reduce socialienvironmental impacts is almost exhausted.

Iri the Trichy-Madi~rai Project (1 999), this dilemma was partially overcome by adetailed manual strip mapping. A team of environniental and socio-economic planners walked along the road, particularly through settlements and inhabited areas, measured and recorded information of a large-scale map. The resultant strip maps showed actual setbacksand offsetsof the individual structures from the road centreline. These maps provided good assessment ot the magnitude of displacement in different road widening options, and were helpful in preparing a few site-specific designs. Moreover, these strip maps formed a basis for identih/ing the PAPS during the surveys and census that tollowed.

Although the Trichy-Madurai strip maps were much better equipped to help avoiding or minimizing impacts on the sociallenvironrnental resources, they had limitations of being straight-line maps, and were not useful in understanding the level of sociallenvironniental impacts when road curves had to be inlproved. The surveys took about one survey-team day per km.

In Madhya Pradesh State Roads Project (20001, the strip maps were produced as per tlie general alignment of the roads. The general alignment of road centre-line was derived from the village revenue Inaps. (Roads shown in the individual village revenue maps were scanned, centre-linedetermined, and joined across villages.) Grids (25m x 4m) were drawn on the centre-line of all roads to have a strip lnap format. The survey teams carried paper prints of these grids to the field, and recorded information on these. On an average, a team surveyed 15-20klnlday. On testing, the accuracy of these niaps was tound to be 5-1 2m along the road, 1-2ni when close and 2-1 Om when away from the road in the perpendicular direction (these would vary depending on the grid size, and the time allocated for the surveys). These strip maps provided comparatively better estimates ot impacts of road wideninglimprovement, in addition to providing realistic estimates of impactsdue to change or improvement ot road curves (sociallenvironniental features over a larger area were mapped towards the inner side of curves).

The Madhya Pradesh strip maps not only provided information about the social/environniental features, but the road condition and road inventory data were superimposed on the maps. The survey teams updated the road inventory, particularly the road c u ~ a t u r e data wherever required. Later, tlie pavement condition and road roughness data were also superimposed on the strip niaps. l~herefore, in addition to avoidinglminimising sociallenvironniental impacts, decisions regarding alignment and geometric improvement of roads were also taken on the basis of these maps, during ttie feasibility study stage, without waiting for the topographic base maps (this also reduced the cost of topographic surveys - as the need for topographic surveys were reduced in all stages before preparation of detailed engineering designs).

Note: While the Madhya Prddesh scrip maps are more useful when some out of a range of candidate roads and rhe corresponding improvement options x e selected, the Trichy-Madun strip maps, wirhcurvilinear modifications, could be Inore useful when not the road, but the improvement options are selected during the fesibility study.


Cood Practice - Integration of Environmental and Social Costs & Benefits

into Economic and Financial Analysis In Gujarat State Highways Project (1997), environmental and social costs and benefits, of the project, were worked out for each 1001n section of the 1500km of candidate roads. The environmental and social costs were worked out adopting a scorched earth approach, i.e. an understanding that all environmental and social features within the proposed corridor of impact will be impacted. The inventory of the social1environmental features from the strip maps was the basis for the estimation of the cost stream. Environmental1social mitigation measures, and their effects were considered in the estimation of the cost stream. Environmental1social benefits were worked out separately, based on individual estimates of benefits that would be accrued, based on socioeconomic profile of the region and the various developments proposed in the region. The benefits calculated took care that there is no double counting, e.g., the social benefits did not include the indirect benefits from irnprovement in traffic carrying capacity, which were part of the traffic benefit analysis anyway. All these costs and benefits were calculated for different project improvement options, i.e., 4-laning, 2-lane strengthening or thin overlays. These formed inputs to the project's overall economic and financial analyses. The dTlMS model for economic and financial prioritisation was specially improved to take care of the social and environmental costs and benefits.

To incorporate social and environmental costs and benefits in the overall feasibility and prioritisation model, the Gujarat project tried a number of innovations. Thorough distinction was made between the economicand financial value of each and every cost and benefits. Econoniic1financial value of trees was calculated species-wise, and girth-wise. To find out the economic cost of impacts when full or partial mitigation measures were also proposed (e.g., the cost of felling of trees fully compensated by plantation by the project), the principle of "social time-preference rate" was used, wherever shadow pricing was not possible.

In the Kerala State Transport Project (20001, environmental and social costs were included in the economicanalysis. Environmental1 social impact screening data sheets were prepared for each road link, on the basis of screening surveys and secondary information. An environmental and social impact screening model, to derive environmental and social costs of project's intended inlprovements, was used to assess impacts under different improvement options, broadly translated into corridors of impact 30m, 15m and 12m. Outputs from this modelling were used in the project's overall economic feasibility and prioritisation model.

Cood Practice - Poverty as a Criterion for Selection of Roads

Uttar Pradesh is the most populous and one of the poorer states of India. Road development is seen to be one of the ways to alleviate poverty in the state. The Bank had initiated a study on rural poverty in Uttar Pradesh (1997) attempting to understand poverty and the other social concerns across the entire state. As part of the Uttar Pradesh State Roads Project (20001, an attempt was made to identify the level of development along the project roads and assess how the proposed road irnprovementscouId bring in prosperity to the rural areas and to the poorer segments of the society.

To identify the level of development of the study districts, the following 19 indicators were selected and evaluated.

Road length per million population Road density (km1100k1n2) Net Domestic product Population Growth Rate Area of Operation Holdings (ha) . Coverage of safe drinking water ('10)

Literacy Rate Net sown Area (ha) Coverage of sanitary latrines Gender Ratio (number11 000 male) Gross Irrigated Area Coverage ot electricity connections Work Participation Rate Forest Area (ha) Per capita electricity consumptions Main workers in the workforce (YO) Per Capita Food Grains (kg) Consumption of Fertiliser (kg)

Based on these indicators, relative develop~nent indices were calculated for all the districts, by comparing the level ot development of each district with that of the state average. Possible beneficial impacts of the project on each of these development indicators were evaluated, using historical data and regression, and a poverty alleviation index was also developed. These baseline development and poverty alleviation indicators were guiding factors in selection or inclusion of roads in the project. This poverty focus of the project was evident by the outcome of the feasibility study which developed a work prograrnme for the project, in which 74% of the selected roads pass through the less developed districts, 23% through the moderately developed districts, and only about 3% of the roads pass through the relatively highly developed districts of the state.

A similar exercise (but relatively weaker in details) was earlier undertaken in the SOS (1 995) for Gujarat State Highways Project, where selection of roads were based on parameters such as backwardness index and regional disparity indices, in addition to the usual parameters such as traffic volume and capacity. These poverty-related parameters influenced the selection about 400 of the 1500krn road network prioritized by the SOS.

tools should be used for scoping the SIA. Methodolo- survey or census, determining replacement cost and

gies identified in the Inception Report should be other assistance.

tested. These should cover sample socio-economic


Note 4

The Bank's staff has put in considerable time and effort. in the past few years, in to improving the quality of EA and SIA reports, and there is a need for a more structured approach. This issue is linked t o the consultancp constraints thar are discussed in Dissemination Note 11. This dissemination note examines the problems and constrain~s thar ~ffect of EA and SIA reports and looks at possible solutions.

The Bank's road projects involve the use of Project Coordination Consultants (PCCs) to carry out the En- vironment Assessment (EA) and Social Impact AS- sessment (SIA) processes during the project preparation phase, and t h e ~ e are often not of the required st'xndard. The Bank's st.itf has been working towards improving these reports through a variety ot means that include providing detailed cominents and having a number of discu\sions with the PCC. While this should con t i~~ue , a lot more needs to be done.

Findings

Quality is improving over time. The reports are get- tins to be less descriptive and stronger in analytical content. 'I'hey .Ire also more focused towards implementation. There is also a larger volume of reference inforination through the various EA and SIA outputs produced in the last few years. Recognizing that there is still more potential to improve, the PCCs felt that the EA and SIA processes are on the right track and will produce better outputs in time.

Quality of EA and SIA reports is affected by inadequate focus in TORS, insufficient time, low budgets and too much sub-contracting. The feedback obtained on each of these aspects was as follows:

Time period: Although the project preparation phase is spread over 12-24 months, the time period allotted for the EA and SIA processes has been quite inadequate. This is because the seriousness in project preparation sets in only just prior to the Bank's pre-appraisal and appraisal. 'The main EA and RAP reports are prepared, comments are given by the project implementing agency and the PCC, and the design documents are finalized. Addressing some of the comments adequately requires additional field surveys and time for this is not generally available.

Budget constraints: For a good quality report, adequate budgetary provisions are essential. How- ever, the budget for EA and SIA outputs in most cases have not been commensurate with the effort required. Sometimes, it has been found that the costs are grossly underestimated. There are two reasons: firstly, the PCC focus their budget plans on the highway engineering/planning parts of the assignment rather than the environment and social parts. Being highway consultants, there is a relatively low appreciation of the costs of environment and social studies. Secondly, budgetary modifications are not in line with the additional work that emerges during

Terms of reference: The Bank's TOR for the the project preparation phase. Due to these rea-

EA and SIA processes in most projects was sons, the PCC tend to comproniise on quality.

rather unclear. Clarity improves only after the project preparation is under way when the Bank Sub-contracting: Generally, sub-contracting of staff conduct their preparatory missions. By that certain parts of an assignment results in poor time, most of the planning for the EA and SIA coordination with the remaining parts. The en- proc-esses is completed. Therefore, all modifica- vironment and social parts of the project prepa- tions use a quick-fix approach. ration work have often not been properly

integrated with the engineering design and planning. This results in lower quality outputs.

Bank involvemer~t is improving quality but needs to be more substantial. There was uniform appreciation about the Bank's help. Some PCCs were of the view that the quality of EA and SIA reports has improved substantially over the last few years. This was primarily due to the Bank's insistence on improving quality. However, the opinions about the Bank's involvement also included that: (i) the comments have to be firmly based on the "ground realities" (ii) the Bank's staff tends to focus too much on the structure of the report, language and inconsistencies rather than real issues (iii) the Bank's staff need to be more consistent with their comments (iv) the feedback to EA and SIA reports from Washington have to be in line with the feedback given by the Delhi-based staff and vice versa (v) the Bank's requirements change with time. These changes should not be imposed if the project preparation has already commenced. If new ideas are introduced mid-way in the project preparation, then the demand on consultants becomes considerable and they are not in a position to produce the required level of quality as they have not bud- geted time and resources for these ideas, and (vi) the Bank's staff must repeatedly emphasize that these reports are not meant for merely obtaining Bank's clearance, but that they are to be used during implementation.

Not many good environment and social consultants work in highway projects. For a good environment and social professional, the career prospects within a highway consulting company are not as bright as it is in an environment or social consulting company. This is simply because environment and social divisions do not form the main line of business for the highway consulting companies. Hence, these are always given second-grade attentiodtreatment within these companies. As a result, it is difficult for these companies to attract and retain the appropriate talent, which is required to produce good quality outputs. This is a structural problem that will remain unless the environment and social parts of the project preparation are done independent of the highway design/engineering consultants.

Reports are not seen as decision-making tools, but merely process/clearance requirements. In India, EA was introduced as a regulatory requirement by the MoEF in the mid-eighties for certain type of development projects. This resulted in a sudden growth of EA c;nsultants and a splurge in the number of EA reports produced. As these reports were used to meet a process/clearance requirement, not much attention was paid to the quality of the reports produced by these consultants. The tendency was to produce vo- lu~ninous descriptive reports which documented lots of background data/information, with little o r no analytical content. For instance, analysis of alternatives still does not form a part of the report structure demanded by the MoEF. Therefore, in a certain sense, the entire fraternity of EA consultants in India is used to producing large, bulky reports, which are primarily motivated towards meeting a clearance requirement. In this setting, the Bank is requiring EA reports that are to be used as decision-making tools. This calls for a change in mindset of the consultants, which is not easy to achieve. Similar conditions do not exist for carrying out SIA as it is not a legal requirement. SIA is carried out by academicians/re- searchers who are social scientists and the reports tend to be theoretical to begin with. The required quality of EA and SIA reports will become a norm only with the gradual change in perception, that these reports are decision-making tools.

The project implementing agency is generally not concerned with the quality of reports. This is regarded as an issue that the PCC have to resolve directly with the Bank. As most project implementing i~gencies do not produce reports of the kind demanded by the Bank, they tend not to relate with the Bank's comments. They tend not to agree or disagree, and accept quality improvements as necessary simply because the Bank is demanding it. The project implementing agency leaves it entirely to the PCC to handle the 'problem' as they recognize that they are not capable of providing constructive value-addition. In fact, some project implementing agencies feel that the Bank - by its years of insistence - has created a set of PCCs who can produce reports in a manner that will satisfy the Bank. Therefore, the implementing agency sees the interactions between the consultants and the Bank


on report quality improvements as a process step that safeguards, new information on interpretations and has to be crossed. implementation experience should be shdred.

Recommendations Bank's comments should have a much greater field-

The Bank should conduct periodic capacity-building workshops. There is a need for change in mindset of consultants about how the reports are to be produced and why these are being produced. This ccIn be achieved only through constant training and capiic- ity-building workshops for the practitioners. During these workshops, the emphasis should be on bringing about .I clear realization that EA and SIA reports are more importantly decision-making tools rather than just process/clearance requirements. These workshops should also cover Bank's safeguards, though that should no t be presented A S the focus. In covering the

orientation and be solutions-focused. The Bank staff should strive to provide comments that take into account the ground realities. A lot more focus has to be laid on addressing the nitty-gritty issues and suggesting practical and implementable solutions. Entire Bank should be consistent about the app1ic;ition and interpretation of Bdnk's Operational Policies. The task team, as whole should perceive and communicate that the EA/SIA reports are meant for value addition and effective implementation and not just for obtaining clearance.

Quality of Environment Assessment and Social Impact Assessment Reports 23

ANNEXES REVIEW FRAMEWORK USED IN THE DESK REVIEW & EVALUATION

A. Evaluation of the Inception Report

L ---, Description of EA and SIA methodology

ldentification of specialized inputs, if required. -- u o u 0 ! 6 + e l - " f " ' 0 1 y , Average 6.7 1.0 1.0 1.0 8.0 1.0 3.0 1.0 p~

Deployment and timing of Key profe5sionals 9 1 3 1 6 ( 3

B. Evaluation of the Environment and Social Screening

Reconnaissance (pre-inception) surveys

Initial consultdtions with stakeholders --- Identification of issues requiring focus

Detailed assessment tools and survey requirements

Timing of EA and SIA processes dnd links with stages of project cycle

Average

Deployment and timing of support professionals

3

6 2 2

7 0 3

8 3 3

4 3 3

2.2

10

7.0

9 0 3 0


Items/Parameters

ldentification of key issues and scoping

4

3.0

Descript~on - of the Project -

ldentification of Valued Ecosystem Components

Secondary and primary data on the VECs

Environment and social screening criteria

Natureandl~kelyscaleofimpactsestablished

Identification of environment/social sensitive

4

2

3

3

3 ~ ~ - ~ ~ - - ~ 3.0

7 7 6 6 , 6 7 3 9L 8 8 4 5 8

0 0 0 0 0 ~ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 l

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 5 3 3 3 4

1 Modifications in TOR of the EA and SIA 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

2.6 2.3 2.3 , 2.5 1.1 5.6 1.6 4.9 4.8 2.5 2.6 5.4 -- -

Suggesting probable mitigation options

3 3 3 3

Preliminary assessment of options

Consultations

Consultations with stakeholders - Govt and NGOs etc

5

2

6

2

6.8

2

2

2

2

9 4 5 3

7 2 7 2

6 3 6 2

7 3 6 3

5 3 5 3

3.0

2

2

5.8 3

2

6 7 6 6 6 7 6 1 7 3 7 7 6

2 ' 2

2 2 2 2 2 2 0 8 2 6 6 2 2 7

0

2

2

7 ~~~~~~-

6

7

6 8 6 6 6 7 4 1 1 0 4 7 8 5 5 9

8 -~~~~~-- - - - - - -

7

6 2

4 ' 4

2 8

C. Evaluation of the Feasibility Study Report

Description of screening outputs 9 4 7 7 7

Environment and social inputs in improvement options and alignment selection

8 3 ' 6 3 4

C Average 8.5 3.5 6.5 5 5.5

lntegration of environment and social costs in economic analysis 1 Assersment of environment I social costs. -- 9 4 3 1 2 3 3 4 2 6 Inrlusion C J ~ environnient and social cost to the

7.5

D. Evaluation of the Sectoral Environment Assessment

Description of objectives and process

and social costslbeneiits

prioritize issues ~n the road

Outl ine methodoloev for carwine out detailed EA and SA

Descliption o i resource5 and arrangements for conducting the EA and SA --- -- 1 0 1 o 0 1 0 1 0 1 0

-- Average 3 12.25 3.5

Assessment of policy and legal framework

IPolicy framework assessed, gap5 identiiied and recommendations provided 2 1 2 1 2 2 ( 7 4 2 1

W l development issues in the state

Administrative iraniework outlined, assessed for gaps and recommendations provided ~ ~ + # + +


Legal framework outlined, gaps identified and recon~mendations provided. 5 5 1 6 5 5 5 5

-- Average

Assessment of institutions and capacity at a sectoral level

Capacity of the borrower and other responsible institution5 to

capacity bullding requirements identified

individual, defined ----- Training need5 assessment and recommendations provided

Description of Project and links to overall sectoral programme --- Project phases and components outlined

Discusse$ the various project phases and components

Presents the implementation program ior the project

Major environmental issues in reglon and road transport sector

L

5.3 4.3 6.0 5.3 ( 8 . 3 7.0 4.7

Assessment of baseline conditions

Physical Environment 8 5 i 6 8 1 7 1 7 1 T l

Biological environment 7 1 5 5 7 7 7 5 '

Soclo-economic environment 8 5 6 7 7 ' 6

-- 8 6 5 6 6 5 4

Identification of data gaps 0 0 0 0 0 4 0

Average 6.2 4.2 4.4 5.6 5.4 5.8 3 . 6 ,

ldentification of sectoral environment and social issues

3 2 3 3 4 2

Consideration of cumulative and induced impacts 2 4 2 3 4 4 + 1 ~ h ~ s i c a l Environment 6 4 5 6 6 6 4

Biological environment 7 5 5 6 6 7

Socio-economic environment 4 3 3 4 4 3 3

Cultural Environment -- 8 6 6 6 6 6 5

Average 5.0 4.0 4.0 3 5 . 0 4.7 3.3

-- Average 1 7.5 13.25 13.75 ) 7.5 I 7 6 . 2 5 I 5.5

w i t h and without project scenarios

Engineering and Design alternatives specific to routes

-- Average

Mitigation Strategies

Identification of sectoral mitigation measures and project specific linkages

Approach for mitigation and enhancement designs

Guidelines for environment and social management for projects and sub-projects

E. Evaluation of the Project Environment Assessment

Analysis of alternative sectoral development options -- Identification of environment and social sensitive routes -- Comparative analysis of improvement options

-

0 0 - 0 0 0 ' 3

1 6 4 5 0 ~ -

ItemslParameters

N .- z Description of nature and scale of project

Assessment of Policy, legal a n 3 i t u t i o n a l framework I Overview of legal framework and -I

requirements 5 7 7 ' 7 7 7 7 > 6 6 5 7 ' 7 1 7 6 7

Applicability of procedural requirements to the project such as clearances I I I

Overview of existing Institutional setting for the project

5 7 5 7 6 6

ldentification of gaps and deficiencies In the inst~tutional setting t -- --

0 , 3 ~ 0 4 0 0 0

Average 3.0 5.8 4.8 6.5 5.0 5.3 4.5 4.3 4.3 4.0 5.5 5.3 6.0 5.8 5.3

0

7 4 8 8 8 4 4

3

3.75

4

4

3.25

-- Identification of stakeholder groups to be consulted during project des~gn and implementation

Methodology for public consultation during EA and SIA and subsequent p ro j~c t stages.

Project influence area -direct and

--

Description of proposed improvements

Description of inlplementation program. C L-- Average


0 . 0 1

2.5

6 ' 3

5 ' 4

7 3 3 6 7 7 6

8 3 4 7 6 6 5

4

6 3 4 4 4 4

4

6

8 4 5 6 7 5 4

5

7 Project background and location 6

3 l 9 1 3

4 4

8 8 1 8 , - 7

Purpose and objectives of the project. 6 1 7 ( 7 8 1 7 7 ( 6 1 6 1 6

6 1 8 7 1 8 1 7

7 2

4.5

3 1

7 & ) 8

8 7 7 7

8

7.5

4 3

4 7 1 5

3

5.5

-

6

6

6

6

6 8 7 8 8 8 4 6 6 6 8 6 8 8 8

2 6

6.8 6 . 4

6 1 6

5.2

4

5

7

7.2

4

4

5 1 7

3

4.7

8

6 5

5 . d 7.5

5

6 . 4

7

4

6.5

8

7

8 1 8

7.3

6

7 .3 8 ,

7.5

1 Assessment of Baseline conditions

0 7 2 5 4 5 4 4 3 5 9 7 7 6 5

3 8 3 6 5 6 5 5 5 6 9 8 8 6 5

3 8 5 5 5 5 5 5 6 7 7 7 7 6 7

Coverage ot Soc~o-econom~c environment 3 1 8

34 4 5 3 1 4 5 6 ' 6 7 7 ' 6

1 8 5 4 4 5 4 5 4 7 8 8 6 4 6

Average 2 7.8 3.6 4.8 4.4 5.2 4.2 4.6 4.6 6.2 7.8 7.4 7 5.6 6

nsultations with communities

Plan ior continued participation during

Phvsical Environment

selection of routes 2 0 2 4 3 3 4 4 4 4

I

Assessment o i with and without project 3 0 3 3 3 3 3 4

Inipdcts on Biological Environment

ImpactsonSorio-economicenvironment

iiirdtion o i environmentlsocial

A V . . ~ ~ ~ 1 1.8 5.6 ( 3.0 3.0 2.6 ( 3.2 2.2 2.2 2.4 3.6 6.4 1 5.6 5.4 5.0 1 5 4

Assessment of existing institutional arrangements

4

9 7 4 3 3 3 4 8 7 7 7 7

Development of monitoring indicators 3 5 5 5 2 2 2 4 6 7 7 7 1 7

Average 3.7 7.0 5.3 7.3 6 . 0 4.3 3.0 3.0 3.0 4.0 7.3 7.0 7.0 7.0 7.0

on Cultural Environment 2 8 4 3 2 2 2 2 2 4 8 8 7 - Averaee 1.3 5.3 3.7 3.3

2

1


7

3

4 ' 4 4

2 1 2

4

2

4

2 4 1 4 6

2 2 2

7

5

6

4

5

6

6 ' 7

5 5

F. Evaluation of the Environment Management Plan

P, &

ItemslParameters

Average 1 7 1.5 1 2 2.5 1.5 1 1.5 2.5 8.5 7 6 5.5 5.5

Reference to engineering drawings, contract documents and BOQs

Description of mitigation measures

Linkages with EA findings, designs and , secificationsforeachmitigation 1 1 ; 1 2; 1 ; 1 ; 1 ; measure

Estimates and bills of quantities for each 1 mitigation measure

Average 1.5 7.5 2.5 3.5 , 3 -

I Preparation of Environment Enhancement Plans

Mitigation and enhancement measures

Mitigation and enhancement measures

Designs and specifications for enhancement measures

Estimates and bills of quantities for each measure

BoQs of mitigation and enhancement measures reflected in the BoQ of civil 0

O o ; o ) o works

0 5 0 0 0

3.5 2.5 2.5 -

Average 0.0 2.0 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.3 3.7 3.0 3.0 2.7 2.7

Plans for Environment Monitoring and Reporting


2.5

h 5 T 9 7

Monitoring indicators covering all mitigation and enhancement measures

--

Applichle standards established for all indicators

Corrective actions for all indicators

Monitoring formats and methods for contractors and monitoring agencies

1 Plans for trainingicapacity building

5 5 5 7 9 8 7 7 7

0 0 0 0 9 7 6 7 6

9

7

Training requirements

Training modules t 1 - ~ v e r a d --

7.5

5

5 7 ~ 3 3 3 3 3 6 5 6 ' 6 7

2 3 2 l 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 6 5 5 5 6

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 2 2 3 4

0 0 0 5 2 2 0 0 0 4 5 5 5 7 7

2

Reporting formats for monitoring progress of mitigationlenhancement measures for clients and supervision engineers

-- Average 1.2 2.2 1.7 3.7 2.5 1.7 1.3 1.5 1.5 2.3 6.0 5.2 5.3 6.0 6.2 --

I Institutional arrangements for implementation

1

5

6

Institutional arrangements proposed

6.5

6

-

3 7 5 9 7 , 3 3 4 4 6 8 7 8 8 7

7 . 5 d 65

Definition of roles and responsibilities 3 7 4 9 7 3 2 3 2 3 8 7 7 7 7

implementation

Average 3.0 6.7 4.0 ( 8.0 6.3 3.0 2.3 3 . 0 2.7 6.3 6.3 6.7 1 6.3

2 6 0 7 7 3 2 2 2 4 7 6 7 7 6

0 7 0 7 7 3 2 2 2 5 8 6 6 0 6

2 2

7

I

7.5

6.5

---

6 2 4.5

-. .- -

Allocation of resources for mitigation costs

Estimate mitigation and enhancement costs based on BOQs and specifications

Estimates costs for training and monitoring

Estimates costs for staffing and equipment<

G. Evaluation of the Resettlement Action Plan

2 8 3 4 3 3 2 3 3 5 9 7 6 6 6

4 5 5 8 6 6 5 4 3 6 8 7 7 7 7

4 5 4 8 6 5 5 4 4 4 8 7 6 6 6

ItemsIParameters

Project influence area 1 7 5 , 1 6 ( 5 8 / 7 1 6 8 ] 6

Averaee 1 3.3 1 6.0 1 4.0 1 6.7 1 5.0 I 4.7 I 4.0 I 3.7 1 3.3 1 5.0 1 8.3 1 7.0 1 6.3 1 6.3 1 6.3 1

a. -0 -u n.

.- E

Description of existing scenario along the project road.

1 Description of proposed Improvements

1 Assessment of baseline soci~economic profile

( Socioeconomic surveys 1 6 1 5 6 4 5 8 7 8

6 6 6 1 5 8 7 7 7 6

7 4 7 4 8 7

Assessment of legal framework

Ver~f~cat~on of affected property and l~vel~hood losses - post - des~gn 1 5 / 0 1 6 0 1 3 1 8 1 Mananemrnt of data collected 8 1 3 1 6 1 2 1 3 1 8 1 7

Averaae 1 5.4 1 4.4 1 5.2 1 4.2 1 6.2 1 5.6

Overview ot legal framework and regulatory clearance requirements

Identification of gaps and deficiencies

Averaee

Imparts on women 1 6 2 1 6 3 7 1 6 ( 7 1 7 ( 4 1

lmpdcts on Indigenous population I--

5 2 6 5 1 7 6 7 7 6 '

Andlysis of data collected to establish Socio -economic profile

Average

Measures to minimize adverse impacts

Description of selection of alternate alignments

Delineation of corridor of impact

ldentificat~on of all widening optlons such as cross- sections optlons, Design 1 speed options

Average

Assessment of social and economic impacts

Impacts on ahsets

lmoacts on livel~hond

1.5 1.5


1.5

8

6.8

8.0

Impacts on other vulnerable groups

--

Assessment of land required and preparation of acquisition plans

4 1.5 1.5

-- Ehtiniates of Land requirement

Tirne table for land acquisition

Institutional arrangements for land acquisition

Average

3 3 3 3 3 3 8 6 8

0 0 0 0 0 0 6 4 0

1.5

6

3 . 5

4.3

7

4.7

5

7

6.3

5.0

4.7

5

2.8

4.0 ---

4.3

7

4.5

8 4 4 4 4 7 6 7 5

8 5 5 4 4 7 6 7 4

8 4 6 4 4 7 6 8 4

4.0

6 5 6 6 7 7 7 8 6

6 5 6 5 7 7 7 1 8 5

4.3

7

7.8

I

6 6 6 6 6 7 7 7 6

5 5 4 4 6 4 7 6 6

3 3 3 3 6 6 6 6 6

6.0

7.0

5 '

5.8 8 1 8

5.7

7.0 7.8

6.7 6.3 6.0

1 Consultations with stakeholders and ~ l a n for continued oarticioation 1 Strategy and approach to consultation ----- ldentification of stakeholders for consultation --- , Methods for consultati on

8 2 6 6 6 7 8 8 7

7 4 6 5 4 7 8 8 7

8 4 6 6 5 7 7 7 7

Information dissemination during consultation

Documentation of consultation sessions

Integration of consultation outputs in project design.

Followup of consultat~on after des ign finalization

Information disclosure mechanisms

1 Opportunities for participation of communities I 7 7 7 I 7 I 7 7 I 7 I 7 7 I

8 2 6 3 2 5 4 6 2

8 2 5 4 4 7 6 6 2

8 3 5 3 4 6 8 8 3

8 0 4 3 6 4 6 1 8 4

6 0 5 6 8 4 7 7 7

) Continued participation during implementation 8 4 5 6 8 7 8 8 7

--

I Average 6.4 6.4 1 6.4 6.4 6.4 1 6.4 1 6.4 1 6.4 ( 6.4 1

Compensation at full replacement value

Assistance for restoration of livelihood

, Special support mechanism for vulnerable people

Plans for relocation ldentification of eligible families for resettlement sites -- 4 3 1 4 1 4 1 6 1 5 1 7 1 7 1 7 Estimate of land reauired for resettlement and identification of resettlement sites 1 4 1 4 4 4 1 4 1 4 1 6 1 7 1 6

4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7

7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7

-7--- Commun~ty consultation for the identified sites Plans for finalization of relocation sites and allotment.

Average

30 Management of Environment and Social Issues i n Highway Projects i n India

' Plans for income restoration to improve livelihoods

0

3

ldentificat~on of families eligible for IR programs Preferences of PAPS for IR activities ldentification of viable IR activities -- Skill analysis and assessment for capacity building

5 0 4 4 6 5 7 7 6

6 3 5 3 4 4 6 7 5

2 2 2 2 2 4 4 4 4 0 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 )

3 ' 0 1 3

3.8

3 ' 6

3.0 1 3 . 8

3

55 4 5 4 1 4 4 6 6 6 6

4.3

4 ' 7

6.0 6.5 1 5.3

Note 5

This dissemination note examines the use of baseline studies to decide the extent and quality of coverage of environment and social parameters in the project context. The findings and recommendations that deal with better use of baselines studies have been presented for environment and social issues in two separate sections.

Baseline studies are carried out to establish bench- marks for all natural environment parameters and attributes, including socio-economic conditions in the project area. This includes a description of the physical, biological and socio-economic environment with reference to the project location and the proposed activities. Assessment of positive o r negative impacts is then carried out with reference to the established baseline. Ideally, (as per Bank's O P 4.01) a baseline assessment should also take into account current and proposed development activities within the project area, which may not be directly connected to the project. Indeed, baseline information can be a far more critical planning tool as the following sections reveal.

Findings

Coverage of environment attributes has shown an improvement in quality and consistency over time. About 70% of the projects examined showed that relevant physical, biological, and socio-economic conditions were addressed satisfactorily, and more consistency in quality and relevance to project needs was achieved after 1999 with the help of Bank reviews. Omissions and deficiencies in the baseline were identified during Bank review in the draft versions of the reports, which were improved in the later versions of the reports. Some key aspects which were, however, consistently found to be unsatisfactory are discussed in the paragraphs that follow.

Coverage of the baseline conditions is incon- sistent across projects. In three of the 7 State roads projects, the baseline was discussed at a State or regional level without any focus on the

selected project corridors. O n the other hand, four of the 6 EAs of the national highway projects, the baseline was restricted to only the Right of Way (Row) or the area of direct impacts, as against the Go1 requirement of a 7-km area of influence on either side of the corridor.

Baselines in road maintenance project were not covered as a part of the EA due to wrong no- tion that maintenance works do not cause any environment and social impacts.

Description of socio-economic conditions does not provide information that is used in determining the impacts or the mitigation measures. Generally, socio-economic conditions are examined through information on health, economic and poverty conditions, vulnerability to HIV/ AIDS, gender and child labor. But impacts on these aspects are not analyzed in the EA.

Quality and consistency of data varied from project to project. Almost all projects (13 out of 15) described the environment surveys and methods applied in deciding the sampling and sampling network. Of these, only 4 projects (30%) had a satisfactory basis for data collection. In other projects, although voluminous primary data was collected, systematic linkages between the samples and the overall characteristics of the projects were not established. In several projects, the assessments cover the baseline at a macro level and do not cover the impacts along the corridor or vice versa. The EA process generally ended up as an end- less data collection exercise, without addressing how and where this data would be applied during project design and implementation. The general tendency was to collect data on ambient environment quality and

Good Practice - Establishing a Network for Ambient Environmental Monitoring

The GTRIP (2000) involved widening to four lanes, 429km of the 1492km NH-2 linking Delhi and Kolkata. Five different consultants prepared the EA and SIA, and consistency in the monitoring and analysis ofthe ambient air and noise qualities was lacking. NHAI hired a separate consultancy firm to consolidate the 5 EA and SIAoutputs, who also had a mandate to verify and recollect the ambient environment quality data.

Environment specialists from the consultants undertook a reconnaissance (windshield) survey of the project corridor to identify monitoring locations. The survey categorized the corridor into homogenous sections in terms of land use and vulnerability of the roadside receptors to air and noise impacts. At about 20 locations, unstructured discussions were held with the community on the perception of air and noise impacts due to the project. Based on the sectioning of the corridor and the impacts on the sensitive receptors, the monitoring locations were identified. Altogether 40 monitoring stations were identified on the basis of (a) homogenous land use sections, (b) possible impacts on sensitive receptors, such as schools and hospitals, (c) road capacity and traffic volume, and (d) road geometry and road junctions. The criteria for selection of ambient air pollution monitoring stations, with respect to the types of receptors were as follows:

Ambient air quality and noise levels were then monitored at these locations as per requirements laid out by MoEF. This systematic monitoring enabled better predicting the air and noise quality impacts due to the project, and in establishing a baseline reference for monitoring during construction and operation periods.

not on assessing environment changes and impacts. A A Q concentrations at other locations such as agricultural lands and bypass alignments are not moni-

There is a lot of inconsistency in the environment tored in 8 of project There is also in- surveys. Monitoring ured as part Of the consistency in the location of the monitoring surveys to establish the baseline along the project respect to the project For instmce, routes also vary. This leads to difficulties in data as- kerbside monitoring was carried out in of the similation, environment trend analysis and impact projects while was done for the first row prediction. of sensitive receptors only in the other projects. In

~ ~ t h ~ d ~ used in dnvironmental surveys and moni- addition, the consideration of meteorological param-

toring varied. ~ ~ b i ~ ~ ~ ~i~ ~ ~ ~ l i ~ ~ (AAQ) moni- eters in siting the locations and monitoring meteoro-

toring was taken up in 12 projects. ~h~ monitoring logical parameters is attempted only in 4 of the 14

was generally done at critical locations such as inter- projects. The link between AAQ monitoring, traffic sections, settlements and congested sections. The volume counts and roughness condition surveys,


which would enable a better correlation of the AAQ concentrations with the high\i,ay traffic and pavement conditions was not established. As per the Govern- ment of India requirement, the seasonal monitoring of the baseline air quality should be done to under- starid the \-ariations in the baseline. This would help in the identification of xvorst case scenarios for which the assessment of impacts and mitigation measures can be worked out. This is not attempted due to lack of adequate resources for monitoring in most projects. Given the inconsistency in monitoring methods, the result has been misleading and has not served any purpose.

I3aseline data collection is generally done without attempting to understand other development activities in the same Area and this has resulted in project delays. In none of the projects, the baseline included current and proposed development activities. This has led to unnecessary duplication of efforts by different agencies in carrying out surveys and addressing residual impacts due to overlaps in multiple project activities. In the Gujarat State Highway Project (GSHP), a pipe-

line proposed along one of the road corridors was not considered during the design phase due to ,L lack of information. The consultant became aware of the proposal after the designs were ready. This led to the redesign of the alignment ~t a later stage upsetting the project timeline. Similarly, in the National High- way Trichy-Madurai corridor, there was an under- ground water pipeline supplying water to a major settlement, running parallel to the existing alignment for a length of 25km, which would have been affected by the project. This was not known to the consultant at the time of the design and the road corridor had to be realigned resulting in resource wastage and project delays.

Recommendations

Baseline data collection should also consider other development activities in the region and not just physical parameters and inventory of attributes. The information collected from baseline studies should be assessed in the context of the region and the other proposed development activities so that the impacts could be andlyzed for the region in entirety. This will

Good Practice - Correlation between Road Roughness and Pollutant Concentrations

While preparing the EMSIAfor Package V of the Third National Highway Project, the EA consultants monitored the ambient air quality along the corridor in a way thatthe results could be compared and correlated with the road surface roughness (particularly with respect to the SPM concentrations).

Before conducting the ambient air quality monitoring, roughnessof the existing pavement surface was specifically assessed. (Pavement roughness is usually measured in all projects, as part of engineering surveys. In this case, special care was taken to have disaggregated values for the limited road sections where ambient air quality monitoring was planned.) Ambient air quality monitoring was carried out at 12 locations, with respectto the first row of sensitive receptors present on the edge of the road. The selection of monitoring stations was based on assumptions that the traffic levels, composition of vehicles, meteorological conditions and soil characteristics along the 200km route do not vary drastically. Sections with high share of local or slow moving traffic, and locations influenced by sources of air pollution otherthan the highway were not included. Locations were selected for varying levels of surface roughness ranging between 3,500mnikm to 20,0001nnikni.

Roughness Average SPM level , Roughness Average SPM level

19762.97 3838.3 ( y = -829.1 15 + 0.255508 x; Correlation = 0.958287

The established correlated data was used in the prediction of future concentration of pollutants. This also helped understanding the beneficial impacts of the project's interventions. Note that no systematicwork has been done in India to understand the pollutant concentration level and its dependence on pavement roughness or material, road condition, maintenance practices, tyre and vehicle type, or other variables.

Using the Baseline Studies 33

also ensure that there are no project delays due to realignments at a later stage resulting in duplication of effort o r conflicts in po j ec t timelines.

Baseline data collection should help establish a foun- dation for trend analysis to aid impact prediction and to set up a monitoring network. Project boundaries should be defined upstream in the assessment process. This will help focus the environment screening that will lead to the identification of key environment and social aspects likely to be impacted. Utiliz- ing secondary data sources effectively such as including local land use plans and policies, trends of environment fluctuations o r changes can be identified. Based on the trends, relevant environment parameters to be monitored can then be identified and bench- marks established. Thereafter, the impacts can be determined and mit ipt ion or enhancement measures, as the case may be, proposed. This would also help in planning a realistic monitoring network for construction and operational phases.

Environment baseline data collection should be carried out in tandem with other project preparation activities to the extent possible. Baseline surveys of the project area are required before engineering designs are commenced. Most of the time these are c o m p l e m e n t ' ~ r ~ to the environment surveys. Therefore, synergy in survey teams is essential so that the information collected on the natural resource base is analyzed holistically. This will result in greater uniformity in data and will avoid duplication of effort. For instance, baseline information on borrow areas and materials used for construction is generally collected by the engineering team. This information is also relevant to the environment team as proper rehabilitation of borrow areas needs to be carried out.

Baseline information should be used to identify major initiatives that will be required to be implemented along-side the project activities. There are instances when the management of prevailing environment issues is critical for implementing the proposed project. These should be identified during the baseline data collection and flagged to the project implementing agency at an early stage as they may subsequently cause delay in project implementation. The management measures pertaining to these issues should be initi-

ated in a proactive manner. In certain cases, this may require top government level intervention. These should be initiated, as they are crucial for smooth implementation of the proposed road project and will also bring about the adoption of better environment prdctices.

In the G T R l P and the Third National Highway Project, certain sections in Uttar Pradesh were identified as having serious problems of waste disposal dnd industrial effluent during the baseline data collection. However, due to poor analysis of the information and subsequent slow response of the relevant government agencies, the implementing agency (NHAI) had to compromise on the highway design to keep up with the project timeline.

Identification of Major non-Project Initiatives due to Prevailing Environment Conditions

during Baseline Surveys - in TNHP and GTRlP

There are serious environment issues on the UP sections of theThird National Highway Project and the Grand Trunk Road Improvement Projects (both projects ongoing). The issue is the improper waste management practices adopted in the Rania Industrial area. This has resulted in somesections (near Kanpur and Agra) of the ROW having hazardous solid waste and industrial effluent. The waste needs to bedisposed in an appropriate landfill and the industrial effluent needs to be processed in a Combined Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP). Neither the landfill nor the CETP have been established. Land needs to be identified for both ofthese by the LIP State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) and the District Administration. tiowever, no progress has been made by these agencies. To comply with the Bank's environment safeguard policy, the ROW needs to be cleared in an environmentally safe manner prior to the construction activities.

During baseline data collection, these stretches of ROW were identified. However, this information was not analyzed with respect to consequences to project implementation. Establishing theCETPand the landfill are major initiatives, which are essential for the road project to proceed. Although, they are out of the jurisdiction of the borrower/ client (NHAI) and depend on other Government agencies the "satisfactory" implementation of TNHP and GTRIP is dependent on establishment of these treatmentldisposal facilities. Delays in cooperation from the other Government agencies has seriously affected the project's construction scheduleand has compelled NHAI to compromise on the highway design in these sections in order to keep up with the project timeline.


standing of the types of impacts.

T o establish the severity of adverse impact on people, census and socio-economic surveys are the starting point. The basis for the preparation of the resettlement plan is the identification and quantification of affected persons, the extent and nature of the impacts on them, and their existing socio-economic condition. It indicates the categories of impact to develop entitlements for compensation and assistance packages. Moreover, it forms the baseline to measure effectiveness of resettlement activities.

Resettlement plans are based on recent information collected through the census of affected people to establish the scale and nature of impact on affected population. The exercise constitutes a total count of the affected people, demographic profile, all their immov- able assets, full resource base, including income derived from the informal sector and non-farm activities, and from common property. Information about the type and extent of common properties (e.g., land, public infrastructure, buildings, and business enter- prises) in the affected zone is also collected. Data is used for the categorization of Project Affected Per- sons (PAPs) and analyzing various types of impacts, which form the basis for determining eligibility criteria. Surveys are critical to determine categories of impact, resettlement entitlements, relocation and income restoration strategies and budgets. In addition, socio-economic surveys are carried out on a sample population which fo rn~s the benchmark for evaluating whether the R&R measures have enabled the affected to improve or restore their livelihood.

Findings

Census/surveys are not of high quality. In most projects, independent enumerators were not familiar with survey techniques, measurenient of areas and mapping. Only in 6 projects out of 10 studied, quality was ensured. In the remaining 4 projects, weak supervision of the surveyors resulted in the poor quality of data collection. In almost all projects, the resource c~llocated for the surveys was not adequate. As a result in 4 projects, the preparation period was extended and, in the remaining projects, the quality of data collected and subsequent analysis did not provide a clear under-

Census data was not updated after finalization of alignment. Surveys cover all affected people, their assets and common property that will be affected. T o identify who and the extent of Assets affected, the information collected through surveys of R o w is required to be correlated with the actual width of the corridor of impact. This process establishes the final list of affected people, extent of assets that will be lost and all the common property thdt falls within the corridor of impact. However, in most cases, this exercise is not undertaken to prepare the database on affected ~ e o p l e . During implementation, variations are observed and information about those finally affected is collected by the NGOs.

Inforination on PAPs is incomplete. The surveys are carried out to establish which individual belongs to -

which category of the affected. T o facilitate this process, there is a need to document the legal R o w prior to initiating the surveys. In 5 projects, such information was collected from the revenue department prior to initiating the surveys. This information helped the surveyors cross-check the status of the PAPs. In a few projects, either these records were not available o r outdated records were used to determine the status of the people. In such situations, the consultants de- pended entirely on information collected through field -

surveys to determine the category of PAPS. In addition, surveys of those losing land due to bypasses were not correlated with information collected through - revenue records. Furthermore, assessment of the existing sources of livelihood provides a critical input to identify vulnerable PAPS. Most projects did not cor- relate income data with the asset ownership while identifying vulnerable PAPs. As a result, surveys are necessitated during implementation. There are excep- tions. In the case of Mizoram State Highway project, gaps have not been observed in the information on PAPs. This happened as only one road of 100 km was covered under Phase I and, with low density of population along the road, it was possible to cover all PAPs.

Identifying squatters and encroachers eligible for assistance is a tricky issue in most projects. R&R policies specify the date of census/surveys as the cut-off

Using the Baseline Studies 35

date for squatters and encroachers. This has been done to prevent fraudulent claims by opportunistic encroachers occupying the ROW at a date subsequent to the census. In some cases, local agencies like the mu- nicipal and panchayats permit commercial squatters within the public R o w for which licenses are granted. However, the mobility of commercial squatters creates difficulties in identifying affected people. In a few projects, inventory of squatters has not been made in a foolproof manner, either in the form of videotapes o r through focus group discussions. In all projects, there has been a significant time lag between census/ surveys carried out and the implementation of action plan. Those identified during the preparation may not be available or there may be a change in their livelihood pattern during implementation. Moreover, there are often significant changes in the alignment during implementation due to which others - not identified during preparation - may be affected.

Census of all affected people cannot be carried out during preparation. Often there are changes in the design and road alignment during implementation. There are large variations in the numbers of affected people and information of affected people have to be collected again through census/surveys.

Analysis of census and socio-economic survey is weak. In most projects, the information collected on household activities, savings and credit, and cropping pattern is often not analysed in the context of status of PAPS. Their losses in relation to ownership of entire assets are also not considered.

Recommendations

Census and socio-economic surveys need to be combined. There should be only one survey to include quantitative and social-economic information. The comprehensive questionnaires should include aspects related to gender issues, status of health of women and children, qualitative information related t o

entitlements, restoration of livelihood and on rural urban migration.

Depending on the project, different survey techniques should be used. Depending on the nature of the project, a decision to carry out a full census may need to be taken. O n the basis of outputs from environmental and social screening reports, preliminary designs should be finalised. After assessing, if number of people involved is small, full census should be carried out of all who will be affected. Under other circumstances when numbers are high, a fact-sheet on all affected people should be prepared. It could include the name of the head of household, number of people, type of asset affected and caste structure. Photographs of the affected persons with the assets owned should be well documented to establish the cut-off date and those eligible for R&R support. In the case of those who will lose agriculture land, the information should be corroborated with revenue records. During implementation, census should be completed by NGOs. This should also be the benchmark for monitoring the progress and evaluating the impact of R&R measures.

Squatters and encroachers inventoried through detailed strip maps at an early date. As part of the screening surveys, a detailed strip map identifying every physical structure, marking the size and location, needs to be prepared for the project corridor. This should be updated after finalizing the ali, onment and legal status of the structures should be established. The household information of the squatters and encroachers needs to be collected during the preparation of the strip maps. Once the map is prepared, these need to be documented and displayed at local village level offices for a fixed period (say 15 days), inviting comments (if any) from the local community. The end of the 15-day period can be used as the cut-off date for eligibility for assistance in the project.


Note 6

This dissemination note comprises two main parts: Environment Issues and Social Issues. Under Environment Issues, this review , ~ n a l ~ z e d EMPs during the project preparation phase, particularly for the follouring key requirements: environment measures, designs and specifications of measures suggested, monitoring plans and performance indicators, reporting systems? institution.11 drrangements and capacity building, training requirements and cost estimates.

With regard to social concerns, this review assessed the extent of coverage of issues and provides findings and recommendations on three mdin areas - land records and acquisition process, compensation and assistance, and livelihood restoration. A section on Environmental and Social issues in Road Maintenance projects is also included.

Impact analysis is a tool to identify and assess the potentidl environment impacts of a proposed project in order to design appropriate mitigation and monitoring measures. Impacts can be direct, indirect and, cumulative. These could in turn be positive or negative, random or predictable, local or widespre~d, temporary or permanent or short and long term. Once identified, ;~ppropri;ite mitigation measures to avoid ~ n d reduce these impacts are proposed. Mitigation measures are implemented through an Environment Management Plan (EMP), which details (i) the miti- - gation and enhancement measures to be taken during implementation 'ind operation, and (ii) actions such as institutional arrangements, training and monitoring needed to implement these measures. In addition, opportunities for environnlent enhancements are identified and are also included in the EMP. These enhancements ;ire measures that further improve the environment quality of the area. Project Coordina- tion Consultants (PCC) carry out the impact analysis, identify mitigation measures and develop EMPs in the preparation phase. The EMPs are also reflected in the contract documents. During implementation, the EMP is executed by the contractors, supervision consultants and the project implementing agency.

Findings

Impacts and mitigation measures were assessed in general broad terms. 111 most projects, the assess-

ment WAS qualitative and described in a manner that could apply to any highway project. The use of impact prediction tools and evaluation ~nodels was also limited. There was more emphasis on using assumptions dnd value judgments in the evaluation of impacts. Specific relationship to the project routes was often not brought out. Assessment of impacts and prediction was satisfactory in only 7 EA reports reviewed where a certain degree of quantification was achieved. Several paps and deficiencies were identified through Bank reviews. However, recommendations were addressed in only these 7 projects in a limited manner. The generic impact assessment was translated into generic mitigation measures, which were of linlited use to the contractor.

Direct unpacts have not been satisfactorily addressed and not all the direct impacts have been adequately covered. The addressal of direct impacts was found satisfactory in only 50% of the projects reviewed. And, the addressal of impacts on quarries and crushers, construction-related environment issues, road safety and induced development was satisfactory in less than 30% of the projects reviewed.

Assessment of impacts did not address secondary, induced or cumulative impacts. PCC attributed the lack of specific guidelines for assessing cumulative and induced impacts as the reason. As mitigation measures to address induced impacts are generally seen ;IS

outside the purview of the project implementation agency, the PCCs are not encouraged to analyze the

same. Therefore, they tend to focus only on the di- the contract document has been a weak link though rect impacts, which are well within the control of this has improved considerably in recent projects. the project implenlentation agency. Contract documents were finalized even before the

Impacts of the mitigation measures have not been considered. None of the EMPs addressed o r examined the potential adverse impacts of the mitigation measures should such impacts occur.

EMPs were found to have linkages with the RAP and contract documents. All EMPs adequately refer to the Resettlement Action Plans (RAPS) prepared for issues related to resettlement, land acquisition and loss of assets and livelihood. In all the projects, several provisions for good engineering practices have been drawn from the MoRTH specifications and FIDIC contract clauses.

Technical detailing of mitigation and enhancement measures are improving in the EMPs. In 3 of the 15 projects (Grand Trunk Road, and State Road Projects in Kerala and UP)", technical detailing of measures to mitigate impacts during construction was found satisfactory. In the other 12 projects, Bank review pointed out the lack of adequate detailing of EMP measures. Bank review comments were not always adequately addressed. However, there is much more effort in including the technical details in the EMPs. Through the independent review process, the quality of detailing has also been enhanced for the four Cat- egory A projects approved since 2001.

Enhancement measures have been increasingly included in the EMP and have become an integral part. In all projects, these have been suggested in concept. For inclusion in the EMP, enhancement designs need to be location-specific, include technical specifications, drawings and bills of quantities. However, only in three of the projects reviewed, these were worked out.

The mitigation measures are not commensurate with the magnitude of impacts. The relationship between the significance of the impacts and the associated mitigation measures is not clear in most EMPs. In some cases, measures have been suggested for certain components even though the EA suggests that the impacts are negligible.

The integration of the environmental measures into

EMPs were finalized. The time pressures were such that both these documents had to be separately finalized. In addition, the generic nature of the EMPs, such as the absence of technical specifications and drawings, made it difficult to cross-refer with the contract documents. Before 2001, all projects had this problem though now it has been addressed.

Monitoring plans have not been systematically developed. Generally, the plans include the list of parameters, along with the sampling locations and the frequency of measurements. These have been rated satisfactory in 8 of the 15 projects (53%). The components to be monitored generally include air quality, noise levels, water quality and tree plantation. The review of the 15 projects indicates that the rationale for the selection of the parameters, and the mitigation/corrective actions if the monitoring results ex- ceed the limits (thresholds) were not attempted in any of the projects, apart from road projects in U P and Mizoram (UPSRP and MSRP). The methods for monitoring are not described, and most of the plans specify that the monitoring is to be in accordance with the prescribed standard methods. There are no prescribed formats in the EMPs for monitoring components such as tree plantation and biodiversity. In addition, the monitoring plans focus on the construe- -.

tion phase. The institutional mechanisms and arrangements in the operation phase are inadequate in most projects.

Reporting formats in the EMP have improved over time. Better reporting systems will (i) ensure early detection of conditions that necessitate particular mitigation measures, and (ii) furnish information on the progress and results of mitigation. Reporting formats for the various measures have been provided satisfactorily in only 5 of the 15 EMPs reviewed. The EMP for GTRIP has worked out detailed reporting formats for each mitigation measure for the environment Staff of the PIU, supervision consultant and the contractor. Though not detailed in the EMP prior to GTRIP, the Bank has ensured the inclusion of the formats in all subsequent EMPs (KSTP, MSRP and UPSRP).

Training requirements have been adequately


covered in the EMPs. Training n~odules have been worked out as a part of the ENIPs in all the projects reviewed. The training modules were detailed specifying the various target groups in 7 of the 15 projects. As a part of GTRIP, different levels of training has been suggested at the PIU level and the corporate level of the implementing agency. Training on environment requirements have been suggested for the senior rnanagernent also. Training modules have also incorporated the training needs of environment personnel of the contractors, NGOs and the supervision consultants in 5 of the 15 projects. The EMPs have worked out budgets for the various training rnodules suggested, including training abroad and site visits for similar case studies in other countries.

Institutional arrangements are covered adequately in the EMP. Generally, the EMP describes institutional arrangements for the different tasks such as the mitigation and enhancement measures, training and monitoring. In all projects reviewed, it was observed that the capacity to handle environment issues by the project implementation agency was limited or did not exist. Therefore, separate environment units/cells have been suggested within the PIU. Usually, there are no tr'lined personnel to address environment issues and therefore roaddhighway engineers are assigned the responsibility for environment mimage- ment. The only exception was the GSHP where an environment manager with prior experience of managing environment issues of highway projects was coli- tracted. In general, the roles and responsibilities of the environment personnel (including the PIT_! staff, supervision consultants and the environment personnel of the contractors) have been outlined satisfactorily in 8 of the 15 projects.

Detailing of the budgets included in the EMP needs to be improved. The budget for implementing the environment measures suggested are presented in 14 of the 15 EMPs reviewed. The detailing of the budget accounting for the various environment measures proposed, taking into consideration the estimate of the quantities required, their unit costs and specifications has been worked out in great detail as a part of GTRIP and GSHP. Apart from these two projects, 6 of the 15 projects (40%) have detailed the environment bud-

get satisfactorily. Bank reviews have ensured the incorporation of a detailed environment budget in the EMPs, and this is evident in the budget provisions of the four projects prepared in 2001.

An attempt is made to address induced development impacts in road projects, in the EA and SIA processes. In most projects reviewed, the EA reports have addressed the subject of project-induced developments. This is generally a section in a chapter on impacts, which may or may not have recommendations for mitigation. However, this can at best be classified as an attempt at addressing these impacts. The information content and analysis is generally brief, and not comnlensurate with what is required.

Ribbon development along the Indian roads is a serious problem but not addressed. There is no policy either at the State or Central levels for controlling ribbon developments along the project road. Along the existing alignment in road widening projects, the resettlement and rehabilitation is a mammoth task primarily due to the ribbon developments. In addition, road safety is also a problem created due to the lack of proper ribbon developmental controls. Wher- ever the road is a new alignment, the ribbon development on either side commences soon after the construction is completed. During this review, feedback was received that this issue is not being addressed in Bank projects although it is the cause of serious social and safety concerns.

There is not enough guidance available to assess induced developn~ents. In most cases, the solutions related to negative induced development impacts are not at a project level but at the State level. While the Bank rnay o r may not have the leverage to bring about those changes, it is in a position to encourage such initiatives at the appropriate levels. But one area that h ~ s not been addressed substantively is the use of other tools such as policy interventions in conjunction with the EA and SIA process. For instance, there is no structured discussion towards encouraging policy-level changes in the State government prior to funding State road projects or at the Planning Commission level. The feedback received during this review was that more could be done in the Bank projects.

Analyzing Impacts and Mitigation Measures 39

Good Practice - Hotspot Mitigation Prescription

The Gujarat State Highways Project identified sensitive locations whereenvironmental impacts are likely, through field investigations and community consultations. For each of these sensitive locations, called "hotspots", a mitigationlamelioration measure was proposed. In most of the cases the mitigation measures were in the form of 'design' solutions, included in the contract drawings. Typical 'hotspot mitigation prescriptions' addressed issues such as conservation of common property resources and water bodies, removal of waterlogging and solid wastedumps. Following are two illustrations.

Rechargingof Bhensali Pond on Bharuch-Dahej Highway: Bharuch-Dahej corridor i s being developed as a major industrial belt in the state, connecting the Dahej port, and carrying predominantly heavy truck traffic. A pond located at km.17.7 (village Bhensali on the 40krn highway) adjacent to the ROW was likely to lose part of its storage capacity due to filling. The pond, a part of the natural water recharge scheme in this area, was at the lowest point in the region, and all the natural drains slew towards it. The banks of the pond were erosion-prone, due to run-off flows or driving rain directly impinging on the slopes. Widening of the highway would have had encroached upon the recharging depression, resulting in ponding within the village built-uparea. A natural watercourse, from the settlement on the north, ponds on the opposite side due to the lack of cross drainage, further compounded the problem.

Design interventions: A culvert was provided to serve the dual purpose of removal of the water logging as well as rnake more water available to recharge the pond. Another culvert was provided to connect the two ditches, so that water level is stable for a large period of the year. To ensure protection of the recharge area, a chamber will be provided with a manhole to provide access to periodically maintain the scheme and ensuresmooth flow of water into the pond, in addition to the provision of a nurnber of pipes recharging the pond. Road width had been restricted by providing retaining walls, and gabions used to protectthe banks against erosion.

Community Pond at Asnabad on Ahmedabad-Viramgam Highway: Part of the pond is within the ROW and widening of the highway would extend to the pond on the southern end, reducing the storage. The quality of the water and possible increase in eutrophication are also important concerns for this pond, which is used by the community for several purposes.

Design intervention: A retaining wall was proposed to retain the earth on the highway side, and to ensure sufficient depth i s there on the pond side for water to accun>ulate. These would partially reduce the increasing eutrophication. Following the slope of the ground, gutters would accompany the wall. The barrier and gutter arrangement would also help solve the vehicle-washing problem. Area up to adistance of distance of 4111 from the wall would be paved. Vertical level differences were designed to prevent vehicles from entering the washing area. Washing area facility was provided with cement tile paving sloping towards the gutters. To provide cleaner water to the community, a shallow well with reverse filter would be constructed. Trees will be planted on the edge of the pond. Existing trees wi l l be provided with "chabutara" all around them.


Good Practice - Location Criteria for Siting Hot Mix Plants

The contract packages in Gujarat State Highway Project were 50 to 70km long. The contractors were required to establish 2 hot mix plants of capacity of about 60tonnelh. The PCC consultants, as part of the €A preparation, undertook an additional round of ambient air quality monitoring to assess the attenuation rates of the pollutants from the hot-mix plants. This was achieved by monitoring ambient air quality at varying distances from the hot-mix plants, in windward and leeward direction.

Several observations, for hot-mix plants at located in varying geographical regions, were analysed to understand the way the air quality impacts of hot-mix plants travel, and to specify the minimum distance that the hot-mix plants should be located upwind of a town/ village. The surveys established thatthe ambient concentrations of the pollutants vary with distance (which is a sum of effects such as natural attenuation, wind action, topographic undulations, local temperature gradients), as per the following:

Distance from Hot-Mix (Average) Ambient Concentrations expressed inpg/m3

Plant (m) CO HC soL SPM RPM NOv Pb

3040 10763 0.281 15.31 5395 71 7 23.42 5.52

300400 3664 0.1 1 1 5.92 2745 267 20.12 2.91

700-800 1603 0.004 3.45 72 6 114 11.00 0.68

1000-1 100

Based on these results, the minimum specified distance of the hot-mix plants upwind of villages as per clause 1 1 1.5 of the MoRTH specifications for road and bridge works was amended for this project.

Recommendations be described and be appropriate to the size and impor-

Impacts should be identified using a systematic methodology. A brief description of the impact identification method should be given along with its rationale. Methods used should be capable of identifying all significant impacts. Thereafter, these should be classified as direct ('rimary) or indirect (secondary), single or cumulative, short o r medium or long- term, permanent o r temporary and positive o r negative impacts. The use of checklists, matrices, panels of experts and structured consultations are some methods commonly adopted. Supplementary methods such as cause-effect analyses may be needed to identify secondary impacts.

Impacts should be assessed through quantification and prioritized. For each type of potential impact or environment concern, the analysis should predict the nature and significance of the expected impacts, and explain why no significant impact is anticipated. The impacts should be determined as the deviation from baseline conditions, i.e. the difference between the conditions if the development were not to proceed and those likely to prevail as a consequence of it. Impacts should be quantified as per magnitude and duration, and prioritized with respect to the project.

tance of the likely impact. Some are relatively simpler to quantify than others: for instance, the magnitude of impacts for physical effects, e.g., land cleared, trees removed and homes affected are easier to quantify than effects on the biological environment such as habitat loss. Where possible, predictions of impacts should be expressed in measurable quantities with ranges and/or confidence limits as appropriate. Quali- tative descriptions, where these are used, should be as fully defined as possible. It is also necessary to distinguish between those impacts for which mitigation is in the direct purview of the project authorities, and those impacts thdt will be induced.

Impact assessment should be used to consider possible design alternatives (Positive/Negative). The outputs of the impact assessment should be linked to the analysis of alternatives. Impact analysis can help in identifying environment implications of proposed project options and related activities. If unexpectedly severe adverse impacts are anticipated during the course of the investigation, which are difficult to mitigate, project alternatives rejected in the earlier planning phases should be re-appraised.

Mitigation and enhancement measures should be - The methods used to predict impact magnitude should more focused and based on the assessment of

Analyzing Impacts and Mitigation Measures 4 1

Good Practice - Mitigation Measures in the Gautam Buddha Wildlife Sanctuary

The Grand Trunk Road Improvement Project passes through the thesanctuary length. Also, rumblestripsshall be put up atpredefined buffer zone ofthe Gautama Buddha Wildlife Sanctuary for a length locations as suggested by the local forest officials. of 18km. he Ministry of ~nvironment and Forests (MoEF), has laid Strip Plantation: The GTRlP envisages the plantation of 12,000 Sal down strict guidelines that no improvements including major trees, loom on either side of along majordrainage channels over maintenance shall be carried out within the sanctuaries. The ENSA which the NH2 passes within the ~h~ enhanced plantation consultants carried out extensive studies on the impacts on wildlife will provide cover for animals coming to the water edge. due to the proposed improvements. Mitigation measures for the Gautam Buddha Wildlife sanctuary have been proposed on basis of Wildlife CrossingdUnderpasseslBridges: Two existing slab culverts,

consu~tations with the local community, the foresto~icials, wildlife 'epo'edtobe used by theanimalsfor movement, shall be improved

experts, NCOs and also as per the recommen~ations ofthe Forest and widened as part of the project to create 6m wide underpasses

Management Plan. Mitigation and enhancement measures for animals at km254.473 and km256.811. In addition 11 new wildlife underpasses (one at alternative kilometre), additional culverts

The Grand Trunk Road passing through the Gautam Buddha Wildlife Sanctuary

incorporated in the project include:

N o Land Acquisition: All improvement works and construction activity has been restricted to the existing ROW with no land acquisition has been resorted to.

Prevention of Disruption: All works are to be carried out in such a way that the damage and disruption to fauna is minimum. Construction workers shall be instructed to protect natural resources and fauna, including wild animals and aquatic life. All Construction Camps, Stock Yards, Concrete Batching or Hot mix Plants shall be located away from the Wildlife sanctuary.

N o procurement of MaterialIWater from within the Sanctuary: Procurement of any kind of construction material from within the existing crushers, borrow pits and hot mix plants within the sanctuary has been strictly prohibited. No water resources within the wild Life Sanctuary shall be tapped.

Provision of Water Harvesting Structures to address Water Scarcity: The sanctuary management plan envisages the construction of 13 Check dams. NHAl shall bear 25% of the cost. The water bodies within the sanctuary are known to dry out during peak summer. GTRIP would construct new waterholes.

Dissemination of Information on the Sanctuary on the Project Road: To regulate the entry into the sanctuary from both ends the project proposes the provision of gates that can be raised or lowered. At these locations, signboards informing the road-users about the sanctuary at both ends shall be provided.

Control of Access to and within the Sanctuary: The illegal felling of forest timber and quarrying activities within the sanctuary cause degradation of the habitat. All temporary roads leading to the sanctuary shall be blocked for heavy vehicular traffic. For the other main roads leading into the sanctuary, forest check-posts shall be established. A sanEtuary management fund has been proposed to fund regular patrolling along the project road to ensure enforcement of these rules.

Control of Noise: The sanctuary area shall be declared as a silent zone. Signages curbing the speed of vehicles and horns shall be placed at the start and end location and every subsequent km along

and increased span of all the bridges have been provided to reduce the probability of wild life straying on to the road.

Creation of Post of Manager (Environment) for Package VB: Each GTRIP contract package has an Environment Manager to oversee the implementation of the EMP. In case of this package an additional post has been proposed to oversee the implementation of the mitigation measures in the sanctuary during construction and operation period. The Manager shall be responsible for interacting with the Wild Life Board periodically to ensure enforcement of the sanctuary management plan by the Wild Life Department.

Formation of Sanctuary Management Committee: A sanctuary management committee shall be formed to oversee the proper implementation of the EMP in the sanctuary. The committee shall be manned by one official of the Bihar Forest Department (BFD), Wildlife Institute of India (WII), a prominent local NCO and the Environment Manager of Package VB and shall be convened by N HAI.

Sanctuary Management Fund: A lump sum of Rupees Five million has been provided to ensure the enforcement of the mitigation measures and implementation of the Sanctuary Management Plan. The NHAl shall release funds to the Wild Life Department for enforcement of the additional mitigation measures suggested to improve habitat of the sanctuarv. Additionallv, the NHAI shall cobrdinate with the forestdepartmknt by funding part of its sanctuary management plans. Activities eligible for such funding from NHAl are (a) purchase of wireless/communication measures to ensure enforcement of proposed measures, (b) regular day/night patrolling all along project road, (c) maintenance of the check posts at all entry points into the forest from the project road, (d) maintenance of proper signage and enforcement of regulations especially noise, and (e) public awareness programs for the local people.

Additional Study: Asum of Rupees One million has been provided in the EMP budget to fund astudy on the impact of the project on the Wild Life Sanctuary. The proposed study shall be commissioned in the operation stage of the project.


Good Practice : Enhancement Designs for Cultural Properties

The Grand Trunk Road Improvement Project prepared good enhancement designs for cultural properties and common property resources. The enhancement measures adopted intend to improve highwayside visual quality, are maintenance free, low cost (including use of local materials) and are functional. Measures for improving the ambience of the cultural properties include improvement of access and the precincts at more than 30 different sites along the 429km project highway. Following is a caseexample of the design process adopted for Budiya ka Taal, a protected monument adjacent to the highway.

Budiya ka Taal is a monument protected by the Archaeological Society of India. The site comprises of an ancient water tank with boundary walls all around; a monument at the centre and a tomb east of the tank. Mounds, created when the tank was dug originally, surround the site and distinctly characterize the catchment area of the tank. A road, which was the original alignment of the historical Grand Trunk Road, is on the south of the site. At present, the tank and the boundary walls are in ruin, and the nearby communities use the tank for singhada plantation, further deteriorating the water body.

Monument enhancement proposals: Consultations revealed that communities are aware of the historical significance of the site. Stakeholders agreed that (i) water in the tank needed conservation, (ii) the catchment area needed improvement, and (iii) the site around the monument needed landscaping altogether making this hitherto neglected monument agood stopover for the highway travelers. The enhancement proposals were: (a) the tank to be desilted and excavated to a depth of 1.8m to maintain a stable water level, (b) the catchment area to be improved by planting trees, and grass cover on the mounds, (c) drainage channels to be provided all along the raised catchment, to meet into a boundary trench, and small drain inletsfitted with filter traps to take silt-free water from the trench to the tank, (d) the tank to be cleared of plantation, and the current plantation to be relocated on the raised catchment area, and (e) a bore well to be installed to replenish the tank at times of scarce rainfall.

Other design interventions: No building activity was recommended at this site, and improvement is limited to conservation of the water body and landscape development interventions.

:r. .,$ ,, .-. . .".* ". " " . 4i>.,;

-.. ,, ... .............. . . "~ -- " ' ~.." .,..- " "A! &- .., #

Sandstone pavements would be laid all around the water tank, and on the outer edge of the boundary wall, with proper drains for rainwater inlet. However, the existing boundary wall would not to be repaired, as its ruinous state has an exotic visual quality. The only building structure proposed was a small cafeteria and associated utilities to cater for the visitors.

Detailed construction drawings, specifications for material and workmanship, and bill of quantities were prepared for the enhancement measures described above, and incorporated into the contract documents.


impacts. The mitigation of all environment and social impacts should be considered in proportion to the magnitude of impacts. Specific mitigation and enhancement measures, complete in all respects of implementation should be identified and defined in the EMP. These include technical specifications and cost estimates along with the responsibility. The scale of these monitoring arrangements should be in proportion to the likely scale of impacts. The monitoring plan should also include the compliance of conditions specified by the regulatory agencies. Some flexibility should be provided wherever the mitigation or enhancement measures need to be modified as per field verification during implementation.

Road-induced development should be separately studied and appropriate follow-up action should be taken. This kind of study requires a team with different backgrounds, knowledge and skills when compared to a typical EA and SIA team. Hence, it should not be mixed with the EA and SIA, which should focus solely on mitigating the project's direct impacts. This study should be initiated after the feasibility study is completed. Separate TOR should be prepared and the outputs of the screening should be used to scope- out the different facets of this study. The team doing the study should comprise primarily development planners, economists and social scientists, and should explore and use tools and techniques that are outside of those included in the EA and SIA processes. The recommendations of the study should be in the form of a management plan for follow-up. Some of these will be applicable at a project level, but most will be at a State or regional planning level. Implementation of the key aspects of this management plan should become a condition for project implementation. It is only through such measures that road-induced development can be addressed in a structured and systematic manner.

Bank needs to establish a mechanism for addressing induced development impacts. For this purpose, the Bank must setup a core group to deliberate and evolve a suitable mechanism that can be implemented along side the project that is being funded.

nate in an implementable resettlement action plan (RAP). Background studies cover census and socio- economic surveys of the people in the impact area, land tenure and its use, and of income restoration programmes. In addition, consultations with stakeholders at various levels are carried out. Analyses and outputs from studies and consultations form the basis for minimizing adverse impacts, finalization of R&R policy, framework for ongoing consultation, site selection for relocation, institutional arrangements, implementation schedule, monitoring arrangements with indicators and budget, which becomes a part of RAP. The following paragraphs deal with three important concerns that arise in the course of preparing a realistic RAP.

Highways and roads projects invariably require the acquisition of land. Most of the land required, is along the existing alignment and narrow strips are acquired from individual owners. This acquisition is carried out in accordance with the principles laid down in the Land Acquisition (LA) Act, 1894 (Amended in 1984). The Act governs the acquisition of land under eminent domain for defined public purposes and cornpensation. T o acquire the land, detailed assessments are required and plans are to be prepared to meet the requirements of the aforesaid Act.

Findings

Land records are outdated. Revenue maps form the basis for preparing land acquisition plans. Land records exist in the form of village maps in the scale of 1:8000 (or 1 inch to a mile), which represent the boundaries of the land parcels including public lands and roads. Details for each land parcel are available in the form of field measurement books marking the exact boundaries and sizes. These maps have been prepared through plane table surveys. The land records in several States have not been updated and the quality of records available varies across States from the recently prepared digitized village revenue maps to maps pre-

SOCIAL ISSUES pared as early as 1930s;~his change in land use pattern is not recognized in the records. Though land

Most resettlement preparation and planning culmi- may have been physically divided among family mern-


Good Practice - Collection and Transfer of ROW Information onto Base Maps

The Trichy - Madurai (NH45-B) project proposed the widening of an existing major district road with poor geometrics and very limited ROW (less than 30m) to four lane national highway standards. The ROW records were not available with the borrowericlient, and the revenue department indicated that an average ROW of 30m is available. Realizing the magnitude of resettlement, the consultants initiated the procurement of revenue records at an early stage of the project. The village maps were procured, and the field numbers along the existing highway identified. For these field numbers, the field measurement books (FMBs) and drawings were obtained. The consultants established the boundariesof the ROW on theground based on the information from FMBs and site inspection by the village revenue officials. This was essential as the ROW pillars alongthe highways do not exist (true with most of the highways in the country). These boundaries were picked up during the topographic surveys. This approach was a significant irnprovement over the previous practice of assuming a width on either side of the centerline to determine the ROW available.

Good Practices - Institutional Mechanisms to speed up the Land Acquisition Process

In Kerala State Transport Project, the consultants as part of the project preparation, carried out a review of the LA process adopted in similar highway projects in the state, including projects funded by the ADB and domestic funded national highway projects. In both cases, it was observed that the lack of a full-time official, who works in close interaction wi th the PIU resulted in delays i n the implementation process. This was primarily because the competent authority, usually of the rank of a District Magistrate or an Additional District Magistrate does not find sufficient time for the project. Consequently, there are several litigations and court cases, which greatly delay the land acquisition. To overcome this, the Secretary of the PWD has been entrusted the powers of the competent authority to issue the required notices.

In Mizoram State Roads Project, a senior officer of the rank of an Additional Secretary has been inducted into the PIU as the Special Land Acquisition Officer (SLAO). The choice of the person was made based on his prior experience in handling resettlement issues. To further quicken the process, the Special Land Acquisition Officer of the PWD was appointed the competent authority. This has enabled the LA process to be carried out in a smooth and effective manner

bers, it may not have been formalized in the revenue with the poject implementation agency is usually a records. The sale of land based on mutual trust re- broad indication. The road agencies are required to mains. Outdated records create difficulties in preparing LA plans and assessing impacts of acquisition of the present owner. Further, it delays the process of acquisition as there are different claimants to compensation and there are various demands for enhancing compensation.

Access to land records is time-consuming and inter- agency coordination does not exist. In all projects reviewed, getting access to the ROW records and pro- curing village revenue maps was particularly time-consuming. The records are mostly available with the junior-most revenue officer rank to which only the

prepare strip plans inventorying the features within the ROW and this is done assuming a uniform ROW. Also, as the ROW pillars o r boundaries along the roads are not available, the consultants carry out the SIA based on the information provided by the project implementation agency. The collection of the revenue information is taken up after the designs are completed, i.e. at a time when LA plans are prepared. This leads to difficulties in preparing LA plans and upsets the time schedule as information gaps, such as change in the land use pattern and legal owner versus actual owner, are not identified in the RAP.

revenue department has access. Despite the assurances LA plans are not prepared on time by the consult- given by senior revenue officers for cooperation in re- ants. Often, the plans are prepared by the project gional stakeholder consultations, it takes more than implementation agency during process of acquiring two years to get the records. the land. In only 4 projects, social specialists were . .

involved in the process of preparation. The focus of Collection of land records is not carried out prior plans is more on the of area to finalizing designs. 'The information available of lost and does not have any information of the actual legal ownership of R o w with road agencies an owner or ,-hanged status of land use. The of issue of concern in most projects. The data available


Cood Practices- Measures to Minimize Delays in Land Acquisition Process

Land had been acquired in accordance to the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (amended 1984) in all the projects. Normally, acquisition under the Act is time consuming, and is known tocausedelays in implementation of projects. To minimize the delays in the traditional land acquisition approach, various measures were adopted to quicken the process:

In the Uttar Pradesh State Roads Project, consent awards would be used as per the Uttar Pradesh Land Acquisition (determination of compensation and declaration of award by agreement) Rules, 1997. Accordingto these rules, the landowner and the district collector or the competent authority reach an agreement on the compensation through negotiations. The compensation is fixed according to the agreed amount. This process comes very close to a market mechanism, wherein buyers and sellers negotiate the price. Also, it provides an opportunity to the landowners to participate in the process of determining compensation.

In Gujarat State Highways Project, incentives are provided to the landowners who consent to early acquisition of land, and desist contesting the award in the courts, as per the Gujarat Land Acquisition Act. In Kerala State Road Project also, awards would be based on negotiated settlements. Recently, in Tamil Nadu State Road Project, it was decided to enter into direct negotiations with the landowners, largely avoiding use of the Land Acquisition Act. Moreover, in many projects, mechanisms are in place to decide the 'market value' or 'replacement value' of land, so that the difference between this and the award by the land acquiring authorities could be paid as a top-up "assistance" payment

the revenue records is not carried out when the LA plans are prepared. Consequently, there is a mismatch in the list of affected people prepared on the basis of revenue records and that of the LA plans. In most projects, boundary markings indicating the corridor of impact is not carried out to make a realistic assessment of land required. Often, this process is not carried out for the bypasses as well. Hence, a similar mismatch in project-affected persons exists in the bypasses as well.

The timeframes proposed for the LA is unrealistic. In most projects reviewed, the time allocated for land acquisition has been significantly lower than what it has actually taken. Implementation difficulties were not adequately considered. The timeframes are made based on the minimum time required between

Cood practices - Minimizing Resettlement through Design Considerations

To minimize resettlement,all the projects had cleared only the corridor of impact(Col), and not the right of way of the highway. Guidelines stated that the contractor is not to disturb, impact or displace properties and people outside the Col. Apart from this uniform adoption of Col, projects used avariety of design measures to minimize resettlement.

The Uttar Pradesh State Roads Project, undertook measures such as: (i) provision of bypasses for dense urban areas, (ii) selection of the bypass alignment to minimize impacts on vulnerablegroups and on marginal land holdings, (iii) adoption of concentric widening, (iv) building raised carriageways through built up areas, (v) provision of wall-to-wall paving withdrains underneath the footpath, (vi) reduction of the design speed to 40-50km/h in built-up areas, (vii) modification of the design cross-sections to reduce impacts on common property resources and cultural properties. All these resulted in the reduction of the number of PAPs from 152,934 to 32,927 (number of project affected families reduced to 9,385 from 41,657).

In Kerala State Transport Project, the social Impact screening identified three major situations to avoid while designing,. (i) congested commercial areas, with dense structures, squatters and encroachers; (li) built up residential areas; and (iii) roadside agricultural /plantation land. A set of design guidelines were prepared, which included the following directives: (a) to limit the upgrading activities within the existing roadway width, especially along congested sections, (b) to avoid cultural property sites in the design of the road alignments, (c) to carry out eccentric widening to prevent acqu~sition of land and property on one flank -consultation to be taken up to convince the community of the benefits of widening on one side, (d) to avoid productive agricultural lands for new alignments, and if unavoidable, to be routed through rubber plantations, (e) to consider severance and size of land holdings during selection of new alignments, and (f) to minimize the Col in urban areas by reducing design speed limits. The project has considered a 12-1 5m Col for a 7m carriageway. By careful consideration and continuous efforts to minimize resettlement, the number of PAPs was reduced from 26,494 to 13,487, and that of the project displaced persons, to 1038 from 4325.

various stages as laid down in the LA Act.

Delay in LA has a direct bearing on project scheduling. In accordance with the procedures of LA Act (1894), the district administration - the Competent Authority - is responsible to acquire land for projects that is generally initiated at the advanced stage of project preparation or in early stages of implementation. The Competent Authority considers it as a rou- tine task, and do not deploy required staff to carry out


surveys under the LA process which is often not tion so that realistic timeframes and plans are pre- viewed as a priority. In nearly all the projects reviewed, pared. capacity to facilitate the LA process had not been envisaged. In addition, the procedure of gnzette notlficn- tion of all the notices is time consuming. These notices are vetted by the revenue department before for- warding then1 to the government's publication unit for notification. In the case of Third National High- way Project, lack of resources to prepare the required copies with State government was one of the primary causes for the delay in publication. These procedures limits the time available to complete LA prior to the date proposed for contractor mobilization. Not being able t o complete the land acquisition within that timeframe results in delays in implementing project on schedule. In the case of Uttar Pradesh State, amendments have been made in 1997 to include provision to purchase land through negotiated settlement. It is endorsed by a committee, which is chaired by the commissioner and comprises NGOs, elected members of the region and landowners.

Recommendations

The project implementation agency needs to coordinate with the revenue department on LA-related activities from the early stages of project preparation. The project implementation agency should initiate the collection of revenue land records soon after the feasibility stage. This should be the basis for establishing the legal ROW and provide information to finalize the alignment at the preliminary design stage. The project implementation agency should work closely with the revenue department to update land records on the transfer of land ownership (including the updating of the land sub-divisions). Adequate support should be provided to the revenue department by the project inlplementation agency under the project to facilitate the preparation of LA plans and carrying out the actual LA during implementation.

Capacity needs to be built within the implementing agency to deal with LA. As procedural requirements have to be fulfilled, retired revenue officers thoroughly conversant with the procedural requirements should be in position to coordinate the land acquisition process. They need to be recruited into the project implementing team at an early stage during project prepara-

Gaps between revenue records and field data need to be identified. The land acquisition details should be based on the information collected from the revenue records and these need to be correlated with field surveys to identify gaps. This will help in carrying out realistic impact assessment of losses of the actual owner. The social specialists of the consultants should work together with the engineering teams to prepare LA plans.

Acquisition process should be initiated after alignment is finalized. The LA act recognizes a minimum of two years to implement the procedure of acquisition. To be able to provide encumbrance free stretches to the contractors, the process of acquisition should begin soon after the alignment is finalized.

Realistic timeframes for LA are to be worked out. The basis for determining the time required to complete the LA should be based on the recent experience of the project implementation agency or other Government agencies t o acquire land for similar projects. This will enable them to initiate LA process and provide adequate time to provide encumbrance-free stretches to the contractors when they mobilize.

Direct purchase of land should be encouraged rather than land acquisition. Market value for the assets should be offered to affected people. NGOs along with recognized government evaluators should make an assessment of the market price that can be endorsed by the project authorities.

In road projects, adverse impact on people is caused due to the widening of the existing road width and creating new alignments. The affected people consti- tute the legal owners and non-titleholders who use the right-of-way (Row). Local laws recognize only legal owners of property as affected and the LA Act includes procedures for compensation. Non-titleholders are removed during the course of civil construction and are expected to make their own arrangements to rebuild their assets. Experience from development


Good Practices- Categorization of Structures based on Specifications

In Package VII of theThird National Highway Project, the consultants worked out fifteen categories of structures based on the specifications. The flooring type (marble, mosaic, and cement concrete), and roof type (e.g. asbestos, tiled and reinforced cement concrete) formed a basis for the categorization. This was a marked improvement upon the general practice of categorizing the structures into temporary, semi-permanent and permanent, without considering the specifications of the structures.

In Mizoram State Roads Project, the detailed specifications of every individual structure affected were worked out. This approach enabled the calculation of costs for individual structures rather than classifying them into categories. The measurement wasdone as a joint exercise by the PIU in the presence of the PAP, members of the Village Council and the NGO representatives in the village. This was carried out to ensure that there are no grievances of the PAPS during the implementation.

projects has established that neither adversely affected titleholders nor non-titleholders are able to restore their livelihood. The option with legal owners is to move the court for the enhancement of their compensation as they may not receive the real market value for their losses. The non-titleholders can take no course of action within the present legal system.

The issue of involuntary resettlement in Bank-financed projects is applicable to both these categories of people, i.e. legal owners and non-titleholders who use public property for their sustenance. The Bank policy explicitly states that lack of legal title cannot disqualify affected people from resettlement assistance. Based on their use of land, these people are categorized as squatters (those who do not own land and use public land) and encroachers (those who have extended their legal assets on the adjacent public land o r the legal Row) . Both categories of people, titleholders and non-titleholders are recogniz.ed as adversely affected people for the support of compensation and assistance to improve or, at least, re-establish their standards of living. In Bank projects, the project implementation agencies prepare R&R policies with detailed entitlement framework, which provides for assistance against losses at replacement cost and other assistances.

Findings

Replacement cost is not adequately established. Un- der the LA Act, compensation is in cash at market cost for the loss of land, other productive assets (such as standing crops and fruit and fodder trees), house plots and residences. Procedures laid down in the LA Act recognizes the average of registry value of land sold in the district over three years preceding the date of section 4(1) of the Act. Entitlement matrix recognizes additional support to meet the replacement cost for which procedures are laid down. For budgeting purposes, land market surveys for determining market cost were carried out. However, scientific methods were often not used to arrive at real market rates to pay the differential amount in the form of assistance. Most often, there has been pressure from the project implementation agencies to reduce the market con. In the case of structures, replacement costs is in accordance to the schedule of rates. These rates are available for those structures that are constructed with material like cement and bricks. However, for temporary and semi-permanent structures constructed with earth, grass and agriculture by-products, unit rates were worked out through consultations with affected people. The review of entitlements reveals that in some projects, support was not linked to the cost of construction to provide adequate shelter as recognized by local policies. Replacement cost of the existing structure is generally not sufficient to reconstruct appropriate shelter.

Assistance for squatters and encroachers is perceived as "rewarding the ineligible" by project implementation agencies. Procedures for determining PAPS, recognized by project authorities compensate those with legal title deeds over land and does not include those who do not have legal title. However, in accordance with Bank's policy, the project implementation agency is expected to provide assistance to non-titleholders for assets other than land. Details of assistance were included in the R&R policy. However, this was perceived as "rewarding the ineligible". Rea- sons for denying R&R support to non-titleholders stems from the fact that they have earned livelihood by using the land til l t h e t ime it was required for the project. Further, any assistance to


them will encourage squatting and encroachment by others in the region. As a compromise finally, assistance is extended to only "vulnerable" people so that they do not fall below the determined poverty line due to the project.

Identifying vulnerable people, particularly those below poverty line for additional support has been weak. R&R policy defines vulnerable people as those who belong to Scheduled Caste/Tribe, women headed household, disabled, abandoned aged people and those whose income is below poverty line. Identification of affected as "vulnerable" on the basis of economic criteria remains a challenge.

Although information is collected during census surveys of assets of titleholders and squatters and encroachers, data has not been analyzed properly to identify people below poverty line.

Basis for calculating unit rates for other assistances is not always relevant to project conditions. Apart from five of the projects studied, unit rates of entitlement have been worked out based on values adopted in other similar projects. A uniform shifting allow- ance and rental assistance has been considered irre- spective of the size of holding and type of structure impacted. The values remain the same for the urban and rural areas.

Assistance for common property resources does not cover all categories of property. Most projects provide assistance for relocating religious and other structures, drinking water facilities and other utilities. As far as village gram sabha land is concerned, the affected land is transferred under the local rules to the project implementing agency by district administration for which there is no Inonetary transaction. None of the projects carried out an assessment of the impact of transfer of land that may be used for purposes like grazing by the villagers. Whereas, if the affected land is under the jurisdiction of any government department or institution, land is transferred after com- pensating the concerned agency. Only in Mizoram State Roads project, where land ~nanaged by Village Development Council was acquired, efforts have been successfully rnade to provide compensation for the area lost.

Recommendations

Appropriate tools to arrive at replacement cost should be included in the screening report. Estimated R&R costs are integrated in the overall project cost while preparing the feasibility study. T o be able to provide realistic costs, the methodology to determine market value should be tested and some flexibility to adjust the rates during the detailed preparation should be given.

R&R policy should include detailed entitlement to determine compensation and assistance. The sample survey carried out during preparation will provide information on the nature and type of adverse impact on people and on all types of common property. It should form the basis for developing the package for cornpensation and assistance. In addition, assessment should be made of existing local policies/schemes for - poor and assistances under the project should be at par with what is being provided under programs specifically developed for them. For example, assistance for shelter should be at least equivalent to the amount given under Economically Weaker Section Housing Schemes. Furthermore, amounts determined under each scheme should be justified.

Project specific R&R policies should be designed to meet the objectives of the Indian Constitution. One of the directive principles of the Indian Constitution recognizes that everyone should have adequate shelter. The project implementation agency is bound to translate the principles of the Constitution through various schemes/programs. It is a policy issue and the task team should engage in constant dialogue with the project implementation agency. It would be useful to organize workshops with the project implementation agency's management on Bank's policies so that there is a buy-in from all quarters at the initial stage of project preparation itself.

Detailed assessment to identify the economically vulnerable should be carried out during implementation. This requires intensive consultation with individual affected families to objectively analyze income and expenditure for identifying who is vulnerable. Once imple~nentation is initiated, NGOs are in con-


stant touch with affected people to collect all the required information. However, for costing purposes during preparation, there should be broad estimates on numbers. It may not be necessary to identify by name at this stage.

The purpose of baseline census analysis is to understand the magnitude of livelihood losses. This analysis is used to develop action plans to ensure that people have the opportunity to improve their standard of living. Restoration of the livelihood of PAPs, who lose their productive base o r other assets, is an integral part of irrlplementing the action plan.

Findings

The analysis of livelihood losses was weak. The information on economic activities and sources of income is collected through census arid socio-economic surveys. As the affected people along the project road depend mainly on informal sources of livelihood, the information collected on income is underestimated. This review revealed that it is often difficult to get -

realistic income levels. Though information is collected on the total asset of the affected family, it is not analyzed in depth to explain the magnitude of impact. The assessment of those losing agricultural land remains incomplete as the extent of dependence from other sources of livelihood is not analyzed. Es- tablishing the relationship with parameters such as asset ownership, income and expenditure pattern to establish the income levels was worked out in only four projects. The supplementary sources of income of the PAPs, especially from own agricultural lands have not been addressed.

Skills identification and analyses is not done as a part of the social surveys. The census and socio-economic questionnaires include questions on the skills of the individual members in the household. However, detailed information on the skills available among the PAPs is often not collected.

Income restoration plans are not realistic. Income restoration plans have been prepared for the recent projects (after ZOOl), where the families entitled for income restoration schemes have been identified and

an action plan for the implementation of the such schemes were prepared. These plans provide actions for income restoration, budgets, timetables, roles and - responsibilities of agencies for irnplementation. Long term and short term, land based and non-land based income restoration activities have been suggested in all projects. These activities are usually obtained from the State Rural Development department. A long list of income restoration activities is made without assessing the suitability in the project area or to the PAPs. The evaluation of income restoration options and the suitability to the PAPs was not worked out during preparation. The consultation with PAPs mostly focused on issues pertaining to the evaluation of compensation at market value. Issues on training for income restoration programs were not discussed. The consultants perceive that the choice of the programs for every individual need should be carried out during imple~nentation by the NGO.

In some projects, village land was identified to provide alternative land. However, consultations were not carried out with PAPs to establish whether the was suitable for them. Moreover, land is also required to build vendor markets and shopping complexes for non-titleholders. Since the non-titleholders earn their livelihood fro111 the road users, they prefer to remain in close proximity to the road. Assessments carried out on the land required for livelihood restoration ~ n d its availability is often not adequate.

Recommendations

Relevant information for livelihood restoration should be a part of sample survey. Consultants should provide adequate data on individual sources of income, skills available, total asset of the affected persons and income levels. The analysis is extremely relevant to finalize the R&R policy that provides individual entitlements to mitigate the losses, which will help to firm-up adequate budgetary provisions in the RAP.

Comprehensive action plan for restoring livelihood should be prepared. During preparation, emphasis should be given to identifying ongoing land-based and lion land-based income-restoration activities in the project area. The TOR of the consultants should include the scope for market surveys for such activities and the skills required to develop a realistic training


plan for livelihood restoration. In addition, assesstnent of land requirement and its identification in consultation with the PAPs should be carried out.

Separate consultations should be organized on the income restoration plans. Draft income restoration plans should be shared with PAPs to obtain their preferences based on which indicative IR plans should be developed.

All State highway projects include a large component for major tnaintenance of roads. These cover corridors other than those selected for upgradation. The component is designed in such a way that there would be no widening, realignments or any other major construction work. The major maintenance works generally consist of improvements to the existing pavement surface, road drainage, slope protection works, repair/ replacement of culverts and provision of suitable road signs and other road furniture to improve the safety and comfort of travel along these roads. The environment and social issues pertaining to maintenance roads are generally limited. However, there are problems that need to be addressed.

Findings

Environment and social impacts of maintenance corridors have been assessed as a part of the EA and SIA in the projects after year 2000. Historically, it was assumed that maintenance works involved no adverse environment and social impacts as activities would be restricted to the existing road width only, not involve any widening, and just focus on strengthening the surface of the pavement. As a result the environment and social impact assessments did not cover these corridors and no measures were identified for assessing or addressing the impacts along these roads. The assessment of maintenance corridors is not even covered in the Sectoral EAs.

The Bank helped the projects to develop a framework for addressing environment and social impacts along the maintenance corridors. In all projects approved after 2000, at1 Environment and Social (or Re- settlement) Management Plan (ESMP o r ERMP) has

been prepared and this is used to mitigate adverse impacts along the maintenance roads. This plan comprises a generic set of measures to address the likely impacts and provides for a mitigation budget. The environment measures to be taken up by the contractor are specified along with the supervision and monitoring mechilnisms. In case the roads traverse sensitive areas, the plan specifies additional mitigation measures that may be necessary. Similarly, the plan provides for addressing the resettlement impacts in accordance with the principles laid down in the R & R policy. The divisional offices of the project implementation agency (in particular cases, supervision consultants are employed to support the divisional offices) supervise the implementation of the maintenance works carried out by contractors procured through NCB. To ensure quality, the services of a technical audit consultant are procured for the entire implementation period. The inclusion of the verification of the ESMP by the technical audit consultant has also been done in the recent State highway projects such as in Kerala, Mizoram and Uttar Pradesh.

There are some instances of upgrading-type work such as widening being done in the maintenance component. Due to the varying and ambiguous definition of what constitutes "maintenance", widening is being done in certain States under the guise of maintenance. This is rationalized by advancing the argu- ment that there are no resettlement impacts or tree cutting involved, and hence widening is done at locations where there are no hindrances. Besides, no other impacts are perceived which can be related to major construction.

Recommendations

EA and SIA should provide a baseline for all p&- posed maintenance roads that are regarded as potentially sensitive and the ESMP or ERMP should be a well-defined output . T h e baseline will help to identify any environment o r social sensitive areas along the maintenance roads. For the likely project-induced impacts, appropriate mitigation measures are t o be planned and implemented through the ESMP o r ERMP. This will ensure that all direct environment and social impacts are addressed in the project.

Analyzing Impacts and Mitigation Measures 5 1

The ESMP or ERMP should form a part of the contract documents and appropriate training should be given. This should essentially include a map showing the geographical location of the proposed roads, checklist of environment and social screening criteria, summary of possible environment and social impacts, generic and specific mitigation measures and cross-references to various MoRTH contract clauses, wherever

relevant. Prior to the commencement of civil works, an orientation session should be conducted for the contractors to ensure clarity in what is expected of them during the ESMP o r ERMP implementation. During this orientation, it must be emphasized that the ESMP o r ERMP are an integral part of the contractual agreement and the contractors should adhere to the requirements.


Note 7

Analysis of alternatives implies identifyingvarious alternatives and analyzing them. The analysis in this case is to be done from environment and social considerations. This dissemination note presents the findings related to how analysis of alternatives has been carried out. In the findings, some good practices have been included. It also provides recommendations on how this analysis can be improved in future projects.

By undertaking analysis of alternatives, the project design is enhanced as it addresses environment and social risks on the one hand, and enhancement opportunities on the other. This analysis is to be carried out at various stages of the project preparation and is generally documented in a separate chapter in the En- vironment Assessment (EA) report. Usually the coverage of the analysis of alternatives in a typical Bank- supported road project includes route alternatives, alignment alternatives, bypass alternatives and cross- section alternatives. Normally, this analysis does not include comparison with other transport infrastructure alternatives.

Findings

and social considerations, these are justified. Project decisions (designs and others) are strongly influenced by political and economic compulsions and environment and social considerations are not viewed as equally important. In the case of the Trichy-Madurai National Highway, one route was 30 km less but high on environment and social costs when compared to the other. However, the shorter route was chosen. In several projects reviewed, the corridors to be improved o r upgraded and maintained were pre-decided even before the EA and SIA processes were initiated.

The consultants do not even plan for a true analysis of alternatives. Analysis of alternatives takes time and resources. Feedback received from the consult- - ants revealed that this is not even planned. More data

Analysis of alternatives is presently not very effec- collection is necessary, particularly of alternative tive and is not serving as a decision-making tool. routes, if any. Generally, detailed data collection

Analysis of alternatives has to be done at the various through topographical and engineering surveys is done

stages of project preparation. During the early stage only along the alignments that are more o r less pre-

of considering various project alternatives, environ- decided. In alternative route alignments, such data is

ment and social issues are generally looked at only not collected.

cursorily as they are considered by non-specialists and in an unstructured manner. When the detailed EA is carried out, consultants include analysis of alternatives as a chapter to be completed in the EA report. The consultants tend to carry out an exposte justification of all the project design decisions. This is documented and said to present the analysis of alternatives that was undertaken throughout the project preparation. It appears that the documentation is done solely to satisfy Bank requirements. Thus, analysis of alternatives is being done as an exercise that rational- izes the decisions rather than as one wherein reason- ing is done to influence the decisions. Even if the design decisions are not favorable from environment

Consultants lack the capacity to undertake a sound analysis of alternatives. In the Indian context, analysis of alternatives has not been regarded as a necessary part of the EA process. This is perhaps because the MoEF does not formally ask for such an analysis of alternatives to be done. As only the multilateral agencies require the analysis of alternatives, there is little familiarity with this subject. Therefore, practical know-how on undertaking this analysis is limited.

In some projects, partial analysis of alternatives is done but not reflected suitably in the EA reports. In some EA reports, the analysis of alternatives ap-

Good Practice: Identification, Analysis and Selection of Corridor alternatives in Mumbai-Sawantwadi Expressway (a non-Bank project)

The Konkan region in Maharashtra and the Murnbai metropolitan region are on the threshold of rapid industrialization and economic transformation. To address the traffic demands due to this development and to support the cumulative ef fem of all proposed developmental activities in the region, the Government of Maharashtra is developing an expressway between Mumbai and Goa. During the feasibility studies, alternatives were systematically carried out to identify afeasible 550km long expressway alignment.

Marking of possiblealignments: The selection of the promising alignments was based on the topographic features and an appraisal of the various developmental activities. Apart from topographical maps, geo-coded satellite imageries on a scale of 1 :50,000 were used. Selection of alternative alignments was based on low landslide risks and least physical hindrances.

I n total, 18 alignment options were identified: (1) widening of existing NH-17 to a 6 lane expressway, (2) Existing Coastal Highway developed into a 6 lane expressway, (3-1 8) altogether new alignmerltfor a six lane expressway -1 6 new alignment options were worked out, of which 8 were to the west of NH-17 and 8 were to the east.

Analysisof alignment options: An initial screening indicated that an expressway along the existing roads would not be possible due to the poorgeometrics, ribbon development and massive acquisition of structures. A new alignment was the only solution. To work out the feasibility of smaller lengths of the alignments, thealignment options were divided into homogenous sections, based on terrain, traffic characteristics, width of road available etc. The evaluation considered ~na ior environmental features, as shown:

I Comparative Evaluation of Different Alternative Sub-sections I

Ranking of alternatives west of NH-17: To rank the benefits o i the eight alternatives, an Activity Accessibility Index (AAI) was worked out. Cost indices and benefit indices were calculated considering the index oialternatives having maximum AAI as 100.

C

.- *

6 00 +

0 :

0 5 = z * 7 - -

Activity Accessibility Indices for Each Alignment Option

A

B

Etc.

8 .- + 10

O F - , , 2 5 = a -

Average distance I

1 1 ;i / A matrix was prepared ranking each alternative according to merit to arrive at the selection ot the best-fit I I

A - + M c - - - u 5 C 1 +

Tourism Facilities

Acitivity

I - - I

Beneiit indices

alignment, based on which two equivalent alternatives were identiiied. These two options were discussed

, with the client to finalize the alignment.

1 2 3 1

2

W e i ~ h t a ~ e I 1 This screening resulted in the final selection ot 5 alternative routes, which were taken up for further investigation, ncluding reconrialssance, initial environmental evaluation, trafiic


Based on the evaluation of the alterna~ives, it was arrived at that the eight possible alternatives to the west have better accessibility to the major activities relating to industry or agriculture, while those alignments to the east of NH-1 7 wil l riot have the desired benefits. Thereiore, Inone of the alternatives to the east of NH- I 7 were considered ior iurther evaluation.

Waterways

Y I Y L

? 8 $

Length (krii)

Industries

Fivestar I Other

analys~s, costs refinenlent and economic analysis. The final analysis of the remaining 5 alignment alternatives considered the iol lowing parameters:

" , < F Y 2 G Z

Crossings

* P 2

Fisheries

Z : T

2

Growth Centers

Urban Ceriters

2 5

Horticulture Facilities

- m m

3 U

0 ';E L C i Y

Ports

- - m m

- ' O 1 U

Major

- - - YI YI

U

Minor

Good Practice - Analysis of Alternative Alignments for Bypasses

In the Trichy-Madurai project, alternative alignments were identified for the each of the candidate bypasses. For selection of the preferred alignment, the alternatives were evaluated both qualitatively and quantitatively with respect to road geometry, construction cost, economic benefits, social impact and environmental factors. Community consultation during such selection helped - especially in identifying the less productive lands. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses were undertaken.

Quantitative Parameters used in Selection of Preferred Alignment: Melur Bypass c C c 0 .- 0 .- _ - _ - 2 - - -

Description 0" 0"- 0"- Starting chainage in km (along MDR) 420

Route Length (m) 6000

No. Sharp Horizontal Curves 4

Barren land affected (in) 0

Co~n~nercial land affected ( ~ n ) 3100

Pucca Co~nmercial Structures affected 277

Kutcha Com~nercial stri~ctures affected 176

Other Structures affected 19

Electric poles to be shifted 186

Tamarind Trees affected 189 Total Cost (In million Rupees) 1009.6

c c c 0 0 .- -- .- _, 2- --

Description 0" 0"- 0"- End Chainage in km (along MDR)

Common Route Length (m)

Agricultural Land Affected (m)

Residential land affected (m)

No. O f road crossings

Pucca Residental Structures affected

Kutcha Residential Structures affected

Telephone poles to be shifted

Palm trees affected

Cost per km length (In nill lion Rupees)

Qualitative Evaluation of Alternative Alignments: Melur Bypass Description Option - I Option- ll Option- Ill Land availability 0 0 Residentiallcommercial buildings affected 0 0 Ponds1 water bodies affected 0 Floralfauna affected 0 0 Small religious structures affected 0 Long-term utility 0 0 Environmental quality 0 0 0

A comparison ofthe alternatives indicated that Option-Ill was shorter and ~rov ided for better road geometry, but passed through tertile agricultural land, and irrigation ponds. Further, a bypass north of the existing alignment would change the land use pattern of the predominantly agricultural area. Option II would serve also as a bypass to the other major state highways leading to Tirupattur. Keeping in view the long-term utility of the bypass, and after comparing all the options for all factors indicated above, the alignment Option II was chosen.

Analysis of Alternatives 55

Good practice: Analysis of Corridor Alterna- tives - Trichy - Madurai (NH-45B)

At the feasibility stage of the Trichy - Madurai (NH-45-B) project, the consultants carried out a comprehensive analysis of alternatives, based on reconnaissance visits and preliminary investigations. The analysis was carried out for the technical, environmental and economic aspects, to justify the selection of the project corridor. An analysis was made of the following routes between Trichy and Madurai.

Route A: Trichy - Melur - Madurai (NH-45B) Corridor

Route B: Trichy - Tovarankurichi - Nattarn - Madurai (Nti-45BlODRlSH ) Corridor

Route C: Trichy - Manapparai - Dindigul- Madurai (NH- 45lNH-7) Corridor

Each of the parameters wasgiven a score with values ranging from 1 to 5. Lowest score (a value of 1 ) refers to the lowest benefits and highest score (a value of 5) refers to the highest benefits that would be derived out of the project alternative. A cumulative score derived for the alternative to arrive at priority ranking, based on which, alternative routeA emerged the best fit alignment, in terms of environmental and social features.

Evaluation of Alternative Project Routes

Component Route A Route B Route C

Trichy - Melur - Trichy - Nattam - Trichy - Manapparai - Madurai Madurai Dindigul - Madurai

Engineering aspects

L~ength (km) Geometries ROW Availability

Bypass Candidates Existing Soee'ds

Environmental

Roadside plantations 1 3 2 Environmental sensitive receptors, forests, sanctuaries etc. 3 1 3

Socio-economic Habitation along corridor 3 1 4 Development Potentials 5 1 2

Vulnerable Population 2 2 3 Traff ic Projected Traffic Volurnes 4 2 2 Economic Assessment Economic Rate of Return 4 2 5 Total Score 3 3 19 32 Priority Ranking 1 3 2 The unit cost of improvement of all roads in the study area being similar, the highest economic rates of return will accrue to the highway carrying the maximum traffic. Route A has maximum traffic flow, favorable rates of return and provide a good level of service for all traffic between Trichy and Madurai. It also serves most of the major settlements and development areas. Therefore, option A was recommended as the Project Route for improvement.


Good practice - Social Impact Considerations in Finalization of Bypass Alignment

The Uttar Pradesh State Roads Project (2001 1 carried out analyses of various teasible alignment alternatives for the proposed bypasses. The analyses included engineering, economic, environmental and social considerations. Once the alternative alignments for a particular bypass were identified, joint site visits and surveys were undertaken by consultants' engineering and social assessment teams. The preferred bypass alignments were chosen to avoid impacting residential and commercial structures, and were routed tl~rough agricultural and government lands, as rnucll as possible. The layout of the preferred alignment was redone on the ground in such a manner that tlie agriculture fields are not severed.

To further minimize the social impacts on the preferred bypass alignment alternatives, extensive information on the land ownership and revenue records was collected. The engineers marked the tentative centerline of the preferred bypass alignment onto the village revenue maps. Details of ail properties within 22.5m on either side of the proposed centreline were obtained frorn tlie local revenue officials. For each of the agricultural plots, the size of the landholding, caste and social status of the property owner was collected to identify if any farmers would be marginalized due to the project, and to identify the vulnerable households. This information enabled the engineers to suitably modify the designs so that (a1 impacts on land that were already marginal could be avoided, (bl iristances of landholding becorning ~narginal, due to land taken by the project could be reduced, (c) and the remaining number of properties impacted should be minimized.

pears to be weaker than it is in reality. Environment and social issues considered upstream, i.e. during the early stages of project design, tend not to be appropriately reflected in the EA reports. This is because consultants finalize reports without being aware about what was done during the early stages. The project implementing dgencies do not realize that the EA report should reflect any formal or informal analysis conducted.

Recommendations

Analysis of alternatives should be formally done and documented at each stage of the project preparation. From the time the Bank's task team gets involved in the project till project '~ppraisal, analysis of alternatives should be formally carried out. This must be explicitly made a Bank requirement. At the early stages, i.e. prior to fixing the routes, alternative routes should be explored. The reason for choosing the final routes should be documented. Reports documenting the decisions based on the analysis of alternatives should be at the various stages. Some of these reports will be based on broad and overall data available, while others will depend on detailed data collection. These reports need to be suitably incorporated in the mainstream project preparation efforts that are carried out, such as feasibility study and preparation of designs. Subsequently, this analysis of alrer-

natives reports should be appropriately reflected in the final EA report.

Proper analysis of alternatives can be more effective if it is pursued both by the Bank's highway engineering team and the safeguard team as a formal responsibility. Presently, it is only being raised by the safeguard team, which is not privy to a number of meet- . .

ings and decisions that the highway engineering team has with the project implementing agency. As the need for the analysis of alternatives requires to be integrated into the project preparation process, it is vitally important for the Bank's highway engineering team to be fully involved.

Capacity-building or training o n the analysis of alternatives has to be conducted. This is to be based on real life projects in the roads and hi,h m wa y s sector. Such training does not presently exist and has to be tailor-made. While international experience needs to be sought for developing this training, case studies/ examples from the Indian context will have to be included in order to make the training more meaningful. This training should be planned for an audience comprising both EA and SIA consultants, and the highway engineers. The highway engineers from the project implementing agency's organization should also be persuaded to dttend.

Analysis of Alternatives 57

Note 8

Community consultations are integral t o the EA and SIA processes. and substantive inputs are expected out of structured community consultations during project preparation (as well as during project implementation). This dissemination note presents the key findings of this review and suggests ways t o strengthen the consultation process.

All Bank funded highway projects have undertaken community consultation since 1996, and had set guidance for the non-Bank funded projects thereafter. Community consultations in the projects normally included village meetings, focus group discussions, door-to-door interviews, and district/State level stakeholders consultations or public hearing.

Findings

Content and form of consultation is improving. The basic Bank requirement of two rounds of community consultation was complied with in all projects. In 8 of the 15 projects reviewed, community consultation was satisfactory. Over time, there has been significant improvement in the scope, coverage and documentation of the consultations undertaken. In the early years, community consultation used to be viewed only as a Bank formality to be fulfilled (sometimes avoiding consultation where the issues were difficult to resolve). This perception is changing owing to value additions from community consultation to the overall project design. In recent years, some project implementing agencies have taken a proactive stance on widespread consultation and insisted (on the consultants) that consultation be viewed as a planning tool, rather than a Bank requirement. Participation of the project implementing agencies during corlsultations is increasing, especially after R & R officers were inducted in the PIUs.

are that (a) many of the actual project-affected persons (PAPS) were consulted, (b) people take advantage of the opportunity to seek avoidance/ minimization of itnpact on properties and to maximize individual compensation, (c) formats and questionnaires for collecting information on the perceived loss of property o r livelihood are reasonably well-done, and (d) the consultation sessions are normally led by the R & R professionals from the consultants. O n the other hand, coverage of the environment issues is inadequate in most of the consultation sessions, across the projects reviewed. In the bulk of the consultation sessions (village meetings, focus group discussions, and door-to-door interviews) the target groups were the people likely to be relocated by the project. For them, understandably, loss of livelihood and property was the prime concern. There is also a perception among the consultants and the project implementing agencies that the "often complex and highly technical" environment issues are not understood by the community. Examples of using specific tools and mechanisms to discuss environment issues are few and far between. Additionally, in many of the projects, there has been little or no participation from the environment professionals in community consultation.

Limited influence of the outputs of consultation on final project design and decisions. Although the projects have increasingly benefited from incorporation of the measures suggested/discussed with the corn-

- -

FOCUS is on resettlement issues and environment is- munities, the scale and effort in incorporating such

sues are inadequately addressed. The consultation measures in the final designs o r specifications vary

sessions were an effective method to highlight resettle- among projects. In some cases, the final designs and

merit and loss of livelihood issues. Reasons for this specifications did not address community concerns.

Sometimes consultations are held at a stage when the highway designs are ready (or near completion). Time and resource constraints prevent the (engineering) consultants from reworking the designs, even where consultation sessions suggest substantial changes. The EA and SIA consultants are, in most cases, instructed to defend the designs (including choice of alignment, location of roadside facilities, widening options) during the consultation sessions. Many issues thus resurface in the implementation period, and are then resolved at extra cost and effort.

Incorporation of the community consultation outputs depends also on the way highway designs are prepared. In some projects, the consultants' approach was to fit a typical and non-controversial design cross-section all along the alignment, rather than working out site and location specific designs. Highway designers (from the consultants) do not always spend enough time at the actual site. Topographic surveys are normally outsourced to sub-consultants, and there are instances when designers worked on the highway base plan prepared by the surveyors without ground verification. The design engineers do not normally participate in the consultation sessions, and the EA and SIA consultants, who h,~ve very limited ability to read or in- terpret designs, are in no position to discuss the feasibility of suggestions put forward by the community. There are very few instances of consultants going back to the community to apprise them of the suggestions that have been incorporated in the final designs.

It must be noted, however, that the project implementing agencies or the consultants do not think that addressing community concerns would increase the cost of the project. The costs of preparing appropriate designs, and mitigating local impacts are small, and easily recovered from the savings due to the smooth implementation of the projects.

Good Practice : Consultation based Designs - An Example from Gujarat State Highways

Project

Phase II of the Cujarat State Highways Project i s a good example of an elaborate consultation mechanism to incorporate community suggestions in the final road designs. Wherever the community raised issues, a team including environment and social specialists and the highway design engineers visited the sites to work out alternative designs. Participatory designs were drafted through transect walks, marking of options on village maps and preparing rough sketches. The final designs were again discussed with the community, at each of the locations to (a) demonstrate how the community concerns were integrated with the design, (b) reason out how conflicting coni~nunity concerns have been resolved, and (ci explain why certain suggestions could not be incorporated, and the associated remedies.

and the scope of consultation is therefore limited to their immediate concerns, namely loss of property and livelihood. Although the projects conducted separate consultation sessions with women among the PAPs, other disadvantaged groups were not separately consulted. However, in some recent projects, the - .

whole community, including people who are not directly impacted, is being increasingly consulted in village meetings. In the Mizoram State Roads Project, all the NGOs and community organizations from all . -

the villages along the project road were consulted. But in many other projects, such consultation was totally absent. Sometimes, the consultations had the limited objective of preparing an inventory of NGOs who would be able to assist in implementing the RAP.

Tools, timings and levels of consultation are sometimes inadequate. Currently, consultations are held at three levels: (a) macro - at State and district level, involving some stakeholders from the line departments; (b) at village level, involving villagers, either Many relevant stakeholders are not consulted. Stake- affected or not, living close to the highway; and (c) holder analysis is particularly weak in the projects. probable project-affected persons. The consultation The content of consultation is similar for all types of with the project-affected people revolves round the

stakeholders. In most projects, the identified stakeholders do not include NGOs and institutions work- compensation issue, which obviously is useful, but

falls short on all other issues. The State or district ing on environment issues, sector experts, and project beneficiaries. level meetings too fall short on the details, and the

outcomes of such consultations are seldom used to All projects focus on consultation with the PAPs, improve projects. The village level meetings are

Community Consultations in EA and SIA Processes 59

adequate to discuss the social impact and the common property resources issues, but are held after project design decisions are finalized leaving little option for the project authorities to re-examine the plans. The door-to-door individual interviews with the affected persons often fall short of the objective of finding ways to minimize impacts. The interest groups furthermore, tend to dominate the village meetings. The issues concerning the vulnerable sections of the society are not properly discussed. While some projects have undertaken focus group meetings, particularly with the women and sometimes with the vulnerable sections of society, often these meetings are organized without adequate groundwork, and the outputs are rarely relevant to the project.

District/regional level consultations do not add any value. In all the projects reviewed, very little value addition was seen from the district/regional level consultation, except that in some projects it was man- dated by the then MoEF guidelines. Relevant stakeholders were not identified and there was no planned effort to bring out issues in the open. Also, as there was hardly any dissemination of information regarding the scope and content of the project prior to these typical one-day workshops, there was very limited scope for the participants to provide meaningful inputs. Similarly, the initial stakeholder consultations, often at the State level, are not very useful. The only utility of such State level meetings or workshops is to introduce the project to the participants, n~ostly from the line departments, and to solicit their cooperation. However, there appears to be hardly any follow-up of these consultation sessions, in terms of any general commitments that are made.

Bypass alignments are often finalized without adequate consultation. As most of these projects reviewed are capacity augmentation projects only, alignment options apart from small shifts in limited number of places are not common, and therefore, analysis of alignment alternatives is a predominant theme in the consultation sessions. However, no systematic consultation was held in the projects, even when bypasses and realignments were planned and designed. Bypasses are often based on the consultation with the town/village to be bypassed. Many of them want a bypass so that their individual properties would not

be impacted. But no consultations were held with the land-owners or villagers who would most-likely be affected because of the bypass. Consultations also did not cover the villages lying on the several possible bypass alignment alternatives, and, therefore, these meetings have not been used to choose the preferred alterantive. Given that the agricultural landholdings are susceptible to become marginal or severed due to the bypasses-induced land acquisition, it is important to undertake systematic consultation for selecting the best possible bypass alignment.

Discussions during consultation do not cover the likely impacts during construction. Consultations focus more on the issues encountered during the design and planning of the project. The other issue is the benefit to be accrued due to the operation of the road. The issues during construction, such as the mitigation measures to address adverse impacts, disruption of the community services and spaces during the construction period, the rights of the community to have safe travel, are seldom discussed.

Expertise, time and budgets for consultation are limited. The social specialist from the PCC's team normally carries out the community consultations. Gen- erally, this specialist can devote only a small portion of his time for such activities. There is specific provision for a consultation specialist in most projects. The PCCs also do not provide adequate support professionals for consultations and even where such professionals are deployed for community consultations, they are not adequately trained or experienced for such assignments. Moreover, when the time given to the social specialist is also limited (as seen in most projects), it becomes all the more difficult to allocate time for community consultation. PCCs have not also made any distinct budgetary provision for organizing and conducting community consultations. In such a scenario, the consultants tend to take the "do the minimum" approach.

Information dissemination prior to and during consultation needs improvement. The project implementing agencies tend to instruct consultants to keep a low level of community interaction and information dissemination. Though there have been efforts to disseminate information to the community in the


form of brochures, panlphlets and draft designs at every stage of the project in case of GSHP and KSTP, such dissemination was found to be lacking in other projects. The village meetings arid the focus group discussions are held usually as a one-off affair without prior dissernination to the participants. Even when there was some dissemination, the target audience is mostly rural and could not make full use of the pam- phlets and brochures. Therefore, alternative means of information dissemination are needed.

Present disclosure mechanisms of displaying documents in public libraries or offices serve a limited purpose. The dissemination of project documents in the p b l i c libraries has not been very effective. The PA& know their entitlements more from their interaction with the NGOs, and the wider community finds it difficult to access public libraries, and more so the public offices. The project information should be displayed in a simpler manner, as the existing docunlents are too technical to be understood by the community. However, it needs to be recognised that there has not beell a public complaint against any limitation to full access to the disclosed reports. The R & R policies have been translated in the local languages in all the projects, and have been disclosed and distributed ;Imong the project-affected persons. T o that end, the disclosure of the EA and SIA docu- n~erits has been successful.

Follow-up consultations are done at district level and needs to be done at the village level also. Formal consultations on the EMP and RAP, as per the Bank's Operational Policies are being undertaken as "follow- up community consultation" exercises in all projects since 2001. The follow-up consultations, at district/ regional level discuss how the environment and social issues have been addressed and how the concerns of the community, raised during the consultation ses- -

sions, have been incorporated into the designs. How- ever, the participants in such sessions are mostly from the line departments. P,lrticipation of the highwayside communities and project-affected persons is gen- erallj limited. There is a perception arnong some project implementing agencies that the follow-up exercise is a mere formality, and is conducted as a feel- good exercise, with no real utility. The follow-up consultations could be effective only if the consultations

are held with the same community and stakeholders with whom the earlier discussions were held. Even if not ternied as a formal follow-up consultation, in Phase-I1 of the GSHP (1998-99), each village/community consulted prior to formulation of the EMP/ RAP were consulted again, and the solutions to the comniunity concerns were explained formally.

The MoEF waiver on public hearing was a disincen- tive. The EIA Notification (1994) did not specifically require community consultation for approving a highway project. The requirement of Public Hearing was introduced in 1997 and then waived in 2000. Although the utility of the district level consultations was doubted from the beginning, it provided an additional basis for conducting community consultation, over arid above the Bank requirements. GSIlP (separately for all phases) received a waiver on "public hearings", as the SPCB concluded that the village, community and district level consultatiolls conducted during project preparation were sufficient. Consultations are systematically conducted for only the externally aided projects. The MoEF officials opined that the EA and SIA consultants and the project proponents are expected to carry out community consultation as good EA practice, although it is not explicitly specified in the EIA guidelines. Discussions with the consultants revealed that consultations are carried out only for externally aided projects, more due to the insistence of the funding agency rather than as a tool for improving the project planning.

Recommendations

TOR should be more explicit on consultation requirements. The TOR for EA and SIA needs to specify, in greater detail, what is expected of the consultants, with respect to community consultation. It should describe (a) the levels, timing, arid frequency of consultation, (b) composition of the consultation team for designs to be sensitive to community needs, (c) the requirements of stakeholder analysis, (d) integration of environment issues, including the construction period disruption and safety issues, (e) integration with the project's overall output, (9 time, level and extent of follow-up consultations, and (g) documentation requirements.

All relevant stakeholders need to be identified and

Community Consultations in EA and SIA Processes 6 1

consulted. At the EA and SIA scoping stage, a thorough stakeholder analysis needs to be undertaken. NGOs working on different aspects of environment conservation should be included as potential primary stakeholders. Other potential stakeholders to be included in the stakehdlder analysis should include research institutes and resource persons. The stakeholder analysis should lay importance on the jurisdiction of the stakeholder, knowledge base, and commitment to environment and social management actions. The current practice of consulting with the communities, the project-affected persons, and relevant line departments should continue.

Detailed consultation plan should be developed and implemented. Once the consultants are in place, as a part of the inception report, they should be required to submit a detailed consultation plan. This plan could be further elaborated when the stakeholder analysis is complete, and all relevant stakeholders have been identified. The final plan should include appropriate communication and feedback tools from different sets of stakeholders, so as to ensure that all issues are fully raised, understood and resolved. This consultation plan should be reviewed and agreed to by the project implementing agency and the Bank, and then be implemented in its entirety.

Follow-up consultation and consultation during project implementation need to be strengthened. The follow-up consultation should be formalized within the PCC's final design outputs (or, even as part of the finalization of EA and SIA reports). Dur- ing implementation period, the supervision consultants need to submit a plan for continued consultation (based on the plan suggested in the EA and SIA

reports) to the project implementing agency and get it vetted before full implementation. Likewise, the contractors should submit a plan for all land or areas acquired or impacted temporarily, and get endorsement from the SC before starting construction works or procurement.

More resources need to be allocated for community consultations. The PCC and supervision consultants need to be encouraged to allocate adequate resources and expertise to undertake comprehensive and meaningful consultations. Their inception reports should indicate how much resources, personnel and time has been allocated for such purpose.

Information dissemination tools and mechanisms should be improved. All consultation sessions need to be preceded by adequate information dissemination. The Bank may encourage the project implementing agency and the consultants to develop alternative information dissemination strategy and tools. Dissemi- nation could be through radio program, audio/video cassettes distributed to the village panchayats, ques- tion and answer sessions organized at selected villages. At the State level, the projects and their relevance could be explained through television programmes and public service advertisements. Even advertisements in popular newspapers could be a good tool to disseminate project information in the urban or semi- urban areas. Public disclosure of the final EA and SIA outputs, including the R&R Entitlement Framework, needs to be based on the specific context of the projects. These should be disclosed in the offices of village panchayats and NGOs, in addition to the public libraries and the public offices at the district level, so that public access to these documents is easy.


Note 9

The Bank ~rojects are classified as Category A, B, C or FI. In '1 Category A Bank Report, the project implementing agency is required to carry out the environment assessment (EA) and social impact assessment (SIA) through consultants, who are independent of the engineering consultants, to meet the requirement of the Bank's Operational Policy (OP) 4.01 on Environment Assessment. In 2001-2002, independent environmental and social reviews were undertaken for four 'Category A' projects; the primary EA and SIA outputs were prepared by the project coordinating (engineering) consultants. The findings and recommendations in this dissemination note are based on the experience of independent reviews in these four projecrs.

Generally, the borrower/client prepares Bank projects with assistance from Project Coordinating Consult- ants (PCC), who are primarily engineering consultants. In most cases, the EA and SIA work is also carried by the PCC at the first instance and, therefore, is not regarded as independent. This necessitates the commissioning of an independent review by consultants, who are external to the PCC. This is normally initiated after the PCC submits the different EA and SIA outputs and is meant to determine the gaps/deficiencies, which will be addressed by the PCC.

Findings

Independent reviews have been value adding. In all projects where independent reviews were conducted, the feedback from the PCC/consultants and the project implementing agency was that it was value adding. Gaps or deficiencies in the primary EA and SIA outputs were identified, dnd these were addressed in the final draft EA and SIA outputs that were submitted to the Bank.

It is unclear whether independent reviews are beneficial from a cost-benefit perspective. Independent reviews were carried out because it is a requirement of the Bank. The project implementing agency and the PCC tend to see independent reviews as a layer of bureaucracy that has been introduced due to the Bank's requirements. From recent experience, it is confirmed that these reviews are value-adding but it has not been assessed whether they really justify the time, cost and effort that is involved. Deficiencies that have been determined in the independent review are likely to have been identified and addressed during the project

implementation. Addressing the issue of cost-benefit requires a more detailed, focused exercise that is beyond the scope of this review.

Independent review consultants have been commissioned to improve the primary EA and SIA outputs as well. In two out of the four projects, the independent review consultants were given the responsibility to update the primary EA and SIA outputs on the basis of the gap/deficiency assessment determined in the independent review. In the case of Grand Trunk Koad Improvement Project (GTRIP), this was done because the project comprised stretches from different packages that had separate primary EA and SIA outputs. In the Mizoram State Roads Project, the PCC's EA and SIA staff were unable to produce reports of the quality required by the Bank; the responsibility had to be given to the independent review consultants, who had a more competent team. In these two cases, the scope of work specified in the terms of reference (TOR) was influenced by the status and quality of the EA and SIA outputs that were prepared. In another case, the independent review consultants were actively involved in supporting the PCC after submitting the independent review report. This was found to be necessary due to the nature of gaps/. deficiencies identified during the independent review and the limited deployment of the PCC staff for updating the EA outputs that reflect the independent review findings.

By combining independent reviews with updating primary EA and SIA outputs, the purpose could have been partially lost. As mentioned earlier, an

independent review is meant to be an unbiased, objective exercise. In a couple of instances, at the time of being awarded an independent review assignment, the consultants knew that they would be undertaking the updation ("consolidation" is another term used) exercise as well. If the independent review revealed less of deficiencies, then the updation/consolidation exercise would become easier. Structurally, this sets in a bias. During this review, while no clear evidence of such a bias was seen, this was clearly a weakness in the present approach of undertaking independent reviews. It is noteworthy that the Bank did not also insist on sequencing outputs from the independent review consultants. In one case, out of the projects examined, the final independent review reports were submitted after the updated EA and SIA outputs! Submitting an independent review report upfront prior to updating of the primary EA and SIA outputs would be more unbiased as much more data/information becomes available t o the consultants during the updation/consolidation exercise.

When independent reviews are combined with updating primary EA and SIA outputs, a much longer timeframe and substantive additional costs are involved. In the two projects wherein independent reviews were combined with updation, the timeframe given to the consultants was rather limited. There were instances wherein the independent review consultants identified gaps/deficiencies that required substantial data collection. For instance, in the Mizoram State Roads Project, the biodiversity assessment was done in the independent review consultant's updation exercise and this required substantive time. While quoting for the assignment, the consultants were not in a position to understand the nature and extent of the work involved in updating the EA and SIA outputs. Hence, the consultants faced budget overruns as well as tremendous pressure from the project implementing agency to complete the updation of the EA and SIA outputs within the given timeframe.

Independent review consultants face a lot of relationship difficulties. The Bank projects are generally perceived to contain a strong component of consulting inputs. Usually, in the project preparation phase, there are difficulties between the PCC and the project implementing agency on some issue or the other. In

many instances, the project implementing agency is also not completely convinced that the consultants are value-adding to them in terms of providing them additional knowledge or skills. Given that situation, when the implementing agency is told that another consultant needs to be employed to undertake an independent review of t he P C C ' s o r p r imary consultant's outputs to meet a Bank's process require- inent, it is often not well-received. The implementing agency is also not convinced that such a review exercise would result in value-addition to the project design/content and also feel that the process delays project implementation. The implementing agency perceives the consultants doing the independent review as experts who understand Bank's operational policies and who can write reportdprepare documents the way the Bank wants them.

The consultants carrying out the independent review face relationship difficulties with the PCC as well. In a certain sense, the consultants are critically analyzing the PCC's outputs. In the consulting market place, the independent review consultants and the PCC are often competitors. Therefore, the PCC's co-operation is not always forthcoming. The PCC often feel that the consultants carrying out the review are interested in exhibiting that they are more competent. In cases where the consultants are assigned to carry out the updation of the EA and SIA outputs, the P C C has an additional grudge that they are not the final authority on what is carried in the revised outputs.

The independent review process is likely to be misused particularly in Phase I1 and future projects. Many Bank State highway projects are divided into phases, usually Phase I and II. If it is a Category A project and the PCC has carried out the EA and SIA, then an independent review is required not only of the Phase I outputs but also of the Phase I1 outputs. In projects wherein the PCC's Phase I outputs have been sub-optimal, the updation of the EA and SIA outputs were given to the consultants carrying out the independent review. Recognizing that the same approach will be adopted for Phase I1 also, the PCC is not encouraged to produce better quality outputs in Phase 11. This has been seen in the Mizoram State Road Project where the first draft of the EA and SIA outputs prepared by the PCC was found to be of poor


quality. If the Bank continues t o adopt the same pro- engineering consultants always offered their environ- cess for other Category A projects, the concerned PCC ment and social teams at more competitive rates. - - - .

may tend to give less attention to the EA and SIA N o significant improvements t o t h e Resettlement processes. Therefore, permitting the independent re-

view consultants to undertake the u ~ d a t i o n could be Action Plan (RAP) resulted f rom t h e independent review. Generally, verifications are done on a sample

setting a wrong trend and sending a wrong signal to the PCC and project implementing agency. basis. Even when the numbers were found to be vary-

ing, the independent reviews did not carry out any Project preparation processes have not been designed t o avoid independent reviews. In Bank projects, the categorization is generally done about mid-way in the preparation phase. This is when a Project Concept Document is prepared and the decision of the category is taken internally. In the projects studied, this decision was taken after the environment and social screening, and feasibility studies completed by the PCC. At that stage, if the Bank classified the project as Category A, it would have been rather late in the

- ~

project preparation to re-design approaches to avoid a separate independent review. Therefore, these have not been done.

Independent reviews seem t o have been carried ou t a t unusually low costs by consulting companies with a n idea t o get other jobs/assignments. A separate independent review is carried out towards the end of the project preparation phase. As independent review is required to be done by those not involved with the project, consultants use the independent review as an opportunity to get familiar with the project and the project implementing agency so that they can get other assignments during the project implementation. These assignments include supervision consultancy for selected contract packages (upgradation or maintenance roads) o r monitoring & evaluation to oversee resettlement action plan (RAP) implementation. During this review, it was found that some independent review assignments were carried out at costs that did not seem to justify the extent of work undertaken. Upon further deliberation, it appeared that consulting firms carrying out the independent review are cross- subsidizing, i.e. paying for the independent review through future assignments during project implementation. It was also learnt that environment and social development consulting companies (those not linked with highway engineering consultants) were not in a position to be cost-competitive in their bids for the independent review. This was because the highway

new o r additional surveys. The Terms of Reference in the RAP for the verification was modified and additional budgetary provisions were made for the NGOs to undertake the surveys. Most modifications in the RAP in the independent review were more on the formatting and report writing style than any substantive value addition in the content. In certain projects such as the Mizoram State Roads Project, there was value-addition as the primary RAI' outputs were rather weak and the number of project affected persons (PAPs) was limited. Through the independent review, gaps/deficiencies in the PAPs identification were determined and the updated RAP reflected the actual position much better.

Recommendations

I n future Category 'A' projects (or even i n those potentially so), t he EA and SIA processes should be carried ou t separate from t h e highway design and engineering consultants. This approach will get rid of the many difficulties and delays associated with the independent review as being undertaken currently as there will be no need for such a review. The EA and SIA outputs prepared by the separate environment and social development consultants will be unbiased and will meet the requirements of being "independent" as required by Operation Policy (OP) 4.01.

When compared to the present practice, the proposed approach raises questions regarding the difficulties in mainstreaming the environment and social issues in t he project design. I t is believed tha t bet ter mainstreaming will be accomplished if the PCC un- dertakes both the highway engineering design as well as the EA and SIA processes. However, the experience over the last few years does not corroborate this view. The mainstreaming accomplished has not been to the level desired. In all the projects subjected to individual review, it was found that mainstreaming was not achieved even if the same PCC carried out

Role of Independent Reviews 65

the EA/SIA. Therefore, the proposed approach cannot be regarded as weaker on this aspect. However, a adequate mechanism has to be developed to ensure that the mainstreaming is achieved between the separate EA and SIA consultants and the highway engineering consultants. The EA and SIA consultants should produce clear and discrete outputs in different stages of the EA and SIA processes/project development cycle, and the highway engineering consultants should ensure that these are reflected in the project designs. The mechanism should also include project implementing agency certification/ confirmation that the EA and SIA requirements in the different stages have been appropriately incorporated in the project design.

When compared to the present practice, the proposed approach will also require the management of a separate consultancy for the EA and SIA consultants during the preparation phase. Although this will be an additional task, the EA and SIA consultants will be directly accountable. This should result in improving the quality of EA and SIA outputs substantively. The benefits of having a separate consultancy is expected to outweigh the difficulties related to managing an

additional contract. Alternative arrangement of pre- defined, rather independent sub-contracts for EA/SIA could also be explored.

Independent review for Phase I1 of existing projects should preferably be carried out by the same external consultants but without updation, which should be done by the PCC. In the Bank's India portfolio, there are two or three Category A projects for which the independent review of Phase I1 roads have to be carried out. In these projects, the same external consultants - who did the independent review for Phase I - should be used, if they are interested and it is feasible. These consultants will be relatively more familiar with the issues pertaining to the State/region and this expertise will be beneficial. However, the independent review consultants should not be given the task of updating the EA and SIA outputs. This should necessarily be the responsibility of the PCC. Adequate time should be provided to the PCC to update the EA and SIA outputs based on the independent review findings and also to incorporate the updated EA and SIA outputs into the engineering designs (requirements, specifications and drawings).


Note 10

This review looks at the implementarion/operation experience t o determine what aspects should be relevant for the preparation of futureprojects. It also deliberates on how and whether a structured mechanism can be put in place to learn from past experience, especially with regard to environment and social requirements.

Ideally, the feedback from the implementation/operation experience of one project should be used in the design of subsequent project(s). Such feedback should be useful for further projects being proposed by the same implementing agency o r by other project implementing agencies. This is valid for the consultants as they get involved in the preparation of many projects in different states/regions. It is also relevant for the Bank staff itself. The Bank staff can improve the environment and social impact assessment (EA & SIA) processes employed in the preparation phase using such implementation/operation feedback.

USING EXPERIENCE FROM PROJECT PREPARATION

Findings

The transfer of expertise during the project preparation phase is not happening. From implementation experience, it is quite clear that there is little or no transfer of expertise from the Project Coordina- tion Consultants (PCCs includes coordinating consultants in state highway projects and engineering consultants in national highway projects) to the project implementing agency on matters pertaining to project preparation. In most projects, the implementing agency is merely a post box, i.e. there is little or no active involvement with what the PCC is doing and they merely act as a medium of communication between the PCC and the Bank. The Bank's intention is that the implementing agency would prepare its other projects in line with what has been done in the

Bank project and that the PCC would build capacity in the project implementing agency through the project preparation process. This does not happen in EA and SIA processes.

Importance of environment and social issues is realized only with time. Often, this realization comes only during the project implementation. During project preparation, the project implementing agency tends to believe that meeting environment and social requirements will not be crucial during implementation; that these are only clearance requirements, and that the emphasis will be reduced with time. In the more recent projects, the implementing agencies have realized that compliance with the environment and social requirements is monitored quite closely by the Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF) and the Bdnk, through site visits and supervision.

Preparation phase outputs have a strong clearance orientation. The project implementing agency and the PCC tend to perceive the various reports produced during the preparation phase as having a single goal, i.e. obtaining environment and social clearance from the Bank. These are not prepared with the orientation that these reports are to be used during implementation. Therefore, these tend to be used as reference reports during implementation rather than reports that include plans for implementation. During this review, feedback received from several sources in different projects revealed that the reports of the preparation phase are at best used as a guidance document.

Implementation experience has revealed that envi- accordingly. ronment management plans (EMPs) have to be more focused to providing solutions to the kind of problems likely to be faced by the implementing agency, contractors and supervision consultants during project execution. Of the projects reviewed, the EMPs of the earlier projects included generic mitiga- t ion/enhancement measures. T h e more recent projects have more specific measures. Feedback received during this review revealed that there is further scope for making the EMPs still more specific, relevant and user-friendly to the implementing agency, contractors and supervision consultants. In certain instances, it was noticed that the scale of the problem was not suitably predicted during project preparation. For instance, the pollution problem along the right- of-way of the Third National Highway Project in the Rania industrial area was identified during project preparation but the measures suggested for implementation were not commensurate with the scale of the problem. The measures included in the EMP were not useful in resolving the issue and fresh approaches had to be developed during implementation. Such instances reveal that persons with strong implementation experience are not being involved during the project preparation by the implementing agency and consultants. In other instances, certain environment problems were not at all predicted during the project preparation phase. For instance, the disposal of scaring material in upgradation roads is a problem, which has not been included in most EMPs of Bank projects.

The allocation of responsibilities for EMP implementation has been improving. In the earlier projects, clear responsibilities for EMP implementation by the implementing agency, supervision consultants and contractors - both at the headquarters and at the various field offices - were not a part of the EMP. In the more recent projects, there has been a better attempt at defining roles and responsibilities. Overall, these tend to be defined during implementation, though it is preferable to decide these during project prepara- t ion as institutional arrangements are planned

Realization of weak preparation of RAP is recognized only when project is under implementation. The few projects under implementation that were reviewed indicated that the action plans were not a useful base document for implementation. Experience and issues faced during implementation, e.g. incomplete land acquisition (LA) plan or baseline database o r limited sharing of information with PAPS, are considered as some of the flaws of preparation. This has created better awareness among project implementing agencies and new projects take into account the shortcomings of previous project preparation.

Sub-contracting of project preparation work weak- ens ownership and hence the design. Some PCCs tend to sub-contract the environment and social parts of the project preparation work to other consultants. This has resulted in poor co-ordination between the environment and social teams on the one hand, and the highway engineering/planning teams on the other. The sole purpose of having the PCC (generally, a highway engineering/planning consultants) co-ordinate all the facets of project preparation is lost. There have been problems associated with funds made available for the environment and social sections of the work and timeframe given to conduct this work. Incorpo- rating the environment and social inputs into the design and bid documents has also been a problem both in terms of content and timing.

Certain tasks done during project preparation are repeated during implementation. Borrow area identification is done by the environment consultants of the PCC during project preparation. The contractors then repeat this during implementation. Designs of mitigatiodenhancement measures are prepared by the environment consultants. The supervision consultants often do these again during implementation. Sometimes, the supervision consultants are not even aware of the plans prepared by the PCC and tend to develop these designs by themselves.


Recommendations

Outputs of the EA and SIA processes can be better incorporated in the designs if these processes are advanced. Scheduling the completion of the designs and the outputs of the EA and SIA processes about the same time has resulted in a weak coverage of environment and social concerns. This needs to be addressed by ensuring that the EA and SIA outputs are completed a few months (possibly, three) in advance, and the relevant information is given to the engineering team for their incorporation in the final designs and contract documents.

Bank's highway engineers/planners should be given explicitly joint responsibility with safeguard team to ensure that the safeguard requirements are included in the designs and contract documents. The responsibility for verifying that the safeguard requirements are properly raised should remain with the Bank's safeguard team but the responsibility for ensuring that the designs and contract documents incorporate these requirements should also be that of the Bank's highway engineers/planners. As these are documents prepared by the PCC's and implementing agency's engineers/planners, this is best left to the Bank's engineers and planners. This will also ensure that the level of verification of the designs and contract documents for safeguards is in line with the rest of the verification carried out by the Bank's engineers and planners.

EMPs should be developed with a much greater implementation focus. This can be achieved through some o r all of the following:

EMP should allocate roles, responsibilities and authorities for implementation both at the headquarters and field offices of the Client, Supervi- sion Consultant and Contractors.

A manual for the Supervision Consultants can be a part of the EMP.

Env i ronmen t specifications given in t he

MoRTH publication is not sufficient. More specifications are necessary in order to ensure that the contractor adheres to them.

Inclusion of designs for the mitigation/enhancement measures in order to give the Supervision Consultants/Contractors a clear picture of what is required.

If enough information is not available to formulate the details of a mitigation/enhancement measure or its costs during preparation, then the task should be detailed during implementation. A tentative budgetary provision should be made based on similar implementation experiences in other projects.

Inclusion of punitive measures such as fines/ penalties on contractors for not adhering to mitigation/enhancement measures, should be integrated into the EMPs.

The rates included in the BoQ for the mitigation/enhancement measures should be more realistic. The methodologies used to calculate these rates need to be improved.

Sub-contracting of the environment and social sections of the project preparation work requires more specific planning/scrutiny by the implementing agency and the Bank. The implementation experience has revealed difficulties in the way EA and SIA processes have been conducted and in the EA and SIA reports that have been produced whenever sub- contracting of the EA and SIA work is done by the PCC. Therefore, the contractual agreements between the PCC and the sub-contractor need to be scruti- nized by the implementing agency as well as the Bank before accepting the sub-contractor. This would help ensure that good quality outputs are forthcoming even if sub-contracting is done.

Lessons for project preparation from the implementation experience are to be compiled/collated by the Bank in a structured manner. The Bank's project

Using Implementation Experiences 69

process includes a Mid-Term Review (MTR) and an Findings Implementation Completion Report (ICR), which are prepared mid-term and at the end of the project period respectively. During these two stages of detailed review, the Bank staff assess the project's performance vis-a-vis the project development objectives. The Bank staff should also document the lessons learnt from the implementation experience that are relevant for the preparation of similar projects.

Environment and social consultants must include staff with implementation/operation experience as an integral part of their team. The consulting firms/ companies tend to use personnel for the EA and SIA processes who do not have project implementation experience. This results in outputs that lack implementation orientation. This implementation orientation in the EA and SIA outputs will be forthcoming if and only if project preparation team includes personnel who have concrete, field-level implementation experience. This should be ensured by the project implementing agency and the Bank at the time of clearing/approving the PCC team to be involved in the EA and SIA processes.

The implementation experience gained in one project should be used in strengthening approaches used for preparing and implementing other projects. Its importance cannot be understated, particularly considering that the project context is changing every day. The previous section covered the use of implementation experience from one project in improving the preparation of other projects. This section reviews how the implementation experience has been used to strengthen the approaches adopted for implementing the rest of the ongoing project itself as also employ- ing the learnings to other projects as well. Sugges- tions are also given to help strengthen approaches on an ongoing basis.

Day-to-day improvements in implementation approaches are being carried out. In all Bank projects, plans for environment management and resettlement activity (EMPs & RAPS) for different road stretches are developed during the project preparation phase. These are essentially implementation plans that are based on information available during the project preparation phase. As the implementation gets under way, more information becomes available. With this additional information, portions of the EMPs and RAPS become redundant, and hence cannot be implemented. Improvements are made in the way the EMP and RAP is implemented. Generally, the documents are not updated, but the implementation is based on modified plans. Day-to-day improvements in the EMP and RAP implementation were taken up in all projects that were studied in this review.

Environment monitoring reports do not analyze or evaluate. In most Bank projects, quarterly progress reports are prepared by the supervision consultants and consolidated by the project implementing agency. These reports tend to merely record data related to various environment parameters and seldom focus on analysis or evaluation. Without such analysis, the feedback tends to be weak and inadequate for improving the implementation approaches for the remaining project period. Therefore, strengthening of implementation approaches during the project period suffers due to weak monitoring reports.

There is not much focus on environment studies and other analytical initiatives during implementation. In Bank projects, several environment studies are undertaken during project preparation with a view to define what needs to be done during project implementation. However, a lot of information and experience on the ground realities emerges only during project implementation. Implementation approaches should be based on such information and experience. But there are no formal studies o r audits or reviews


done to determine ways and means of strengthening implementation approaches based on the early experience gained in project implementation. Borrow area rehabilitation is one example wherein such studies are required. In the Third NH project, there are several different rehabilitation measures that are being implemented across contiguous contract packages. These are not only different but also conflicting. Some

of these measures appear to be unsustainable. There is little or no guidance that is forthcoming during project implementation on appropriateness of the dif-

are not being shared with the implementing agency's non-Bank projects. One objective of the Bank projects is to demonstrate good practices related to the management of environment and social issues that can be adopted across the implementing agency's other projects. An assessment of the projects studied under this review, shows that this objective is not being

met. The implementation approaches related to environment and social issues adopted in the Bank

projects are not being followed in other non-Bank projects. Most of the Bank's project implementing

ferent measures being adopted. agencies, have also not shown any concrete initiative towards replicating the Bank project experience in

In most projects, the only external guidance received other non-Bank projects.

is through the Bank's periodic visits and their outputs -aide memoires and mission notes. These are Recommendations essentially snapshot reviews that are done during project implementation and form a part of the Bank's supervision. Undoubtedly, these are useful but cannot substitute focused studies that can be carried out

on implementation approaches.

There is little or no experience sharing across different contract packages. Bank projects are generally divided into different contract packages. These packages could have different supervision consultants and contractors. Even if they are the same, the staff/personnel will be different. Each contract package tends to have different implementation experiences. This is because different people are involved with the imple-

mentation and environment and socio-economic scenarios are also different. Some of these implementation experiences can be considered as good practices that could be replicated across all contract packages. O n the other hand, the mistakes committed in one contract package should not be repeated in other packages. To ensure experience sharing across contract

Provision should be made for studies to strengthen EMP implementation approaches and monitoring reports should have greater analytical rigor. Bank projects involve a number of studies during project preparation and little or no studies during project

implementation. Focused studies that would lead to strengthening EMP implementation approaches during the project period should be carried out. The borrow area rehabilitation has been cited as an example in one of the projects. A study of the viability of different rehabilitation approaches during project implementation would be very useful. Apart from provid-

ing for these studies, the monitoring reports should be strengthened in terms of their analytical content.

In fact, the studies that are required during implementation should be recommendations emerging from the monitoring reports. Training on analyzing and evaluating data/ information collected during implementation should be provided to the environment staff and personnel.

packages, there has to be constant interaction between idormation and experience-sharing wssions between the staff/~ersonnel of different 'Ontract packages and different contract packages should be formally in- forums for such and large, such expe- cluded in the EMP. The environment rience sharing is being Ilndertaken in Bank riel of the implementing agency, supervision consult- projects. ants and contractors from the different contract pack-

Implementation experience from the Bank projects ages should necessarily interact. Forums for such

Using Implementation Experiences 7 1

discussions should be organized every quarter or once in six months. This will ensure that the good practices from one contract package are disseminated to other contract packages, and a mistake in one con-

tract package is not repeated in the others. If properly managed, these forums can also instill a sense of ownership among the ~ taf f /~ersonnel that can be har-

nessed for better achievements under the project.

A rating system of the contractor on their performance in environment and social issues should be undertaken. The contractor plays an important role in ensuring proper environment management is

adopted in the project. The contractor also has responsibility to ensure the management of social issues, i.e. additional facilities for women, non-use of

child labor and good housekeeping of labor camps. And, it is the same contractors who are likely to bid for other projects - both Bank and non-Bank. Given this situation, it will be appropriate to initiate a contractor rating assessment that is similar to those undertaken for industries/company ratings. This rating assessment should be carried out by an external agency and should be employed by the project implementing agency. To carry out this assessment, environment and social parameters should be first established. Quan-

titative/data and qualitative/descriptive information relevant to these parameters should be collected from

the various contractors and supervision consultants through primary meetings. The information should be analyzed and evaluated, and a rating of the contractor's performance should be provided in the form of a report. This report will give the contractor a feedback on his strengths and weaknesses. This rating assessment should be a public document that will be available to other implementing agencies, who may wish to employ the services of the same contractor. If the contractor obtains a good rating, then he may use the same as a marketing feature in his next bid. This rating assessment should ideally commence after the mid-term review and the rating report should

be available prior to the closing of the project period.

The introduction of such a rating assessment will assist in two ways: (1) implementing agencies of future projects will have information on a particular

contractor's performance as well as a mechanism to evaluate contractors and (2) contractors will be en-

couraged to perform better as they realize that rating

assessments are being done and this will have a bearing on their future business.

An overall study to develop a strategy for institutionalizing implementation approaches related to the management of environment and social issues should be conducted. During the project period, the implementing agency gathers substantial implementation experience on the management of environment and social issues. When such an experience is fresh and ongoing, a study to develop a strategy for institutionalizing implementation approaches will be appropriately timed. This study should be initiated by the project implementing agency and should delve into simple and practical strategies that the implementing agency can implement. The institutional capacity developed for addressing environment and social issues under this project should be gainfully used in imple-

menting the strategy. Guidelines, manuals and other training material should be compiled as a part of this

study. Do's (good practices) and don'ts (avoidable practices) must also be prepared for implementation across all projects that will be executed by the implementing agency. This study is best initiated after the mid- term review and done over one-year period prior to the Bank's closing of the project. This study report should also form the basis of the project rating on environment and social issues that is generally given in the Implementation Completion Report (ICR). In a certain sense, this study report will also document the overall implementation experience that can be used for other Bank projects or in any other project.


Note 11

The Bank's road projects involve the use of consultants to carry out the Environment Assessment (EA) and Social Impact Assessment (SIA) processes during the project preparation ~ h a s e . The quality of consultants carrying out the EA and SIA processes and the outputs that they produce, is a matter of concern for the Bank. A related area of concern is the constraints within which consultants are functioning in the context of road projects. This dissemination note focuses on these two related issues.

Several surveys, studies and assessments are undertaken during the project preparation phase as a part of EA and SIA processes. This includes the preparation of several reports that are submitted as documents to the Bank. Sectoral environment assessment (in State road projects), environment and social screening, feasibility studies, project-level environment impact assessment reports, environment management plans and resettlement action plans are some of the documents submitted. Through the preparation of these documents, the environment and social issues are sought to be integrated into the project design. These documents are formally cleared o r approved by the Bank prior to project implementation. In principle, the project implementing agencies could carry out the EA and SIA processes themselves without the support of any consultants. However, in the In- dian context, the management of environment and social issues is relatively a new field for the implementing agencies. Competency levels are relatively weak and substantial capacity-building is required. In fact, through the involvement of consultants in project preparation, the Bank aims to build capacity in the implementing agencies to conduct EA and SIA processes on their own.

Findings

Quality of consulting outputs has been below standard. In most projects reviewed, the various EA and SIA reports submitted to the Bank have received a long list of comments indicating the need for improvement. Most of these reports had to be improved

through several interactions with Bank staff before acceptance.

The strength/expertise on environment and social assessments is not a selection criterion for Project Coordination Consultants (PCC). The PCC contracts are generally finalized in the initial stages of project preparation. The PCC comprises a consortium of consulting firms/companies. Generally, the consultants who conduct the EA and SIA processes do not form a part of the mainstream. Hence, the choice of the PCC is made without giving consideration to the EA and SIA consultants. The choice of EA and SIA consultants and their sub-contracting is left to the PCC management and this is done after the PCC has been selected. The project implementing agency also lacks the capacity to direct/guide the PCC in selecting the EA and SIA consultants.

Requirements of time and expertise are underestimated in the proposal at the time of bidding. The engineering consulting firms who bid for the PCC assignment do not appreciate environment and social issues that may exist in the proposed project. This is due to the lack of the appropriate staff/personnel o r because such staff/personnel have not been consulted. In most projects, the time allocated to carry out quality baseline studies and other required surveys at different stages of project preprat ion are grossly underestimated. Stakeholder consultations are often not considered. Eco-sensitive or R & R sensitive areas may exist within the project, and consulting firms do not even consider such issues at the time of bidding.

The underestimation of resources has a direct bearing o n capacity, skills of consultants and quality of outputs.

Consultants are not accustomed to the level of analytical rigor expected in Bank-financed projects. The EA and SIA reports tend to be qualitative, generic and descriptive. The reports are not strong in analytical content and are not as a tool for decision-making. This is an understandable weakness as other EA and SIA reports prepared to meet other government clearance requirements tend to be weak ana- lytically. The consultants view the E A and SIA reports as process milestones that have to be crossed.

There is no substantial building of expertise in the project implementing agency through the EA and SIA consultants. As mentioned earlier, one of the objectives of the consultants is to build capacity within the implementing agency during the course of project preparation. From the projects reviewed, it can be concluded that the transfer of expertise on the management of environment and social issues is rather limited. The consultants tend to carry out the EA and SIA processes quite independent of the implementing agency. In some projects, the consultants treated the implementing agency as an irritant even when the implementing agency showed interest. In other projects, either the implementing agency did not appoint any representative to address these issues o r no representative displaced sensitivity to the EA and SIA processes that were being implemented.

Having the highway engineering consultants carrying out the EA and SIA has not been helpful. The primary reason for having the highway engineering consultants carry out the EA and SIA processes is to ensure that the environment and social issues are fully integrated in the project preparation. From the feedback received during this review, it appears this integration is happening but in a limited way. In certain cases, it was found that the consultants claim integration but this is not really the case. The incorporation in the designs is not always done. There is often no evidence to justify the claim. In some cases, the environment and social divisions within these highway consulting companies are not taken seriously, and therefore not consulted adequately. It also hap-

pens that the EA and SIA teams are not kept abreast of the changes in the project design. This makes it impossible for the EA and SIA team to produce reports that are realistic. In other cases, the main highway engineering consultants chose to sub-contract the E A and SIA work to an outside company thereby defeating the purpose of working together as a team. From the implementation experience, it appears that many environment mitigation measures are being incorporated through contract variation orders imply- ing the lack of integration. Overall, it appears that having the EA and the SIA work done by the same consultants is not as advantageous as perceived.

Environment and social development consultants do not find a highway engineering consulting company an attractive proposition for a long-term career. The main line of business for a highway engineering consulting company is not work on environment and social issues. In fact, it forms an insignificant portion of their overall business. As in any business venture, the size of the revenue determines the strength of the division within the company. As the revenue inflow is relatively insignificant, the EA and SIA team tend to get marginalized. Therefore, the environment and social development professionals get second-grade treatment in most highway engineering companies. The chances of reaching a respectable position within an engineering organization are also limited. Oppor- tunities for training and capacity building for the EA and SIA team rarely exist. Further, these consultants can get higher salaries outside of highway engineering consulting companies. Thus good professionals gain experience and then leave, as the career prospects are not bright. This results in fresh graduates o r less-experienced personnel being employed to carry out tasks that require mature and experienced professionals.

Most PCCs appoint sub-consultants to carry out the work related to EA and SIA. Of the 17 projects studied, the international firm o r its Indian subsidiary carried out the EA and SIA in only four projects. In the other 13 projects, the PCC sub-contracted (sub-consultants o r consortium partners) the conduct of the EA and SIA processes. A t the time of sub-contracting, the PCC does not define what is expected from the EA and SIA work at the various stages of project preparation. Therefore, the EA and SIA processes tend


to work in parallel without any link with what is being done in other parts of project preparation such as finalization of the alignments, designs and contract documents. In a certain sense, sub-contracting the EA and SIA work to another organization defeats the whole purpose of having the PCC undertaking all tasks in an integrated manner. The PCC is expected to carry out the EA and SIA work so that they could integrate these environment and social issues into the mainstream as the project development progresses. Ilnfortunately, this has not happened in most projects studied. Once the sub-contractors present their draft reports to the PCC, several changes are required to be made to the EA and SIA outputs. Consequently, the sub-contractors face considerable time and cost overruns. This spoils the relationship between the PCC and the sub-contractors, which also has implications for the quality of final outputs.

The TOR requirement of consultant qualifications is inflexible and misplaced. The Bank has stipulated minimum qualifications for the EA and SIA consultants as 15 years experience of which five years of continuous/equivalent relevant experience. There are not many such professionals in the country. Therefore, senior professionals are identified solely to meet this requirement and their curriculum vitae are suitably doctored to win the job. Once the assignment is awarded, the consultants find working level staff with relevant experience to do the assignment along with the senior professional as a team. This does not always work effectively as the senior professional tends to lead the team and to take decisions that are not appropriate.

point. N o great effort is put into building the environment and social divisions as separate revenue-generating centers instead of just support activity. In some cases, it was found that the consultants were using the EA and SIA-related work solely as a marketing tool to get the more revenue-generating mainstream highway design and engineering business. Seen as a marketing tool, the cost quotations of such EA and SIA work are rather low, and bear no relevance to the true costs of carrying out the tasks. Once the assignment is obtained, the management direct their environment and social team to complete their assignment within an unrealistic timeframe and cost budgets, though the company had taken the assignment recognizing that it needs to be cross-subsidized. The EA and SIA team have little or no control over the situation.

Interactions between the EA and SIA team within the P C C and the project implementing agency are not always possible. Generally, it is the team leader of the P C C who interacts with the implementing agency. As the team leader is usually from an engineering background, experience and appreciation of environment and social development issues is not his strongpoint. Therefore, the team leader does not always communicate the needs of the EA and SIA team to the implementing agency. Even if it is discussed, this is one of several issues and its importance gets diluted. In most cases, there is no forum for a direct interaction between the EA and SIA team of the PCC and the implementing agency, and this is a big disad- vantage to the EA and SIA team as they do not have an opportunity to highlight the key issues in the early stages of the EA and SIA process. During this review,

Commitment of the engineering consult- it came out that many issues brought out by the ~~~k ants to the environment and social components of as important during their regular missions were raised their work is limited. Firstly, the main line of work by the EA and SIA team internal to the PCC, but for highway engineering consultants brings in much

were not considered worthy of further consideration. more revenue and profits than their EA and SIA work. Only projects proposed for funding under the World Bank or the Asian Development Bank require such expertise. Therefore, the highway engineering consultants view this capacity as a limited need, i.e. for multilateral agency projects alone. Considering this situation, the top management of the highway engineering consulting companies have not been keen on developing their EA and SIA capabilities beyond a

Recommendations

De-linking the EA and SIA consulting from the highway engineering consulting should be done for improving quality. The current practice of having the highway engineering consultant do the EA and SIA process should be reviewed. The award of any EA and SIA assignment should be open t o

Consultancy Constraints during Preparation of EA & SIA 75

competition independent of the highway design assignment. The highway engineering consultants should be encouraged to bid for this assignment but other environment and social development consultants should also bid. If the same highway engineering consultants are awarded the job for the EA and SIA work, their performance should be assessed independent of the rest of their work. The EA and SIA team meetings with the PCC and the implementing agency should be independently conducted.

In fact, there is an advantage in not having the highway engineering consultants do the EA and SIA work for the Bank's Category A projects. By having a separate EA and SIA consulting firm, the independent review can be completely avoided. The Bank's scrutiny (and hence quality requirements) of a Category A project is much more. Therefore, an environment and social consulting firm is likely to take more professional care t o produce reports of the required quality.

The project implementing agency should exercise greater control over the composition of EA and SIA teams, any changes made and any sub-contracting that is undertaken. As indicated in the findings, it is

clear that the consultants adopt different strategies for winning and delivering the assignment. Teams that are projected for getting the assignment are often not used for doing the assignment. This should be curbed by greater scrutiny and controls by the

~ -

implementing agency. Exercising upstream controls is likely to result in better quality consultants being involved in EA and SIA work in highway projects and, therefore, better outputs.

An overall strategy for building consulting expertise needs to be formulated and implemented. Pres- ently, Bank staff provide detailed inputs to consultants during the preparation phase of the various projects. These inputs also serve as a form of training for the consultants. From the feedback received during this review, the consultants have opined that detailed inputs from the Bank have been useful in their developing further. However, by itself, this will not suffice. Periodic proactive training should also be provided for better outputs. Wherever specialized inputs are required, international consultants with appropriate expertise should be sourced, if necessary. By working closely with such experts, the quality of EA and SIA outputs are bound to improve, particularly in terms of analytical content.


Note 12

Most issues analyzed and recommendations made in this dissemination note are relevant when an external consulting organization is retained to function as Supervision Consultants. Nevertheless, some issues are also vdid when the project implementing agency carries out the supervisory role themselves, as in road maintenance.

In Bank projects, the project implementing agency (NHAI/PWD) divides the highway project into different contract packages and engages contractors (same o r different firms/companies) for constructing each of them. For each contract package, the implementing agency is also required to engage supervision consultants (SCs), who would supervise the contractors on their behalf. It is the contractor's role to implement the provisions of the environmental management plan (EMP) that are relevant to their construction activities and it is the SC's role to ensure that the contractor meets the EMP requirements. As in the case of the contractors, the SCs are also selected using a competitive bid process. Whereas SCs are mandatory in the case of upgradation/improvement roads, the implementing agencies tend to supervise the maintenance work by themselves.

Findings

Timing of the appointment and mobilization of SCs are sometimes a problem. In some projects reviewed, the SCs were appointed and mobilized much after the start of the contractor's activities. In such cases, critical decisions such as choosing the location of construction camps, asphalt plants and borrow areas were taken by the contractor without the verification of the SCs. This has resulted in inadequate and thus unsatisfactory environmental management.

SCs are now focusing more on EMP issues but there are difficulties. Until recently, SCs were not adopting any structured approaches towards supervising EMP implementation. In recent Bank projects (from 2001), it has been made mandatory for SCs to employ fulltime environment officer(s) to address EMP issues. This is a step in the right direction as there is

undoubtedly enough work to justify a separate position in the SC's team. Despite making the provision for an environment officer, the present scenario with regard to the organizational capacity is still far from ideal. Some SCs find it difficult to find suitable candidates for the position of environment officer and hence the position remains unoccupied. Others are unable to retain candidates in this position as most highway engineers consider the traditional highway engineering job to be more beneficial from a career point of view. With certain SCs, the practice of having an environment officer solely for the Bank missions was also being adopted. This has revealed the need to in- stitutionally strengthen the environment officer's position within the SC.

No proper mechanism for the monitoring and reporting exists. Based on the discussions undertaken during this review, it is evident that SCs do not have proper systems and procedures for monitoring and reporting vis-A-vis the EMP requirements. For instance, air pollution monitoring during construction is not linked with the operation of the batch-mixing plant. In general, the environment performance indicators are focused upon. In one instance, along the Third N H Project, the monitoring report of a particular package did not reflect the activities related to the EMP that was being carried out.

SCs do not have an integrated team approach towards EMP supervision. Supervising the EMP tends to be seen as the responsibility of the environment officer and not that of the entire team. Generally, the SCs have a materials engineer, who can provide information to the environment officer about quarry management. Such interactions between the environment officer and the other team members are not

generally forthcoming.

SCs are not always effective in dealing with the contractors. During the review, it was learnt that contractors do not always abide by the instructions of the SCs. In a particular instance in a National High- ways (NH) project, the contractor was asked not to carry out plantation along the roads till the spoil material was completely removed from the ROW. However, the contractor carried out the plantation ignoring the advice. The spoil material was removed at a later stage, and some plants were damaged.

SCs think that only punitive measures will work. In a particular package of the Third National High- way project, the environment officer with the permission of the resident engineer of the SCs, recommended deduct ing a payment of Rs 0.20 million from the contractor's bill. This brought out appropriate action at the contractor's end. Needless to say, the SCs should not resort to such punitive action without proper justification. But, in cases wherein the matter has been discussed and re- minders fail to work with contractors, the SCs have to resort these measures in order to remain effective. Otherwise, the SCs and the implementing agency have no control over the contractor. Several times, it has been noticed that as a follow-up to the Bank's mission, comments are initiated through correspon- dence with the contractor, but no action is actually taken.

Approval to resettlement site plans is generally delayed. Layout plans for resettlement sites for housing o r shopping complexes are to be approved by SCs. NGOs organize group discussions, sites are selected and approval to transfer land for resettlement sites is sought from the district administration. Plans are prepared after much consultation with the PAPs. Since it is the contractors who develop the site, SCs are required to clear the plans. However, it was found that often SCs considerably delay the approval process. The PAPs lose hope and the relationship between them and NGOs and the implementing agen-

advance of construction activities. To ensure that the SCs are involved in all the decisions from the very beginning, their mobilization should precede or be in parallel with the contractors. Not only should the SCs be appointed upfront, but also the position of the environment officer needs to be filled in order to ensure that EMP requirements are followed from the very beginning. The training of the SCs and contractors should be imparted before the commencement of construction activities by the Project Coordinat- ing Consultants (PCC) who have prepared the EMPs, in this training, the rationale behind the proposed mitigation and enhancement measures, their designs (if relevant) and also the justification vis-i-vis the costs should be presented and discussed. It should also focus on the periodic monitoring reports that have to be prepared and submitted by the SCs to the project implementing agency.

SCs should prepare a n incept ion report. Whatever be the steps taken during project preparation to clearly define the requirements, it will be beneficial to have SCs prepare an inception report at the time of commencing their activities. Often, it is difficult to determine at the project preparation stage how the SCs are to organize themselves during implementation. This report will address such issues. This report should be based on their study of the EMP requirements and should define the organizational arrangements made by them to supervise the EMP implementation. Apart from defining the roles and responsibilities of the environment officer, this report should also specify how the others - resident engineer, deputy resident engineer, materials engineer, pavement engineer and others - will co-operate with the environment officer in ensuring that the EMP requirements are supervised. In addition, the supervision consultants may like to modify the monitoring formats proposed in the EMP in a manner that befits

. .

the project context. These changes should be reflected in the inception report which should also be formally reviewed and approved by both the client and the Bank.

cies comes under pressure. EMPs should be further improved to include roles,

Recommendations responsibilities and authority of the SCs. In the recent Bank projects, the responsibilities of the SCs have

Mobilization of the SCs and training should be in been included in table of mitigation a n d


enhancement measures. This specifies the particular tasks in which the SCs have a role. However, it does not specify how the SCs are to execute their tasks. As one representative of SCs noted: "The EMP covers the 'what' of it but not the 'how' of it". The EMP needs to provide guidance or instructions on how the SCs have to ensure that their responsibilities are discharged. The authority given to the SCs should also be further explained. The powers of the environment officer should also be clearly defined particularly with regard to their role in (1) signing off prior to the commencement of certain activities, (2) . .

initiating punitive action when the contractor has - -

failed to respond to repeated requestdreminders, and (3) bringing to the notice of the implementing agency when the dealings with the contractor are not yield- -

ing positive results.

An engineer with the responsibility for supervising EMP implementation is essential but there is no need to designate him/her as environment officer. Proper environment management is integral t o the implementation of any road project. Given that the concept of environment management in the roads sector is new and at a nascent stage, there is some concern about the future career prospects in this field. Consid- ering that there is so much overlap between the engineering and environment aspects in road projects, designating a highway engineer as an environment

There has to be regular information-sharing among the designated environment staff from different contract packages. Most Bank projects have different contract packages. Whether or not the contractors are different, the project implementation experiences are different. There are good practices in certain packages that need to be replicated across other packages. There are not-so-good or bad practices that need to be universally avoided. It has been seen that in contract packages, conflicting approaches to address the same issue (e.g top soil management in borrow areas) have been taken. Regular information-sharing among the contracts and projects should be made mandatory. This is best done through periodic workshops that are coordinated by the SCs under the aegis of the project implementing agency.

Sharing of international expertise on environment management needs to be systematized. In Bank projects involving upgradation, the SCs are appointed through an international competitive bid. In such projects, the SCs have access to international expertise. In carrying out the supervision, the SCs could introduce the contractors to goodhest practices related to environment management in the project. There will be some good/best practices directly related to environment management. And, there will be other goodhest engineering practices that will result in better environment management.

officer is not critical as long as he functions as an environment officer. In addition, the qualification re- Monitoring of social issues should be carried out by

quirements for this engineer should be in line with SCs. Contractor's responsibility to abide by labor laws

what is feasible in the project area. But it is most related to child labor, minimum wages, inter-State

important to give authority to the environment of- migrant workers among others, should be closely

ficer so that decisive action can be taken in the event monitored by a designated engineer.

of any environment damage being caused by the contractor.

The Role of Supervision Consultants 79

Note 13

All contractors and sub-contractors are expected t o adhere to environment and social obligations while undertaking construction activities. Inadequate levels of awareness, commitment and institutional capacity have often posed problems. It is in rhis background that this dissemination note presents the key lessons and recommendations that emerged from rhis review.

In Bank projects, the client - National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) or Public Works Depart- ment (PWD) - divides the highway project into various contract packages. For each contract package, the client engages a contractor to undertake the construc-

- -

tion activities. These contractors are selected through a competitive bid process. Once the selection is conl- pleted and the contracts are signed, the clients provide the contractors with unencumbered stretches of the road for construction. This is the practice followed for upgrading/improving and maintenance contracts. The contractors execute construction in line with their respective contract agreements. In many cases, the contractors en~ploy sub-contractors to execute various activities and coordinates with them. Therefore, there are several contractors and sub-contractors, who together undertake the construction activities of the entire road project.

In Bank projects that involve an upgrading/in~proving component, the project implementing agency is required to appoint a supervision consultant (SC)/engineer to oversee contractor's activities. The contractor implements the road construction activities under the day-to-day, close supervision of the SC/engineer and under the overall supervision of the client. Similar, but less intensive arrangements are made for overseeing the maintenance component of Bank projects.

As contractors have the main role in construction activities, they have an important contribution to make for ensuring adoption and proper management of environmental and social issues in highway projects. To ensure that good practices are adopted, explicit references to environment and social require-

ments that the contractors must follow are included in the contract documents of Bank projects. How- ever, much more is required to ensure that contractors do what is expected of them.

Most of the points discussed below are drawn from the primary meetings that were conducted with the clients, SCs and contractors, particularly from Andhra Pradesh State Transport Project and the Third Na- tional Highway Project.

Findings

There is little or no commitment/institutional capacity in relation to environment management. Most contractors view the management of environment and - social issues as additional, and less important in meeting the main requirements of their contracts. These are seen as peripheral issues. Contractors do not integrate environment management into each of their activities. During the field visits undertaken under this review, there was also no convincing evidence that the environment provisions included in the Indian Roads Congress (IRC) guidelines and the Ministry of Road Transport 8 Highways (MoRTH) specifications are being followed. Some initiatives such as the specific environmental management plan (EMP) mitiga- t ion measures a re taken because of cont rac t requirements. There is almost no voluntary adoption of good environment management practices among contractors. Thus, the obligations under the contract become the main tool and the only way to ensure that good practices are implemented on the ground.

The attitude of contractors is often a hurdle. How- ever, they are not the only ones to be blamed for this situation. The problem can be attributed to the over-

all context within which they function. For instance, only the externally aided projects require the management of environment and social issues. For all the o the r projects, even suggestions - leave alone requirements - for adopting good management practices are not received by the contractors. Other implementing agencies are not concerned and do not urge the contractors to think on these lines. The only experience that the contractors have on environment issues are dealings with regulatory officials and, occa- sionally, with community groups. Given that enforcement of legal requirements is weak in India, there is really no pressure on the contractor to implement good management practices. It is therefore important to recognize that the contractor's organizational capacity is weak when it comes to addressing the management of environmeilt and social issues.

Contractors feel that the EMP content can be further improved. In the Bank's older projects, the EMPs were more generic in content and not focussed enough. However, in the more recent projects, the EMPs were more specific. In these projects, the contractors revealed that the EbIPs served their intended purpose and are being implemented. The contractors also observed that the EMPs can be made even more specific, i.e. more oriented towards the issues that they face during implementation. For instance, borrow area management (identification, signing of agreements, developing plans and rehabilitation) forms a good part of the responsibilities during EMP implementation. But the focus on borrow area management in the EMPs prepared presently is not commensurate with the work undertaken by the contractors during implementation. The contractors also revealed that the EMP budgets have to be made more realistic and be based on designs and drawings. Another suggestion was to segregate the portion of the EMP relevant to them into a separate section.

Broad awareness on social issues exists but is not supported with adequate management. Contractors are not involved in resettlement & rehabilitation (R & R) that is undertaken as a part of the Bank project. But there are social issues such as the use of child labor, payment in accordance with Minimum Wages Act, following inter migration Act and discrimination, that the contractor has to deal with. Such social

issues tend to be addressed in a one-off manner and not in a structured sense. For instance, contractors do not employ child labor. But, there is no control/ verification of the use of child labor by the sub-contractors that the contractors employ. In ITIOS~ construction sites, there were no women employees. Therefore, issues such as the provision of crhche facility and discrimination against women have not arisen. The contractors are also aware that the living conditions in the construction camps should be good and maintained at acceptable levels. But the visits to selected construction camps revealed scope for improvement in terms of their maintenance. There is no monitoring of whether local labor laws are being implemented. Overall, it can be concluded that there is broad awareness on social issues but there is no well- defined mechanism within the contractor's organization to ensure good social practices are adopted at the site.

Construction-related safety is a major weakness. Safe construction practices are not generally adopted. Signages are often non-existent. Even if they exist, these are poorly done. Few contractors have equipped themselves with safety aids such as helmets and gloves. Even if they have these aids, these are often not used. As contractors themselves do not adopt appropriate safety management practices, there is nothing much that can be expected of the sub-contractors. There was little o r no evidence of safety management among sub-contractors as well.

Contractors tend to "doctor" performance during Bank missions. Similar to the implementing agency, there is a tendency to put forward a good image whenever the Bank staff visit the construction sites, construction camps and hot mix/concrete batch-mixing plants. In a particular project reviewed, it was learnt that contractors have labor camp toilets in the construction camps, which are earmarked for special purposes. These toilets are kept clean and opened only du r ing t he Bank missions and visits of o t h e r important persons. During this review, it was also gathered that safety signage along the road stretches under construction are often installed only during the Bank missions. One contractor revealed that safety signage tends to be stolen and that the contractor is paid for it only once. Therefore, these are used

Contractors' Environment and Social Management 8 1

only during Bank missions. Recommendations

Circumstances compel contractors to give inadequate attention to environment and social issues. Invari- ably, there are tremendous pressures to meet the dead- lines on the civil works from the project implementing agency. In addition, there are other pressures from politicians and local groups. During this review, contractors were questioned and informed about the importance of environment and social issues. While there was acceptance that these management practices should be adopted, they were skeptical about the extent to which they could comply considering their difficult working scenario.

Linking of environment and social performance with contractor payments is effective. During this review, varying levels of environment and social performance was found among the different contractors. When the contractors were themselves committed, then good environment and social practices were adopted. When this was not the case, there U'dS little or no proper management of environment and social issues. The leverage of the implementing agency and the SC with the contractor was found to be weak. For instance, the contractor's follow-up on observations during the -

Bank's mission was also found to be weak during the site visits undertaken as part of this review. In such a scenario, linking the contractor's environment and - social performance with their payments is possibly the only solution. Some implementing agencies have tried this approach [e.g. Third National Highway Project (TNHP), Package IVD] with a creditable degree of success.

There are difficulties in appointing environment officers. Environment management in road projects is a relatively new area of work. Not many people have relevant expertise. Those with educational background or training in environment management do not have the experience in road projects, while those with road project experience do not have the environment training. In addition, the environment officer is not viewed as a good career option by highway engineers. So, even those highway engineers interested in environment management are unwilling to hold this position. Therefore, contractors are facing genuine difficulty in appointing environment officers.

Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) Management Systems Certification for contractors should be made compulsory. In India, organizations have been adopting management systems for the last two de- cades. First, it was quality management systems that were popularly adopted. Then, organizations took to environment management systems. And, more recently, in the last two or three years, health & safety management systems are being adopted. Some contractors have incorporated quality management systems within their organizations. However, none of the contractors have taken to either environment or health & safety management systems. In many developed countries, externally-certified environment and health & safety management systems form the basic eligibility criteria for contractors to bid for projects. A beginning has to be made in India in the construction sector and the Bank is uniquely placed to facilitate the same. The Bank should make it mandatory for all contractors to have externally-certified EHS management systems. And, the scope of their management systems should cover all the sites and activities of their organization. As the process of developing and institutionalizing management systems takes between six nlonths and a year, the Bank should give a lead time of one year to contractors. After the lapse of this lead time, this should be made a mandatory requirement for all Bank projects. Such a move will result in a substantial institutional capacity building within the contractors on environment, health and safety issues.

EHS training for all contractor and sub-contractor staff should be made compulsory. It should be made mandatory for all staff for contractors and sub-contractors to undergo EHS training. Outlines of training programs have to be made and should form a part of the EMP. The contractor should be responsible for the training and supervision consultants should provide this support. The contractors should identify trainers within their teams and send them for train- the-trainer programs that should be organized by the implementing agency with external training agency support. Subsequently, the trainers should train all

- -

the contractor and sub-contractor staff. The contractor should maintain a training roster for themselves


as well as all their sub-contractors. The completion of one-round of training should be made a pre-condition for undertaking work. This training will overcome the lack of awareness and will contribute towards bringing about a change in the attitude of the contractors.

Contractors should provide an action plan to implement the EMP. Over the last two years (since 2001), the Bank has been striving through their EA consultants to improve the quality and relevance of EMPs during implementation. The generic content has been reduced and the specific content hds been increased. From the Review, it is clear that there is still further scope for improvement from the contractor's view- point. This is best achieved if the contractors themselves prepare an action plan. This action plan should give more emphasis on implementation issues such as borrow area rndnagement, housekeeping of hot mix/concrete batch-mixing plants and construction camp maintenance.

There is a need for guidelines on good management practices on social issues for contractors. Although there are several EA and SIA reports that are produced during the project preparation phase, there are none that focus on social management prdctices for contrdctors. Generic guidelines applicable to all projects and all contractors are required. In addition, project-specific guidelines that recognize any particular social sensitivity needs to be an output of the SIA process in the project preparation phase.

More specifics on managing environment and social issues have to be included in the contract documents. As mentioned earlier, the EMP should be made more specific. In recent projects, the relevant sections of the EMP have been included in the cont rac t documents. Hence, these recent contract documents contdin more specifics. This practice is to be continued. A separate dissemination note includes guidelines for integrating the contents of the EMP into the contract documents. This should be followed. In addi t ion , t he generic and project-specific guidelines o n good social practices should be

referred in the contract documents.

This review has revealed that the contractors do not always read what is included in the contract documents on the environment and social aspects. From the very beginning, starting from the preliminary discussions between the implementing agency and the (potential) contractors, these requirements should be specifically highlighted so that the contractors are not taken by surprise when these are brought to their notice during construction.

Environment and social performance should be linked with contractor payments. Given that linking contractor payments with environment and social has resulted in a creditable degree of success, this should be formalized and implemented. But this should be done only in extreme cases and should not be misused by the client. The triggers for holding back or delaying payments to contractors due to non-performance on environment and social issues have to be clearly laid-out. These specifics should form a part of the EMP and should be appropriately integrated with the contract documents. There should also be incentives for good performance on environment and social issues. The penalties levied on the poor Performers should be accrued into a fund and awarded to the good performers. This will also ensure that penalties are properly utilized dnd corrupt practices do not result.

Contractors should have the flexibility to re-designate the environment officer's position. It is important that the function of environment management in road projects is undertaken. It is of little relevance whether the position is called "environment officer" o r otherwise. Based on the job market conditions and availability of personnel, the contractors should be given the flexibility to make the appointments that will yield effective results. But the contractors should hire the required number of officers, who would have the responsibility to ensure that their own staff and those of the sub-contractor adopt the EMP and other social practices.

Contractors' Environment and Social Management 83

Note 14

NGOs AND THE RESETTLEMENT ACTION PLAN One of the most important roles of non-government organizations (NGOs) is that the). are the interface between project implementing agencies and project-affected-persons (PAPs), as the implementation of resettlement action plan (RAP) involves intensive consultation with and participation of the PAPS to enable them to make informed choices to resettle and rehabilitate themselves. This dissemination note reveals that NGOs are at present not adequately equipped t o meet the demands made on them.

Increasingly government departments recognize the Findings need to use services of NGOs to support and supple- ment their efforts in planning and implementing development programs. In all Bank-funded projects, implementing agencies engaged services of NGOs and often more than one N G O is contracted. This is mainly because highways under the project are spread over many districts and the number of people to be rehabilitated tends to be large. NGOs play an active role and facilitate more efficient implementation and monitoring of resettlement action plan (RAP) and coordinate the activities with relevant government agencies.

T o help implement the RAP, NGOs have to establish rapport with the people, v e r i e the affected people and determine their legal status as listed in the RAP, evaluate losses, determine replacement cost of assets, prepare micro-plans indicating individual's entitlements, facilitate finalization of resettlement sites, facilitating relocation and enhancement of common property in consultation with the community, ad- vise project affected persons (PAPs) to select appropriate income-generation programs, prepare and organize training programs for skill upgradation, and link government development programs/schemes to resettle and rehabilitate the affected people. The NGOs' main objective is to ensure that PAPs receive their entitlement in accordance with the resettlement & rehabilitation (R&R) policy so that encumbrance free stretches can be handed over to the contractors at the time of their mobilization.

- NGOs have limited availability of skills to implement RAPS. Using services of NGOs to implement RAP is a new field and experienced people in highway projects are rarely available. Moreover, there is frequent change in staff and in some cases junior level of people lack confidence in interacting with district authorities. Most of them require adequate guidance to understand and implement. Weak NGOs combined with limited understanding of social issues among project implementing agencies, create additional responsibility for Bank supervision teams.

Mobilization of NGOs is usually delayed. Often, the NGOs are appointed after the project has been approved by the Bank. They are responsible for completing resettlement of all PAPs before contractors mobilize, which is generally four to five months after the project has been approved. The short duration during which the NGOs are required to complete the expected tasks creates substantial pressure on them and has an impact on the processes and sometimes leads to non-compliance of safeguard issues.

Changes in design leads to additional cost to NGOs. In most projects there are changes in the design of the project after the contractors are mobilized. Al- though by this stage final list of affected people, assets, area affected, etc have been prepared on the basis of the available designs, this list is constantly revised and sends mixed signals to affected people. All this creates additional burden on NGOs to re-do the verification exercise and reduces the time required for appropriate rehabilitation.

There are limited opportunities for training on - -

implementation process. Often the NGOs who are appointed have limited experience in the implementation of RAP. Though training plans are part of RAP, often the training imparted is during the initial phase for one module i.e. orientation. Follow-up training plans, exposure to other projects within and outside the country are not implemented.

Monitoring and reporting is ad hoc. The general approach among the NGOs is to focus upon fieldwork. Lack of skills in monitoring and documenting the processes of implementation often limits their capa- bility to prepare monitoring reports. Moreover, the NGOs work in close collaboration with project officials.

Recommendations

Bank should help capacity building by organizing workshops. There is a need to evolve a short-term and long-term strategy to strengthen the capacity of clients and other implementing partners designed for specific projects and of training institutes for wider

reach respectively.

Contractors should be mobilized only after completing land acquisition and relocation. There is a need to bring in coordination between civil works and pre-construction activities. It should be mandatory to complete all the land acquisition and R&R activities before mobilizing the contractors. The timeframe for all the pre-construction activities should be shared with the contractors to enable them to plan for their mobilization or extend the time period for the project to include the time required for pre-construction activities.

Ground truthing of designs should be mandatory during preparation. Design engineers need to transfer construction boundaries on ground. This will facilitate updating of RAPS.

Documentation and monitoring mechanism should be strengthened. Developing of common formats and databases through project specific workshops should be encouraged.

NGOs and the Resettlement Action Plan 85

Note 15

The disse~nindtion note examines processes followed by the project itnpletnenting agency in parallel to those followed by the Bank with respect to addressing environment and social issues dnd incorporation of associated management measures in project design. The project preparation and impletnentation stage are dealt with in separate sections.

The project implementing agency and the Bank engage soon after the project is identified. Project Imple- mentation Units (PIIJs) are set up within the project implementing agency's organization [State PWDs or the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI)]. These PIUs are the counterparts for the Bank's task team from project preparation to implementation and supervision, and are supposed to ensure that all di- mensions of the project are prepared as per the Bank's and Govt of India (GoIs) requirements on environment and social issues. The PIUs usually comprise a Project Director at Superintending Engineer (SE) level who is assisted by an Executive Engineer (EE) and Assistant Engineers (AEs) as required. Environment and social management units /cells (ESMU/Cs) are created within the PILTs and are separately staffed. At the State level, the Project Directors report to the Secretary and the Principal Secretary of the relevant departments. But how effective has the management been at the project preparation phase?

Findings

The implementing agency does not effectively manage EA and SIA processes. Traditionally, there were no designated environment management or social development officers in the PWDs. The ESMUs are generally created only for Bank-financed projects a t a late stage during project preparation, which does not give a chance to the officers to learn and "grow" with the environmental assessment (EA) and social impact assessment (SIA) processes. Officers who are deputed in the E~SMUS to manage environment and social is-

sues are generally from within the implementing agency without any training on these issues. Often, this is an adhoc arrangement '1s management of environment and social issues are seen as an add-on to other technical responsibilities. In some cases, environment personnel are generally contract positions through deputation from other agencies. They tend -

to go back to their parent departments after spending some time taking the institutional learning with them. Working on these issues is also seen as the end of a - career path by most officers, by both the management as well as the designated officers, which further less- ens their interest. There is not much recognition of the work done by the ESMUs and hence not much interest of the personnel to continue within the PWD after the project. Additionally, there is no incentive from the PWD to train the personnel nor are they interested in enhancing knowledge on these issues. Due to this lack of capacity to manage environtnent and social issues at an initial stage of the project, various problems crop up. These include:

The implementing agencies are not in a position to modify the EA and SIA Terms of Reference (TOR) to suit the project requirements or guide the consultants on the process to be adopted. There are also not in a position to provide realistic modification to the resettlement & rehabilitation (R&R) policy.

The officer evaluating technical proposals is not equipped to evaluate EA and SIA methodology suggested by the consultants in their proposals

or inception reports.

The documents, particularly those in the ini-

tial stages related to screening and feasibility re-

ports, are often of poor quality.

The environment and social officers of the im-

plementing agency are not equipped to facili-

tate and guide the preparation of EA and SIA

to the desired quality. This leads to a lack of

ownership. The implementing agency does not

undertake any review of the consultant's out-

putsandnmerely transfers the responsibility of

review of EA and SIA outputs for ensuring qual-

ity to the Bank.

Iinplementing agencies are unable to guide the

consultants on complicated issues such as land

acquisition, and those related to biodiversity and

ecologically sensitive areas.

Deputed officers are generally from the lower

are taken into account. In Inany projects, the ecosensitive corridors have been considered in the second phase of the project. Time delays are envisaged in obtaining Go1 clearances as well as in undergoing the Bank's review processes. This is used as reason to justify the inclusion of such corridors in the second phase. However, available budgets are not judiciously or proportionately divided between phases. In the second phase, fewer resources are available though the issues are more critical. This has adverse repercussions.

To circumvent the Bank's EA and SIA processes, minor widening works are sometimes included in the maintenance components. There is a tendency in many project implementing agencies to include mi- nor widening as a part of the maintenance component. This is to make the most of the investments. An effort to include widening as a part of major maintenance, wherever a clear Corridors of Impact is available, is the target seen as real value for investment. In earlier projects, EA and SIA processes did not cover maintenance roads. In more recent projects, limited assessments are done but these tend to be superficial.

middle ranks and do not have capacity or deci- Project implementing agency's coordination with

sion-making powers to provide policy-level guid- the Central and State level agencies is weak leading

ance. Since the decision makers are far removed to delays in clearances, with subsequent delays in from the field realities, the processing takes un- project processing. Coordination is required u,ith duly long, and has time and cost implications. many government agencies such as the forest depart-

Ellvirolllllent and social issues are not given equal weightage when compared to other aspects during project design and in allocating resources. The EA and SIA are generally seen by the project implementing agency as the Bank's clearance requirements for funding. Therefore, they are keen on preparing documents for cle~rance and assign a low priority on using the outputs to influence the design. As the project impleinenting agencies are generally organizations with engineering expertise, the engineering/technical facets are given the greatest priority during project preparation.

ment for roadside tree cutting, the State electricity boards for shifting of utilities, revenue department for land records and acquisition, and mining department for the identification of quarries. A number of interactions are required to be taken by the client with these agencies to facilitate the preparation of projects, obtain timely clearances, acquire land and deliver encumbrance-free stretches to the contractors so thdt construction works can begin on time. The implementing agency usually initiates dialogues with these agencies at the end of project preparation. Further- more, the implementing agency's PILs are not well- versed with the Go1 and State clearance requirements.

Corridors/road sections with environmental and so- This leads to time delays the implementing agency's cia1 challenges are scheduled for later phases. State tend to use consultants to pursue these clearances. road projects tend to be divided into phases. The corridors regarded to be less difficult are generally taken Disclosure of EA and RAP documents is not taken

seriously. The objective of formalizing disclosure is in the first phase. In assessing difficulty among differ- to share the final outputs with the public, including

ent corridors, environment and social considerations

The Implementing Agencies' Management of the EA & the SIA Processes 87

the project-affected persons (PAPS). Efforts are made to keep the final outputs in public libraries or offices of the district magistrate. Unfortunately, these are not accessible to many people. The implementing agency does not take this objective with a sense of earnestness and carries out disclosure just to satisfy the Bank's clearance requirement.

Recommendations

tive and be given authority to take action to ensure proper management of environment and social issues is not compromised during the day-to-day activities.

Inter-agency coordination should be initiated and strengthened at an earlier stage in the project cycle. The project implementing agency should be encouraged to initiate discussions with Go1 and State agencies much earlier during project preparation, so that the time required to obtain clearances and facilitating The implementing agency's PIUs should include an land acquisition and other aspects related to liveli- environment and a social officer upstream during hood restoration can be factored in the overall project project preparation in order to provide timely in- timeline. The implementing agency should ensure that puts into project design. It is important for these government orders, memorandums of understanding

officers to be engaged in all aspects of project prepara- (MoUs) and other instruments are effectively used to

tion e.g., during hiring of consultants where they can improve inter agency coordination.

ensure that environment and R & R capacity/expertise forms one criteria for selection. One of the key design stages is the analysis of alternatives that is carried out during the feasibility stage. Often, there are no environment or social inputs due to lack of personnel. This affects the overall project design as the EA and SIA findings are not appropriately reflected in the engineering design.

This would also help efficient flow of information, better understanding of Bank requirements and lesser ambiguities, as interactions between the consultants and the Banks staff are facilitated by the PILJs. Dis- cussions prior to finalization of design can result in improvements to design and remove impediments in processing.

Expertise of staff should be correlated with the magnitude of environment and social impacts identified during the EA and SIA processes, and the staff should also be given adequate authority to take decisions. Even if the recruitment is of civil engineers from within the roads o r highway agency, sorne training and orientation should be provided to help the officers understand the wo.rk at hand. Additionally, in sorne cases, specific expertise may be required depending on the magnitude of issues or if a major irn- pact is of a particular kind. In some cases, such as with NHAI, where the number of projects being simultaneously processed is very large, it may also be beneficial to appoint an officer dedicated to obtaining government clearances. The appointed staff should be given decision-making powers in order to be effec-

The implementing agency (or the client) is the hTHAI in the case of national highway projects and the State PWDs in case of State highway projects. PIUs are established at the head offices of NHAI and PWDs. These are responsible for the overall project coordination and interventions with top/senior management at the State level o r Go1 as required. These are equipped with one officer each, responsible for managing and coordinating environment and social issues - a general manager (NHAI) and an executive engineer or assistant engineer (State PWDs). PIUs are also established at the district o r field level, which are headed by an executive engineer (EE) or superintending engineer (SE) and include two assistant engineers (AEs). In the case of State highway projects, one of the EEs o r AEs is designated to manage environment and social issues. In national highway projects, the field PIUs are headed by general managers and include two managers. One of these is designated to coordinate the implementation of Environment Man- agement Plans (EMPs) and Rehabilitation Action Plans (RAPS). Supervision Consultants (SCs) are deployed by the implementing agency to implement the project in all aspects, excluding RAP implementation. SCs are a consortium of international and national consultants. An environment officer forrns a part of the SC team. The contractors are also joint ventures of national and international teams and include an environment officer for the EMP implementation.


Non-government organizations (NGOs) are appointed to implement the RAP for which a team of field- level workers are appointed. T o faciliate the implementation of RAP and carry out land acqusition, district level committees chaired by the District Magis- trate/Commissioner are formed. Selected projects were reviewed with respect to the management of environment and social issues, and overall implementation of the RAP and the EMPs, ESMPs (or ERMPs) by the implementing agency's team. The findings and possible solutions are presented in the following paragraphs.

Findings

Commitment towards institutional strengthening is weak and the implementation of the IDS component is delayed. Overall, the institutional strengthening and capacity-building forms a component of all projects. An institutional development strategy (IDS) is generally carried out and an institutional strengthening action plan (ISAP) is agreed upon. This covers processes and indicators for addressing and managing environment and social issues. The implementation

t o mitigate these issues. Other social development activities that need to be taken up in parallel such as livelihood restoration are always delayed.

Capacity-building on environment and social aspects is not considered a priority. Officers are designated to manage project environment and social issues in almost all cases to show readiness for implementation of EMP and RAP but they are not provided any orientation to these aspects. There is no realization of the adverse impact on project schedule that can result due to a lack of seriousness on these issues. For instance, the RAP implementation is crucial with respect to the construction schedule as no civil works can be initiated unless compensation is paid to the PAPS as per the government-approved R&R policy. In most cases, the NGOs, who have the responsibility to implement the RAP were not engaged of at the appropriate time. Also, there is considerable delay in initiating land acquisition during the preparation stage. There is also limited understanding of the magnitude of impacts due to the lack of environment management in the pre-construction phase.

of the IDS component was found to be delayed in all Change in alignment delays the process of RAP the projects studied pressurizing the client implemen- implementation. In most projects, there are changes tation teams to be on a very steep learning curve, in project design after the contractors are mobilized. particularly on aspects that are not much familiar such Although the final list (of PAPs, assets and area af- as the management of environment and social issues. fected) has been prepared on the basis of available de-

Commitment towards management of environment and social issues in the client is not "real". Imple- menting agencies view the EMP and RAP more as a clearance requirement. Mainstreaming environment and social issues into project design through incorporating the principles of EA and SIA in their activities is not regarded as an objective. Additionally, the focus of the client is on the completion of - the civil works due to which environment provisions take a backseat. Therefore, environmentally-sound construction techniques, safe disposal of wastes, planning of camp and labor sites and rehabilitation of borrow areas are not given much importance. Similarly, the RAP does get implemented to a certain extent as civil works cannot be initiated before compensation is paid to the PAPS. But, clients are unwilling to recognize unforeseen impacts (not identified during preparation) and are not willing to modify the entitlement matrix

- -

signs, this list is constantly revised and updated. O n the one hand, this sends mixed signals to PAPS. O n the other, this creates an additional burden on NGOs to redo the verification exercise and reduces the time required for appropriate rehabilitation. In all, it makes the RAP implementation process more difficult t o achieve and results in greater delays.

Clients, SCs and contractors adopt a "mission- oriented" approach in most cases to show implementation of EMP and RAP, and feedback is misleading. The supervision missions are shown "doctored" evidence of environmental and social performance so as to impress the Bank mission. This is done in several ways, for e.g. "placing" environment personnel just for the purpose of the mission, arranging one of the engineers to function as the environment contact, installing the freshly painted road safety sign boards to be seen during field visits and cleaning a

The Implementing Agencies' Management of the EA 8 the SIA Processes 89

usually-locked toilet as one that is used by the laborers. Many times, these missions do not provide cor- rect feedback on the actual practices that are being carried out by the implementing agencies, SCs and contractors.

EMP monitoring is done without any analysis. The EMP monitoring formats are treated more like checklists that have to be "checked. They do not provide any light on the quality of implementation o r the management actions that need to be taken to improve During supervision missions, the Bank's suggestions are sometimes taken up without any rationale or thinking by the implementing agency. The focus is more on satisfying the Bank staff rather than exhibiting a real commitment towards environment management. This attitude is a direct reflection on the contractor's environment performance and the weightage provided by the SC on these aspects.

Both documentation and monitoring of RAP implementation remain ad hoc. There are several reasons why this is the case. First, RAP implementation is undoubtedly time-consuming. It is also process-oriented whereas the NGOs are more oriented towards implementing field-level activities. They tend to lack skills in maintaining proper documentation. Second, implementing agencies often do not have adequate manpower and systems for regular monitoring. The lack of appropriate skills and manpower result in poor documentation and ineffective monitoring.

Management of the monitoring & evaluation (M & E) consultants creates more problenis than providing assistance. The RAP is implemented by the NGOs and effectiveness is evaluated by M & E consultants in a few projects. The role of the M&E consultant is not usually clear to the NGO. The M&E approach is perceived by N G O as a fault-finding in nature and not much value addition to the working of the N G O was perceived in most projects apart from the streamlining of documentation. The NGOs feel that the M&E personnel are not aware of the problems and ground realities associated with RAP implementation and do not have a solution-based review approach. However, the TOR for the M&E con-

sultants does not include providing solutions. These are the issues that the implementing agency has to manage vis-h-vis the M & E consultants.

Limited availability of skilled NGOs to iniplenient RAP. Using services of NGOs to implement RAP is a new field, and staff experienced in highway projects is rare to find. Moreover, there is a frequent change in staff within the N G O team and often the staff tend to be at a rather junior-level. Such staff lack confidence in interacting with district authorities and tend to be less effective. Most of them require guidance to understand and implement. Weak N G O s combined with a limited understanding of social issues creates difficulties for the clients and also creates additional responsibility on the Bank's supervision team.

Implementation of the EMPs and RAPS to the desired quality demands a radical change in the mindset and work methods in the implementing agency's perception. A mindset change takes time and well- structured efforts. Given the various tasks that the implementing agencies have to manage during the project period, this mindset change is difficult to achieve during the project period. The implementing agency is focused on the completion of physical tar- gets. With such a time-bound goal, it is quite a challenge to understand, appreciate and implement proper management of environment and social issues.

SC's lack of focus on environment management with subsequent reflection o n the contractor's outputs leaves the client "helpless". The SC is empowered as "Engineer" by FIDIC terms of contract with final decision-making authority. Therefore, it is crucial for the SC team to have high commitment on these issues. Environment personnel deployed by the SC lacked experience in highway implementation in majority of the projects reviewed. Generally, the Resident Engineer (RE) - delegated with the most management authori ty o n any site - also lacks environment awareness and hence gives environment issues a low priority. The interaction between the contractor and the SC is therefore weak on EMP- related issues, and the implementing agency often faces a difficult challenge with respect to managing the


issue in line with the terms of contract.

Recommendations

Capacity to manage environment and social issues should be "truly" established within the implementing agency's core team before the project is effective. Although an officer for the management of environment and social issues is appointed in most projects, it is not sufficient where a long term change is sought in the mindset and working methods of the implementing officers. These designated environment and social officers should form a part of the core implementing team. Once the core team at the head office is well oriented towards the management of environment and social issues and understands the implica-

tions of ineffective implementation of EMP and RAP, then the same message will translate to the field offices and help to harmonize the approach to implement the EMPs and RAPS.

The implementing agency should place equal eni- phasis on the management of environment and social issues in their leadership role in overall project management. The message of seriousness of EMP and RAP implementation needs to be translated into action at the field level. The implementing agency needs to take the lead on this aspect and ensure that the interaction between the contractor and the SC is constructive.

The Implementing Agencies' ~ a n a ~ e m e n t of the EA 8 the SIA Processes 9 1

Note 16

This dissemination note examines issues related to institutionalizing good practices for managing environment and social issues in road projects.

The Bank takes a number of measures to institutionalize good practices within the client on environment and social issues. Central to the process of institutionalizing is the institutional development strategy (IDS), which focuses on environment and social issues as a part of a number of other issues confronting the project implementing agnecy. The Bank facili- tates its formulation during the project preparation phase and this strategy is implemented as a part of the project. The purpose is not only to build the capacity within the implementing agency (NHAI/State PWDs) to meet the requirements v i s -h i s the Bank project but also to adopt similar/comparable processes in the implementing agency's other projects. In fact, the Bank wants its projects to be a model, with a demonstrative character. However, the Bank's institutional capacity-building initiatives have not been wholly successful.

Findings

Existing capacity, awareness and knowledge levels on Environmental Assessment (EA) and Social Im- pact Assessment (SIA) processes is considerably weak. The road agencies staffed with civil engineers have no exposure nor have they received training pertaining to environment and social issues prior to their involvement in the Bank's project. E,ven if awareness exists, this is limited to obtaining the mandatory clearances required from the State Pollution Con- trol Boards (SPCBs) and Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF). There is some familiarity with the Land Acquisition Act but not with resettlement & rehabilitation (R&R) concepts.

There are several organizational constraints which are obstacles to building environment and social expertise within the PIU. To cite the main constraints:

Most implementing agencies (NHAI/PWDs) are in the process of downsizing their staff. There are restrictions in appointing new individuals/ professionals, who have the appropriate educational background and experience. Therefore, the appointments in the environment and social units are made through internal transfers within the road agency o r by deputation from other government departments. This poses a constraint on getting suitable candidates.

In case the client has been able to justify the recruitment of an external person, then the compensation package offered is not attractive enough for a good candidate with relevant experience. Good people demand higher compensation packages that are not forthcoming.

In case officials are taken on deputation from the other departments, these are for a maximum period of five years. Beyond this period, special permission is required and this is often difficult to obtain. Therefore, capacity is built in a few individuals, who are forced to leave to re-join their parent department. This results in the loss of capacity and re-building has to be initiated from scratch all over again.

Career growth opportunities for a highway engineer, as a professional managing environment and social issues is not promising. Within a road

agency, such a professional remains one with marginal utility. There are not enough powers as the other engineers and they are not perceived to have had a direct involvement in the main construction. Hence, these people are always looking out for opportunities for a technical highway engineer's position.

If appointments are made from outside the road agency (other government departments or from the market), then the same facilities as the officers within the client (NHAI/PWD) - in terms of an office space, official vehicle, com- puters and assistance - are not provided. The lack of incentives and the differential treatment encourages the personnel to go back to their parent organization o r seek another employ- ment. Sometimes, it has happened that the environment specialist is not trained as he/she is considered as an outsider whose capacity need not be built as there is no long-term benefit for the employer.

When recruiting an officer, no thought is given to whether the person is likely t o remain in the job throughout the project period and if the person has the appropriate skill/attitude. The positions are filled just to fulfil a commitment. Sometimes, senior officials fill positions. Fac- tors such as retirement and ability to work on the field/site are not considered.

The timing of the appointment of the environment and social personnel is almost always in- appropriate. They are appointed at least a year after the project preparation commences. There- fore, a good opportunity of working with the project coordinating consultants (PCC) is lost.

The Institutional Development Strategy (IDS) does not cover environment and social aspects adequately. Environment and social aspects are not covered in great detail during the IDS. It is more concentrated on pavement management systems and financial management systems. In addition, there is not enough linkage between the environmental management (EMP)/resettlement action plan (RAP) and what is included in the IDS. During implementation, the tar- gets for setting-up mechanisms stated in the IDS keep

getting delayed from one mission to the next. This has been the general weakness vis-A-vis IDS implementation and this also has implications for the institutional capacity building on environment and social issues.

Feedback from PCC revealed that much more needs to be done in order to institutionalize good environment and social management principles so that these are adopted across the implementing agency's other projects. Presently, the focus is wholly and solely on the Bank's project. The existing arrangements/approaches used by the client t o develop projects are not assessed to determine what needs to be done to integrate an environment and social content into the preparation. Translating the preparation experience from the Bank project to the client's other projects is not even deliberated during the project preparation phase. N o training needs assessment is done at an organizational level during the preparation phase. Only the PIU's team is considered when developing the training plans. Deployment of personnel for addressing environment dnd social issues is only within the PITJ, and not to institutionalize practices for the implementing agency's non- Bank projects. Overall, the Bank is currently doing little to inculcate the adoption of EA and SIA processes in the implementing agency's project preparation activities of other non-Bank projects.

Bank projects are not designed to be a replicable model for the implementing agency's non-Bank projects. There is a difference in implementing good practices related to managing environment and social issues in an absolute sense, and in focusing on implementing good practices that have a replicable potential. The Bank's present approach is oriented towards setting high standards in its projects. It is not at demonstrating practices that are replicable. The Bank does not adequately take into account the institutional realities within ivhich the implementing agency is presently operating.

Recommendations

Further integration of environment and social considerations through the IDS should be done. The environment and social sections of the IDS should also have action plans with timelines for implemen-

Institutionalizing Management of Environment & Social Issues in the Project Implementing Agency 93

tation. The EMPs and RAP are project-specific o r sometimes even corridor-specific. These are not action plans that are institution-oriented and hence limited to that extent. Such action plans for adopting a uniform approach on these issues over a period of time are required to be annexed to the IDS. In addition, there has to be a much closer linkage and integration between the institutional arrangements and plans specified in the EMPs and RAP, and the IDS. A framework for drawing lessons from implementing the EMPs and RAP for the IDS should also be in place.

The project preparation phase should also include a realistic approach for replication of environment and social management practices. Recognizing that repli-

cation will not happen by itself, an outline of how the implementing agency will replicate the experience across non-Bank projects has to be worked out. In developing a realistic approach, the existing institutional arrangements should be taken into account.

Prior to suggesting the institutional arrangements that will be included in the EMP and RAP, an organizational needs analysis should be undertaken. In this needs analysis, the strengths and weaknesses should be determined. Using these outputs and taking into account the need to replicate the good practices from the Bank project, the IDS and the action plan should be formulated.


Note 17

This disseminarion note documents the findings of a review andsuggests ways and means of berter mainstreaming environmenr and social considerations in the project cycle.

The Bank project cycle involves project identification, preparation, appraisal, negotiations, approval, implementation/supervision and completion. As per the Bank procedures, environment and social considerations need to be incorporated in each stage. There are stages such as the project concept note/document (PCN/PCD) and project appraisal document (PAD) established to ensure that environment and social safeguards are incorporated in the project cycles.

Findings

Environment and social considerations are better mainstreamed in the project cycle in recent years. The project cycle stages, which traditionally incorporated environment and social considerations, are the preparation, appraisal and negotiation stages. These are the distinct stages, where the mainstreaming is done. Nonetheless, the extent of mainstreaming varies from project to project, depending on the time and resources available to complete these stages. When projects were fast tracked, effective mainstreaming of Environmental Assessment (EA) and Social Impact

tify the relevant issues, and to start a dialogue with some of the project-affected-persons (PAPS) during the identification stage of the project. Most of these initiatives were undertaken through field reconnaissance. However, as the project cycle usually moves very fast between identification and preparation, mainstreaming in this stage remains problematic.

Projects have also shown inabi l i ty t o sustain mainstreaming of environment and social considerations during the later part of supervision, and the completion stages. Although project completion reports (PCR) are completed, the background works are more often than not incomplete. N o project to date has tried an evaluation of anticipated/unanticipated environment impacts, or an evaluation of the Envi- ronmental Management Plan (EMP) or the way it is implemented. Lately, the SASES is stressing on the quality of the monitoring reports, and independent evaluation studies. Once these improve substantially, the obstacles to effective mainstreaming during both supervision and completion would be removed.

Assessment (SIR) processes appear to be more diffi- Processes for mainstreaming environment and so- cult. Over the last few years, there is considerable cial considerations are inefficient in similarly struc- increase in the efforts and outputs from mainstreaming tured projects or projects involving the same imple- environment and social considerations during imple- agency. The Bank very often considers fol- mentation. The supervision inputs and efficiency have low-on projects for lending. Technical assistance loans also been enhanced. are built in projects to prepare follow-up projects.

At the two ends of the project cycle, i.e. at the identification and the completion stages, mainstreaming environment and social considerations remained weak. Very recently, in the new genre road projects, enhanced efforts are being made by the Bank's South Asia Environment & Social Unit (SASES) to iden-

- - - . During project implementation, the preparation of follow-on projects is not in focus, and the supervision missions rarely spend time on this. The other scenario is that the identification of a follow-on project is often fast tracked, once a project is performing well, giving little opportunity to the SASES to prepare the ground for effective mainstreaming of environment

ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT & THE PROJECT CYCLE - THE CURRENT STATUS

Analysis of Alternatives Impact Assessement MitigationlManagement Measures

Environmental Screening Environment Management Plan

Stakeholder Consultations & Environmental Scoping

Helping with TOR

Early Scoping & inputs to PCD

Project Preparation

Feasibility Studies

lncorporate improvement & Mitigation Measures in

the Project

Review EA & EMP

Review Institutional Arrangements

@ PreFeasibility \

Detailed Reconnaissance Studies Design h Q Q c ~ ~ a '

Clearance by RED ICR

Post Audit by OED Negotiation

Preparation of ICR on Environmental lssues

Evaluation of Environmental Impacts & ENEMP

Supervision Incorporate Environmental Covenants into

Agreements

Project Implementation

lncorporate Environmental Covenants into Conditions of

Disbursements

Remediation of Unforeseen Effects Implementation of EMP

Monitoring & Reportin on Compliance Monitoring Effectiveness with ~nvironmentj Conditions of Mitigation Measures

Supervision & Compliance Monitoring of the lmplementation of EMP

and social considerations.

Legacy of earlier projects is also an issue. While earlier projects had not received adequate environment and social scrutiny, attempts to better (or adequate) mainstreaming are regarded by the implementing agencies as "raising the bars". These have not been effectively addressed to date. Similar issues also exist between similarly structured projects as preparation efforts are focused on only one project.

Early identification of relevant environment and social issues has to be improved. In some projects, issues come up throughout preparation and implementation. Although this is mostly due to weak consulting capacity and other consultancy constraints, the lack of adequate emphasis or focus of SASES efforts could also be the reason. Issues such as impacts on

natural habitats, biodiversity, effects of industrial effluent and rights of traditional built-up settlements, have been emphasized late in the project preparation stage, or only during supervision. Delay in identifying some such issues have resulted in requiring substantial additional efforts, both for the Bank and the implementing agencies at a later date.

Recommendations

Environment and social considerations should be enhanced in the project cycle by using the outputs of supervision and evaluation. The current initiatives of SASES, such as the development and use of supervision protocols, towards enhanced supervision of the projects should be continued and strengthened. The environment and social supervision protocols should be tested in the current projects under implementa-


tion, and revised depending on the supervision results. Presently, the mainstreaming at the identification and the completion stages will need to be focused, and resolved through the early identification of issues, and evaluation studies described earlier.

An information system should be developed for early identification of relevant environment and social issues in a project. Wherever opportunities exist, SASES has started devoting more efforts in early identification of relevant issues, including site reconnaissance. However, as highway projects are typically spread over a large geographical area, this always needs to be supplemented by data from other sources. As of to- day, there is no readymade comprehensive environment or social resource map that will serve the purpose. Therefore, SASES needs to have an information system of its own. This could be developed using the information available from the current and earlier projects, supplemented with disaggregated information from other available sources. Alternatively, early in the identification stage, short investigations need to be instituted by SASES to understand the context of the projects, and the environment and social characteristics of the project's area of influence.

Whenever there are follow-on projects or projects of a similar structure, there is a need to carry out strategic assessments. Whenever follow-on projects are expected, the implementing agencies tend to believe that the environment and social management framework of the earlier project would suffice. The issues are believed to be identical, further investigations on issues are dismissed as trivial, minor or mod- erate. The follow-on project is considered in isola- tion, and the cumulative impacts of two projects together are seldom considered. Also, the follow-on projects do not necessarily stress on additional capacity building that will be required within the

project implementing agency.

A regular examination of the tentative project pipeline in the highways sector should identify the possibilities of follow-on projects with the same implementing agency. Depending on the size of the follow-on projects, a strategic EA needs to establish the framework within whith the outstanding issues will be identified and resolved. An appropriate TOR for such strategic EA will need to be prepared.

Efforts to improve monitoring and evaluation should continue. There has been substantial improvement in the content and timing of the environment and social monitoring in the projects currently under implementation. Much of this improvement has been due to SASES insistence during supervision. The ca- - - pacity of the supervision consultants has improved but is still not adequate. The more important lack of monitoring capacity is at the PILI level, which should be strengthened through better implementation of the training programmes. For social impact monitoring, responsibilities vary from project to project, and sometimes more than one agency is involved. When the - .

NGOs and independent monitoring consultants are both responsible for RAP progress monitoring, there are reported conflicts. It is important to streamline the social impact monitoring responsibilities. Further, compliance monitoring, both in terms of EMP and RAP are weak, and will need to be strengthened. Social impacts and their mitigation are usually subject to an evaluation study, but similar evaluation of the project's environment management actions had not been taken up yet. It is important to use the opportunities of mid-term and completion-time evaluation to understand whether all relevant issues had been identified in time, and what would be the cost of delay in such identification.

Mainstreaming of Environment & Social Considerations in the Project Cycle 97

Note 18 Part 1A

1. Environment Assessment (EA) process is a decision-making tool to ensure that the project design and implementation are environmentally sound and sustainable. During the preparation phase, the objective of the EA is to provide inputs to the feasibility study as also the preliminary and detailed design of the project. During the implementation phase, environmental management plans (developed as a part of the EA during the preparation phase) serve as a framework for executing the mitigation, enhancement and monitoring measures.

2. In the preparation phase, the EA shall achieve the following objectives:

o Establish the environmental baseline in the study area, and to identify any significant environmental issue;

o Assess these impacts and provide for measures to address the adverse impacts by the provision of the requisite avoidance, mitigation and compensation measures;

o Integrate the environmental issues in the project planning and design;

Develop appropriate management plans for implementing, monitoring and reporting of the environmental mitigation and enhancement measures suggested.

3. The environmental assessment studies and reporting requirements to be undertaken under these TOR must conform to the Government of India (GoI) and the Bank guidelines and regu-

lations, which comprise of, inter alia: The En- vironmental Impact Assessment Notification, Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF), 1994 with subsequent amendments; Environ- mental Guidelines for Rail/Road/Highway Projects, MoEF, 1989; the operational policies, guidelines and the reference materials of the World Bank listed in Annex I.

4. The EA comprises the following stages - environmental screening, project EA and the Envi- ronmental Management Plans (EMPs). The following sections give the detailed scope of work in each of these stages.

5. (Include description of the project; covering geographical location, road length speczbing start and end chainnges, type of development envisaged including a description of upgrading/widening and/or maintenance treatments. Also include current status of the project. Provide brief inform ation on any other study - already completed/ongoing/proposed.)

Inception

6. The consultants shall use the inception period to familiarize with the project details. The consultants shall recognize that the remaining aspects of the project, such as engineering and social, are being studied in parallel, and it is important for these aspects to be incorporated. The consultants should also recognize that due care and diligence planned during the inception stage helps in improving the timing and quality of the EA reports.

Figurel: Typical Interfaces among the Environmental Assessment, Social Assessment & the Overall (Engineering) Project Preparation

During the inception period the consultants shall (a) study the project information to appreciate the context within which the EA should be carried out, (b) identify the sources of secondary information on the project, on similar projects and on the project area, (c) select sample corridors based on simple criteria and carry out a reconnaissance survey, and (d) undertake pre l iminary consul tat ions wi th selected 9.

stakeholders.

8. Following the site visits and stakeholder consultations, as well as a review of the conditions of contract between the consultant and the Cli- ent, the consultant shall analyze the adequacy

SOCIAL ASSESSMENT

of the allocated manpower, time and budgets and shall clearly bring out major/minor deviations, if any. The consultants shall study the various available surveys, techniques, models and software in order to determine what would be the most appropriate in the context of this project.

ENGINEERING STUDlESiDESlGN ENVIRONMENT ASSESSMENT

The consultants shall interact with the engineering ~ n d social consultants to determine how the EA work fits into the overall project preparation/ project cycle; how overlapping areas are to be jointly addressed; and to appropriately plan the timing of the deliverables of the EA process. These shall be succinctly documented in

REMARKS

Model Terms of Reference for Environment Assessment 99

Environmental CostslBenefits to

be finalized before the

Feasibility Report

Feasibility Report to contain a Summary

Table indicating how environmental

OUTPUTS INTERFACES: INPUT OUTPUTS INTERFACES: INPUT OUTPUTS

joint Site Visits, Agreed Work Plan & joint Site Visits, Agreed Work Plan & Schedule of Schedule of Delivery of Outputs; Delivery of Outputs Brainstorming, Discussion with Branstorming, Discussion with Client & Other

Client & Other Stakeholders Stakeholders

INCEPTION REPORT I INCEPTION REPORT ----.----------------------

Baseline Surveys, Inputs to VEC Analysis, Inputs to Strip Maps

I Findings from

StakeholderlCommunity Consultation Environmental

Cost & benefits, Analysis of Alternatives,

Other Environmental Issues to be Considered

INCEPTION REPORT -----------..---.-~-...............----------...------------.------------------------------------.

Location References,

Alignment Map

Alternative Preliminary Design

Proposals

REPORT 1 1 SCREENING REPORT REPORT incorporated

SOCIAL SCREENING ENVIRONMENTAL

Consultation

Social impacts RESETTLEMENT ACTION PLAN environmental

measures

outputs

Environmental Specific Design Suggestions, Impacts of Specific Relevant Mitigation

Resettlement Measures Measures

ENVIRONMENTAL

.............................................................................

Environmental Management

Measures, Input to ContractIBidding

on Residual Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Preliminary Design & Specifications

~ - - . . . - - . . - - - - . - - Final Design: Any Design

Change

Both Preliminary and Detailed

Project Reports to contain

Summary Tables indicating how

recommendations from EA

Consultants have been incorporated, and what actions

are proposed where any such

recommendation is not incorporated.

the Inception Report.

ENVIRONMENT SCREENING 10. General: Environment screening is done in the

early stages of the project preparation to make a preliminary assessment/review of the envi-

fied, and studies in relation to the proposed scope of the project. Typically, these will include stretches of roadside trees; environmental and common property resources such as forests, large water bodies; and major physical cultural properties. All these may be depicted us- ine a line diaeram o r a s t r i ~ maD.

ronment Issues that are relevant to the proposed " u I I

project, and to make the project environmentally sound and sustainable. It determines the appropriate extent and type of project EA to undertake, provides information/input that are required for assessing technical, economic and financial feasibility of the project, and recom- mends possible modifications in the preliminary project design. The consultants shall carry out environmental screening as per the work plan and methods described in the Inception Report, and in consideration of the comments of the Client and the Bank on the same. The consultants shall keep in mind the particular requirements of the project, especially the needs of the overall feasibility studies in carrying out the screening. The environmental surveys have to be co-ordinated with the social and engineering surveys, as far as practical.

1 1 . Surveys: The consultants shall collect information on the existing environment scenario from secondary sources, and identify gaps to be filled, relevant to the environmental screening needs from primary surveys. Primary surveys shall include baseline (air, water and noise) pollution monitoring at representative and sensitive locations, and identification of all macro-level environmental issues within the project's influence area. The consultants shall extensively use the video records of the project road (carried out as part of the engineering surveys).

12. The consultants shall survey the environmentally sensitive locations on and along the project road, as well as within the project's influence area. All regionally or nationally recognized environmental resources and features within the project's influence area shall be clearly identi-

13. Stakeholder assessment & consultation: The consultants shall carry out consultations with communities that are likely t o be affected, NGOs, selected government agencies and other stakeholders to (a) collect baseline information, (b) obtain a better understanding of the potential impacts and (c) appreciate the perspectives/ concerns of the stakeholders. Consultations shall be preceded by a systematic stakeholder analysis, which would (a) identify the individual or stakeholder groups relevant to the project and to environmental issues, (b) include expert opinion and inputs, and (c) determine the nature and scope of consultation with each type of stakeholders, (d) determine the tools to be used in contacting and consulting each type of the relevant stakeholders. Consultation with the stakeholders shall not be treated as a session to disseminate project information, but be used to improve the plan and design of the project.

14. Identification of the Valued Environment Com- ponents (VECs): The consultants shall determine the VECs considering the baseline information (from both secondary and primary sources), the preliminary understanding of the activities proposed in the project and, most importantly, the stakeholder consultations."

15. Preliminary analysis of impacts and management measures: The consultants shall conduct a preliminary analysis of the nature, scale and magnitude of the impacts that the project is likely to cause on the environment, especially on the identified VECs, and classify the same using established methods. For the negative impacts identified, alternative mitigation/manage-

';-VEC is defined ~r sorid or bioyhysicd component of an environment nhich is of "due (for any reson) 111 a project influence xed - for funher derails see The World Bank, R o ~ d s and Environrnent, AHandbook (World B.mk Technicd Paper No. 376), aC'.lsh~ngton DC, 1997 (py 25).


ment options shall be examined, and the most appropriate ones suggested. For the positive measures identified, alternative and preferred enhancement rneasures shall be proposed.

16. Scoping: This shall be a direct outcome from the environmental screening. The consultants shall define boundaries of the project EA after a careful consideration of the baseline scenario, likely impacts on the identified VECs, and the proposed mitigation and enhancement measures. The scoping shall include that which will be covered in the project EA along with the "how, when and where" of each activity recommended. It shall include '1 listing of other environment - issues that do not deserve a detailed examination in the project EA (covering induced impacts that may be outside the purview of the client) along with a justification. The scoping needs to identify and describe the specific deviations or inclusions vis-i-vis the original TOR, if any, along with a justification; modify the TOR for the project EA, if required; and recommend studies that need to be conducted in parallel but are outside the purview of the EA proc- es5.

17. Environmental inputs to feasibility study & preliminary project design: The EA consult- dnts shall make location-specific design recommendations, wherever possible o r required, related to dlignment (major/minor shifts or bypasses or altogether different route alternative), road cross-sections, construction material use, and mitigation and enhancement measures. The EA consultants shall consult with the engineering consultants and familiarize themselves with the project's overall feasibility analy5es models, so that the EA inputs are in conformity with the needs of the overall feasibility study (for all the different alternative improvement proposals under consideration).

18. In the cases of very significant environmental losses o r benefits, the consultants shall estimate the economic/financial costs of environment damage and the economic/financial benefits the project is likely to cause. In the cases, the im-

pacts or benefits are not too significant, qualitd- tive methods could be used. In addition, wherever economic and financial costs of the environmental impacts cannot be satisfactorily estimated, or in the cases of significant irreversible environmental impacts, the consultants shall rtvake recommendations to avoid generating such irnpacts.

19. The consultants shall prepare an Environmen- tal Screening Report. The report will be revised in consideration of the comments of the client and the World Bank.

20. General: Project EA is the stage when the detailed assessments are done. This includes carrying out the detailed EA and preparing various reports that include the detailed EA report and environment management plans (EMPs). The consultants shall carry out the project EA based on the revised TOR for the project EA (which was an outcome of scoping described earlier). The work plans and methods employed shall be as per those described in the Inception Report and/ o r as agreed during the environmental screening stage. It is recommended that the environmental surveys be co-ordinated with the social and engineering surveys, as far as practical.

21. Baseline Surveys: The consultants will (a) collect information from secondary sources that are relevant to understanding the baseline, as well as the design of mitigation and enhancement measures, as pertaining to physical, biological and socio-cultural environments; (b) carry out site visits and investigations of all the environmentally sensitive locations (based on the inventory of valued eco-system components) and document them on the base [naps to identify conflic~ points with preliminary designs (including verification of these frorn authentic sources of information, such as frorn the revenue and forest records); and (c) prepare detailed specific maps showing details of candidate sites for environmental enhancements.

22. All surveys shall be carried out in compliance

Model Terms of Reference for Environment Assessment 10 1

with the Go1 standards/guidelines/norms. Wherever such guidelines/norms are not available, the techniques, tools and samples employed for the surveys shall conform to international practice. Whenever directly relevant secondary data is available, these should be used, while indirectly relevant data should be verified through primary survey. Environmental quality monitoring (air, water and noise) shall include an adequate number of samples, as established on a sampling network, so as to provide a representative sample of the entire project corridor (in addition to the samples collected during environmental screening). Additional sample data for sensitive environmental/ecological receptors, if any, shall be collected such as to analyze and predict the possible impacts to a degree and precision of acceptable professional standards. Further, additional specialized surveys, such as biodiversity assessment survey, and hydrological surveys shall be conducted, if and when recommended by environmental scoping described earlier.

23. The consultants shall also collect information on the various prevailing environmental and forest laws/regulations so as to carry out the project EA in conformity to these.

24. Stakeholder consultation: The consultants shall undertake community consultation sessions at the state, district, village and roadside community levels, as per the consultation plan prepared during the environmental screening stage. Con- sultations should be carried out with all relevant stakeholders identified through stakeholder - analysis. The objective of the consultation sessions shall be to improve the project's interventions with regard to environmental management. Two rounds of consultations shall be carried out - the first to seek views from the stakeholders on the environmental issues and the ways these could be resolved, and the second to provide feedback to the stakeholders that their views have been taken considered the project (when the EMPs are nearly complete). Further, the residual feedbacks received shall be analyzed, and the consultants shall determine

how these can be addressed in the final EMP and in the project designs. The consultants shall co-ordinate the entire consultation program with the social and the engineering consultants.

25. Environmental analysis of alternatives: As the overall highway alignments are final at this stage, the environmental analysis of alternatives shall focus on bypasses (including alignment), cross-sections, materials and sources of materials from an environment management perspective. This analysis shall also cover comparisons in relation to siting, design, technology selection, construction techniques and phasing, and operating and maintenance procedures.

26. Impact prediction and management: The consultants shall determine the potential impacts due to the project through identification, analysis and evaluation on sensitive areas (natural habitats; sites of historic, cultural and conservation importance), urban settlements and villages/agricultural areas or any other identified VEC. T o distinguish between significant positive and negative impacts, direct and indirect impacts, immediate and long-term impacts, and unavoidable or irreversible impacts.

27. For each impact predicted as above, feasible and cost effective mitigation measures shall be identified to reduce potentially significant adverse environmental impacts to acceptable levels. The capital and recurrent costs of the measures, and institutional, training and monitoring requirements to effectively implement these measures shall be determined. The consultants shall explore and recommend different environmental enhancements including roadside landscaping, separation of non-motorized lanes in an aesthetically appealing manner, provision of pilgrimage pathways, and development of cultural properties or improving access along the corridor. At this stage, it would be important to identify the need for further environmental studies for issues that cannot be dealt with during the project preparation stage, but should be undertaken during project implementation.


28. Institutional Arrangement to Manage Environ- ment Impacts Effectively: The consultants shall identify institutional/organizational needs to implement the recommendations of the project EA and to propose steps to strengthen or expand, if required. This may extend to new agency functions, inter-sectoral arrangetnents, managetnent procedures and training, staffing, operation and maintenance, training and budgeting.

29. Other Assistance to the Client: The consultants shall support the Client to furnish any relevant information required for obtaining clearance from various state and central government agencies. This may include (a) assisting the client in the submission of application for the Clearance of Reserved or Protected Forests to the Forest Departments; (b) completion of forms and submission of the same for obtaining No- objection Certificates (NoC) under the Water and Air Acts from the State Pollution Control Boards; (c) cotnpletion and submission of the MoEF questionnaire for Environmental Ap- praisal for the project; (d) assistance in presentation to the Wildlife Board of the MoEF in obtaining clearance for the section of the corridor passing through the Wildlife Reserves or Sanctuaries or other protected areas, if any; (e) assistance in submission for any other clearance requirements with respect to the environmental components relevant to the project.

be prepared to fulfil all requirements of the GoI, and at the minimum meet the requirements of World Bank O P 4.01. The EMP shall, among others, include a list of design modifications recommended by the project EA, along with the chainage. The report will be revised after consideration of the comtnents of the Client and the World Bank.

32. Environmental mitigation and enhancement measures: Recommend feasible and cost-effective tneasures to prevent or reduce significant negative itnpacts to acceptable levels. Apart from mitigation of the potential adverse impacts on the environtnental components, the EMP shall identify opportunities that exist for the enhancement of the environmental quality along the corridor. This shall include the enhancement of specific locations as water bodies, enhancement of scenic areas along the corridor. Residual impacts from the environmental measures shall also be clearly identified. The EMP shall include specific or sample plans, such as for management and re =developtnent of quarries, borrow areas and construction camps. The EMP shall include detailed specification, bill of quantities, execution drawings and contracting procedures for execution of the environmental mitigation and enhancement measures suggested, separate for pre- construction, construction and operation periods. In addition, the EMP shall include a guide to good practices related to construction and upkeep of plant and machinery. Responsibili-

30. The consultants shall discuss and co-ordinate ties for execution and supervision of each of the with the engineering and social consultants, the

mitigation and enhancement measures shall be findings and recomtnendations of the project EA specified in the EMP. A plan for continued con- in a continuous manner. The consultants shall

sultation to be conducted during implementa- prepare an Environmental Assessment Report.

tion stage of the project, shall also be appended. The report will be revised after consideration of the comments of the Client and the World Bank.

31. Based on the environmental impacts predicted, EMPs, separate for each of llle construction contract packages, shall be prepared in such a manner that these are atnenable to incorporation in the bidding/contract docutnents. The EMP shall

33. Capacity building & training: The EMPs shall describe the implementation arrangement needed for the project, especially the capacity- building proposals, including the staffing of the environment unit (as and when recommended) adequate to implement the environmental mitigation and enhancement measures. For each staff position recommended, detailed job responsibilities shall be defined. Equipment and


resources required for the environment unit shall be specified, and bill of quantities prepared. A training plan and schedule shall be prepared specifying the target groups for individual training program, the content and mode of training. Training plans shall normally be made for the client agency (including the environmental unit), the supervision consultants and the contractors.

34. Supervision & Monitoring: The EMP shall specify the environmental supervision, monitoring and auditing requirements. The monitoring programme shall specify parameters, reference standards, moni tor ing methods, frequency, duration, location, reporting responsibilities, and what other inputs (e.g., training) are necessary. In addition, the program will specify what action should be taken and by whom in the event that the proposed mitigation measures fail, either partially o r totally, to achieve the level of environmental protection expected.

35. The EMP shall list all mandatory government clearance conditions, and the status of procur- ing clearances. Additionally, the EMPs shall include as separate attachments, if applicable, Natural Habitat Plan and/or Cultural Proper- ties Plan to satisfy the requirements of the World Bank safeguard policies.

36.The consultants are to provide support and assistance to the client in meeting the disclosure - requirements, which at the minimum shall meet the World Bank's policy o n public disclosure. The consultants will prepare a plan for in-coun- t ry disclosure, specifying the timing and locations; translate the key documents, such as the EA Summary in local language; draft the newspaper announcements for disclosure; and help the client to place all the EA reports in the client's website.

37. The consultants shall prepare a non-technical EA Summary Report for public disclosure.

38. The consultants shall conduct training for the client at various levels. This is to ensure that the knowledge, skills and perspectives gained by the consultants is transferred to the client so that these can be utilized effectively during project implementation. Here again, the training should be focused on the EMPs covering both central and field offices.

39. The consultants shall develop a plan for training the client's staff. This plan should specify the types of training, the participants for each training type, the number of sessions required, the duration of each session and when it should be conducted. A t the end of the training, when the EMPs are ready, brief reports shall be prepared on the training conducted and observations relevant for future training, if any.

40. The consultants, with assistance from the client, shall establish a strong co-ordination mechanism with the other project-preparation consultants - engineering, social and/or institutional development. T h e consultants shall keep in mind the specific requirements of the project in general, and the engineering/design studies in particular, and plan their outputs accordingly. See Figure 1 for a generic inter-linkage among the engineering, social and environmental consultants' activities and output. The consultants shall detail out in the Inception Report, how the required inputs would b e provided to the other consultants in a timely manner.

41. It is recommended that some of the consultation sessions may be organized in co-ordination with the social and engineering consultants, as feasible, and when the stakeholders consulted are the same.

42. The consultants shall make formal presentations, co-ordinated by the Client, at key mile-


stones on the (a) proposed work plan after sub- should be widely recognised or accepted. Any mitting the Inception Report; (b) recommen- new niodel or tool or software employed should dations from the environmental screening; and be field-tested before use for the purpose of this (c) details of EMP and design recommendations. EA. The consultants shall co-ordinate with the en-

46. All supporting information gathered by the con- gineering, social and/or institutional develop-

sultant in undertaking these terms of reference ment consultants at each of these fortnal pres- would be made available to the client.

entations.

47. The consultant is expected to provide the fol- 43. The consultants Are free to employ resources as

they see fit. Time is of essence for the study, lowing outputs, as per the schedule given in

which shall be closely co-ordinated with the Table 2. The consultants 'Ire expected to allo- . . .

cate resources, such as for surveys, keep~ng this works of the engineering and social teams, simultaneously involved in preparation of the output schedule in mind. (Modify based on the

project. Table 1 gives an indicative allocation number specified in, and schedule of outputs of

of manpower for the study. (Modify, as required the Engineering TOR).

given the context of the project.)

Table 1. Position Indicative Considered

Person-month in Bid Evaluation

Team Leader, Environment Management Specialist 06 YES Two Environment Specialists (middle level) 12

Environmental Consultation Specialist 03 YES

Cultural Proo~rtv Conservation Suecialist 03 YES 8 , 1 Horticulture/ Landscape Special~st 02 YES . .

Local and Area Level Drainage Specialist, if required 01

Occuuational Health arid Safetv Suecialist 0 1 , , I Terrestrial Ecologist, if required 02

44. Additional expertise, such as on hill ecology o r other, shall be provided as demanded by the context of the project. The consultants are encouraged to visit the project area and familiarise themselves, at their own cost, before submitting the proposal; and propose an adequate number and skill-set for the senior specialists and technical support staff for this assigntnent. Further, the consultant will allocate adequate number of field surveyors, distinct from the technical support staff, to complete the study in titne. (See Annex I1 for the qualifications expected for the key professionals.)

45. The consultants shall provide for all tools, models, software, hardware and supplies, as required to complete the assignment satisfactorily. These

48. (The client can provide office space as necessary. The client will provide no other logistic support - Modify as deemed fit in the context of the project and the client.) It is expected that the client and the field offices will provide all ready and available information as requested by the consultant. Further, the client will provide all necessary and reasonable support to the consultant to collect secondary data, such as issuing authorization letters. The consultant will be responsible for any translation of documents and for processing of data. The clients will designate an officer to act as the main liaison officer and participate as much as possible in the study.


Table 2. Item No Uuedate

(1) Inception Report 6 1 month from Start Date

(2) Presentation to Client on Proposed Work Plan 1 1 month from Start Date (3) Draft Environmental Screening Report 3 4 months from Start Date (4) Presentation to the Client: Recommendations from Environmental Screening 1 4 months from Start Date (5) Final Environmental Screening Report 6 5 rnoriths from Start Date (6) Draft Project EA Report 3 7 months from Start Date (7) Draft EMPs 3 9 months from Start Date (8) Presentation to the Client: Details of the EMPs; Design Recomrne~idations 1 9 months frorn Start Date

(9) Final Reports (6) and (7) 6 10 months from Start Date (1 0) Draft MoUs between Client and Other Relevant Participating Line Agencies; 1 10 months from Start Date Draft Documents for Public Disclosure; Assistance to Client for E~ivironment Clearance Application Forms, and any other outputs as required for satisfactory completion of this assignment.

Note: A l l the reports w i l l also be submitted i n soft copies, and draft and iinal reports (specifically items 5, 9 and 10) along with all the supporting documerlts, w i l l be submitted in compact disks.

r f h e client m a y designnte/depute n t eam of the formal presentations from all consultants professionnls to work within the consultnnts' ten)rzfir long- engaged in project preparation. term capncity building within the client's orgnnizntion.)

50. The client will provide a separate guidance note 49.The client will ensure the timely flow of infor- on the suggested contents of the Environment

mation and documents from one consultant t o Screening, Project EA, EMP and Summary EA other. The client will also help in organizing Reports.

1 0 6 Management of Environment and Social Issues in Highway Projects in India

OP/BP 4.01 Environmental Assessment

OP/BP 4.02 Environmental Action Plans

OP/BP 4.04 Natural Habitats

O P 4.09 Pest Management

O P 4.11 Cultural Property

OP/BP 4.12 Involuntary Settlement

OP/BP 4.20 Indigenous Peoples

OP/BP 4.36 Forestry

OP/BP 4.37 Safety of Dams

OP/BP 7.50 Projects on International Waterways

OP/BP 7.60 Projects in Disputed Areas

BP 17.50 Disclosure of Operational Information

O P - Operational Policies BI-' - Bank Practices GP - Good Practices OD - Operational Directives /Guidelines

Other Reference Material

The World Bank, Environment Department, Environment Assessment Sourcebook, Vol. I - I11 (World Bank Technical Papers No. 139, 140 and 154), Washington D C , 1991; and its updates. (Refer www.wor1dbank.org).

The World Bank, Roads and Environment, A Handbook (World Bank Technical Paper No. 376), Wash- ington DC, 1997.

The experience and C.V. of the following key profes- patory monitoring and rapid rural appraisals. sionals will be evaluated. (Modifj and add as needed.)

1. Team Leader, Environment Management Spe- cialist. The person should have Masters degree or equivalent in environmental science or in related other disciplines with minimum 10 years of experience of which at least 5 years on environmental impact assessment of development projects. Related experiences of at least 2 years in developed countries, and at least 2 highway projects are essential. The candidate rrlust have full knowledge of the World Bank's guidelines, procedures and operational policies/directives. Experience of working as environmental expert in at least two World Bank o r multilateral funded projects is required. The candidate must have the experience of preparing environmental management plans and supervising and monitoring implementation of the plans.

Environmental Consultation Specialist. The person should have Masters degree or equivalent in environmental science or in related other disciplines with minimum 10 years of experience of which at least 5 years on community based environmental actions and community consultations. Related experiences of at least 2 highway projects are essential. The candidate must have full knowledge of the World Bank's guidelines, procedures and operational policies/ directives. Experience of working as community consultation expert in at least two World Bank funded projects is required. The candidate must have experience in participatory design, partici-

3 . Cultural Property Conservation Specialist. The person should have Masters degree o r equivalent in architectural conservation or in related other disciplines with minirrlum 10 years of experience. Related experiences of at least 2 highway projects, and 2 landscape development projects are essential. The candidate must have full knowledge of the World Bank's guidelines, procedures and operational policies/directives. The candidate must have experience in physical and topographic surveys, participatory monitoring and community consultations.

4. Horticulture/ Landscape Specialist. The person should have Masters degree or equivalent in horticulture, arboriculture or botany with minimum 10 years of experience of which at least 5 years on community forestry and landscape development program. Related experiences of at least 2 highway projects, and 2 landscape development projects are essential. The candidate must have full knowledge of the World Bank's guidelines, procedures and operational policies/directives. The candidate must have experience in implementation and monitoring of the roadside plantation and other environmental enhancement schemes.

(Add qurlllficrltionsforany otj~er keyprofessionnl as per t t ~ e context of the project, and rls per requirement of the project consultrlnt.)

Note 18 Part 1 B

1. Environment Assessment (EA) is a decision- support mechanism to ensure that the project design and implementation are environmentally sound and sustainable. During the preparation phase, the objective of the EA is to provide inputs to the selection of sub-projects, feasibility study; preliminary and detailed design as well as assist development of a holistic development of the project package. During the implementation phase, environmental management plans (developed as a part of the EA during the preparation phase) are used for executing the environmental mitigation, enhancement and monitoring measures.

2. In the preparation phase, the EA shall achieve the following objectives:

Identify and analyze upstream environmental issues that affect the entire development package;

Establish the environmental baseline in the study area, and to identify any significant environmental issue;

Assess impacts of the project, and provide for measures to address the adverse impacts by the provision of the requisite avoidance, mitigation and compensation measures;

Integrate the environmental issues in the project planning and design; and

Develop appropriate management plans for

implementing, monitoring and reporting of the environmental mitigation and enhancement measures suggested.

3 . The environmental assessment studies and reporting requirements to be undertaken under these TOR must conform to the GO1 and the Bank guidelines and regulations, which comprise of, inter alia: The Environmental Impact Assessment Notification, MOEF, 1994 with subsequent amendments; Environmental Guidelines for Rail/Road/Highway Projects, MOEF, 1989; the operational policies, guidelines and the reference materials of the World Bank listed in Annex I.

4. (Include description of the project; covering geographical location, road length specifjingstart and end chainages, type ofdevelopment envisaged including a description of upgrading/widening and/or maintenance treatments. Also include current status of the project. Provide brief information on any other study -already completed/ongoing/proposed.)

5. The EA comprises the following 3 components - (i) environmental management framework (EMF) for the entire project; (ii) environmental assessments (EA) for the individual road sub- projects, as required; and (c) environmental management plans (EMPs) for these individual sub-projects. The following section gives the detailed scope of work in each of these stages.

Inception sive of all phases of the project); shall identify

6 . The Consultants shall use the inception period to familiarize with the project details. The Con- sultants shall recognize that the remaining aspects of the project, such as engineering and social, are being studied in parallel, and it is important for all these aspects to be integrated into the final project design to facilitate their successful implementation. The Consultants should also recognize that due care and diligence planned during the inception stage helps in improving the timing and quality of the EA reports.

7. During the inception period the Consultants shall (a) study the project information to appreciate the context within which the EA should be carried-out, (b) identify the sources of secondary information on the project, on similar projects and on the project area, (c) carry out a reconnaissance survey on a few sample road corridors, and (d) undertake preliminary consultations with selected stakeholders.

8. Following the site visits and stakeholder consultations, as well as a review of the conditions of contract between the consultant and the Cli- ent, the consultant shall analyse the adequacy of the allocated manpower, time and budgets and shall clearly bring out deviations, if any. The Consultants shall study the various available surveys, techniques, models and software in order to determine what would be the most appropriate in the context of this project.

9. The Consultants shall interact with the engineering and social consultants to determine how the EA work fits into the overall project preparation cycle; how overlapping areas are to be jointly addressed; and to appropriately plan the timing of the deliverables of the EA process. These shall be succinctly documented in the Inception Report.

ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT FRAME- WORK (EMF)

10. The EMF will cover the entire project (inclu-

all potential environmental issues in the project; and shall develop a management framework for addressing all these issues. To this end, the EMF shall consist of (i) overall environmental baseline; (ii) identified macro/regional level environmental issues that would need to be considered in the analysis of alternatives, planning and design of the sub-projects; (iii) a plan to address the identified macro/regional environmental is- - sues; (iv) sub-project level environmental screening procedures, including exclusion criteria, if any; (v) procedure for environmental scoping; (vi) a framework to address environmental issues in the project, including procedures for undertaking detailed or limited EA for each sub- project in Phase-I1 or in later phases; (vii) generic EMP for addressing known, common, or usual environmental impacts in the project; (viii) a plan for building adequate environmental management capacity in the implementing agency (or Client). Each of these is described below.

1 1. Overall Environmental Baseline: All regionttlly or ntttionttlly recognised environmental resources and features within the project's influence area shall be clearly identified, and studied in relation to activities proposed under the project. These will include all protected areas (national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, reserved forests, RAMSAR sites, biosphere reserves, wilderness zones), unprotected and community forests and forest patches, wetlands of local/regional importance not yet notified, rivers, rivulets and other surface water bodies. In the context of xxxxxx(add and remove locations from the indicative list that follows), sensitive environmental features will include wildlife corridors, biodiversity hotspots, meandering rivers, flood- prone areas, areas of severe landslide and river erosion, flood embankments (some of which are also used as roads). Consultants shall consolidate all these information in a map of adequate scale (1:250,000 minimum), superimposed with the state's roads network.

12. Stakeholder Identification & Consultation: Consultation with the stakeholders shall be used

1 10 Management of Environment and Social Issues in Highway Projects in India

t o improve the plan and design of the project rather than as project information dissemination sessions. The consultants shall carry out consultations with Experts, NGOs, selected Government Agencies and other stakeholders to (a) collect baseline information, (b) obtain a better understanding of the potential impacts and (c) appreciate the perspectives/concerns of the stakeholders, and (c) secure their active involvement during subsequent stages of the project. Consultations shall be preceded by a systematic stakeholder analysis, which would (a) identify the individual o r stakeholder groups relevant to the project and to environmental issues, (b) include expert opinion and inputs, (c) determine the nature and scope of consultation with each type of stakeholders, and (d) determine the tools to be used in contacting and consulting each type of stakeholders. A systematic consultntion plan with attendant schedules will be prepared for subsequent stages of project preparation as well as implementation and operation, as required.

13. Identification of Relevant Macro/Regional Level Environmental Issues: Consultants shall determine the Valued Environment Compo- nents (VECs)' considering the baseline information (from both secondary and primary sources), the preliminary understanding of the activities proposed in the project and, most importantly, the stakeholder (and expert) consultations, which would need to be carefully documented. Use of iterative Delphi techniques is recommended. Based on the identification of VECs, Consultants shall identify information gaps to be filled, and conduct additional baseline surveys, including primary surveys. The consultants shall conduct a preliminary analysis of the nature, scale and magnitude of the impacts that the project is likely to cause on the environment, especially on the identified VECs, and classify the same using established methods. For the negative impacts identified, alternative mitigatiodmanagement options shall be

examined, and the most appropriate ones suggested. The preliminary assessment should clearly identify aspects where the consultants shall also analyse indirect and cumulative impacts during all phases and activities of the project. For the positive measures identified, alternative and peferred enhancement measures shall be proposed.

14. Environmental Screening: Consultants shall summarise the known sub-projects (whether upgrading o r maintenance) into different categories that relate t o the magnitude potential environmental impacts. During such categorisation, consideration shall be paid to (i) location of the sub-project with respect to environmentally sensitive areas, and (ii) volume, nature and technology of construction. This screening framework should be able to categorise all future sub- - projects, based on a limited number of parameters. The parameters should be such that their identification and measurement is easy, and does not involve detailed studies. The screening cri- - teria also shall contain exclusion criteria, for sub- projects, which should not be taken up due to potential immitigable and significant environmental impacts (including but not limited to permanent obstruction to wildlife corridors, o r opening up increased access t o threatened biodiversity resource hotspots, o r construction on top of eroded and vulnerable flood embankments).

15 . Environmental Scoping: For each category of sub-project roads identified by the environmental screening, Consultants shall suggest the scope of environmental assessment to be undertaken. For higher impact category of sub-projects (located on o r near environmentally sensitive areas and substantial volume of construction), the scope could be full and detailed EA (see Attach- ment I11 for details). For medium impact category of projects the scope of EA could be limited (focusing on pertinent issues); for lower impact category of projects, the scope could be

l T E C 1s drflned as soclal or b~ophyslcd component of m environment whlch 1s of value (for any reason) In aprojecr influence xea - for further decals seeRoadsand Enzrronmvt, A Hdndbook (WorldBank TecbnualPdperNo. 3761, The World Bank, Washington DC, 1997 @p 25)

TOR for E A State Highways Project 1 1 1

implementing a simple set of environmental budget and financing, and what other inputs (for management practices. example: training) are necessary. In addition,

16. The scoping shall include that which will be covered in the sub-project EA (or limited EA, as required), along with the "how, when and where" of each activity recommended. It shall include a listing of other environment issues that do not deserve a detailed examination in the project EA (covering, for example, induced impacts that may be outside the purview of the client) along with a justification. The scoping needs to identify and describe the specific deviations or inclusions vis-i-vis the EA TOR provided in Annexure 111, if any, along with a justification; modify this TOR for the sub-project EA, if required; and recommend studies that need to be conducted in parallel but are outside the EA process. For medium impact category of sub-projects, Consultants shall prepare TORS for Limited Environmental Assessments (LEA), depending on the environmental issues identified during environmental screening and identification of issues (paragraphs 13-14 above).

17. Implementation Framework: The above works (described in paragraphs 10-16) shall result in a framework, which describes how the potential environmental impacts of all sub-projects will be managed during preparation, implementation, and in the post-implementation periods. This framework shall include (a) description of how feasible and appropriate mitigation and environmental enhancement measures would be identified and implemented; (b) institutional, training and monitoring requirements associated with the environmental impacts, mitigation measures and enhancements; and (c) effective monitoring, inspection and environmental auditing measures to be followed by the borrower; and, (d) the estimated budget for all the above, sufficiently detailed'.

18. The framework for monitoring, inspection and environment audit shall specify parameters, the responsible agencies, reporting procedures,

the framework shall specify what action should be taken and by whom in the event that the proposed mitigation measures fail, either partially or totally, to achieve the level of environmental protection expected.

19. Mechanisms for improved co-ordination between Client and Line departments: Consult- ants shall examine the various options available for improved and timely co-ordination between various state government departments. These could take the form of written MoUs for specific activities, apex co-ordination committee of top bureaucrats, or any such mechanism that can be effective in reducing delays in ancillary activities such as, but not limited to, tree cutting, shifting of utilities, etc.

20. Environmental inputs to feasibility study & preliminary project design: The EA consultants shall make design recommendations, related to alignment (major shifts, bypasses o r different route alternative), road cross-sections, construction material use, and mitigation & enhancement measures. The EA consultants shall interact regularly with the Clients and familiarize themselves with the project's overall feasibility analyses models, so that the EA inputs are in conformity to the needs of the overall feasibility study (for all the different alternative improvement proposals under consideration).

21. In the cases of very significant environmental losses o r benefits, the consultants shall estimate the economic/financial costs of environment damage and the economic/financial benefits the project is likely to cause. In the cases, the impacts or benefits are not too significant, qualitative methods could be used. In addition, wherever economic and financial costs of t he environmental impacts cannot be satisfactorily estimated, or in the cases of significant irreversible environmental impacts, the consultants shall make recommendat ions t o avoid

' The estimared budget shall also include the resources requlred tor enviro~mlenral capac~~y buildmg, environmenrd training, recorrlmended funher works (dl described in paragraphs 19-21 and 24).


generating such impacts.

Generic Environmental Management Plan (Ge- neric EMP): It is recommended that for the low impact sub-projects separate environmental assessments and separate ENIPs would not be required. Local, limited and construction level environmental issues in these sub-projects could be identified using standard o r pre-defined environmental screening checklists', and these environmental issues could be addressed by implementing Generic EMPs.

Consultants shall identify, local and construction related issues, which are usually part of all

26, highway construction projects. These could be based on a literature survey (including the EA documents of all recent Bank-supported projects in India). For each of these issues, Consultants shall prepare a menu of alternative avoidance, mitigation, compensation, enhancement and mitigation measures. This could also be done through a careful review of the environmental management plans (EMPs) of the recent Bank- supported highway projects (including the Ge- ner ic E M P p r e p a r e d fo r t h e L u c k n o w - Muzaffarpur Highway project by National High- ways Authority of India), and with an evaluation to the applicability to the context of (Name of state). Consultants shall organise consultations with PWD, ,ind finalize this Generic EMP.

Consultants shall provide robust estimates of costs of generic environmental management measures like facilities required at campsite, cost of additional (to regulatory) monitoring of environmental components, etc. These costs shall

27

be verified for common works items in line with the rate analysis for other works through the IRC software/prograrn.

Building Environmental Management Capac- ity in the PWD: Based on the preliminary findings of the environmental screening, stakeholder consultations, and institutional analysis of the PWD's capacity to manage environmental

rrivironmenrxl srrrmlng rrquirrments, processrs, .uid checkl~srs shdl be prcpxrd a p.m tertnrr. Thesr rrqulrrmenrs, processrs md chrrklisrs could be simil.uro rhr onrs being u

issues, consultants shall prepare a Capacity Building Plan to mainstream environmental management in the PWD's activities by the end of project implementation period. Earmarking staff for environmental management and improving their skill-sets would be simultaneously pursued during project preparation and imple- mentat ion. In addi t ion, recommendat ions should be made concerning any changes to guidelines, standards and regulations, which would improve medium and long term environmental management in the P W D and the Line Depart- ments' works.

. Environmental Training Plan: A detailed training plan shall be prepared, (a) to ensure that the environmental management framework can be implemented; and (b) to develop and strengthen environmental capacities in the P W D . T h e strategy should include a mix of hands-on training for key staff involved in project preparation, site visits to similar projects, and whenever required, full-fledged academic programs on environmental management at well-recognized institutions. The Consultants shall conduct orientation training for the key client as well as members of other consultant teams like survey, design, etc., early in the assignment. Periodic training at various levels will continue during project preparation to ensure that the knowledge, skills and perspectives gained during the assignment are transferred to the Client and are utilized effectively during project implementation.

. Recom~nendation for Further Work: The Con- sultant should make recommendations concerning any further studies of environmental issues, which should be undertaken during project implementation and financed under the project. Such studies could comprise, for example, the analysis of what action should be taken with regard to existing roads which traverse critical natural habitats and which have been excluded from improvement under the project due to

of Environmrnrxl Sropingdtscribrd i n p x ~ g r ~ p h 15-16 of rhese rerrns szd for the P r ~ d h ~ n M'u~rn Grmi Sdd& yo jua (PMGSY).

TOR for E A State Highways Project 1 13

potential significant environmental degradation. the client's website.

Sub-project Related Environmental 32. The consultants shall prepare a non-technical Assessment EA S u m m n y Report for public disclosure.

28. Consultants shall undertake necessary surveys, impact analyses, and prepare complete sub- project EA (environmental assessment and environmental management plan) for all the sub- projects included in the First Year Implemen- tation Program. These would be prepared based on the environmental screening, environmental scoping and other relevant works described under EMF above.

29. If the relatively low impact sub-projects included in the First Year Implementation Pro- gram, necessary field-based screening shall be completed, issues identified, and a summary document shall be prepared describing how these issues would be addressed in these sub-projects, with reference to the Generic EMP, and other relevant applicable GOI, IRC or PWD specifications. For each of the medium and high impact sub-projects, Limited EA o r detailed EA shall be prepared, respectively.

30. In the event that no "high impact" category sub- project is included in the First Year Implemen- tation Program, at least one such high impact sub-project (which would be implemented in later years) shall be selected by the Consultants,

Co-ordination among the Engineering, Social, Environmental & Other Studies

33. The consultants, with assistance from the Cli- ent, shall establish a strong co-ordination with the other project-preparation studies - engineering, social and/or institutional development. The consultants shall keep in mind the specific requirements of the project in general, and the engineering/design studies in particular, and shall plan their outputs accordingly. It is recommended that some of the consultation sessions may be organised in co-ordination with the social and engineering consultants, as feasible, and when the stakeholders consulted are the same.

34. The consultant shall review the contract documents - technical specifications, and rate analysis, to ensure that there are minimal conflicts between the EMP stipulations and specifications governing the execution of works under the project.

and detailed sub-project EA (environmental as- 35. The Consultants are free to employ resources sessment and environmental management plan) as they see fit. Timing is an important essence should be prepared based on the terms of refer- for the study, which shall be closely co-ordinated ence given in Annexure 111. with the works of the engineering and social

Public Disclosure

31. The Consultants are to provide support and assistance to the client in meeting the disclosure requirements, which at the minimum shall meet the World Bank's policy on public disclosure. T h e consul tants will prepare a plan fo r in-country disclosure, specifying the timing and locations; translate the key documents, such as the EMF Summary in local language; draft the newspaper announcements for disclosure; and help the client to place all the EA reports in

teams, simultaneously involved in preparation of the project. Table 1 gives an indicative allocation of manpower for the study. (Modifj, ns required given the context of the project.)

36. Additional expertise, such as on hill ecology or other, shall be provided as demanded by the context of the project. The consultants are encouraged to visit the project area and familiarise themselves, at their own cost, before submitting the proposal; and propose an adequate number and skill-set for the senior specialists and technical support staff for this assignment.


Table 1. Position Person-month Considered in Bid Evaluation

Team Leader, Environment Management Specialist 04 YES

Institutional Expert 03 YES

Environmental Consultation Specialist 03 YES

Forest1 Landscape Specialist 02 YES

Three Environment Specialists (middle level) 10

Local and Area Level Drainage Specialist 02

TerrestrialIAq~~atic Ecologist 03

Further, the consultant will allocate adequate number of field surveyors, distinct from the technical support staff, to complete the study in time. See Annex I1 for the qualifications expected for the key professionals.

37. The consultants shall provide for all tools, models, software, hardware and supplies, as required to complete the assignment satisfactorily. These

Table 2.

should be widely recognised or accepted. Any new model or tool or software employed should be field-tested before use for the purpose of this EA.

38. The consultants shall make formal presentations, co-ordinated by the client, at key milestones on the (a) proposed work plan after submitting the Inception Report; (b) recommendations from

Item No Due date

i 1 ) Inception Report 6 20 days from Start Date

1 (2) Presetitation to Client on Proposed Work Plan 1 30 days from Start Date 1 1 (3) Presentation on Environ~ne~ital Screening Findings 3 3 months trom Start Date I

(4) Presentation on the Capacity Building Strategy for the PWD 1 4 months from Start Date

(5) Draft Environmental Management Framework Report 3 4 months from Start Date

(6) Presentation to the Client: Environment management Framework 1 4 months from Start Date

(7) Finalisation ot co-ordination mechanism and its modalities for Client and Other Relevant Participating Line Agencies 3 5 months from Start Date

(8) 3 7 months from Start Date (a) Draft Suh-Project EA & EMP Reports all All First Year

Sub-projects (including at least 1 EA & EMPfor "liigli impact category" Sub-Project)

rb) Technical specifications for environmental items (c) Bills of QuantitieslAddenda to BoQ for environmental items

1 (9) Presentation to the Client: Details of the EMPs; Design Recommendations 1 8 months from Start Date

(10) Final Reports (refer items 5, 7 and 8) 6 9 months from Start Date

(1 1) Draft Documents for Public Disclosure; Assistance to Client ior Environment Clearance Application Forms, and any other outputs as required for satisfactory completion of this assignment. 1 9 months from Start Date

Note 1: All Draft reports shall be finalized within 15 days of receivingcornments from the Client and the World Bank. Note 2: All the reports wi l l also besubmitted in soft copies, and draft and tinal reports with all the s~~pportingdoc~~rnents, wi l l be

subrrlitted in compact d isks.

TOR tor E A State Highways Project 1 15

the environmental screening; and (c) design recommendations and details of EMP. The consultants shall co-ordinate with the other consultants working on project preparation for each presentation.

39. All supporting information gathered by the consultant in undertaking these terms of reference would be made available to the client.

OUTPUTS

40. The consultant is expected t o provide the following outputs, as per the schedule given in table 2. The Consultants are expected to allocate resources, such as for surveys, keeping this output schedule in mind. (Modifj, based on the number speczfied in, and schedule of outputs of the Engineering TOR).

4 1. P e client cnn provide ofice spnce ns necessnry. The client will provide no other logisticsupport -Modzfj, ns deemedfit i n the context of the project nnd the client.) It is expected that the Client and the field offices will provide all ready and available information as requested by the consultant. [Note - Include the list of data Clients will pro- cure for the Consultants.]

42. Further, the Client will provide all necessary and reasonable support t o the consultant to col-

lect secondary data, such as issuing authorisa- tion letters. The Consultant will be responsible for any translation of documents and for processing of data. The Clients will designate an officer to act as the main liaison officer and participate as possible in the study.

43. (The client rnny designate/depute a tenm ofprofis- sionnls to work within the consultnne'tenn~ forlong- t erm cnpncity building w i t h i n the client's orgnnizntion.)

44. The client will ensure the timely flow of information and documents from one consultant to other. The client will also help in organising the formal presentations from all consultants engaged in project preparation.

List of Annexes

The following Annexes provide useful information and guidelines for the assignment:

Annex I - List of the World Bank Operational Policies and Directives

Annex I1 - Qualifications expected of the Key Professionals

Annex I11 - Terms of Reference for Environ- ment Assessment & Environmental Manage- ment Plan for High Impact Category Sub- Pro jects.


Operational Policies (OP) /Bank Practices (BP) /Good Practices (GP) / Operational Directives (OD) / Guidelines

a OP/BP 4.01 Environmental Assessment

a OP/BP 4.04 Natural Habitats

a O P 4.09 Pest Management

a OPN11.03 Cultural Property

a OP/BP 4.12 Involuntary Settlement

a OP/BP 4.20 Indigenous Peoples

a OP/BP 4.36 Forestry

a OP/BP 4.37 Safety of Dams

a OP/BP 7.50 Projects on International Waterways

a OP/BP 7.60 Projects in Disputed Areas

a BP 17.50 Disclosure of Operational Information

Additional Reference Material

a The World Bank, Environment Department, Environment Assessment Sourcebook, Vol. I - 111 (World Bank Technical Papers No. 139, 140 and 154), Washington DC, 1991; and its updates. (Refer to www.wor1dbank.org).

a The World Bank, Roads and Environment, A Handbook (World Bank Technical Paper No. 376), Washington DC, 1997.

a The World Bank, Resettlement Sourcebook

National Environmental Policy, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of In- dia - Draft of 2005

a S. 0. 60 (E) dated 27th January 1994 (EIA nottfica- tion), and its up-to-date amendments from Ministry ofEnvironment and Forests, Government oflndicr (available at www.envfor. nic.in)

THE EXPERIENCE AND C.V. OF THE

FOLLOWING KEY PROFESSIONALS WILL BE

EVALUATED. (MODIFY AND ADD AS

1. Team Leader, Environment Management Spe- cialist - The person should have Masters degree o r equivalent in environmental science or in related other disciplines with minimum 10 years of experience of which at least 5 years on environmental impact assessment of development projects. Related experiences of at least 2 years in developed countries, and at least 2 highway projects are essential. The candidate must have full knowledge of the World Bank's guidelines, procedures and operational policies/directives. Experience of working as environmental expert in at least two World Bank o r multilateral funded projects is required. The candidate must have the experience of preparing environmental management plans and supervising & monitoring implementation of the plans.

2. Institutional Expert - The person proposed for this position must have a Masters' degree in administration, preferably public administration with hands-on experience of analysing and streamlining functioning of government departments. The candidate should also have prior experience in handling co-ordination between departments in preferably a developing country context. It would also be advantageous if the person has experience of training and capacity building at various levels in the government.

3. Environmental Consultation Specialist - The person should have Masters degree o r equivalent in environmental science or in related other disciplines with minimum 10 years of experience of which at least 5 years on community based environmental actions and community consultations. Related experiences of at least 2 highway projects are essential. The candidate must have full knowledge of the World Bank's guidelines, procedures and operational policies/ directives. Experience of working as community consultation expert in at least two World Bank funded projects is required. The candidate must have experience in participatory design, participatory monitoring and rapid rural appraisals.

4. Horticulture/ Landscape Specialist - The person should have Masters degree o r equivalent in horticulture, arboriculture o r Botany with minimum 10 years of experience of which at least 5 years on community forestry and landscape development programme. Related experiences of at least 2 highway projects, and 2 landscape development projects are essential. The candidate must have full knowledge of the World Bank's guidelines, procedures and operational policies/directives. The candidate must have experience in implementation and monitoring of the roadside plantation and other environmental enhancement schemes.

(Add qudl$ccltions for clny other Key Professional &per the context of the project, clnd clsper modlf2ccl- tion inpdrdgrclph 43.)

1 . General: Sub-project EA is the stage when more thorough assessments are done. It includes carrying out the detailed surveys, analysis of data, assessment of impacts and corresponding mitigation and/or enhancement measures and preparing various reports that include the detailed EA report and environment management plans (EMPs). The Consultants shall carry out the Sub- Project EA based on the revised TOR for the Sub-project EA (an outcome of scoping described earlier). The work plans and methods employed shall be as per those described in the Inception Report and/or as agreed with the Client following the acceptance of the Scoping Report.

2 . Baseline Surveys: The consultants will {a) collect information from secondary sources that are relevant to understanding the baseline, as well as the design of mitigation and enhancement measures, as pertaining to physical, biological and socio-cultural environments; {b) carry out site visits and investigations of all the environmentally sensitive locations (based on the inventory of valued eco-system components) and document them on the base maps to identify conflict points with preliminary designs (including verification of these from authentic sources of information, such as from the revenue and forest records); and {c) prepare detailed specific maps showing details of candidate sites for environmental enhancements.

Additional Baseline Surveys: The Consultants shall collect information on the existing environment scenario from secondary sources, and identify gaps to be filled, relevant to the environmental screening needs from primary sur-

veys. The consultants shall survey the environmentally sensitive locations on and along the Sub-project road, as well as within the Sub- Project's influence area. The consultants shall extensively use the video o r other records of the project road (carried out as part of the engineering surveys). All regionall?) or nationally recognised environmental resources and features within the Sub-Project's influence area shall be clearly identified, and studied in relation to activities proposed under the Sub-project. Typi- cally, these will include stretches with significant roadside trees; environmental and common property resources such as forests, large water bodies; and major physical cultural properties. All these may be depicted using a line diagram o r a strlp map.

4. All surveys shall be carried out in compliance with the Go1 standards/guidelines/norms. Wherever such guidelines/norms are not available, the techniques, tools and samples employed for the surveys shall conform to the international practices. Whenever directly relevant secondary data is available, these should be used, while indirectly relevant data should be verified through primary survey. Environmental quality (air, water and noise) monitoring shall include an adequate number of samples, as established on a sampling network, so as to provide a representative sample of the entire Sub- Project corridor. Additional sample data for sensitive environmental/ecological receptors, if any, shall be collected such as to analyze and predict the possible impacts to a degree and precision of acceptable professional standards. Fur- ther, additional specialized surveys, such as

biodiversity assessment survey, and/or hydrological surveys shall be conducted, if and when recommended by environmental scoping. It is recommended that the environmental surveys be co-ordinated with the social and engineering surveys, as far as practical.

5 . The consultants shall also collect information on the various prevailing environmental and forest laws/ regulations so as to carry out the Sub- Project EA in conformity to these.

6. Stakeholder Consultation: The consultants shall undertake community consultation sessions at the state, district, village and roadside community levels, as per the consultation plan prepared during SEAS. The objective of the consultation sessions shall be to improve the Sub- Project's interventions with regard to environmental management. At least, two rounds of consultations shall be carried out - the first to seek views from the stakeholders on the environmental issues and the ways these could be resolved, and the second to provide feedback to the stakeholders that their views have been taken care in the Sub-Project (when the EMPs are nearly complete). Following this, the final feedback received shall be analysed, and the consultants shall determine how these can be addressed in the final EMP and in the Sub-project designs. The consultants shall co-ordinate the entire consultation programme with the social and the engineering consultants.

7. Environmental Analysis of Alternatives: As the overall highway alignments are final at this stage, the environmental analysis of alternatives shall focus location-specific issues relating to cross-sections, materials and their sources from an environmental management perspective. This analysis shall also cover comparisons in relation to siting, design, technology selection, construction techniques and phasing, and operating and maintenance procedures.

8. Impact Prediction & Management: The consultants shall determine the potential impacts due to the Sub-Project through identification, analysis and evaluation on sensitive areas (natu-

ral habitats; sites of historic, cultural and conservation importance), urban settlements and villages/agricultura1 areas or any other identified VEC. These should be classified as significant positive and negative impacts, direct and indirect impacts, immediate and long-term impacts, and unavoidable o r irreversible impacts.

9. For each impact predicted, feasible and cost effective mitigation measures shall be identified to reduce potentially significant adverse environmental impacts to acceptable levels. The capital and recurrent costs of the measures, and institutional, training and monitoring requirements to effectively implement these measures shall be determined. The consultants shall explore and recommend environmental enhancements including roadside landscaping, separation of non-motorized lanes in an aesthetically appealing manner, provision of pilgrimage pathways, and development of cultural properties or improving access along the corridor. At this stage, it would be important to identify the need for further environmental studies for issues that cannot be dealt with during the Sub-Project preparation stage, but should be undertaken during Sub-project implementation.

Institutional Arrangements to Manage Envi- ronmental Impacts Effectively: The consultants shall identify institutional/organizational needs to implement the recommendations of the Sub-project EA and to propose steps to strengthen o r expand, if required. This may extend to new agency functions, inter-sectoral arrangements, management procedures and training, staffing, operation and maintenance, training and budgeting.

11. Training of Client's Staff: The consultants shall develop and implement a plan for training the client's staff. This plan should specify the types of training, the participants for each training type, the number of sessions, the duration of each session and when these should be conducted. At the end of the training, when draft EMPs are ready, briefreports shall be prepared on the training conducted and observations


relevant for future training, if any.

12. Other Assistance to the Client: The consultants shall support the client to furnish any relevant information required for obtaining clearance from various state and central government -

agencies. This may include {a) assisting the client in the submission of application for the Clearance of Reserved o r Protected Forests to the Forest Dep;~rtments; {b) completion of forms and submission of the same for obtaining No-objection Certificates (NOC) under the Water and Air Acts from the State Pollution Control Boards; {c) completion and submission of the MoEF questionnaire for Environmental Appraisal for the Sub-Project; {d) assistance in presentation to the Wildlife Board of the MoEF in obtaining clearance for the section of the corridor passing through the Wildlife Reserves or Sanctuaries or other protected areas, if any; {e) assistance in submission for any other clearance requirements with respect to the environmental components relevant to the Sub-Project.

13. The consultants shall discuss and co-ordinate with the engineering and social consultants, the findings and recommendations of the Sub- Project EA in a continuous manner. The consultants shall prepare an Envirorrmoztnl Asress- ment Report. The report will be revised in con- siderntion of the colnmentr of the Client nnd tbe IYforld Barrk.

Environment Management Plans (EMPs)

14. Based on the environmental impacts predicted, separate EMPs, for each construction contract package, shall be prepared in such a manner that these can be incorporated in the bidding/contract documents. The EMP shall be prepared to fulfil all requirements of the GoI, ' ~nd at the minimum meet the requirements of World Bank O P 4.C1- Annex C . The EMP shall, among others, include a list of design modifications recommended by the Sub-Project EA, along with the road chainages. The report will be revised in consideration of'the comments of the Client and the World Bank.

15. Environmental Mitigation & Enhancement Measures: The EMP shall describe feasible and cost-effective measures to prevent or reduce significant negative inlyacts to acceptable levels. Apart from mitigation of the potential adverse impacts on the environmental components, the EMP shall identifir opportunities that exist for the enhancement of the environmental quality along the corridor. This shall include the enhancement of specific locations as water bodies, enhancement of scenic areas along the corridor. Residual impacts from the environmental measures shall also be clearly identified. The EMP shall include specific or sample plans for common road construction related activities, such as for management and redevelopment of quarries, borrow areas and construction camps; and good practice guides related to construction and upkeep of plant and machinery. The EMP shall include detailed specification, bill of quantities, execution drawings and contracting procedures for execution of the environmental mitigation and enhancement measures suggested, separate for pre-construction, construction and operation periods. ResPonsibilitiesfor execution and supervision of each of the mitigation and enhancement measures shall be specified in the EMP. A plan for continued consultation to be conducted during implementation stage of the Sub-project shall also be appended.

16. Capacity Building & Training: The EMPs shall describe the implementation arrangement for the Sub-Project, especially the capacity building proposals including the staffing of the environment unit (as and when recommended) to implement the environmental mitigation and enhancement measures. For each staff position recommended to be created, detailed job responsibilities shall be defined. Equipment and resources required for the environment unit shall be specified, and bill of quantities prepared. A training plan and schedule shall be prepared specifying the target groups (Client including the environmental unit, supervision consultants and contractors) for individual training programmes, the content and mode of training.

TOR for E A of High Impact Catagory Sub-projects 12 1

17. Monitoring & Reporting: The EMP shall specify the environmental supervision, monitoring and auditing requirements. The monitoring programme shall specify parameters, reference standards, monitoring methods, frequency, duration, location, reporting responsibilities, and what other inputs (e.g., training) are necessary. In addition, the program will specify what action should be taken and by whom in the event that the proposed mitigation measures fail, either partially o r totally, to achieve the level of environmental protection expected. Customised formats for reporting on progress on EMP activities to different stakeholders shall be pre-

pared and included in the EMP(s).

18. Each EMP shall list all mandatory government clearance conditions, and the status of procur- ing clearances. Additionally, the EMPs shall include as separate attachments, if applicable, Natural Habitat Plan and/or Cultural Proper- ties Plan to satisfy the requirements of the World Bank safeguard policies.

19. Each EMP shall provide a summary description of where and how the recommendations of EA & EMP are made part of the Sub-Projects' designs, construction schedule, and all contract documents.


Note 18

Part 2

1. Description of project:

2. In order to assess the potential socio-economic impact of the project, consultants1 are invited to submit technical and financial proposal for the following two components:

(a) Conduct a social assessment (SA) of the project;

and

(b) Prepare social safeguard instruments such as Resettlement Action Plans (RAP), Ethnic Minority or Indigenous Population De- velopment Plan (IPDP), Cultural Property Man- agement Plan (CPMP), Environmental and So- cial Management Framework (ESMF,) as necessary, forroads selected for improvement/ upgradation and maintenance.

3 . Component One - Social Assessment

To ensure that the benefits of the proposed infrastructure development are distributed equitably, to the extent possible, and that no segment of the population is adversely affected, a SA will be carried out. This should precede the feasibility and detailed design stages of the project and should be carried out contempora- neously with the pre-feasibility of the project. While the SA is proposed to be undertaken during initial stages of project preparation, however, social impacts, will continue throughout, namely feasibility and detailed project report (DPR) stage as needed. The following provides objectives, scope, activities and outputs to complete the SA process:

4. Objectives of SA

SA is an approach for incorporating social analyses and participatory processes into project design and implementation. The study aims to improve decision making that enhances social benefits and mitigate adverse social impacts in the process of developing projects for road improvement/upgradation and maintenance. The specific objectives of the SA are:

(a) To carry out a socio-economic, cultural and political/institutional analysis to identify potential social impacts of the proposed development of the key trans port corridors;

(b) To identify principal stakeholders and develop consultation framework for participatory implementation:

(c) To screen social development issues along all corridors and scope SA activities for feasibility and design stage;

(d) To ensure that results of the SA provide inputs to the nlonitoring of project impacts during implementation and to the evaluation of project outcomes at completion;

(e) To provide inputs to the project design at the feasibility and detailed design stage including specific recommendations in selection of design alternatives (identification of areas that may require adjustments in project designs) and preparing social policy framework;

5. Scope of SA

The SA should be selective and strategic. The SA

'For dl c.xegon Aprojecr idenrified by World Bank .I separdre consulranr will be ~ p p o ~ n i e d ro ~ndependenrly review rhe SAprocess adopred .md s.degu.ud insrri~nlents prepared under rhe project. The SA consultmts shdl be required to modify and i~pd'ite rhe repons bxed on findings of independenr renew consult.~nts.

123

should begin with identification of people and corn- munities, including ethnic minorities and indigenous groups, that would be affected by the project, and define operationally relevant social issues that may affect project design, delivery, and outcomes. A checklist of activities along with outputs for pre-feasibility and feasibility are provided in Annex I. The annex also includes the activities to be carried out for the inception report. The scope of the proposed SA' at the two stages is as follows:

Stage I - Pre-Feasibility Stage:

Stage I1 - Feasibility Stage:

(a) To inform, consult and carry out dialogues with stakeholders o n matters regarding project design alternatives, implementation of social mitigation measures and provide specific recommendations on project roads with high social risks, including identification of areas such as congested sections, presence of significant common property or indigenous community that may require adjustments in project design.

(a) Identify key social issues relevant to the O Determine magnitude of adverse social im- project objectives, and specify the project's pacts and identify safeguard instruments as social development outcomes. required based on the principles laid down in

(I,) Provide a macro level socio-economic profile of the population and available infrastructure facilities for services (disaggregated by gender, ethnicity, vulnerable groups, especially indigenous minori t ies , you th and aged; economic aspects, etc.) in t he project influence area to identify potential positive impacts towards reducing poverty and adverse impacts of the project on affected

the safeguard policies of the Bank and countries laws and regulations (Annex 11).

(c) Assess the capacity of institutions and mechanism for implementing safeguard instruments and recommend capacity building.

(d) Develop monitoring and evaluation mechanism to assess social development outcomes during completion.

communities. (e) Prepare draft resettlement and rehabilitation

(c) Identify key stakeholders who are directly affected, positively or negatively and carry out stakeholders' analysis to determine their role to achieving social development outcomes.

(d) To inform, consult and carry out dialogues with stakeholders on matters relating to project alternatives, identification of priorities and selection of project roads and provide specific recommendations to avoid/minimize high social risks(e.g. activities where it is advisable not to proceed). Also develop a consultation framework for participatory implementation.

(e) Identify and analyze the performance formal and informal institutions that have stake in the project to influence social development outcomes.

policy framework with preliminary budget estimates.

6. SA Methods and Tools

(a) For socio-economic, cultural and political/institutional analysis combine multiple tools and employ a variety of methods for collecting and analyzing data, including both quantitative and qualitative methods (expert and key informant interviews, focus group discussions, beneficiary assessments, rapid and participatory rural appraisal, gender analysis).

(b) Develop interview schedules, field survey instruments and checklist for data collection and discussions.

(c) Screen and prioritize social issues through different techniques such as ranking and

~'Tlie descriprions in rhe TOR should nor be considered exh.~usrive, in ex11 srdge the consulr.mt is expected ro d r ~ r l o ~ the concept m d merhodology :md +ply the highest professiond judg~nent .


composite index.

(d) For determining the magnitude of impact and analysis of alternatives develop strip map and indicate all information on structures, utilities and abutting land use that is likely to be affected within the project impact zone.

(e) The selection of SA methodology should emphasize consultation and participation of project affected persons (PAPS), project implementing and executing agencies at the state, district and village level. The discussions with the relevant government officials, other institutions and organizations in the civil society, should be participatory and broad-based, leading to the identification, selection and agreement on project.

7. Outputs

The expected outcome of this task would be in the form of a Social Assessment Report during pre-feasibility and Social Impact Assessment report during feasibility including:

(a) Findings of an;~lysis and consulta~ion framework for project.

(b) Outline of safeguard instruments as required.

(c) Recommendation for adjustments in designs during feasibility and detailed design stage.

(d) Draft resettlement policy framework during feasibility.

8. Cornponent Two - Prepare Social Safe- guard Instruments . . I he proposed upgradation and maintenance works for selected project roads may cause involuntary resettlement, disturb indigenous communities/ethnic minorities and impact on cultural properties of significance. For all Bank assisted project involving such adverse impacts requires that safeguard instruments be prepared before appraisal of the project. A checklist of activities along with outputs for the required instruments is provided in Annex 111.

9. Objectives of Social Safeguard Instruments

Safeguard instruments must be prepared to meet the following objectives:

(a) Involuntary resettlement should be avoided where feasible, or minimized, exploring all viable alternative project designs.

(b) Where it is not feasible to avoid resettlement, resettlement activities should be conceived and executed as sustainable development programs, providing sufficient investment resources to enable the persons displaced by the project to share in project benefits. Displaced persons should be meaningfully consulted and should have opportunities to participate in planning and i~rlple~rlenting resettlement programs.

(c) Affected and displaced persons should be assisted in their efforts to improve their livelihoods and standards of living or at least to restore them, in real terms, to pre-displace- lnent levels or to levels prevailing prior to the beginning of project implementation, whichever is higher.

(d) Development process fosters full respect for the dignity, human rights, and cultural uniqueness of indigenous people. More specifically, to ensure that indigenous peoples do not suffer adverse effects during the development process and receive culturally compat- ible social and economic benefits.

(e) Assist in the preservation of cultural property and to avoid significant damage to non- replicable cultural property; and assist in enhancement of cultural properties encountered.

(4 Identify and develop preventive measures to avoid /reduce sexually transmitted diseases.

10. Scope of Work

The social i~npact assessment will cover the directly affected people affected populations to formulate

Model Terms of Reference for Social Impact Assessment 1 25

development strategies in order to assist in determining project impacts on the social, economic, cultural, and livelihood activities of affected communities. This will establish a social baseline against which changes resulting from the intervention can be measured in the future.

(a) A census and socio-economic survey, including a detailed inventory of dffected assets would however, need to be carried out for all PAPs to establish a cut-off date, loss of fixed assets such as structures and trees, livelihood or access to community resources as a result of project implementation.

(b) Assess local tenure and property rights arrangements, which may include usufruct or customary rights to the land or other resources taken for the project including common property resources and develop realistic land acquisition plan on the basis of revenue records.

(c) One important aspect is to prepare an inventory of affected assets to identify the affected structures that have land available in the vicinity to enable minor shifting without any damage to the building material, and those that will be displaced from present location and need to be relocated elsewhere.

(d) The assessment will be incorporate all R&R measures necessary to ensure compensation for assets acquired at replacement cost, assistance to facilitate shifting of structures out of the corridor, and mitigation measures of loss of livelihood, o r reduction in incomes for PAPs. RAP is intended to be action-oriented and time-bound documents. As such it should be as precise and affirmative as possible, to facilitate approval by project authorities and the WB. Clarifying the parameters of ttie RAPS during the early stages will ensure that the RAP is a document focused on practical steps for implementation of R&R measures.

would be decided in consultation with affected communities.

11. Methods & Tools

(a) Conduct census and baseline survey with the help of interview schedules and prepare lin- ear maps at appropriate scales showing each affected property to identify all project affected households and assets.

(b) Conduct land surveys in project area with the assistance of revenue personnel for preparing land plan schedules.

(c) Conduct focus group discussions to discuss ad- justment in designs.

(d) Conduct consultations with affected people, and district level workshops with communities and executing organizations to finalize the implementation mechanism and for informed decision-making.

(e) Develop database for Project Affected House- holds people to enable monitoring

12. Output

The following shall be the outputs based on magnitude and extent of impact:

(a) Resettlement Action Plan(RAP) including an action plan on HIV/AIDS.

(b) Indigenous people's development plan (IPDP), if required.

(c) Cultural property management plan (CPMP), if required.

13. Deliverables for the Stages of Preparation

(a) Inception report with methodology, personnel, work plan, time schedule, modification to T O R along with presentation - within one month of mobilization.

(e) Those who are affected including indigenous (b) Social Assessment report - three months. peoples/ethnic minorities; the social and economic benefits they receive would be in har- (c) SIA and R & R policy with entitlement ma-

rnony with their cultural preferences and trix to povide different types of assistance to


all categories of affected and displaced people with the monetary values wherever feasible. Documentation of public consultation on the entitlement framework. - Four months.

(d) Detailed Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) including the LA plan, action plans for cultural property' and/or indigenous people4, if affected - Seven months (the time required will depend upon extent of impact and land acquisition).

14. Qualifications and Experience

The consulting team will consist of senior staff (number will depend on the magnitude of the project) with the experience and qualifications to undertake the social impact assessment and resettlement planning, including :

(a) Advanced degree in social sciences (anthro-

pology/sociology/social work/economics), public administration or management.

(b) Experience doing field work preferably among project affected people, including Rapid Ru- ral Appraisal, household census interviews, and land use surveys.

(c) Experience in land acquisition.

(d) Experience in Indian transport sector, especially resettlement and rehabilitation planning.

(e) Experience with Indian scheduled tribes and other vulnerable groups desirable.

(f) Experience in data analysis, both quantitative and qualitative essential.

(g) Ability t o manage and train local survey teams essential.

See OPN 11.03 for the required scope and level of detail of rhe management plan See OP/BP 4.20 for the required scope and level of detail of the indigenouspeoples' development plan

Model Terms of Reference for Social Impact Assessment 127

Activities

Carry out reconnaissance survey of the proposed project area and identify significant socially sensitive receptors'

Detail out the methodology for each stage of project preparation - i.e. feasibility, preliminary project report and detailed project report

Identify and list specific techniques/tools such as checklists and questionnaire schedules to (1) prepare project area profile", 2) social screening, 3) conduct census surveys and stakeholders consultations at different levels, 4) prepare land acquisition plans, 5 ) calculate replacement cost for assets such as land and structures, 6) identify feasible livelihood programs 7) management of cultural properties.

Identify and provide detailed information on resources required in terms of expertise and required manpower for each stage of project preparation.

Coordinate work plan with other study teams in particul~r EA and technical design team.

Output: Work plan and program to carry out the study.

Tasks:

Define likely project impact zone (direcdindi-

rect) based on project proposal for improvement works and possible project alternatives.

Collect inforn~ation through desk review and field visits on existing baseline conditions, include all land uses, structures and people (e.g., demog- raphy, socio-economic status, vulnerability, status of infrastructure and access to people, livelihood programs, market rate of assets, medical . -

support for sexually transmitted diseases, its prevalence, awareness on HIV/AIDS, legal status of land through revenue records) within the - likely project impact zone.

Identification of key stakeholders involved in various aspects of the project (project implementing ~ n d executing agencies and groups from civil society; description of socio-economic organizations of local communities that may affect project outconles; carry out public consultation with the likely affected groups, NGOs, district administration and other skkeholders and document the issues raised and outcomes; and assessment of local capacities in terms of participation in planning, implen~entation and supervision, and evaluation.

Explore viable alternative project designs to avoid, where feasible, o r minimize social impacts (displacement, impact on vulnerable community, cultural properties e t ~ . ) .

Identify major and minor social impact issues including identification of congested areas, ac- cident-prone zones, loss of assets, livelihood, poverty, gender and health issues and estimate the econonlic and social impacts on people

' Socinl sensnive receptors include settlerr~ent sectlons, congesred sections \\-it11 Ilmlred encumbr.ulce free sp.lcc, c~~ltur.~l/historicd/ community srructure or space of significmce dnd clusrers of ~ndigenous community and orher rulnerdble sectlons of socier\-. " Tenure system, customan. rights, s o c ~ d nerwork, infrsrrucr ure f ~ c i l ~ r ~ r s .md ~ccessibilit?, definition of v ( ~ I ~ ~ e r ' ~ b ~ l i t ~ , JCCCSS to ~nfonndtion, possible categories of in~p.~ct and entitlen~enr oprions

and land

Screen and prioritize social issues through different techniques such as ranking and cotnpos- ite index.

Carry out social screening in coordination with other screening exercise (environment and technical) - through desk review and field visits - of the project roads.

Scope out all issues for which detailed assessment will be required.

Define social developrnent outcomes for project and fix indicators and criteria for evaluation at completion

Carry out specific consultation with likely affected population by alternate options for proposed design alternatives such as bypasses, widening options and underpasses and for calculation of replacement cost.

Visit all identified roads to develop strip map and indicate all information on structures, utilities and abutting land use that is likely to be affected within the project impact zone.

T o ver ik the legal boundaries of the right of way (Row) according to the revenue records;

T o establish the cut-off date for eligibility criteria.

To establish the likely types of economic and social impact on people including on private land, traditional and customary rights, lease land, common property resources, different usage of legal right of way.

Assess and analyse social costs of all proposed design options.

Assess various mitigation options available for addressing the adverse social impacts, and propose the most feasible option.

Estimate a preliminary cost for broad mitigation options to address adverse impacts such as land acquisition, transfer and resettlement and rehabilitation and ensure inclusion in the overall project cost.

Identify cases of likely impact on indigenous communities and magnitude of involuntary resettlement, t o establish the applicability of GOI/State Government/Bank's regulation.

To carry out market surveys to calculate replacement costs for loss of assets.

T o carry out meaningful public consultation wi th project affected people and o the r stakeholders on the types of R & R measures to ensure (I) that the proposed mitigation measures are feasible to assist people to improve their livelihoods and 2) provide opportunities to participate in planning and implementing resettlement programs.

To conduct focus group discussion with different social groups including women on the various design options such as location of underpasses, on all alternate alignments, partial o r complete access control to avoid or minimize adverse impacts and design the mechanisms to minimize resettlement, to the extent possible, during project implementation.

To prepare the draft R & R framework in close coordination with the borrower, based on type of losses expected, which describes entitlements and mitigation measures needed to assist affected people, specially for the vulnerable in accordance with World Bank guidelines and national and state rules and legal framework.

Organize workshops on draft R&R policy to receive feedback from identified stakeholders such as borrowers, revenue department, forest department, NGOs and others.

Identify need for social safeguard instruments.

Establish procedure for land acquisition.

Project Process Stages for Pre-Feasibility and Feasibility 129

Develop tribal development strategy.

Prepare livelihood restoration as required.

Estimate mitigation costs to be included in preliminary project cost.

Identify possible risks to proposed mitigation measures.

Develop and test database7 for social impacts.

Capacity and training needs assessment for implementing, monitoring and evaluating the compliance with social safeguards

Identify M&E indicators and develop monitoring and reporting mechanism.

SOCIAL SAFEGUARD POLICIES 1 . OP 4.12 Involuntary Resettlement

2. OP 4.10 Indigenous Peoples

3. OP 4.1 1 Physical Cultural Resources

4. Involuntary Resettlement Sourcebook

'The darabae must provide rhe type of loss, detl ls of losr asers, derils of projecr dtfecred persons, their baseline profile, entitlements as per R&Rpolicy, photograph of srrucrure .md PAPS and other relared informarion.


D: DPR STAGE -SOCIAL SAFEGUARD INSTRUMENTS

Tasks:

To photograph the affected/ displaced family with the affected asset and number each asset;

To conduct census survey of persons residing/ using the corridor of impact to collect an inventory of types and extent of losses of each affected household, family composition and details on age and sex of all the members of the household, income levels and occupational pattern, vulnerabi l i ty status, legal ownersh ip status(private, traditional and customary ownership, lease), asset ownership status and skills possessed . Prepare a fact sheet and attach the photograph of each project-affected person/family.

Assess in detail all the adverse impacts and categorise each type of losses specific to the project area.

T o conduct focus group discussions on the preliminary designs options such on accessibility, alignments, safety, drainage, and others and integrate the outputs in the technical design.

T o carry out public consultation with different project affected social groups about their options and rights pertaining to resettlement and with other stakeholders like NGOs, District Admin- istration, tribal welfare department ministry, etc., and provide a plan for continuous public consultation during implementation.

Identification of key formal and informal institutions operating at village and sub-regional levels and assessment of their role in com~nunity decision-making processes as these affect project activities.

To carry out market survey and focus group consultation with different social groups including women to prepare socially, technically and economically feasible income generations schemes including skill upgradation plans.

T o determine the legal framework of private land, customary and traditional laws governing land tenure, usufruct rights, leasehold and land acquisition, or transfer plans for the total project including for tree plantation, if any, according to the revenue records (including acquisition for temporary purposes).

Based on draft detailed designs conduct fieldveri- fication and consultation to identify locations for further minimization of social impacts if any, and integrate with final designs.

To establish the legal status of the affected people within the Corridor of Impact. Carry out joint verification with the revenue department and borrower, of the Corridor of Impact to prepare land acquisition plans and provide specific details on the gaps between physical ownership and revenue records; identify land allotted to affected people by government departtnents and other agencies, if any.

Modify and update database of project affected persons on a user-friendly platform.

T o finalize estimate of land required for resettlement and for economic rehabilitation.

T o identify the land and prepare a plan for relocation in consultation with the project displaced people with different social groups including women and local administration.

To prepare a plan that ensures the host population will not be adversely impacted and plan for consultation on the impact on resources and infrastructure with increase in population of the host areas.

T o carry out consultation on the draft R&R policy with identified stakeholders to also include project-affected people, organize workshop for other stakeholders and finalize the same.

Based on R&R policy provide an appropriate action plan for additional support for the vulnerable and prepare an Indigenous Peoples' De- velopment l'lan, and other action plans if necessary.

To determine the impact on community/cultural property and prepare a management plan for relocation and restoration in consultation with local groups.

T o undertake a rapid field assessment and consultation with users and inhabitants including women on the awareness of sexually transmitted disease, sensitive locations, desk review of national and state programs and develop a feasible action plan for prevention of spread of HIV/ AIDS.

To identify various formal and informal institutions that may provide support for the implementation of RAP.

T o assess institutional capacity and propose the institutional arrangement for implementation of RAP, addressing grievances, and ensuring gender equity, and identify the roles and responsibilities of each agency.

T o develop a training program on R & R, based on the assessment of the capacity of the implementing agency.

T o develop monitoring indicators and formats for physical and financial progress, process monitoring and impact evaluation and indicators to ensure that the objectives of resettlement are achieved, and that child labor is not engaged in the project.

T o prepare an implementation schedule syn- chronized with time frame of civil works, and ensure that no civil works will begin until people are fully compensated and adequately rehabilitated.

T o develop terms of reference for NGOs, external evaluation consultants, and for any other study identified for impact evaluation.

Conduct risk assessment for proposed mitigation measures.

T o develop detailed budget based on the outcomes of the study.


Note 19

Part 7

Establish a system for environment management within the implementing agency.

T o ensure implementation of Environmental Management Plans (EMPs), judge effectiveness of EMPs, identify modifications required and implications such as variation orders on the Contractors agreements

T o ensure compliance of Bank's Safeguard Poli- cies

T o take note of compliance of Government of India (Go1)'s regulatory conditions

T o identify other environment issues that may indirectly have arisen which may affect the project implementation o r overall environment performance in the area. In this context, to explore the possibilities of sub-projects and to establish the institutional linkages with the primary implementing agency.

To gather and document information on practices/issues that could provide feedback into project design for future projects.

T o help the implementing agency in developing strategies for improved environment management by:

pervision Consultants and Contractors teams.

Facilitating coordination between Non-Gov- ernmental Organizations (NGOs) implementing the RAP and the environment teams, especially in the case of identifying opportunities for enhancements and other environment management aspects of resettlement sites that may be created on relocation of displaced people, markedvendor areas, temples, ponds etc.

Facilitating coordination with the engineering teams on ensuring the implementation of EMPs on aspects such as road safety, construction management at work site, construction management at contract camp and labor sites including gender and child labor issues.

o Facilitating better monitoring of EMPs.

o Facilitating improved reporting systems by helping to develop formats for better coordination o f corporate o r head quarters (Project Implementation Units/PIUs o r En- vironmental & Social Management Units/ ESMUs) and field offices, suggesting inter- nationally accepted systems on environment management such as I S 0 14001.

Facilitating improved coordination with o Facilitating and providing resource informa- other Go1 departments. tion on training and capacity building pro-

grams on environment management. o Facilitating better coordination between Su-

IMPLEMENTATION ARRANGEMENTS - ENVIRONMENT ISSUES

Generally, the implementation arrangements adopted in the Bank's roads and highways projects are as follows:

State Government (PWD or Highways Department)/Central Government Agency

(NHAI) Coordinating Office/ Headquarters

State Government (PWD or Highways Depart- ment)/Central Government Agency (NHAI) Field

Off ices

Other Govt. Departments such as the Forest Supervision Dept. (tree plantation), Mining dept (quar- Consultants/ ries), SPCBs (regulatary processes affecting Contractors project implementation) and other State

impl. agencies

Other non-governmental organizations, consultants such as those for monitoring & evaluation and agencies

The implementation arrangements adopted in the Bank's roads and highways projects are as follows:

World Bank (Project Performance)

MoEF (Reg. Compliance Monitoring)

Environment Off icer(s) with State Government (PWD or Highways full time Department)/Central Government Agency (NHAI) environment Coordinating Office1 Headquarters responsibility

Field Officers with part-time State Government (PWD or Highways

or full-time Department)/Central Government Agency (N HAI)

environment Field Offices responsibility

Environment Officer with full Supervision Other Govt. deptsl time responsibility Consultants agencies

Environment Officer with full Con tractors time responsibility

The working team's own monitoring arrangement


FUND FLOWS

Generally, the fund flow in the Bank's roads and highway projects is as follows:

World Bank (IBRD)

Central Government

State Government (PWD or Highways Department)/Central Government Agency

(N HAI)

Contractors Supervision Consultants

Other Govt. Depts. such as the forest

deparbnen t

Others

In this section, the approach/methodology to be adopted for planning supervision missions is included using a flow chart.

Early Stage Focus on: (a) Institutional arrangements for coordination and in the field offices of the Client, Supervision Consultants and Contractor. (b) Initial Training (c) Arrangements1 agreements with the forest Department on treecutting/ tree-planning. (d) Particular safeguard concerns, if any. Ongoing Stage: Focus on: (a) Effectiveness of the institutional arrangements for implementation (b) Quarterly progress reports- its appropriateness, content and evaluation (c) Specific issues of safeguard concern that have arisen.

Preparatory review o f project

documents

Telephonic discussions w i th the

Client

Development o f a draft supervision

Mission Plan

Finalizing the Statement o f

Mission objectives (SMO)

Early Stage PAD, ISDS, PIP, EMP, ESMP, Arde Memorre from the pre- appraisal and appraisal missions & salient points of the Project Launch Workshop. Ongoing Stage Updated PIP, most recent quarterly monitoring reports, previous A ~ d e Memorre and BTO, if any

Discussions both with the environment officer and the Project Director of the Client's team/PIU.

Supervision Protocol for Implementing Environmental Management Plan 135

Points to note:

Detailed discussions with social development specialist to clarify overlaps between EMPs and Resettlement Action Plans (RAPS).

Detailed discussions with highway engineer to clarify engineering related issues in EMPs

Dependng on project needs, insist on combined mission on engineering and social aspects.

Preferably request for an implementation status report before commencement of mission or that it should be provided on the first day.

Environment specialist should prepare a checklist depending on the project stage and the priority at that time, and share it with the client, to bring all teams (Client, Contractor and Su- pervision Consultant) on the same wavelength.

Discuss the draft SMO with the client to enable the implementing agency to prepare and communicate to the field teams the objectives of the proposed supervision mission.

Avoid "stepping on" or interfering with the client's internal management mechanism.

In this section, the approach/methodology to be adopted for executing supervision missions is included using a flow chart.

Refine the Supervision Plan based on face-to-face

discussions with the Client

Execute the Supervision Plan

Conducting discussions

* Meet the Environment personnel as well as the

mainstream personnel in both the headquarters and the field

offices of the client

* Interact with the Environ- ment. Personnel of the

Supervisior. Consultants and Contractors

. * Meet selected stakeholders during the site visits

Taking visits to selected sites

* Select sites that are idalong side/close proximity to ecosensitive areas

* Visit one or two camps, hotmix or concrete mixing plants and stone crushers, quarry sites

*Consider environment issues given in the table following pages

Reviewing additional onsite documentation

* Study agreements/ arrangements made for

tree plantation

* Review monitoring records and reporting

systems

* Review the agreements made with the land

owners for use of borrow areas


Points to note:

Focus of initial missions should be on establishing a system for environment management within the implementing agency

Initial field visits need to be extensively site- based, especially in case of National Highways where the magnitude of issues is very high.

Subsequent missions can be to selected sites along the project roads.

A couple of visits to the maintenance roads are definitely needed.

During supervision, keep an open mind for flexibility in methods adopted for implementing EMPs. This needs to be more result-oriented.

A format or checklist is preferably used during the supervision mission. A typical format is included in the Box that follows.

Supervision Mission -Environment Issues to focus on

Any project changes Have there been any changes in the project? If so, are there any environment implications?

Institutional issues Have all the Environment positions in the Client, Supervision Consultants and Contractor been filled? If not, when is this likely to be completed? Get commitments. Have roles and responsibilities been clearly outlined and communicated?

Is the coordination between the Client and the Supervision Consultants, and the Supervision Consultants and the Contractor cordial and constructive?

Monitoring

Has the overall plan for monitoring air, noise, water, selected areas for soil quality been operationalized?

Are the monitoring arrangements streamlined, i.e. from the Contractor + Supervision Consultant + Client + Bank?

Are monitoring formats available? Are these understood at all levels?

Is there a plan for reporting to the Ministry of Environment & Forest (MoEF) or State Pollution Control Board (SPCB)? If so, how is this linked with the overall monitoring and what i s being reported to the Bank?

Training

Has overall EA training been imparted at least once at all levels?

Has training on the relevant EMP measures and good practices been planned onsite, i.e. road construction site and bitumen1 concrete mixing site?

Are exposure visitsfor key personnel from the Client's team part of the training?

ROW clearance Are there any environment issues pertaining to Rightut-Way (ROW) clearance, e.g. problems in treecutting posed by the Forest Department or industrial effluent along the road as in the case of Rania Indl. Area, Uttar Pradesh, or stagnantwater bodies along the alignment or electricity poles shifting, optical fibres or laying or shifting of telecommunication lines?

Bitumenlconcrete mixing site management

Is there provision for an oil-water separator, if required?

Are storage facilities for lubricants, oils and n~iscellaneous chemicals appropriate

Are there checks for runuff of oil and lubricants from storage and use points?

Are proper solid and liquid waste management practices being adopted?

Is water-spraying being done for the purposes of dust suppression? For crushers, is there a hood-and-suction system?

Have the relevant clearances from the State Pollution Control Board been taken for this site?

Are the machinery being maintained to meet the air emission and noise standards?

Are there solid, concrete platforms wherever fuels, oils and chemicals are stored?

Are lorries being covered to avoid spillage and reduce air emissions?

Has the layout been planned to facilitate proper drainage?

Contd.


Environment Issues to focus ... contd.

Are safety measures such as welding shields and helmetsavailable on site? Are these being used?

Road construction site management

Has a plan for debris disposal (e.g. scaring material) been developed?

Are basic roadside traffic and construction safety precautions being taken?

Have consultations with local communities been carried out on commencement of works to warn them of construction related risks, especially in the case of eco-sensitive receptors such as schools or hospitals?

Roadside amenities - petrol stations

If petrol stations are affected due to the project, i s there a need for soil testing to determine contamination? If so, what are the implications?

Construction camps

Where are these camps based? Are they on Government land or private land? Have proper arrangements been made to restore the land to its original status after its use as a construction carnp?

Has water quality in the construction camps been confirmed for the various application, i.e. drinking, bathing, washing and other purposes?

Are basic health and hygiene facilities being provided? Is there aseptic tank? Are there toilets? Is there a maintenance plan?

Borrow area management

Have borrow areas been identified solely with the consent of the owners?

Have the owner's needs been considered in deciding the final application of the land?

Have all redevelopment options been considered?

Are adjacent fieldslareas affected due to the stock piling? If so, i s compensation being paid to the ownerslusers of the adjacent land as well?

Wherever land is to be re-used for agriculture, are top soil preservation methods being adopted?

Isdisposable of unproductive topsoil, such as filling low-lying land, being done in consultation with the community?

Is technical input being provided where necessary, e.g., in the case of rehabilitating borrow areas to fishponds. Are such activities being coordinated with the appropriate Govt. department or through an ongoing project?

Quarries

Arequarries being used as per plan?

Is quarrying in line with the Government guidelines?

Wherever quarry redevelopment plans are required, are these in place?

Are mitigation measures specified in the EMP being adopted in thequarries?

Environment enhancement of common properties

Are the proposed enhancements in line with the community needs? Have there been consultations to confirm the same?

Has the maintenance of enhancements been considered for long-term sustainabilitv? Has the cornmunitv been consulted to net - - their participation and willingness to contribute towards maintenance ? Has the role of the local government been explored.? Has the NGO implementing the RAPconsulted?

Is there a need for new enhancements such as roadside amenities based on the further information received from the community?

If some common properties are cultural properties, are the mitigation measures pertinent to the cultural properties being planned1 undertaken?

Roadside treefelling and treeplantation

Has the joint verification been completed? Has it been done to mutual satisfaction?

Are there issues pertaining to treecutting, transport of felled trees, auctioning of trees that are cut?

Are arrangements for tree plantation been made? Would saplings of an appropriate (3 years?) age be available when tree plantation is to be done?

Are the existing nurseries adequate to provide the required number of saplings for replanting as per the ratio agreed? Are these saplings healthy? If nurseries are not adequate, then what are the plans to set up more nurseries? Has private sector been approached? Is there land available with the Forest dept. to set up these nurseries?

Contd.


Environment Issues to focus ... contd

Resettlement sites and other sites for market and vendor areas etc

Have EMPs for resettlement sites been made? Are these being followed? What is the approval mechanism for the plans of these sites. Is technical feasibility considered along with the required infrastructure such as basic water supply source and sanitation?

Safe access

Are there locations along the road wherein provision for safe access has to be made for people or livestock or others? If so, is this being made?

Haul roads

Prior to the use of haul roads, are appropriate management methods been taken to minimize environment impacts such as air pollution?

Are environment impacts created by the haul roads substantial?

Stone crusher sites

Any rehabilitationlrestoration plans for these stone crusher sites?

In this section, the approach/methodology to be adopted for closing supervision missions i s included using a flow chart.

Early Stage

Focus areas:

*Institutional arrangements

*Monitoring, evalution and reporting mechanisms

'Potential specific safeguard concerns, if any.

Focus areas:

*Specific safeguard concerns if any.

* Ensure that issues that have not been addressed

inspite of repeated insistence are emphasized

adequate1 y.

Drafting the aide memoire using the

notes

Discussing the draft aide memoire with the rest of the Supervision

Mission team

Preparing a revised draft aide memoire for

discussion with the borrowerlclient

Capture whatever i s not included in the

aide memoire but may be important for future supervisions in a BTO

Finalizing the aide for internal circulation memoire following the or in a self-note.

incorporation of viewslfeedback from the borrowerlclient

Points to note:

The aide memoil-e should aim to quantify progress of implementation to the extent possible.

The aide memozl-e should be discussed w i th the client.


Resettlement Sites