Nepal - Road Maintenance and Development Project - environmental assessment (Vol. 3 of 6)

HIS MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT OF NEPAL MINISTRY OF WORKS AND TRANSPORT DEPARTMENT OF ROADS _ w _ i,% i ROAD MAINTENANCE AND DEVELOPMENT PROJECT NEW ROAD DEVELOPMENT AND UPGRADING COMPONENT FINAL REPORT 11 E- 257 VOL. 3 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT ACTION PLAN For New Road Construction SMEC International Pty. Ltd., Cooma, NSW, Australia .,ISMEC in association wzth CEMAT Consultants (Pvt) Ltd., Nepal June 1999  ,1 . Table of Contents 1. INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Background 1 1.2 Project Description 1 1.3 Aims of the EMAP 2 1.4 Statutory Requirements and Guidelines 3 2. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EMAP 4 2.1 Environmental Management Roles and Responsibilities 4 2.2 Public Participation 6 2.3 Inter-departmental Involvement 7 3. ROAD DESIGN 8 3.1 Preliminary Design 8 Ii 3.1.1 Alignment Refinement 8 3.1.2 Structure Design 11 3.2 Final Detailed Design 13 3.2.1 Cut and Fill Equalisation 13 3.2.2 Embankments and Retaining Walls 13 3.2.3 Drainage 13 3.2.4 Construction Programme 15 j0 4. ROAD CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT 16 4.1 Pre-Construction Phase 16 4.1.1 Land Acquisition 16 I 4.1.2 Permits 17 4.1.3 Training 18 - 1 4.1.4 Worksite Survey, Pegging and Approval 18 4.1.5 Additional Road Design 19 4.2 Construction Phase 20 4.2.1 Vegetation Clearance 20 4.2.2 Retaining Wall Construction 21 4.2.3 Excavation and Embankment Construction 22 4.2.4 Drainage 23 4.2.5 Topsoil Saving and Re-use 24 4.2.6 Fill Disposal 25 4.2.7 Reinstatement of Services 26 4.2.8 Quarries and Borrow Pits 27 4.2.9 Stockpiling 28 J 4.2.10 Blasting 29 4.2.11 Work-force Camps 29 4.2.12 Workforce Management 30 4.2.13 Air and Noise Pollution 30 ~J 4.2.14 Hazards and Hazardous Materials 31 4.3 Post-Construction Phase 31  i 4.3.1 Revegetation 31 4.3.2 Ancillary Site Rehabilitation 33 4.3.3 Roadwork- Maintenance 33 4.4 Certification of Completed Works for Payment 32 5. SITE SUPERVISION, MONITORING AND REPORTING 35 5.1 Pre-construction Phase 35 5.2 Construction Phase 36 5.3 Post-Construction Phase 37 5.4 Operational Phase 37 6. RECORDS, AUDITS AND CORRECTIVE ACTION 39 6.1 EMAP Records 39 6.2 Site Audits 39 6.3 Corrective Action 40 6.4 Final Audit Summary 40 7. IMPROVEMENT PROPOSALS 41 7.1 Improvement of Degraded Environrnental Features 41 7.1.1 Community Forest Establishment and Support 41 i 7.1.2 Trail Improvement 44 7.1.3 Revegetation of Degraded Land 45 7.1.4 Landslide Stabilisation 45 l 7.2 Improvements Relating to the Proposed Roads 46 7.2.1 Road Head and Market Centre Planning 46 7.2.2 Cash Crop Development 47 8. BIO-ENGINEERING TECHNIQUES 48 8.1 Principles 48 8.2 Road Embankment Specifications 49 8.3 Design Parameters 49 8.3.1 Slope Length 50 8.3.2 Slope Angle 50 8.3.3 Material Drainage 50 8.3.4 Site Moisture 50 8.3.5 Hillside Land Use 51 8.4 Optimal Bio-engineering Techniques 51 8.4.1 Downslope Grass Lines 51 8.4.2 Contour Grass Lines 51 8.4.3 Diagonal Grass Lines 53 8.4.4 Chevron Grass Lines 53 8.4.5 Tree/Grass Planting 53 8.4.6 Shrab/Tree Live Staking 53 8.4.7 Palisades 54 8.4.8 Fascines 54 8.4.9 Bolster Cylinders 54 8.4.10 Mulching 54  .1 8.4.11 Jute Netting 54 8.4.12 Diversion Channels 54 8.4.13 Brush Layering 55 -8.5 Species Selection 55 9. COST ESTIMATES FOR MITIGATION MEASURES 57 9.1 Environmental Mitigation Costs 57 9.2 Environmental Improvement Costs 58 10. REFERENCES 59 APPENDICES 1: Archaeological, Religious and Cultural Sites Within Alignment VDCs 2: RMDP Environmental Management Activity Table 3: Bio-engirieering Application Methods FIGURES 1: Project Incorporation of Environmental Mitigation Measures 2 2: RMD Project Implementation Roles 6 U 3: Impact Areas of Different Road Construction Techniques 10 4: Location of Road Drains at Natural Drainage Sites 14 5: Sequence of Construction Activities 21 6: Replacement of Existing Water Supply Line with a Standpipe 26 TABLES 1: Roads Proposed for Construction l 2: Embank-ment Design Guidelines 1 3: Earth Cross-bank Spacings 24 4: Forester Mani-Month Requirements Per Road ROI 42 5: Jumla Trails for Improvement 45 6: Bio-engineering Techniques for Batters 52 7: Permanent Revegetation Species 56 J 8: Cost Estimates of Environmental Mitigation Measure 57 9: Bio-engineering Cost Rates 58 10: Cost Estimates of Environmental Improvement Measures 58 DRAWINGS 3 1 and 2 Bio-engineering Techniques CI  1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 BACKGROUND This Environrmental Management Action Plan (EMAP) has been prepared for the Department of Roads (DOR) to set out the environmental management requirements for U final detailed road design and pre-construction, construction and post-construction activities associated with the construction of five new roads under the Road Maintenance and * Development Project (RMD Project). This EMAP has been developed based on the inspection of recently constructed hill roads, the review of a number of road design and construcdon references for Nepal and the findings of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). Examples of both good and poor road designs and construction methods can be found in Nepal. Poor roads with significant environmnental impacts appear to commonly result from the sub-standard construction of approved road designs or the initial construction of insufficient retaining walls and drains. Recognising this, this EMAP provides details on design principles, construction prograrnming and methods and site supervision. 1.2 PROJECT DESCRIPTION Five proposed roads which form part of the strategic road network in the Mid-western and Far-western Development Regions of Nepal will be constructed under the RMD Project (Table 1). The proposed roads lead from existing earth roads to five district headquarters. Table 1: Roads Proposed for Construction Road Length DOR Road Classification* Road Districts mela - Darchua Nationl Highwa(km) Number Crossed Chameliya - Darchula 35.4 National Highway H14 Darchula Sanfebagar - Martadi 36.9 Classification not available Bajura Sanfebagar - Mangalsen 14.7 Classification not availabie Achham Kalikot- Jumla 88.4 National Highway H13 Kalikot. Jumla j Dhaira - Jajarkot 21.0 Major Feeder Road F47 Jajarkot Total 196.4 l * Source: Classification and Design Standards. DOR, 1994. The five roads will be constructed to "Construction Development Stage II(ii) (FWET) - Fair Weather Earth Track" standards for hilly terrain (DOR, 1997a). This initial construction U Road Maintenance and Development Project  stage is aimed at providing a "basic level of dry season vehicular access". With ford crossings of all rivers. Preliminary road designs, economic assessments, an EIA and Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) have been prepared for these roads. 1.3 AIMS OF THE EMAP Thiis EMAP has four primary aims, namely to: 1. Define the environmental management principles and guidelines for the pre- construction, construction and post-constuction phases of road development; 2. Describe the practical -mitigation measures that shall be implemented on all road construction and ancillary sites to prevent or mitigate environmental impacts; 3. Establish the roles and responsibilities of all parties involved in the implementation of environmental controls; 4. Establish a supervision, monitoring, auditing and reporting framework. The EMAP clearly sets out environmental goals and management measures, and is to be used by DOR, the World Bank, the Final Design Consultant, the Supervising Consultant and Contractors. Environmental impact mitigation measures have been incorporated into the RMD Project to date during preliminary road design, including alignment refinement and structure design (see Section 3.1). This EMAP takes effect during three stages of the project: detailed road design, road construction and road maintenance (Figure 1). The environmental requirements contained in this EMAP only relate to the detailed design, construction and post-construction maintenance of the roads infrastructure. The mitigation of long-term operational impacts of roads and road-induced activities on the environment are not addressed in this plan, but covered in the EIA. Figure 1: Project Incorporation of Environmental Mitigation Measures Impact Mitigation Measures Project Stage Incorporated during walkover surveys Alignment refinement and detailed surveys. Incorporated during preliminarv road Road design measures design. .........,__................. _... ._ Road design measures To be incorporated during detailed final road design. Road construction Proposed in the EMAP and to be incorporated measures into Construction Contract conditions. Road maintenance Proposed in the EMAP and to be incorporated Road maintenance into Maintenance Contract conditions. measures  1.4 STATUTORY REQUIREMENTS AND GUIDELINES A number of statutory requirements and guidelines shall be complied with for the environmental management of road construction and rehabilitation works in addition to the conditions in this EMAP. These include: * Land Acquisition Act, 2034 (1977) - the permanent acquisition of private land and buildings have to be acquired in accordance with the provisions of this Act. * Putblic Roads Act, 2031 (1974) - temporary land acquisition must be in accordance with Section 14 of the Act. Section 16 of the Act, DOR are obliged to plant trees on either side of public roads according to need. Concerned villages and town Panchayats are then required to look after and protect the trees. Under Section 17, DOR are permitted to obtain earth, stone or sand from any land adjoining the right-of-way. The principal DOR guidelines, which have to be complied with, are: - Environmental Management Guidelines (DOR, 1 997b). * Bio-Engineering information - Rate Analysis Norms (Interim), Standard Specifications (lnterim), Lists of Species and Supporting Information (DOR, 1996). I 'I  2. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EMAP 2.1 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES Responsibility for environmental management associated with road construction work-s involves a number of parties, each with specific responsibilities for particular activities. The six main parties responsible for the design and implementation of mitigation measures prior to, during and following road construction are: * DOR; * World Bank; * Final Design Consultant; * Supervising Consultant; * Construction Contractor; * Bio-engineering Contractor. DOR, as the project proponents, have the ultimate responsible for the supervision of all project construction and environmental management works. Implementation of the RMD Project will be the responsibility of the DOR Project Manager. The Final Design Consultant will prepare final detailed designs based on the preliminary road designs and EMAP design recommendations. The Supervising Consultant will supervise the day-to-day activities of the construction Contractor on behalf of DOR. The Supervising Consultant will be responsible for the technical supervision of road layout, overseeing contract implementation and certifying works for payment. The duties of the Supervising Consultant will include overall management responsibility to ensure the effective implementation of EMAP by the Contractor, with reporting direct to the Project Manager. The Supervising Consultant shall undertake regular inspections and compliance audits of all aspects of work as specified in EMAP. The construction Contractor shall be responsible for undertaking all duties and works assigned to him/her in the road construction contract, including all specified conditions in this EMAP. The Contractor will work closely with the Supervising Consultant to ensure that works are constructed to standard. Throughout this EMAP the construction Contractor is referred to as the "Contractor" and the Supervising Consultant is referred to as the "Supervising Consultant". The duties assigned to both these parties can be undertaken by the their nominated representatives (e.g. Field Supervisors), as approved by the DOR Project Manager. A summary description of each party's duties and responsibilities is provided below.  V DOR Project Manager * Acquisition of all necessary right-of-way (ROW) land and buildings. _ e Review and approval of detailed road designs. * Obtaining all necessary permits from HMG for construction and related activities. I e Review and approval of the surveyed road alignment and road works (including retaining wall and excavation sites). * Review and approval of proposed ancillary work sites (including workforce camps, quarries. borrow pits and storage areas). * Road maintenance and environmental monitoring and management following handover by the Contractor. World Bank Representative * Overseeing of DOR's project management in accordance with loan conditions, the detailed road designs and the EMAP, including the conduct of periodic site visits to ensure compliance. Final Design Consultant * Preparation of final road designs based on the preliminary road designs and EMAP U recommendations. Supervising Consultant (DOR's representative) a Survey and pegging of the detailed road design works. * Supervision of the Contractor to ensure that work is undertaken as per the construction contract. * Inspections and reporting of Contractor activities to ensure effective implementation of the EMAP. * Auditing of Contractor works and activities against the conditions set out in the EMAP. * Issuing corrective action Tequests and conducting follow-up inspections and evaluation of corrective actions. * Reporting all non-conformances to the DOR Project Manager. * Certifring correctly constructed road works for payment. 3 Construction Contractor * Construction of the detailed design works and implementation of the EMAP. * Participation in site inspections and audits undertaken by the Supervising Consultant. * Implementation of corrective actions in response to requests made by the Supervising | I Consultant regarding specific environmental safeguards. . .  Figure 2: RMD Project Implementation Roles World Bank DOR Engineer Representative Project Manager Final Design Consultant Engineer Supervising Consultant Civil Works Bio-engineering Contractor Bio-eng. Contractor 2.2 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION Local participation in environmental management during road construction will initially occur through consultation between the Supervising Consultant, Contractor and affected landowners and local communities prior to construction. Discussions will be held regarding the cutting, temporary reconnection and reinstatement of services, the location of minor drains, the use of loose rock from adjacent private land and the general construction programme. A principle of the RMD Project is the employment of local people. Local people will be employed in construction, bio-engineering and maintenance works. This will provide a direct economic benefit to the area through employment, but more importantly it will establish local skills to enable the effective and timely maintenance of the roads following construction. A cormmon feature of many recently constructed roads inspected was a lack of maintenance, primarily of drainage works, during the monsoon. The establishment of local maintenance crews is proposed to enable the rapid repair of works following monsoon storms. Likewise. the maintenance of bio-engineering works by local crews is also proposed as maintenance is more likely to be performned in a timely manner by a local team with an interest in protecting their land than by an outside team that only periodically visits the site.  2.3 INTER-DEPARTMENTAL INVOLVEMENT Most of the environmental improvement works proposed in Section 7 will require the involvement of the Government department responsible for that particular activity. DOR will liase w-ith and formulate the proposed improvement programmes with the | Department of Forests, Department of Soil Conservation, Ministry of Housing and Physical Planning and relevant VDCs. DOR support for these programmes will be limited to providing the necessary funding and monitoring expenditure and progress against the agreed goals or works. J I. :j ''I ,1 ' I - o3~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  3. ROAD DESIGN Road design, including alignment selection and structure design. offers the initial and main opportunity to avoid or mitigate environmental impacts. If mitigation measures are not incorporated into road designs many resulting impacts cannot be mitigated by implementing measures following road construction. 3.1 PRELIMINARY DESIGN The avoidance or mitigation of environmental impacts commenced in the preliminary design phase, when major mitigation design features were incorporated in the road desian. The preliminarY design involved alignment refinement and the design of major structures. It was undertaken using the two overriding requirements of: 1. "Fair weather earth track" design standards; 2. Low cost roads. As required by DOR, these two design requirements were paramount, setting the basis for road design. Within these requirements, where possible, environmental mitigation measures have been incorporated, as described below. The preliminary design process involved reaching a compromise between short-term cost savings on road construction and long-term environmental damage and high road maintenance and repair costs. 3.1.1 Alignment Refinement Road aligmnents were planned based on the DOR recommended alignments derived from initial design studies and RMD Project aligrnment refinement undertaken during the walkover surveys and detailed engineering surveys. Road alignment refinement commenced with a joint walkover survey by a Road Design Engineer, Geologist, Surveyor, Environmental Specialist and Sociologist (as well as a DOR representative where available). The team set an agreed alignment based on the followAing bio-physical and social selection criteria: 1. Geology - avoidance of landslide hazard areas to achieve long-term road stability. 2. Topography - not floodprone; - lower slope land to minimise cut and fill and construction costs; - avoidance or minimal disturbance of stable embankments. i  I.. 3. Land use - shortest possible alignment length to minimise land take; - avoidance of religious sites, large settlements and high-value production land, in the following order of sensitivity: * archaeological, cultural and religious sites - at least 60 m setback wherever possible; * villages - at least 15 m setback from the centreline of the road (potential ROW vwidth); * individual houses - at least 15 m setback from the centreline where possible -(potential ROW width); * irrigated cultivation; * high conservation value forest (including Community Forests); * rainfed cultivation; * degraded forest; * grassland; * degraded bare land; * existing tracks/trails. Primary consideration was given to the selection of the most stable alignment. Active landslides and areas with a high landslide hazard were avoided. Non-floodprone land was selected where possible. Lower slope land was also comrnmonly selected in order to minimise construction costs, reduce excavation and the need for retaining walls. The next I main factors considered were road length minimisation in order to limit construction costs and the total land take, and the utilisation of the lowest value land in terms of structural features, production or ecological values. Where possible, alignments were located on or near existing main trails. Road construction along these alignments will achieve maximum road utilisation by all forms of transport given the existing use of these routes. The refined alienments incorporated variable road grades to minimise the road length and avoid significant features. Road grades were increased to reduce the number of switchbacks J and low grades (less than 2%) were used where possible to cross cultivation terraces to limit the area of disturbance. U The walkover survey generally set the alignment to within 20 m horizontal and 10 m vertical of the final preliminary alignment location. Following the walkover survey, a detailed survey was undertaken of each alignment. Using the DOR design specifications for fair weather earth tracks and the above selection criteria. ]1 the walkover aligrinent was refined. The detailed survey alignment generally followed the walkover alignment, but occasionally differed substantially due to the need to fit standard road specifications or avoid features that had not been previously noticed. U~~~~ _ _ _ __ -a,!rA %- F P p4