China - Wuhan Urban Transport Project : environmental assessment (draft) (Vol. 5 of 6)

E697 vol. 5 Revised World Bank Financed Wuhan Urban Transport Project Environmental Impact Assessment Report The Fourth Survey and Design Institute of China Railways Class A Certificate Holder with the No. GHPZJZ No. 2605. May 2003, Wuhan, P.R.China FILE Y   Table of Contents 1. Introduction ..................................................1 1.1 Project Background ....................................................1 1.2 Planning and Strategic Considerations ....................................................2 1.3 Objectives of Environmental Assessment .................................................., , , .,5 1.4 Implementation Process of Environmental Impact Assessment ................................................. 5 1.5 Components of Environmental Assessment Documents .................................................7 1.6 Bases of EIA ..................................................7 1.7 Assessment Scope, Assessment Standards and Assessment Phases ............................................. 10 1.8 Classification of EIA and Assessment Factors .................................................................. 12 1.9 Focus of Assessment .................................................................. 13 1.10 Determination Principles of Environmental ProtectionTargets ................................................. 13 1.11 Techniques and Methods to be Adopted for This Assessment .................................................... 13 1.12 Screening of the Safeguard Policies of the World Bank ............................................................. 14 2. General Description and Analysis of the Project . .................................................1 6 2.1 Name, Features and Location of the Project ................................................................... 16 2.2 Project Components .................................................................. 16 2.3 Existing and Projected Traffic Volumes .................................................................. 28 2.4 Construction Methods and Raw Materials .................................................................. 33 2.5 Identification and Screening of Environmental Impacts of the Project ........................................ 33 2.6 Analysis of Main Environmental Impact Characteristics ............................................................. 36 3. Analysis of Alternatives ................................................................... 39 3.1 Road Alternatives .................................................................. 39 3.2 Comparison of Road Engineering Designs .................................................................. 41 3.3 Alternatives to Qinghua Road ................................................................... 42 3.4 Analysis of Environmental Impacts with or without the Project .................................................. 43 4. Environmental Baseline of the Project Area ............................................................ 45 4.1 Urban Natural Environment .................................................................. 45 4.2 Urban Socioeconomic Setting and Community Distribution ....................................................... 46 4.3 Environmental Protection Targets .................................................................. 48 4.4 Air Quality Baseline ................................................................... 53 4.5 Acoustic Environment Baseline ................................................................... 64 4.6 Assessment on Current Situation of Vibration Environment ........................................................ 76 4.7 Baseline Sunshine Environment ................................................................... 80 4.8 Baseline Surface Water Environment .................................................................. 85 4.9 Water & Aquatic Life .................................................................. 89 4.10 Soil and vegetation .................................................................. 100 4.11 Culture property .................................................................. 100 5. Impacts Assessment and Mitigations for Construction Phase ..1 02 5.1 Noise Impact and Mitigation .................................................................. 102 5.2 Vibration Impact and Mitigation .................................................................. 106 5.3 Air impact and mitigation .................................................................. 108 5.4 Surface Water Impacts and Mitigation ...................................................................111 5.5 Aquatic Life Impact and Mitigation .................................................................. 113 5.6 Vegetation Impacts and Mitigation .................................................................. 115 5.7 Community Impacts and Mitigation .................................................................. 117 5.8 Traffic Impact and Mitigation ................................................................... 118 5.9 Solid Waste Disposal .................................................................. 119 5.10 Impact to Cultural Relics and Mitigations During Construction .............................................. 121 5.11 Contractor Management .................................................................. 121 6. Environmental Impacts Assessment and Mitigations during Operation Phase ............................................... 123 6.1 Air impact assessment and mitigation .123   1. Introduction 1.1 Project Background Wuhan, known to the country as a "hub of passageways for nine provinces", is the largest industrial base, trade centre and transportation hub in central China. As the provincial capital of Hubei, Wuhan is also a famous cultural city with a long history. Its location is of a particular strategic significance and development potential as Wuhan is a gateway city to the China's vast west which is under the country's ambitious Develop China's West program (Figure 1. 1-1 "Geographic Location of Wuhan"). As one of the most important cities in central China, Wuhan has seen a rapid economic development and urbanization in the past 20 years. However, its urban transportation system has lagged behind the overall development pace, limiting continued urban development and improvement of standard of living for urban residents. Many bottlenecks in the city core and around the city have formed due to the poor road conditions and/or the lack of maintenance, seriously affecting the efficiency of the city's transportation system and adversely impacting urban environmental quality. The lack of infrastructure in the suburb areas has impeded the overall urban development and expansion. These deficiencies and under-development in Wuhan urban transport system have affected the city as a regional economic center and frontier in developing China's west. This proposed urban transport system upgrading project (the Project), to be partially financed by the World Bank, represents a major effort in alleviating transportation bottlenecks and improvement of transport system efficiencies. The preparation work of the Project began in 1998. At the end of 1998, the Municipal Construction Commission of Wuhan and relevant municipal agencies compiled and finished a "Proposal for Wuhan Urban Transport Project Using a World Bank Loan", which as submitted to the State Development and Planning Commission (SDPC) in 1999, (re-structured as State Development and Reform Commission since March 2003). In February 1999, key Wuhan government agencies, such as the Construction Commission, Planning Commission, Finance Bureau, Planning Bureau, Municipal Administration Bureau, Public Utilities Bureau, Environmental Protection Bureau, Transport Administration Bureau, Planning Design Institute, Municipal Administration Design Institute, and Transport Design Institute, began to conduct a project preliminary feasibility study. On April 11, 2000, under the direct leadership of the Municipal Government, these key agencies jointly set up a Leading Group for Wuhan Urban Transport Project Using a World Bank Loan, to take the responsibility for organization and coordination work for the project. Under the Leading Group, an Foreign Capital Utilization Management Office for Wuhan Urban Transport Project or the Project Management Office (PMO) has been created and is responsible for the day to day preparation and implementation work of the Project. Since then, substantial preparation work has been conducted and completed, including Preparation Plan, data collection, and Pre-feasibility  Study Report, as well as series of consultation with municipal congress and various government agencies. From Maarch 15 to I 1, 2002, engaged by the SPDC, China International Engineering Consulting Corporation conducted site evaluation and investigation for the Pre-Feasibility Study Report on Wuhan Urban Transport Construction Project, resulting in a revision of the Pre-feasibility Study Report. This report was later officially approved by the SPDC, in December 2002. At the same time, a series of World Bank missions also visited Wuhan providing guidance, assistance and evaluation of Project preparation. The project pre-appraisal by the World Bank was held from December 2 to 10, 2002. Based on "Management Regulations on Environmental Protection for Construction Projects" promulgated by the State Council's Decree No. 253 (1998) and the official document HJ 324 (93) entitled "Notice on Strengthening Management Work of Environmental Impact Assessment for the Construction Projects Using International Financial Institutions Loans" jointly issued by the State Environmental Protection Bureau (SEPA), SPDC, Ministry of Finance (MOF) and the People's Bank of China, as well as relevant World Bank operational policies, a detailed environmental assessment (EA) is required for the Project. The PMO has entrusted the Fourth Survey and Design Institute of Railways (FSDIR) to carry out the environmental assessment (EA) for the Project. The Wuhan Academy of Environmental Sciences also participated in the EA, together with the FSDIR form the EA team. A terms of reference (TOR) for the EA was prepared by the EA team, which was reviewed by a SEPA's expert committee on November 14, 2002 and its comments have been incorporated into the revised TOR. An official approval of the revised TOR was given by SEPA's Project Environmental Evaluation Centre in its official review opinion letter on December 9, 2002. On March 27, 2003 a SPEA designated expert panel reviewed the draft final EIA report and the review comments have been incorporated into the final EIA report in Chinese, as well as this English version of the EA documents (EIA, EMP and EA Summary). This environmental impact assessment (EIA) report is prepared on the basis of the EA TOR and the review comments from both the expert review panels for TOR and draft final report, as well as November 2002's version of the Project Feasibility Study Report by the PMO. The World Bank's Operational Policy OP 4.01 "Environmental Assessment" and other relevant safeguard policies also form a very important basis for this EA report. Various municipal government agencies and professional institutions also provided data and information during EA team's effort of baseline environmental study, impact assessment and mitigation measure planning. 1.2 Planning and Strategic Considerations The Municipal Govermment of Wuhan has recently initiated a strategic study for the city's transportation system, in preparation for an urban transport project using a World Bank loan. 2  The study was based on the State Council's replies to "Wuhan Urban Master Plan" (1996-2020), as well as the city's social and economic conditions. It is also based on the principle of sustainable improvement, development of the city's economy, increase of standards of living for the residents of Wuhan City and improvement of the urban environmental quality. The results of Wuhan urban transport development strategy study demonstrates the urgent need for upgrading the city's transportation system through various physical works and policy initiatives, including road construction, road maintenance, traffic control, public transit and transport environmental protection. Bulk of the study results, as well as the priority components in the transport master plan, form this Wuhan Urban Transport Construction Project (the Project), to be partially financed by a World Bank loan. According to Wuhan Urban Master Plan (1996-2020), the Wuhan city proper will be expanded from 3.9 million population in 1998 to 4.5 million in 2020 and the urban areas from 240 km2 to 427.5 km2 over the same period. By 2020, Wuhan will form two downtown core areas, to be located on both sides of Changjiang river, respectively. The two downtown cores will each be surrounded by 10 central areas which, in turn, will be surrounded by additional 10 suburb areas. The population density at 600-800/ha will be the highest in the downtown core areas and gradually reduced towards the suburb areas at 300-500/ha. The current World Bank supported project includes road upgrading and widening components in the downtown core areas, as well as new road components in four central areas where there is a lack of road infrastructure. According to Wuhan's master urban transport plan, the urban trunk road network will consist of three ring roads and ten major "radial" roads which extend from the city center towards the suburb in different directions. The plan also includes development of secondary and branch road networks, as well as systems for public transit, bicycles, pedestrians and parking. By 2010, the total road length in Wuhan will be 1872 km and the total road area, 34.7 kM2, average of 9 m2 per resident. By 2020, these parameters will be 2443 km, 71.3 km and 16 M2 per resident. All intersections along the express roads (the ring roads) will have interchanges to achieve grade separate, non-stop crossing. The Master Plan also puts public transport a priority in the urban transportation system. By 2020, the public transportation system will include three light rail lines, a total of 790 km public transportation routes, 16 bus maintenance facilities, 34 bus terminals, and 79 bus parking lots. Based on the urban topography, location and built-up conditions, Wuhan urban transport system faces three major issues: river crossing (Changjiang and Hanjiang rivers which divided the city into three sections), urban transportation and transit motor vehicles. The World Bank financed Wuhan urban transport project includes components to address the priorities in all three issues. The Wuhan master urban transport plan calls mainly for seven crossings over Changjiang river and six for Hanjiang river. This World Bank financed project will include construction 3  and upgrading of several ramps to the existing bridges to maximize the role of bridges in the transportation network. The World Bank financed project will have major components in solving the urban or city core transportation issue. Relevant project components to address this issue will include improvement or roadi network by construction of new roads and opening the dead ends and the increase of road transport capacity by road widening, upgrading, construction of interchanges and road maintenance. In addition, the project will also support a major public transport component, as well as other components such as intersection optimization and control, motor and non-motor vehicle separation, transport safety education, and motor vehicle emission control strategy development. Within the project, several project components and roads are on the inner and mid ring roads. The completion and upgrading of the ring road systems will help address the issue of transit motor vehicles through detouring such vehicles from downtown and city core areas. Clearly, the proposed World Bank financed project will address all three key strategic transport issues in Wuhan, The project is in full compliance with the Wuhan Urban Master Plan and Wuhan Urban Transport Master Plan. In fact, the project roads and other project components are among the top priority in the plans in addressing the urgent issues in the Wuhan urban transport system. As such, the project will be a critical step in fully implementing the plans and play an important role in Wuhan's effort to build the city a regional center in central China and key gateway to the China's west. By alleviating the transport congestion and bottlenecks and improving the transport efficiency, the project will support the city's sustainable economic development, improvement of standards of living, and enviromnental upgrading. Wuhan Environmental Master Plan (1996-2020) sets short term (2005) targets for ambient air quality to meet Class I in East Lake and other scenery sites, Class III in the industrial zones of the city and Class II in other areas. The targets for Changjiang and Hanjiang rivers and East Lake water quality is Class III and noise targets is 70 dB(A) for trunk roads and other areas average noise level is 56 dB(A). The long term goal (2010 and beyong), target for the ambeint air quality city wide is Class II or better, for water quality in Changjiang and Hanjiang rivers and East Lake, Class II, and for noise, 85% of the urban areas reach applicable standards. The World Bank financied project will contribute to air qaulity improvement targets through improved motor vehicle efficiency and reduced unit vehicle emission. Construction and/or operation of the project will however, adversely impact the water quality and noise environments in general. Effective mitigation will be needed to reduce the adverse impacts in order to comply with requirements from the environmental master plan. The actual levels of impacts as well as specific mitigation measures are included in the later chapters of this report. 4  1.3 Objectives of Environmental Assessment The primary objective of the EA is to conduct a quantitative and qualitative analysis of various environmental impacts from the Project by investigating and monitoring of physical-chemical, biological and socio-economic environments of the Project area, and by a broad public participation. More specifically, the objectives of the EA are to: A Provide an environrnental protection basis for the project designer and project decision-maker, ensure the implemented project with environmental rationality and environmental sustainability; AC Identify and evaluate the negative environmental impact at the preliminary stage of the project so as to adopt environmental protection measures including alternatives to mitigate or minimize the negative environmental impact to an acceptable level; X Provide environmental compensation measure when the negative environmental impact cannot not avoided or effectively mitigated. X Provide a basis for the implementation department and relevant governmental agencies to comply and implement environmental management, mitigation and monitoring plan. 1.4 Implementation Process of Environmental Impact Assessment Based on the "Management Procedures of Environmental Protection for Construction Projects" promulgated by the SEPA in June 1990, the environmental assessment of this project is divided into two stages. Preparation of the Terms of Reference for Environmental Assessment and then the actual impact assessment and EA documentation preparation. The full procedures for the two stages are shown in Figures 1.4-1. 5  Construction PMO WB Department of NEPA t l l Trust Ch Ieck F - EA unit Checklll ISubmission Project environmental impact identification, environmental current situation investigation, and first roInmd of public participation | Preparation of Terms of Reference of EA l Reply of TREA 'V Social, economic, physical and Current situation of acoustic Engineering design data study biological environmental environmental, ambient air and background data investigation vibration environment Environmental current situation assessment I~~ Environmental impact asses1ment Environmental Second round ofpublic o o mitieation measure participation \ f / Evo eaC pabtrat of EA report l Alternative options l; analysis - | ~~~~~~~Comprehensive analysis and |Submission assessment l Check | Compilation of environmental management plan and Submission>.