China - Sichuan Urban Development Project

INTEGRATED SAFEGUARDS DATASHEET APPRAISAL STAGE I. Basic Information Date prepared/updated: 11/03/2005 Report No.: AC 1873 1. Basic Project Data Country: China Project ID: P083322 Project Name: Sichuan Urban Development Project Task Team Leader: Hiroaki Suzuki Estimated Appraisal Date: November 16, Estimated Board Date. April 18, 2006 2005 Managing Unit: EASUR Lending Instrument: Specific Investment Loan Sector: Roads and highways (79.6%), Sewer (10.5%), General Water, Sanitation, and Flood Protection Sector (8.1%), Sub-national Government Administration (1.6%) Theme: Other Urban Development (P), Land Management (S), Other Environment and Natural Resources Management (P), State Enterprise/Bank Restructuring and Privatization (S), Infrastructure Services for Private Sector Development (S), Municipal Governance and Institutional Building (S) IBRD Amount (US$m.): 180.00 IDA Amount (US$m.): 0.00 GEF Amount (US$m.): 0.00 PCF Amount (US$m.): 0.00 Other financing amounts by source: BORROWER(USS$m) 222.78 402.78 Environmental Category: A - Full Assessment Simplified Processing Simple [] Repeater [3 Is this project processed under OP 8.50 (Emergency Recovery) Yes [ No [x] 2. Project Objectives The project development objective (PDO) is to improve core urban functions by removing identified infrastructure bottlenecks hampering land development, transport and environment in four second-tier cities in Sichuan Province. 3. Project Description (1) Urban Investment Component (US$ 377.16 million) Priority infrastructure investments that are integral parts of the urban development plans of the four cities include (i) infrastructure for urban development area expansion for multiple purpose land use (industry, commerce, administration and housing): (ii) urban road network improvements; (iii) sewer and (iv) riverbank protection and landscape improvement. MianYang  (a) Pioneer Park Area (438 ha): US$ 45.53 million (local access roads and associated bridges, sewers, drainage and landscaping and Second Ring Road) (b) Southern Economic Development Area (SEDA, 410 ha): US$ 67.67 million (local access road within the SEDA and associated drainage infrastructure and landscaping) Suinitg (a) Xining District Development Area (358 ha): US$ 60.19 million (access and distributor road, bridges, river embankment, sewers and landscaping) (b) Xining Road: US$ 6.89 million Yibin (a) Route A: US$ 41.90 million (6.9km) (b) Route B: US$ 32.83 million (3.5 km extension of the existing riverbank wall and 2- lane local road) Panzhihua (a) Bing-Ren Road: US$81.61 million (6.7 km section of 4-lane road) (b) Bin Jiang Road: US$ 8.66 million (2.7 km) (c) Sewer Investments in city core areas: US$ 8.52 million (31km wastewater collection system) (d) River Embankment and Landscape Improvement US$23.36 million (2) Institutional Development and Capacity Building (US$4.8 million) This component consists of: (i) TA for Project Implementation and Management; and (ii) TA for Institutional Development and Capacity Building of the proj ect municipalities. This component helps the municipalities improve their urban planning and management capacities, including spatial planning, land management, transport planning, and utility and asset management, through use of management information system (MIS) and geographical information system (GIS). The TA would include training programs and workshops linking the cities in Sichuan with other Asian or worldwide cities via satellite networks, with possible financial and technical assistance from the Tokyo Development Leaming Center (TDLC). Furthermore, IFC/MIGA are providing TA to key Sichuan cities, including the project cities, to enhance their competitiveness by promoting development and industrial linkages, and by improving their investment climate. 4. Project Location and salient physical characteristics relevant to the safeguard analysis Miantyang The city's Master Plan envisages growth in both the north-western section (Pioneer Park Area including a new administration center) and southern section (Southern Economic Development Area) of the city. This will be achieved by relocating the city administration and hi-tech and science related enterprises and institutions to the north- westem section and directing general manufacturing industries to the southern section from overcrowded inner areas, whilst redeveloping the inner areas for high quality residential, financial and commercial use.  Suaining The municipality intends to reduce population densities in the overcrowded core area and accommodate growth by developing new urban districts to the east across Fujiang River and to the west in Xining District which has access to the highway and a new express railway, connecting the cities with two metropolitan areas, Chengdu and Chongqing. The project components in Suining are designed to assist with the growth of the city in its westem part and comprise the Xining District Development Area and an associated link road, Xining Road, to connect the area with the city station area located northwards from the area. Yibin Yibin is located at the confluence of the Min Jiang and Jinsha Jiang, which together form the Chang Jiang (Yangtse River). The rapidly growing city is set to become the focus of the prime energy-producing center in Westem China with the development of a series of major hydro-electric schemes with generation two times larger than the Three Gorges Dam, on the Jinsha Jiang immediately upstream of the city. The overcrowded old city is situated between the Min Jiang River and Jingshajiang River. The municipality intends to reduce the excessive density in the old city center by developing a new administration center and residential areas across Jinshajiang River and by shifting manufacturing enterprises to the new industrial zone developed in Tianyuan District north of the Min Jiang River. The project in Yibin contains two road components, both of which follow the banks of the rivers, and which are designed to improve access with the city and enhance the previously degraded riverbank environment. Route A (6.9km) is a distributor road along the north bank of the Min Jiang and Chang Jiang rivers connecting the old city and existing urban areas with Tianyuan District and the proposed new industrial development zone. The road additionally connects with the northern bridgehead of the new Chang Jiang Bnrdge (under construction),which forms part of the Ring Road, and provides a key link within the city. Route B comprises a 3.5 km extension of the existing river-bank wall and 2-lane local road westwards from the Cultural Square in the center of Nan An District. Panzhihua The city, surrounded by mountains, has been developed on both banks of the Jinsha River. The lack of suitable development land within the existing riverside areas requires the development of a new southem area and associated improvements to the transport system. The city's mineral-based heavy industrial activities have taxed the water quality and led to degradation of the river bank which requires mitigation. The proposed Bing-Ren Road is a link between the existing central business district (CBD) and the newly expanding residential district of Renhe: it comprises a 6.7 km section of 4-lane road linking the recently completed Airport Access Road to Duren Road (West) in Renhe. The proposed road improvement (2.7 km) will relieve currently  congested streets in the downtown area and will provide additional capacity for longer distance cross-town traffic. The sewer component will help develop comprehensive wastewater collection systems in Bingcaogang, Geliping and Qingxiangping catchments which connected to the existing Bingcaogang WWTP and a new Qingxiangping WWTP which will be constructed on a BOT basis. The project will construct A senres of measures along the Jinsha river, which include cleaning up of debris and construction of an embankment in case of slope sliding and soil erosion (selected locations along 30km length on both side of the riever); landscape improvement at four scenic spots; plantation of trees and bushes on places where soil permits up and above the 50 year flood level, along the 15 km of river stretch from Xinzhuang Bridge to Jinsha railway station. 5. Environmental and Social Safeguards Specialists 6. Safeguard Policies Triggered Yes No Environmental Assessment (OP/BP 4.01) x Natural Habitats (OP/BP 4.04) x Forests (OP/BP 4.36) x Pest Management (OP 4.09) x Cultural Property (OPN 11.03) x Indigenous Peoples (OD 4.20) x Involuntary Resettlement (OP/BP 4.12) _ X Safety of Dams (OPIBP 4.37) x Projects on International Waterways (OP/BP 7.50) x Projects in Disputed Areas (OP/BP 7.60) _ x II. Key Safeguard Policy Issues and Their Management A. Summary of Key Safeguard Issues 1. Describe any safeguard issues and impacts associated wA- :1the proposed project. Identify and describe any potential large scale, significant and/or irreversible impacts: The project is classified as Category A under OP 4.01. The project mainly consists of relatively small-scale urban road construction and service infrastructure for the urban areas expansion in four secondary cities. Environment Assessment is being conducted. So far, EA has not revealed any serious environmental issues. The project will bring positive impacts and benefits to the environment and communities. The sewer in Panzhihua, Yibin, and Suining will intercept wastewater currently discharged to the environment without any treatment and thus reduce pollutant loads discharges. This will help improve the water quality of the receiving rivers and important fish habitats and fisheries protection area in the upper Yangtze river system.  The river embankments will enforce the river banks to prevent slope sliding and soil erosion and enhance ability for flood control. The landscape component will improve environmental aesthetics in the project cities and provide more leisure and green space for the residents. From the city wide perspective, the road components are expected to contribute to ambient air quality improvement through reduced traffic jams in city centers and increased average driving speeds on a city wide basis. The new and upgraded roads will contribute significantly to community development, attracting outside investment, quality of life of area residents, convenient outings in the city. The urban area development components in Mianyang and Suining will meet the urban demands to accommodate the rapid population growth and urban and economic expansions. The project will improve the basic transportation and environmental infrastructure in the project cities and contribute to continuously improved foundations for sustainable development and improvement of the standard of living for the cities' residents. Major potential adverse impacts during the construction of the sewer network, roads, river embankment and landscape improvement include land occupation, airbome dust, noise, soil erosion, discharges to rivers and fish habitats, and traffic and urban service disruptions. Impacts during the operational phase of these facilities include increased noise and motor vehicle emissions along project roads, and surface runoff to receiving rivers. The project roads in Yibin are adjacent to a national level rare fish protection zone. But the impacts of the road construction and operations to the fish habitat, primarily the surface runoff containing suspended solids and possibly oils from construction sites and road surface, are expected to be limited only to less than 1 m from the river bank according to a two dimensional mathematical model about the pollutants dispersion. The fish habitats and fisheries resources are not likely subject to significant impacts from these discharges. The project will get involved in involuntary resettlement. Totally, 10,669 mu of land will be expropriated, 881,627 M2 of houses will be demolished, 7,191 households will have to move and 667 non-residential units will relocate. The Resettlement Plans are prepared for compensation and rehabilitation of land acquisition and relocation. The Provincial PMO will coordinate key issues with the municipal PMOs who shall take the full responsibility in resettlement implementation. The Status Report on Minority Nationalities in Sichuan was prepared. It is showed that the scattering ethnic minorities in the project area of Panzhihua share a similar living modality and production pattem with the Han. The definition of indigenous peoples stated in the Bank's OP4. 10 does not suit them.  2. Describe any potential indirect and/or long term impacts due to anticipated future activities in the project area: The urban expansion components will convert existing agricultural (Xining District in Suining and Pioneer Park in Mianyang) and mostly unused land (Economic Development Zone in Mianyang) into urban or industrial land. The original lands will lose their current land features and functions, and the area environment will receive higher pollutant loads from increased population and new industrial operations attracted to the newly developed urban development areas. As an indirect and induced impact, the improved road network in Suining will also result in increased visitors to Guangde temple, a provincial level cultural relic. Compensation funds for land acquisition and resettlement are requested to be timely and fully paid. Rehabilitation programs are further worked out for people affected by land acquisition and relocation. No long term impacts are anticipated if the resettlement activities are successfully completed and the resettlement objective of restoring and improving the livelihood of the affected people is met. 3. Describe any project alternatives (if relevant) considered to help avoid or minimize adverse impacts. Altemative road alignments, road configuration designs, pavements, bridge designs, sewer pipe plans, and river embankment designs have been identified. The EA team has worked with the project feasibility study teams to compare and evaluate alternatives and optimal altematives were selected based on the avoidance or least adverse impacts on the environment and communities as well as engineering and economic considerations. All project cities have considered the "without project" scenario as an alternative. In the preparation of the feasibility study, the resettlement scale is an important factor in comparison of various schemes.During the project design the principle of avoiding and minimizing resettlement was taken; and during construction, measures areconsidered to reduce the adverse impact on the surrounding people. For instance, the width of the road and the distance between two bus stations are not fixed in Yibin. \ 4. Describe measures taken by the borrower to address safeguard policy issues. Provide an assessment of borrower capacity to plan and implement the measures described. The governments of project cities recruited the Chengdu Hydropower Investigation Design and Research Institute to prepare the project EA and EMPs for Panzhhihua and Yibin, and Sichuan Academy of Environmental Sciences for Mianyang and Suining. Each city has its own EA and site specific EMP, prepared by these institute/academy, following diligently the national procedures and standards as well as the Bank safeguard policy requirements. The EA documents such as EA reports, EMPs and a project wide EA Summary have been prepared, incorporating Bank's comments during project preparation and pre-appraisal, and found to be satisfactory.  The EA covers the project description, baseline environmental conditions, environmental benefits and project justifications, analysis of alternatives, potential environmental impacts and mitigation measures both at the construction and operation stages, environment management plans, public consultation and information disclosure. The EMP specifies the environmental management and supervision mechanisms, mitigation measures, environmental monitoring plans, training plans and estimated budget allocations necessary for implementing the mitigation measures, monitoring plans and ways to strengthen client capacity. Key environmental mitigation measures during construction include: dust suppression; erosion control; use of low noise construction equipment/machinery, proper arrangement of construction activities to avoid sensitive time and locations, traffic management during construction, borrow pits and spoil materials disposal sites rehabilitation, and use of proper operational procedures by the contractors during construction. Major mitigation measures during operation include installation of noise isolation windows and noise barriers at sensitive receptors and enhancement cities' motor vehicle emission control programs. The provincial PMO and all project owners will have environmental specialists on staff during project construction and/or operation as may be appropriate to coordinate and management environmental perfonnance. In addition, the project owners will also engage environmental supervisors for regular inspections and supervision of construction activities to ensure implementation of EMP and compliance with regulatory and project requirements for pollution control and environmental protection. In sensitive locations, such as roads in Yibin which is are near a national level fish protection area, specialists from protection area administration, local fisheries, forest and environmental protection bureaus will be invited to supervise construction activities to ensure minimum impacts to the protected fish habitats. . Each project cities have also developed detailed environmental monitoring plans. These plans basically have two tiers: daily and regular monitoring by contractor and construction supervision companies through visual observations and simple apparatus such as hand hold noise meters. This would ensure timely identification of environmental issues during construction so that appropriate mitigation and corrective actions can be taken promptly. The second tier mnonitoring is periodical compliance monitoring by professional environmental monitoring stations. This monitoring will determine compliance status of construction and operation activities. Considering the lack of environmental knowledge and monitoring methods of contractors and construction supervision companies in general, a mandatory training of all contractors anid construction supervision companies have been developed. The training will be held prior to the commencement of construction and will be attended by at least one senior management staff and one environmental staff from each of the contractors and supervision companies. The training programs will include project EA results, introduction of EMPs, technical background about mitigation measures, detailed methodologies for the daily monitoring, mitigative and corrective action designs, and reporting requirements. The cities will also provide training to environmental staff of PMO and individual project owners as part of capacity building. The training programs  will include environmental regulations, policies and standards, environmental management, and general pollution control and environmental management technologies. The Resettlement Plan for each city was prepared, hence four RAPs under SUDP. This is the second Bank-supported urban project in Sichuan Province. The Provincial PMO and the extemal monitor do have some experience in resettlement implementation. However, the borrowers' capacity at the city level to plan and implement the measures described in the RAP needs to be improved through the Launch Workshop soon after the approval of the project; through various training of the resettlement staff in each city; and through a close monitoring system. 5. Identify the key stakeholders and describe the mechanisms for consultation and disclosure on safeguard policies, with an emphasis on potentially affected people. Two rounds of public consultation have been conducted in each of the project cities. The consultation is basically through questionnaire surveys supplemented by the focused interviews of key affected people and other stakeholders. In total, over 650 people mostly project directly affected have been consulted for their opinions and concerns about project. In addition, special meetings or interviews were held with Guangde temple in Suining, environmental, hydrology and municipal engineering specialists in Panzhihua and State Upper Yangtze River Rare and Special Fish Protection Areas Administration, local forests, fisheries, and environmental bureaus in Yibin for specific environmental and social issues. Concems expressed by the public and other stakeholders have been incorporated in the project EA and preparation of the EMP. Project information including major anticipated adverse environmental impact and mitigation measures has been disclosed to the public through public notices in local newspapers in each of the four project cities. The draft EA reports have also been made available to the public at the local project offices and dedicated websites. All cities plan to release the final EA reports and EMPs once these documents to the public are finalized. Municipal and project design staff have consulted with the potentially affected communities when identifying resettlement impacts, formulating resettlement policies, and preparing resettlement plans. Total number of people involved has reached to 3,357 in the 4 cities (Mianyang: 1,560, Panzhihua: 660, Suining: 285, Yibin: 852). This has allowed impacts to be minimized, and identification of remedial plans acceptable to the affected persons. Furthermore, monitoring and gnrevance procedures will be established and participation will continue during resettlement implementation. Information regarding the project and the resettlement program will be published in local newspapers and through TV programs. To ensure that affected persons are informed about compensation standards, rehabilitation measures, and grievance procedures, resettlement announcements will be posted in the affected villages and neighborhoods. As required by the Bank policy, the full RAP has been available at the City PMOs. The announcement of the RAP disclosure was made in the four cities during the period from Sep. 24 to Oct. 10, 2005.  B. Disclosure Requiremnents Date Environmental Assessment/Audit/Management Plan/Other: Date of receipt by the Bank 10/28/2005 Date of "in-country" disclosure 08-10/2005 Date of submission to InfoShop For category A projects, date of distributing the Executive Summary of the EA to the Executive Directors Resettlement Action Plan/Framework/Policy Process: Date of receipt by the Bank 10/18/2005 Date of "in-country" disclosure 09/24/05 - 10/10/05 Date of submission to InfoShop 10/18/2005 Indigenous Peoples Plan/Planning Framework: Date of receipt by the Bank Date of "in-country" disclosure Date of submission to InfoShop Pest Management Process: Date of receipt by the Bank Date of "in-country" disclosure Date of submission to InfoShop Safety of Dams: Date of receipt by the Bank Date of "in-country" disclosure Date of submission to InfoShop * If the project triggers the Pest Management, Cultural Property and/or the Safety of Dams policies, the respective issues are to be addressed and disclosed as part of the Environmental Assessment/Audit/or EMP. If in-country disclosure of any of the above documents is not expected, please explain why: C. Compliance Monitoring Indicators at thle Corporate Level (to be filled in when the ISDS is finalized by the project decision meeting) BP 17.50 - Public Disclosure Have relevant safeguard policies documents been sent to the World Bank's YES Infoshop? Have relevant documents been disclosed in-country in a public place in a YES form and language that are understandable and accessible to project-affected groups and local NGOs? All Safeguard Policies Have satisfactory calendar, budget and clear institutional responsibilities YES been prepared for the implementation of measures related to safeguard  policies? Have costs related to safeguard policy measures been included in the project YES cost? Does the Monitoring and Evaluation system of the project include the YES monitonrng of safeguard impacts and measures related to safeguard policies? Have satisfactory implementation arrangements been agreed with the YES borrower and the same been adequately reflected in the project legal documents? D. Approvals Signed and submitted by: Name Date Task Team Leader: Hiroaki Suzuki Nov 10, 2005 /v iF Environmental Specialist: Chongwu Sun/Dahong Li Nov 10, 2005 Social Development Specialist Youlan Zhou Nov 10, 2005 Additional Environmental andlor Social Development Specialist(s): Approved by: Regional Safeguards Coordinator: qlenn organ Comments: Sector Manager: Comments: