Tanzania - Lower Kihansi Environmental Management Technical Assistance Project

Document of The World Bank Report No: T7444-TA TANZANIA: LOWER KIHANSI ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PROJECT TECHNICAL ANNEX MAY 29, 2001 Environment and Social Development Unit Africa Regional Office  CURRENCY EQUIVALENTS USS1.00 = TSh 827 (March 14,2001) FISCAL YEAR July to June ABBREVIATIONS AND ACCRONYMS DOE Division of Environment, Vice President's Office DOW Division of Wildlife, Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism FBD Forestry and Beekeeping Division, Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism ILFEMP Institutional and Legal Framework for Environmental Management Project IREMS Immediate Rescue and Emergency Measures Project LKEMP Lower Kihansi Environmental Management Project LRMC Long Run Marginal Cost MEM Ministry of Energy and Minerals MNRT Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism MWLD Ministry of Water and Livestock Development NACC National Amphibian Conservation Center NEMC National Environment Management Council RBWO Rufiji Basin Water Office Tanesco Tanzania Electric Supply Company WCS Wildlife Conservation Society WWF World Wide Fund for Nature Vice President Callisto E. Madavo Country Director James W. Adams Sector Manager Roger C. Sullivan Task Team Leader Peter A. Dewees  Tanzania: Lower Kihansi Environmental Management Technical Assistance Project TECHNICAL ANNEX Table of Contents SECTION A: DETAILED PROJECT DESCRIPTION .....................................................1 Background ........................................................I ProjectArea ............ ............................................2 The Eastern Arc Mountains ........................................................ ..2 Kihansi Gorge Ecosystem ..........................................................3 Kihansi Spray Toad ...... ..................................................4 Conservation Measures ......................................................... 5 Project Objectives and Components ....................................................... .7 O)bjectives ............................ . . 7 Component 1: Habitat and species conservation and management ........................................................7 Component 2: Establishment of final water right ... ............................. 10 Component 3: Implementing an Updated Environmental Management Plan ........................................................ 13 Component 4: Institutional Strengthening ................. ......................................... 14 SECTION B: PROJECT ADMINISTRATION AND IMPLEMENTATION .................................................... 16 Institutional Arrangements ...................................................... 16 Procurement, Disbursement, and Financial Management ............................................,,.,.,,.,., ... 17 Procurement Arrangements ............................................. 17 Disbursement Arrangements ............................................. 20 Financial Management ............................................. 21 Monitoring and Evaluation ........................................... 23 Main Credit Conditions ........................................... 23 SCHEDULES .......................................... 25 Schedule A: Key ProjectActivities ........................................... 25 M AP .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28   Tanzania: Lower Kihansi Environmental Management Technical Assistance Project TECHNICAL ANNEX SECrION A: DETAILED PROJECr DESCRIPTION Background 1. The Tanzania Power VI project was approved in 1993 (Credit 2489-TA), and has funded the construction of a 180 MWV hydroelectric facility in south central Tanzania. The facility, located in the Lower Kihansi Gorge, is operated by the Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco). The Lower Kihansi facility started producing power in December 1999, and currently, three turbines are in operation. 2. The Lower Kihansi Hydropower Project is a run-of-the-river operation. The scheme incorporates a 25 m high dam, which results in the inundation of about 26 ha when the reservoir is full.' The dam diverts water into a tunnel which leads to the power generating station. The project takes advantage of the change in elevation through the Kihansi Gorge, which drops nearly 900 meters over 3 km. The water is returned to the river about 6 km downstream. 3. An Environmental Assessment of the project was carried out in 1992, and Government agreed to prepare and implement an Environmental Management Plan. Because of the small size of the inundation area, the environmental impact of the dam was expected to be minimal. The Management Plan focused primarily on mitigating the upstream impacts on the inundation area and on the communities living in the vicinity of the project. A series of Baseline Studies and a long-term ecological monitoring program was financed by the project. By late 1995, it was concluded that - contrary to earlier views - the diversion of water for the hydroelectric scheme was likely to have an environmental impact on vegetation on both sides of the 6 km stretch of the river which passed through the Gorge. In particular, the Baseline studies demonstrated the importance of the fine spray from the Kihansi Falls for maintaining the microclimate in the Gorge ecosystem.2 The reservoir has a total capacity of around 1.6 million m3, and the water detention time is around 12 hours. The power project was originally designed to provide power to meet peak load demands, but is now operated in a manner which provides base load. 2 The maintenance of sufficient flows through the Gorge to conserve the ecosystem was considered in the recently completed Power Sector Master Plan (Acres International, November 2000) which concluded that maintenance of a 2 mV/second bypass flow reduces average projected power production at Kihansi by 11 percent; 4 m3/second bypass flow reduces average projected power production by 23 percent; and 7 m3/second bypass flow reduces average projected power production by 40 percent. The corresponding reduced total system average production would be 4, 8, and 13 percent respectively, representing possibly significant investments in generating capacity to account for these shortfalls.  Tanzania, Lower Kihansi Environmental Management Project 2 Technical Annex Project Area The Eastern Arc Mountains 4. The Lower Kihansi Gorge is located in the Eastern Arc Mountains. The Eastern Arc Mountains are a group of mountains which stretch from southeast Kenya through south central Tanzania and are situated between 3020' and 8