China - Second Anhui Provincial Highway Project : environmental assessment (Vol. 4 of 9) : Environment assessment report (third edition)

E685 Vol. 4 World Bank Financed Project Anhui Expressway Project II Tongling-Tangkou Expressway Project Environment Assessment Report (Third Edition) World Bank Financed Project Office of Anhui Provincial Communications Dzpartment Dec. 2002 FILE COPY   Tongling-Tangkou highway project EIA CONTENTS Chapter I Introduction ............................................I 1.1 Project Background ............................................ I 1.2 Progress of EA ........................................... .1 1.3 Purpose of EA .............................................2 1.4 Bases of Assessment ........................................... .2 1.5 Technical Process for EA ....... .....................................3 1.6 Scope of Assessment ............................................5 1.7 Methodology ............................................ 5 1.8 Applicable Standards ............................................5 1.8.1 Ambient Air Quality Standards ...........................................6 1.8.2 Environmental Noise Standards .................. ......................... 6 1.8.3 Surface Water Quality Standards ............................................6 Chapter 2 Environmental Assessment Team ......... ..................................8 Chapter 3 Project Description ............................................ 10 3.1 Direct Project Benefit Area ........................................... . 10 3.2 Geographical Location ...... ..................................... 10 3.3 Project Alignment ..... ...................... . 10 3.4 Project Scale ............................................ 11 3.5 Main Engineering Works ........................................... . 11 3.6 Supporting Facilities ............................................ 14 3.7 Relationship of TTH and the Regional Road Network . .......................................... 15 3.8 Construction Material ............................................ 15 3.9 Traffic Projection ............................................ 17 3.10 Cost Estimate and Funding Sources .......................... . 17 3.11 Construction Schedule ............................................ 17 Chapter 4 Environmental Baseline ........................................... . 18 4.1 Overview of Natural Environment .............. . ....................................................... 18 4.1 .1 Topography and Geomorphy ............................ 18 4.1.2 Meteorological Conditions ............................ 18 4.1.3 Hydrology ............................ 18 4.2 Natural Reserve Zone and National Park along the Project ............................ 19 4.3 Ecosystem ............................ ..22 4.3.1 Geological conditions along the proposed expressway ............................ 22 4.3.2 Bio-diversity ............................. 24 4.3.3 Tree Coverage Distribution ............................ 25 4.3.4 WildAnimals ............................. 31 4.3.5 Assessment of Land Use and Reserved Farmland. ............................ 36 4.3.6 Summary of Ecosystem Baseline ............................ 39 4.4 Acoustic Quality Assessment ............................ 39 4.4.1 Survey of Sensitive Receptors within the Assessment Scope .39 4.4.2 Locations of monitoring points ..................... 49   Tongling-Tangkou highway project EIA 4.4.3 Monitoring Method and Timing ................................................ 49 4.4.4 Monitoring Result ................................................ 49 4.4.5 Assessment for Acoustic Environment ................................................ 51 4.5 Water Environment ................................................. 52 4.5.1 Major Lakes and Rivers ................................................ 52 4.5.2 Drinking Water Intakes ................................................ 52 4.5.3 Current Waters Quality ................................................. 53 4.6 Ambient Air Quality ................................................ 55 4.6.1 Existing ambient air quality ................................................ 55 4.6.2 Assessment of Ambient Air Quality ................................................ 56 4.7 Social Environment Baseline ................................................. 57 4.7.1 Overview of directly impacted area .................................. 57 4.7.2 Population Structure .................................. 57 4.7.3 Primary Economic Indicators .................................. 58 4.7.4 Quality of Living .................................. 58 4.7.5 Infrastructure .................................. 59 4.7.6 Natural Resources .................................. 59 4.7.7 Tourist Resources in the Project Area .................................. 60 4.7.8 Urban Planning along the Proposed Alignment .................................. 62 4.7.9 Planning for "Two Mountains and One Lake" . .................................. 63 4.7.10 Domestic Solid Waste Disposal .................................. 63 4.7.11 Cultural Relics .................................. 63 4.8 Current Status of Natural and Cultural Heritage . ................................ 65 4.8.1 Formation of landscape and objective for assessment .................................... 65 4.8.2 Assessment of quality of the scenery ................................................. 65 4.8.3 Asscessment of the existing landscape along the project ............................... 66 Chapter 5 Environmental Impact Assessment and Mitigation Measures . . . 69 5.1 Category and Extent of Environmental Impacts . .69 5.2 Ecosystem Impact Assessment ..71 5.2.1 Regional natural ecosystem and trend in bio-diversity .71 5.2.2 Impact to Natural Plant Colonies and Protected Plants .75 5.2.3 Wildlife (Wild Animals) .78 5.2.4 Impact on nature reserve and scenic site .83 5.2.5 Impact on Land Use and Reserved Farmland .84 5.2.6 Consultation with Bio-diversity Specialists .86 5.2.7 Conclusion of impact on ecology .88 5.2.8 Mitigation Measures .89 5.3 Noise Impact ...................................................... 94 5.3.1 Noise Impact during Construction Phase ...................................................... 94 5.3.2 Traffic Noise during Operation Phase ...................................................... 95 5.3.3 Noise projection and assessment for sensitive receptors ..............................1 01 5.3.4 Mitigation Measure against Noise Impact .................................................... 108 5.4 Impact Assessment of Water Environment and Mitigation Measures ................. 115 5.4.1 Pollution Sources for Surface Waters ......................................................1 I15 2   Tongling-Tangkou highway project EIA 5.4.2 Analysis of impact on water environment .................................................. 116 5.4.3 Mitigation measures .................................................. 122 5.5 Air Impact and Mitigation Measures .................................................. 124 5.5.1 Construction phase .................................................. 124 5.5.2 Operation phase .................................................. 126 5.5.3 Global Climate Issues .................................................. 131 5.5.4 Mitigation Measures ................................................... 132 5.6 Socio-economic Impacts and Mitigation . ................................................. 133 5.6.1 Impacts to Scenic Sites .133 5.6.2 Land occupation .142 5.6.3 Induced Impacts .143 5.6.4 Community severance .145 5.6.5 Impact of Construction .146 5.6.6 Impact on the Planning of "Two Mountains and One Lake .146 5.6.7 Impact on Human Health .147 5.6.8 Impacts to Cultural Relics .148 5.6.9 Mitigation Measures .149 5.7 Soil Erosion and Mitigation .155 5.7.1 Soil Erosion Impact .................................................. 155 5.7.2 Soil Conservation Measures in Early Construction Phase ............................ 156 5.7.3 Restoration of borrow pits and disposal sites ............................................... 156 5.8 Assessment of Impact on Landscape and Mitigation Measures . ................... 157 5.8.1 Key impacting sections ..................................................1 58 5.8.2 Impact on landscape in construction phase .................................................. 161 5.8.3 Mitigation Measures .................................................. 161 5.9 Resettlement and Relocation ................................................... 163 5.9.1 Scope and Quantity of Resettlement .163 5.9.2 Laws, Policies, Compensation Standards for Resettlement .168 5.9.3 Resettlement Institutions and Resettlement Locations .174 5.9.4 Impacts of the Resettlement .176 5.9.5 Costs and Budgets. .......................................... 177 5.10 SafeguardsAssurance and Compliance . . .178 Chapter 6 Analysis ofAltemative . . .181 6.1 Identification of Corridor Alternatives .. ............................. 181 6.1.1 Description of Alternatives ..... . ................................................................. 182 6.1.2 Environmental Comparison ........................... 183 6.1.3 Social Environment ........................... 187 6.1.4 Comparison Result ........................... ......................... 190 6.2 Analysis of Sub-alternatives ........... ................ 190 6.2.1 Section B (Shuiqiao Lake Section) .............................1 91 6.2.2 Section C (Hamaling Mountain Section) ............................. 194 6.2.3 Section D (Lingyang Section) ............................. 196 6.2.4 Section E (Gangtang Section) ............................. 201 6.2.5 Section F ............................. 204 3   Tongling-Tangkou highway project EIA 6.2.6 Comparison between this Project and "S103" Upgrading Project ......... ...... 206 6.2.7 With and Without Project Analysis ........................................................ 207 6.3 Conclusions of Analysis of Alternatives . ....................................................... 208 Chapter 7 Environmental Management Plan ......................................................... 209 7.1 Anhui Highway I ....................................................... . 209 7.2 Organization of Environmental Management . ...................................................... 210 7.3 Mitigation Plan ....................................................... 212 7.4 Environmental Supervision Plan . ...................................................... 218 7.5 Environmental Monitoring Plan ..................... ................................ ... 218 7.5.1 Objectives .218 7.5.2 Responsible Institutions .219 7.5.3 Monitoring Program .219 7.5.4 Monitoring Reports .221 7.5.5 Estimated Monitoring Cost .221 7.6 Personnel Training . . .222 7.7 Cost Estimate for Environmental Protection . . .223 7.7.1 Investment for Environment Engineering .223 7.7.2 Annual Operation Cost for Environmental Equipment .224 Chapter 8 Public Participation . . .225 8.1 Methodology .................................................. 225 8.1.1 Timing ................................................. 225 8.1.2 Stakeholders ................................................. 225 8.1.3 Approach ................................................. 226 8.2 Summary and Analysis of Findings from Public Participation ... 226 8.2.1 Summary of findings from public meetings ................................................. 226 8.2.2 Summary of Questionnaire Survey .................................... ............. 227 8.2.3 Summary of site visit .................................................. 233 8.2.4 Summary of Consultation with Government Agencies .. ............................. 234 8.3 Conclusion of Public Participation . . ............................. 234 8.4 Response to Public Opinions ................................................... 234 8.4.1 Responses to opinions arising from the public meetings and questionnaire. 234 8.4.2 Response to concerns from personal interview ....................... ................... 235 8.5 Record of public participation .................................................. 236 8.6 Information Disclosure . .................................................. 237 Chapter 9 Conclusions .................................................. 239 9.1 Alignment Selection ................................................. 239 9.2 Environmental Baseline . ....................................... .................. 239 9.3 Environmental Impacts ....................................... .240 9.3.1 Construction Phase Impacts and Mitigation .......... ............................. 240 9.3.2 Operation Phase Impacts and Mitigation .................................... ... 241 9.3.3 Public Consultation ........................................ 242 9.3.4 Environmental Management ....................................... 243 9.4 General Conclusions ......................................... 243 4   Tongling-Tangkou expressway project EIA Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Project Background The proposed Tongling-Tangkou Highway Project (the TTH or the Project) is located in the Wannan (south Anhui) mountainous and economically disadvantaged region in Anhui Province, P. R. China. The TTH is a section of the Hefei-Tongling-Huangshan expressway which, in turn, is a key element of the national trunk highway, the Tianjin to Shantou expressway. The TTH is designed to form a key south-north road transportation corridor in the Anhui Provincial highway network, as well as a critical road connecting provincial capital Hefei with the significant tourism sites of "Two Mountains and One Lake" (Huangshan Mountain, Jiuhuashan Mountain and Taiping Lake). The construction and operation of the TTH is expected to greatly improve the transportation network, accelerate the economic development in the poverty region and promote the tourism of Anhui Province. The proposed project will start from the end of Lutong expressway, through Tongling City (Tongling County), Chizhou City (Qingyang County, Shitai County) and Huangshan City (Huangshan District) and ends at Shancha village near Huangshan mountain where it connects with state highway G205. The total length of the recommended route the project is 116.146 km. Development of the project started at the end of 1990's. In November 2001, Anhui Provincial Road Exploration and'Design Institute prepared the Pre-feasibility Study Report and in December 2001 completed the Feasibility Study Report. The preliminary was completed in August 2002. The Environmental Assessment (EA) for this project is based primarily on the preliminary design documents. 1.2 Progress of EA In December 2001, Shanghai Ship and Shipping Research Institute (SSSRI) was engaged by the World Bank Financed Project Office, Anhui Provincial Communications Department (APCD) to undertake Environmental Assessment (EA) for the TTH. An EA team was formed in December of the same year, which then conducted four site visits for investigation along the proposed project alignment, including environmental baseline, protective targets or sensitive receptors, forest diseases control, and collection of other relevant data. During these visits, the EA team also interviewed provincial and local environmental, hydrology, forest, public health, national land and resources, tourist and other relevant government agencies. In April 2002, the draft terms of reference (TOR) for the EA was reviewed by the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) and a World Bank project identification mission which provided its comments on the TOR in its first Aide Memoir. The EA team conducted the another round of field investigation based upon the comments on TOR and the Aide Memoir of the World Bank mission. The first draft EA report was prepared in August 2002 following the extensive field investigation and monitoring, information analysis, impact modeling, public consultation and release of project information to the affected public. In September 2002, a World Bank mission conducted the project pre-appraisal which included a review of the draft EA report. Additional comments were provided, which together with the comments received from the earlier mission as well as from the SEPA on the TOR, have been incorporated into the second version of the EA report. The new version includes a section dedicated to the requirement/comments raised in the first Aide Memoir for environmental aesthetic impact analysis, a summary on resettlement and relocation, and revised and enhanced assessment on impacts of the induced tourists on the Huangshan mountain. SSSRI ensures that the Chinese version and English version of the EA documents are basically consistent, I  Tongling-Tangkou expressway project EIA except the analysis on economic loss and benefit which is not required by OP4.01. Minor discrepancies in the two versions may exist due mainly to different expressions in the two languages during translation but there is no difference of substance in the two reports. 1.3 Purpose of EA The EA predicts various environmental and socio-economic impacts of the Project, and analyzes the impacts quantitatively where possible or qualitatively through the investigation or monitoring of the physical, biological, socio-economic environment, and through public consultation along the project area. More specifically, the purposes of the EA are: