China - Second Tianjin Urban Development and Environment Project : environmental assessment (Vol. 5 of 11) : Environmental assessment : executive summary

Second Tianjin Urban Development and Environment Project Executive Summary EA Second Tianjin Urban Development and Environment Project Environmental Assessment EXECUTIVE SUMMARY E574 v. 5 Tianjin, the People's Republic of China (August, 2002) 1.0 Introduction 1.1 Project Background Second Tianjin Urban Development and Environment Project (STUJDEP), to be partially financed by the World Bank, consists mainly of two major components: environment (drainage network, wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) , environmental cleanup, etc.) and urban transport (interchanges, road and intersection improvement, and priority public transport). All project components are located within the Tianjin Municipality and Hai River Basin (HRB), as shown in Figure 1. 1. Tianjin, one of the four municipalities in the People's Republic of China (PRC) which have the provincial level status, is a country's key industrial base, as well as the most important transportation hub in north China and the gateway to nation's capital Beijing. The HRB consists of three major water systems including Luan river system, Tuhemajia river system and Hai river system which flows through Tianjin before discharging to the Bohai sea. The total catchment area of the HRB is 318,000 km2 compared with the total area of Tianjin municipality of 11,919 km2. The Hai river system includes eight rivers, Jinyun, Chaobai, Beiyun, Yongding, Daqing, Zhiya, Zhangwei, and Hai River itself which flows through downtown Tianjin and is the city's landmark waterway. In 1997, the State Council of the Chinese central government announced "Decisions On Issues of Environmental Protection" (the Decisions), which has since become a primary guide for the country's environmental protection and pollution control effort. One of the important initiatives under the State Council's Decisions is the "Three Lakes and Three Rivers" pollution control program, referring to the six landmark and most sensitive water bodies and river basins in the PRC. The HRB is one of the three rivers and thus one of the highest priority river basin pollution control programs in the country. Under this program, the State Council approved the Bohai Clear Water Action Plan, Hai River Basin Water Pollution Prevention Plan and Tianjin Master Plan. As part of the implementation of the state and Tianjin's environmental programs, Tianjin government initiated in 2002 the Clear Water Project Plan with over RMB 17 billion in investment in the next three years to achieve comprehensive improvement in water quality in the city's water surface system by 2005. The Tianjin Master Plan also calls for significant improvement in Tianjin's urban transport system. Tianjin's motor vehicle fleet has been increasing by 10% per year since 1990 and had exceeded 900,000 units by the end of 2000. While road development in the same period has TIANJIN PMO I August 2002  Second Tianjin Urban Development and Environment Project Executive Summary EA No. Item 1 Map of China 2 Tianjin 1 3 Schematic Drawing of the Traffic Improvement 3 2 Component No. Scope Item No. Scope Item 1 Jinzhonghe Street Flyover 9 Nanjing Road transformation 2