China - Third Fujian Hwy Sector Investment Project

Page 1 INTEGRATED SAFEGUARDS DATA SHEET CONCEPT STAGE Report No.: AC1725 Date ISDS Prepared/Updated: 10/31/2005 I. BASIC INFORMATION A. Basic Project Data Country: China Project ID: P091020 Project Name: China-Fujian Hwy Sector Investment (3rd Fujian Hwy) Task Team Leader: Aurelio Menendez Estimated Appraisal Date: May 17, 2006 Estimated Board Date: December 19, 2006 Managing Unit: EASTR Lending Instrument: Specific Investment Loan Sector: Roads and highways (100%) Theme: Rural services and infrastructure (P);Trade facilitation and market access (S);Other public sector governance (S) IBRD Amount (US$m.): 300.00 IDA Amount (US$m.): 0.00 GEF Amount (US$m.): 0.00 PCF Amount (US$m.): 0.00 Other financing amounts by source: BORROWER 1,270.00 1,270.00 B. Project Objectives [from section 2 of PCN] The project aims to increase the effective use of the road infrastructure in the Fujian Province, improving the flows of passenger and freight traffic in an efficient and safe manner. This objective seeks to contribute to the goals of (a) improving living conditions in rural areas-- particularly those in the areas of the Province where poverty rates are higher--by enhancing the transport accessibility of the rural communities to economic opportunities and social services; (b) stimulating higher economic growth in the Fujian Province by reducing transport costs; and (c) facilitating interconnection across the coastal provinces and the balance in the use of their ports. C. Project Description [from section 3 of PCN] To achieve the above-mentioned objective, the project will include: - Implementation of FPCD's Rural Roads Improvement Program (RRIP) that aims at improving conditions of the lower class roads (largely Class III and IV) that connect administrative villages to the main provincial road network. The Bank loan will support the overall program and finance a subset of the roads, in line with the criteria already being applied by FPCD and other to be agreed upon during project preparation (such as specific institutional conditions in a county Page 2 and the number of inhabitants in the area of influence of a road per kilometer of road to be rehabilitated). The overall program of rural roads is stored in a data bank built upon the results of consultations at the village and country level and approved by the provincial government. The interventions on this network usually consist of the paving of those roads with the use of concrete pavements, all with due consideration to the adequate resettlement and environmental measures. Consideration will be given to a disbursement mechanism based on complete output, piggybacking on the current FPCD system which provides an amount per kilometer that varies depending on the physical standards of the road and the socioeconomic characteristics of the area where the road segment is located. Appropriate application of safeguards will be required. - Construction of an expressway of about 195 km connecting Yong'an with the border of the Fujian and Guangdong Provinces, at Yanqian in Wuping city, (YWE), including the acquisition of the relevant electrical and mechanical (E&M) facilities. The expressway would consist of four lanes and be designed for a speed of 80 km/hr in the heavy mountainous terrain from Yogn?an to Liancheng, and of 100 km/hr for the remaining section. The design will include the appropriate road safety features, based on the experience of the two previous World Bank- financed projects in Fujian. - Pilot implementation of maintenance contracting on some segments of the non-expressway network, to explore results-based approaches that can help increase the efficiency of current force-account maintenance practices, currently being applied by city and county highway bureaus. The scope of this component will be confirmed during the next preparation mission. - Supervision of the investment components of the project, with: (a) a joint local-foreign consultant firm for the construction of the YWE, in a manner similar to the one implemented under the expressway component of the Second Fujian Highway Project, and (b) a local firm for the RRIP component, in a manner that complements and strengthens the mechanisms currently under implementation by the FPCD. - Strengthening the maintenance management systems of the FPCD towards maximizing the use of the often limited resources allocated to preserve the condition of road assets, through the establishment of an information system (like the HDM) and carrying out the surveys to collect the necessary data. The scope of this sub-component would be confirmed by FPCD upon visit to the Henan Province where such a system is already in operation. - Enhancing the capacity at the county highway bureaus in managing the improved network under the RRIP, as part of the incentive framework for supporting the RRIP in a particular county. - Impact evaluation and monitoring studies to measure the impacts of a sample of rural roads, establishing a complementary knowledge base for future interventions on those types of roads across the Fujian Province. - An analysis of toll rates for the YWE in the context of the road network in the Fujian province, towards evaluating the possible adjustments that could help maximize the use of the network and optimize its economic value. - Institutional strengthening through the training of staff of the agencies/institutions involved in highway research, planning, construction, operation and maintenance of highways and related social aspects, building on training carried out under previous Bank-financed projects and to be defined during project preparation. D. Project location (if known) Page 3 The RRIP consists of the rehabilitation of existing lower class roads (largelly Class III and IV) to paved standards in order to improve the connection of up to 7,500 administrative villages to the main provincial networks all over the Fujian Province. The expressway component will connect Yong'an city with the border of Fujian and Guangdong Provinces, at Yanqian in Wuping City, over a distance of 195 kilometers, in the Southwestern area of the Fujian Province. E. Borrower