China - Third Jiangxi Highway Project

Page 1 INTEGRATED SAFEGUARDS DATA SHEET CONCEPT STAGE Report No.: AC1396 Date ISDS Prepared/Updated: 04/26/2005 I. BASIC INFORMATION A. Basic Project Data Country: China Project ID: P093906 Project Name: Third Jiangxi Highway Project Task Team Leader: Christopher R. Bennett Estimated Appraisal Date: January 3, 2006 Estimated Board Date: June 22, 2006 Managing Unit: EASTR Lending Instrument: Specific Investment Loan Sector: Roads and highways (100%) Theme: Regional integration (P);Other public sector governance (P);Export development and competitiveness (S);Rural services and infrastructure (S) IBRD Amount (US$m.): 200.00 IDA Amount (US$m.): 0.00 GEF Amount (US$m.): 0.00 PCF Amount (US$m.): 0.00 Other financing amounts by source: BORROWER 532.00 532.00 B. Project Objectives [from section 2 of PCN] The project's development objective is to improve east-west passenger and freight flows in poorer areas of Jiangxi province through enhanced road infrastructure conditions and strengthened highway management. C. Project Description [from section 3 of PCN] EXPRESSWAY COMPONENT: RUIJIN - GANZHOU EXPRESSWAY (RGE) The RGE will be a 119 km long section of the Xiamen-Chengdu expressway (about US$660 million), one of the seven east-west corridors of the NTHS. It will connect Ganzhou in the west with the Guangdong-Beijing expressway. In the east it will terminate at Ruijin city. A 28 km, domestically financed, expressway will be built between Ruijin and the Fujian provincial border. With the completion of the expressway, and the link between the Fujian border and Xiamen (under construction), Ganzhou will have direct high quality access to Xiamen. The area crossed by RGE is a succession of three basins separated by mountains: the Ganzhou basin (100 m of altitude), the Yudu basin and the Ruijin basin (200 m of altitude). Between these basins the mountains are high, some exceeding 1,000 m of altitude. The main river between Page 2 Huichang and Ganzhou is the Gong. In Ganzhou, the Gong River becomes the Gan River. The Gong river links the Ganzhou basin with the Yudu basin via a narrow valley. The terrain is very challenging and will require careful route selection and designs so as to minimize the environmental and social impacts while providing adequate access to local communities. LOCAL ROAD IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM COMPONENT The Local Road Improvement Program (LRIP) of approximately US$70 million, will aim to improve access in poor areas of the province. The size of the LRIP will be at least 10% of the total project cost and the amount of the Bank financing shall be approximately US$ 10 million. Ganzhou, the largest prefecture in the province, is the priority area for the LRIP, and is where the expressway component will be built. Currently its road network density is about 23 km/100 km2, about 38% lower than the average road density (37 km/per 100 km2) in the province. Among the total mileage of 11,544 km in Ganzhou City Prefecture, 8,901 km of roads are Class IV or unclassified, some 2% lower than the average technical standard in the province. As one of the poorest prefectures with lowest densities of road network in the province, the LRIP component will support high priority needs of local access. INSTITUTIONAL STRENGTHENING COMPONENT The institutional strengthening component (about US$2 million) is still under development but potential activities include: - Traffic safety operations for tunnels. The JPCD has undertaken a number of safety activities on previous projects. Although they have not had major accidents in tunnels, they are acutely aware of the potential dangers they pose, especially as they may result in closure for an extended period. They would like to establish a systematic tunnel safety management plan and ensure that there are adequate resources to handle emergencies. - Improved quality assurance techniques. There have been a number of quality issues with previous projects so the JPCD recognizes the need to improve their overall quality management. - Extension of maintenance by contract to expressways. The JPCD recognizes that there are potential cost savings through improved efficiencies by extending maintenance by contract to expressways. - HIV/AIDS. Discussions are under way to having a major component looking at HIV/AIDS education for all JPCD workers and their families. This would be funded in a large part by the Global HIV campaign. D. Project location (if known) The proposed 119 km Expressway starts from the Ganzhou City in the west and runs east to the Ruijin City, about 20 km from the border of Fujian Province. The Expressway crosses Ruijin city (0.60 million inhabitants), Huichang county (0.43 million inhabitants), Yudu county (0.90 million inhabitants), Gan county (0.56 million inhabitants) and Zhanggong district (0.46 million inhabitants) of Ganzhou city (8.3 million inhabitants for the entire prefecture). Page 3 The Expressway is a succession of three river basins separated by mountains: the Ganzhou basin (altitude - 100 m), the Yudu basin and the Ruijin basin (altitude - 200 m). The mountains between these basins are high, some of them exceeding 1,000 m in altitude. The main river is the Gong river passing by Huichang and Ganzhou. In Ganzhou, the Gong River becomes the Gan River. The Gong River links the Ganzhou basin with the Yudu basin via a narrow valley. The geology of the area includes mudstone which may not be stable, limestone with presence of karst holes, red sandstone and metamorphic rock which do not raise major construction problems. The area is interspersed with non active faults. The feasibility study for the expressway compares two main alignment alternatives: - the alternative in the north uses about the same corridor as the one used by NR323 or the Ganlong railway; between Ganzhou basin and Yudu basin, but does not use the narrow Gong river valley; and, - the alternative in the south uses the narrow Gong river valley linking the Ganzhou and Yudu basins. The rest of the alignment mostly crosses the mountains. Both alternatives are rather similar in terms of cost (0.46 % difference). The alternative in the south includes more tunnels (1.6 km or about 24 % more). The alternative in the north requires slightly more farmland. The final route alignment (alternative three) will likely be a combination of the proposed two alternatives and will be developed following further feasibility investigation and analysis by early June 2005. E. Borrower