E547 Vol. 2 REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT Public Disclosure Authorized General Roads Directorate Emergency Road Repair Project Implementation Unit International Development Association Public Disclosure Authorized PREPARATION OF ROAD MAINTENANCE PROJECT ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT PLAN Public Disclosure Authorized Submitted by: LOUIS BERGER GROUP, Inc. 100, Halsted Street, East Orange New Jersey 07018 USA Public Disclosure Authorized FEBRUARY 2002 t j1i. it|6 .j 43 ,-N~~ ~ ~~.li;';ri. v ) Louis Berger Group, Inc. REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT GENERAL ROAD DIRECTORATE EMERGENCY ROAD REPAIR PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION UNIT PREPARATION OF ROAD MAINTENANCE PROJECT ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT PLAN TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. BACKGROUND ............................................... 1 2. PROJECT OBJECTIVES ............................................... 1 3. POLICY, LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE FRAMEWORK ........................ 2 4. PROJECT DESCRIPTION ............................................... 2 5. BASELINE CONDITIONS ................................................ 3 6. POTENTIAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS ................................................ 4 7. ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT PLAN ................................................. 6 8. IMPLEMENTATION ARRANGEMENTS ................................................ 9 9. INSTITUTIONAL STRENGTHENING .................................. ............. 10 10. COSTS OF IMPLEMENTATION ............................................... 10 11. PUBLIC CONSULTATIONS ............. .................................. 11 ANNEXES .12 I. SUMMARY EMP (tables) II. RECORD OF CONSULTATIONS Prefecture of Elbasan. Minutes of Meeting Prefecture of Durres. Minutes of Meeting Prefecture of Vlore. Minutes of Meeting Prefecture of Fier. Minutes of Meeting Prefecture of Berat. Minutes of Meeting Prefecture of Gjirokaster. Minutes of Meeting Prefecture of Korce. Minutes of Meeting Prefecture of Shkoder. Minutes of Meeting Prefecture of Tirana. Minutes of Meeting Prefecture of Diber. Minutes of Meeting Prefecture of Lezhe. Minutes of Meeting Prefecture of Kukes. Minutes of Meeting Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. 1. BACKGROUND Albania is a country of over 29,000 square km and a population of 3.4 million inhabitants with annual per capita income of about US$800. Agriculture generates 56 percent of GDP, and most of the population lives in rural areas. The road subsector has become an increasingly important part of Albania's transport system in the last decade, with rapid growth of vehicle traffic at the expense of other transport modes. The total length of the road network is about 16000 km. The Ministry of Local Government oversees the municipalities responsible for about 1000 km of urban streets, and local government organizations responsible for the remaining 12 000 km of secondary and tertiary roads including 4126 km of rural roads recently separated from GRD. The general condition of the roads, both national and rural, is very poor. The level of Albanian Government financing available for general road maintenance, at about US$7-8 million per year, is totally inadequate to maintain the road network, and the effective maintenance resulting from the expenditure of even these funds is minimal. Albania has been the recipient of substantial amounts of foreign assistance directed to the improvement of the road network, including four IDA projects. In spite of this, the road network is in very poor condition and is verging on being a major constraint to the Government's growth strategy as expressed in the Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper mentioned above. The Government recognizes this, and has requested IDA assistance to improve the country's road maintenance capacity. 2. PROJECT OBJECTIVES The proposed project seeks to improve the overall maintenance of Albania's road network, including both the national and rural roads, both in the near term and on an ongoing basis. Measures to increase general road safety awareness and strengthen coordination of road safety programming would support the establishment of an appropriate enabling environment for a multi- dimensional, sustainable Road Safety Program. The introduction of targeted enforcement strategies, combined with integrated road safety campaigns and remedial measures at accident black spots, would aim to reduce the number of traffic accidents and minimize the offsetting effects of improved road conditions and expected higher traffic speeds. It will have the following specific objectives: * Improving the efficiency of the management of the national and rural road network by (i) restructuring the national road administration (GRD), and (ii) strengthening the rural road administration unit in Ministry of Local Government (MLG). * Improving road safety by (i) developing the institutional capacity in MOT/GRD and MLG to identify hazardous locations and to design and implement physical measures to reduce road accidents at these locations, and (ii) providing technical assistance and equipment to the traffic police to improve law enforcement. The principal issue to be addressed is the need to make the Government's administrative structure responsible for road maintenance more effective. The project therefore also seeks to demonstrate, through the medium of pilot contracts, the effectiveness of using the private sector road construction industry to undertake both routine and periodic maintenance works. Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 1 Louis Berger Group, Inc. The local knowledge based industries of consultants, specialists, and training institutions, will be responsible for the direct management of the contracts on the network through partnership agreements with the local regional offices of the GRD and MLG. 3. POLICY, LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE FRAMEWORK Environmental policy in Albania is governed by the Law on Environment Protection (Law No. 7664 of 21 January 1993, amended by Law No. 8364, dated July 2, 1998). It establishes the functions and responsibilities of the central government agency responsible for environmental matters, the requirements for environmental licensing, requirements for the preparation of environmental impact assessments and penalties for administrative infractions of the environmental code. A new Environment Protection Law has been recently drafted and is due to be ratified by the parliament this year. A new draft Law on Environmental Impact Assessment has also been developed based on EU Directives and international practice. According to the old Law, preparation of environmental impact assessments and environmental impact statements was the responsibility of the Ministry of Environment, which presented a conflict of interest. The new EIA Law requires environmental impact assessments to be prepared by experts contracted by the project developer. The Ministry will not certify these experts but intends to prepare a list of experts approved to provide such services. The Ministry will only have a review and licensing role. The permits will be issued by the Commission for Licensing composed of representatives of different Directorates, specialists, and lawyers. The MoE has recently undergone significant restructuring to improve the environmental management system. An EIA and Information Directorate exists since 2001 with a staff of 5 people. Regional Environmental Agencies exist in all 12 Prefectures, with inspectors having the responsibility to monitor compliance with the environmental regulations. The proposed Road Maintenance Project does not need an environmental impact assessment according to the country's legislation, as EIAs are applied only to new roads of more than 12 Km length. In the past, even this requirement has hardly been implemented because of shortage of staff, priority placed on other more serious environmental concerns (such as industrial development), and the lack of capacity of the environmental agency to make assessments in the roads sector. Quarries and sand extraction and asphalt plants are subject to licensing by the MoE. Contractors in their tender documents are required to show the sources of materials supply. If the materials are to be extracted/prepared by the contractors themselves, then they are required to seek a license from the MoE for this purpose. If the materials are purchased from another enterprise, the MoE reviews the contract with that enterprise and ensures that they have valid operating permits. Solid waste collection and disposal is the responsibility of the local governments and the permits for operators to collect waste as well as the disposal sites should be issued by the local government. In the issuance of such permits, the municipality would seek the opinion of the regional environmental agency concerning the environmental soundness of the selected sites. 4. PROJECT DESCRIPTION The project comprises the following components: a. Civil works to improve the road networks, including: (i) 300 km of roads and bridges of the main road network, based on HDM analysis of the highest priority 1,200 km of the network (US$21 million); (ii) 600 km of roads and bridges of the rural road network based on the Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 2 Louis Berger Group, Inc. selection of the road sections with the