Shanxi Small Cities and Towns Development Demonstration Sector Project
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Resettlement Planning Document Resettlement Framework Document Stage: Final Project Number: 42383 October 2008 People’s Republic of China: Shanxi Small Cities and Towns Development Demonstration Sector Project The resettlement framework is a document of the borrower. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of ADB’s Board of Directors, Management, or staff, and may be preliminary in nature. 1 RESETTLEMENT FRAMEWORK A. General Project Description 1. Shanxi Province is rich in history and coal, ranking first nationally in buildings over 1,000 years old and in coal resources. There are 18 prefecture cities and 119 counties, 561 registered towns and 635 townships. Among these, there are 62 national key towns and 100 provincial key towns, 12 national historical towns, and 71 provincial historic towns. At the end of 2007, there were 33.92 million people in Shanxi Province, of which 14.93 million (44.03%) living in urban areas. 2. Developing small cities and towns is one way to reduce disparities between urban and rural areas and increase the overall productivity of the national economy. According to the national 11th Five-Year Plan, the basic urban development policy for the country is to insist on balanced development of large or middle sized cities with small sized cities, enhance the comprehensive capacity of cities and towns, and actively and steadily proceed with urbanization process based on principles of saving farmland, concentrating development, rational planning, and gradually changing the dual structure of urban and rural sectors. In Shanxi, the 11th Five- Year Plan also requires the development of small cities or towns to follow the new approach of industrialization with emphasis on special characteristics, which will play important roles to develop county economies, and promote urbanization with special characteristics in Shanxi. Following the requirement set out in “Shanxi Provincial Government Opinion on Speeding up the Process of Developing Small Cities and Towns” (2005), the development of small cities and towns will emphasize enhancement of town functions and expanding the impact of the towns on the development of surrounding areas. 3. To enhance resources available for small city and town development, the Shanxi Provincial Government (SPG) proposes to take out a loan from ADB. In selection of project towns, a number of principles were taken into account. The criteria for selection of towns are shown in Core Appendix 4. The core subprojects are Pingyao County, Wutong Town (Xiaoyi City), and Youyu County. These cities and towns are capable of producing a demonstration effect because of their similarity to other towns (tourist towns, resource extraction towns, “green towns,” etc.) and their ability to make substantial development progress given key investments infrastructure. Four other candidate subproject towns are also being studied for possible inclusion in the sector project. B. Project Impacts 4. Under the Project, land acquisition and demolition of buildings is mainly related to construction and/or rehabilitation of infrastructure facilities. The affected areas for land acquisition and resettlement are defined according to the recommended engineering works as per the subproject Shanxi small cities and towns development projects feasibility studies, using 1/2000 topographical maps for each city. 5. According to initial investigation and surveys, land acquisition and demolition for the three core subprojects and, indicatively, the four candidate subsequent subprojects would affect 22 villages (or residential committees), 7 townships (or towns), and 7 counties (or districts). Overall, these projects would acquire a total of 166 ha (2,490 mu) of land, including about 112 ha (1,677 mu) of farmland (67.4%). The loss of farmland is equivalent to 8,316 persons needing full economic rehabilitation. A total of 47,666 square meters constructed floor space (buildings) would be demolished, including 27,987 m2 of residential structures (58.3%) and 19,679 m2 of 2 non-residential structures (41.3%). About 197 households with 670 persons will be relocated and 23 enterprises and 1 shop would be affected. During project construction, no land would be temporarily occupied. Existing infrastructure facilities, such as telephoto lines, wells, and tombs would either be disrupted or partially realigned around the new works. Details of the number of affected households and various resettlement impacts for all 7 subprojects are provided in Annex 2. C. Preparation and Approval Procedures for Resettlement Plan 6. For all of the Shanxi Small Cities and Towns Development Project’s subprojects, where land acquisition and resettlement is necessitated, individual resettlement plans (RPs) must be prepared and implemented according to the policies confirmed in this RF. Following the ADB’s operational procedures for involuntary resettlement, detailed RPs have been prepared for three core subprojects (Youyu, Wutong, and Pingyao). For each of the four proposed subsequent subprojects, the provincial project management office (PPMO) and the local project management offices (LPMOs) will need to organize, prior to implementation, a detailed resettlement impact survey to be carried out by the Shanxi Planning and Design Institutes. For all subprojects that seriously affect more than 200 people, a full RP should be prepared in accordance with this RF, which will be reviewed by the PPMO before being submitted to ADB for approval prior to implementation. PPMO, LPMOs, the independent resettlement monitoring agency, and the ADB will supervise and monitor the resettlement implementation for individual subprojects. 7. According to ADB procedures, the full RP should include the following contents: (i) general description of the subproject, (ii) assessment of the subproject impacts, (iii) assessment of the natural and socio-economic conditions of the project-affected areas, (iv) statement on the legal framework and applicable policies, (v) description of the planned resettlement measures, (vi) description of the responsible institutions and their duties, (vii) description of the process for public participation and incorporation of the subproject area residents views and suggestions for the resettlement area, (viii) description of the appeals procedure, (ix) description and outline of the environment protection and management procedures, (x) detail of the monitoring and evaluation requirements and procedures, (xi) statement on the compensation fees and related budget, and (xii) outline for reporting the resettlement progress. D. Objectives and Legal Framework 1. Objective and Principles 8. According to the principles of the Involuntary Resettlement Policy of the ADB, resettlement and land acquisition should be avoided or minimized wherever possible, but where such impacts cannot be avoided, then each subproject that involves land acquisition and involuntary resettlement will have to comply with the general principles of this RF. Once specific land acquisition and resettlement impacts are confirmed, a short or full RP must be developed based on the policies and procedures set forth in this RF. 3 9. The objective of this RF is to ensure that all the affected people (permanent and temporary) whose business or employment place or farmland are acquired, or whose houses are demolished, or whose production operations are affected, or whose crops, trees and property are affected, whether in part or in full, will be given reasonable compensation for their losses and/or all necessary assistance so that they may improve or at least keep or re-attain their original production facilities or capacity and their living standards.. 10. For the preparation of this RF, the Involuntary Resettlement Policy of the ADB has been adopted. Therefore, the following general principles are applicable to achieve these objectives. (i) The RP should follow the basic principles of various national laws and local regulations for land acquisition and demolition together with the ADB’s Policy on Involuntary Resettlement. (ii) The RP should be based on a socio-economic survey and a detailed impact survey. (iii) The project design should be optimized in order to protect farmland and minimize the area affected by the land acquisition and demolition. (iv) All compensation and the resettlement of involuntary relocatees are part of the project costs, and sufficient funds should be provided to the affected people so that they are not disadvantaged by the project. (v) The plan should ensure that, after resettlement, the living conditions, productivity and income level of all the affected people will be restored to at least the level they had before resettlement. (vi) Compensation for houses and other assets should be based on replacement value, and no depreciation or any other kind of discount should be applied. (vii) All the people and the buildings that are adversely affected by the project should be compensated. (viii) Vulnerable groups should be provided with special attention and assistance, such as helping them to move to a new area, or assisting them in economic rehabilitation. (ix) In order to ensure that living standards and income levels will not decrease, all laborers affected by land acquisition should be provided with new employment or economic packages. Emphasis will given to providing replacement farmland, supplemented with non-farm activities. If feasible, the affected farmers could choose self-employment. (x) There should be full disclosure of the resettlement