2 Environmental Impact
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HIS MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT OF NEPAL MINISTRY OF WORKS AND TRANSPORT DEPARTMENTOF ROADS ROAD MAINTENANCE AND Public Disclosure Authorized DEVELOPMENT PROJECT NEW ROAD DEVELOPMENT - __ aAND UPGRADINGCOMPONENT Public Disclosure Authorized FINAL REPORT E-257 VOL. 2 Public Disclosure Authorized ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ____ ASSESSMENT New Road Construction Public Disclosure Authorized SMEC International Pty. Ltd., Cooma, NSW, Australia ASMEC in associationwitfi CEMATConsultants (Pvt.) Ltd., Nepal June 1999 Table of Contents Project Proponent i Executive Summary i 1. Introduction 1.1 Background 1.2 Project Description 1 1.3 Aims of Environmental Assessment 3 2. Legislation, Policies and Standards 5 2.1 Environmental Assessment Requirements 5 2.1.1 NTationalLegislation 5 2.1.2 World Bank Requirements 6 2.1.3 Departrent of Roads Standards 7 2.2 Road Development Requirements 7 2.2.1 National Legislation 7 2.2.2 International Conventions and Treaties 9 2.2.3 National Policies 9 3. Methodology 11 3.1 EIA Scoping 11 3).2 Alignment Inspection 12 3.2.1 Alignent Selection 12 3.2.2 Collection of Alinment Information 13 3.3 District Interviewvs 14 3.4 Inspection of Existing Roads 14 35 Assessment of Environmental Issues 15 4. Analysis of Alternatives 20 4.1 Alternative Roads 20 4.1.1 PrioritylnvestmentPlanProject 20 4.1.2 RMD Project Screeningc 21 4.2 Alternative Road Aligrunents 28 4.3 Alignment Refinement 3 1 5. Existing Access, Proposed Alignments and Projected Traffic 33 5.1 Existing Access 33 5.1.1 Darchula Access 33 5.1.2 Martadi Access 34 5.1.3 Mangalsen Access 34 5.1.4 Jumla Access 35 5.1.5 Jajarkot Access 35 5.2 Existing Traffic Volumes 36 5.3 Proposed Alignments 36 5.4 Projected Vehicle Traffic 37 6. Bio-Physical Environment 38 6.1 Physiographic Regions 38 6.2 Topography 39 6.3 Climate 40 6.4 Geology 41 6.5 Soils 44 6.6 Seismicity 45 6.7 Lanid Use 45 6.8 Forest Cover and Use 47 6.8.1 District Forest Cover 47 6.8.2 Forest Cover in the Region of Influence 48 6.8.3 Forest Use 52 6.9 Wildlife and Fish 54 6.10 Protected Areas 55 6.11 Rivers Basins, Wetlands and W'ater Quality 57 6.12 Archaeological, Religious and Cultural Sites 58 6.13 Noise and Air Quality . 59 7. Socio-Economic Environment 60 7.1 Regional, District and VDC Context 60 7.2 Demographic Profiles and Settlement Patterns 62 7.3 Economic Activities and Subsistence 66 7.4 Key Social Services and Facilities 72 7.4.1 Education 72 7.4.2 Health 74 8. Potential Environmental Impacts 75 8.1 Direct and Indirect EnvironrmentalImpacts 75 8.2 Extent of Environmental Impacts 76 8.3 Duration of Environmental Impacts 76 8.4 Primar) and Secondary EnvirornmentalIssues 76 8.5 Bio-physical Environmental Impacts 77 8.5.1 Land Use 77 8.5.2 Land Stability 80 -. 5.3 Fcology 84 8.5.4 Archaeology, Religious and Cultural Sites 89 8.5.5 Noise and Vibration 90 &.5.6 Air Quality 91 8.5.7 Other Pollution 92 8.5.8 Drinking Water Catchments 93 8.5.9 Future Likely Impacts 94 8.6 Socio-economic Impacts 95 8.6.1 Loss of Buildings and Structures 96 8.6.2 Loss of Cultivation Land and Other Natural Resources 99 8.6.3 Population Displacement 101 8.6.4 Road ConstructionEmployment 103 8.6.i Impact of Foreign Construction Workers 106 8.6.6 Social Change and Development 106 9. Design, Construction and Maintenance Mitigation Measures 112 9.1 Alignment Planning 112 9.2 Road Design Mitigation Measures 114 9.2.1 Excavation and Road Formation 114 9.2.2 Drainage 116 9.3 Road Construction MitiQationMeasures 119 9.3.1 Construction Programme 119 9.3.2 Construction Methods 120 9.3.3 Construction Management and Certification of Works 121 9.3.4 Training 122 9.3.5 Worksite Survey, Pegging and Approval 123 9.3.6 Additional Road Design 123 9.3.7 Vegetation Clearance 124 9.3.8 Retaining Wall Construction 124 9.3.9 Excavation and Embankment Construction 125 9.3.10 Topsoil Saving and Re-use 125 9.3.11 Fill Disposal 126 9.3.12 Reinstatement of Services 126 9.3.13 Quarries and Borrow Pits 127 9.3.14 Stockpiling 128 9.3.15 Workforce Camp 128 9.3.16 Workforce Management 129 9.3.17 Noise Pollution 129 9.3.18 Hazards and Hazardous Materials 129 9.3.19 Revegetation 130 9.3.20 Ancillary Site Rehabilitation 131l 9.4 Maintenance Recommendations 131 9.5 Mitigation of Direct Socio-economic Impacts 132 9.5.1 Objectives 132 9.5.2 Entitlement Policy 133 9.5.3 Land Acquisition 137 10. Improvement Proposals 138 10.1 Improvement of Degraded Environmental Features 139 10.1.1 Comunity Forest Establishment and Support 139 10.1.2 Trail Improvement 143 10.1.3 Revegetation of Degraded Land 144 10.1.4 Landslide Stabilisation 145 10.2 Improvements Relating to the Proposed Roads 145 10.2.1 Road Head and Market Centre Plannin; 145 10.2.2 Cash Crop Development 147 11. Project Benefits and Costs 148 11.1 Project Benefits 148 11.2 Project Costs 148 11.2.1 Road Construction Costs 148 11-2.2 Environmental Mitigation Costs 148 11.2.3 Environmental Improvement Costs 10 12. Public Consultation 151 12.1 EIA Scoping 152 12.2 Data Collection and Alignment Selection 152 12.2.1 Data Collection 152 12.2.2 Alignment Selection 154 12.3 Formulation of Mitigation and Improvement Measures 154 13. Conclusions 155 14. References 158 Appendices 1. Design Standards for Road Construction 2. District Officials and Others Interviewed 3. Scoping Workshop Participants 4. EIA Scoping Issues 5. Road Alignment Recommendations 6. AlignmnentData Sheets 7. Forest Use and Protected Species Interview Sheets 8. District Interview Sheets 9. Proposed Road Alignments 10. Forest Species Associations in the ROIs 11. Cormnunity Forests Within the ROIs 12. Protected Plant Species Reported Within the Road ROls 13. Mammals Reported Within the Road ROIs 14. Protected Birds Reported Within the Road ROIs 15. Wetlands in Road Districts 16. Historical/Cultural/Archaeological Sites in the Road Districts 17. District Cultivation Areas and Average Crop Yields 18. Improvement Proposal Cost Estimates Figures I. Proposed New Roads 2. Proposed Darchula Road 3. Proposed Martadi and Mangalsen Roads 4. Proposed Jumla Road D. Proposed Jajarkot Road 6. Pysiographic Regions 7. Example of a Preliminarv Design Drawing 8. Impact Areas of Different Road Construction Techniques 114 9. Location of Road Drains at Natural Drainage Lines 18 10. Sequence of Construction Activities 124 11. Replacement of Existing Water Supply Line with a Standpipe 127 Diagrams I1. Projec7tIncorporation of Environmental Mitigation Measures 4 2. Main Constraints, Mitigation Measures and Likely Benefits and Impacts 156 Tables 1. Roads Proposed for Construction 2 2. Survey Social Sample 14 3. Initially Viable Roads Proposed in the PIP Study 21 4. Candidate ConstructionRoads Screened 22 5. Environmental Screening Scores for Candidate Construction Roads 25 6. - Social Screening Scores for Candidate Construction Roads 27 7. Overall Screening Scores 27 8. Average Daily Traffic 36 9. Projected TNormal'Vehicle Traffic Composition 37 10. Projected 'Normal' Daily Vehicle Traffic Volume 37 11. Physiographic Regions of Nepal 38 12. Physiographic Regions of Proposed Roads 38 13. Topographic Features Along the Proposed Aligmnents 39 14. Climatic Zones Along the Proposed Roads 40 15. Recorded Seismic Activity Along the Proposed Road Corridors 45 16. DistrictLand Use 46 17. District Forest Cover 47 18. District Forest Cover Type by Physiographic Region 48 19. Forest Stock Change 1979-1994 48 20. Forest Types Within the Region of Influence 49 21. Forest Density Within the Region of Influence 50 22. Forest Maturity Within the Region of Influence 50 23. District Per Capita Fuelwood Consumption by Enduse 53 24. Major River Features 58 25. Road Districts and Potentially Influenced Districts 60 26. VDCs Crossed by Proposed Roads 60 27. Road Districts by Key Development Indicators 61 28. District Population Figures 62 29. Households and Population in the Road VDCs, 1991 and 1998 63 30. Ethnic/Caste Composition of the Road Districts Population (1991) 64 31. Demographic Features of the Household Population 64 32. Out-Migrants in the Mid-, West-, and Far-Western Census Regions (1981-1991) 65 33. Residential Status of the Household Population (n= 1,558 persons) 66 34. Occupational Status of Economically Active Population by Road District 66 35. Occupational Status of the Household Population 67 36. Landholdings by Road District 68 37. Reported Household Landholding Size 68 38. Livestock Ownership 69 39. Nominal HouselholdIncome and Per Capita Income by Development Region 70 40. Income by Source and Development Region 70 41. Reported Sources of Income During the Previous Year 71 42. Expenditure by Type 72 43. Schools and Students in the Road Districts (1996) 73 44. Educational Levels of the Household Population. 6 years and older 73 45. Health Facilities in the Road Districts (1996/97) 74 46. Primary Environmental Issues and Associated Impacts 77 47. Land Use Types Within the Right-of-Way 78 48. Forest Types and Densities Within the Right-of-Way 79 49. Regional Fuelwood and Wood Conversion Factors 80 50. Estimated Fuelwood Yield Within the Right-of-Way 80 51. Estimated Wood Yield Within the Right-of-Way 80 52. Rock Slope Haard Ratings 8 1 53. Soil Slope Hazard Ratings 82 54. Slope Hazard Classification 82 55. Alignment Slope Hazards 83 56. Archaeological,Religious and Cultural Sites Within Alignment VDCs 90 57. ApproximateAnnual Exhaust Emissions From Vehicle Traffic 92 58.