Eastern Sichuan Roads Development Project

Resettlement Planning Document

Summary Resettlement Plan Document Stage: Final Project Number: 37490 June 2006

PRC: Eastern Sichuan Roads Development Project

Prepared by Sichuan Provincial Communications Department

The resettlement plan 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.

PRC: Eastern Sichuan Roads Development Project

Short Resettlement Plan For Local Roads Component

By Sichuan Provincial Communications Department Sichuan, PRC

June 2006

Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION AND PROJECT BACKGROUND 1

CHAPTER 2 LAND ACQUISITION AND RESETTLEMENT IMPACTS 2

CHAPTER 3 LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND RESETTLEMENT POLICY 4

CHAPTER 4 RESETTLEMENT AND REHABILITATION PROGRAMS 8

CHAPTER 5 RESETTLEMENT BUDGET 9

CHAPTER 6 RESETTLEMENT ORGANIZATIONS AND IMPLEMENTATION 9

CHAPTER 7 CONSULTATION AND PARTICIPATION , REDRESS OF GRIEVANCES 10

CHAPTER 8 MONITORING AND EVALUATION 11

Figure 1 Map of Project Area

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION AND PROJECT BACKGROUND

1. The proposed Eastern Sichuan Roads Development Project includes the construction of (i) a 138 km expressway from Dazhou City to the Shaanxi border, (ii) 10 link roads with a length of 28 km, and (iii) a local road upgrading component comprising 30 sections with a total length of 402 km of township to village roads. One Resettlement Plan (RP) covers the expressway and related link roads, interchanges, toll stations, and service areas. This short RP covers the local road upgrading. The local road upgrading is an annual program; each year, a number of sections will have designs prepared and will be implemented in the subsequent dry season (October to May). Prior to commencement of each annual upgrading program, SPCD will update this RP based on detailed design and measurement survey for those sections to be upgraded that year. The revised RP will be disclosed to APs and submitted to ADB for approval prior to commencement of civil works.

1.1 Local Road Upgrading

2. About 402 km of local roads were identified by SPCD from the local government’s Rural Road Development Plan. Of the selected 30 projects, 18 roads are Class III and 12 roads are Class IV (see Figure 1 and Table 1). All are existing local roads which will be upgraded from asphalt or gravel roads to concrete roads; the width of the road will be the same standard and no new bridges are required. The total cost is estimated to be CNY 210.5 million. These local roads will be entirely financed by local government. Table 1 shows the proposed local roads grouped by county.

Table 1 List of Proposed Local Roads

Class Class Investment Town/Village Implementation County Name Project Name III IV (1,000 CNY) Affected Period (km) (km) 1 Daxian S201 Beimiao-Jinshi 19.0 9,500 Jinshi 2006 2 Xuanhan Pingxikou-Baimagonglu 9.0 4,389 Baima 2006 3 Dongxiang-Qingxi 13.9 6,955 Qingxi 2007 4 Tuzhu-Puguang 3.8 1,897 Puguang 2008 5 G210 Shuanghe-Liuchi 8.0 4,000 Liuchi 2008 6 Fankuai-Santun 8.0 4,000 Santun 2008 7 Shangsanhe-Huangshi 4.0 2,000 Huangshi 2009 8 G210 Dacheng-Hongling 13.3 6,647 Hongling 2009 9 Hongling-Mingyue 9.0 4,485 Mingyue 2009 10 Mingyue-Juntang 8.5 4,252 Juntang 2010 11 Qili-Paishu 10.0 5,000 Paishu 2010 12 Santun-Qishu 13.0 6,500 Qishu 2010 13 Xuanhan-Donglin 12.0 6,000 Donglin 2010 14 Tianbao-Miao'an 14.8 7,410 Miao'an 2010 15 Qili-Tianbao 8.5 4,250 Tianbao 2010 16 Nanba-Tahe 7.0 3,500 Tahe 2010 17 Tahe-Chahe 11.5 5,750 Chahe 2010 18 Huangjin-Xinhua 20.0 10,000 Huangjin 2010

Class Class Investment Town/Village Implementation County Name Project Name III IV (1,000 CNY) Affected Period (km) (km) 19 Wanyuan Wulangxi-Shirengonglu 18.0 12,937 Shiren 2006 20 Baisha-Batai 25.0 18,200 Batai 2007 21 Zhongping-Dasha 12.0 6,000 Dasha 2007 22 Dasha-Chaoba 20.0 10,000 Chaoba 2008 23 Chaoba-Weijia 6.0 3,000 Weijia 2008 24 G210 Changba-Shatan 19.0 9,500 Shatan 2009 25 Dasha-Shiwo 16.3 8,134 Shiwo 2009 26 G210 Qinghua-Guanba 18.0 9,000 Guanba 2009 27 G210 Shiankou-Zengjia 9.0 9.8 9,400 Zengjia 2010 28 S302 Zhuyu-Kangle 13.0 6,500 Kangle 2010 29 S302 Dazhu-Linhe 15.5 7,750 Linhe 2010 30 G210 Shiankou-Hekou 27.0 13,500 Hekou 2010 Total 243.3 158.6 210,456 Source: SPCD Table 2 Proposed Local Roads Grouped by County

County Name Proposed Local Roads (km) Total Investment Total Class II Class III Class IV (million RMB) Daxian 19 19 9.5 Xuanhan 174 99 75 87.0 Wanyuan 209 125 84 114.0 Total 402 243 159 210.5 Source: SPCD

3. PPTA’s social and poverty assessment indicated that the project’s local road component will directly benefit 771,450 local people, of which 27.5 % are poor (see Table 3).

Table 3 Beneficiaries of Local Roads

Rural Urban Total Poor Poor Poor Beneficiary Poor Beneficiary Poor Beneficiary Poor (%) (%) (%) Local roads 625,689 196,335 31.4 145,761 15,800 10.8 771,450 212,135 27.5 corridors Source: TA Consultants.

CHAPTER 2 ESTIMATION OF LAND ACQUISITION AND RESETTLEMENT IMPACTS

4. All of the 402 kilometers of local road improvements involves only pavement of the existing asphalt or gravel roads with the existing alignments. However, there may be some widening or straightening of the road in certain places, estimated as 5% of the alignment length and one meter widening on average. Therefore, in total, the local road upgrading will permanently acquire about 2

2 ha of farmland1. A similar amount of farmland may be occupied temporarily. Some scattered trees will also be affected (estimated at 10 trees per km) and some structures may be affected; a provisional estimate of 1,000 m2 is assumed, which may impact about 10 households..

5. For 2006-2007, three roads are planned for construction. The design work for each road has been completed and the results confirm that there will be no permanent land acquisition, no temporary land occupation and no impacts on houses (see Table 4). For the following years, the impact data will not be available until designs are completed; therefore, the impacts will be updated prior to the commencement of each annual road program.

Table 4 Land Acquisition and Resettlement Impacts (2006-2007)

County Road Section Road Year Land Acquisition Temporary Affected Affected Length (ha) Structure Persons House- (km) Permanent Temporary Demolition holds (m2) Daxian S201 Beimiao-Jinshi 19.0 2006-07 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 Xuanhan Pingxikou-Baimagonglu 9.0 2006-07 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 Dongxiang-Qingxi 13.9 Tuzhu-Puguang 3.8 G210 Shuanghe-Liuchi 8.0 Fankuai-Santun 8.0 Shangsanhe-Huangshi 4.0 G210 13.3 Dacheng-Hongling Hongling-Mingyue 9.0 Mingyue-Juntang 8.5 Qili-Paishu 10.0 Santun-Qishu 13.0 Xuanhan-Donglin 12.0 Tianbao-Miao'an 14.8 Qili-Tianbao 8.5 Nanba-Tahe 7.0 Tahe-Chahe 11.5 Wanyuan Wulangxi-Shirengonglu 18.0 2006-07 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 Baisha-Batai 25.0 Zhongping-Dasha 12.0 Dasha-Chaoba 20.0 Chaoba-Weijia 6.0 G210 Changba-Shatan 19.0 Dasha-Shiwo 16.3 G210 Qinghua-Guanba 18.0 G210 Shiankou-Zengjia 18.8 S302 Zhuyu-Kangle 13.0 S302 Dazhu-Linhe 15.5 G210 Shiankou-Hekou 27.0 Daxian District 19 km 0.0 0 0 0 0 Sub-total Xuanhan County 9 km 0.0 0 0 0 0

1 50% paddy land and 50% dryland. 3 by Wanyuan County 18 km 0.0 0 0 0 0 County for Total for 2006-07 46 km 0.0 0 0 0 0 2006-07 Source: SPCD and Design Institute.

2.1 Affected Persons

6. The local road upgrading, acquisitioning of 2 ha of farmland, is equivalent to 40 rural persons losing all their farmland2. In reality, since only a thin strip of land would be affected, no farmer would lose more than 5% of the land and the average loss would only be 2%. Consequently, there is no impact on livelihoods and lost income which is small (about 25 yuan annually) would be fully compensated. There is demolition of houses planned, so no persons need to be relocated.

CHAPTER 3 LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND RESETTLEMENT POLICY

3.1 General

7. The preparation and implementation of resettlement for this Project shall follow the Laws and Regulations promulgated by the PRC and Sichuan Province, and also meet the requirements of ADB’s Involuntary Resettlement Policy. The adopted compensation standards and rehabilitation measures in this RP will be followed during resettlement implementation. Each year, after detailed designs are completed for the annual road upgrading, this RP will be updated in terms of full census, final asset inventory and valuation, and final budget, and submitted to ADB for review prior to commencement of civil works.

3.2 Policies and Regulations

8. This RP follows the Laws and Regulations promulgated by the PRC and Sichuan Province, and also meet the requirements of ADB’s Involuntary Resettlement Policy. Policies and regulations to be followed include: a) The Land Administration Law of PRC (Promulgated by Order No.8 of President of the Peoples’ Republic of China on August 29, 1998, and effective as of January 1, 1999); b) Implementation Regulations for Land Administration Law of PRC (Promulgated by Order No.256 of the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China on December 27, 1998, and effective as of January 1, 1999); c) Decree on Public Hearings regarding State-owned Land and Resources (Order No. 22 of the Ministry of Land and Resources of China, effective as of May 1, 2004). d) Sichuan Province Implementation Method of PRC Land Administration Law (Promulgated on December 10, 1999 by Sichuan Provincial Government). e) Opinion on How to Regularize and Adjust Land Compensation Standards (Issued in the order of No. 39 2004 by Sichuan Provincial Government) f) Notice on Insurance of Method of Collection and Use of Forest Restoration

2 i.e., completely losing their farmland using the average per capita farmland of 0.73 mu in the project area 4

(Issued in the order of No.73 2002 jointly by Ministry of Finance and State Forestry Bureau) g) Method on Farmland Occupation Tax in Sichuan, (Issued by Sichuan Provincial Government on August 14, 1987) h) ADB’s “Involuntary Resettlement Policy” November 1995 and guidelines - “Handbook on Resettlement: A Guide to Good Practice” 1998. And ADB’s operational policy OM/F2-Involuntary Resettlement issued in 2003.

3.3 Project Resettlement Policy

9. Policies regarding compensation and resettlement for the affected persons (APs) are based on a combination of the PRC laws and regulations and ADB’s policy and requirements. The primary objective of the RP is to restore the income and living standards of the APs in post-resettlement period as quickly as possible and with as little disruption possible in their own economic and social environment. The RP is prepared and will be implemented to meet this objective. Special attention will be given to address the needs of the poorest and other vulnerable groups to be resettled. Further, the need for involuntary resettlement will be reduced by following existing alignments and rights-of-way as much as possible, and when temporary land occupation is required for construction, vacant or wasteland will be used as much as possible. The numbers of all the affected vulnerable groups will be determined after DMS.

10. The resettlement principles adopted for this Project reflect the legal and policy requirements of the PRC and ADB. The adopted principles with regard to compensation, resettlement and income restoration are flexible enough, allowing for considerable variability from village to village. The key is to ensure that all APs receive adequate compensation and assistance to restore their incomes, living conditions and general livelihood in the post-resettlement period.

3.4 Legal Provisions on Permanent Land Occupation

11. Permanent Land Acquisition. Based on the statistical yearbooks and discussions with county officials, the AAOVs for paddy in are set as 1,600 Yuan/mu for Tongchuan and Xuanhan and 1,500 Yuan/mu for Wanyuan; and the corresponding AAOVs for dryland are 1,000 and 900 Yuan/respectively. Since all project counties have a per capita farmland of below 1 mu, following the provisions3 in Sichuan Province Implementation Method of PRC Land Administration Law (1999) and Opinion on How to Regularize and Adjust Land Compensation Standards (2004), after consultation with affected counties, land compensation and land resettlement subsidy are preliminarily set at 20 times of AAOV, including 10 times of AAVO for land compensation and the same for resettlement subsidy. Consequently, as presented in Table 7, the overall compensation standards for paddy and dry land are 33,600 and 21,000 Yuan/mu for Daxian and Xuanhan. The corresponding figures are 31,500 and 18,900 Yuan/mu for Wanyuan. These compensations also include 1 time of AAOV for standing crops. As for orchards, standing trees will be counted and separately compensated using the standards given in Table 9; while land will be treated as dryland.

3.5 Compensation Standards

12. The compensation rates for and acquisition will be the same as adopted for the Project expressway (see Table 5).

3 Which stated that land compensation and resettlement subsidy should not exceed 30 times of AAOV. 5

Table 5 Compensation Rates for Permanent Land Acquisition

Compensation standards (Yuan/mu) County Land type Land Resettlement Standing crops Overall compensation subsidy 16,000 16,000 1,600 33,600 Tongchuan Paddy land and Dryland 10,000 10,000 1,000 21,000 Xuanhan Woodland4 12,000 Paddy land 15,000 15,000 1,500 31,500 Wanyuan Dry land 9,000 9,000 900 18,900 Woodland 12,000 Source: Dazhou Municipal Government.

13. If any houses at to be demolished, the compensation for houses will be treated of the same as for the Project expressway (see Table 6) They will receive relocation allowances (see Table 7).

Table 6 Compensation Rates for Houses and Auxiliaries

Compensation Item Category Class Unit standard Concrete Frame Yuan/m2 600 I Yuan/m2 450 Brick Concrete II Yuan/m2 400 III Yuan/m2 350 House I Yuan/m2 320 Brick-wood II Yuan/m2 300 III Yuan/m2 280 Earth wood I Yuan/m2 260 I Yuan/m2 150 Simple House II Yuan/m2 120 III Yuan/m2 100 Brick wall (solid) Yuan/m2 20 Auxiliaries Earth wall Yuan/m2 15 Biogas digester Yuan/set 2,000 Well Yuan/set 1,000 Tomb Yuan/set 300 Brick Toilet Yuan/set 100 Source: Dazhou Municipal Government.

4 Existing trees included. 6

Table 7 Relocation Allowances

Transitional New house plot Miscellaneous Total Item Transport housing leveling Allowance 500 500 2,000 1,000 4,000 (Yuan/HH) Source: Dazhou Municipal Government. These are average figures; the amount will be based on actual need.

14. Compensation rates for scattered trees, if any, are given in Table 8. The rates are also identical to that for the expressway component.

Table 8 Compensation Rates for Scattered Trees

Item Type Compensation rate (Yuan/tree) Note Mature 30 Timber trees Young 5 average

Mature 200 Fruit trees Young 50 Source: Dazhou Municipal Government.

15. The entitlements to be provided to affected persons are summarized in Table 9.

Table 9 Entitlement Matrix of Compensation and Resettlement Policy

No. of Entitled Type of entitled Compensation Compensation Implementation Application person/ loss persons policy Entitlement issues group /groups Permanent Farmland HHs with use Village a) Land a) 20 times of AAOV to a) Village loss of within ROW rights and groups and compensation HHs if contract land, committee will farmland (in cases collective with affected and resettlement or to collective if confirm losses where ownership households subsidies in cash; common land and payments widening or b) Cash b) 1 time of AAOV to b) Township realignment is compensation for HHs for standing authorities required) standing crops crops approve and c) Farmland c) 10,000 Yuan/mu to monitor reclamation fund paid to provincial according land administrative provincial policy department by EA d) Farmland d) 3,335 Yuan/mu occupation tax farmland occupation according tax to taxation provincial policy departments by EA

Temporary Farmland HHs with use Village Cash compensation 2 times AAOV to HHs if Use is monitored by land used for rights and groups and paid to owner contract land, or to township officials; occupation construction collective with affected collective if common maximum period is activities ownership households land less than 1 year

Loss of Scattered Affected people All owners Cash compensation Full payment directly to Small trees will be scattered timber and fruit who loss based on project tree owners replanted. trees trees on standing standards acquisitioned trees farmland, if any

No. of Entitled Type of entitled Compensation Compensation Implementation Application person/ loss persons policy Entitlement issues group /groups Loss of Residential Affected All owners Cash compensation Full payment directly to Notice 6 months in houses houses or households based on owners before advance. Township other replacement value demolition government will structures plus moving assist them to find a allowances. suitable new site.

CHAPTER 4 RESETTLEMENT AND REHABILITATION PROGRAMS

4.1 Resettlement Target

16. The overall objective of resettlement and rehabilitation is to ensure that the affected production base will be restored, the affected labor force will be re-employed, alternative locations for housing affected households will be identified, and income and livelihood of affected people will be improved or at least restored to their previous levels before resettlement.

4.2 Resettlement Guideline

17. The basic resettlement policy of the Project is to respect the wishes of affected people and maintain their current production and living traditions. Land-based resettlement should be in original township (town), village and village group with the consideration of local agriculture restructuring (mainly for planting production) and without change of APs’ non-agriculture resident status. The resettlement should be set firstly in the foundation of basic living materials and long-term potential of development, fully take the advantage of local resources, and adjust resettlement approaches to suit local conditions to explore the development method. The compensation given by the government should be fully used and more scientific and technical means should be adopted to keep the production and living level equal to or higher than before. Efforts should be made to increase the income of APs simultaneously with other villagers in the vicinity in order to have a coordinative development of regional economy, maintain the community more stable and safe in long run.

4.3 Resettlement Planning Principles

18. A number of resettlement and rehabilitation principles have been developed for this Project.

(1) The resettlement plan will be based on detailed inventory for land acquisition and houses demolition, and adopted compensation standards and subsidies.

(2) The resettlement shall be combined with the local development, resource utilization and economic growth as well as environment protection. Considering the local conditions, a practical and feasible resettlement plan should be developed to restore or improve their economic production and create basic conditions for long-term development.

(3) The resettlement planning should be based on the principle “Beneficial to the production and

8 convenient for living”.

(4) The re-construction standard and scale shall be based with the principle of recovery to the original standard and original scale. Combining the local development, the cost for enlarging the scale, raising standard and future plan shall be solved independently by local government and relevant department.

(5) Making overall plans and taking all factors into consideration, correctly handling the relations between the state, collective and individual.

(6) Fully utilize local natural resource, build water conservancy facility, develop new farmland, improve land quality, and strengthen agricultural strength and make the resettlers' living standard reach or exceed the original level as soon as possible.

(7) The resettlement plans should include provisions to improve the living standards of poor people and other vulnerable people who are adversely affected by the project.

CHAPTER 5 RESETTLEMENT BUDGET

19. The cost of land acquisition and resettlement will be included in each subcomponent budget. In total, the resettlement costs are estimated to be about CNY 1.9 million (Table 10). Since the impacts cannot be determined at this stage, the budget is provisional and will need to be updated once designs and measurement surveys are done. In any case, the cost of land acquisition and resettlement is expected is a minor part of each subcomponent cost.

Table 10 Resettlement Budget

Items Impacts Unit rate (yuan) Budget (Yuan) Permanent land acquisition 30 mu 27,000 810,000 Temporary land occupation 30 mu 2,700 81,000 Provision for scattered trees 4,000 trees 25 100,000 Provision for houses 1000 m2 250 250,000 Moving allowance 10 households 4000 40,000 Land taxes 30 mu 13,335 400,000 Provisions for other costs (15%) 252,000 Total 1,933,000 Source: SPCD and Design Institute.

20. Compensation will be directly paid to the affected households by the contractors under the supervision of county communications bureau. Prior to construction, agreement must be concluded between contractors and affected households and verified by township officials.

CHAPTER 6 RESETTLEMENT ORGANIZATIONS AND IMPLEMENTATION

6.1 Resettlement Organizations

21. The institutional framework for resettlement includes two kinds of organizations: the

9 governmental organization and non-governmental organization (for example the private organizations or resettlement committee of affected people etc.). The resettlement organizations are important structure frames to insure that resettlement planning, managing and implement the compensation and resettlement, restoring income and rebuilding.

22. The county communications bureaus will take full charge of the general planning of the land acquisition and resettlement of this Project, and the resettlement management work.

23. The county land administration bureaus (prefecture, county and township) will be responsible for the land acquisition and resettlement procedures and payments.

24. The other key stakeholders include the village committees, villager groups and affected households.

6.2 Resettlement Implementation Procedures and Schedule

25. The local road sections will be constructed in a phased manner over 5 years (refer to Table 1); the first 3 sections will start in the winter of 2006-07. The county communication bureaus will contract institutes to prepare the detailed designs, which will determine the precise requirements for land acquisition or temporary land use. The county communication bureaus will consult with the local officials, village leaders and affected persons before finalizing the designs.

28. Since these impacts are small, the land use will be approved by the county land and resources bureaus and will issue formal notifications to affected persons. Prior to commencement of civil works for each section, the county communication bureaus will quantify resettlement impacts and submit to Dazhou Project Management Office. In turn, SPCD will prepare updates or addendums to this RP showing the revised impacts and resettlement costs, and submit to ADB for concurrence.

CHAPTER 7 CONSULTATION, PARTICIPATION AND REDRESS OF GRIEVANCES

7.1 Consultation and Participation

26. In the process of formulating resettlement policy, developing the RP and implementing the RP, the relevant authorities have paid and will pay special attention to the participation and consultation of the APs and solicit opinions widely from them. In each stage, the resettlement organizations at all levels will encourage public participation in all resettlement and rehabilitation matters.

7.2 Disclosure of Resettlement Policy and Resettlement Plan

27. In order to inform the affected people about the content of the RP, the resettlement organizations at all levels will disclose the resettlement policies and encourage the public participation. Resettlement information booklets were disseminated to people in the project area in May 2006. This RP will be made available in township offices upon approval of the Project Feasibility Study by NDRC, which is expected in August 2006.

7.3 Grievance and Appeal

28. Public participation is always encouraged in the process of compiling and implementing the RP. There will always be some unforeseeable problems arising during the process. In order to solve these problems effectively and to ensure the project construction and land requisition is carried out successfully, a transparent and effective grievance and appeal channel will be set up.

29. In case affected persons are not dissatisfactory with compensation, with construction arrangement or other matters, they will make their complaints to relevant department. In order to protect the affected persons’ interests and properties from infringing, their comments and grievance shall be reported in the following procedure: Step 1: Affected persons express oral or submit written petitions/complaints to villagers’ committee or township government. For oral complaints, villagers’ committee or township resettlement group must make written records properly and give a clear reply within 2 weeks. If the complaint involves significant problems, reply must be obtained from the county communications bureau within 2 weeks. Step 2: If the complainant is not satisfied with the reply in Step 1, they have the right to appeal to the civil court within 15 days of reception of the reply in step 1.

30. The process and results of grievance redress will be recorded, monitored, and evaluated. If necessary, further follow-up measures will be taken to ensure that the problems will be resolved in a timely and satisfactory manner. The organizations will accept the grievance and appeals of the APs free of charge, and the reasonable expenses incurred from making grievances will be paid by the Project Resettlement Office within Dazhou City. Fortunately, most grievances involve small issues that are usually resolved within the villages.

CHAPTER 8 MONITORING AND EVALUATION

31. In order to guarantee that the RP can be smoothly implemented and the resettlement target suitably realized, the follow-on investigations and monitoring will be carried out throughout the whole process. Monitoring on the resettlement will be divided into two parts, i.e., internal monitoring (by the resettlement offices) and the external independent monitoring.

8.1 Internal Monitoring

32. The target of internal monitoring is to maintain supervision responsibility of the resettlement organizations during implementation, and ensure that the project can be constructed smoothly and the APs’ legal rights will not be impaired. The auditing department of the provincial government will independently exercise the auditing monitoring function over concerning units under its jurisdiction in accordance with the laws and regulations. The superior units assume the responsibilities for monitoring their subordinates so that the RP principle and schedule can be followed and implemented in accordance with local regulations.

33. The internal monitoring for land acquisition and resettlement will be conducted by the county communication bureaus. They will report to Dazhou City Project Management Office and SPCD quarterly.

8.2 External Resettlement Monitoring and Evaluation

34. The external monitoring and evaluation (M&E) will be combined with the monitoring on the Project expressway. The objective is to monitor and evaluate the resettlement impacts of the local roads upgrading, and where impacts exist to check whether the target of the land requisition, resettlement and relocation activities are realized. Through the M&E process, evaluation opinions and recommendations will be put forward on the resettlement, housing relocation and restoration of the APs’ living standards, and to provide warning systems as early as possible to the project management, and a feedback channel for the APs.

35. The external monitoring institution will report independently to the Project Leading Group for Resettlement, the Project Resettlement Office and ADB on both the expressway and the local roads components. It will conduct follow-up investigations, monitoring and evaluation of the resettlement activities according to the RP and provide advice for decision-making and mitigation measures. The institute will prepare annual monitoring reports for submission to PRO and ADB during resettlement implementation. The first M&E report will be due in July 2007.