Rural Connectivity Improvement Project (RRP BAN 47243) Social Safeguards Due Diligence Report Project number: 47243-004 June 2018 People’s Republic of Bangladesh: Rural Connectivity Improvement Project Prepared by Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), Local Government Division (LGD), Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives (MLGRD&C), Government of The People’s Republic of Bangladeshfor the Asian Development Bank. This social safeguard due diligence report 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. Your attention is directed to the “terms of use” section on ADB’s website. In preparing any country program or strategy, financing any project, or by making any designation of or reference to a particular territory or geographic area in this document, the Asian Development Bank does not intend to make any judgments as to the legal or other status of any territory or area. 1 Table of Contents Page ABBREVIATIONS ...................................................................................................................................... 3 LIST OF ANNEXURE ................................................................................................................................ 3 Chapter 1 - Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 4 1.1. Project Description ......................................................................................................................... 6 Chapter 2 - Due Diligence of Social Safeguards ................................................................................... 9 2.1 Methodology used to carry out the due diligence .................................................................. 9 2.2 Summary of field observations and verification ..................................................................... 9 2.3 Other likely impacts observed and mitigation measures .................................................... 12 2 ABBREVIATIONS ADB Asian Development Bank AP Affected Person BPL Below Poverty Line CPF Community Participation Framework CPP Community Participation Plan GoB Government of Bangladesh IR Involuntary Resettlement LGED Local Government Engineering Department MOU Memorandum of Understanding PDA Project Design Advance PISC Project Implementation Support Consultant PIU Project Implementation Unit PMU Project Management Unit RCIP Rural Connectivity Improvement Project RIMP Rural Infrastructure Maintenance Program SPS ADB’s Safeguards Policy Statement TA Technical Assistance TAG Technical Advisory Group UNR Union Road UZR Upazila Road LIST OF ANNEXURE Annexure 1 List of directly benefited Upazila and Unions and TW Participants Annexure 2 Photoplates 3 Chapter 1 - Introduction 1. The Project Design Advance1 (PDA)for the Rural Infrastructure Maintenance Progam (renamed as Rural Connectivity Improvement Project- RCIPRIMP)was approved on 7 June 2016 and was effective on 11 July 2016. The RCIP was originally intended to follow the results-based funding modality focusing on improving rural road rehabilitation and maintenance program. The PDA was envisaged to support the preparatory activities of the RIMP. In September 2017, it was decided to proceed with processing RIMP using the conventional project modality to make possible loan approval in 2018. ADB subsequently confirmed the change in modality in its letter of 27 September 2017 to Local Government Engineering Department (LGED). 2. Under the PDA, a consulting firm was engaged to undertake (i) preparation and assessment of the RCIP loan; (ii) an expenditure and financing framework assessment, financial management assessment, and development of disbursement-linkedindicators, including third- party verification mechanisms; (iii) feasibility studies, including detailed engineering design; cost estimates; and technical, financial, economic, and socioeconomic analyses; (iv) environmental and social safeguard analysis, including preparation of environmental and social safeguards planning documents for the RIMP; and (v) a procurement system assessment and advance procurement actions, including preparation of bidding documents for the RIMP and support for the bidding process. 3. It has been agreed that the candidate roads to be selected under the project will not have any land acquisition. Construction will be carried out mostly within existing road corridor/right-of- ways, with widening and minor realignments in some cases, which will require narrow strips of land to be made available. In such cases, the voluntary land donation system will be used in accordance with ADB’s safeguard requirements. 4. Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladeshhas requested financial assistance from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in addressing the connectivity issues for rural communities. The investment program is officially called as “Rural Connectivity Improvement Program” or RCIP. The project is to be executed in 34 Zillas (districts) of the country. Refer Map 1 for project location. 1 ADB. Bangladesh: Rural Infrastructure Maintenance Program (RIMP). 4 MAP -1: Project Location 5 1.1. Project Description 5. The RCIP has envisaged improving total 317 Nos. (2,713.58 km) of upazila and union2 roads, of which 246 roads (2,024.5 km) fall under the general improvement and 71 roads (689 km) fall under the improvement of flood damaged roads.3 The climate resilient designs have been adopted wherever required. Most of Upazila Roads (UZR) and Union Roads (UNR)are built on earthen embankments on the donated private lands. Many of the roads do not meet adequate standards of LGED. 6. Widening of sections with narrow width, improvement of grade, provision of side drains, adequate and appropriate cross drain structures, protection measures like breast walls, retaining walls in land slide prone areas, provision for irrigation crossings and rehabilitation of canals along the road, addressing road safety issues viz. junction improvement, speed control measures at sensitive locations, shifting of utility structures close to the carriage way are the major interventions proposed under the project. 7. As per LGED guidelines,crest width of upazila or and union roads will be 7.5 meters and 5.5 meters respectively. There is very limited requirement of additional land for the project as the works will be primarily within the existing right of way. Additional land will be required to address road safety, bridge approaches and short-term construction-related requirements. The improvements will be done within the available corridor of the candidate roads. This Community Participation Framework (CPF) has been prepared that provides the guidelines and the procedures for conducting the transect walk and implementing the land donation process in accordance with ADB’s requirements. 8. The candidate roads have been selected through robust road selection criteriataking in to account of rural population, socio-economic centers, agricultural production areas, connectivity to main road network, administrative centers, and safeguards etc. From the safeguards point of view, the project adopts the following basic principles: a) That the project benefits will realistically offset the size of the donated land; b) In case negotiations for voluntary land donation fail, eminent domain or other powers of the state will not be used; c) The donation will be limited to only land and minor assets (houses and major assets will be excluded from donation); and d) For households donating land, no physical displacement will take place. 9. Further to these, modifications to the design by reduction of carriage width, alignment shifts, and modifications in cross-sections etc, to the extent required from safety considerations has been considered to avoid involuntary resettlement (IR).Local community consultation and transect walks in each selected road has been extensively carried out to screen the likely impacts on land and road side structures due to the proposed project. 10. The project will improve rural roads in 34 districts located in Rangpur, Rajshahi, Khulna, Dhaka and Chattogram divisions of the country. Table 1.1 summarizes the number and length of roads in each district. 2 Upazila and Union are used for administrative or other purposes in Bangladesh. The upazilas and Unions are the second and third lowest tier of regional administration in Bangladesh. 3 LGED has prepared $300 million project, however, ADB can only allocate $200 million to finance 216 roads (1711.71 km) for RCIP in 2018. Additional financing of $100 million will be processed in 2019 to cover the remaining roads. 6 Table 1.1 District wise RoadsSelected No. of Road Length in Km S No. District Roads Total Shortest Longest Average 1 Gopalganj 12 78.405 2.590 11.268 6.534 2 Faridpur 7 59.521 2.250 13.770 8.503 3 Madaripur 15 138.672 2.092 17.250 9.245 4 Shariatpur 8 47.955 4.400 10.100 5.994 5 Rajbari 13 70.67 1.220 12.300 5.436 6 Cumilla 13 94.313 1.030 15.815 7.255 7 Chandpur 7 40.139 3.383 7.620 5.734 8 B. Baria 5 70.453 7.360 22.403 14.091 9 Chattogram 13 91.076 2.770 16.200 7.006 10 Coxsbazar 6 37.954 4.500 8.552 6.326 11 Noakhali 7 55.761 4.810 14.214 7.966 12 Laxmipur 5 37.565 5.00 12.00 7.513 13 Feni 4 31.932 4.020 10.415 7.983 14 Jashore 18 201.269 3.727 20.909 11.182 15 Kushtia 6 78.835 8.410 17.050 13.139 16 Jhenaidah 10 65.075 4.400 12.255 6.508 17