Report on the WEBG Cibuk 1 Public Presentations Feb-Mar 2015
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March 2015 REPORT ON THE PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS DURING THE PUBLIC DISCOSURE PROCESS FOR THE WIND FARM “ČIBUK 1” Following the completion of the Environmental and Social Impact Statement (ESIS), Environmental and Social Action Plan (ESAP), Stakeholder Engagement Plan and other relevant documents, and initiation of public disclosure process by potential Lenders (EBRD, IFC and OPIC), Vetroelektrane Balkana (WEBG), conducted a new round of public consultations which included series of six public presentations containing the “ČIBUK 1” wind farm Project relevant details 1. As outlined in the project ESAP, this round of public meetings was held simultaneously with the Lenders’ public disclosure process and in line with all Lenders’ standards. Unlike the first round of public presentation, held in 2012, which focused more on general project details and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), the second round primarily focused on the construction, operation and decommissions impact of “Čibuk 1” wind farm on neighboring communities with abundant technical, legal and environmental info provided to citizens. The Grievance Mechanism and Rapid Damage Reimbursement Mechanism were also presented in details 2. The presentations were held as follows: • 24 th February 2015, at 17:00h in the Local Community Office, Dolovo (46 people present) • 26 th February 2015, at 17:00h in the Local Community Office, Mramorak (40 people present) • 3rd March 2015, at 17:00h in the Local Community Office, Bavanište (40 people present) • 5th March 2015, at 17:00h in the Municipality of Kovin (30 people present) • 10 th March 2015, at 17:00h in the Local Community Office, Banatsko Novo Selo (5 people present) • 12 th March 2015, at 17:00h in the Cultural Center, Vladimirovac and Devojački Bunar (20 people present). In total, 181 people attended the public presentations. 1 The first round of public presentations of the project was held in June/July 2012. The presentations at that time were organized in the local communities of Mramorak and Dolovo, and the municipality of Kovin. In total, 58 people attended the public meetings. 2 It is worth noting that WEBG conducts annual public meetings to discuss its Social Investment Plan (SIP) with local communities, local organizations, associations, clubs and other civil society organizations, and decide on the local initiatives which will be financially supported by WEBG through SIP. 1 STAGE 1: INFORMING THE PUBLIC ABOUT THE PRESENTATIONS This stage was initiated approximately three weeks prior to the first presentation. WEBG strived to inform as many people as possible about the time/place of the presentations and scheduled six public meetings in order to accommodate citizens of all local communities in the vicinity of the “Čibuk 1” wind farm (Dolovo, Mramorak, Vladimirovac, Devojački Bunar, Bavanište and Kovin). WEBG used the following communication tools to announce the presentations: • 164 letters were sent by post to people who are directly affected by the project development (all those who WEBG signed contracts with to purchase land for the turbines and roads, those who we signed easement contracts with for the OHL pylons, and those who land will be used for temporary areas) inviting them (and their families) to presentations. The letters were posted a week before the presentation was held; (Annex 1: Scan of the Invitation Letter and example of Invitation Receipt). • Information on public presentations was published on the website of the Project www.wpc.rs . • Posters with invitation to the public presentations were put on the noticeboards and other areas designated for public ads in Kovin (municipal building and Cadaster and on three noticeboards in the city), Dolovo (local community noticeboard, Cultural Centre noticeboard, Post Office and local community office), Mramorak (local community noticeboard, local store, local bar and in front of department store), Vladimirovac (at the entrance to the Local Community Office, Cultural Centre noticeboard, bus station and on the village noticeboard), Devojački Bunar (local community noticeboards), and Bavanište (local community noticeboard and on four local stores); (Annex 2: Photos of the info sheets put up in the local communities) . At the same time, WEBG informed the representatives of the potential Lenders, namely EBRD, IFC and OPIC of the schedule of all six public meetings. WEBG appointed Mr. Slobodan Perović as the contact person (Grievance Officer) and Mr. Aleksandar Andjić (Community Manager) for all public enquiries related to public presentations, including transport to and from presentations. Their contact details were clearly stated on all presentations and materials. WEBG also created “Enquiry Form” to keep track of the enquiries and responses to them ( Annex 3: Enquiry Form: Public presentations in Dolovo, Mramorak, Bavanište, Kovin, Banatsko Novo Selo and Vladimirovac;). Throughout the public hearing process, only one enquiry was received (on 25 th February 2015, Mr. Ilija Krničan from the village of Mramorak enquired about the possibility to organize transport for him to the public meeting in Mramorak since his ability to walk is limited. WEBG responded promptly and positively – Annex 4: Enquiry Form from Mr. Ilija Krničan) . 2 STAGE 2: PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS For all presentations, WEBG team prepared: • Power point with following topics: o Project description, including transport routes, overhead power lines and expected timeline for construction and operation; o Results of the Environmental and Social Impact Statement (ESIS) and proposed mitigation measures contained in the Environmental and Social Action Plan (ESAP) and Land Acquisition Plan (LAP); o Planned stakeholder communication (Stakeholder Engagement Plan – SEP); o Availability of documents (ESIS, ESAP, LAP, SEP) and submission of comments; o Project grievance mechanism. • Film on wind farm construction process – following all presentations, the short film on the construction of “Fantanele” wind farm in Romania was shown to participants to better understand the construction process and implications. • All documents – namely: Environmental and Social Impact Statement (ESIA), Environmental and Social Action Plan (ESAP), Stakeholder Engagement Plan (SEP) and Land Acquisition Plan (LAP) were translated to Serbian and hard copies were provided to each local community office/Municipality. • Handouts of the power point presentation in Serbian were printed out and disseminated to the citizens attending the presentations. • Non-technical summary (NTS) of ESIS was translated to Serbian and made available upon request at all six presentations. • Professional photographer and cameraman attended all six public presentations, recording objectively and impartially entire course of the presentations and Q&A session. All six presentations were delivered by Mr. Slobodan Perović, Mr. Ivan Bushev and Mr. Aleksandar Andjić, while Mr. Nenad Radoičić and Mr. Slobodan Sarajlija were taking care of the technical preparation of the presentation for each of these public events. KC Media was monitoring and recording the course of all six presentations. All of the presentations were very well attended (except for Banatsko Novo Selo 3) and held in a positive atmosphere with active participation and no negative comments from participants. This can largely be accredited to constant presence of WEBG in the field from the very beginning of the project, and considerable investment of time and resources into the Social Investment Plan (SIP). The enquiries and comments from participants during presentations were almost exclusively focused on: • The width and the future legal status of the reconstructed uncategorized roads within the wind farm (used by farmers as well as wind farm operators); • Damage / Claim reimbursement mechanism; • Start date of construction; • Possibility of utilizing land before and during the construction; • Employment opportunities. 3 This can be explained by the fact that WEBG never worked much with Banatsko Novo Selo and its inhabitants. This was our first encounter with them and, hence, the lack of interest in presentation. 3 2.1. REPORT ON THE PRESENTATION IN DOLOVO Date: 24 th February 2015, at 17:00h Venue: Local Community Office Number of people attending: 46 No. First name Family name Place of residence 1 Viden Nenčić Dolovo 2 Saša Jozić Dolovo 3 Sava Prvulj Dolovo 4 Davor Pavković Dolovo 5 Nikica Aleksić Dolovo 6 Stanimir Stanković Dolovo 7 Jovan Danilov Dolovo 8 Stanimir Djordjević Dolovo 9 Dorina Prvulj Dolovo 10 Najdan Mladenović Dolovo 11 Slavica Munćan Dolovo 12 Viorika Munćan Dolovo 13 Djurica Vojnov Dolovo 14 Branislav Pavlov Dolovo 15 Mirjana Krsta Dolovo 16 Stevan Katalina Dolovo 17 Jonjel Krsta Dolovo 18 Djurica Filipov Dolovo 19 Jovan Negovan Dolovo 20 Stefan Petrović Dolovo 21 Dobrivoje Antić Dolovo 22 Andjelko Pešić Dolovo 23 Srpko Jovanović Dolovo 24 Aleksandar Živojnović Dolovo 25 Srdjan Milošević Dolovo 26 Djurica Milošević Dolovo 27 Živa Rotar Dolovo 28 Sava Mihajlov Dolovo 29 Roman Boldovina Dolovo 30 Stevan Prvulj Dolovo 31 Milorad Marković Dolovo 32 Živan Pejčić Dolovo 33 Dušan Stoilković Dolovo 34 Miodrag Djordjević Dolovo 35 Miroslav Petković Dolovo 36 Radoje Djakov Dolovo 37 Jovan Caran Dolovo 38 Tibi Dražilov Dolovo 39 Viorel Krsta Dolovo 40 Nikola Radonjin Dolovo 41 Dušan Aleksić Dolovo 42 Sava Milovanović Dolovo 43 Dejan Danilov Dolovo 44 Randjel Mladenović Dolovo 45 Sava Nikolić Dolovo 46 Momčilo Jovanović Dolovo 4 WEBG Representatives foreword During the presentation 5