1 Initial Environmental Examination April 2013 GEO: Regional Power Transmission Enhancement Project Prepared by Irakli Kaviladze for the Asian Development Bank. 2 CURRENCY EQUIVALENTS (As of 1 May 2013) Currency unit 1 GEL = 0.61 USD $ 1 USD $ = 1.65 GEL ABBREVIATIONS - ADB Asian Development Bank - APA Agency of Protected Areas - CEMP Construction Environmental Management Plan - CSC Construction Supervision Consultant - EA Executing agency - EIA Environmental Impact Assessment - EMP Environmental Management Plan - ESIA Environmental and Social Impact Assessment - GoG Government of Georgia - GRL Georgia Red List - GSE Georgia State Electrosystem - IEE Initial Environmental Examination - IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers - IMO Independent Monitoring Organization - KNP Kolkheti National Park - LARP Land acquisition and resettlement plan - NEA National Environmental Agency - NGO Non-governmental organization - PCB polychlorinated biphenyl - PIU Project Implementation Unit (within GSE) - SCADA Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition - SPS Safeguard Policy Statement (of ADB, June 2009) - TL Transmission line - UNFCCC United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 3 CONTENTS A Executive Summary 5 A.1 Policy, Legal, and Administrative Framework 6 A.2 Project Description 7 A.3 Description of the Environment (Baseline Data) 7 A.4 Anticipated Environmental Impacts and Mitigation Measures 10 A.5 Analysis of Alternatives 11 A.6 Information Disclosure, Consultation, and Participation 12 A.7 Grievance Redress Mechanism 12 A.8 Environmental Management Plan 12 A.9 Conclusion and Recommendation 13 B Policy Legal and Administrative Framework 15 B.1 Administrative Structure in Georgia 15 B.2 Legislation 17 B.2.1 Framework Legislation 17 B.2.2 Other Environmental Laws 18 B.3 International Conventions and Agreements 22 B.4 Environmental and Social Requirements of the ADB 23 B.4.1 The Asian Development Bank‟s (ADB) Safeguard Policy 23 B.5 Comparison of the National legislation and ADB Requirements 26 B.6 Harmonization of the ADB and Georgian Legislation Requirements 28 C Description of Project 30 C.1 Category of the Project 31 C.2 Need for Project 32 C.3 Project Location 32 C.4 Technical Components 35 C.5 Project Implementation Schedule 37 C.6 Associated Facilities 39 D Description of the Environment 40 D.1 Physical Resources 40 D.1.2 Air Quality and Climate 42 D.1.2.1 Air Quality 42 D.1.2.2 Climate 43 D.1.3 Radiation Background 44 D.1.4 Noise Background 45 D.1.5 Water Resources 46 D.1.5.1 Surface water 46 D.1.5.2 Underground and Thermal Waters 50 D.1.6 Geology/Seismology 52 D.1.6.1 Geology 52 D.1.6.2 Seismology 53 D.1.7 Topography and Soils 54 D.2 Ecological Resources 57 D.2.1 Flora and Fauna 57 D.2.1.1 Flora 57 D.2.1.2 Fauna 60 D.2.3 Protected Areas 62 4 D.3 Economic Development 68 D.3.1 Industries 68 D.3.2 Infrastructure facilities (e.g. water supply, sewerage, flood control) 70 D.3.3 Transportation (roads, harbours, airports, and navigation) 71 D.3.4 Power Sources and Transmission 73 D.3.5 Agricultural development, mineral development, and tourism facilities 74 D.3.5.1 Agriculture 74 D.3.5.2 Mineral Development 75 D.3.5.3 Tourism development 76 D.4 Social and Cultural Resources 77 D.4.1 Population and Communities 77 D.4.2 Health Facilities 80 D.4.3 Education Facilities 81 D.4.4 Physical or Cultural Heritage 82 D.4.5 Current Use of Lands and Resources for Traditional Purposes by Indigenous 84 Peoples E Anticipated Environmental Impacts and Mitigation Measures 86 E.1 Summary of Activities and Anticipated Impacts 86 E.2 Air Quality 89 E.3 Water Quality 89 E.4 Soil Pollution 90 E.5 Risks Related to Sheep Movement (Marneuli Subproject) 91 E.6 PCB in oil of Ksani and Menji Transformers 92 E.6.1 Used oil management plan 95 E.7 Hazardous Construction Wastes 100 E.8 Other Wastes from Construction Activities 101 E.8.1 Municipal Waste 101 E.8.2 Medical Waste 102 E.8.3 Non Hazardous Construction Waste 102 E.9 Construction Related Impacts at the Quarrying Sites 102 E.10 Impacts on Archaeological Sites 103 E.11 Worker Camps 104 E.12 Electrical and Magnetic Fields 104 F Analysis of Alternatives 106 F.1 No-Project Alternative 106 G Information Disclosure, Consultation, and Participation 107 H Grievance Redress Mechanism 107 I Environmental Management Plan 111 I.1 Institutional Arrangements 111 I.2 Reporting on EMP Implementation 112 I.3 Costs of Environmental Management Plan 113 J Conclusions and Recommendations 130 Annex 1. Bibliography 132 Annex 2. Rapid Environmental Assessment (REA) Checklist 133 Annex 3. Records of Meetings 139 Annex 4. Stakeholder Consultations in v. Khorga, Khobi rayon 141 5 A. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is providing technical assistance to the Government of Georgia (the Government) to support Georgian State Electrosystem (GSE) in assessing the viability of options to enhance power transmission capacity through various hardware and physical infrastructure improvements to rehabilitate and strengthen power transmission within Georgia, as well as provide the potential to eventually export power within the region. 2. The availability and reliability of GSE‟s transmission infrastructure have been vastly improved for recent years as a result of intensive capital investment programs successfully implemented with the support of international financial institutions and donors. 3. The proposed project as described below is among the top investment priorities of GSE‟s Strategic Development Plan 2012-2020 and, once implemented, will further enhance the reliability and stability of GSE‟s transmission and interconnection infrastructure and remarkably improve the capability of cross-border energy exchange for export, import and transit. 4. The Regional Power Transmission Enhancement Project (the Project) comprises three main components: (i) substation rehabilitation and improvements (ii) construction of a new Khorga 220/110 kV substation and iii) consulting services. Only components i) and ii) involves activities that could have an impact on the environment. 5. At the first phase of the Project Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) has been prepared for new Khorga substation construction subproject. The new substation will be an important addition to the transmission system in western Georgia. It will guarantee stable transmission of energy produced at Enguri hydropower station to the western region of Georgia, especially to the industrial zone of Poti and to Turkey through Batumi Substation. The document was approved in Sep 2012 by ADB. 6. The second phase of the Project comprises three main components: (i) complete rehabilitation of 500kV substation Ksani, (ii) rehabilitation/expansion of existing Marneuli substation, and (iii) supply of 125MVA autotransformer for substation Menji, is to ensure safe and improved power supply to the east part of Georgia, especially Tbilisi metropolitan area and Kvemo Kartli Region, increase the reliability of entire power system of Georgia and facilitate power export/import/transit and regional trade operations with neighboring countries. 7. During the second phase, for the compliance with ADB‟s requirements for environmental assessment, an Initial Environmental Examination has been prepared for these three components. The IEE assesses the existing environmental conditions in the project areas; assesses the proposed location, design, construction and operation activities and evaluates their potential impacts; proposes appropriate mitigation and monitoring measures that are incorporated into an Environmental Management Plan that when implemented will ensure that 6 potential adverse impacts are avoided or minimized so that residual impacts are reduced to acceptable levels. 8. The IEE is based on secondary sources of information, field inspection and information gathered during community and stakeholder consultations. 9. The present document is an updated version of approved IEE prepared for the first phase of the Project. Background information of this IEE is based on the approved IEE for new Khorga substation construction project. The present document consists of description of 4 substations: Menji SS, Khorga SS, Marneuli SS and Ksani SS. The proposed substation sites are located at following areas: 1. Menji substation – The project area is located on the territory of Senaki Municipality in Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti administrative region; 2. Khorga substation - The project area is located on the territory of Zugdidi Municipality in Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti administrative region; 3. Marneuli substation - The project area is located on the territory of Marneulli Municipality in Kvemo Kartli administrative region; 4. Ksani Substation - The project area is located on the territory of Mtskheta Municipality in Mtskheta-mtianeti administrative region A.1 POLICY, LEGAL, AND ADMINISTRATIVE FRAMEWORK 10. According to the law of Georgia on Permit on Environmental Impact (2008) the Ksani and Menji substations subprojects do not require preparation of EIA and obtaining of Permit on Environmental Impact. For Khorga and Marneuli substations subprojects according to Georgian legislation, preparation of Environmental Impact Assessment document and obtaining of the respective permits are required. 11. For Khorga SS, EIA has been already prepared and submitted to Ministry of Environment, with public consultations and all requirements under the legislation of Georgia conducted and met. Together with other necessary documents, this EIA for Khorga substation shall be submitted to the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development to obtain a Construction Permit for 220/110kV Substation Khorga before the start of construction activities. Ecological expertise and approval of the EIA by the Ministry of Environment is a part of the procedure of, and necessary pre-condition for, the issuance of the Construction Permit. The same procedure shall be applied for Marneuli SS sub-project. 12. Following „Environmental Considerations in ADB Operations‟ of September 2006, the Project can be considered to be a Category B project requiring an Initial Environmental Assessment (IEE). ADB Environmental Guidelines 13.