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Environmental Assessment Report Environmental Review and Categorisation of Kutaisi Alternative Urban Transport Development Project Number: P42414 March 2010 Proposed Multitranche Financing Facility Georgia: Sustainable Urban Transport Investment Program This 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 ABBREVIATIONS ADB - Asian Development Bank EA - Executing Agency EIA - Environmental Impact Assessment ESMS - Environmental and Social Management System FI - Financial Intermediary FS - Feasibility Study IA - Implementing Agency IEE - Initial Environmental Examination MDF - Municipal Development Fund MFF - Multi-tranche Financing Facility REA - Rapid Environmental Assessment RoW - Right of Way i CONTENTS Page I. INTRODUCTION 1 II. POLICY, LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE FRAMEWORK 1 A. National law 1 B. ADB policy 2 III. APPROACH 3 IV. DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT 3 V. DESCRIPTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT 6 A. Physical and Ecological Resources 6 B. Economic and Socio-cultural Resources 9 VI. ANTICIPATED ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS AND MITIGATION MEASURES 10 VII. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 14 Appendix: Outline designs of the proposed cycle lanes and pedestrian walkways 15 TABLES TABLE 1: Completed REA Checklist For Kutaisi Bicycle Lanes 11 FIGURES Figure 1: Map of Kutaisi showing proposed locations of bicycle lane routes 4 Figure 2: Preliminary design of cycle lanes (grey) and pedestrian walkways (red) 5 PHOTOGRAPHS Photo 1: One of the proposed cycle lane locations in Kutaisi 7 Photo 2: Team constructing a road using a small asphalting machine 7 Photo 3: Backhoe digger 8 Photo 4: Roller vehicle being used in road construction 8 i I. INTRODUCTION 1. Georgia’s transportation system suffered from under-investment at the end of Soviet rule and this continued as the economy struggled in the early years of independence. Maintenance was inadequate so the quality of infrastructure declined, and there was little modernisation or expansion to serve the increasing demands brought by the economic recovery of the late 1990’s. This was exacerbated by Georgia’s position at the crossroads between east and west, which brought increased numbers of heavy vehicles and transit traffic as markets became available in surrounding countries. The capital Tbilisi has additional problems resulting from the large population and numerous daily commuter journeys, combined with the hilly topography and historical old town with its myriad of narrow streets and old buildings. 2. To begin addressing these issues, the Government of Georgia requested assistance from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in developing a strategy for an integrated and sustainable transportation system in Tbilisi, and funding priority projects throughout the country. The resulting Georgia Sustainable Urban Transport Investment Program began in January 2010 and will be funded by a Multi-tranche Financing Facility (MFF) from ADB, which enables suitable identified projects to be fast tracked, whilst allowing time to prepare others for future tranches. 3. Three projects are currently identified for funding in the first tranche of the program, scheduled to begin construction in early 2011: • Tbilisi urban environment improvement and Gorgasali Road reconstruction; • Tbilisi University Metro extension; and • Kutaisi alternative urban transport development: bicycle lanes. 4. The Executing Agency (EA) for the program will be the Municipal Development Fund of Georgia (MDF), which was established by the government to mobilise and manage financial resources from donors for investments in infrastructure and services. Project Implementation Units (PIU) will manage each construction process, and these will be established from existing government resources, supplemented by consultants and new appointments where necessary. II. POLICY, LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE FRAMEWORK A. National law 5. Georgia’s system of environmental assessment and the requirement for new projects to obtain approval from the government environmental regulator were established by laws in the 1990’s, which have been updated in the past few years. The current system is prescribed by the Law on Licenses and Permits (2005), the Law on Environmental Impact Permits (2008) and the Law on Ecological Expertise (2008). 6. Under the present system, the proponent of major new projects (both public and privately-funded) is required to apply for an Environmental Permit from the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources (MoE) or a Construction Permit from the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure (MRDI). The applicant completes a form providing information about the project and supports this with design drawings and other documents, including analyses of the project’s likely environmental impacts. 1 7. The Law on Environmental Impact Permit specifies 21 types of development for which an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is compulsory, and this comprises major projects, including construction of roads and railways of national and international importance, construction of an underground railway, oil and gas pipelines and processing plants, etc. All projects subject to EIA are required to hold a public hearing in the project area, which is advertised in regional and national newspapers. The meeting is attended by invited institutional stakeholders and is open to all citizens, who can discuss their views at the meeting and raise any objections or suggestions in writing. The minutes of the meeting and a description of how each point was addressed in the design and the EIA should accompany the permit application. 8. Each permit application is subject to Environmental Expertise, which is a review of the EIA or other environmental documents by an expert committee set up by the MoE. A positive Environmental Expertise Conclusion (EEC) is required before a Permit is issued, and any recommendations of the EEC are normally attached as permit conditions. 9. The main differences between the Georgian EIA and environmental permitting systems and ADB policy are that Georgian law: (i) Requires EIA only for specified major projects (roughly equivalent to ADB category A) and includes no lesser level of assessment (like IEE or environmental review); (ii) Does not involve formal project screening or EIA scoping by the environmental regulator, although MoE will advise informally if requested; (iii) Requires only one public consultation meeting for a project requiring EIA; (iv) Exempts projects that are of paramount state importance, but does not specify project types, which allows certain government agencies to circumvent the EIA process. B. ADB policy 10. ADB operates safeguard policies, which seek to avoid or reduce to acceptable levels adverse environmental and social impacts of projects, and to protect the rights of those likely to be affected or marginalized by the development process. Specific requirements are defined by ADB’s Safeguard Policy Statement (2009) and cover environment, involuntary resettlement and indigenous peoples. Requirements differ according to the nature and scale of a project’s effects, and projects are screened to identify their impacts and significance. Direct, indirect, cumulative and induced impacts are considered, and a project is classified according to the category of its most sensitive component. In environment the project is assigned to one of four categories: Category A: Projects likely to have significant adverse environmental impacts, which are irreversible, diverse or unprecedented and may affect an area larger than the location subject to physical works. An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is required. Category B: Projects with adverse environmental impacts that are less significant than those of category A projects, are site-specific, generally not irreversible, and in most cases can be mitigated more readily than for category A projects. An Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) is required. Category C: Projects likely to have minimal or no adverse environmental impacts. No environmental assessment is required, although environmental implications are reviewed. 2 Category FI: Projects that involve investment of ADB funds to or through a Financial Intermediary (FI). The FI is required to establish an environmental and social management system (ESMS) commensurate with the level of environmental or social risk, or if ADB is satisfied that the investment will have minimal or no risk, it is treated as category C. 11. The first two tranche 1 projects (Gorgasali road reconstruction and Tbilisi metro extension) were both classified as category B as their environmental and social impacts should be mainly beneficial, and the few negative impacts will be mitigated by fairly straightforward measures. The third project (Kutaisi bicycle lanes) involves small-scale construction that should not cause significant negative impacts and when completed will provide environmental and social benefits by reducing vehicle traffic and promoting the use of low cost alternative transport. It is therefore expected to be classified as category C and this document reviews its environmental implications and the proposed categorisation. III. APPROACH 12. ADB screens projects using Rapid Environmental Assessment (REA) Checklists, provided in the Environmental Assessment Guidelines (2003). These examine the potential impacts of projects in a particular sector (eg irrigation, sewage treatment, airports) by means