4.2.1 Cash Assistance Equal to Minimum Wage Rate
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NEPAL ELECTRICITY AUTHORITY ENGINEERING SERVICES Public Disclosure Authorized RESETILEMENT ACTION PLAN Khimti‐ Dhalkebar 220 kV TransmissionLine Project Public Disclosure Authorized Updated Report (Volume 1: Main Text) Public Disclosure Authorized Submitted to TransmissionLine/Substation Construction Department DurbarMarg,Kathmandu PreparedandSubmittedby Environmental&SocialStudies Department AdwaitMarg,Kathmandu Phoneno4226730,4251845 Public Disclosure Authorized Fax:4225248 Email:[email protected] March2014 Khimti‐Dhalkebar 220 kV Transmission Line Project Updated RAP Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................ II 1.0 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 1 2.0 STUDY METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................................... 3 2.1 DESKSTUDY ............................................................................................................................. 3 2.2 FIELD VISIT .............................................................................................................................. 3 3.0 PROJECT DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT ......................................................................... 5 3.1 BACKGROUND....................................................................................................................... 5 3.2 PROJECT LOCATION ............................................................................................................ 5 3.3 PROJECT FEATURES ........................................................................................................... 6 4.0 IMPACT ASSESSMENT AND MITIGATION MEASURES ........................................................ 8 4.1 PROJECT IMPACTS ............................................................................................................... 8 4.1.1 Impact Categories ............................................................................................................... 8 4.1.2 Physical Displacement of Households ................................................................................ 9 4.1.3 Severely Project Affected Families ..................................................................................... 9 4.2 IMPACTS MITIGATION MEASURES ................................................................................... 10 4.2.1 Cash Assistance Equal to Minimum Wage Rate .............................................................. 10 4.2.2 Resettlement and Rehabilitation (R&R) Assistances ........................................................ 11 4.2.3 Livelihood Restoration Package ........................................................................................ 12 4.3 COMPENSATION PAYMENT ............................................................................................... 12 4.4 CONSULTATIONS AND COUNSELING .............................................................................. 14 4.5 VULNERABLE GROUPS ...................................................................................................... 14 4.6 DISCLOSURE ....................................................................................................................... 14 5.0 INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENT, IMPLEMENTATION SCHEDULE AND GRIEVANCE REDRESSING........................................................................................................................... 15 5.1 INSTTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENT .................................................................................... 15 5.2 IMPLEMENTATION SCHEDULE .......................................................................................... 15 5.3 GRIEVANCE REDRESS MECHANISM ................................................................................ 16 6.0 ESTIMATED BUDGET ............................................................................................................. 17 List of Tables: Table 3.1: Salient Features ................................................................................................................ 6 Table 4.1: No. of Owners Affected by Loss of Land and Structures .................................................. 8 Table 4.2: No. of Owners Losing more than 25% Land by Tower Pads ............................................ 9 Table 4.5: Livelihood Restoration Measures to SPAFs Losing > 25% Land .................................. 11 Table 4.6: R&R Assistances for Displaced SPAFs .......................................................................... 11 Table 4.7: Livelihood Restoration Package for Project Affected Families (PAFs) ........................... 12 Table 4.8: Compensation Payment Status in the Project, March 2014 ........................................... 13 Table 4.9: Compensation Paid and Pending Amount ...................................................................... 13 Table 5.1 Proposed Implementation Schedule of RAP.................................................................... 15 Table 6.1: Estimated Budget for Implementing the RAP ................................................................. 17 i Khimti‐Dhalkebar 220 kV Transmission Line Project Updated RAP Executive Summary The 220 kV double circuit 73 km long KhimitDhalkebar Transmission Line Project is under construction aiming to evacuate the power generated from the various ongoing and proposed hydropower projects to be developed in the north east and central hills of Nepal. The transmission line starts from Khimti of Dolakha District and ends atDhalkabar of Dhanusa District. The proposed transmission line alignment traverses through the Dolakha, Ramechhap, Sindhuli, Mahotari and Dhanusa districts of Central Development Region. This updated Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) has been prepared replacing the previous Abbreviated Resettlement Action Plan (ARAP) prepared in 2006 by NEA. This plan adopts the policyprovisions outlinedin theOperational Manual of Environmental Social Impact Assessment developed by NEA in 2009. The changes in population, migration and new settlements in the Project area as well as the increased impacts in land, houses and properties by the Project made it necessary to update the RAP. In addition, the Project’s approach in land acquisition on full purchase for a section of ROW for road construction close to the market area of Sindhuli impacting sizable amount of land and quite a high figure of compensation made it mandatory to update the previous ARAP which recorded very limited impacts in 2006. ‘. The RAP, based on the latest information available from the Project, has assessed the project’s impacts more precisely also suggesting realistic mitigation measures to address the impacts. In total, 1080 families of 3 districts have been identified as affected families by the Project which include 440 families of Sindhuli district, 584 families of Ramechap and 56 families of Dhanusha district. Among the PAFs affected by the Project, the highest numbers of land owners accounting 773 will be affected by Right of Way (RoW) of the transmission line followed by 131 owners who will be affected by tower pads and 53 families who will be losing 65 structures in all 3 districts. The ROW acquisition by the Project will also displace 8 families in Sindhuli raising the number to a total of 61 displaced families. The RAP indicates that 94 families will be affected more adversely by the Project who are included in the category of Severely Project Affected Families (SPAFs). Of them, 33 families lose 25% or more land to the Project whereas 61 families will be physically displaced from their original place of residence as they need to be resettled due to the impact of transmission line. Across the districts, 47 SPAFs are in Sindhuli, 36 in Ramechap and 11 in Dhanusha. Various mitigation measures have been proposed to minimize or neutralize the adverse impacts faced by the project affected families. In case of SPAFs, specific mitigation measures have been proposed in addition to normal livelihood improvement supports provided for all affected families. Keeping in view the social safeguard measures specified in the Operational Manual, 2009, different impacts mitigation measures have been proposed. ii Khimti‐Dhalkebar 220 kV Transmission Line Project Updated RAP These include mainly the compensation of affected land and other properties at replacement value, and Resettlement and Rehabilitation (R&R) assistances comprising of the followings; • Cash assistance equal to minimum wage rate • Transportation allowances • Rental allowances • Hardship allowances, and • House construction allowance The SPAFs and PAFs will be provided various entitlements as per the policy outline provided in the Operational Manual of Environmental Social Impact Assessment. The SPAFs will be provided total amount of Rs 150000 each against R&R assistances. Besides, a common livelihood restoration package comprising of skill training and agricultural inputs use training has been proposed for all PAFs. The Project is advised to commence the implementation of activities proposed in the updated RAP from mid April 2014 and complete all tasks within June 2014. A major task of the Project is to complete the compensation payment to the affected families as well as R&R assistances and livelihood restoration measures. The Environmental and Social Studies Division (ESSD)