RP781 V1
Laos People’s Democratic Republic
Laos Transport Sector Program Public Disclosure Authorized
Improvement of National Road 6A Subproject
Resettlement Action Plan
Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized
Ministry of Public Works and Transport Department of Roads
Public Disclosure Authorized January 11, 2009 Executive Summary of the Resettlement Action Plan
A. Background
Under proposed Laos Transport Sector Program, upgrading of National Road 6A is selected subprojects to be implemented in the first year. The proposed subproject is located in Houa Phanh Province between Hang long village in Vieng Xay District and Ban Dan village in Et District with 124 Kilometer. Based on the existing alignment, the construction of Road 6A would involve limited amount of land acquisition and house demolition. A resettlement action plan (RAP) has been prepared by the project sponsor – Department of Roads, Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MPWT) with assistance of SD & XP Consultant Group to address these potential negative impacts.
B. Scope of land acquisition and resettlement
According to detailed impact survey, the proposed Project will affect 20 villages in 4 districts of Hoauphanh Province. They are Vieng Xay, Sopbao, Xieng khor and Et Districts. A total of 26 households in 20 villages will be affected by land acquisition, house demolition and attachments removal. They include permanent land acquisition of 1.45 ha of land areas with 1.36 ha of farmland, and 0.1 ha of housing land, and demolition of 1009 square meters of houses with 612 square meters of houses and 497 square meters of shops. Along with land acquisition, the project will also involve removal of 22 meters of fence, 102 collectively owned trees and 22 35kV transmission line poles.
All the affected land, houses, shops, and attachments will be compensated based on replacement cost. In addition, during construction, about 2.5 ha of land areas and or renting of sites adequate might be required for the construction camps, which will require about 4 years for the implementation of the Project. Efforts will be made to use waste land or non-productive land and powder along the alignment. If productive land belonging to individual households and villages will be used, full compensation of lost yields, and cost of restoration into original conditions will be provided
C. Resettlement Policy and Compensation Standards
For people who will be inevitably affected by the project, the resettlement objective is to restore or improve their income to their original levels in accordance to national laws and regulations, as well as the resettlement policy of the World Bank. The project owner will ensure that any person who losses land, other assets or income source will be assisted to fully recover their income and living levels.
The resettlement policy and legal framework, and entitlement matrix for the Project are based on the World Bank Policy on Involuntary Resettlement (OP4.12), the Constitution of Lao PDR (1991), the Decree 192/PM on Compensation and
2 Resettlement of People Affected by Development Projects, (Government of the Lao PDR, 2005), plus the associated Lao policies, practices and technical guidelines in the Regulation on Resettlement and Compensation (2005). Also relevant are the Lao PDR Land Law, (1997), the Forest Law (1996), and the Road Law (1999). Where a gap exists, the World Bank policy has been used. The over-riding principle of the Resettlement Action Plan is that where a person or group is affected by land acquisition, damage to income generating assets/activities or resettlement as a result of the project, compensation will be allocated in order that livelihoods are the same or better than before the project. The entitlement matrix, resettlement policies and procedures set out in the RAP reflect this principle.
According to national laws and regulations and based on consultation with affected people a set of compensation rates has been adopted for the Project. For house demolition, the compensation will be set at $40 per square meter for concrete house, $35 per square meter for concrete wooden houses, and $30 per square meter for wooden structures. In terms of compensations for land, it is set at $3 per square meter for all acquired paddy land, fish pond and housing land. Along with compensation for structures, replacement housing plots and moving allowance will be provided. For various attachments, the compensations at replacement value will be provided, so that affected individual and village facilities could be restored into original conditions. For temporarily occupied land, if productive land is involved, the affected villages or individuals will be provided compensation for the lost yield, plus compensation for restoring them into original conditions.
D. Resettlement and Rehabilitation
As for the people inevitably affected by the project, adequate compensation and rehabilitation measures will be provided so that the affected people could restore their income and livelihood to their previous levels. For 24 households losing their houses, housing land and shops, the basic strategy is to provide compensation for lost structures based on replacement value and compensation for lost housing land or alternative housing land if they prefer so that they could rebuild their houses or shops in the same villages and along the road in order to restore or improve their current livelihood. For the households affected by lost attachments , compensation at replacement value will be provided so that affected assets and properties could be restored in nearby locations.
For 10 villages losing limited paddy land (13290 m2) and 2 households losing fishing pond (200 m2), compensation based on replacement value will be provided, which will enable the affected villages or households to develop more farmland, improve irrigation conditions, and increase yield of existing farmland.
For the impacts of removal of 102 roadside trees and 22 transmission line poles of (35kV), compensations will be paid to relevant local government departments so that
3 the affected facilities could be restored and rehabilitated and basic function could be maintained.
For potential temporary land occupation, adequate compensations will be paid to affected villages and individuals for their lost yields and the project owner will be responsible to restore the land areas into their original condition after construction.
Overall, the impacts of land acquisition and resettlement are limited for the construction of the subproject, and most of such impacts could be mitigated by provided compensation at replacement cost and relevant rehabilitation measures.
E. Public Information, Consultation and Participation
In the process of identifying resettlement impacts, formulating compensation policies, and preparing the resettlement action plan, extensive consultation and community participation have been organized by consultants and staff from provincial and district government agencies in the project affected areas. Survey results show that all of local residents support this project; and most of them believe that the project will benefit them. For those affected by house demolition and relocation, based on consultation among affected villages, adequate compensation will be paid and alternative housing plots of same quality will be provided within their existing villages. For those affected by losing various attachments, compensation based on replacement value will be provided.
More efforts will be made during the resettlement implementation to encourage further participation by the affected people, such as increase fairness in allocating alternative housing plots, and improve transparency in delivering and using compensation funds. All compensations will be delivered directly to affected households. For the collectively owned assets, compensations will be paid to the affected villages, and the use of such funds will be approved by village members.
Following both laws in Lao PDR and the World Bank policy, the project resettlement office had made serious efforts to disclose the content of RAP, and inform the affected people about resettlement impacts, compensation policies, and rehabilitation options. More concrete disclosure will be made prior to implementation of land acquisition, which included distributing resettlement information booklet to affected people, and making RAP available in the concerned districts and villages.
To effectively address any complains by affected persons, a grievance procedure will be set up by the project. If one person does not satisfy the compensation amount or rehabilitation measure, he could first voice his complain to the village or concerned district department, which should document such complain and resolve the matter within two weeks. If the affected person is not satisfied with the decision, he could bring his case to project resettlement office, which will provide a formal resolution within two weeks. If the affected person does not agree with the resolution, he could
4 bring his case to Houaphanh Provincial Resettlement Compensation Committee, which will make a decision within 10 days. If DP still does not satisfy the resolution from PRCC, he or she could go to the civil court to appeal. The affected people will be informed about these grievance procedures by meetings, information booklet and public notice.
F. Vulnerable Population
Detailed survey indicates that among total affected people, 31.3% are ethnic minorities, which include Taideng, Khmou, Taisang, and Yao. As for the vulnerable people, including poor households, households with disabled people, households with only older people, and households headed by women, the project will provide extra economic supports.
According to the survey, there is only 2 vulnerable household affected by the project. Both are women headed households. Each raised two school age children with average income from farming and sideline activities. In addition according to sample household survey, there are 2 poverty households with income below $120 per capita per year. According to the RAP, these vulnerable households will be given extra assistance. They include physical assistance to be provided by local government and communities in rebuilding their houses and relocating into new locations, and additional financial support. In order to provide such support, MPWT has set aside 1% of land acquisition compensation as assistance fund for vulnerable groups, which is preliminarily set at $150 per each vulnerable household.
G. Institutional Arrangement
The resettlement implementation responsibilities belong to the project sponsor and local governments. In order to ensure successful resettlement implementation, a Provincial Resettlement Compensation Committee (PRCC) will be established in Houaphanh Province. The officials from Houaphanh Provincial Public Works and Transport Department, Lao National Front, Lao Women Union, and other key agencies, particularly Houaphanh Ethnic Minority’s Office, as well as relevant district officials will be the members of PRC. Its main responsibility is to strengthen the leadership of the project, formulate resettlement policies, smooth the resettlement implementation, and coordinate among departments. A resettlement office will be set up within Provincial Public Works and Transport Department for the Project, which is responsible for coordinating overall resettlement planning and implementation activities for the proposed project. Their responsibilities includes (1) conducting inventory and social economic surveys, and providing assistance in preparing RAP; (2) signing compensation agreement with affected households and villages, and allocating compensation funds to concerned parties; and (3) coordinating and supervising resettlement implementation.
5 They will work closely with local district governments and concerned villages in conducting site survey, keeping records, organizing consultation, developing and implementing RAP, managing and allocating the resettlement funds, training resettlement staff, signing compensation agreements with affected households and villages, and being a main channel of grievance for the resettlers. In the affected villages, compensation committees will be established, which will work closely with provincial and district resettlement offices for carrying out resettlement implementation for the project.
H. Monitoring and Evaluation
In order to ensure that resettlement will be implemented smoothly and the livelihood of the resettlers will be restored, both internal monitoring and external monitoring and evaluation will be carried out during the resettlement implementation. For the Project, the internal monitoring will be in responsible by resettlement office of the Project. The concerned provincial and district resettlement working teams will participate in the internal monitoring efforts. The main purpose of internal monitoring is to monitor the implementation of resettlement program to ensure that agreed RAP will be fully implemented, and the interests of resettlers are protected. The monitoring will cover all aspects of resettlement operation, such as delivery of compensation fund, land allocation for relocated households, and house reconstruction in accordance to the RAP. Such information will be incorporated into project progress report to be submitted by the project owner to the World Bank.
In terms of external resettlement monitoring and evaluation, a qualified independent agency will by hired by Project Management Office of MPWT to regularly monitor the resettlement implementation for the proposed project and to evaluate whether the main objective of resettlement program is achieved. The independent monitoring and evaluation, guided by ESD of MPWT, will provide assessment on whether the livelihood of resettlers have been restored, which will become early warning system for the project management, and channels for voicing comments and opinions from affected people.
The method of monitoring and evaluation will combine sample survey and rapid appraisal in order to monitor the implementation progress and evaluation of income changes among affected people. To achieve these purposes, the main indicators will include: (1) physical progress of resettlement program; (2) quality of resettlement implementation; (3) delivery of resettlement funds; (4) economic conditions of the resettlers before and after resettlement; (5) environmental conditions before and after resettlement; (6) employment conditions before and after resettlement; and (7) resettlers’ satisfaction.
The external resettlement monitoring and evaluation survey will be carried out in the end of every year once the resettlement implementation begins; and will submit a resettlement monitoring and evaluation report to ESD of MPWT as well as the World
6 Bank by the end of each year. The resettlement and relocation work will begin in the end of 2009 and the land acquisition will be completed in early 2010. The resettlement monitoring and evaluation work will proceed at least 3 times between 2010 and 2012.
I. Costs and Implementation Plan
The costs to of land acquisition are included in the overall budget of the Project. The total costs of land acquisition and resettlement are estimated to be $108,668, of which $43,575 for land acquisition, $31,855 for house and shop compensation and relocation, $12,560 for attachments. The land acquisition and resettlement will be implemented in 3 years. The cost estimate for land acquisition includes provision of contingency set at 14% of total amount of compensation budget.
Following the compensation standards and policies set up in the RAP’s, the project resettlement office of MPWT will sign compensation agreements with Houaphanh Provincial Compensation Committee, which will sign compensation agreements with concerned villages and households for both house demolition and impacts on attachments, as well as temporary land occupation. The delivery of compensation funds will go from the provincial resettlement committee to affected villages or households. To ensure that resettlement funds will be used effectively and exclusively, the different levels of governments will carry out auditing on the use of resettlement funds each year.
In terms of resettlement implementation schedule, it will be closely related with construction progress. Land acquisition for both of the gas exploration and transmission components will be completed one month before the start of the civil work construction. The proposed schedule is expected to ensure that all affected persons, prior to their actual losses: i) will have been adequately consulted about the Project, its impacts and compensation entitlements; ii) will have received compensations in a timely manner; and iii) have been provided with means to establishing livelihood.
7 1. Overview
1.1 Project background
Under proposed Laos Transport Sector Program, upgrading of National Road 6A is the subproject selected for the first year implementation. The subproject is located in Hoauphanh Province starting from Hang Long village in Viengxay District, passing Sop Bao and Xieng kor District and ended at Ban Dan village in Et District with a total 124 Kilometers. Houaphanh Province has been identified as one of the largest percentage of total population in non-road-served areas in Laos, and Road 6A is one of the final remaining unpaved sections on a road linking Vientiane with a Provincial Capital City.
1.2 Project overview
The proposed World Bank-funded National Road 6A between Hang Long and Ban Dan is located in Houaphanh Province. There are total 109 villages of 4 districts located along the road corridor, including 56 villages along the road and 53 villages located within 5 kilometers of road alignment. There are 7,757 households and 46,762 persons in these 109 villages, which account for 34% of total villages, 40.9% of total households, and 41.2% of total population in these 4 districts.
The Road 6A was originally constructed by Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MPWT) between 1992 and 1996, and has been regularly maintained since then. The completed NR 6A greatly improved the access for Houaphanh Province, which used to rely on Nam Ma River for traveling and transporting. Villagers, who live along the road sides have been using the road for their daily link to most of area, and involved in maintaining the road. To improve the quality of access for all seasons, the Lao government has requested the assistance of the World Bank for upgrading the road by having pavement.
1.3 Planned schedule
The Project will begin implementation in the end of 2009 and planned completion by 2012. The project land acquisition compensation will be completed one month before the project begins. The resettlement plan implementation will begin in November 2009. Land acquisition procedures will be obtained, and compensation fee will be paid and resettlement work will be conducted.
1.4 Measures to mitigate project impacts
In project preparation stage, the design teams and the project owner have taken all the effective measures to minimize adverse impacts on the local communities. In determining the scope of road construction, to avoid or minimize impacts of land
8 acquisition and resettlement, it was decided construction will be mostly based on existing right of way of NR 6A. As a result, with the width of road construction being reduced from originally planned 14 meters to about 7.5 to 8.5 meters, the and number of houses to be demolished was reduced from 81 to 24 or 70.3%.
1.5 Project Design and Approval
The preparation work of Road 6A began in the June 2008. In October 2008 during World Bank pre-appraisal mission, the improvement of Road 6A was formally included into Laos Transport Sector Program as a candidate project to receive World Bank fund. The implementation of Road 1B is expected to begin in early 2010.
1.6 Preparation of resettlement plan
In July and November 2008, under the comprehensive arrangement and coordination of PMD of DOR, the project survey team made of staff from SD&XP and relevant provincial and district PWT staff carried out detail impact survey for the proposed Road 6A. They were supported by key officials from local districts and villages and the affected people.
Based on the different types of project impacts, project impact survey includes inventory of affected land areas, houses, shops, and attachments, and people affected by land acquisition and house demolition. After completion of the impact investigation in each village, the physical indicators were confirmed by village chief and affected household one by one and mistaken and missed items were corrected. All the investigation results have been agreed by the affected people, villages, and district and provincial government agencies.
In order to analyze the impacts of the project and develop viable and practical resettlement action plan, under the coordination of MPWT, the team also conducted detailed social and economic survey in the project affected areas, which combined the collection of all the existing social economic data with sample household survey. Based on the obtained data through investigation, the local economic and social situation and the potential impact on the livelihood of the affected people were analyzed.
1.7 Development of Resettlement Action Plan
Since September 2008, the project owner with the assistance of SD & XP team has actively involved in RAP preparation. In the process, resettlement management organizations have been set up; project impact scope has been identified; and the work program of RAP preparation has been developed. Based on such work plan, project impact survey, social and economic survey, compensation policy study, resettlement plan development and resettlement cost estimation have bee completed. As the result, the RAP for the proposed Project was finally developed.
9 1.8 References and objectives of this RAP
A. Major policy references
(1) World Bank Operational Policies OP/BP 4.12 – Involuntary Resettlement (2) Constitution of Lao PDR (1991) (3) Land law of Lao PDR (1997) (4) Road Law of Lao PDR (5) Forest Law of Lao PDR (1996 and amended in 2007) (6) the Decree 192/PM on Compensation and Resettlement of People Affected by Development Projects, (Government of the Lao PDR, 2005)
B. Policy objectives
(1) Engineering, technical and economic measures should be taken to minimize or avoid land acquisition and displacement of people. When the land acquisition is inevitable, effective measures should be taken to minimize land acquisition’s impacts on the production and life of the local residents. (2) During project preparation stage, social and economic investigation should be conducted and resettlement plan should be developed accordingly. (3) Based on the impact indicators and compensation standards, the objective is to improve affected people’s livelihood and living standards or at least restore to the existing level. (4) The economic rehabilitation of the affected people should be based on land; and employment opportunities should be created along with Project. (5) Affected people and residents in the affected area should be encouraged to participate in the resettlement plan. (6) The affected people and all the residents in the affected area should benefit from the project.
10 2. Social and economic overview of the project affected areas
2.1 Project Province – Houaphanh Province
Huapthanh Province is located in the northeast part of the country bordering with Vietnam. It has the jurisdiction over 8 districts and 785 villages with 16,500 square kilometers of land areas. The total population was 258,766 by the end of 2007, with an average population density being 17 persons per square kilometers. Female population accounted for 49.5%. There were 43,320 households in the province, with average household size being 6.6 persons per household. Among them, 11.8% are residing in urban areas, and 88.2% are living in rural areas. Among total rural population (38,208 households and 251,957 persons), only 58% have access to road, and 42% of them without access to roads. Among total population, 45% are ethnic minorities, with Hmong accounting 53% and Khmou accounting 31% and others accounting 16%. Most of them are subsistence farmers and cultivate highland crops in an area that is 99.6% mountainous. Average GDP in 2007 was approximately US$392 per capita. In 2008, the province had about 43,616 ha of farmland, averaging 0.15 ha per capita. Table 2-1 provides basic social and economic data of Huapthanh Province and three project districts: Vieng Xay, Sop Bao, and Xiengkhor.
Table 2-1: Basic social and economic data for Project Province and Districts Vieng Sop Xieng Item Unit Province Et Xay Bao Khor 1. Number of Districts Piece 8 1 1 1 1 2. Number of Villages Piece 787 112 68 59 78 3. Total household No. HH 43,320 4,037 4,307 4,397 4,394 4. Total population Person 285,666 35,574 26,414 26,450 27,013 5 Female population Person 141,287 17,458 13,199 12,867 13,304 6. Percent of Females Person 49.5% 49.1% 50.0% 48.6% 49.3% 7. Number persons per Person 6.6 8.8 6.1 6.0 6.1 household 8. Geographic area km2 16,500 1542.8 1,594 1,473 1,330 9. Population Density Person/km2 17.3 23.7 16.5 17.9 20.3 10. Number of Poverty Villages Piece 516 47 29 22 27 11. Percent of Poverty Villages % 65.6% 42.0% 42.6% 37.3% 34.6% 12. Number of Poor Households HH 9,500 2,537 1,321 808 1,002 13. % of Poor Households % 21.9% 62.8% 30.7% 18.4% 22.8% 14. GDP per Capita $ USD 392 312 292 301 299 15. % of GDP for Agriculture % 66% 61% 59% 62% 67% 16. % GDP for Industrial and % 15% 11% 17% 20% 9%. Handicraft
11 Vieng Sop Xieng Item Unit Province Et Xay Bao Khor 17. % GDP in Services % 19% 28% 24% 18% 24%. 18. Farmland area Ha 43,616 3,346 2,800 2,146 2733 19. Grain production volume ton 84,271 13,164 10,920 12,584 9,565 20. Per capital grain production Kilogram 295 370 413 476 354 21. Per capita farmland Ha 0.16 0.09 0.11 0.08 0.10
2.2 Project Districts: Vieng xay, Sop Bao, Xieng Khor and Et
Vieng Xay District is located in the North of Houaphanh Province. It is bordering with Xamneua District to the south, Sop Bao District to the East, and Viet Nam to the North and west. The district has a total area of 1542.8 square kilometers. By the end of 2007, the district had 112 villages, 4,037 households and 35,574 persons. Female population accounted for 49.2%. Among total villages, 47 are poverty villages, accounting 40.3%. Among total households, 2537 households or 23% are poverty households, with per capita income below $120 per year. By the end of 2008, the district had 3,346 ha of farmland, averaging 0.09 ha per capita. The grain production was 13,164 tons, averaging 370 kg per capita. Its major agricultural produce includes rice, corn, soy beans, vegetables and fruit trees.
Sop Bao District is located in the north part of Houaphanh Province. It is bordering with Vieng xay district to the south, Xieng Khor District to the East, and Viet Nam to the North and west. The district has a total area of 1,402 square kilometers. By the end of 2007, the district had 68 villages, 4,037 households and 26,414 persons. Female population accounted for 49.9%. The average population density was 17. Among total villages, 29 are poverty villages, accounting 42.6%. Among total households, 1,321 households or 32.7% are poverty households. The average GDP per capita was $292. By the end of 2008, the district had 2800 ha of farmland, averaging 0.11 ha per capita. The grain production amounted to 10,920 tons, averaging 413 kg per capita. Its major agricultural produce includes rice, maize, soy beans, vegetables and fruit. Due to warm climate, more fruits and various crops were planted in Sop Bao, Xieng Khor and Et districts compared with that in Vieng Xay District.
Xieng Khor District is located in the north part of Houaphanh Province. It is bordering with Vieng Sop Bao district to the south, Et District to the East, and Viet Nam to the North and west. The district has a total area of 1,470 square kilometers. By the end of 2007, the district had 59 villages, 4,394 households and 26,450 persons. Female population accounted for 49.2%. The average population density was 18. Among total villages, 22 are poverty villages, accounting 37.2%. Among total households, 808 households or 18.37% are poverty households, with per capita income below $120 per year. The average GDP per capita was $301 in 2008. The total farmland in the district was 2146 ha, averaging only 0.08 ha per capita. The grain production
12 volume was 12,584 tons and the per capita production volume was 476 kilograms. Its major agricultural produce includes rice, corn, soy beans Non Timber Forest Products (NTFPs), vegetables and fruits.
Et District is located in the north part of Houaphanh Province. It is bordering with Xieng Khor district to the south, Luang Prabang Province to the East, and Viet Nam to the north and west. The district has a total area of 1,259 quare kilometers. By the end of 2007, the district had 78 villages, 4,397 households and 27,013 persons. Female population accounted for 49.2%. Among total villages, 27 are poverty villages, accounting 34.6%. Among total households, 1,002 households or 22.8% are poverty households. The average GDP per capita was $299 per year. By the end of 2008, the total farmland in the district was 2733 ha, averaging 0.10 ha per capita. The grain production volume was 9565 tons and the per capita production was 354 kilograms. Its major agricultural produce includes rice, corn; soy beans Non Timber Forest Products (NTFPs), vegetables and various fruits.
2.3 Basic Condition of Project Affected Villages
The proposed Road 6A Improvement Subproject would involve limited impacts. Among 55 villages along the road, the impacts would involve only 20 villages from 4 districts in Houaphanh Province. They include 8 villages in Vieng Xay District, 4 Villages in Sop Bao District, 5 villages in Xieng khor District and 3 villages in Et District. In 2008, there were 1751 households and 10,520 persons in these 20 villages, averaging 6.01 persons per household. Female population accounts for 49.5% of total population.
Since most of villages are located in mountainous areas, except for those in Nam Ma Valley of Vieng Xay District, there is certain proportion of ethnic minorities. Among total 20 affected villages, 14 of them are ethnic minority villages. About 45% of households and population of 20 villages are ethnic minorities, which include Tai deng, Tai dam, Khmou and Yao ethnic groups. See Table 2-2 for details.
Table 2-2: Demographic Profile of Affected Villages
No. Village Household Population Female Male Minority Name Percent
I. Vieng Xay 401 2445 1000 1243 308 76.8% 1 B Namao 33 205 98 107 33 Tai deng 100% 2 B. Kaleun 31 186 85 101 31 Tai deng 100% 3 B Mouang Pua 93 532 294 258 0 Lao 0.0% 4 B Phong Thong 70 412 197 215 70 Tai deng 100% 5 B Pung Pua 43 285 148 137 43 Tai deng 100% 6 B.vanxeng 37 235 112 123 37 Tai deng 100% 7 B. Homephanh 47 340 172 176 47 Yao 100% 8 B. Nasa 47 250 124 126 47 Tai deng 100% II. Sop Bao 335 2,060 1,039 1021 223 66.57% 9 Phonxay 77 487 253 234 77 Tai deng 100%
13 No. Village Household Population Female Male Minority Name Percent
10 B. Naguoa 73 446 216 230 73 Tai deng 100% 11 B. Mouang han 110 660 338 322 0 Lao 0.0% 12 B. Natham 75 467 232 235 75 Tai deng 100% III. Xieng Khor 757 4,491 2,204 2,287 239 31.57% Taideng and 13 Ta On 112 718 353 365 112 100% Tai dam Taidam 14 Sop Mone 136 809 404 405 50 35.8% and Khmou 15 Sop Xay 77 472 227 245 0 Lao 0.0% 16 Xieng Khor 355 2,020 990 1030 0 Lao 0.0% 17 Phiang Yam 77 472 230 242 77 Tai deng 100% IV. Et 258 1,524 735 762 17 Tai dam 6.6% 18 B. Sot 113 681 335 346 17 Tai dam 15% 19 B. MouangVanh 53 301 143 158 0 Lao 0.0% 20 Ban Dan 92 542 257 285 0 Lao 0.0% Total 1751 10520 5208 5340 787 44.9% Source: Statistic Center of Houaphanh Province and Planning Department of each District and Affected villages
There are 1765 ha of farmland in these 20 villages, including 61% of low land paddy and 39% upland rice. In average, each household has about 1 ha of farmland with 0.61 ha of low land paddy and 0.39 ha of upland rice. In 2008, the total rice production in the affected villages was 5,325 tons, averaging 506 kg per capita, which was 45% more than the average rice sufficiency level estimated in Lao PDR or 350kg per person per year. Such condition was much better than the average level in Huoaphanh Province and four districts, which ranged from 295 to 476 kg per capita. In addition, there are 1303 ha of various economic crops, with 817 ha of corn averaging 6 tons per ha. Most of produced corns are used for animal feed or sold to Vietnam for cash.
In these villages, low land paddy is collectively owned, while upland rice and land for economic crops are held by individual households. The main occupation of the people is shifting cultivation, producing subsistence rice, corn, cash crop, vegetables and cassava for household consumption and for animals with surplus sale to the markets. In addition, farmers also get their income from collecting Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFP’s), such as bamboo shoots, and wild mushrooms, and providing labors for roads maintenance and house construction.
All villages have access to road and water supply, and most of them or 94% of households have access to electricity connected by EDL grid. There is an elementary school in each village.
14 2.4 Basic information on the work and life of affected households
2.4.1 Sample selection
In order to better understand the project’s impacts on individual households, the RAP preparation team conducted a social economic survey within the project affected villages. The sample survey covered 38 affected households, accounting 100% of total affected households in 20 villages. See Table 2-3 for the specific allocation of sample households.
Table 2-3: Distribution of Sample Households in Affected Villages Affected No. Village Sample Households Sample Proportion Household I. Vienxay district 1 B Namao 2 B. Kaleun 2 2 100% 3 B Mouang Pua 4 4 100% 4 B Phong Thong 2 2 100% 5 B Pung Pua 2 2 100% 6 B.vanxeng 1 1 100% 7 B. Homephanh 1 1 100% 8 B. Nasa 2 2 100% Sub-Total 14 14 100% II. Sop Bao District 9 Phonxay 2 2 100% 10 B. Naguoa 1 1 100% 11 B. Mouang han 12 B. Natham Sub-Total 3 3 100% Xieng Khor District 13 B.Ta On 3 3 100% 14 B.Sop Mone 3 3 100% 15 B.Sop Xay 1 1 100% 16 B.Xieng Khor 1 1 100% 17 Phiang Yam Sub-Total 8 8 100% Et District 18 B. Sot 19 B. MouangVanh 20 Ban Dan 1 1 100% Sub-Total 1 1 100% Grand Total 26 26 100% Note: for data’s sample collected were 100%, in order to avoid ensure of variation data errors.
2.4.2 Investigation results and result analysis
The RAP preparation team conducted detailed investigation on social economic conditions of 38 sample households. See Table 2-4 for the results.
15
(1) Family structure and employment The 38 sample households have 230 people in total. Every household has 6.1 people in average. Among them, 12 households and 84 persons are ethnic minorities, which account for 36% of total population. All of them are Khmou, Taidam, Yao, and Taideng ethnic groups. Among total sample population, there are 114 adult labors (ages between 17 and 55), 17 elderly (ages above 55 years old) and 99 children with age below 17 years old.
(2) Agricultural production According to the investigation, there are basically no enterprises in the project affected area. Farmers mainly work in crop production and small trade. Due to closeness to the roads, 9 households have income from small shops. Most farmland grows grain crops, including low land rice, upland rice and corn for their self consumption. In total the sample households have 37 ha farmland and the per capita farmland is 0.16 ha. In 2007, the annual grain production volume was about 115.6 tons and per capita grain volume was 502 kg. Because the existing production facilities are not well developed, and the irrigation conditions are not good, the current rural resource development and utilization level is not high. There is still room for further improvement of the farmland productivity.
Table 2-4: Basic information on the sample households in Project Affected Areas Investigation indicator Unit Quantity Investigation indicator Unit Quantity 2. Transport and I. No. of Sample Households HH 38 communication devices 1. Total Population Person 230 (1) Mobile phone Piece 51 Including: women Person 108 (2) Fixed telephone Piece 5 2. Total No. of labor forces in HH Person 114 (3) Motorcycle Piece 49 Including: women Person 49 (4) Truck Piece 2 3. Average dependents per labor Person 1.02 V. Annual total income US$ 76,264 force II. Agricultural production (1) Income from Planting US$ 29,022 1. Farmland Ha 37 (2) Income from Animal US$ 11906 2. Per capital farmland Ha 0.16 (3) Income of NTFP US$ 2329 Salary US$ 3784 3. Total Grain Production Tons 115.6 (4) Income of Shops US$ 23117 4. Per capita Grain Production Kg 502 (5) Small Trade & Other US$ 341 III. Persons working in non-farm Person 26 VI Annual total expenses 41,574 sectors % in the total labor forces % 22.8% (1) Food US$ 18465 Including: (1) small shops Person 18 (2) Heath Care US$ 5203 (2) teachers Person 3 (3) Education US$ 2283 (3) small trade Person 5 (4) Social Welfares US$ 3269 IV. Durable consumer goods of HH (5) Clothing US$ 3735 1. Home electric appliance (6) Transport & Other US$ 2565
16 VII Annual Per Capita (1) TV set Set 22 US$ 307 Income (2) DVD\VCD Set 37 (3) Electric fan Set 0
(3) Living environment and housing conditions All sample households are located along the existing road and have relative easy access to the outside, although quality of roads are difficult during rainy season. There are shuttle buses to district center or Samneua – the capital city of Houaphanh/ Province.
(4) Household income structure According to our survey statistics on economic income of the sample households, in 2007, the annual per capita income of the sample households was $332, including $126 per capital from agricultural production, accounting for 38.1%; $62 per capita from animal husbandry and forest products, accounting for 18.7%; $101 per capita from shops, accounting for 30.3%; and $42 from other sidelines or non-farm activities, accounting for 12.7% of total income.
(5) Household consumption structure According to our investigation on 38 sample households, in 2007, the annual per capita expense of the sample households was $181, including $23 per capita agricultural production expense, accounting for 12.5%; $158 per capita daily life consumption, accounting for 87.5%. Among total expenses, the food and beverage consumption expense was largest with $80, accounting for 44.4%. It followed by education expense with $24 per capita or 13.5%, and medical expense with $14 per capita or 7.9%. The remaining per capita expenses are clothing with $12 or 6.9%. The household consumption structure indicates that the daily life consumption level of the residents in the project affected area is still low. People’s consumption is basically concentrated in basic consumption.
(6) Per capita net income According to the analysis of the economic income and consumption expenses of the sample households, by the end of 2007, the per capita net income of sample households was $309. The household with highest per capita net income among the sample households was $1059 and the household with the lowest income was $88 per capita per year. There are only two households with per capita income below the poverty line or $120 per capita, accounting for 5.2% of total affected households.
2.4.3 Women’s position in the project affected area
People working on project resettlement plan development have paid special attention to the women’s position in the affected area during the economic and social investigation. During village consultations, women at difference ages were represented in the meetings. They voiced their support of the Project and indicated
17 that with road improvement, their health condition could be enhanced greatly due to reduction of road dust. Their agricultural products could be more easily transported to the market all year round, which could bring in more cash income for their families. In addition, household interviews were conducted to understand women’s position in the family and their participation in social public affairs.
In general, women’s position in the family is increasing and men and women are basically equal. Women in the affected area play important roles in every aspect of the work and life of households. They hold high position in family. However, due to the less developed local economy and the influence of traditional custom, women’s social participation degree is low in comparison with men. Therefore, the villages would welcome trainings to be provided to women for suitable agricultural or non- farm skills in order to meet their desire for technology and improve women’s participation in public affairs.
18 3. Project impacts
3.1 Identification of land acquisition scope
The proposed Improvement of National Road 6A Project will cover upgrading of 124kilometers of mountainous roads, which will pass through 20 villages in 4 districts in Houaphanh Province. To minimize the impacts and accommodate current traffic volume, the upgrading standard will follow relevant national technical norms for mountainous roads, which include:
(1) Carriageway 5.5m, plus paved shoulders (SBST) of 0.5mx2 for common mountainous areas. (2) Carriageway 5.5m, plus paved shoulders (SBST) of 1.5 mx2 for village areas, as class 5 (3) Carriageway 5.5m, plus paved shoulders (SBST) as per requirement in big towns such as Sop Bao, Xieng Khor and Et Town section.
As a result, limited land acquisition would be required and some houses and attachments would be affected within the area of carriageway and paved shoulders, which would affect a total 26 households from 20 villages in 4 districts. For such limited land acquisition and demolition, compensation for land, houses and attachments based on replacement value will be provided by the Project. For those households losing farmland or need to be relocated, alternative farmland and housing plots with similar size and location will be provided by their villages and paid by the project.
3.2 Method of Impact Survey
To identify all the physical indicators about the impacts of the project, under the coordination of Houaphanh Provincial Public Works and Transport Department and relevant District Public Works and Transport Departments, the resettlement preparation team conducted comprehensive investigation on the physical indicators of project impacts. The investigation contents include the permanent land acquisition, affected houses, rice storages, and various attachments on the acquired land and potential temporary land occupation. The specific investigation methods are as follows:
Investigation of land acquisition and temporary land occupation: Based on the mark set by project engineers, on-site investigation would be carried out, and the areas of land with different ownership and categories are measured and investigated based on the existing land use conditions.
19 Investigation of houses and attachments: on-site measurement of affected properties is conducted for areas affected by project construction.
Investigation on the affected people: the affected people are divided into two categories: people affected by land loss, and people affected by house demolition and relocation, as well as loss of various attachments, ranging from trees to fences. During the village-based investigation, the affected people are investigated and recorded household by household in terms of ethnic group, age structure, educational background and employment status.
3.3 Major physical indicators on project impacts
Based on detailed survey, the proposed Road 6A Project would only acquire 1.45 ha of land areas permanently, including 1.33 ha of paddy land, 0.02 ha of fish ponds, 75 m2 of garden land, and 0.1 ha of housing land. All acquired farmland are collectively owned belonging to 10 villages. For the affected fish ponds, it will affect two households. In terms of acquisition of 0.1 ha of housing land, it includes affected housing land areas and structures for 24 households. Among them, 13 households would lose their houses with a total 612 square meters, 8 of them would lose their shops in connection with their houses with 497 square meters, and 3 households would lose only part of their housing plots with 102 square meters. In addition, 1 household would lose 22 meters of fence, and a total 102 trees and 22 transmission line poles will be removed. A total of 26 individual households and 20 villages would be affected. (See Table 3-1 and Table 3-2 for details).
Table 3-1: Scope of Land Acquisition and Demolition Impacts Fish Affected Vacant Affected Paddy Pond District / House Affected Housing Shops Fence Land (garden Others Villages land houses Land & land (m) (m2) land (m2) (m2) (m2) (m2) (m2) Vieng Xay District B Namao 0 0 0 600 B. Kaleun 34 57 0 0 B Mouang Pua 192 165 12 0 0 B Phong Thong 25 89 0 0 B Pung Pua 55 112 0 0 B.vanxeng 16 48 0 0 B. Homephanh 20 56 0 0 8 poles B. Nasa 90 45 0 750 155 Sub-Total: 432 572 12 0 1350 155 0 Sop Bao District B. Phonxay 85 0 45 60 420 14 poles B. Naguoa 45 0 45 0 3750 22 B. Mouang han 0 0 0 150 B. Natham 0 0 0 300 Sub-Total: 130 0 90 60 4620 22 Xieng khor District B.Ta On 153 0 192 0 120
20 Fish Affected Vacant Affected Paddy Pond District / House Affected Housing Shops Fence Land (garden Others Villages land houses Land & land (m) (m2) land (m2) (m2) (m2) (m2) (m2) B.Sop Mone 120 0 125 0 B.Sop Xay 27 0 40 0 B.Xieng Khor 72 0 80 5000 Phiang Yam 0 0 0 320 102 Trees Sub-Total: 372 0 437 5320 120 Et District B. Sot 0 0 0 1200 B. Mouang Vanh 0 0 0 800 Ban. Dan 26 40 0 0 Sub-Total: 26 40 0 2000 Grand Total 960 612 102 497 13290 270 22
Table 3-2: List of Affected Households (Villages) Affected Affected Affected Household Affected Household Affected Affected Total District / Household for lost Household for Fish Household Villages for Affected Villages for lost vacant for losing Pond & for losing Losing Paddy Household houses housing shops garden fence Land land land Vieng Xay 1 District B Namao 0 0 B. Kaleun 2 0 2 B Mouang Pua 3 1 0 4 B Phong Thong 2 0 2 B Pung Pua 2 0 2 B.vanxeng 1 0 1 B. Homephanh 1 0 1 B. Nasa 1 0 2 2 * 1 Sub-Total: 12 1 0 1 0 14 2 Sop Bao
District B. Phonxay 0 1 1 2 1 B. Naguoa 0 1 0 1 1 * 1 B. Mouang han 0 0 1 B. Natham 0 0 1 Sub-Total: 2 1 1 3 4 Xieng khor
District B.Ta On 0 2 1 3 B.Sop Mone 0 3 3 B.Sop Xay 0 1 1 B.Xieng Khor 0 1 1 1 Phiang Yam 0 0 1 Sub-Total: 0 7 1 0 8 2 Et District B. Sot 0 0 1 B. Mouang 0 0 1 Vanh Ban. Dan 1 0 1
21 Affected Affected Affected Household Affected Household Affected Affected Total District / Household for lost Household for Fish Household Villages for Affected Villages for lost vacant for losing Pond & for losing Losing Paddy Household houses housing shops garden fence Land land land Sub-Total: 1 0 0 0 1 2 Grand Total 13 3 8 2 1 26 10 Note: (1) The household affected by fence is also affected by housing land acquisition. (2) The household affected by fish pond in Nasa Village is also affected by house demolition. (3) For removed 22 transmission lines poles, 8 in B Phong Thong Village, and 14 in B. Phpmxay Village. (4) For removed 102 trees, all of them are in Phiang Yam Village.
There are 10 villages involve with paddy land acquisition with a total of 1.33 ha, averaging 0.13 ha per village, ranging from only 0.02 ha for B. Meung Hang Village to 0.38 ha for B. Ngoua Village. The acquired paddy land would account for 1.19% of total paddy land in these 10 villages or 659 ha, ranging from 0.02% to 0.55%. Since the paddy land are all collectively owned in these 10 villages, and since total amount of acquired paddy are very limited, the land acquisition will have little direct impact on individual households in these villages. Consultations with affected villages indicated that most villages would like use compensation for paddy land as village welfare funds to be used to improve farming and irrigation condition of the villages, or provide welfare support among village members. Table 3-3 provides an analysis of land acquisition impact on affected villages.
Table 3-3: Farmland Loss Impact among Affected Villages Per Per Total Up Acquired Percent Cash Capita Capita Name of Paddy Land Paddy of Paddy HH Person Crop Paddy Paddy villages Land Rice land Loss Land Before after (ha) (Ha) (Ha) (%) (ha) (ha) B. Na Mao 33 205 25 47 64 0.06 0.24% 0.12 0.12 B. Na Sa 47 250 42 57 82 0.08 0.18% 0.17 0.17 B. Phone Xai 77 487 62 24 51 0.04 0.07% 0.13 0.13 B. Na Ngoua 73 446 68 0 47 0.38 0.55% 0.15 0.15 B. Meung Hang 110 660 93 0 47 0.02 0.02% 0.14 0.14 B. Natham 75 467 55 0 35 0.03 0.05% 0.12 0.12 Xieng Khor 355 2020 130 9 93 0.50 0.38% 0.06 0.06 District Centre B. Phieng Yam 77 472 10 40 53 0.03 0.30% 0.02 0.02 B. Sot 113 681 136 4 136 0.12 0.09% 0.20 0.20 B. Na Leng 53 301 38 14 46 0.08 0.21% 0.13 0.13 Total 1013 5989 659 195 654 1.33 0.20% 0.11 0.11
For those with house demolition, they include 960 square meters of housing land and 1002 square meters of structures. Among affected structures, 612 square meters are houses and 497 square meters are shops. All affected shops are combined with their houses. In terms of types of structures, all of them are wooden houses.
22 3.4 Vulnerable groups affected by the project
Detailed survey indicates that among total affected households, 31.5% are ethnic minorities, which include Khmou, Taisang, Yao, and Taideng. As for the vulnerable people, including poor households, households with disabled people, households with only older people, and households headed by women, the project will provide extra economic supports.
According to the survey, there are 4 vulnerable households, which include 2 women headed households, and 2 poverty households with per capita income below $120 per year. According to the RAP these vulnerable households will be given extra assistance, which include physical help in house construction and relocation and one time financial assistance preliminarily set at $150 per household. In order to provide such support, MPWT has set aside 1% of land acquisition compensation as the assistance fund for vulnerable group.
3.5 Analysis on the impacts of the project
Since the Project will acquire limited amount of collectively owned paddy land from affected villages, accounting for 0.3% of total paddy land in these villages, no major impacts are expected on the livelihood and income among individual households in these villages. Demolition of certain number houses particularly small shops might have some negative impacts on affected households. For such impacts, the basic strategy is to provide compensation at replacement value and alternative housing plots so that they could rebuild their houses or shops at nearby locations before construction, so that their living condition and business will not be affected.
23 4. Legal Framework of Compensation Policies
The legal framework and policy of the Project are based on the Government’s Laws and Regulations and the relevant policies of the World Bank. Provisions and principles adopted in this Resettlement Plan for the Project supersede the provisions of relevant decrees currently in force in Lao PDR wherever a gap exists.
4.1 Government Laws and Policies
The Constitution: Article 14 of the Constitution declares that the State protects and promotes all forms of state, collective, and individual ownership. Article 15 declares that the land within the Lao PDR is owned by the national community and that the State ensures the rights of citizens to use, transfer, and inherit it in accordance with the law. Article 8 establishes the right of all ethnic groups relative to the preservation and promotion of their customs and heritage. All acts of division and discrimination among ethnic groups are prohibited.
The Land Law, adopted by the National Assembly in 20031, is the principal legislation by which the State exercises its constitutional responsibility for tenure, access, use and management, preservation of land. Several articles of particular importance to resettlement are summarized below:
Article 3 reaffirms that all land in the Lao PDR is the property of the national community (as stated in the Constitution, Article 15) for whom the State is the uniform central administrative representative throughout the Country and individuals… are assigned to effectively use the land… (only non-forest land in private title or land held under a long-term lease can be transferred).
Article 5 protects the legal rights and benefits of those who have effectively received the right to use land including the right to transfer it.
Article 11 classifies land into eight categories, and subsequent chapters of the Law are concerned with the management of each. The categories are: agricultural land, forest land, water area land, industrial land, communication land, cultural land, defence and security land and construction land.
Article 43, refers to the certification of the lawful land use rights of persons or entities. There are two land registration methods (Article 44) by which individuals can register the land which they are using lawfully. First is systematic land registration, which is carried out throughout a designated area where land allocation, zoning, or
1 Land Law 2003 supersedes the Land Law 01/97 dated 12 April 1997.
24 classification is required. Systematic registration confers a Land Title. Second, persons or entities can make application to certify their right to use certain land.
Under Article 48, land certificates are issued certifying the temporary right to use agricultural or forest-land which are issued by district level authorities. These land certificates can be inherited, but cannot be transferred or used as collateral,
Article 53 states that persons who have received the right to use the land have the following rights: to protect land for use for a specific objective, to use land a specific purpose in accordance with the State’s allocation plan, to enjoy usufruct or income from the land, to transfer the right of land use, and to inherit the right of land use
Article 63 states that the right of land use shall terminate either through voluntary relinquishment of the land or if the State retrieves the land for public purposes. However, the landholder is entitled to just compensation for the taking of the state (Article 70)
Compensation is treated in Articles 68 to 72 of the Land Law. Article 70 states that persons or entities requiring a right-of-way and thereby cause damage to crops or buildings must make appropriate compensation. Article 71 states that when the use of land belonging to other persons or organizations becomes necessary for the public interest, the State will compensate any damage suffered by the rightful user of the requisitioned land, as appropriate. Furthermore, the Law requires that each village, province, municipality, or special zone keep five percent of its total land area in reserve to ensure the compensation of requisitioned land
Evaluation of the damage is provided for by Article 72, which states that the evaluation will be done by a committee composed of representatives of the various concerned parties.
The Land Law does not specifically address itself to unregistered land users. It does, however, provide the registration and certification methods described above by which individuals can register the land which they are using lawfully. Article 82 further provides that persons or entities that are lawfully keeping, using, and developing land with efficiency will be awarded the right to use that land, all other conditions being met.
The Decree on Compensation and Resettlement for Development Projects (Decree 192/2005) was issued on the 7th of July 2005 by the Office of the Prime Minister Along with the decree’s Regulation on Implementation (November 2005) and Technical Guidelines (November 2005), they provide a comprehensive framework on resettlement planning in Lao PDR. Some of the more pertinent articles of relevance to the Project’s resettlement are noted below.
25 Article 6 - Compensation principles state that before compensation, a joint committee will be established to assess loss to APs. APs will be entitled to compensation for structures at replacement cost, compensation will be payable for losses of income due to the project, and those without documented legal title will still be entitled to compensation for lost structures and other support so as not to be negatively impacted.
Article 6 - paragraph 6. States that APs who are living in rural or remote areas, who do not have any legal Land Use Certificate or any other acceptable proof indicating land use right to the affected land and assets they occupy shall be compensated for their lost rights to use land and for their other assets at replacement cost and provided additional assistance to ensure that they are not worse-off due to the project. APs in urban areas, who do not have any legal Land Use Certificate or any other acceptable proof indicating land use right to the affected land and assets they occupy and who have no land at other places will be compensated for their lost rights to use land and for their other assets at replacement cost and other additional assistance to ensure they are not worse off due to the project.
Article 8 - entitlement to economic rehabilitation measures if more than 20% of income-generating assets are lost due to a development project.
Article 11 - voluntary donation of land by APs is only acceptable if the impact on their income generation is not significant (less than 20% reduction), no physical displacement is caused, and APs are fully aware of their entitlements before relinquishing them.
Article 11 - project proponents will define mitigations measures and socioeconomic benefits to improve the status of ethnic communities which will be developed in consultation with the communities and in harmony with their cultural preferences.
Article 17 of the Regulations - requires a separate section on indigenous peoples issues and mitigation measures in the RP. Where impacts on indigenous peoples are more significant an Indigenous peoples Development Plan will be prepared.
The decree and its guidelines rectify key areas of the Land Law which would prevent informal land users from any eligibility, and also sets a clear definition of the “reasonable compensation” mentioned in the Land Law and determines these as replacement cost.
The Forestry Law states (i) that forests and forest land can be converted to other uses (i.e. for transmission line right of way) when necessary and in the public interest (subject to approval) from responsible authorities; (ii) an individual or organization given permission to convert forest to another use is responsible for payment of a conversion fee, land reclamation and tree planting; (iii) provision for allowing long
26 practiced activities such as collecting wood for fences and fuel, non-timber forest products (NTFP), hunting and fishing for non-protected species for household consumption, and other customary uses. For removal of forests, compensation is based on the volume of timber (m3) of a given class of tree that will be cut down. Compensation is only paid for timber removed from private forestry plantations. No compensation is paid for timber removed from natural forests on public lands. Nor is any compensation paid for removal of NTFP such as bamboo. There is no requirement to replant trees on degraded land located away from a transmission line corridor, as compensation for removing trees to create transmission line right-of-way. Such forms of compensation only apply to reservoir clearing projects where it is necessary to plant trees to stabilize slopes that could otherwise fail through a process of mass wasting.
Road Law states that Ministry of Public Works and Transport manages and uses the land for the road activity in conformity with the determination in the land law. Road width shall have the area consisting of the carriageway, shoulders, pathways, drainages, slope of road and Right of Way (Article 17). Within the Right of Way, it shall be banned all constructions and other activities. In vital case, it shall be requested the permission from the road management authority (Article 21).
4.2 World Bank’s Policies and Requirements on Involuntary Resettlement
According to the World Bank’s policy, (a) involuntary resettlement should be avoided where feasible, or minimized, exploring all viable alternative project designs. (b) Where it is not feasible to avoid resettlement, resettlement activities should be conceived and executed as sustainable development programs, providing sufficient investment resources to enable the persons displaced by the project to share in project benefits. Displaced persons should be meaningfully consulted and should have opportunities to participate in planning and implementing resettlement programs. (c) Displaced persons should be assisted in their efforts to improve their livelihoods and standards of living or at least to restore them, in real terms, to pre- displacement levels or to levels prevailing prior to the beginning of project implementation, whichever is higher.
To address the impacts, the borrower is required to prepare a resettlement plan, which includes measures to ensure that the displaced persons are (i) informed about their options and rights pertaining to resettlement; (ii) consulted on, offered choices among, and provided with technically and economically feasible resettlement alternatives; and (iii) provided prompt and effective compensation at full replacement cost for losses of assets attributable directly to the project.
If the impacts include physical relocation, the resettlement plan includes measures to ensure that the displaced persons are (i) provided assistance (such as moving allowances) during relocation; and (ii) provided with residential housing, or housing sites, or, as required, agricultural sites for which a combination of productive
27 potential, locational advantages, and other factors is at least equivalent to the advantages of the old site.
Where necessary to achieve the objectives of the policy, the resettlement plan should also include measures to ensure that displaced persons are (i) offered support after displacement, for a transition period, based on a reasonable estimate of the time likely to be needed to restore their livelihood and standards of living; and (ii) provided with development assistance in addition to compensation measures described above, such as land preparation, credit facilities, training, or job opportunities.
4.3 Principles of Compensation
In accordance with the legal and policy requirements of the Lao PDR Government and the World Bank, the principles of the compensation and entitlements established for the project include: 1) Compensation and entitlements provided to DPs are adequate to at least maintain their pre-project standard of living, with the prospect of improvement; 2) Land temporarily occupied and the period of disruption are kept to a minimum; 3) All DPs, legal and illegal, are taken into consideration and accounted for; 4) For all relocated households, alternative housing plots with similar sizes and locations will be provided so that their livelihood and living conditions could be maintained or improved after resettlement; 5) All DPs are adequately informed on eligibility, compensation standards, livelihood and income restoration plans, and project timing; and 6) No land acquisition and resettlement will take place prior to satisfactory compensation of the DPs.
4.4 Definition of DPs and Compensation Eligibility
Displaced persons (DPs) refer to all persons whose livelihood or living standard is adversely affected through the loss of land, houses, other assets, and income as a consequence of the Project. All DPs losing land, houses, and sources of income will be compensated or rehabilitated in accordance with the type and amount of their losses and they are included in the final survey to be completed within the deadline specified by the government, or are identified as affected temporarily during construction. The deadline specified by the government is set as the final date for compensation eligibility. DPs houses and other productive assets after the deadline will not be eligible to compensation or subsidies.
4.5 Basis of Compensation Rates
According to relevant laws and regulations in Lao PDR a set of compensation standards has been proposed based on consultation with local government agencies, and discussions with affected villages and individuals. They include compensation rates for land, structures, and other assets.
28 The compensation of land acquisition mainly includes compensations for lost paddy land and residential land due to house demolition and shop removal. For loss of limited amount of collectively owned paddy land, compensation at replacement value equal to at least 10 times of annual output value will be provided to affected villages. For limited loss of residential land, alternative housing plots will be provided by the villages or compensation based on replacement value will be provided to affected households. Since the housing land loss only account for 17% of their total housing plots, most of households would prefer cash compensation which is set at $3 per square meter. will be set aside to be paid for such purpose.
For temporary land occupation, if any productive farmland or garden land will be affected, compensation rates of $0.3 per square meter per year will be provided to affected households or villages for loss of yield each year. The compensation will be paid during the period of land occupation, plus compensation to restore affected land areas into original productive conditions, which will be the responsibility by the project owner.
In terms of compensation for demolished houses, a set of compensation rates based on replacement values had been proposed based on extensive consultations with provincial and district governments and discussions with affected villages and households. They include $40/m2 for concrete houses, $35/m2 for concrete wooden house, and $30/m2 for wooden houses. For affected shops, compensation is set at $25/m2 for concrete structure, and $20/m2 for wooden structure. Compensations for lost business income and moving allowance will also be provided. For various attached properties, such as fences, trees and transmission line poles, the compensation rates based on replacement cost will be provided, which are listed in Table 4-1.
Table 4-1: Compensation Standards for Houses and Attachments Compensation Rates Categories Impact Items (US $) Concrete Structures $40 / m2 Houses and Concrete Wooden Structures $35 /m2 Attachments Wooden Structures $30 /m2 Concrete Structures $25 /m2 Affected Shops Wooden Structures $20 /m2 Paddy Land $3 /m2 Permanent Land Fish Pond & Garden Land $3 /m2 Acquisition Housing Land $3 /m2 House Relocation Moving Allowance $30 per HH Moving Allowance Shops Moving Allowance $30 per HH Shop Business Loss $300 per HH Electrical Tower $450 per Tower Attachments and Trees $25 per piece Facilities Fence $5 per meter
29 4.6 Entitlements Matrix
From the site survey by both consultants and local governments, the major impacts of land acquisition and resettlement have been identified; and an entitlement matrix has been prepared as a guide to compensation payments. The matrix is presented in Table 4-2.
Table 4-2: Entitlement Matrix Type of Losses Entitled Persons Compensation Policy and Standards Permanent land Affected villages and individuals: • For affected farmland, acquisition 1. Since road will be based on compensation at replacement value existing alignment, no new land will be paid to affected villages as acquisition will be required. village welfare fund, which is set at 2. Demolition of limited number of $3 per square meter. houses, shops and attachments will require replacement land for • For affected fish pond and garden rehabilitation, which will be land, compensation at replacement provided by affected villages value will be paid to 3 affected based consultation with affected households, which is set at $3 per households, and paid by the square meter. project. • For affected housing land, replacement plot of same size will be provided by affected villages, which will be based on agreement between affected households and villages. Otherwise the compensation will be paid to 24 affected households which is set at $3 per square meter. Temporary Land Affected villages and individuals: • If farmland or productive land is Occupation 1. Efforts will be made to use only involved, compensation for lost waste land. If productive land is yield will be provided. The used, compensation for green compensation will be set at 1.5 time crop, lost yield during of annual gross value for each year occupation will be paid. of occupation, or 4.5 times of gross 2. The project owners will be value for 3 years or more of responsible to restore the land occupation. For land reclamation, into original condition. the project owners will be 3. All compensation will be responsible to restore them into provided to the affected original productive conditions after villages and individuals. occupation,
House Demolition Relocated households and • The compensation for affected and Relocation individuals houses, compensation based on replacement value is set at $40/m2 1. They will be provided with for concrete structure, $35 /m2 for compensation for lost houses concrete wooden structures, and and other attachments based $30/m2 for wooden structure. For on replacement value, and affected shops, compensation is set rehabilitation package for at $25/m2 for concrete structure, relocation and rehabilitation. and $20/m2 for wooden structure. • For relocated households, transfer 2. The rehabilitation package assistance will be provided, which includes moving allowance and is set at $30 per household for both compensation for lost housing relocated house and shop. For land, which is set at $3 per m2. relocated shops, a lump sum of
30 If alternative housing plots need relocated shops, a lump sum of to be provided, they will be $300 of business loss same size, along the road and compensation will be paid for each acceptable to affected affected shop. households. Since most • For those vulnerable households, a households only lose a small one time support of $150 per portion of their housing plan or household will be provided in order 17%, most of them would opt to ensure their income and for cash compensation. livelihood could be improved. Other Assets For affected attachments on land • The compensation for attached areas, such as fence, trees and properties is set at $25 per each transmission line poles, tree, $450 for each pole and compensation based on $5/meter for each meter of affected replacement values will be paid to fence. affected individuals or agencies.
31 5. Resettlement and Rehabilitation
5.1 Rehabilitation for Acquisition of Farmland
The improvement of National Road 6A subproject will have limited resettlement impact. In spite of limiting the construction within the current the right of way, there is still certain amount of farmland (1.33 ha) and fish pond (0.02 ha) will be acquired for the project implementation. For such loss, detailed rehabilitation plan has been developed. The farmland acquisition will affect 10 villages, averaging 0.13 ha per village, which account for only 0.3% of total paddy land in these villages, ranging from 0.02% to 0.55%. Since the paddy land are all collectively owned in these 10 villages, and since total amount of acquired paddy are limited, the land acquisition will have little direct impact on individual households in these villages. Consultations with affected villages indicated that most villages would like use compensation for paddy land as village welfare funds to be used to improve farming and irrigation condition of the villages, or provide welfare support among village members.
5.1 Rehabilitation for House Demolition and Attachments Removal
Along with land acquisition, the project will also involve demolition of limited number of houses, shops, and attachments. They include 13 houses with 612 square meters, 8 shops (combined with houses) with 497 square meters, and 3 vacant housing plots with 102 square meters. A total of 24 households from 14 villages will be affected. Based on extensive consultations with affected villages and households, a rehabilitation plan has been developed. According to the plan, the basic strategy of rehabilitation is to provide generous compensations for lost houses based on replacement values and provide the affected households with alternative housing plots of same sizes along the roads and within their existing villages. Since affected housing lands only account for 17% of total housing land, most affected households would prefer cash compensation, which is set at $3 per square meter. For house compensations, they are set at $40 per square meter for concrete structure, $35 per square meter for concrete wood structure and $30 per square meter for wooden structure. For affected shops, compensation is set at $25 per square meter for concrete structure and $20 per square meter for wooden structure, plus compensations for lost business during relocation process. Transfer assistance and moving allowance will be provided for relocated households. For those vulnerable households, in addition to physical assistance, a one time financial support of $150 per household will be provided in order to ensure their income and livelihood could be improved during resettlement process.
It is believed that with such compensations and rehabilitation measures, the affected households could rebuild their houses or shops with the same sizes or better quality, or simple move them into new locations. As a result, their commercial or income generation activities could continue, and their living conditions could be restored or
32 improved. This is particularly true with successful implementation of the road project with improvement of the road.
For affected attachments and facilities, such as fence, trees, and transmission line poles, compensations based on replacement value will be provided to the affected households or villages, so that they could be restored completely and their basic functions could be maintained.
5.2 Rehabilitation for Temporary Land Occupation
For potential temporary land occupation (2.5 ha) due to establishment of 2 construction camps along the road, serious efforts will be made to identify waste land or non-productive land. If productive or farmland will be affected, the affected households or villages will be provided with compensation for the lost yield during period of construction, which is estimated at $0.3 per square meter per year. The project owner will be responsible for restoration of the affected land into original productive conditions. The cost of temporary land occupation will be included in the budget of construction contractor.
33 6. Resettlement Budget
6.1 Costs and Budget
The costs to of land acquisition are included in the overall budget of the Project. The total costs of land acquisition and resettlement are estimated to be $87,990, of which $43,575 for land acquisition including compensation for paddy, fish pond, and housing land, $18,950 for house demolition and relocation, including compensation for lost structures and moving allowances, $12,905 for affected shops, including compensation for lost structures, moving allowance, and compensation for lost business, and $12,560 for various attachments. The grand total of cost estimated for the land acquisition and resettlement is $108,668, including various administrative costs, contingencies and vulnerable fund. See in table 6-1
Table 6-1: Resettlement Cost Estimate for NR 6A Project Unit Total Items Quantity Unit Compensation Amount (US$) (US$) 1. Land Acquisition Paddy Land 13290 m2 3 39870 Fish Pond 200 m2 3 625 Garden land 75 M2 3 225 Housing Land 960 m2 3 2880 Sub-Total 14525 43575 2. House Demolition Concrete Houses 0 m2 40 0 Concrete Wooden House 40 M2 35 1,400 Wooden Houses 572 M2 30 17,160 Moving Allowance 13 Household 30 390 Sub-Total 18,950 3. Shops 65 m2 25 1,625 Wooden Houses 432 m2 20 8,640 Business Loss 8 Household 300 2,400 Moving Allowance 8 Household 30 240 Sub-Total 12,905 4. Fence 22 meter 5 110 Sub-Total 110 5. Trees 102 piece 25 2,550 Sub-Total 2550 6. Transmission Poles 22 piece 450 9,900 Sub-Total 9,900 Total Basic Cost (Items 1 - 6) 87,990 7. Other Cost Resettlement Planning 2% of Items1-6 0.02 1,760 Administration Fee 2% of Items1-6 0.02 1,760 Institutional Operation Fee 2% of Items1-6 0.02 1,760 Training and Capacity 0.5% of Items1-6 0.005 440
34 Monitoring and Evaluation 2% of Items1-6 0.02 1,760 Sub-total 7,479 8. Contingencies Physical Contingencies 10% of Items1-6 0.1 8,799 Price Contingencies 4% of Items1-6 0.04 3,520 Sub-total 12,319 9. Vulnerable Fund 1% of Items1-6 880 Grand Total (Items 6 -9) 108,668 Note: The cost of potential temporary land occupation for construction camps will be included in the construction contractor budget.
6.2 Flow of Funds
The NR6A Project Office will be responsible for the financing of land acquisition cost under the Project. In accordance with the compensation policies and rates given in the RAP, the project preparation office will sign compensation agreements with the following recipients and disburse the payments:
- Relevant villages for: a) the losses of farmland land and non-farmland by permanent land acquisition; b) the losses of farmland and non-farmland for temporary occupation; affected rural infrastructure facilities;
- DPs for compensation of demolished houses, moving allowance, compensation for shop business loss and compensation for attachments;
An external and independent auditor will audit the disbursement of land acquisition fund.
6.3 Administrative Costs
The relevant implementation agencies and district land resources bureaus will be budgeted 4.5% of the total amount of compensation payable for resettlement implementation, including administration (2%), institutional setup or operation (2%), and 0.5% for job training among resettlement staff. Similar amount of budget is estimated for resettlement planning (2%) and resettlement monitoring and evaluation (2%).
6.4 Contingencies
The cost estimates for land acquisition implementation include provision of contingencies, with price contingency set at 4% and physical contingency at 10% of total amount resettlement cost.
The NR 6A Project Office is responsible for provision of adequate funds to carry out the implementation of the RAP. Cost over-runs, if any, in the case of RAP implementation will be incurred by NR 6A Project.
35 7. Resettlement plan implementation
7.1 Implementation sequence
A. Land acquisition and compensation process
The land acquisition and compensation will be completed through the coordination of related organizations. The specific process is as follows:
(1) The project RAP preparation team develops a detailed resettlement action plan based on detailed impact survey along the alignment based on technical design and consultation with affected villages and local provincial and district governments.
(2) ESD of DOR at MPWT will review the draft RAP and submit it to WREA for approval after it has been cleared by ESD in MPWT.
(3) After approval by WREA of Laos PDR and the World Bank, the RAP will be disclosed by the Project PMO in the project areas, including compensation policies, impact scope, implementation schedule and grievance procedures.
(4) Prior to commencement of construction, PMO will sign general agreement with resettlement compensation committee in Phongsaly to carry out land acquisition and resettlement in accordance with the approved RAP.
(5) Phongsaly Resettlement Committee, made of staff from Hoauphanh PWTD, relevant provincial agencies, and Vieng Xay, Sop Bao, Xieng Khor and Et District officials will discuss with affected villages the land acquisition compensation issues, sign compensation agreements and conduct land use procedures;
(6) Delivery of compensation payment to affected parties by compensation committees with participation of local village chiefs and affected households.
(7) Complete legal procedures for land acquisition
(8) Project officially acquires the land.
B. Use of land acquisition compensation fee
For affected villages with relocated households, their main responsibility is to provide alternative housing plots to each relocated household. The cost of preparing new housing land will be paid by the Project, which is estimated at $3 per square meter. The local provincial and district government will work closely with the villages to ensure that provided alternative housing sites meet basic safety requirements and acceptable by affected households. For those villages losing paddy land, their main
36 responsibilities are to develop and implement rehabilitation plans based on consultations within the villages and compensations paid by the Project based on replacement value. According to consultation, most villages would like to use compensations to set up village welfare fund to be used to improve village farming conditions or provide support to vulnerable village members.
C. House Relocation and Rehabilitation
The relocation and rehabilitation will be implemented by the affected villages and households. The work process is as follows:
Within the village with resettlement tasks, village wide meeting participated by affected people should be held to study and develop the overall relocation and rehabilitation scheme for affected households with focus on identifying alternative housing land for each affected household. Efforts will be made to make alternative housing plots available to affected households with cost to be covered by proposed land compensation. Allocation of new housing plots to affected households prior to relocation and demolition. The relocated households will rebuild their structures and complete relocation so that their income and livelihood could be restored or improved.
7.2 Land acquisition and resettlement schedule
The implementation schedule of the land acquisition and resettlement of the project will be based on the construction schedule of the project. The specific implementation schedule will follow the following principles:
(1) Land acquisition should be completed before the engineering work begins; (2) Land allocation, house reconstruction, and relocation should be completed during dry season. According to the project schedule, the land acquisition schedule is identified. See Table 7-1.
Table 7-1: Land acquisition schedule for Road 6A Item Planned schedule
I. Land acquisition 1. Identification of resettlement scope September 2008 2. Preparation and investigation of land acquisition October 2008 – November 2008 physical indicators 3. Consultation and identification of land acquisition October 2008 – November 2008 compensation standards 4. Detailed measurement survey Oct. 2009 5. Payment of compensation for land acquisition, November 2009 house demolition and attachments 6. Allocation of Replacement Housing Plots October 2009 to November 2009
37 7. Detail Economic Rehabilitation Plan for land loss November 2009 villages based on village meetings 7. House Reconstruction and Relocation and November 2009 to January 2010 Implementation of Village Rehabilitation Plan Note: the project construction period is three years (2010 – 2012). Land acquisition compensation and production resettlement work should be completed within the first year of the project construction
38 8. Resettlement Institutions
8.1 Organization Setup
In order to develop resettlement action plan and guarantee that land acquisition compensation and resettlement work can be conducted smoothly and achieve expected results, during the project implementation process, a top-down organization system should be set up to plan, manage, organize, coordinate, supervise and monitor the resettlement activities. The following organizations are responsible for the land acquisition compensation and resettlement of the project:
1) Provincial Resettlement Compensation Committee (PRCC) 2) Project Resettlement Office 3) District Resettlement Offices 4) Village committees 5) Environment and Social Division (ESD of DOR) under MPWT
8.2 Organization composition and responsibilities
(1) Provincial Resettlement Compensation Committee
To ensure the smooth development of the resettlement, a special provincial resettlement compensation committee (PRCC) will be set up headed by vice governor of provincial government, and participated by staff from provincial public works and transport department, water resources environment agency, and department of forestry and agriculture, public security department, and relevant districts. The resettlement committee’s major responsibilities are to enhance the leadership of the project, develop policies for project resettlement activities and coordinate outside and internal relationship for the project to ensure the project land acquisition compensation and resettlement can go smoothly. The resettlement committee will set up an office to deal with daily work, which will be set within the provincial public works and transport department.
(2) Project Resettlement Office
Project Resettlement Office is composed of major officials of Houaphanh Public Works and Transport Department, including staff from both road and bridge division, and environment division. As the implementation organization of project land acquisition compensation and resettlement, its major responsibilities include:
• Participate in project inspection and assist the development of RAP; • Organize public participation and publicize resettlement policies; • Implement, inspect, monitor and record all the resettlement activities within the province;
39 • Pay and manage land acquisition compensation fund; • Report land acquisition compensation and resettlement situation to the Resettlement Committee; • Coordinate and solve conflicts and problems in the process.
(3) District Resettlement Office
The Resettlement Offices of relevant districts governments are led by the relevant district government leaders, and composed of officials from relevant departments, particularly public works and transport departments, and the major officials from related villages. The major responsibilities of the office are as follows:
• Participate in project impact investigation and assist the compilation of resettlement plan; • Organize public participation and publicize resettlement policies; • Implement, inspect, monitor and record the resettlement activities within its town; • Pay and manage land compensation fund; • Supervise the land acquisition process; • Report land acquisition compensation and resettlement situation to PRCC; • Coordinate and solve any conflict and problem during the process.
(4) Village Committees
The resettlement committees of the affected villages are composed of the village chiefs, deputy chiefs, and other mass organizations. Their responsibilities are as follows:
• Participate in social, economic and project impact survey; • Organize the public consultation and publicize land acquisition compensation policies; • Conduct land adjustment and allocation and organize production development and other resettlement-related activities; • Fund management and payment; • Report affected people’ opinions and suggestions to the superior authorities; • Report the progress of resettlement; and • Provide help to vulnerable people affected by land acquisition.
(5) Department of Road of MPWT
DOR as project owner will mainly play role of monitoring and coordination, which will be carried out by its Environment and Social Division (ESD). Their main responsibilities include:
• Responsible for resettlement training for the major staff of the Resettlement Office;
40 • Organize and coordinate the development and implementation of resettlement action plan; • Responsible for the management and payment of the fund and supervision of the use of such fund; • Guide, coordinate and supervise the resettlement activities and resettlement schedule; • Organize and check the internal monitoring activities, and compile land acquisition compensation and resettlement progress report; and • Identify the external monitoring organization and assist the external monitoring activities.
(6) External monitoring and evaluation organization
A qualified external monitoring organization will be selected by DOR of MPWT to carry out resettlement monitoring and evaluation for the Project. Its major responsibilities include:
• Observe all the aspects of resettlement plan and its implementation, provide resettlement monitoring and evaluation report to the World Bank through Project Resettlement Office. This responsibility is detailed in the chapter on external monitoring and evaluation; • Develop resettlement action plan and conduct production resettlement planning; and • Provide technical consulting services to the Project Resettlement Office in terms of data investigation and processing.
8.3 Staffing
A. Project leadership and management and resettlement organization
To ensure the smooth progress of the resettlement program for the project, DOR has designated special staff in ESD for this work and created a smooth information communication channel from bottom to the top for the land acquisition compensation and resettlement of the project. The special staff includes professional technicians and administrative staff with competent professional qualification, management capability and work experience in land acquisition compensation and resettlement. Houaphanh Provincial Government and relevant three district governments also set up special resettlement organizations staffed with professional technicians. See Table 8-1 for the staff of project resettlement organizations.
Table 8-1: Resettlement organization staff for the Project Number of Staff Number Number of Institutions Qualifications Speaking local of Staff Female Staff Language Houaphanh Provincial similar Resettlement Compensation 6 resettlement 2 2 Committee experience
41 Project 3 1 2 Resettlement Office Community District Resettlement Office 12 6 9 organization Villages chiefs or Village Committees 40 n.a. 40 deputy chiefs DOR of MPWT 2 1
B. Monitoring and evaluation organization for the resettlement in the project
DOR of MPWT as the project owner will select a qualified agency as the resettlement monitoring organization of this project. The selected external monitoring agency will provide technical assistance to the Project Resettlement Office, conduct resettlement investigation and investigation of the affected people’s living levels, and implement all the basic monitoring work.
9. Public participation and consultation mechanism
9.1 Public participation
During the resettlement policy development and resettlement action plan development and implementation, the project has paid and will pay great attention to the public participation and consultation. During resettlement preparation, the Project Resettlement Office fully considered the opinions of the local governments at various levels and the affected people on the resettlement and compensation policies. Under the assistance of local governments, this Resettlement action plan (RAP) has been made. During the project implementation, the resettlement organizations at various levels will continue to encourage the public to participate in the resettlement and economic rehabilitation.
9.1.1 Public participation during the project preparation stage
During the feasibility study stage of the project, the PMO always encouraged public participation.
From June to November 2008, the technicians of the project owner and design organization went to the affected villages to listen to their suggestions and opinions on the project and further compared and confirmed the locations of the plant and stations and the project impact scope.
In the first half of July, social and environment survey was carried out in the project areas by the selected consultants. During the survey, a preliminary identification of potential land acquisition and resettlement impact was obtained based on a series of consultations in the project villages. The impact was based on right of way of 14 meters.
42
On Nov. 14, 2008, a meeting was held between resettlement preparation team, international consultant, and staff of Houaphanh Provincial Department of Public Works and Transport. The meetings were focused on the issues concerning potential land acquisition and resettlement impacts by proposed National Road 6A subproject and introduction of basic principles and requirements of WB resettlement policy, as well as various issues concerning the land acquisition and resettlement process. Based on meeting, it was agreed further survey and consultations would be conducted based on reduced scope of impact from 14 meters to 8.5 meters.
Between November 23 and 28, along with impact survey, a series of consultation meetings were organized in all 20 project affected villages. The meetings were participated by staff from Hoauphanh departments, village chief and deputy chiefs, representatives of Lao Women Union and Lao Front, and affected individuals. The discussions focused on various issues concerning the project, particularly issues concerning the compensation and rehabilitation for lost houses and attachments.
Through these meetings, the necessity of the project and its resettlement policies were publicized and the villagers’ opinions on the specific measures of resettlement were further collected. In addition, the survey team also conducted opinion survey in the project areas.
In the future, the Project Resettlement Office and resettlement organizations at various levels will take the following measures to enhance resettlement policy publicity and encourage the public to actively engage in the process:
9.1.2 Resettlement Information Disclosure
To ensure the affected people and local governments fully understand the details of the resettlement plan and the compensation and resettlement programs, the Project Resettlement Office will distribute project resettlement action plan in local language in the affected areas. Prior to implementation of resettlement program, resettlement information booklet in local language will be distributed to every affected person, which should include scope of impacts, compensation standards, assistance allowance, and rehabilitation measures, as well as grievance procedures.
9.1.3 Public participation in the implementation of resettlement action plan
During the whole implementation process of resettlement action plan, affected people should be encouraged to participate in the whole process.
(1) Participation in economic rehabilitation process The affected households will be encouraged to participate in the process of selecting and allocating alternative housing plots in the affected villages.
43 (2) Participation in land compensation fee use and management For the affected collective assets, the compensation fee belongs to the village collective. No organization or individual can intercept or appropriate the fee. After the compensation fund is paid to the village collective, the village collective shall manage this fund in such a manner to ensure this fund is not appropriated for any other purpose. The fund use must be subject to the discussion and approval of the villager meeting and the villager representatives will supervise its use.
(3) Participation in the project construction The project construction will have some positive economic benefits in the project areas. To guarantee the affected people can benefit from project construction, during the project implementation, public participation should be encouraged. Under the same conditions, local construction materials and labor forces should be given priority.
9.2 Complaining and appealing mechanism and channel
During the development and implementation of the resettlement action plan of this project, affected people are encouraged to participate. However, during actual work, there may be some problems. In order to effectively and quickly solve these problems and ensure smooth progress of the engineering work and land acquisition, in addition to the existing complaining and appealing channels of local governments at various levels, the project has also established a transparent and effective complaining and appealing channel for affected farmer. The specific process is as follows:
Stage 1: If an affected person is unhappy with the resettlement plan or its implementation, the person can issue oral or written complaint to the village committee or the District Resettlement Office. If it is oral complaint, the village should deal with this complaint and make written records. Village committee or District Resettlement Office should solve the complaint within two weeks.
Stage 2: If the affected person is unhappy with the result of step 1, he/she can file appeal with the Project Resettlement Office after he receives the decision made in step 1. The Project Resettlement Office should make a decision within two weeks.
Stage 3: If the affected person is unhappy with the result of step 2, he/she can file appeal with Hoauphanh Resettlement Compensation Committee for administrative arbitration after receiving the decision made by the Project Resettlement Office. The administrative arbitration organization should make the arbitrary decision within 10 days.
44 Stage 4: If the affected person is still unhappy with the arbitrary decision made by the administrative arbitration organization, after receiving the arbitrary decision, he/she can fill lawsuit with civil court according to relevant laws and regulations in Lao PDR.
The affected people can make complaint or appeal on any aspect of the resettlement, including compensation standards.
The above complaint and appeal channels will be informed to the affected people through meetings and other ways so the affected people can fully understand their right to complaint and appeal. Meanwhile, media tools should be used to communicate the information. Opinions and suggestions on resettlement provided by various people and organizations should be documented and resettlement organizations at various levels should study and address these issues in a timely manner.
The organizations addressing the affected people’s complaint and appeal shall not charge any fee. Any expenses incurred due to complaint and appeal should be paid as unexpected expenses by the PMO.
45 10. Monitoring and Evaluation
To ensure the smooth implementation of the resettlement plan and achieve the objective of adequately rehabilitating affected people, the project carry out resettlement monitoring and evaluation in the whole process of land acquisition, demolition and resettlement. The monitoring and evaluation consists of two parts: one is internal resettlement monitoring; and the other is external resettlement monitoring and evaluation.
10.1 Internal monitoring
10.1.1 Purposes and tasks
The purposes of internal monitoring is to ensure the resettlement organizations at various levels can function soundly during the implementation of RAP and ensure the legitimate interests of the affected people will not be violated and the engineering work can progress smoothly. The auditing agency of the people’s government of Houaphanh Province and ESD of MPWT will exercise independent auditing supervision power against related organizations within its jurisdiction. Meanwhile, to ensure all the resettlement organizations comply with the principles and schedule set up in the RAP, the related organizations should monitor the work of their subsidiary agencies.
10.1.2 Organization and staff
The internal monitoring of the project land acquisition compensation and resettlement work should be organized by the Project Resettlement Office in Houaphanh Province. The ESD of MPWT will provide overall guidance, and those resettlement and environment staff in both provincial and district PWTDs as well as affected villages will implement the work. To effectively monitor the work from inside, the personnel responsible for this work in the resettlement organizations will participate in the development and implementation of the RAP. They will participate in the internal monitoring during the implementation of the RAP.
10.1.3 Monitoring contents
The contents of the internal monitoring include: (1) Payment and use of the funds for land acquisition compensation and rehabilitation; (2) Supports to the vulnerable groups; (3) Land readjustment and reallocation; (4) Quality and quantity of newly reclaimed land; (5) Schedule of the above activities; (6) Implementation of policies and rules in the resettlement plan;
46 (7) Participation and consultation of the affected people during the RAP implementation; (8) Staffing, training, working schedule and operation of the resettlement organizations at various levels.
10.1.4 Implementation sequence
The Project Resettlement Office uses internal monitoring mechanism to check the resettlement activities. The Project Resettlement Office should set up a basic database for land acquisition compensation and resettlement and monitor the whole process of resettlement preparation and implementation.
During implementation, the resettlement organizations at all levels should all set up resettlement information database and update it based on the actual implementation. The related information, together with real-time information records and implementation progress, should be given to senior resettlement organization in a timely manner in order to maintain continuous monitoring of resettlement implementation.
Within the monitoring mechanism, information tables with preset format should be made to realize continuous information flow from the village level to the Project Resettlement Office. As an integral part of the internal monitoring system, Project Resettlement Office and Town Resettlement Office should both do regular inspection and verification.
10.2 External monitoring and evaluation
10.2.1 Purposes and tasks
The external monitoring and evaluation is to provide regular monitoring and evaluation of resettlement implementation for the Project. The purpose is to assess whether the objectives of the resettlement are achieved or not. By independently monitoring, evaluation opinions and suggestions will be provided for the whole process of the resettlement and rehabilitation for the affected people. The external monitoring will also provide an early alarm system for the project management department and a complaint channel for the affected people.
The external monitoring organization will work as the consultant to the Project Resettlement Compensation Committee and the Project Resettlement Office, monitor and evaluate the implementation of the resettlement plan, and provide consulting opinions to decision makers.
47 10.2.2 Major indicators of the monitoring and assessment
(1) Progress: including the preparation of resettlement, and implementation of compensation, relocation and rehabilitation.
(2) Quality: including to what extent the affected people are satisfied with compensation and rehabilitation.
(3) Compensation fund: including the payment and use of the funds for land acquisition compensation and resettlement.
(4) Affected people: including the household economic situation before and after the project and economic rehabilitation of the affected people.
10.2.3 Monitoring and evaluation methods
Monitoring and evaluation activities are based on the investigation data provided by the investigation design organization and resettlement organization. The monitoring and evaluation should be based on combination of comprehensive investigation and sample survey as well as rapid appraisal. Typical samples (affected household/village/town) should be selected so that they could represent the actual population. Monitoring indicator system targeted at different affected groups should be set up, which will be used to analyze and calculate the survey results.
Independent monitoring and evaluation organization shall conduct the following work:
(I) Investigation of the affected person living standards Conduct comprehensive baseline survey and collect the baseline data on the working and living levels of the selected samples for this project (the original samples should be selected randomly). The livelihood survey should be done once or twice a year in order to measure the changes of the livelihood among sample households. Regular investigation, random interview and on-side observation should be conducted to obtain necessary data. Then data analysis and assessment should be conducted.
The livelihood survey table is composed of indicators for the measurement of working and living levels. The dynamic change of the same indicator before and after land acquisition can reflect the changes of livelihood. Whether the indicator design can actually reflect the change of the livelihood will be tested in the baseline investigation and improved according to the actual situation in order to ensure that the collected information can comprehensively and accurately reflect the quantity and quality of the livelihood among affected people.
48 Affected person sample scale: 10% of the affected people affected by land acquisition; and 30% of villages affected by land acquisition.
(II) Public consultation Independent monitoring and evaluation organization will participate in public consultation meetings held by villages and towns. By participating in these meetings, the monitoring organization will assess the effects of public participation and the affected people’s coordination with the resettlement plan. During and after the resettlement implementation, these activities will continue.
(III) Opinions of the affected people The independent monitoring and evaluation organization will often visit town and village resettlement organizations to know the opinions of the affected people. The independent monitoring and evaluation organization will also meet with disgruntled affected people through formal or informal interview, report the opinions and requirements of the affected people and collective organizations to the relevant authorities in a timely manner, and provide suggestions on how to improve the resettlement work in order to make the resettlement implementation process more effective.
(IV) Other responsibilities During resettlement action plan preparation, the independent monitoring and evaluation organization should make suggestions for Project Resettlement Office. During resettlement implementation, the following activities should be monitored:
(1) Production resettlement and rehabilitation; (2) Supports to the vulnerable groups; (3) Payment of compensation and compensation amounts; (4) Employment and work arrangement; (5) Technical training; (6) Schedule of the above items; (7) Development of resettlement organization network; (8) Use of the collective land compensation and benefits to the affected people; and (9) Improvement of labor force employment income.
10.2.4 Working steps (1) Monitoring and evaluation work program development; (2) Development of investigation program, investigation tables, typical village and typical household record cards; (3) Design of sample survey plan; (4) Baseline investigation; (5) Setup of monitoring and evaluation information system; (6) Monitoring and investigation: - Local social and economic investigation;
49 - Monitoring of resettlement implementation organizations; - Investigation of typical villages; - Investigation of typical households; - Investigation of other typical targets. (7) Management of monitoring materials and database setup; (8) Comparison analysis; and (9) One monitoring and evaluation report should be developed every year.
50 11. Report development plan
11.1 Resettlement action plan
In the middle of December 2008, the preliminary draft of Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) of this project will be completed. After being cleared within DOR MPWT submitted it to the World Bank for review. Based on the revision comments and requirements made by resettlement experts of the World Bank, the report was revised and then submitted to the World Bank again for appraisal.
11.2 Resettlement progress report
A. Reporting period
From the day the resettlement implementation begins, various resettlement organizations should report the work progress in their respective responsible areas to their superior resettlement organizations at least once three months. Based on the work progress provided by resettlement organizations at various levels, the Project Resettlement Office should provide a Resettlement Progress Report to the World Bank before December 31 every year. The reporting period is once a year.
B. Reporting format and contents
According to the requirements of the World Bank, the report will be divided into two parts: the first part is text, summarizing the project land acquisition compensation, explaining the progress, problems and issues concerning the implementation, and the measures to address the issues. The second part is a series of tables summarizing key information of resettlement, which should be collected for every half a year. The tables will provide a comparison between the actual implementation and the original RAP in scope of impacts and compensation of affected areas.
11.3 Independent resettlement monitoring and evaluation report
The independent monitoring and evaluation organization should submit working report within the first month after it begins its work. When the Project Resettlement Office reports to the World Bank on the progress of the resettlement work every year, the reports of independent monitoring and assessment organization should be attached.
A. Reporting period
According to the requirements of the World Bank, after the resettlement implementation begins, the monitoring and evaluation should be carried out once a year. The resettlement monitoring and evaluation report should be submitted by the
51 end of December each year. According to the resettlement plan, resettlement implementation will begin in Nov. of 2009. The independent resettlement monitoring and evaluation will be conducted at least three times according to the actual resettlement progress. The monitoring in the end of 2009 will provide the work program for the monitoring and evaluation, complete the resettlement sample selection, collection of the baseline data of the samples, and set up a database.
B. Contents
(1) Baseline investigation on the affected people; (2) Progress of land acquisition compensation and affected person resettlement; (3) Production resettlement and rehabilitation; (4) Living standards of the affected people; (5) The payment and use of the funds for land acquisition compensation and production resettlement; (6) Operation and efficiency assessment of the resettlement implementation organizations; (7) Supports for the vulnerable groups; (8) Existing problems and suggestions.
52