Environmental Monitoring Report

Semestral Report September 2011

PRC: Emergency Assistance for Wenchuan Earthquake Reconstruction Project

Prepared by Yang Jianjun for Provincial Project Management Office and the Asian Development Bank.

This environmental monitoring report is a document of the borrower. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of ADB's Board of Directors, Management, or staff, and may be preliminary in nature.

In preparing any country program or strategy, financing any project, or by making any designation of or reference to a particular territory or geographic area in this document, the Asian Development Bank does not intend to make any judgments as to the legal or other status of any territory or area.

Shaanxi Province Post-Wenchuan Earthquake Restoration and Reconstruction Project

September 15, 2011

Environmental Monitoring and Evaluation Report

1 Table of Contents

1. Introduction ...... 1 2. Objectives ...... 2 3. Environmental Monitoring and Evaluation ...... 3 4. Observations and Recommendations ...... 5 1) Environmental Impact Assessment and Approval ...... 5 2) Onsite Environmental Management ...... 7 3) Observations and Recommendations ...... 9 a) School building reconstruction ...... 9

b) Road reconstruction ...... 10

ABBREVIATIONS ADB – Asian Development Bank EA – executing agency EIA – environmental impact assessment EIAR – environmental impact assessment report EIART - environmental impact assessment report table EIRT – environmental impact registration table EMP – environmental management plan IA – implementing agency PMO – project monitoring office PRC – People’s Republic of

2 Environmental Monitoring and Evaluation

September 15, 2011

1. Introduction

The post-Wenchuan earthquake restoration and reconstruction project is carrying on in two municipalities of Shaanxi province, namely, City and City. The Project includes 16 subprojects, which can be classified into two categories: reconstruction of damaged roads and school buildings in one and three counties, namely, Chencang District, Mianxian, Lueyang and Ningqiang Counties. The technical standard of the rural roads is classes Ⅲ–IV. The road reconstruction will be carried out strictly in the existing right-of-way, except for bridge reconstruction. Some road reconstructions projects also involve damaged bridge restoration. The school buildings will be rebuilt on the existing school yards and adjacent lots. The Project commenced in 2009 and will be completed by the end of June 2012.

This environmental monitoring and evaluation report is prepared in accordance with the Report and Recommendation of the President to the Board of Directors1, and the Environmental Impact Assessment Law (2002) of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and its related regulations.

1 Project 42496 Proposed Loan: People’s Republic of China: Emergency Assistance for Wenchuan Eatthquake Reconstruction Project, Report and Recommendation of the President to the Board of Directors, February 2009

1 2. Objectives

The overall objective of this environmental initiative is to ensure the Projects’ environmental impact complies with the Environment Policy (2002) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Environmental Impact Assessment Law (2002) of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and its related regulations through conducting an independent environmental monitoring and evaluation during the course of construction activities according to the requirements that specified in the Loan Agreement and Project Agreement of Emergency Assistance for Wenchuan Earthquake Reconstruction Project，specifically：

 To conduct field patrol to follow up, monitor and objectively assess the environmental impact of construction activities. To make sure the requirements of environmental impact assessment are properly implemented.

 To timely manage the water quality, air quality, acoustic quality, and debris and construction waste disposal, as well as to manage water and soil loss, ecosystem conservation in the project area during construction periods of the Project.

 To monitor the effectiveness of mitigation measures and the impact of resettlement on the environment. Further measures to bring impact down shall also be put forward.

 Provide bi-annual Environmental Monitoring and Evaluation Report in a timely manner to inform responsible government bodies and the Bank about the results of monitoring and evaluation, so as to provide scientific basis for environmental management of the Project.

2 3. Environmental Monitoring and Evaluation

On-site inspection was conducted from late August to early September across the four project counties in Shaanxi. The patrol team has visited 16 subproject sites, which include the most environmentally sensitive subprojects covering 9 schools and 7 road reconstruction sites, for example, the Hangjiang River

Bridge Project in Mianxian County and Weihe River Bridge Project in

Chencang District. For each subproject, the patrol team inspected the construction sites and collected information through onsite interviews and working meetings with staff from project management offices (PMO) at county level and onsite offices. The focuses of the inspection are: onsite environmental management plan (EMP), implementation of mitigation measures, as well as environmental issues encountered and corresponding solutions. The information of inspected sites is summarized in Table 1.

3 Table 1. Information of inspected subproject County Type of Key Subproject Inspected segment or project contacted received District person inspection Chencang Education Mr Luo Guozhen Junior Whole project District Yongsheng High School Changqu Junior High School Communication Mr Zeng Village roads Tian-Pan Road Xiaoping Township roads Weihe River Bridge at Pingtou Mianxian Education Mr Jia Kang Mianxian No.1 High Whole project County School Mianxian Experimental Primary School Mianxian No.5 High School Mianxian No.4 High School Communication Mr Zeng Hangjiang River Whole project Lijun Bridge Mr Zhang Mian-Chang Road Mianxian – Changgou (Ⅳ) River Lueyang Education Mr You Heiheba Central Whole project County Fushun Primary School Yangjiaba Primary School Lueyang No.3 High School Communication Mr Chen Township roads (Ⅳ) Huangjiazhuang – Shucheng Zgongchuanhekou Ningqiang Communication Mr Xu Yang – Yan Road Whole project County Yaoxiang (Ⅲ) Yan – Qing Road Yanzibian – Jialingjiang (Ⅲ) River

4 4. Observations and Recommendations

1) Environmental Impact Assessment and Approval

Given the nature of the physical works involved with reconstruction of damaged roads, bridges and school buildings, the potential negative impacts are localized and short-term, and can be mitigated. The Project is categorized as environment category B by the Bank. Therefore, an environmental impact assessment (EIA) is not required. However, environmental impact assessment practice is applied in all the 16 sub-projects in accordance with the requirements of the PRCs Environmental Impact Assessment Law (2002). Rather than EIAs, every sub-project opts to exam and review its environmental impact by either environmental impact registration tables (EIRT) or environmental impact assessment report table (EIART). The detailed information on environmental impact assessment and approval are summarized in Table 2.

5 Table 2 Environmental Impact Assessment and Approval County / Type of project Subproject EIA EIA Prepared by EIA Approval Authority Approval Date District Class Chencang Education Changqu Junior High School EIART Baoji EIA Institute Baoji Environmental Mar 24, 2011

District (3) Chencang Primary School EIART Baoji EIA Institute Protection Bureau Jul 21, 2010 Guozhen Junior High School EIART Baoji EIA Institute Oct 8, 2010 Communication 1. Township roads EIART Baoji EIA Institute Shaanxi Provincial Dec 12, 2008 (3) 2. Village roads Environmental Protection 3. Qianhe River Bridge at Shiyangmiao Bureau Lueyang Education 4 Primary Schools in rural areas EIRT Lueyang Education Bureau Lueyang Environmental Aug 24, 2009 County (2) Lueyang No.3 High School Protection Bureau Communication 1. Xi-Bai Road EIRT Lueyang Communication Bureau Jun 8, 2009 (3) 2. Guo-Qing Road

3.Township roads Mianxian Education Mianxian No.1 High School EIRT Mianxian No.1 High School Mianxian Environmental Aug 31, 2009 County (1) Mianxian No.4 High School EIRT Mianxian No.4 High School Protection Bureau Jul 8, 2009 Sept 28, 2009 Mianxian No.5 High School EIRT Mianxian No.5 High School Sept 28, 2009 Mianxian Experimental Primary School EIRT Mianxian Experimental Primary School Communication Hangjiang River Bridge EIART Hydro China Xi Bei Engineering Shaanxi Provincial Jun 9, 2009 (2) Cooperation Environmental Protection Department Mian-Chang Road EIRT Mianxian Communication Bureau Hanzhong Environmental Dec 16, 2008 Protection Bureau

Ningqiang Communication Yang – Yan Road EIART Environmental Engineering Planning and Ningqiang Environmental Sept 14, 2010 County (2) Yan – Qing Road Design Institute of Hanzhong City Protection Bureau 2) Onsite Environmental Management

Rural roads reconstructions in Shaanxi province are divided into 10 subprojects with a total length of over 300 kilometers. All are existing roads that were damaged by the Wenchuan earthquake; they will be reconstructed and some will be upgraded following the original alignment. Some new bridges will be constructed to connect the existing roads. Twelve schools in Shaanxi have been identified for complete or partial reconstruction and improvement by the county education bureaus. Most of the education subprojects will require no land or very small amounts of land. The adverse environmental impacts of the Project are mainly limited to the construction stage. These impacts will be reversible in the short term and will affect a limited area, and are therefore manageable.

In sprit of this, all subprojects have prepared environmental impact registration tables (EIRT) or environmental impact assessment report table (EIART) and were approved by the adequate environmental authorities. More importantly, the technical specifications of the contracts between the implementation agencies (IAs) and civil works contractors included environmental protection measures described in the EIRT or EIART to ensure that all environmental protection measures were carried out by the civil works contractors.

The project implementation agencies inspect the civil works regularly and take account site environmental management as important aspect. To do so, some IAs has established project management offices on sites. For instance, the Communication Bureau has set an onsite implantation office in Yanzibian Township that is about the half way of the road alignment (YangPingGuan to YanZiBian to QingMuChuan). IAs also supervises the civil works by hiring construction supervision consultants. Environmental friendly

7 and good site practice are included in their supervision. In some cases, a dedicated environmental supervision consultant is hired. For example, Shaanxi Bohou Environmental Service was contracted for implementation of environmental management plan for the subproject of Hanjiang River Bridge, considering the potential impact of construction activity to the Hangjiang Rive, which is the largest branch of Yangtze River.

With raised environmental awareness, the civil contractors, especially the larger and reputable construction companies, recognizes that environmental friendly construction practices are their responsibilities. For example, the construction of Pingtou Bridge across the Weihe River in Chengcang District is undertaking by the Shaanxi Construction Engineering Group Construction Machinery Co., Ltd. This company is certified by ISO 9001 and has a complete set of environmental regulations and practice to minimize the negative impact of construction activities to the Weihe River, which is the largest branch of the Yellow River.

In construction activities, IAs followed the mitigation measures described in the EIRTs or EIARTs, including:

Ecosystem conservation: (i) soil and water erosion was controlled by new retaining wall installation and new slope protection installation; (ii) Construction debris was disposed to the designated areas to avoid occupy farmland and forestry land;( iii) construction sites and dumping site were restored in a timely manner. Water pollution control: (i) adequate installation of temporary drainage during construction, especially in bridge construction (ii) the waste water was used to spray on construction access to control dust. (iii) proper maintenance of construction machines and equipments to prevent oil leaks, and (ⅳ) installation of sediment ponds at water discharge points, mobile toilets and

8 garbage bins onsite to prevent surface water pollution. Noise Control: Noise to sensitive receptors was alleviated by (i) the use of low-noise machinery, and (ii) appropriate construction scheduling. Most road construction was in remote areas and construction activities were conducted in daytime. However, many of the school building reconstruction were near to residential areas. Nightshift was not allowed in the vicinity of the residential area.

3) Observations and Recommendations a) School building reconstruction

Except the Changqu Middle School Subproject in ChenCang District, which is constructed in a new location, all the other 11 education subprojects are school building reconstruction and expansion on its original plots. Most of the schools have to conduct the construction activities while school is in operation. Due to safety precaution, the teaching areas were isolated from the construction area by fens. All construction vehicles and passengers have to use the designated access road and entrance. Fortunately, most of the education subproject will be finished by September 2011. It is recommended that the IAs should pay attention to: Sewage treatment: sewage water from the school yard was collected and treated by a septic tank system, then discharged to the river or streams nearby. This kind of practice is very common in the rural area, for instance, Heiheba Central Primary School and Yangjiaba Primary School. It is suggested the septic system must be well maintained to prevent any overflow. School access road and entrance: several schools are situated in the central of villages. The access roads are in bad shape, especially after the heavy use by the construction vehicles. It is suggested the access road should by recovered or rebuilt. For safety, the school entrance of Yangjiaba Primary School should be relocated to the less traffic side of the school.

9 b) Road reconstruction

Based on site patrolling and observation, the follow aspects should be strengthened: Safety: it was noticed that, in one of the Luoyang construction sites, workers camp on site and use the wood debris for cooking. It is highly recommended the cooking facility should be moved away from the woods area to prevent forestry fire. Scheduling: While most of the roads are in less populated rural area, there are several segments that have to pass through big townships or villages, for example, the section of Yanzibian in Ningqiang County. It is suggested the IAs and the civil works contractors work together to develop a sound schedule for those sensitive segments to minimize potential environmental impact to the local people’s daily life. Public consultation: Although the stakeholders and local public have given great support to these reconstruction projects it is recommended that public consultation should be done prior to construction activity to gain public understanding and support, especially in the cases where construction activities may produce potential temporary impact to people’s property and daily life. Recovery of construction site: all the temporary camps, preparation sites, access roads and debris disposal fields must be recovered and landscaped in a timely manner.

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The key spots and environmental issues at the Hangjiang Bridge Subproject: the information was provided by Shaanxi Bohou Environmental Service.

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