0.0 Executive Summary
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Executive Summary Page 0- 1 0.0 Executive Summary 0.1 Introduction Madhya Pradesh State Roads Project aims to rehabilitate the key roads (state highways and major district roads) to upgrade to inherently sound facilities, now in a poor state of repair, in an effort to enhance their quality and life span and strengthen the ability of executing agencies to do more, faster and better working future resulting to an economic turnaround. Primary focus of the Project is to improve connectivity of the State Highways (SHs) and to the National Highway network and to improve rural connectivity and facilitate all-round development in educational & health facilities and trade activities within the State for economic growth. The Project Road is Bhopal - Berasia - Sironj road section of SH-23 in the districts of Bhopal & Vidisha and comprising about 106.9 km of road length. The Project Road starts from Bhopal Talkies of Bhopal town (km 0/000) and terminates near Sironj town provided with 3 arm junction (km 4/100). The Environmental study has been carried out, in accordance with the requirements of the Government of India guidelines for Rail / Road / Highway projects. For the purpose of Environmental Study a corridor up to 10 km on either side of the project road has been studied. The Environment assessment process has included an inventory of baseline environmental conditions using data collected from secondary sources and field investigations; the identification of environmental issues / impacts and suggestion for mitigation measures to minimize adverse environmental impacts. The project detail overview is presented below in Table 1.1 . Table 1.1: Details of Project Road Sr. Particulars Existing Proposed No. 1 Road Length 106.900 km 106.320 km 2 Carriageway Two lane Two lane with Paved Shoulder for Bhopal – Berasia section & two lane with Earthen shoulder for Berasia –Sironj section 3 Right of Way - ROW 15 m (except in built up areas, forest sections) from centreline of road. 4 Railway Crossing - - 5 Bypass - - 6 Major Bridges 02 Widening & Strengthening 7 Minor Bridges 24 8 Culverts 119 9 Bus stops -- 11 10 Junctions 43 Improvement 11 Safety Measures -- Crash Barriers, Road Signs- Signals, Guard Post, Delineators, Ambulance DPR for State Highways of Madhya Pradesh SAI Consulting Engineers Pvt. Ltd. Package-I : Bhopal Executive Summary Page 0- 2 0.2 Existing Environmental Features As mentioned, project road is situated in the districts of Bhopal and Vidisha and hence can be described as influenced districts along this project road. Both the districts are located in southern Madhya Pradesh. The project road lies between 77 o24’ (E) to 77 o40’ (E) longitude and 23 o15’ (N) to 24 o05’ (N) latitude. Climate: The region experiences typical tropical climate. It is characterized by hot summer season and general dryness except in the southwest monsoon season. The year may be divided into four seasons. The cold season from December to February is followed by the hot season from March to about the middle of June. The period from mid-June to September is the southwest monsoon season. October and November constitute the post monsoon or retreating monsoon season. The maximum temperature during summers ranges from 33ºC to 44ºC while minimum temperature from 30ºC to 19ºC. The Temperature during the winter season ranges between of 27ºC to 10ºC. The monsoon season spreads from the month of June to September with average rainfall of 1000 mm in the west to 2000 mm in the eastern part of state. The mean annual rainfall in the state is 1200 mm. Humidity: Relative humidity in both the districts varies between 25 % to 75 %. Cloudiness: During the monsoon season, the sky is mostly moderately to heavily cloud. In the rest of the year, the sky is generally clear or lightly clouded. Cloudy sky prevails for brief spell of a day or two in association with passing western disturbances in the cold season. There are approximately 6597 number of trees exist along the project road. The density of trees is low in most of the section. 0.3 Potential Impacts and Mitigation Measures 0.3.1 Physical Environment Meteorology No change in the macro-climatic settings (precipitation, temperature and wind) is envisaged due to the project. The microclimate is likely to be temporarily altered by vegetation removal and the addition of increased pavement surface. This will result in an increase in daytime temperature on the road surface and soils due to loss of shade trees and vegetative cover which is very limited in the region. Mitigation Measures Impacts to the micro-climate will be unavoidable, but will be significant over a short term. In the long term, the impact will be reversible and will be mitigated by the establishment of DPR for State Highways of Madhya Pradesh SAI Consulting Engineers Pvt. Ltd. Package-I : Bhopal Executive Summary Page 0- 3 new vegetation, including the addition of trees. The short term impact will be minimized to the extent possible by minimizing the number of trees to be removed through minor adjustments to the road alignment. Geology, Soil and Mineral Resources Construction phase Large quantities of sand and aggregate materials are required for road sub-base / base / pavement construction, and asphalt mixing. The volume of material required will depend on the volume of suitable material that is excavated during construction. Impacts resulting from the import of aggregate materials are highest if a new quarry is required. The impacts of establishing a new quarry are typically extensive, including impacts to soils / geology, agriculture or other land use, air quality (dust), noise / vibration (from blasting and / or scraping), traffic (truck hauling) and permanent aesthetic impacts to the landscape. In addition to these impacts, environmental effects will also be generated by the establishment and operation of concrete and asphalt plants that may be installed during operation. There is also potential for contamination of soils from spilled fuel, engine oil, bitumen / asphalt, etc. Routine runoff will also contain some contamination from fuel, oil and grease, but contamination of soils is unlikely due to drainage controls. Loss of cultivated top soil is expected due to the movement removal of topsoil for construction purpose. Mitigation Measures The primary mitigation to reduce the impacts of sand and aggregate material excavation is to maximize the use of materials excavated from the construction site. Although specific quantities are not available at this stage of road design, it is expected that even with maximum use of available materials, some additional material will have to be excavated from borrow areas near the project. Mitigation to minimize this impact is to maximize the purchase of materials from pre-established quarries. Any new borrow areas or quarries that are established within the vicinity of the road project, for the purposes of this road project, should be operated and closed in the context of a management plan, established prior to construction. The management plan should include provisions for minimizing noise and dust impacts during operation, and should provide details for rehabilitation at closure. Waste soils that are not suitable for construction will be used as much as possible to balance out fill areas, and residual volumes will be used in the rehabilitation of borrow areas for grading. Concrete and asphalt plants to be deployed for the project will be established at suitable distances from sensitive areas such as residential areas. Re-vegetation of embankment slopes with grasses and other herbs and fast growing plants to limit erosion potential. The net environmental impacts to soils, geology and mineral resources could be significant during the construction stage of the project. Implementing mitigation measures, as outlined in this document and the Environmental Management Plan will help to reduce the significance of these impacts. DPR for State Highways of Madhya Pradesh SAI Consulting Engineers Pvt. Ltd. Package-I : Bhopal Executive Summary Page 0- 4 Operation Phase In general, impacts to geology, soils and mineral resources during the operation stage of the project are limited to the potential contamination of soils from the spill of contaminants, usually as a result of vehicle accidents. Mitigation of these impacts is addressed in the Environmental Management Plan, largely as institutional arrangements for emergency service personnel, including training in emergency response and contingency planning, plus the provision of suitable spill containment and clean-up equipment. 0.3.2 Water Environment Construction Phase Construction activities can lead to marginal water quality degradation in the form of increased concentration of suspended solids (increase in turbidity by 5-20 NTU), resulting from windblown dust. However these effects will be minor. Drilling and piling could potentially cause local ground water flow modifications leading to localized deterioration of vegetation and increased susceptibility to erosion, as well as water table depletion, potentially resulting in impacts to local (ground) water supplies. Mitigation Measures Any watercourse diversions will be designed so as not to result in velocity impacts that could cause erosion of the stream channel, by incorporating energy dissipation into the diversion design. No work, including bridge pier or abutment construction, will be conducted directly in flowing water. Concrete and asphalt plants, equipment storage and maintenance areas, and construction camps will