Eastern Sichuan Roads Development Project
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Resettlement Planning Document Summary Resettlement Plan Document Stage: Draft for Consultation Project Number: 37490 May 2006 PRC: Eastern Sichuan Roads Development Project Prepared by Sichuan Provincial Communications Department The resettlement plan 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. SUMMARY RESETTLEMENT PLAN A. Status of the Resettlement Plan 1. The proposed Project will finance the construction of an expressway between Dazhou City and the border with Shaanxi Province, with a length of 138 km and 10 link roads with a length of 28 km. The Sichuan Government will also finance a local road upgrading component comprising 30 sections with a total length of 402 km of township to village roads. The Resettlement Plan (RP) explicitly addresses impacts caused by the first two components based on the Project feasibility study. Since the local road program involves upgrading the existing roads, this complementary component will involve little or no land acquisition and resettlement and SPCD has assured ADB that any affected persons will receive the same compensation standards provided in the RP. Prior to commencement of land acquisition for the expressway and link road component, SPCD will update the RP based on detailed design and detailed measurement survey, and submit the RP to ADB for approval (see the resettlement planning schedule in Table A18-1). During project construction, if there is significant material changes in project scope or other causes, an updated RP will prepared, disclosed to APs and submitted to ADB for approval prior to commencement of such changes. B. Scope of Land Acquisition and Resettlement 2. The proposed expressway (including link roads) will affect 18 townships and 49 administrative villages in 3 counties/district, namely -- Tongchuan District, Xuanhan County, and Wanyuan County, all in Dazhou Municipality. According to the impact survey during feasibility study, 779 ha of land will be acquired, of which about 50% is farmland (comprising 10 paddy and 40% dryland), 1% is fruit trees, and 2% is housing plots. The remaining 47% is woodland and wasteland. Another 240 ha of land is estimated to be occupied temporarily during the construction phase. Based on the Chinese standard for impact assessment, the equivalent of 9,141 persons would lose all their land and agricultural livelihoods. Since the expressway will actually cross many parcels of scattered farmland, it is estimated that the average loss of land per household would be 13%, which means the number of partially affected people would be in the order of 55,000 persons (or 13,000 households). 3. Along with land acquisition, 137,700 square meters of houses will be demolished, necessitating relocation of 1,148 households (5,279 persons), which is an average of 23 houses per village. About 77 percent of houses are made of brick wood and earth wood structures, and 23 percent are brick concrete structures with two to three stories. The relocation will provide an opportunity to improve current housing conditions for relocated households. Most of these households will be moved a short distance to another site within their original village. Rural housing will either be built (i) in a scattered manner beside roadways, or (ii) in a clustered manner close to existing settlements. For the latter, housing sites would be developed in a collective manner; all sites will be provided with water supply, electricity, telephone and TV cable. Other project affected assets include telecommunications lines and electrical power lines, irrigation systems, roads, sheds, walls, graves and scattered trees. All land, housing and other assets will be compensated at replacement value. C. Policy Framework and Entitlements 4. For people unavoidably affected, the resettlement objective is to achieve equal or better income and living standards in line with the PRC Land Administration Law (1998) and the ADB’s Policy on Involuntary Resettlement. The SPCD will ensure that any people losing land, housing, other assets or income sources will be assisted to fully restore their income and living 2 standards. The Sichuan Provincial Government in 2001 issued a Land Administration Decree to implement the 1998 Land Administration Law, and in 2004 issued a special decree/notification concerning land compensation, which stipulates the regulations for land compensation, resettlement subsidies, young crop compensation, and other measures to carry out resettlement. According to the policy and basic socioeconomic conditions among project counties, detailed compensation rates will be agreed upon for each affected county. For the draft RP, the estimated compensation rates (inclusive of land compensation, resettlement subsidy and young crops) in Tongchuan District and Xuanhan County are CNY33,600 per mu for irrigated farmland; CNY21,000 per mu for dryland and house plots, and CNY12,000 per mu for woodland. In Wanyuan County the rates are CNY31,500 per mu for irrigated farmland; CNY19,900 per mu for dryland and house plots, and CNY12,000 per mu for woodland. Those people losing land temporarily during construction will receive a payment equivalent to production value foregone for the period of loss, which is expected to be 2 years. The land used temporarily will also be restored by the contractor to the original condition; the contractors will deposit funds with Dazhou City Land & Resources Office (DL&RO) to ensure this restoration is completed properly. 5. For structures to be demolished, replacement value will be provided to the affected rural households based on compensation rates adopted in Dazhou City, which range from CNY350 to CNY450 per square meter for brick-concrete structure, CNY280 to CNY320 per square meter for brick-wood structure, and CNY260 per square meter for earth-wood structure. Those losing housing will be able to acquire new housing sites close to a road, electricity and water services within the current village group or administrative village. There will be no reduction in house compensation for depreciation, and people can salvage materials from their old houses. D. Resettlement Strategy 6. Efforts to minimize resettlement effects have been made based consultations with local officials during the setting of the alignment for the feasibility study, which avoids towns and large clusters of rural housing. The final alignment will optimized to avoid housing and high yield paddy and fruit gardens. For those unavoidably affected, the resettlement strategy is to replace losses of housing, land, other assets, infrastructure and income. 7. In the project area, the per capita land holding is very small (less than 0.8 mu), so the land acquisition for the alignment, particularly at the interchanges, will have significant impact on the income and livelihood of the affected people. To mitigate such impacts, various rehabilitation measures have been proposed. Detailed resettlement and rehabilitation plans for those seriously affected villages will be developed and included in the updated RP. Based on consultations, most affected persons (APs) prefer to get cash compensation directly, because there is little potential for land readjustment and most people undertake non-agricultural activities already. The cash will be used to expand businesses, improve animal husbandry and cash crops, and provide income security until they find outside work. It is also recognized that new employment and income generation opportunities would arise during construction and after the expressway is completed. For example, this area has rich natural gas resources which are being developed quickly; the new expressway will speed up this development. 8. The SPCD will ensure that the resettlement entitlements are provided to the people affected prior to the ground clearance and demolition commencement. Land compensation and resettlement subsidy will mainly be paid to the affected families, through the village committee or groups. Housing compensation and compensation for young crops and other assets will be provided directly to people losing those assets. Compensation for infrastructure will be paid to the concerned government departments for restoration. The relocated families will receive 3 moving allowances and temporary housing allowances. Also, expressway contractors will give priority to affected households in the allocation of unskilled jobs during construction. E. Institutional Arrangements 9. SPCD will assume the overall responsibility for implementing resettlement according to the approved RP. A Resettlement Office within the Dayu Expressway Company will be directly responsible to co-ordinate the planning, implementation, financing and reporting of land acquisition and resettlement for the expressway and connector roads. With local government, leading groups and resettlement offices, each comprising 6-8 staff will be established in Dazhou City and the three affected counties (districts). The county land & resources offices will take the primary responsibility for the resettlement consultation, implementation and timely delivery of entitlements, with assistance from concerned townships and villages. F. Vulnerable Groups 10. In this project area, all people are Han. For economically vulnerable people, including elderly living alone, disabled, household headed by women, and extremely poor households with net income below CNY900 per capita, the Project will provide additional