World Bank Document

Public Disclosure Authorized ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY FOR GANSU REVITALIZATION AND INNOVATION PROJECT (P158215) Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Gansu Provincial Culture Department and Gansu Financing Holding Group December 2018 Public Disclosure Authorized TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Background .............................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Environmental and Social Legal Requirements ....................................................... 1 2 PROJECT DESCRIPTION .................................................................................. 4 3 ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL BASELINE ................................................... 8 3.1 Physical Environment ............................................................................................... 8 3.2 Ecological Environment .......................................................................................... 10 3.3 Physical Cultural Resources (PCRs) ..................................................................... 10 3.4 Socio-Economic Context ......................................................................................... 11 3.5 Environmental Quality ............................................................................................. 11 4 ESMF FOR COMPONENT 1 & 3 ....................................................................... 11 4.1 Purpose and Scope of the ESMF ........................................................................... 11 4.2 Subproject Description and Screening of Potential Impacts .................................. 12 4.3 Procedures to Address Safeguards Issues ............................................................ 12 4.4 Public Consultation and Information Disclosure for the ESMF .............................. 14 4.5 Implementation Arrangements and Capacity Building ........................................... 14 5 ENVIRONMENTAL and Social ASSESSMENT FOR COMPONENT 2 ............ 15 5.1 Environmental and Social Benefits ........................................................................ 15 5.2 Analysis of Alternatives .......................................................................................... 16 5.3 Environmental Impacts and Mitigation Measures .................................................. 18 5.4 Environmental Due Diligence of Associated Facilities ........................................... 27 5.5 Public Consultation and Information Disclosure .................................................... 28 5.6 Environmental and Social Management Plan ........................................................ 28 6 Conclusions .................................................................................................... 30 ANNEXES Annex 1 Summary of environmental & social mitigation measures for Component 2 Annex 2 Summary of PCRs Protection Measures for Component 2 Annex 3 Summary of environmental monitoring plans for Component 2 LIST OF TABLES Table 1-1 Compliance with the World Bank Safeguards Policies Table 2-1 Description of the Project Components Table 5-1 The PCRs Identified in the Subproject Areas under Component 2 Table 5-2 Associated WWTPs of the Subprojects under Component 2 Table 5-3 Cost Estimate of Environmental Management under Component 2 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 3-1 Location of the Subprojects under Component 2 Figure 4-1 Organizational Structure of Environmental Management for Component 2 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background Strategic Context. Challenges. Gansu Province faces four main challenges. Firstly, it is the poorest province in China. It faces severe development challenges and significantly lags-behind other provinces in most economic and social indicators. Gansu’s per capita income is less than half of the national average, and a mere 23 percent of leading provinces. Measured by per capita disposable income, access and quality of infrastructures, Gansu ranks as the last among all provinces. Secondly, while several towns and villages in Gansu have cultural or natural endowments, they need significant investments in regeneration and income-generating opportunities. Thirdly, Gansu lacks strong financial institutions and the capacity to leverage its endowments for economic development. Institutional capacity for managing and promoting endowments is also poor in Gansu. Finally, the provincial government does not have much experience in working with the private sector in leveraging resources and managing public assets. Public-private partnership in financing and operating municipal assets is still at a nascent stage. Opportunities: Gansu has recently undergone a major economic transformation toward a service- based economy, which demonstrates significant potential for sustainable development in future. Gansu could leverage its rich, but underutilized endowments, that have huge potential to contribute to local economic development. The richness and uniqueness of endowments and human skills of creative industry in Gansu ranks 5th among China's provinces, and thus constitute a unique competitive edge and comparative advantage to further develop its service sector, including creative industries, as part of the provincial strategy of economic transformation, poverty reduction and shared prosperity. The rapidly growing service and creative industries have been widely recognized as green and sustainable development sectors. Environment category. The Project has been classified as Category A following the World Bank’s safeguards policies, which requires full environmental and social assessment. As entrusted by the Provincial Project Management Offices (PPMOs), namely Gansu Provincial Culture and Tourism Department (GPCTD) and Gansu Financial Holding Group Co. Ltd (GFHG), the consulting firm Lanzhou University Applied Technology Research Institute Co., Ltd., prepared the environmental assessment (EA) for the Project in accordance with China’s laws, regulations and technical guidelines, as well as the World Bank’s safeguards policies. A full Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report, an Environmental and Social Management Plan (ESMP), and an Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF) were prepared. In addition, a set of social safeguards instruments, consisting of a Social Assessment (SA) report, a consolidated Resettlement Action Plans (RAPs), three Resettlement Due Diligent (RDD) reports and a summary RAP for Component 2 and a Social Risk Management Framework (SRMF, including the Resettlement Policy Framework (RPF) and an Ethnic Minority Development Framework (EMDF) for Component 1, have also been prepared by Hohai University, with the main findings and conclusions incorporated in the EIA, ESMP and ESMF respectively. This document is the Executive Summary (ES) of all the above safeguards documents for the Project. The summary of the ESMF on Component 1 & 3 is presented in Chapter 4; and the summary of the EIA and ESMP of Components 2 is shown in Chapter 5. 1.2 Environmental and Social Legal Requirements The Project is in full compliance with applicable Chinese laws, policies and regulations, such as the Environmental Protection Law, the Environmental Impact Assessment Law, and the Notice on Strengthening EIA Management for Construction Projects Funded by Loans from International Financial Institutions etc. Based on the safeguards screening, the project triggers totally eight World Bank’s safeguards policies, as summarized in Table 1-1. In addition, three World Bank Group (WBG)’s Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) Guidelines are also deemed applicable to the Project, respectively the general guidelines, the one on water and sanitation and one for waste Page 1 of 34 management facilities. By comparing these applicable EHS guidelines with the equivalent national environmental standards, more stringent national standards apply to the environmental assessment and environmental management of the Project. Page 2 of 34 Table 1-1: Triggering and Compliance with the World Bank’s Safeguards Policies Safeguards Compliance Policy Environmental Though the anticipated negative environmental and social impacts are mostly site- Assessment specific and temporary in nature during construction, the project is overall classified (OP / BP4.01) as Category A considering the types of investments and the sensitivity of the cultural sites involved. Full environmental and social impact assessment has been carried out. Environmental safeguards documents have been prepared, including: (i) an ESMF for Component 1 & 3; (ii) a full EIA and an ESMP for Component 2; and (iii) an ES for the whole Project. Social safeguards documents have been produced, including: RPF and EMDF for Component 1; one SA report, one consolidated RAP, four subproject RAPs and three RDD reports for Component 2. Two rounds of public consultation have been conducted with the safeguards documents disclosed locally and at the Bank’s external website. Natural The policy is triggered considering the river rehabilitation activities (no dredging, Habitats mainly slope protection and river banks landscaping) to be supported under (OP/BP4.04) Component 2 and subproject uncertainties of Component 1. For Component 1, the ESMF has included screening criteria and assessment requirements for the financing of any credit to micro and small enterprises (MSEs) involving natural habitat issues. For Component 2,

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