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The World Bank Afghanistan Water Supply and Sanitation Services and Institutional Support Program (P169970) Public Disclosure Authorized For Official Use Only Concept Environmental and Social Review Summary Public Disclosure Authorized Concept Stage (ESRS Concept Stage) Date Prepared/Updated: 09/13/2019 | Report No: ESRSC00685 Public Disclosure Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Sep 13, 2019 Page 1 of 15 The World Bank Afghanistan Water Supply and Sanitation Services and Institutional Support Program (P169970) BASIC INFORMATION A. Basic Project Data Country Region Project ID Parent Project ID (if any) Afghanistan SOUTH ASIA P169970 Project Name Afghanistan Water Supply and Sanitation Services and Institutional Support Program Practice Area (Lead) Financing Instrument Estimated Appraisal Date Estimated Board Date Water Investment Project 1/22/2020 3/31/2020 Financing For Official Use Only Borrower(s) Implementing Agency(ies) Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Urban Water Afghanistan Supply and Sewerage Corporation (AUWSSC) Proposed Development Objective(s) The proposed Project Development Objective (PDO) is to improve access and quality of water supply service in Kandahar city and selected peri-urban areas, and strengthen the performance of AUWSSC and Kandahar utility. Public Disclosure Financing (in USD Million) Amount Total Project Cost 230.00 B. Is the project being prepared in a Situation of Urgent Need of Assistance or Capacity Constraints, as per Bank IPF Policy, para. 12? No C. Summary Description of Proposed Project [including overview of Country, Sectoral & Institutional Contexts and Relationship to CPF] Sep 13, 2019 Page 2 of 15 The World Bank Afghanistan Water Supply and Sanitation Services and Institutional Support Program (P169970) x For Official Use Only Public Disclosure D. Environmental and Social Overview D.1. Project location(s) and salient characteristics relevant to the ES assessment [geographic, environmental, social] Kandahar is Afghanistan’s second largest city, with an officially estimated population of 830,000 people, though unofficial estimates are as high as 1.5 million. Kandahar’s historic water infrastructure has deteriorated even as demand has increased rapidly. The existing water network covers only approx. 9,000 households, while the vast majority of the population obtains water from wells drawing from a shallow, unconfined aquifer which is impacted by contamination, in particular sewage due to the absence of a sewerage system. The existing piped system was constructed in the early 1970's and has seen only limited rehabilitation and extension works in recent years due to donations from UN -Habitat, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the World Bank. The network is exclusively supplied through wells drawing from a deep aquifer 60-200 m below Kandahar. The wells that remain functional presently supply approximately 8,000 cubic meters per day, which is not being treated as chlorination systems are no longer in working order. Water quality is reportedly poor and supply intermittent. The project— located in the Arghandab River sub-basin, within the Helmand River system. The availability of water in the sub basin, Sep 13, 2019 Page 3 of 15 The World Bank Afghanistan Water Supply and Sanitation Services and Institutional Support Program (P169970) along with the rest of Afghanistan, is highly seasonal and erratic, with frequent and worsening droughts affecting agriculture. The water supply for Kandahar City as well as irrigated agriculture for over 64,000 hectares of farmlands in the Kandahar vicinity is solely dependent on Dahla Dam, built in 1952, which stores irregular runoffs from snow- melt in high mountains. The dam’s reservoir, however, has lost a third of its storage capacity to sedimentation over 66 years of continuous operations, and its ability to provide regulated flows during frequent droughts is seriously constrained. Dahla Dam is located in the Arghandab River Valley and transmission utilizes a gravity system to convey raw water to the city, approximately 30 km southwest of the Dam. The concept design envisages two 1,500 mm diameter pipes fed by the water transmission facility (dam intake). The project impact areas due to water supply construction activities are: (i) Construction area for water abstraction at the main dam (ii) Access roads (iii) Alignments of the transmission main to Kandahar City (twin pipe) and of the transmission main to villages upstream of Kandahar City including water access points (iv) Water treatment plant, pumping station and reservoir (v) Water network in Kandahar City (vi) Borrow areas (vii) Contractor’s camp at the dam (viii) Contractor’s camp at the WTP. D. 2. Borrower’s Institutional Capacity For Official Use Only The AUWSSC will implement the transmission pipeline, treatment plant and distribution infrastructure to be financed by the World Bank, while the MEW will implement the associated ADB project raising the Dahla Dam height and improving irrigation and power production. MEW has implemented many World Bank funded projects and has good experience implementing environmental and social policies of the Bank, however AUWSSC as well as MEW has less experience with the ESF implementation. The capacity of both AUWSSC and MEW as well as all other implementing entities to effectively manage social and environmental risks of the proposed project will be fully assessed during the project preparation phase, considering in particular: (i) the new areas of substantive coverage of the Environmental and Social Framework (ESF), and (ii) the ability of the implementing agency to effectively manage the implementation of multiple simultaneous projects, AUWSSC has started recruitment of two environmental and social management specialist. The need of training, capacity building, and other support activities will be assessed and included so that the counterparts have a clear understanding of, and are capable of implementing, the various management plans and instruments for project Public Disclosure environmental, social, health and safety risks and their management. In particular, strong capacity to carry out continuous stakeholder engagement will be key to address risks related to the project operations, as well as to oversee implementation of plans being prepared to manage labor, community health and safety, land acquisition (if needed) and cultural heritage issues. II. SCREENING OF POTENTIAL ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL (ES) RISKS AND IMPACTS A. Environmental and Social Risk Classification (ESRC) High Environmental Risk Rating High The proposed project will finance new construction of water supply system from Dahla Dam through a gravity system to convey raw water to WTP and down to the city, approximately 30 km southwest of the Dam. The concept design Sep 13, 2019 Page 4 of 15 The World Bank Afghanistan Water Supply and Sanitation Services and Institutional Support Program (P169970) envisages two 1,500 mm diameter pipes fed by the water transmission facility (dam intake). Further assessments are sought to finalize the location and the type of the water treatment plant. The significant adverse impacts of proposed project along with associated facility would result significant, wide spread and intense direct, indirect, induced and cumulative impacts at all stages of construction, operation and maintenance, and ultimately at decommissioning stages. In addition, the water supply activities per se under proposed operation along with the water transmission line corridor, the WTP and with the increased volumes of untreated waste water (due to the absence of a waste water treatment system) would be generated in Kandahar city will also results cumulative impacts of both the associated facility will jointly pose significant environmental risks. National and provincial institutions with low capacity in a fragile and security difficult context, will find it very challenging to address these risks in a sustainable manner. The impacts would be potentially large scale and widespread throughout the project area, at onsite and offsite locations all requiring comprehensive management measures. Considering the mentioned foreseeable risks, the environmental risk is assigned as High at this stage. For Official Use Only Social Risk Rating High The potential social impacts of the Dahla Dam (associated facility) that will be raised by 12 meters are expected to cause significant physical and economic displacement of upstream and downstream communities of the dam. However, the World Bank financed interventions including planned transmission, treatment and distribution infrastructure activities will include substantial social risks and impacts, though they are expected to be less severe than the Dahla Dam impacts. The social Impact assessment (SIA) will be conducted during implementation stage, however the ESMF will provide further details and guidelines which to be reflected in appraisal stage Environmental and Social Review Summary (ESRS). Currently, the expected key potential anticipated social risks and impacts are: (i) land acquisition & resettlement impacts; (ii) labor influx risk as some of the supported activities may rely on hiring labors from outside the project' area of influence; (iii) Gender Based Violence (GBV) risks; and other social impacts relating to employment and reforms. The poor capacity of the implementing agency to handle safeguards is a major concern therefore, the Social Risk Rating is High at this stage. Public Disclosure B. Environment