Social Monitoring Report

Semi-annual Report July 2011

PRC: Second Heilongjiang Road Network Development Project

Prepared by Winlot Consulting Ltd. for the People’s Republic of China and the Asian Development Bank.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) Loan (No.: 7117-PRC)

Heilongjiang Road Development Project II Qianfeng Farm- Nenjiang Road (Yichun- Nenjiang Section)

External Monitoring and Evaluation Report on Social Development Action Plan

No.: HLDP-7117-PRC-SDAP-02

WINLOT Consulting Ltd.

July 2011

Fig.1 Schematic Diagram of Route Scheme

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CONTENTS

1 BACKGROUND INFORMATION...... 1 2 MONITORING AND EVALUATION METHODS OF THE SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT ACTION PLAN...... 1 3 IMPLEMENTATION OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT ACTION PLAN DURING PROJECT CONSTRUCTION ...... 2 3.1 IMPROVED ROAD TRAFFIC ACCESS ...... 2 3.2. IMPROVED TRAFFIC SERVICE FACILITIES ...... 4 3.3 SITE CONSTRUCTION UNIT & EMPLOYMENT OF LOCAL LABORERS ...... 6 3.4 IMPROVEMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF GOOD LOCAL ROAD NETWORK...... 11 3.5 REINFORCEMENT OF ROAD SAFETY ...... 11 3.6 CONTROL OF AIDS AND SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED INFECTIONS ...... 12 3.7 PROTECTION OF LOCAL COMMUNITIES FROM CONSTRUCTION IMPACTS AND GUARANTEE OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY ...... 14 3.8 PROVISION OF THE LIVELIHOOD PLAN FOR AFFECTED HOUSEHOLDS TO INCREASE THEIR EARNINGS ...... 17 3.9 DEVELOPMENT OF MINORITIES ...... 17 3.10 COMPREHENSIVE ROAD IMPROVEMENT IN POVERTY RELIEF PROJECTS ...... 18 3.11 PETTY LOAN FOR SMALL BUSINESS ...... 21 3.12 TOURISM PROMOTION...... 22 3.13 SPECIAL SUPPORT FOR THE MINORITY VILLAGE TO PROTECT AND DEVELOP THE CULTURAL HERITAGE...... 24 3.14 TRAINING PROVIDED FOR THE WOMEN ...... 24 3.15 PROMOTION FOR NONAGRICULTURAL EMPLOYMENT ...... 26 4 PART OF THE INTERVIEW RECORD ...... 26 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS...... 26 5.1 CONCLUSIONS ...... 26 5.2 RECOMMENDATIONS ...... 28 6 APPENDIXES ...... 29 APPENDIX 1 SUMMARY OF THE SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT ACTION PLAN ...... 29 APPENDIX 2 NAME LIST OF THE EXTERNAL MONITORING TEAM FOR THE SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT ACTION PLAN...... 35 APPENDIX 3 INTERVIEW...... 36

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1 Background Information

During preparation of the report on technical assistance for the Development Project II of Highway in Heilongjiang Province (Qianfeng Farm-Nenjiang Road Project), Asian Development Bank, in cooperation with Heilongjiang Communications Department (i.e. the Project Executing Agency), formulates the Social Development Action Plan (see Appendix 1) based on its lending principles. This Plan integrates enforceability with suggestiveness and is established on the basis of analysis on the social and poverty impacts, so that this Project can facilitate the poverty-relief plan. In addition to the resettlement plan, the enforceability also involves: (1) 3 branch roads with a length of 4.33km shall be constructed at the time of construction of the trunk roads; (2) the Contractor is required to employ as many natives as possible to serve as the non-technical laborers and maximize the consumption of local raw materials, for the purpose of boosting the local economic development. The proposed project involves five counties/cities in Heilongjiang Province, namely Yichun City, Suiling County, Bei’an City, Wudalianchi City and Nenjiang County, and one banner, i.e. Morin Dawa Daur Autonomous Banner in Hulunbuir City, an autonomous region in Inner Mongolia. See Fig.1 for the Schematic Diagram of Route Scheme. Qianfeng Farm-Nenjiang Road Project Management Office of Expressway Construction Bureau of Heilongjiang Communications Department (hereinafter referred to as the Project Management Office) engaged the Monitoring and Evaluation Team for Social Development Action Plan. See Appendix 2 for the team members. With the cooperation and support of the Project Executing Agency, the Monitoring and Evaluation Team conducted its second site investigation and interview of the social development action plan for this Project from April 20, 2011 to May 20, 2011, and submitted the monitoring and evaluation report within the stipulated date.

2 Monitoring and Evaluation Methods of the Social Development Action Plan

The Monitoring and Evaluation Team conducted its second monitoring and evaluation of the social development action plan for this Project from April 20, 2011 to May 20, 2011. Then relevant data were collected

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and classified and available results of relevant items were evaluated by means of site investigation of relevant departments of the five counties/cities in Heilongjiang Province along the Project and each bid section as well as interview with key personnel. Statistical data in each county/ city were collected, and economic and social poverty-relief policies were tracked and monitored, with the purpose of evaluating the realization of social goals. The Monitoring and Evaluation Team had an interview with relevant government departments in the five counties/ cities along the Project, including government office, statistical bureau, road transport bureau, investment promotion bureau, tourist administration, department of civil affairs, ethnic and religious affairs bureau, the women’s federation, agricultural commission, poverty alleviation and development office, road transportation management station, traffic police station and center for disease control, and visited the encampment of the Construction Unit.

3 Implementation of Social Development Action Plan during Project Construction

See Appendix 1 for the 15 issues contained in the Social Development Action Plan under the Project Loan Agreement. Implementation of the Social Development Action Plan 2010 during project execution is listed as below: 3.1 Improved road traffic access Due to the Lesser Khingan Mountains, no direct transportation channel is available between Yichun City and Bei’an City, so both travelers and goods from Yichun City have to make a detour to Wudalianchi City via Harbin or Suihua City, and vice versa. The proposed project will connect the dead-end highway between the two cities, and thus greatly shortens the travelling distance and time. This new road will also connect Wudalianchi National Geological Park, Yichun, a city for forest sight-seeing, and Harbin, the provincial capital of Heilongjiang Province, forming a circular tourist route. In addition, a new bridge would be built over Nenjiang River to connect the roads in Nenjiang County in Heilongjiang Province and that in Morin Dawa Daur Autonomous Banner in Inner Mongolia. A 128.1673 km road section of Longzhen Town- Nenjiang Section in the proposed project will be reconstructed to be an

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open Class II road, which will be more convenient for travelling of residents within the area affected by the project and for transport of agricultural products. A road of 13.0805km in Nenjiang-Provincial Boundary Section of the proposed project is reconstructed to a Class I road to connect the roads in Nenjiang County in Heilongjiang Province and that in Morin Dawa Daur Autonomous Banner in Inner Mongolia and facilitate transportation of merchandises and resident travelling. In addition, 6 flyover-crossways are built between the expressway section of the proposed project and the existing local roads to facilitate vehicle travelling; level crossings are constructed between the Class I and Class II road sections and local roads; 3 branch roads are to be completed with the trunk road. Therefore, the travelling of local residents will be greatly improved. Based on the interview with the road transport bureau and the road transportation management station in the 5 counties/ cities, we learned that the traffic management departments in each county/ city had implemented the plan of road construction in rural areas in 2010, and now plan to adjust or formulate the reconstruction plan of passenger stations owing to the pass of Qianfeng Farm-Nenjiang Road and the improvement in road conditions. e.g.: The Western Circular Highway Project of Wudalianchi City (hereinafter referred to as “Wu City”) was developed under this circumstance. This project, as the branch road project, was submitted and reported to the higher body by the People’s Government of Wu City, by the aid of the construction of Qianfeng Farm-Nenjiang Road. The Project starts from the crossing between the Ramp E of the interchange of Qianfeng Farm-Nenjiang Road in Wudalianchi City and Hegang-Nenjiang Road (Bei’an-Wudalianchi), turns westwards at the south side of Deli Village to the north and intersects De-Si Line and Wudalianchi-Bei’an Line, passes through the Kuangquan chicken farm, northward to Namoer River, No. 3 Yongfeng Farm, Sanhe Village, Front Yixin Village, Back Yixin Village and Shilong River, and ends at the crossing between Nahe-Wudalianchi Road and Longfu Road in the scenic spot. The Road is totally 14.5km long, along which a 570 Lm bridge, 6 small bridges, 42 quadrate culverts and 8 grade intersections are newly built. The subgrade cross-section is divided into two modes: the section from the starting point of this project to the north end

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of Namoer River Bridge (K0+000 – K6+970) is designed to be two-way four-lane, with subgrade width of 21.5m, 2×0.75m (cross section) earth shoulder, 2×1.5m hard shoulder, 2×7.5m traffic lane and median width of 2m; the section from the north end of Namoer River Bridge to the end is designed to be two-way double-lane, with subgrade width of 12m, 2×0.75m (cross section) earth shoulder, 2×1.5m hard shoulder, 2×3.75m traffic lane and bituminous concrete pavement. The construction will commence in 2011 and be completed in 2012. The implementation of the project will improve the arrangement of highway network and the urban planning of Wu City, better the traffic environment, alleviate the traffic pressure in urban area, and of great significance to the expansion of urban space, the reservation of urban construction land, the quicker achievement of the assumption of constructing the “Great Wudalianchi City” suggested by the Government of Heilongjiang Province, the realization of two-bank-waterfront urban development with low carbon, as well as the urban orientation of “well-known tourism and cultural city and the capital of leisure and health care” recommended by the Municipal Committee and Government. Furthermore, the effective connection of the expressway, railway station and air port will be realized, and the distance between the urban areas to the scenic spot shortened. In this way, this project will give important play to the rapid development of economic society of Wu City. The traffic planning and thoughts of other cities and counties is similar to those of Wu City. 3.2. Improved traffic service facilities Based on the interview with the road transport bureau and the road transportation management station in the 5 counties/ cities, we learned that the traffic management departments in each county/ city had implemented the plan of road construction in rural areas in 2010, and now plan to adjust or formulate the reconstruction plan of passenger stations owing to the pass of Qianfeng Farm-Nenjiang Road and the improvement in road conditions. Counties/ cities along the project, which are greatly affected by the construction of Qianfeng Farm-Nenjiang Road, are considering making proper adjustments to their traffic development planning and building new passenger transport stations or upgrading the existing stations, so as to improve their traffic transport service system, boost the local economic

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development and facilitate the travelling of local residents by the aid of the construction of this Road. 105 administrative villages in 10 towns/townships and 11 neighborhood committees under 1 subdistrict office are under the jurisdiction of Wu City. In 2010, the hard surfacing with a length of 693.4km was constructed in 93 villages, including 12.321km of Class II Road, 146.81km of Class III Road, 288.199km of Class IV Road and 246.07km of road lower than Class IV, and it was expected that the construction of hard surfacing to all villages would be completed by the end of 2011. In 2010, 1 Level-2 and 2 Level-3 passenger transport stations were available in Wu City, and another 12 sub-stations were distributed in several large towns/townships and urban areas. Temporary bus stops were provided in villages along the bus route and fixed stops in villages along the trunk road. The intercity bus could stop frequently. Distance between two passenger transport stations was about 5 km. In 2010, about 85% of villages have access to bus service and about 92% to both passenger transport and freight service. At present, there have been 27 long/short distance passenger lines in Wu City, with the toll collection based on person-km in accordance with the National Highway Toll Collection Management Method. See Table 1 for the traffic and transportation services in Wu City in 2010. Table 1 Statistical Table of Traffic and Transportation Services in Wu City

Number Number of Number of Number of Level Number of Number of passenger of Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 4 passenger station(s) in passenger passenger passenger passenger station(s) in towns/townships along the station(s) station(s) station(s) station(s) towns/townships Project

0 1 2 12 4

Note: the above data are provided by the transportation administration bureau and passenger station in each county/city. See Table 2 for the traffic and transportation services in other counties/ cities during project construction.

Table 2 Statistical Table of Traffic and Transportation Service in Five Counties/ Cities in 2010

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Nenjiang Wudalianchi Bei’an Suiling Name Yichun City County City City County Number of Level 1 0 0 0 0 1 passenger station(s) Number of Level 2 1 1 2 1 10 passenger station(s) Number of Level 3 0 2 3 3 passenger station(s) Number of Level 4 14 0 8 6 10 passenger station(s) Number of bus stop(s) in 14 12 20 6 28 towns/townships Percentage of villages with access 88 88.57 100 100 90 roads (%) Note: 1. The above data are provided by the transportation administration bureau and passenger station in each county/city; 2. Level-4 passenger stations are generally sub-stations.

3.3 Site construction unit & employment of local laborers According to the statistical statement reported by the construction units to the higher body in December, 2010, the construction units responsible for the 23 bid sections of Qianfeng Farm-Nenjiang Road all the year (2010) totally engaged 40,729 civilian workers along the Project, including 32,413 non-skilled civilian workers, with the monthly average wage of more than RMB 2,500 Yuan. Among all the peasant workers, 3,581 persons are impacted by the project, accounting for 8.79% of the employed, and 40,729 peasant workers are trained for free. See Fig. 2 for construction scene of the employed peasant workers on the construction site of Qianfeng Farm-Nenjiang Road. By the end of December, 2010, the construction units which undertook 23 bid sections of Qianfeng Farm-Nenjiang Road have spent RMB 2,960,000 Yuan in total for hiring the farmers along the Project or the resident houses as the temporary offices or residences. This indicated an increase of earnings by RMB 2,960,000 Yuan for the farmers or the town dwellers along the Project. Throughout 2010, the construction units responsible for 23 sections of Qianfeng Farm-Nenjiang Road totally hired 2,018 construction machines from the farmers along the Project, mainly including the earthwork transporters and the excavators and so on.

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In case each construction machine was able to work for six months in average for the construction units and monthly lease charge was RMB 8,000 Yuan, an increase of earnings by RMB 96,864,000 Yuan would be brought to the farmers along the Project. At the same time, 2,541,445m3 sand, 846,600m3 stones, 173,580t cement, 23,431t reinforcing bars, 9,084,704m3 earthwork, as well as other raw materials and agricultural and sideline products were purchased locally for Qianfeng Farm-Nenjiang Road, so the construction units have spent RMB 614,653,700 Yuan in total locally, driving the local economic development and increasing the earnings for the local population. During the construction, the construction units tried best to provide the employment opportunities for the farmers or the residents along the Project, especially those affected by the relocation due to land requisition, according to the Agreement signed with the Qianfeng Farm-Nenjiang Road Project Management Office, and did best to hire the local simple construction machines, making contributions to the local economic development while reducing the adverse impact of land occupation for construction on the affected population. The statistical data of the 23 bid sections have reflected that the construction units did tried best to provide the employment opportunities for the farmers or residents along the Project and those affected by the relocation due to land requisition according to requirements specified by Qianfeng Farm-Nenjiang Road Project Management Office. Refer to Table 3 and Table 4 for the statistics of employment and procurement by the construction units in the local areas during the construction.

Fig. 2 Construction Scenes of the Employed Peasant Workers on the Construction Site of Qianfeng Farm-Nenjiang Road

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Table 3 Statistics of Employment by the Construction Units from the Peasant-workers along the Project

Statistics of Employment from the peasant-workers along the Project Of which: Machines House The Household In-construction rented Time Women rent and Peasant-worker minority being time from the Total Skilled Payment in the Impoverished Payment land rent in the project in the requisitioned Training villagers worker standard project population standard area project in the area area project area Work-day/person. Man-time Man-time Yuan/month Man-time Man-time Man-time Man-time Man-time Yuan/month Man-time Yuan/year Set-time month A1 889 225 4,500 280 2 225 115 42 2,500 889 30 100,000 85 A2 2,135 360 5,000 1,250 13 398 58 56 2,500 2,135 30 120,000 240 A3 150 20 4,500 120 0 0 0 10 2,500 150 30 80,000 102 A4 2,979 1,550 4,500 350 4 390 380 305 2,500 2,979 30 650,000 200 A5 23,486 3,600 6,000 18,000 9 56 1,800 21 3,000 240 30 160,000 20 A6 417 157 4,500 120 4 67 55 14 2,500 417 30 75,000 49 2010 cumulative A7 985 167 4,500 310 7 392 57 52 3,000 985 30 100,000 85 number A8 731 175 4,500 209 8 222 97 20 2,500 731 30 100,000 65 A9 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2,500 1 30 90,000 47

A10 771 164 4,500 193 5 213 178 18 2,500 771 30 100,000 76

A11 703 142 4,500 175 6 208 160 12 2,500 703 30 100,000 63 A12 112 15 7,000 70 9 0 12 6 2,500 112 30 150,000 0 A13 1,059 188 4,500 269 18 335 221 28 2,500 1,059 30 140,000 125

A15 551 164 3,000 320 0 0 67 0 1,800 551 30 20,000 170 A16 681 156 4,500 190 12 164 156 3 2,500 681 30 100,000 78 A17 671 183 4,500 175 8 155 148 2 2,500 671 30 100,000 81 A18 721 211 4,500 186 9 153 159 3 2,500 721 30 120,000 92 B1 26 9 4,500 15 1 0 0 1 2,500 2 30 50,000 0 B2 447 130 4,500 232 2 25 56 2 2,500 447 30 80,000 52 B3 561 158 3,800 350 8 0 45 2,800 561 30 150,000 101 B4 749 162 4,500 212 4 158 210 3 2,600 749 30 100,000 80 B5 850 180 4,500 265 7 220 170 8 2,600 850 30 135,000 98 B8 1,054 200 4,500 345 50 200 230 29 2,600 1,054 30 140,000 109 2010 cumulative 40,729 8,316 23,636 186 3,581 4,375 635 40,729 2,960,000 2,018 number Note: The data is provided by the construction units.

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Table 4 Statistics of Materials Procurement by the Construction Units in the Local Areas

Statistics of materials Reinforcing Sand Unit price Subtotal Stones Unit price Subtotal Cement Unit price Subtotal bars Unit price Subtotal RMB RMB RMB RMB Bid section 10,000 10,000 10,000 10,000 No. m3 Yuan Yuan m3 Yuan Yuan t Yuan Yuan t Yuan Yuan A1 180,000 100 1,800 80,000 98 784 20,000 530 1,060 2,500 4,900 1,225 A2 220,000 110 2,420 75,000 100 750 18,000 540 972 2,400 5,000 1,200 A3 140,000 105 1,470 45,000 95 428 14,000 545 763 3,000 4,990 1,497 A4 300,000 35 1,050 150,000 85 1,275 700 420 29 1,000 4,400 440 A5 8,272 53 44 80,000 85 680 20,000 490 980 820 6,200 508 A6 12,500 51 64 60,000 86 516 800 515 41 750 5,500 413 A7 259,213 54 1,400 103,559 93 963 67 451 3 37 3,612 13 A8 13,600 55 75 45,000 96 432 80 480 4 45 4,500 20 A9 206,985 65 1,345 14,963 108 162 7,410 350 259 300 4,900 147 A10 168,975 70 1,183 12,000 100 120 1,500 490 74 150 5,000 75 A11 15,800 85 134 10,000 98 98 100 500 5 100 510 5 A12 188,291 75 1,412 8,000 91 73 41,030 383 1,571 1,024 4,500 461 A13 149,513 85 1,271 12,000 90 108 3,000 400 120 800 4,500 360 A15 223,097 65 1,450 28,417 110 313 5,347 532 284 450 4,800 216 A16 135,865 65 883 29,000 105 305 6,000 540 324 400 4,850 194 A17 214,769 60 1,289 35,000 95 333 8,000 535 428 1,200 4,500 540 A18 38,563 65 251 850 100 9 500 500 25 400 4,800 192 B1 5,000 85 43 1,200 95 11 667 385 26 224 4,400 99 B2 6,600 83 55 1,050 95 10 700 390 27 200 4,500 90 B3 21,237 95 201 27,061 109 296 14,279 499 713 4,031 5,200 2,096 B4 15,485 90 139 12,500 100 125 950 490 47 1,000 4,600 460 B5 880 100 9 500 105 5 450 500 23 100 5,000 50 B8 16,800 85 143 15,500 95 147 10,000 480 480 2,500 4,700 1,175 Total 2,541,445 18,129 846,600 7,940 173,580 8,258 23,431 11,476 Note: The data is provided by the construction units.

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Table 4 Statistics of Materials Procurment by the Construction Units in the Local Areas (Continued)

Statistics of materials Non-staple earthwork Unit Price Subtotal Vegetable Unit Price Subtotal foodstuffs Unit Price Subtotal Others Unit Price Subtotal RMB RMB RMB RMB Bid section 10,000 10,000 10,000 10,000 No. m3 Yuan Yuan Kg Yuan Yuan Kg Yuan Yuan Kg Yuan Yuan A1 550,000 20 1,100 15,000 9 13 1,600 30 5 12,000 10 12 A2 700,000 23 1,630 20,000 8 17 2,000 50 10 20,000 10 20 A3 465,000 18 837 12,000 8 10 1,200 28 3 2,200 10 2 A4 300,000 5 163 5,000 6 3 2,000 12 2 1,000 10 1 A5 300,000 31 930 27,000 8 22 10,800 24 26 18,000 10 18 A6 180,000 10 180 10,000 8 8 3,000 22 7 12,000 9 10 A7 618,850 24 1,485 19,200 6 12 6,400 40 26 5,000 4 2 A8 350,000 15 525 20,000 8 16 3,000 26 8 12,000 10 12 A9 700,000 18 1,260 209,000 3 67 2,782 16 4 1,220 10 1 A10 540,000 25 1,350 25,000 7 16 2,500 18 5 1,000 10 1 A11 510,000 11 561 20,000 5 10 2,000 22 4 850 10 1 A12 777,140 3 233 7,200 10 7 1,100 20 2 800 10 1 A13 560,000 6 336 10,000 10 10 2,000 23 5 1,200 10 1 A15 746,195 33 2,462 800 10 1 900 25 2 1,000 30 3 A16 450,000 15 675 1,100 9 1 800 26 2 600 12 1 A17 800,000 6 480 20,000 8 16 4,000 20 8 10,000 10 10 A18 75,000 12 90 5,000 10 5 700 22 2 500 10 1 B1 15,000 10 15 36,250 7 25 1,500 18 3 1,000 5 1 B2 18,000 10 17 3,000 10 3 1,000 20 2 500 10 1 B3 41,519 44 183 67,000 3 20 21,000 21 44 67,500 5 35 B4 28,000 30 84 54,000 8 43 16,000 19 30 4,500 10 5 B5 10,000 32 32 20,000 10 20 900 22 2 2,600 10 3 B8 350,000 8 280 32,000 10 32 10,000 25 25 11,000 10 11 Total 9,084,704 14,908 638,550 376 97,182 227 186,470 151 Note: The data is provided by the construction units.

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3.4 Improvement and maintenance of good local road network According to the latest road improvement planning in rural areas of Heilongjiang Province, all roads in counties/ cities and towns/townships would be upgraded to Class III and Class IV roads which were built in all administrative villages by the end of 2010. According to the investigation along the Project, roads have been built in all administrative villages in Suiling County and Bei’an City; the construction of village roads in Nenjiang County, Wudalianchi City and Yichun City is to be completed by the end of 2011 to improve the travelling of local residents. The proposed project is to be connected with the village roads in affected areas by flyover-crossways at the expressway sections or by level crossings and branch roads at Class I and Class II road sections so as to promote the local economic development. 3.5 Reinforcement of road safety The area where the proposed project is to be located is covered with ice and snow in winter for about 120 days, and about 40% of traffic accidents are caused by improper clearing of accumulated ice and snow on roads in cold winter. Incomplete road traffic signs and warning signs, failure to repair the damaged road surface in time and transport of passengers by agricultural vehicles are also the primary causes of traffic accidents. For example, 868 traffic accidents arose in Wudalianchi City in 2010 (seeing a year-on-year rise of 128.42%), claiming 24 lives (seeing a year-on-year fall of 87.5%), causing 126 persons to be wounded (seeing a year-on-year rise of 103.23%) and resulting in direct economic loss of RMB 1,280,000 Yuan (reduced by RMB 1,320,000 Yuan compared with the previous year). Based on the fact that the aged, women and children are the main users of roads in rural areas, the Traffic Police Station of Wudalianchi City, in cooperation with Wudalianchi Government, the Women’s Federation and Township/ Village Government, provided extensive traffic safety propaganda for villagers, set up more traffic safety signs, strengthened people’s awareness on traffic safety, gave trainings to drivers in the whole city on traffic safety code and reinforced road patrol and supervision. At the same time, the Traffic Police Station advised the Road Construction Unit to widen the hardened road shoulder so as to increase the road width, facilitate travelling of motorcycles, bicycles and residents and improve safety factor.

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Fig. 3 Speed Limit Sign for Traffic Safety 3.6 Control of Aids and sexually transmitted infections The Monitoring and Evaluation Team conducted an investigation on Aids, sexually transmitted infections and various infectious diseases in counties/ cities along the Project. In 2010, 19 cases of hepatitis A, 45 cases of hepatitis B, 137 cases of other infectious diseases, 46 cases of sexually transmitted infections and 1 case of Aids were found in Wu City and treated well. On the whole, the incidence rate of all infectious diseases in counties/ cities remains stable. See Table 5 for the cases of Aids, sexually transmitted infections and various infectious diseases in each county/ city.

Table 5 Statistical Table of Disease Incidence in Five Counties/ Cities in 2010 Wudalianchi Nenjiang County Bei’an City Suiling County Yichun City Name City Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female

Aids (cases) 1 1 1 - 4 7 2 2 11 8

Various sexually transmitted 11 22 14 32 98 121 8 7 23 37 infections (cases)

Other infectious 81 78 73 64 245 231 46 51 315 284 diseases (cases)

Note: the above data are provided by the center for health & disease control in each county/city.

Compared with the incidence rate in each county/city in the

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previous year, although more strict prevention and control measures have been taken, disease prevention and control is increasingly difficult and the cases of infectious diseases tend to increase with economic development and increasingly larger floating population. In addition to the preparation of more strict examination and treatment measures of infectious diseases, great efforts are also made to publicize the importance of prevention of infectious diseases to the public via various channels, such as the radio stations, broadcasting and picture posters. See Fig. 2 for the picture posters of disease prevention and control measures provided by Wudalianchi Center for Disease Control.

Fig. 4 Poster for Aids Prevention in Wudalianchi Center for Disease Control

In order to learn about the measures taken by the Project Management Office and Construction Unit of each bid section to publicize and control Aids, sexually transmitted infections and various infectious diseases, the Monitoring and Evaluation Team also investigated and interviewed the Employer and Construction Unit. According to the above interview and investigation, the Project Management Office and the Construction Unit took the following measures to control diseases during construction: 1) Actively conduct propaganda and education on disease prevention and treatment by various methods, such as

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blackboard newspaper and propaganda column, based on actual situation of each project management department. 2) Sign an agreement with local hospitals in each county/ city to give physical examination to personnel in the Project Management Department and contract workers at regular intervals, provide knowledge of disease prevention and training of health care, establish the emergency rescue cooperation relationship, handle emergencies properly and provide medical security for contract workers. 3) Check domestic water and conduct sanitary inspection and disinfection of dining hall at regular intervals. Pay close attention to the outbreak of epidemic disease in adjacent regions and carry out disease prevention in time. 4) Attach great importance to Aids prevention among floating population, organize various relevant activities, give correct guidance to laborers to keep away from pornography, gambling and drug abuse, develop good habits and actively participate in Aids prevention and treatment. 5) Prepare measures on hygiene and disease control: although no outpatient service is available on the construction site, each bid section has built relationship with the local health center and center for disease control. No sexually transmitted infections, Aids, infectious disease or other epidemic diseases has been found on the construction site by the final date of investigation. Yichun Center for Disease Control performed the prevention of forest spring encephalitis for the construction personnel of the Construction Unit based on the fact that Qianfeng Farm-Nenjiang Road passes through the local forest region (Kunlunqi Forest Farm). In addition to prevention of hepatitis A and hepatitis B for local residents, the prevention of infectious diseases for migrant construction personnel is also carried out with the purpose of putting an end to the outbreak of epidemic diseases. 3.7 Protection of local communities from construction impacts and guarantee of construction safety In order to guarantee construction safety, the following safety measures are to be taken during construction: (1) Based on requirements of safety production, all construction units have made a plan for safety production in the whole year, signed the construction safety contract, specified

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responsibilities of safety production and prepared relevant rules and regulations of safety production. Safety responsibilities shall be fulfilled level upon level and the emergency rescue scheme shall be prepared to cope with emergencies. All construction units shall sign the safety contract with the Project Management Office and make sure that they will provide weekly safety education. See Fig. 5 for the organization chart of Project Management Department VIII of Heilongjiang Longjian Road & Bridge Third Engineering Co., Ltd.

Fig. 5 Organization Chart of Project Management Department VIII of Heilongjiang Longjian Road & Bridge Third Engineering Co., Ltd.

(2) In order to guarantee traffic safety and personnel safety on the construction site, speed limit signs and direction boards are set up at roads under construction, and safety warning signs are provided at the bridges, culverts and shortcut crossings under construction, all of which can effectively control the occurrence of traffic accidents and facilitate construction. No major safety accident arose by the final date of investigation. See Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 for the warning signs set up at the road sections under construction.

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Fig. 6 Warning Sign on Construction Site (3) Strengthen training and inspection of operators engaged in special type of work and make sure that all personnel in special type of work hold the required certificates. Provide regular safety training and education for all employees and make sure that all personnel have a good knowledge of safety production. (4) Conduct safety check of each position and working procedure according to the safety production procedure and make sure that everybody is aware of his/her own job responsibilities and requirements for safety production, so that all working procedures will be completed safely. (5) Improve the safety production system, conduct self-check and self-correction, eliminate potential safety hazards and make sure that all safety measures are effectively implemented. (6) Strengthen safety management, learn about actual situations on the construction site timely, establish a leading team of safety production and abide by the safety check system. So far, Qianfeng Farm-Nenjiang Road Project Management Office has neither received any villager’s complaint against noise produced by the Construction Unit nor found any safety accidents during construction.

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3.8 Provision of the livelihood plan for affected households to increase their earnings According to investigation on the Project Management Office and affected households, the land requisition has been completed; 94.44% of relocation has been completed and all compensation funds for land requisition and relocation have been offered by the Project Management Office to all households in cash. Qianfeng Farm-Nenjiang Road Project Management Office and Suiling Forestry Bureau are negotiating about relocation matters with one household in Jianxing Business Office, Yuejin Forest Farm, Suiling Forestry Bureau who demanded an exorbitant price for relocation. Some households lost much of their land during land requisition. Therefore, the local department of civil affairs, labor and social security bureau and the women’s federation provide employment training for landless people on repairing, welding, electric work and driving as well as training for women on household service, breeding and planting, so that a portion of landless people are engaged in non-agricultural occupation to increase their household income. These employment measures have gained good results. 3.9 Development of minorities Yichun City is characterized by many scattered minorities. According to the statistics of the Fifth National Census of China in 2011, there are 28 minorities with 38,488 persons, covering 3.08% of the total population of the city. The Man nationality and the Hui nationality have more than ten thousands of population; the Korean nationality and the Mongolian nationality have the more than a thousand of population; other nationalities have the population from few persons to hundreds; most of them were scattered in the Han nationality and other large minorities. The distribution of the minorities in Yichun City is characterized by many minorities, small population, wide distribution and scattered residence. The City has one autonomous township of ethnic minorities, i.e. the autonomous township of the Korean nationality in Tieli City, and ten autonomous villages of ethnic minorities. The autonomous villages of ethnic minorities (mainly the Korean nationality) are centralized in Tieli City. For the past years, the agglomerated settlement of Korean nationality has always kept ahead of Han nationality around for the economic development. This formed a new pattern of industrial

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development, mainly relying on the traditional agriculture while taking tourism, livestock raising, Northern medicine and labor service export as the assistance. In 2010, the net income per capita for the autonomous townships throughout the city was RMB 7,895 Yuan, higher than that for the farmers of the city, i.e. RMB 7,280 Yuan. The government has always paid much attention to the development of the minorities. The Provincial Department of Finance specially set up the funds for the development of minorities. Since 2007, approximately ten millions of investment has been devoted to 24 projects of Yichun City, by means of poverty relief development and integrated village poverty relief etc. Preferential policies were adopted for the development of autonomous township of ethnic minorities in respect to the policy, funds and projects from place to place, so the infrastructural construction would have been improved for the ethnic townships, laying the foundation for promoting their economic development and production and living conditions. Yichun Ethnic and Religious Affairs Bureau, based on advantages peculiar to minorities, introduces a fund of over RMB 5 million Yuan and establishes the Korean Folk Custom Garden to further improve the taste and popularity of tourism in ethnic area. Based on the fact that the language used by the Korean nationality is similar to that in the Republic of Korea, great efforts have been made to increase the export of labor service to the Republic of Korea. In 2010, almost 1,000 people from the Korean nationality have been employed at home and abroad, obtaining the labor service export value of RMB 50 million Yuan. In this way, the labor service export improves the living standard of peasants from minorities qualitatively. In addition, relevant department holds sports for the minorities and celebrates their festivals to enrich their spare-time cultural life and show respect to ethnic customs and culture. Other counties/ cities have made similar great efforts to Yichun City in the development of minorities. 3.10 Comprehensive road improvement in poverty relief projects Based on investigation of the Poverty Alleviation and Development Office in the five counties/ cities along the Project, a series of measures have been taken in each county/city to help the local people in poverty, to invest a large amount of money in local economic development and poverty relief and to develop a

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number of poverty-relief projects. In 2010, almost RMB 500,000 Yuan was offered for impoverished villages in Bei’an City, including Minzhu Village, Geming Village, Tuanjie Village and Dongsheng Village, to renovate the local roads and infrastructure for irrigation. Almost 200km of cement roads were built, 250,000 trees and 160,000 flowers and plants were planted and 20,000 linear meter of hard side ditch was built, improving the travelling and living conditions of peasants in these impoverished villages. The poverty line in Wudalianchi City is per capita annual net income of less than RMB 1,300 Yuan. In 2010, 105 administrative villages from 10 towns/townships and 11 neighborhood committees were under the jurisdiction of Wudalianchi City with a total population of 347,000. And 43 impoverished villages have gotten rid of poverty, while 17,840 people from 5,950 households in 19 villages are still in poverty. See Table 6 for comparison between population in Xinfa Township and Xinglong Township along the Project and that in Wudalianchi City.

Table 6 Comparison between Population in Poverty in Wudalianchi City and That in Xinglong Township and Xinfa Township Number of Number of Number of impoverished impoverished impoverished villages households households Percentage Percentage Total Name of Total of Percentage Total Total Total of people Total number county/to number impoverish of people in number of number number of in poverty number of wn of ed villages poverty (%) impoveris of impoverish (%) of impoveris administ (%) hed househ ed househo hed rative villages olds households lds household villages s Wudalian 139,28 105 19 18.10 5950 4.27 347,000 17,840 5.14 chi City 9 Xinglong 7 1 14.29 3,891 548 14.08 10,735 788 7.34 Township Xinfa 10 0 0.00 5,529 560 10.13 17,300 1,600 9.25 Township Remarks: the above data are provided by Wudalianchi Poverty Alleviation and Development Office and Statistics Section of Xinglong Township and Xinfa Township.

In order to boost the local economic development and improve the living standard of local residents, People's Government of Wudalianchi Municipality: (1) Spares no effort to raise

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construction funds, prepares policies on investment promotion, makes great effort to improve the local investment environment, and develops more poverty-relief projects while striving to obtain funds for poverty relief from the superior department. In 2010, 8 poverty-relief projects were in process in Wudalianchi City with a poverty relief fund of RMB 4,983,500 Yuan. The Integrated Village Poverty Relief Project in the third round was implemented in 19 impoverished villages, focusing on industries for impoverished households, water resource facilities, village infrastructure, agricultural infrastructure, social undertaking and transfer and training of impoverished laborers; (2) Enlarges the scale of work force training and improves the overall quality of people in poverty. In order to help people in poverty in impoverished villages to get rid of poverty and increase villagers' knowledge in science and technology, relevant department in Wudalianchi City, based on poverty relief and consolidation of basic industry, has made great efforts to improve people’s capability to get rid of poverty and become better off, organized relevant departments in each village to prepare and implement the plans of getting rid of poverty and becoming better off and the peasant-training plan, and encouraged peasants to become better off through diligent work in a scientific way. In 2010, 30 phases of training course were provided for 1,200 persons in Wudalianchi City. Meanwhile, peasants in poverty were encouraged to leave their own hometown to broaden horizon and seek more opportunities to establish their own business. After training, 600 persons were employed, including 480 persons employed in other regions, achieving an employment rate of 80%. See Table 7 for investment in poverty-relief project in Wudalianchi City in 2010. Table 7 Statistical Table of Main Poverty-Relief Projects in Wudalianchi City in 2009 Amount invested Number of Project name: Item Remarks (RMB 10,000 Yuan) beneficial households Poverty relief project Livestock breeding 26.75 186 Beef cattle and pigs for impoverished households Infrastructure construction Roads 380 - Drinking water for Water supply for 81.35 1200 Construction of well people and livestock households offices, stations Social undertaking and and institutes in villages Clinic and 10.25 12 * entertainment program Entertainment plaza entertainment plaza for villagers Remarks: the above data are provided by Wudalianchi Poverty Alleviation and Development Office. “*”Unit herein is Village.

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See Table 8 for the implementation of poverty-relief projects in other counties/ cities within the project area.

Table 8 Statistical Table of Implementation of Poverty-Relief Projects in Five Counties/ Cities in 2010 Infrastructure Drinking water for Culture, entertainment Breeding and planting construction people and livestock and health care Total Poverty Poverty poverty Poverty Poverty Number relief Number of relief Number of Number of relief fund Name relief fund relief fund of fund beneficial fund beneficial beneficial (RMB (RMB (RMB beneficial (RMB people in (RMB impoverish impoverish 10,000 10,000 10,000 people in 10,000 poverty 10,000 ed villages ed villages Yuan) Yuan) Yuan) poverty Yuan) Yuan)

Nenjiang 8.5 65 28 4 80 6 6.08 2850 122.58 County

Wudalianchi City 26.75 651 380 16 81.35 8 10.25 4760 498.35

Bei’an City 18 182 60 3 96 7 12.86 450 186.86

Suiling County 5.8 34 168 4 56.78 5 7.54 560 238.12

Yichun City 12.6 210 108 8 47.26 5 13.67 745 181.53

Total 71.65 1142 744 35 361.39 31 50.4 9365 1.227.44

Note: The data is provided by the poverty alleviation and development office in each county/city.

3.11 Petty loan for small business Based on investigation of peasant households along the Project, few of them are engaged in small business and they generally purchase articles for daily use and agricultural use in the market. In each village, the few shops are all run by peasants with their own money. Only a few households engaged in small-scale breeding and planting ask the Rural Credit Cooperative or other lending institutions for a loan when they lack money. 8 households in Changjiang Village, Nenjiang Town, Nenjiang County asked the Rural Credit Cooperative for a loan of RMB 80,000-100,000 Yuan each for dairy cow breeding; some women in Wuyi Forest Farm and Yuejin Forest Farm in Suiling County asked the Rural credit Cooperative for a petty loan to cultivate jelly fungi; 5 households in Group III, Xinghuo Village, Xinglong Township, Wudalianchi City asked the Credit Cooperative for a loan of RMB 50,000-80,000 Yuan to contract in other’s land for

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large-scale planting. Generally, the yield in this year is used to repay the loan in the previous year. Moreover, they can ask the Credit Cooperative for another loan for production in the coming year, if necessary. 3.12 Tourism promotion Based on investigation, we learnt that the tourist bureaus in eight counties/ cities along the Project attached great importance to the development and investment in local tourism, and they believed that the construction of Qianfeng Farm-Nenjiang Road would promote the development of local tourism. Tourist Bureau of Wudalianchi City believes that the construction of Yichun-Nenjiang Road will shorten the distance between the scenic spots and between the sight spots to save the time valuable to the tourists, improve the traffic condition and the tourism environment, and play an active role of creating the tourist route. At present, there are Wudalianchi scenic spot, Shankou Lake scenic spot and Mt. Erlong Agricultural Tourism Model scenic spot in Wu City. The tour is centralized in the spring and the summer (from May to Oct.)In 2010, Wu City received over 300,000 visitors, with the tourist income of more than RMB 300,000,000 Yuan. The visitors mainly came from China and Russia, organized by the tourist agency. Tourist Bureau of Wudalianchi City firstly established the scientific scheme and advanced the development of leisure and health care industry, secondly cultivated the tourism element actively and got done well with the development of supporting industries, thirdly expanded the tourist market widely and managed the propaganda and promotion at high level, and fourthly intensified the communication, built more friendly cities at home and abroad, and cooperated on the potential projects regarding to the mutual investment, culture and tourism environment, so as to realize the win-win, according to the objective of “making Kuangquan the well-known tourism city and the capital of leisure and health care” suggested by the government, and in consideration of the tourism resources in Wu City. Yichun City along the Project, a primary forest eco-tourism region in Heilongjiang Province, is rich in tourism resources and especially enjoys outstanding advantages in forest, geology, rivers and air. Yichun City, based on its abundant tourism resources, such as forest, ice and snow, develops Taoshan Tourist Area,

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Langxiang Tourist Area, Dailing Tourist Area and Wuying Tourist Area, and provides various tourism programs, including hunting, ice and snow appreciation, bird watching and primary forest sight-seeing, enjoying certain popularity in Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong, Macao and foreign countries. With the construction of Qianfeng Farm-Nenjiang Road, Yichun City, relying on its characteristic and unique tourism resources, integrated its natural eco-tourism products with the cultural eco-tourism products and strove to create the classic vacation tour products, including forest ecological landscape, summer resort, forest eco-tourism, Jiejiang view, rivers and skiing. The tourism has brought about significant economic benefit, social benefit and ecological benefit and gradually became a new industry to boost the economic development. In 2010, Yichun totally received the 4,190,000 visitors, realizing the tourist income of RMB 2,515,000,000 Yuan, increased by 9.9% and 31.6% respectively on a year-on-year basis. Yichun Tourism Bureau, in consideration of the construction of Yichun-Nenjiang Road, firstly strengthened the tourism project and increased the investment and the efforts to be made, secondly put emphasis on the construction of elegant scenic spots and intensified the core competitive power of the tourism industry, thirdly improved the supporting infrastructures and promoted the overall receiving capacity of the city, fourthly strengthened the market development and enhanced the popularity and influence of Yichun tourism, fifthly normalized the order of the tourist market and promoted the quality of tourist services, sixthly strengthened the development of tourism in winter for the balanced development of tourism in four seasons, and seventhly intensified the education and training and improved the overall quality of the tourism employees. Bei’an Tourism Bureau, relying on Wudalianchi Volcano Tour and Heihe (frontier between China and Russia) Tour, strove to build Bei’an City as a transfer station of tourism and tourist destination, and spared no efforts to develop the tourism programs of natural resources, such as the wetland, rivers and forest, and the tourism programs of human landscape, such as the red tourism and cultural relics, following the principles of government as the leader, inter-regional cooperation, development by enterprises and social participation. See Table 9 for the tourist attractions, the number of tourists and tourist income in Wu City and Yichun City in 2010.

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Table 9 Statistical Table for Tourism Development in Wu City and Yichun City in 2010 Number of Number of tourist Tourist income Number of existing tourists in the Name attractions under in the whole year tourist attractions whole year construction (10,000) (10,000) Wu City 5 0 30 30,000 Yichun City 100 0 419 251,500

Note: The data is provided by the tourist bureau in each county/city.

3.13 Special support for the minority village to protect and develop the cultural heritage The Investigation Team has learned from the sample survey on the villages in the five counties/cities along the Project that the minorities all live together with Han people without any minority village. It is known from the local county/city-level Ethnic and Religious Affairs Bureau that the governments at all levels attach great importance to the life of minorities, respect their ethnic culture and customs, encourage and hold ethnic festival celebrations for them. 3.14 Training provided for the women It is known from the interview with the women’s federations in the five counties/cities along the Project that the governments at all levels attach great importance to the care and help for women. The women's federation takes the lead in regularly holding lectures on women’s health care knowledge, providing free physical examination and production and living aid for impoverished women, providing one-to-one help for the impoverished girl dropouts, and regularly providing skill training, homemaking training and labor service export for the female labor force. The Women’s Federation of Bei’an City set up the “Employability Skill Training Base for Urban and Rural Women” in the city vocational education center and organized eight phases of science and technology training courses for about 980 rural women in 2010, involving every township in the county. The training courses were mainly about handicrafts weaving, computer skills, household service, etc. The Women’s Federation of Yichun City has actively organized all kinds of trainings to increase women’s competitive ability and

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to guide them in starting businesses or finding jobs. Firstly, set up the fund support platform: carry out the policy of secured discount petty loan for women, by taking Tieli City and Jiayin City as the experimental unit. 169 women have received RMB 3,430,000 Yuan of the secured financial discount petty loan, for the development of micro-profit project. Secondly, set up the innovation and development platform: establish the Household Service Guidance Center of Yichun Women's Federation, which gives advice to establishment of the first registered Tianhua Household Services Co., Ltd. to try best to create the brand home service company integrating with skill training, information consultation, career service, employment service and rights protection in the innovation mode of “Company + Guidance + Training” based on the cooperation between the Women’s Federation and the enterprises, so as to advance the development of home services in the city towards industrialization, normalization, standardization and branding. Thirdly, set up the intelligent Aid-the-Poor supporting platform: organize the first home service training class in Yichun City for 120 women for free, to learn for three months the housekeeping, cooking and nursing and so on. The qualified women, through the examination, are issued with the occupational qualification certificate and recommended for employment by the labor security department. Totally 319 training classes on employability skills were given for 6,500 women regarding to hand knitting, hairdressing and facial beautification. Fourthly, set up the information service platform: organize the special recruitment activities, hold the ceremony of” Charity Drive” started together by Yichun Women's Federation and the relevant departments, help realizing the meeting for the peasant-workers and the enterprises and provide the consultation services in respect to the employment policy, instruction of rights protection and general knowledge about engagement. Totally 18 recruitment meetings were hold throughout the city, with more than 2,300 positions provided and nearly 2,000 persons as the participants; 2,300 positions were collected and provided based on the door-to-door service for the peasant-workers, and more than 17,800 pieces of propaganda in respect to the employment policy and the general knowledge about engagement were provided for free. Fifthly, set up the product exhibition platform: hold the “Lindu Needlework” exhibition in the first Yichun Forest Product Fair, with six categories of more than 600 handcraft works exhibited (including paper art, embroidery art, knitting art, carving art, crooked art and craft), combining exhibition with sale;

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mobilize the women’s initiative to deal with the handcraft works, and promote the integration of the needlework with the marketing, so as to make the Yichun needlework well-known in and out of the province. The other counties/cities are basically similar with Bei’an City and Yichun City in the training for and help to impoverished women. 3.15 Promotion for nonagricultural employment Due to the land requisition, some peasant households have lost a lot of farmland. The local government, considering that the peasants live on crop production and their living will be partly influenced by the decreased income after the land requisition, has called on relevant local departments like the civil administration, labor and social security, poverty alleviation and development office, education bureau, women’s federation, etc. to carry out a series of nonagricultural employment trainings for the landless people, including repairing, welding, electric work, driving, etc. This has achieved favorable results, enabling some of the landless people to take nonagricultural jobs and make certain amount of income. Trainings on household service, cultivation, etc. have also been provided for women to increase the land productivity and create more income for the peasant households.

4 Part of the Interview Record

The monitoring and evaluation team has not only collected the data required by the Social Development Action Plan, which can reflect the implementation status, but also recorded the conversations during the survey and interview. Since the content of interviews with various organizations of the five counties/cities in the project area is too much, only the interview records of two departments in each county/city are included in Appendix 3.

5 Conclusions and Recommendations

5.1 Conclusions (1) In the respect of poverty reduction, each county/city has taken many practical measures, such as striving for poverty relief fund from the higher authority and developing poverty

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relief programs, carrying out one-to-one help according to the national and provincial poverty reducing plans, offering the impoverished families and impoverished women free training and technical support so as to increase their income and help them get rid of poverty as soon as possible. Each county/city has done a good job in this respect. (2) In the respect of disease control, each construction unit and the Project Management Office have formulated a series of measures to enhance the propaganda and prevention; meanwhile, they have established contact with local health centers to regularly conduct physical examination for the constructors, thus ensuring their health. (3) In the respect of road safety, except for setting up the safety leadership team in the Project Management Office and the construction unit, a variety of means have been adopted constantly for the propaganda and education in road safety, and warning signs have been set up at each construction section and bridge and culvert to prevent and reduce traffic accidents. (4) In the respect of transportation service improvement, the transportation departments of each county/city have made great efforts to increase investment and build country roads with the support of the governments at all levels. For the construction of the Qianfeng Farm-Nenjiang Road, the transportation department will endeavor to effectively connect it to the local country roads, so as to facilitate the local transportation development and the travel of the personnel, which will greatly promote the labor force transfer. (5) In the respect of tourism development, each county/city has put great efforts in it as investment invitation, actively making use of the local tourism resource advantage and creating their own characteristic brands, hence attracting tourists throughout the country and increasing the tourism income, which has contributed to the local economic development. (6) In the respect of helping the impoverished women get rid of poverty and relieving the vulnerable group, each county/city has formulated a series of helping measures, building the harmonious society and creating a life of common prosperity devotedly and responsibly.

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(7) In the respect of developing the ethnic culture and helping the minorities to develop, each county/city government and relevant department have, according to the minority policies of the country, endeavored to increase the economic income of the ethnic people and to improve their living standard. And with sincere respect to the ethnic culture and full support in skills and funds, the governments and departments have promoted the development of the ethnic culture and economy. 5.2 Recommendations (1) Each construction unit and the Project Management Office still need to put the essentials of the Social Development Action Plan into practice and pay attention to the social problems caused by the construction project, maximizing the positive social effects and minimizing the negative. (2) Each construction unit needs to further carry out the measures like safe production, disease control and employment expansion for local personnel in the following construction period. (3) The Project Management Office shall, together with the local government, formulate the implementation plan of branch road construction as soon as possible. (4) Some of the disease control centers and traffic police teams shall verify their data and then make those data to the public for propaganda, so as to increase people’s awareness of disease prevention and control and traffic safety. (5) Each construction unit shall further make good text and data file records for implementation of the Social Action Plan.

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6 Appendixes

Appendix 1 Summary of the Social Development Action Plan Summary of the Social Development Action Plan

Departments Actions to be taken Target groups Time Funds needed Monitoring index involved A. Project benefits and strengthening measures 1. Improved road traffic access 512,000 Leading 2010-2012 RMB 6,718,330,000 Yuan • Proper connection of • The construction of Qianfeng residents of the departments: included in the Project the new highways: Farm- Nenjiang Road (Yichun- direct project Heilongjiang budget No data Nenjiang Section) area Provincial • Price of passenger • The construction of three branch Communications transport: roads and six interchanges 8.7% are Department, the • Price of freight • The restoration of the local road impoverished Qianfeng transport: sections which have been households and Farm-Nenjiang • Travel frequency of damaged or obstructed by the 1.77% are Road Project the local residents: expressway construction minority Management unchanged residents Office

Supporting departments: the local transportation administration bureaus and local governments 2. Improved traffic service 536,000 Leading 2011-2012 RMB 7,000,000 Yuan • The number of facilities residents of 16 department: provided by Heilongjiang improved village • Constructing 16 new passenger villages in 6 Transportation Provincial level bus stations: stations in villages (Level 5) counties, 4 Management Communications None • Upgrading four village level farms Bureau of Department and the local • The number of passenger stations to Level 3 Heilongjiang governments engineering service stations 5.5% are Provincial personnel: None • Improving the bus service impoverished Communications • Passenger number: (quality and frequency) households and Department None 0.8% are • The number of new minority Supporting bus lines: None residents departments: the • Price of passenger local transport: None transportation administration bureaus and local governments

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Departments Actions to be taken Target groups Time Funds needed Monitoring index involved 3. Employment of local 19,000 people Leading 2010-2012 Included in the civil • Local residents construction work and other are involved department: the engineering cost of the employed (by gender, service work during the Qianfeng Project and the rate paid nationality and • Generally the local labor force project Farm-Nenjiang by the Contractor poverty level): None has priority. Target: implementation, Road Project • Forest workers • 65% of the local labor force are including 5,700 Management employed: None engaged in unskilled work. from Office • Wages paid to local • 30% of the women are engaged impoverished residents: None in unskilled landscaping work. households. Supporting • Supply value of local • 3% of the minorities are engaged departments: the building materials: in unskilled work. Contractor, local None • Employ forest workers to clean Labor Bureau, • Supply value of local the forest and construct the local Forestry saplings: None temporary road. Bureau • Trainings for local • Make use of local building laborers: materials, such as stones, gravels, clay and cement. • The local seedling growing department specially provides the saplings. • The contractor provides trainings. 4. Improvement and maintenance 1,700,000 Leading 2009-2015 Heilongjiang Provincial • Length of completed of good local road network residents in the departments: the Communications township highways • By 2010, the local government five counties local Department and local by 2010: 895 km would have finished all the transportation governments • Length of completed highways in townships and 2,330 km of the administration rural highways by villages. newly built bureaus and local 2015: No data • The local government will build township governments • Restoration of newly more rural highways from 2010 highways built rural highways: to 2015. Supporting 85% • The local government will 1,500 km of the department: • The quality of rural improve the maintenance of rural newly built Highway highway highways, including the roads rural highways Administration maintenance: adjacent to the Project. Bureau of excellent Restoring 219 Heilongjiang km of the rural Provincial highways Communications adjacent to the Department Project 5. Reinforcement of road safety 512,000 Leading 2010-2013 The Public Security • The number of traffic • The Project Road includes the residents of the department: the Bureau and local accidents on the characteristics of road safety direct project local Public governments Project Road: None design. area, targeted at Security Bureau • The number of traffic • Safety conditions of the the community accidents on rural non-motor vehicles and farm awareness of Supporting highways: vehicles on the secondary women and departments: • Behavior change: the highways children Heilongjiang traffic awareness is • The plan of enhancing the Provincial increasing community awareness Communications • The ongoing driver training plan Department, local governments, the women’s federation B. Mitigation measures for social risks (Heilongjiang Provincial Communications Department and the Qianfeng Farm-Nenjiang Road Project Management Office)

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Departments Actions to be taken Target groups Time Funds needed Monitoring index involved 6. Control of Aids and sexually All the Project Leading 2010-2013 The training cost for the • The number of the transmitted infections (STIs) construction departments: the workers’ awareness is distributed brochures, • The disease control center workers Qianfeng included in the contract posters and drawings: provides trainings for the health Farm-Nenjiang cost. existing promoters on the construction The engineering Road Project The cost for disease • The number of sites. service Management control center is included trainings and trainees: • The health promoters provide personnel Office and the in the budget of the existing trainings for all the workers, disease control Ministry of Health. • The number of managers and subcontractors. All the center people having been • The disease control center communities in tested: existing provides trainings for the the direct Supporting • Case number of Aids engineering service personnel project area, departments: the and sexually and local communities. targeted at risky Contractor, transmitted infections • Consulting service and voluntary women Heilongjiang (STIs): existing testing of Aids and STIs Provincial • Behavior change: the conducted by the health agency Communications prevention awareness • Participatory supervision and Department, is increasing evaluation conducted by the Ethnic and disease control center Religious Affairs • Handbooks, posters and Bureau, the drawings are provided. women’s federation and local governments. 7. Protection of local More than Leading 2010-2012 Included in the Project • The number of communities from construction 25,000 people department: the cost (Refer to the complaints and impacts and guarantee of along the Qianfeng environmental solutions: Existing construction safety Project in 21 Farm-Nenjiang management plan) • The length of • Night construction is prohibited villages Road Project irrigation and and the suggested noise standard Management drainage channels shall be observed. Secondary road Office (restoration rate): • The irrigation and drainage sections 100% systems are restored. Supporting • Accidents of • The construction safety is departments: the construction detours: enhanced, including the traffic of Contractor, None construction detours (e.g. safe Heilongjiang road conditions and proper Provincial warning signs) Communications Department and local governments

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Departments Actions to be taken Target groups Time Funds needed Monitoring index involved 8. Provision of trainings for 3,500 impacted Leading 2010-2012 Funds of the Project and • The number, category livelihood for population households; departments: the and the local governments (Refer and participants (by impacted by land requisition more than 50% Qianfeng following to the resettlement plan) gender) of trainings and resettlement to increase of the trainees to Farm-Nenjiang years • The number of their earnings be women Road Project trained forest workers • Nonagricultural employability Management • The number of skill training “Targeted Office and local vulnerable families • Employability skill training for support” for 50 governments and the support they women vulnerable obtained • Trainings for the impacted forest households Supporting workers departments: the • Special support for the local labor and impoverished population and social security women (special funds for special bureau, the technical trainings, employment Poverty priority and the vulnerable Alleviation and groups) Development Office and the women’s federation C. Strengthening measures (the responsibilities of local governments) 9. Benefits from the projects Especially the Leading 2010-2013 RMB 50,000 Yuan of • The length of including poverty relief Daur minority department: local minority development improved roads projects for minority villages villages in Ethnic and funds (The Daur and • Rented land area in • Road improvement Nenjiang Religious Affairs Mongoloid minorities are the Daur villages • Investment in ecotourism County Bureau the priorities in the • Investment in • Improvement of other facilities ongoing government ecotourism Supporting projects) • Other improved departments: facilities Poverty Alleviation and Development Office, local Ethnic and Religious Affairs Bureau and local governments 10. Comprehensive road Impoverished Leading 2011-2013 The Five-Year Plan of • The length of improvement in poverty relief villages and departments: the local governments improved roads projects forest farms in local • The evaluation report • Road improvement in the direct transportation of Poverty administrative villages and project area administration Alleviation and natural villages bureaus and the Development Office • Comprehensive village Poverty • Participatory development plan Alleviation and community meetings • Equipment and trainings for Development renovation and maintenance of Office the village roads Supporting departments: local governments and forest farms

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Departments Actions to be taken Target groups Time Funds needed Monitoring index involved 11. Petty loan for small business Targeted at the Leading 2011-2013 The ongoing government • Credit amount paid • Providing petty loans for impoverished departments: projects, taking the poor • The number of impoverished households households and local and women as priority borrowers • Providing petty loans for women in the governments, • Term of redemption impoverished women direct project Poverty • Business type and area where Alleviation and success rate traffic access Development • Redemption rate has been Office and the improved women’s federation

Supporting department: the local loan department 12. The promotion of tourism Towns, villages, Leading 2011-2013 The local government • The tourism • The development of cultural and forest farms and department: the budget, tourism development plan ecological tourism state-owned local tourist investment and • Investment amount • Putting advertisement signs of farms with bureau community investment • Advertisement tourist attractions on the development number expressway sign boards in front potential in the Supporting • Tourist number of corresponding highway direct project departments: the • Tourist income openings area community and • Trainings and work • Agriculture and forest tourism the private sector conducted according • Relevant vocational trainings for to gender women and the poor 13. Special support for the The minority Leading 2011-2012 Special funds or budget • Project proposals minority village to protect and villages of department: for ethnic minorities of containing cost and develop the cultural heritage Daur, Korean, local Ethnic and the central government financial plans (tangible and intangible) Mongoloid, Religious and local government • The number of • Relevant activities of culture Hui, Ewenki, Affairs Bureau implemented projects sensitive tourism etc. (according to project • Non-tourism-related activities concentrated in Supporting type) Nenjiang department: local • The number of County governments benefited households 14. Technical and management Impoverished Leading 2010-2013 The ongoing government • The number of trainings of organic agriculture villages along department: local projects, coordinated with trainings classified by provided for women the Project and Poverty the adjustment of training type and the number • Providing agricultural technical other Alleviation and contents of participants: training impoverished Development • The category, quality • Providing small business households (e.g. Office and price of organic development training farm workers, products • Providing training on forest workers, Supporting • The latest data of establishing and managing women engaged departments: unemployed workers economic cooperation in agriculture at local bureau of divided by gender organizations home); 80% of agriculture and • Providing housework skill them are animal husbandry, training women forestry bureau, administration bureau for industry and commerce, and the women’s federation

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Departments Actions to be taken Target groups Time Funds needed Monitoring index involved 15. Promotion for nonagricultural All the people Leading 2010-2013 The ongoing government • The number of employment of the direct department: the projects created jobs • Nonagricultural employment project area, local labor bureau • The latest number of information and trainings to targeted at mobile labor promote local work and women, young Supporting • The number of migration work, focusing on people and the departments: employers involved women and young people poor local • The number of • Providing relevant education on governments, trained mobile labor the labor law, contract and rights Ethnic and issue for the mobile labor Religious Affairs Bureau and the Poverty Alleviation and Development Office

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Appendix 2 Name List of the External Monitoring Team for the Social Development Action Plan

Name List of the External Monitoring Team for the Social Development Action Plan

Team leader Xia Yun Deputy team leader Zhao Guangbin Cao Yang Ao Yilan Zhao Yanpeng Team members Du Dapeng Leng Xuesong Zhao Shugang Members of the Li Guodong Chu Fulin Zeng Xiangdong project implementation unit Cai Lizhi Song Wei Liu Yu

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Appendix 3 Interview

Interview

Interview 1

Date of Interview: Apr. 26, 2011 Interviewed unit: Ethnic and Religious Affairs Bureau of Nenjiang County Interviewee: Wang Peng Tel: 13555243399

At present, there are 26 ethnic minorities in the County, with a population of 14,364, including the minorities Man, Hui, Mongoloid, Daur, Chaoxian, Ewenki, Oroqen, etc.In 2010, the Bureau united and guided the minority people and religious people to work assiduously and steadily with a pioneering spirit, and created a pleasant atmosphere of ethnic unity, religious and social harmoniousness while centering on the objective of constructing a well-off and harmonious society. The Bureau also met the actual demand of the minority people in infrastructure construction. First, further improvement of cultural infrastructure: the Bureau built a cultural leisure plaza for Hashitai Village of Lianxing Township, for which RMB 350,000 Yuan of poverty relief fund from the state government and RMB 100,000 Yuan of self-raising fund were obtained, and a recreational center of 7,280 m2 with 1 basketball stand and 4 sets of fitness apparatus was built. Henceforth, the situation of equipment and exercise space shortage has been changed, and people’s ever-growing demand for culture and entertainment has been fully satisfied. Second, the drinking water project for human and livestock: the Bureau improved the drinking water facilities for the people of Fanrong Village, Qianjin Town by drilling 3 wells, building 1 pump room, providing 1 transformer. It thoroughly solved the drinking water problem for 120 households, or 420 villagers, prevented various epidemic or infectious diseases, which greatly benefits people's health and improves their physical fitness. Third, settlement of the problem of agricultural products processing for the minorities: the Bureau built a soybean deep-processing factory for Dashilizi Village of Linjiang Township. It constructed the main workshop of 300 m2 and 3 m high, for which a full set of equipment, furnaces, chimneys, self-purchased materials and 3 sets of equipment were purchased. This has fully developed the industry of soybean food, built the brand of local products, driven the people for common wealth and set up the image of “land of soybean” for Nenjiang. The construction of Qianfeng Farm-Nenjiang Road is a good chance for the development of the ethnic minorities in Nenjiang County; it is also an important project for developing the tourism and promoting the economic development of the County. With the development of economy, it will provide more opportunities for the minorities.

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Interview 2

Date of Interview: Apr. 26, 2011 Interviewed unit: Poverty Alleviation and Development Office of Nenjiang County Interviewee: Sun Yanfu Tel: 13039761165

There were 30 confirmed impoverished villages in 2001, while there have been altogether 30 villages relieved from poverty, 15 villages returned to poverty, 876 impoverished households and 3,066 impoverished people by 2010; in 2010, the per capita net income of the poverty line in Nenjiang County was RMB 1,655 Yuan, with a total poverty relief fund of RMB 5,220,000 Yuan granted, 14 villages,1,021 households and 3,573 people relieved from poverty. The main activities in 2010 include 9 infrastructure projects for roads and irrigation with an investment of RMB 300,000 Yuan covering Chenguang Village, Sijiazi Village, Zhonghe Village, Shanjiang Village, Daxi Village, Qianjin Village and Yongsheng Village; there are 340 cultivation households of cows, sheep and pigs mainly; 1,065 persons received technical trainings on cultivation, electric welding, auto repairing and driving; 967 rural labors have been transferred to Harbin, Dalian, Qingdao and other large and medium-sized cities. According to the Rural Poverty Relief and Development Program of Heilongjiang Province (2001-2010), Nenjiang County has not fulfilled the prescribed objects and tasks. The major cause and difficulty are: as a state-level impoverished county, Nenjiang is lack of fiscal fund which impedes the initiation of major projects and the settlement of impoverishment. The measuring standard of impoverishment of a village lies in its performance of infrastructure and public utility; while the standard for a household is whether its annual net income per capita achieves 3,500 Yuan or above. The construction and operation of Yichun-Nenjiang Road will improve the economic development of Nenjiang, greatly promote poverty relief of the County and accelerate its steps toward prosperity.

Interview 3

Date of Interview: Apr. 28, 2010 Interviewed unit: Tourist Bureau of Wudalianchi City Interviewee: Fang Zhengang Tel: 13945746231

The major tourism areas in Wudalianchi include Wudalianchi scenic area, Shankou Lake scenic area, and Erlong Mountain industrial & agricultural tourism demonstration spot. The tourist seasons focus on spring and summer (from May to October). The tourists achieved 300,000 people in 2010 mainly from the domestic areas and Russia in form of groups. The average travelling duration is two days for domestic tourists and 1 week for

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Russian tourists. The Tourist Bureau of Wudalianchi city has completed the tourism planning in 2010 which will be implemented step by step. The construction of Yichun-Nenjiang Road will shorten the distance between scenic areas and spots, particularly, the distance between the tourist cities of Harbin, Yichun and Wudalianchi. The road improvement will save plenty of time for tourists and will also be helpful to the building of tourist routes.

Interview 4

Date of Interview: Apr. 28, 2011 Interviewed unit: Traffic Police Station of Wudalianchi City Interviewee: Li Chunxin Tel: 13845606677

In 2010, Wudalianchi City recorded altogether 868 traffic accidents, involving 24 deaths and 126 injuries, with direct economic loss of RMB 1,280,000 Yuan. During the construction of Yichun-Nenjiang Road, the traffic was rather heavy due to the increase of construction vehicles on the road; especially some construction units failed to comply with the requirements for construction and signs, certain units even operated directly on the road, which increased the chances of accidents. The Traffic Police Station of Wudalianchi will deploy more patrols and supervisors along the road. After the completion of Yichun-Nenjiang Road, the traffic speed will be improved to some extent, which will facilitate the travelling of nearby residents. However, as the road is relatively narrow with curves and ramps, the traffic difficulty increases, thus raising the traffic accident potential. In the aspect of traffic safety, the hardened road shoulder shall be widened to increase the breadth of the road, so as to facilitate the pass-through of vehicles, men and livestock.

Interview 5

Date of Interview: May 4, 2011 Interviewed unit: Forestry Bureau of Bei’an City Interviewee: Zhang Guodong Tel: 0456-6191007

The year of 2010 is critical for the programme of “Afforestation of Longjiang with Three Years’ Efforts” proposed by the provincial CPC and government. The total investment in seedling trees for the afforestation this year was RMB 6.12 million Yuan, with an area of replantation of 6,300 mu (1 mu ≈ 667 m2) and an area of soil preparation in the autumn of 12,880 mu, which laid a solid foundation for the afforestation in the next year.

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The forestry bureau strives to promote the forest economy, encourages the forest workers to achieve prosperity, helps them to develop family forest industry by way of encouragement policies, supports from government leaders, provision of skills, fund allocation, etc., and develops the five industries of “plant cultivation, livestock breeding, development of northern medicine, seedling trees and edible fungus”. At present, the planting area of the northern medicine (ginseng, Chinese magnoliaving, North China fritillary, etc.), covering an area of 1,200 mu, breeds 2,000 specially bred livestock (deer, fox, etc.), 500,000 Kg wild herbs, and 100,000 packs of jelly fungi planted in the ground. The whole system involves the family industry of 500 households, including 100 in full scale, with an annual production value of RMB 50,000,000 Yuan. Roads in the forest are in bad condition, and the forest goods are sold at a rather low price. After this Project is completed, transportation of the goods will be more convenient and economic growth of the forest workers will be greatly enhanced.

Interview 6

Date of Interview: May 4, 2011 Interviewed unit: Investment Promotion Bureau of Bei’an City Interviewee: Jia Licheng Tel: 0456-6551020

The investment promotion projects of Bei’an in 2010 mainly include Qinghua new energy strategy industrial park with total investment of RMB 700,000,000 Yuan, CL wall materials with RMB 80,000,000 Yuan, Bei’an trade mart with RMB 50,000,000 Yuan and Phase Northeastern Asian Shopping Center with RMB 150,000,000 Yuan, among which Bei’an trade mart and Northeastern Asian Shopping Center are constructed based on the advantageous location of Bei’an, while Qinghua new energy strategy industrial park relies on the solid industrial foundation of Qinghua factory, and CL wall materials is established with the support and promotion of the government. The total amount of project investment contracts of Bei’an City in 2010 is RMB 2,822,000,000 Yuan, with paid-in investment of RMB 1,146,000,000 Yuan. The planning projects of investment promotion are composed of industrial projects, commercial & logistics projects and agriculture & animal husbandry projects. The construction and operation of the road will highlight the regional advantage of Bei’an City and increase its investment attraction, which is helpful to the development of commercial & logistics enterprises in Bei’an.

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Interview 7

Date of Interview: May 10, 2011 Interviewed unit: Resource Section of Forestry Bureau of Suiling County Interviewee: Shen Qinghai Tel: 13763737966 0455-6325488

The construction of Yichun-Nenjiang Road will significantly facilitate the travelling of the forest farm business office within the scope of Forestry Bureau of Suiling County, shorten the distance between Yichun, Wudalianchi and the County to a large extent, facilitate drastically the transportation of forest products, agricultural and sideline products of the business office, bring opportunities to the economic development of the Bureau, and increases the economic benefits of forest workers, and make up for the economic loss of workers due to forest shrink. Besides, the forest workers may also improve their economic benefits by developing diversified business or promoting the cultivation industry.

Interview 8

Date of Interview: May 10, 2011 Interviewed unit: Women’s Federation of Suiling County Interviewee: Zhang Lei Tel: 0455-4623233

In 2010, the Women’s Federation organized about 10 lectures on women’s health in every township/town of the county, attended by about 1000 women. On the lectures, the person specially designated by the Federation gave explanations. In 2010, the Federation launched the fourth round of poverty relief actions, and organized “hand-in-hand” activities between the cadres at department level or above in the county and poor women. It also helped women to study and solve production technologies, funds (e.g. obtaining the loan from rural credit cooperatives), etc. Suiling County is one of the national bases for the export of labor services of household service, so the Federation organizes all kinds of pre-job trainings on household service every year. Till 2010, about 4,500 people went to work in other cities, such as Harbin, Dalian, Daqing, Tianjin, etc.

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Interview 9

Date of Interview: May 14, 2011 Interviewed unit: Resource Section of Cuiluan Forestry Bureau of Yichun City Interviewee: Xie Guangming Tel: 13845874787

Cuiluan Forestry Bureau actively coordinated with Qianfeng Farm-Nenjiang Road Project Management Office in the compensation work for land requisition and relocation, and prepared the construction site within given time. The compensation work has been completed presently, problems resulted from temporary land requisition and construction will be negotiated with related parties and settled in time not to hinder the Project. The construction of Qianfeng Farm-Nenjiang Road has brought wonderful opportunities to the economic development of each forest farm along the Project, facilitated the travelling and transportation of people in Yichun City, and promoted the local logistics and tourist industry.

Interview 10

Date of Interview: May 15, 2011 Interviewed unit: Planning Section of Road Transport Bureau of Yichun City Interviewee: Feng Changlong Tel: 13804859608 Email: [email protected]

Yichun City now has 19 towns/townships, 30 subdistrict offices, 204 administrative villages and 207 neighborhood committees. By the end of 2010, Yichun City has completed the programme of “Road to All Villages” and built hard rural roads of 1,561.3 km. All villages and forest farms in every town/township shall have buses to facilitate the travelling of local people. The construction of Qianfeng Farm-Nenjiang Road will boost the development of road transportation in Yichun City. The Road will be connected with Yichun-Heilongjiang and Yichun-Suiling Expressways, thus greatly facilitating the transportation and the travelling of the people, and promoting the economic development of Yichun City.

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