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E2157 Sri Lanka Provincial Roads Project Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Environmental Assessment and Management Framework Public Disclosure Authorized Uva Provincial Roads Development Department Eastern Provincial Roads Development Department Northern Provincial Roads Development Department Ministry of Local Governments and Provincial Councils Public Disclosure Authorized October 2009 1. Introduction 1.1 Background The Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) has requested financing from the World Bank to undertake a Provincial Project to upgrade and rehabilitate dilapidated provincial road infrastructure. The proposed project is aimed at improving the reliability and efficiency of management of provincial roads that facilitate the access of provincial productive markets by (a) rehabilitation of provincial roads infrastructure in selected prioritized areas, and (b) supporting development of technical capacity at the provincial level to improve their ability to manage their assets. This project will focus on upgrading, rehabilitating and maintaining the priority provincial roads by resurfacing in Uva Province and Ampara District of Eastern Province. Provincial roads are the key connectors between the rural and the national networks. In addition, the project intends to finance improving the institutional capacity of the provincial roads departments in the participating provinces. Projects and Programs financed with IDA resources need to comply with World Bank Operational Policies. Therefore, sub-contracts and components eligible for funding under this project will be required to satisfy the World Bank’s safeguard policies, in addition to conformity with environmental legislation of the GOSL. The activities to be financed by the project do not have the potential to trigger significant negative environmental impacts. Investments under the maintenance and rehabilitation components of will consist of resurfacing only and the provision of drainage, where applicable. Therefore, it is anticipated that environmental issues and impacts would be minimal. Five provincial roads to be rehabilitated under the project have been identified at this stage for the Uva Province for the Phase I; the project is yet to prioritize the remainder that will be funded from this project in both the Uva and Eastern Provinces. Therefore, road-specific environmental assessments cannot be undertaken at this stage for the Eastern province. The road-specific environmental assessments are currently being conducted for the 5 selected roads of the Uva Province. Environmental Assessment and Management Framework (EAMF) has been developed to be used as a guide and serve as a template to ensure compliance with the World Bank’s environmental safeguard policies and the relevant provisions under the National Environmental Act (NEA) and associated regulations of Sri Lanka. The document will provide the necessary background for environmental considerations to be built into the design of the project so that environmentally sustainable implementation can take place. To aid this process, the EAMF highlights general policies, guidelines, codes of practice and procedures to be taken into consideration when formulating environmental strategies to the project design and to be incorporated as part of the bidding documents and contracts. World Bank policies and guidelines, relevant to environmental safeguards that require consideration under this project are as follows: • OP/BP/GP 4.01 - Environmental Assessment The only safeguard policy to be triggered under this project will be OP/BP/GP 4.01 on Environmental Assessment (EA). The purpose of conducting an EA is to identify environmental and social consequences of the proposed sub-projects or components, in order to: 1 • Ensure the identification of potential environmental issues and social concerns early in the implementation of a proposed project to incorporate necessary safeguards in project design to prevent potential adverse impacts by determining appropriate mitigation and compensation measures; • Minimize risks and enhance positive impacts/benefits; • Avoid delays and extra costs which may subsequently arise due to unanticipated environmental problems; and • Identify the potential for maximizing environmental resources management and socioeconomic benefits to local communities within the scope of the sub-project. At this stage an identification of generic issues have been made that are typically associated with road resurfacing activities as proposed under the project based on Road Sector Assistance Project of World Bank, as well as the studies carried out by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). These generic information are required to be applied road-specific EAs, as and when the relevant details become available. In such circumstances, OP 4.01 requires that arrangements be made whereby the project implementing institutions undertake the functions of sub-project screening, EA review and implementation of mitigation and monitoring plans. Therefore the purpose of this document is to outline a framework for environmental assessment and management, giving details of potential environmental issues and guidelines on how to prepare Environmental Management Plans (EMP). The EAMF will serve as a template to undertake appropriate environmental analysis of the roads once selected. The EAMF is being submitted in lieu of a project EA and has formed the basis for appraising the environmental aspects of the project. It will be made available for public review and comment in appropriate locations in Sri Lanka and in IDA’s Public Information Center in accordance with BP 17.50 requirements of disclosure. The EAs prepared for individual roads by the ADB will be verified in accordance with the EAMF by the implementing agencies and will be updated accordingly. They will be subsequently reviewed and cleared by IDA prior to the approval of disbursement of funds. 1.2 Project Description The project will include the following components: Component 1: Provincial Roads Rehabilitation in Uva Province, Ampara district of Eastern Province and Jaffna district of Northern Province. Component 2: Maintenance of Provincial Roads including drainage cleaning, improving visibility on the sides of the roads, pothole patching, etc. for fairly good road network in Uva and Eastern provinces. Component 3: Capacity Building and Institutional Strengthening: within provinces and Ministry of Local Government and Provincial Councils (MoLGPC). 1 Social assessment requirements will be presented in the Social Impact Management Framework (SIMF) 2. Environmental Safeguards Requirements 2.1 Government of Sri Lanka Environmental Regulations and Procedures The National Environmental Act (NEA) has made Environmental Assessments (EA) a legal requirement for a range of development projects. A list of projects requiring an EA is prescribed in Gazette (Extra Ordinary) No. 772/22 dated June 24, 1993. Road resurfacing is not listed as a prescribed project requiring an EA under the above gazette notification. Agreement has been reached with the Central Environmental Authority (CEA) and the World Bank that projects financed through World Bank resources will be required to undertake an environmental analysis commensurate with the potential for environmental impacts and prepare detailed EMPs that will be included for implementation as part of the Contractors contracts. The GOSL environmental clearance process, in principle, is consistent with World Bank environmental and public disclosure requirements. The exception being the screening criteria adopted in the GOSL process under the NEA, where project thresholds are used to determine the type of clearance required and the content of public consultation. However, all activities under the proposed project will be subjected to the EA process regardless of the project threshold, prior to disbursement of funds. The implementing agency will share the final version of EAMF with the CEA for information. A detailed description of the environmental legislative framework for environmental assessment and management is provided in Annex I. 2.2 World Bank Environmental and Social Safeguard Policies and its Relevance to the project Projects financed with IDA resources normally need to comply with World Bank Operational Policies. World Bank OP 4.01 requires Environmental Assessment (EA) of projects proposed for Bank financing to help ensure that these projects are environmentally sound and sustainable. EA is a process whose breadth, depth and type of analysis depend on the nature, scale and potential for environmental impacts of the proposed project. Considering the work involved and resultant environmental repercussions in road resurfacing and upgrading and/or provision of drainage in non- sensitive environments, this project can be treated as Category B. World Bank OP 4.01 is very clear that for a project in Category B proposed for financing under an IDA Credit, the developer must consult project affected groups and local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) about the projects environmental aspects and take their views into account in the design and implementation. The EA should particularly incorporate such comments to improve social acceptability and environmental sustainability. Such consultations should be initiated as early as possible, in the Project cycle and it is mandatory that consultations are undertaken after the draft EA is prepared. In addition, the developer is expected to consult with stakeholders throughout project