Resettlement Planning Document Resettlement Plan Document Stage: Draft for Consultation Project Number: 38164 December 2009 BAN: Natural Gas Access Improvement Project Prepared by Center for Environmental and Geographic Information Services The resettlement plan is a document of the borrower. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of ADB’s Board of Directors, Management, or staff, and may be preliminary in nature. SHORT RESETTLEMENT PLAN FOR SOUTHWEST REGION GAS DISTRIBUTION NETWORK PROJECT SHORT RESETTLEMENT PLAN TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Abbreviations…………………………………………………….. 1 Executive Summary …………………………………………………….. 2 Section A: Description of the Project…………………………………..…............. 4 Section B : Scope of Land Acquisition & Impacts ………………………………. 5 Section C: Measures to minimize impacts……………..…………………………. 6 Section D: Objectives of the Short Resettlement Plan………………………….. 6 Section E: Socioeconomic Profile of the Affected Households………………. 7 Section F: Gender Impacts & Mitigative Measures……………………………… 8 Section G: Resettlement Principles & Policy Framework………………………. 8 Section H: Cut off Date………………………………………………………………. 9 Section I: Stakeholder Participation & Disclosure of the Resettlement Plan 9 Section J: Implementation Arrangements & Grievance Redressal…………... 9 Section J: Cost Estimate & Budget ……………………………. 10 Section K: Implementation Schedule………………………………………………. 11 Section L: Monitoring & Evaluation……………………………………. 11 1 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ADB : Asian Development Bank AH : Affected Household APs : Affected Persons/People BBS : Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics DC : Deputy Commissioner DPGBPBU : Dakkhin Paschimanchal Gas Bitoran Prokalpa Bastabayan Unit EA : Executing Agency FGD : Focus Group Discussion GOB : Government of Bangladesh GRC : Grievance Redressal Committee GTCL : Gas Transmission Co. Ltd. HDD : Horizontal Directional Drilling IOL : Inventory of Loss LA : Land Acquisition LPG : Liquefied Petroleum Gas NGO : Non Governmental Organization PD : Project Director ROW : Right of Way RP : Resettlement Plan R&R : Resettlement and Rehabilitation Tk : Taka Bangladeshi Currency 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Short Resettlement Plan 1. Description of the Project : Unavailability of natural gas over time has retarded the normal economic growth of the southwestern region of Bangladesh. It has become an utmost necessity to distribute transmitted natural gas in this region specially to feed the industrial, commercial and domestic needs. In order to address this crisis, Bangladesh Oil, Gas & Mineral Corporation (Petrobangla) has undertaken the Southwest Region Gas Distribution Network Project for construction of 165 km 20” dia 1000 psig gas transmission line to facilitate the flow of natural gas in this region. The pipeline will be laid along the road side from Bheramara to Khulna covering the 5 districts of Khulna Division – Bagerhat, Khulna, Jessore, Jhenaidah, Kushtia. Distribution network of transmission line in the project can be seen in the table below. SL No. Name of Towns Length of Pipelines (km) 1. Bagerhat 45 2. Jessore 165 3. Jhenaidaha 24 4. Kaliganj 6 5. Khulna 395 6. Fatulla 19 7. Kushtia 160 8. Bheramara 12 9. Mongla 55 10. Noapara 20 Total 901 2. Land Acquisition and Displacement : The distribution pipeline along with two feeder transmission lines will follow the right of way (ROW) of the existing roads belonging, mainly, to the pourashavas/city corporation. There will be no land acquisition and therefore no land of private owners will be affected. Although there will be no affected person (AP) losing own land, some small number of squatters/informal settlers encroaching the right of way (ROW) are likely to suffer temporary displacement . Nine households comprising of 52 persons, mainly comprising of squatters squatting along the road on the right of way (ROW), will suffer temporary displacement as a result of the Project. All the nine affected structures comprise of wooden kiosks and mostly temporary/kutcha structures located along the road and the impact incurred by them would be in terms of disruption of business for a week during the laying of the pipeline. These are mainly commercial units operating on the side of the road. The commercial units temporarily affected by the project include slaughter shops, tea stalls as well as shop selling pottery. All these kiosks will be temporarily shifted and will be re-shifted back on their previous location within a week. Hence there would be no long term impacts on their asset or income. The only impact experience non-severe impacts likely to arise from shifting and re-shifting of temporary sheds for short duration. 3. Significance of Impact & Resettlement Plan : It is clear that the project will not require any compulsory acquisition of private land and other assets, and the impact on affected persons (APs) will be non-severe. In accordance with the ADB’s policy on Involuntary Resettlement, the present document therefore has been prepared as a short Resettlement Plan (RP). The RP will be concerned only with procedures for financial compensation of APs to address those non-severe short duration impacts likely to arise from shifting and re-shifting of temporary shops/structures for a week or so. There are no indigenous people (tribal or ethnic minority) with the AP population and there are no 3 vulnerable group, women, CPR to suffer any significant impact due to construction of the transmission line. 4. Affected Households : Census survey identifies (shown in the table below), a total of 9 shops owned by the squatters in Khulna and Jessore will be affected for the time being due to shifting from the right of way of the road alignment. Sl No Name of City/Town No of Households Total Number of Affected Person Affected 1 Khulna 5 32 2 Jessore 4 20 Total 9 52 5. Compensation for APs : Compensation and entitlements have been identified based on impacts and losses under the project. Affected households by location and type can be seen in the following table along with the level of their compensation. District : Khulna, Upazila : Batiaghata, Union : Jalma Affected Squatters SL No. Name of APs Father’s Name Location of the Type of Damage Compensation affect (Tk.) 1. Md. Khalil Mia Md. Haque Mia Rupsa Approach Shop 6,000.00 Road (Mayouri River) 2. As above Shop 3,000.00 3. As above Shop 3,000.00 4. As above Shop 3,000.00 5. As above Shop 5,500.00 Total 20,500 District : Jessore, Upazila : Jessore (Pourashava) Affected Squatters 6. Sulaiman Ismail Daratana Bridge Shop 5,000.00 7. Anwar Hossain A. Mannan As above Shop 5,000.00 8. Jahangir Bara Pahari As above Shop 5,000.00 Hossain 9. Kalu Mia A. Matin As above Shop 5,000.00 Total 20,000.00 Source : HCL Survey in January 2009 6. Consultation, Participation and Disclosure : The project ultimately has avoided the process of land acquisition. However, the road alignments within the municipal area of the project towns will be affected for a short span of time. Consultations were carried out at municipalities, in the vicinity of project locations involving the gas users, Pourashava Mayor and Counselors, land owners, commercial and industrial enterprizes etc. The suggestions from the community were sought how best the affects could be mitigated. No resettlement action plan will be required for the project since there will be no land acquisition impact. One time payment will be made for nine persons located in some locations. However, consultation will be carried out with the community to resolve any issue that might crop up. 7. Eligibility Cut-off Date : As there is no land acquisition impact, it was felt not necessary to carry out any large scale video recording. However video recording was done in June (4 to 6), 2009 on the proposed roads which will be treated as cut-off date for establishing eligibility for assistance and compensation. 4 8. Cost Estimate and Budget : The total estimated cost for implementation of the RP is Taka 0.541 million (US$ 0.007952 million). The estimated budget includes the amount of compensation for the small number of squatters, cost of road repair and some amount as contingency to meet the expenses of activities like project disclosure, public consultations and focus group discussions, and monitoring and evaluation. 9. Implementation and Monitoring : The implementation of the project will mainly deal with compensation to be paid for cutting of roads. Only nine households will be paid shifting cost for transfer of the thatched shops during the normal implementation course of the project works. Day-to-day monitoring of RP implementation and impacts shall be the responsibility of the respective Project Director. The project, however, does not involve any rehabilitation. Thus, it is no longer necessary to speak on resettlement and relocation. 1. Description of the Project: Bangladesh Oil, Gas & Mineral Corporation (Petrobangla) has undertaken the Southwest Region Gas Distribution Network Project entailing construction of 165 km 20” dia 1000 psig gas transmission line from Bheramara to Khulna for facilitating supply of natural gas in the southwestern region of Bangladesh. This pipeline will be laid along the road side from Bheramara to Khulna, covering 5 districts of Khulna Division namely – Bagerhat, Khulna, Jessore, Jhenaidah, Kushtia. 2. Scope of Land Acquisition & Impacts: The distribution pipeline along with two feeder transmission lines will follow the right of way (ROW) of the existing roads belonging, mainly to the municipalities/city corporation. Similarly, other project interventions such