Environmental Monitoring Report Semiannual Report (July to December 2018) April 2019 NEP: SASEC Road Improvement Project Prepared by Department of Roads, Project Directorate (ADB), for Ministry of Physical Infrastructure & Transport and the Asian Development Bank. This Environmental Monitoring Report 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. In preparing any country program or strategy, financing any project, or by making any designation of or reference to a particular territory or geographic area in this document, the Asian Development Bank does not intend to make any judgments as to the legal or other status of any territory or area. Government of Nepal Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport DEPARTMENT OF ROADS Project Directorate (ADB) Bishalnagar, Kathmandu, Nepal CONSULTANCY SERVICES FOR CONSTRUCTION SUPERVISION OF SASEC ROADS IMPROVEMENT PROJECT (SRIP) (ADB Loan No.: 3478-NEP) SEMI-ANNUAL REPORT NO. 3 (ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING) SASEC Roads Improvement Project Package 1: EWH- Narayanghat Butwal Road, Section I (64.425 Km) Package 2: EWH- Narayanghat Butwal Road, Section II (48.535 Km) Package 3: Bhairahawa – Lumbini - Taulihawa Road, (41.130 Km) (July - December) 2018 Submitted by M/S Korea Engineering Consultants Ltd. Corp.- MEH Consultant (P) Ltd., Kyong Dong Engineering Co. Ltd. JV In association with MULTI – Disciplinary Consultants (P) Ltd. & Seoul, Korea. SOIL Test (P) Ltd. SEMI-ANNUAL (ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING) REPORT 3 July - December 2018 CURRENCY EQUIVALENTS 20 December 2018 Currency unit – Nepalese Rupee (NRs) NRs1.00 = $ 0.008853475 US $1.00 = NRs 112.95 SEMI-ANNUAL (ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING) REPORT 3 July - December 2018 ABBREVIATIONS ADB Asian Development Bank ADB –PD Asian Development Bank-Project Directorate ADF Asian Development Fund BOQ Bill of Quantity CDO Chief District Officer CRE Chief Resident Engineer CSC Construction Supervision Consultant CSC-ES Construction Supervision Consultant – Environment Specialist DCC District Coordination Committee DFO District Forest Office DOR Department of Roads EFP Environmental Focal Person EIA Environmental Impact Assessment EMAP Environmental Management Action Plan EMP Environmental Management Plan EMR Environmental Monitoring Report EWH East–West Highway GDP Gross Domestic Product GESU Geo-Environmental and Social Unit GRC Grievance Redress Committee ICB International Competitive Bidding IEE Initial Environmental Examination IOW Inspector of Works MOFSC Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation MoPE Ministry of Population and Environment MPIT Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport NCB National Competitive Bidding NGOs Non-Government Organizations NH National Highway PAM Project Administration Manual PIC/PM Project In charge/Project Manager PIU Project Implementation Unit RAP Rural Access Programme RE Resident Engineer RM Rural Municipality SASEC South Asia Sub-Regional Economic Cooperation SEIA Supplementary Environmental Impact Assessment SLC Sub-Project Level Committee SPS Safeguard Policy Statement SRCP SASEC Road Connectivity Project SRN Strategic Road Network TOR Terms of Reference ii SEMI-ANNUAL (ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING) REPORT 3 July - December 2018 NOTES (i) The fiscal year (FY) of the Government of Nepal and its agencies ends on 16 July. FY before a calendar year denotes the year in which the fiscal year ends, e.g., FY 2017/18 ends on 16 July 2018. (ii) In this report, "$" refers to US dollars. This environmental monitoring report 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. In preparing any country program or strategy, financing any project, or by making any designation of or reference to a particular territory or geographic area in this document, the Asian Development Bank does not intend to make any judgments as to the legal or other status of any territory or area. iii SEMI-ANNUAL (ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING) REPORT 3 July - December 2018 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABBREVIATIONS ii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY vi 1. BACKGROUND 1 2. ENVIRONMENTAL SAFEGUARDS IN SRIP 2 3. CHANGES AND ADJUSTED SAFEGUARD MEASURES; 3 4. IMPLEMENTATION ARRANGEMENT 3 5. STATUS OF ENVIRONMENTAL SAFEGUARD IMPLEMENTATION 4 a) Environmental Clearance on IEE/EIA reports 4 b) Capacity Building Activities 5 c) Status of Forest Clearance 5 d) Compensatory plantation 6 e) Status of other local clearances 7 f) Awareness program 8 g) Spoil management 8 h) Drainage management 8 i) Management of Dust 10 j) Slope stabilization and bioengineering activities 10 k) Rehabilitation of community infrastructures and cultural/religious sites 10 l) Quarry site management 10 m) Camp Site Management 10 n) Occupational health and safety (OHS) 11 o) Signboard placing (erection) 11 p) Grievance Redress Committees 11 q) EMP implementation, monitoring and reporting 12 r) Disclosure of Environmental Assessments and Monitoring Reports 12 s) Monitoring of Safeguards Implementation 12 t) Environmental Monitoring Survey 12 u) Status of Wildlife Survey 12 6. OVERALL COMPLIANCE WITH EMP 14 7. ISSUES AND WAY FORWARD 15 iv SEMI-ANNUAL (ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING) REPORT 3 July - December 2018 List of Figure Figure 1: SASEC Road project in Map of Nepal 2 1 List of Tables Table 1: Details of SRIP road sub-projects 2 Table 2a: Overall Progress of the BLT road until December 2018 4 Table 2b: Forest Clearance progress during July-December 2018 5 Table 3: Overall Forest Clearance Status 5 Table 4: Status of local clearance and approval 6 Table 5: To date spoil for different sub-projects 7 Table 6: Major Structures with Drainage detail and progress till date 8 Table7: Overall EMP compliance status of SRIP road projects 13 Table 8: Issues and Corrective Measures 13 List of Annexes: Annex 1-A : Environmental Safeguard Planning Annex 1-B : Environmental Safeguard Implementation Status Annex 2 : Environmental Management Cost Annex 3 : Status of Environmental Safeguard Compliances Annex 4 : Plantation Plan Annex 5 : Implementation Reporting Format Annex 6 : Environmental Monitoring Checklist Annex 7 (A-D) : Grievance Redress Mechanism Meetings Minutes Annex 8 : MoM of House Compensation Committee Annex 9 : Compensation Notice Published by DoR Annex 10 : Lease Agreement for the use of Land for Contractor’s Batching Plant at Km 4+900 Annex 11 : Lease Agreement for the use of Land for Contractor’s Crusher Plant at Km 9+500 Annex 12 : Lease Agreement for the use of Land for Contractor’s Batching Plant at Km 27+500 Annex 13 : Contractor’s Insurance Documents Annex 14 : Wildlife Sign Survey, June 2018 Annex 15 : Photographs v SEMI-ANNUAL (ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING) REPORT 3 July - December 2018 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1. The proposed South Asia Sub Regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) Road Improvement Program (SRIP) is undertaking two strategic high priority roads in the Province 4 of Nepal: i) Narayanghat – Butwal Highway, and ii) Bhairahawa-Lumbini-Taulihawa Feeder Road. The project roads are: (i) Narayanghat-Butwal (115 km - 4 lane highway) Road, and (ii) Bhairahawa-Lumbini-Taulihawa Road (41.130km). The Department of Roads (DOR) intends to improve Narayanghat-Butwal Road to all-weather asphalt concrete four-lane Asian Highway Standard. The 41.130 km Bhairahawa-Lumbini-Taulihawa road has 3 sections: Section 1: 3.68 km, km 0+00 to km 3+680 (Bhairahawa-Airport); Section 2: 14.42 km, 3+680 to Km18.100 (Bhairahawa Airport -Lumbini); and Section 3: km 18+100 to 41+130 (Lumbini - Taulihawa). Section 1 will be improved from the current 2 lanes to an all- weather bituminous 4 lanes with both sides’ service roads while section 2 will be improved from the current 2 lanes to an all-weather bituminous 4 lanes while Section 3 will be improved from 1 lane to 2 lanes feeder road standards. 2. The Project has been categorized as “A” consistent with the requirements of ADB SPS 2009 since one of the project components, the East West Highway Narayanghat - Butwal Section borders the buffer zone of Chitwan National park covering over 23KM. The Bhairahawa - Lumbini - Taulihawa roads upgrading activities are unlikely to have significant adverse environmental impacts. Impacts largely are short-term, reversible and manageable through appropriate mitigation measures and categorized as “B”. 3. The Design Consultants completed the IEE in BLT Road and EIA in NB Road in 2016. After being mobilized, the Civil Contractor in the BLT Road, the Civil Contractor with the CSC completed the joint verification survey. The joint survey found 2078 trees against 1890 trees reported in IEE required to be cut. Approval for clearance is taken from Forest Offices for cutting of the trees. By the end of this reporting date, a total 2055 numbers of trees have been cut-down and 1800 roots removed. For the loss of 2078 in BLT road, compensatory plantation (CP) of 51,950 trees has to be done at the ratio of 1:25 as per Forest Act, Regulation and Procedure of Compensatory Tree Plantation by National Project. 4. Civil Contractor is regularly reporting to the CSC Environment Specialist, along with regularly submitting environmental checklist to CSC Environment specialist. 5. The NB Road possesses 55 community forests (CFs). The mobilization of the Civil Contractor is awaited to undertake the joint verification survey in the NB Road. 6. DCC (DDC in the past) has approved to collect materials for quarry sites from Tinau