Land and Maritime Connectivity Project (RRP SOL 53421-001) Initial Environmental Examination Project No. 53421-001 Status: Draft Date: August 2020 Solomon Islands: Land and Maritime Connectivity Project – Multitranche Financing Facility Road Component Prepared by Ministry of Infrastructure Development This initial environmental examination is a document of the borrower. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of the 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 any 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. Solomon Islands: Land and Maritime Connectivity Project Road Component – Initial Environmental Examination Table of Contents Abbreviations iv Executive Summary v 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Background to the Project 1 1.2 Scope of the Environmental Assessment 5 2 Legal and Institutional Framework 6 2.1 Legal and Planning Framework 6 2.1.1 Country safeguard system 6 2.1.2 Other legislation supporting the CSS 7 2.1.3 Procedures for implementing the CSS 9 2.2 National Strategy and Plans 10 2.3 Safeguard Policy Statement 11 3 Description of the Subprojects 12 3.1 Location and Existing Conditions – SP-R1 12 3.1.1 Existing alignment 12 3.1.2 Identified issues and constraints 14 3.2 Location and Existing Conditions – SP-R5 15 3.2.1 Location and existing alignment 15 3.2.2 Identified constraints and issues 16 3.3 Location and Existing Conditions – SP-R7 17 3.3.1 Location and existing alignment 17 3.3.2 Identified constraints and issues 18 3.4 Proposed Works and Activities 19 4 Description of Existing Environment (Baseline Conditions) 26 4.1 Physical Conditions 27 4.1.1 Topography, geology and soils 27 4.1.2 Air quality, climate and climate change 29 4.1.3 Marine hydrodynamics 35 4.1.4 Hydrology, water resources and quality 36 4.1.5 Hazards and disasters 38 4.2 Biological Conditions 41 4.2.1 Marine and coastal habitats, flora and fauna 41 June 2020 Page ii Solomon Islands: Land and Maritime Connectivity Project Road Component – Initial Environmental Examination 4.2.2 Terrestrial habitats, flora and fauna 43 4.2.3 Freshwater habitats, flora and fauna 46 4.2.4 Threatened and protected species 48 4.2.5 Protected areas 49 4.3 Socio-economic Conditions 52 4.3.1 Demography, land use, health and education status 52 4.3.2 Livelihoods and employment 54 4.3.3 Economy and infrastructure 56 4.3.4 Cultural and historic sites and resources 57 5 Environmental Impacts and Mitigation Measures 59 5.1 Impacts During Pre-Construction 59 5.2 Impacts During Construction 67 5.2.1 Construction impacts on physical conditions 67 5.2.2 Construction impacts on biological conditions 73 5.2.3 Construction impacts on socio-economic conditions 76 5.3 Operation Impacts 84 5.3.1 Operation impacts on physical conditions 84 5.3.2 Operation impacts on biological conditions 87 5.3.3 Operation impacts on socio-economic conditions 87 6 Consultation and Information Disclosure 89 6.1 Consultation 89 6.2 Information Disclosure 91 7 Environmental Management Plan 92 7.1 Institutional Arrangements 92 7.2 Grievance Redress Mechanism 97 7.3 Impact Mitigation and Management 98 7.4 Environmental Monitoring and Reporting 99 8 Findings and Conclusions 116 Bibliography 118 Annexes Annex 1: List of Ratified International and Regional Treaties and Agreements 1 Annex 2: Red List - Globally Threatened Avifauna in the Solomon Islands 3 Annex 3: Summary of Globally Threatened Species in East Melanesian Hotspot 4 Annex 4: List of Terrestrial Protected Areas within the Solomon Islands 5 Annex 5: Environmental Impact Screening for Pre-construction, Construction and Operation 8 June 2020 Page iii Solomon Islands: Land and Maritime Connectivity Project Road Component – Initial Environmental Examination Abbreviations ADB Asian Development Bank AEP Aggregate extraction plan BMP Building Material Permit BSI Biosecurity Solomon Islands (Department of MAL) CCP Communications and consultation plan (of the project) CEMP Construction environmental management plan (of the contractor) CLO Community liaison officer (of the contractor) CPIU Central Project Implementation Unit (within MID) CSS Country safeguards system CSC Construction supervision consultant DMM Department of Mines and Minerals (in MMERE) ECD Environment and Conservation Department (in MECDM) EHSG Environment, Health and Safety Guidelines (of World Bank Group) EHSO Environment, Health and Safety Officer (of the contractor) EIA Environment Impact Assessment EIS Environment Impact Statement EMP Environmental Management Plan ENSO El Nino Southern Oscillation HSP Health and Safety Plan ERP Emergency Response Plan GRM Grievance Redress Mechanism HCC Honiara City Council HSMP Hazardous Substances Management Plan IUCN International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources IEE Initial Environmental Examination MECDM Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology MOFT Ministry of Finance and Treasury MID Ministry of Infrastructure and Development MMERE Ministry of Mines, and Energy and Rural Electrification NTP National Transport Plan 2016 - 2036 PCCSP Pacific-Australia Climate Change Science and Adaptation Planning PER Public Environment Report PPE Personal Protective Equipment SECP Sedimentation and erosion control plan SIPA Solomon Island Ports Authority SPM Safeguards Procedures Manual (of MID) SPS Safeguard Policy Statement 2009 (of ADB) TMP Traffic Management Plan TOR Terms of Reference WMP Waste Management Plan June 2020 Page iv Solomon Islands: Land and Maritime Connectivity Project Road Component – Initial Environmental Examination Executive Summary 1. Background. Recognizing that domestic transport connectivity is critical to social and economic development, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has been assisting three Pacific countries—Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu—improve road and inter-island shipping transport to provide access to essential services, improve trade and tourism, and facilitate access to domestic and international markets. There are several common obstacles to the effective maintenance and resilience of transport assets including: • Insufficient capacity of the institutions responsible for infrastructure delivery to implement sustainable routine and periodic maintenance programs; • Inadequate fiscal budgets to allocate required financial resources for recurrent maintenance and rehabilitation; • Vulnerability to natural disasters and anticipated climate change; and • Limited transport sector policy and legislation. 2. The project. To address these constraints, ADB provided technical assistance through TA 9331-REG: Strengthening Domestic Transport Connectivity in the Pacific and the Transport Sector Project Development Facility (TSPDF). The technical assistance supported preparation of projects in each of the three countries to improve national and regional connectivity through new investments. In Solomon Islands the project—Land and Maritime Connectivity Project (LMCP)— proposes to improve urban and rural roads on Guadalcanal, upgrade the Honiara port, and construct and/or upgrade and repair wharves at two locations in two provinces. The LMCP is proposed as a four-year, time sliced multi-tranche financing facility with a tentative amount of $171 million. The subprojects and components have been fully prepared, and this includes conducting and reporting safeguards due diligence. 3. Institutional arrangements. The executing agency will be Ministry of Finance and Treasury (MOFT) and the implementing agencies will be the Ministry of Infrastructure Development (MID) through its Central Project Implementation Unit (CPIU) for the road and wharf subprojects and the Solomon Islands Port Authority (SIPA) for the two port subprojects. The Environment and Conservation Division (ECD) of the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology (MECDM) is responsible for implementing the country safeguard system (CSS). The CPIU and SIPA will be supported by a construction supervision consultant (CSC) which will include environmental specialist(s). 4. Legal and policy framework. The ECD has the mandate to implement the Environment Act 1998, Environmental Regulation 2008 and the Environmental Impact Assessment Guidelines 2010 and issuing of development consent for project development. This environmental assessment will be reformatted as a public environment report (PER), forming the basis of the development consent application. The application will be prepared by, or on behalf of, the MID as the ‘developer’. June 2020 Page v Solomon Islands: Land and Maritime Connectivity Project Road Component – Initial Environmental Examination 5. The subprojects. The environmental assessment describes the baseline environmental conditions and results of the impact assessment of the four subprojects, which are effectively four rural sections of the existing main Guadalcanal road which extends from Aola in the east to Lambi in the west. The sections included are: White River to Doma (SP-R5); Tambea to Naro - including a bridge at Kesao (SP-R6); Naro Hill to Lambi - including a wet crossing at Malachilli (SP-R7); and Henderson to Mberande (SP-R8). The proposed upgrading works include drainage and culverts works (including repair and installation of new structures as required), sealing