PROJECT INFORMATION DOCUMENT (PID) APPRAISAL STAGE Report No.: AB2263 Ust-Kamenogorsk Environmental Remediation (Industrial Waste Project Name Treatment) Project Public Disclosure Authorized Region EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA Sector Solid waste management (50%); General water, sanitation and flood protection sector (50%) Project ID P078342 Borrower(s) GOVERNMENT OF KAZAKHSTAN Implementing Agency Environment Category [X] A [ ] B [ ] C [ ] FI [ ] TBD (to be determined) Date PID Prepared March 20, 2006 Date of Appraisal April 24, 2006 Authorization Date of Board Approval December 5, 2006 Public Disclosure Authorized 1. Country and Sector Background During the Soviet era, Kazakhstan was under extensive heavy industrial development, which focused on maximizing output with little regard for the associated environmental degradation. Environmental policies were weak and little effort was made to regulate industries and ensure that they would not pollute the environment with hazardous substances. With regard to hazardous waste storage, this is highly inadequate due to the absence of appropriate landfills as well as incentives to reduce waste generation. In some oblasts, current inappropriately stored hazardous waste at factory sites are causing contamination of ground and surface waters that may lead to significant health hazards1. Public Disclosure Authorized Currently Kazakhstan has a rapidly growing economy which until now has mainly been based on revenues from the oil & gas industry and the exploitation of its various other natural resources rich in iron, copper, zinc, uranium and other non-ferro metal ores. In the years following independence, Kazakhstan has recognized the importance of sustainable development and appropriate pollution control and made increasing efforts to address its multitude of environmental problems. Investments into industrial pollution control have been made in recent years, in particular to remediate contamination caused by historic polluting sources. The historic pollution is mostly the Government of Kazakhstan’s responsibility, which is also reflected in the Law on the Natural Resources of Kazakhstan. The law classifies the cleanup responsibility for the hazardous waste dumps as follows: for those dumps accumulated and located on the territory of a plant before May 30, 1992, cleanup will be the Government’s responsibility ; those after this date are the responsibility of the plant itself. Public Disclosure Authorized The Bank supported Nura River Clean-up Project with $60 million of investments in remediation of historic mercury contamination of industrial sites and waterways is an example of the 1 World Bank, “Minimizing Environmental Impacts of Industrial Growth: Case study of petrochemical industry in Kazakhstan”, 2006 Government’s will to deal with legacy environmental issues. The number and size of urgent environmental matters both from ongoing pollution and legacy issues and the many competing priorities related to the growth of the economy, however, make it difficult for the Government to deal with all the pressing issues in a reasonable time span and at the same time strengthen environmental legislation, regulatory systems and their capacities to adequately protect public health and the environment. Sector Issues One area of Kazakhstan that faces some of the most severe environmental pollution is Ust- Kamenogorsk, a city of approximately 300,000 inhabitants at the confluence of the Ulba and the Irtysh rivers in the northeastern part of the country. Ust-Kamenogorsk is the regional center of the East Kazakhstan Oblast, and one of the biggest industrial centers of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The city’s location in the immediate proximity to various deposits of natural resources, large rivers and to inexpensive hydro-power facilities contributed to its fast growth and development. The city is well known for large enterprises of nonferrous metallurgy, nuclear power, gold and rare metal plants, heat power plants, mechanical engineering and instrument- manufacturing, construction, agriculture production and many others. Major marketable products from local industries include lead, copper, zinc, gold, silver, tantalum, niobium, cadmium, antimony, selenium, indium, tellurium, uranium fuel pellets, titanium, beryllium, thallium, magnesium, sulfuric acid, mining equipment, paints, etc. The extensive industrial infrastructure of Ust-Kamenogorsk and its operations for over fifty years under careless environmental regulations have led to widespread pollution with hazardous components, including heavy metals and organic compounds, which have impacted the air, surface and ground waters, soils and biota of the city, and its surrounding areas. A significant part of the pollution in Ust-Kamengorsk originates from dump sites created before 1990 with large quantities of hazardous waste generated by the metallurgical, machine-building and energy industries and without adequate containment standards. By the year 2000, more than 28 million tons of solid and liquid waste was being stored in several sites along the outskirts of Ust-Kamenogorsk’s residential areas. The high concentration of industries in mining enterprises and metallurgic plants in and around Ust-Kamenogorsk, combined with inadequate pollution controls, industrial wastewater discharges and improper storage of (hazardous) waste, has resulted in the contamination of air, surface waters, groundwater and soil. Of particular concern are the hazardous materials2 that have contaminated groundwater and rivers in the Irtysh River Basin posing a serious threat to the people who work and live in the area and downstream of Ust- Kamenogorsk along the Irtysh river. Figure 1 illustrates the atypical concentration of industries that operate in the city, and shows the relative location of major industrial dumps and potential sources of contamination. 2 Hazardous materials are residues from production processes and include heavy metals and radioactive components such as lead, copper, zinc, cadmium, magnesium, titanium, tellurium, uranium. Other pollutants such as sulfates, nitrates and hydrocarbons are also monitored in surface water and groundwater in the vicinity of the industrial sites. 2. Objectives The project has two development objectives: (i) provide secure containment for the toxic waste plume that is contaminating the groundwater of Ust-Kamenogorsk and therefore prevent the plume’s discharge into the Irtysh river and the city’s drinking water supply; and (ii) broadly address all water quality issues around Ust-Kamenogorsk by building strong institutional mechanisms for water quality monitoring and control of ongoing pollution by local municipal and industrial water users. The project is expected to benefit the present and future population of Ust-Kamenogorsk and residents of downstream communities by improving the quality of the local environment and averting a significant risk of toxic wastes entering the Irtysh River. 3. Rationale for Bank Involvement The World Bank is a leading donor in implementing complex environmental remediation projects and is well-placed to build upon its knowledge of water sanitation and supply, and environmental remediation approaches needed in the proposed Project. The Bank’s participation in the sector and in the proposed project will provide the government with low-cost financial support for a relatively costly program which is unlikely to yield immediate financial benefits. To date the Bank’s support to Kazakhstan’s environment, and water and sanitation sectors includes the: (i) Nura River Clean-Up Project – under implementation ($40.4 million loan); (ii) Syr Darya Control & Northern Aral Sea Phase I Project – under implementation ($64.5 million); (iii) Atyrau Pilot Water Supply & Sanitation Project - closed in September 2004 ($16.5 million). The proposed Ust-Kamenogorsk Environment Remediation Project is consistent with the goals of the 2004 Country Partnership Strategy (CPS), the previous Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) prepared in 2001, the 1999 National Environmental Action Plan (NEAP), the national environmental policy and with current regional local government and industry remediation efforts. Furthermore, the Project intends to help the Government of Kazakhstan in achieving sustainable environmental development that complies with budget investment priorities including the ‘Concept of water sector development of economy and water management policy of the Republic of Kazakhstan until 2010’ approved in a decree of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan. One of the four pillars of the CPS is ensuring sustainable growth while safeguarding the environment. The 2001 CAS identified environmental initiatives to reduce the damage to the quality of life for current and future generations as one of its four main components and proposed a focus on: (i) cleaning up contaminated rivers and water sources, (ii) restoring marginal lands, and (iii) improving management practices for water and wastewater. Reducing pollution and eliminating related pressures and impacts to the natural and human environment is one of the key pillars of the national environmental policy. Priorities identified in the NEAP addressed by the Project include: (i) the reduction of heavy metal contamination around one of the major industrial plants; (ii) protection of drinking water; and (iii) support of improved environmental management in industrial enterprises. The proposed project is also expected to build on and enhance the growing environmental awareness