CHAPTER 6 TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TO SRA ON ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES Preparatory Survey on the Project for Construction of Mykolaiv Bridge in Ukraine Final Report 6. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TO SRA ON ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES 6.1 Environmental and Social Considerations 6.1.1 Project Components (1) Name The Project for Construction of Mykolaiv Bridge in Ukraine (2) Project Proponent The State Road Administration of Mykolaiv in Ukraine (Ukravtodor Mykolaiv) (3) Project Object The aim of the planned activity is to construct a highway river crossing over the Southern Bug River of city Mykolaiv cit;y. A highway river crossing including the bridge and approaches to it on the road M-14 Odessa – Melitopol – Novoazovsk (to Taganrog): beginning on the right bank of the Southern Bug River near the village Vesniane from M-14; end – on the left bank to the M-14 at the crossing with auto road P-06 Ulianovka – Mykolaiv. Construction of approaches to the bridge structures requires allocation of land for permanent use within the projected band allocation of the road. At present these lands are owned by individuals and legal entities. (4) Location Ukraine is located in Eastern Europe and is surrounded by seven countries; Romania, Moldova, Slovakia, Hungary, and Poland in the west, Belarus in the north, and Russia in the east, as well as the Black Sea in the south. In order to exploit this geographical position, the Government of Ukraine established the “Comprehensive Program for Consolidation of Ukraine as a Transit Country for 2002-2010”, which was indicative of the importance attached to establishing international trunk roads providing new traffic systems for cross-border logistics. The current trunk road development plan in Ukraine is based on this Program. The project site is shown in Figure 6.1.1. 6-1 Project Location Map Russia Baltic Sea Legend Belarus Moscow Poland Minsk Route No. Main Highway Warsaw KIEV Major City Ukraine Romania Capital Bucharest Black Sea Ankara Belarus Turkey Poland Russia M06 Kiev(Capital) M03 M12 M03 Ukraine M04 M05 M13 Mykolaiv M14 Moldova M14 Romania Odessa M15 M18 Project Site Black Sea Figure 6.1.1 Project Site Location of project roads and Bridge section is shown in Fig 6.1.2. Source：JICA Survey Team Figure 6.1.2 Location of the Road (M-14 Bypass Road) 6-2 Preparatory Survey on the Project for Construction of Mykolaiv Bridge in Ukraine Final Report (5) Project Components and Estimated Construction Cost Project components and estimated cost are as follows. Left bank ······················ PK 0 - PK 95+70 ============== 9.57km Bridge section ················ PK 95+70-PK116+20 =========== 2.05km Right bank····················· PK 116+20 - PK131+92.987 ====== 1.57km Construction cost············· Refers to Table 9.3.1 Result of Cost Estimation. (6) Technical and Economical Justification for the Construction The road M-14 is one of the most important trunk roads in the Ukraine, connecting the western border (with Romania and Moldova) and the eastern border (with Russia) through cities in southern Ukraine, such as Odessa and Mykolaiv. M-14 is also a part of the international corridor of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC). However M-14 suffers serious traffic jams because of the number of heavy vehicles, even transit cargo, that must pass through the downtown of Mykolaiv city and negotiate the existing swing-bridge (Varvarovsky Bridge). In order to solve the above problems, the Government of Ukraine planned the M-14 bypass project to provide a detour around the downtown area of Mykolaiv. However, the project for the new bridge across the Southern Bug River (Mykolaiv Bridge) has not been started because of lack of funds, consequently all vehicles must still pass over the existing swing-bridge to cross the river in Mykolaiv. In 2005, the Government of Ukraine requested Japan to apply a Yen Loan for the Mykolaiv bridge project (hereinafter referred to as “the Project”). In response to this request, the Government of Japan sent the TOR Mission to Ukraine and agreed to the scope of the “Preparatory Survey on the Project of Construction of Mykolaiv Bridge in Ukraine” (hereinafter referred to as “the Survey”), as stated in the Minutes of Meeting of August 5, 2010. According to the minutes, the preparatory survey was started on November 10 in order to review and update the Feasibility Study Report for the Mykolaiv Bridge undertaken in 2003. The analysis of alternatives takes into account social and environmental conditions and economic factors. The result was agreed in the manner prescribed for Highway Bridges. In agreement with the previous decision the route of the bridge was decided based on a promising route proposed in "The general plan Mykolaiv city", which was approved in 2007. The local authority reserved strip land to be acquisitioned for the construction. Currently, the land which fell in the border zone for use by natural and legal persons, is reserved for construction. To implement the planned construction these lands should be acquired from the current owners and transferred to the proponent of the construction. 6.1.2 Baseline of Environmental Condition 6.1.2.1 Ecological Condition (1) Common Flora Species Common flora species around the project are is shown in Table 6.1.1. 6-3 Table 6.1.1 Common Flora Species around Project Area No Habitats (example) Wild species Planted species 1 Canal and river corridors Potamogeton L. (rdesnyk), Absent Phragmites australis L. (reed) 2 Residential and garden land Stipa lessingina (feather grass Vegetables, for example. Lessing), S. pontica (Black Sea Potatoes, tomatoes, feather grass), S. ucrainica (feather flowers, fruit trees, for grass ukrainian), Festuca valesiaca example. apple, cherry (sheep fescue), Ambrosia artemisiifolia* (ragweed) 3 Paddy field 4 Forest Quercus robur (Oak tree), Ulmus Scotch pine (Pinus (elm tree), Acer (maple), Fraxinus sylvestris) (ash tree), Robinia (acacia) Source: 1. National Atlas of Ukraine (electronic version, second edition) that was prepared by the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU), with the scientific and methodological support of the Institute of Geography NASU-2007. 2. "Southern Bug Mediterranean ecological corridor: a brief overview of biodiversity and the most valuable territory" under the general editorship of V. Kostiushyna. International Wetlands of Black Sea Program. Kyiv - 2007. 3. T.L. Aleksenko, A.A.Solohyb Effect of dredging on benthos invertebrates of the Dnieper-Bug lagoon‐2006 Table 6.1.2 gives plant species characteristic of the natural conditions of the territory. Sampling location is shown in Figure 6.1.3. This area is under strong anthropogenic influence. Since the 50s of the last century natural land was pressured due to economic use and, at present, primitive habitats are extinct. Covered areas represent monoculture artificial plantation pine – the kind that is not typical for a given bio climatic zone. The areas of arable farmland are used for growing vegetables, perennial crops and so on. Water bodies (lagoons), over the past 100 years, have been damaged substantially by man-made pollution as a result of discharges of industrial waste waters, in addition 25-30% (depending on water content of the year) of the flow of the Southern Bug River is used to irrigate farmland and for industrial Water supply, which causes the increase of salt water in the lagoon. These factors have led to a significant depletion of aquatic flora, among which now occupies a dominant position rdesnyk (Potamogeton). Conclusion: any construction in the territory that is affected by the project now will not lead to the losses of natural biodiversity. The following Figure 6.1.3 and Table 6.1.2 show some locations of studies of flora and aquatic organisms and comment on the specific types of vegetation according to the surveyed points. In the area around the project nothing on the Red data list was found. (Ukraine Red book, flora. August 2005) 6-4 Preparatory Survey on the Project for Construction of Mykolaiv Bridge in Ukraine Final Report Source: The Southern Bug meridional river corridor biodiversity and valuable areas.(2007) Figure 6.1.3 Location Maps of Alien (Artificially Listed) Species 6-5 Table 6.1.2 Flora and Aquatic Organisms Point Description of flora and aquatic organisms and comment on the specific types of vegetation 1: Artificial forest plantations Pinus sylvestris and Robinia pseudoacacia under the age of 40. 2: Aquatic vegetation is dominated by associations formed of types of broad ecological amplitude - Potamogeton pectinatus, P. perfoliatus, Najas marina, Ceratophyllum demersum. Large areas are dominated by groups of water relicts - Nymphaea alba, Nuphar lutea, Trapa natans, Salvinia natans, Nymphoides peltata. Also playing an important role of air-aquatic vegetation, are Phragmites australis, Typha angustifolia, Scirpus lacustris. In the grassy marshes are the most common associations of Phragmites australis - Carex acuta, Phragmites australis - Carex riparia, Typha angustifolia - Carex acutiformis, Carex acuta pura. Earth moss features that prevail are meadow marshes and meadow plants, represented by groups dominated by Glyceria maxima, Carex acuta, Agrostis stolonifera, Festuca pratensis, Elytrigia repens, etc. In floristic respects are characterized by a large number of boreal meadow species - Agrostis gigantea, Alopecurus pratensis, Beckmannia eruciformis, Poa palustris, Carex vesicaria, Lathyrus palustris. 3: Large areas of rocky steppes dominated in the vegetation formations such as Festuceta valesiaceae,