Environmental Monitoring Report Semi Annual Report No. 6 Project Number: 48218-003 Loan Number: 3620- NEP April 2021 Nepal: Rural Connectivity Improvement Project Prepared by the Government of Nepal for 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. Semi-annual Environmental Monitoring Report Oct. 2020 – Mar. 2021 Abbreviations ADB – Asian Development Bank AP – Affected People CSC – Construction Supervision Consultant DFO – Division Forest Office DOFSC – Department of Forests and Soil Conservation DoLI – Department of Local Infrastructure DoLIDAR – Department of Local Infrastructure Development and Agricultural Roads EA – Executing Agency EMP – Environmental Management Plan EMoP – Environmental Monitoring Plan ES – Environment Specialist ESMP – Environmental and Social Management Plan GoN – Government of Nepal GRM – Grievance Redress Mechanism Ha – Hectare IA – Implementing Agency IEE – Initial Environmental Examination km – Kilometer kV – Kilovolt m – Meter masl – Meter above Sea Level MoFE – Ministry of Forest and Environment MoFAGA – Ministry of Federal Affair and General Administration MoFALD – Ministry of Federal Affair and Local Development NAAQS National Ambient Air Quality Standards NCB – National Competitive Bidding PCU – Project Coordination Unit PIU – Project Implementation Unit RCIP – Rural Connectivity Improvement Project Rural Connectivity Improvement Project i Semi-annual Environmental Monitoring Report Oct. 2020 – Mar. 2021 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Brief Project Description ................................................................................. 1 1.2 Contract Status ............................................................................................ 5 2. COMPLIANCE TO NATIONAL REGULATIONS AND ADB's POLICY ....................... 5 2.1 Environmental Protection Rules 1997 ........................................................... 5 2.2 ADB's Safeguard Policy Statement (2009) ................................................... 5 3. INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENT FOR SAFEGUARDS IMPLEMENTATION........... 5 4. COMPLIANCE TO ENVIRONMENTAL COVENANTS .............................................. 6 5. COMPLIANCE TO ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT PLAN ................................. 8 5.1 Permits and Clearance for Construction Work ................................................ 8 6. SAFEGUARD MONITORING RESULTS .................................................................. 9 6.1 Construction Activities .................................................................................. 9 6.1.1 Construction Compliance and Monitoring .................................................. 10 6.1.2 Compliance Monitoring ............................................................................. 12 7. IMPLEMENTATION OF GRIEVANCE REDRESS MECHANISM AND COMPLAINTS RECEIVED FROM STAKEHOLDERS ...................................................................... 15 7.1 Establishment of Grievance Redress Mechanism in the Project ................. 15 8. SELECTION OF ADDITIONAL ROADS .................................................................... 16 9. CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................ 16 APPENDICES Appendix I: District/ Package Wise Contract Details with Physical Progress Appendix II: Environmental Monitoring Plan Appendix III: Environmental Safeguard Compliance Matrix Appendix IV: Environmental Status Appendix V: Air and Water Quality Parameter Value Appendix VI: Status on Camps, Quarry, Tree Cutting and Services Reinstatement Appendix VII: Status on Reconstruction and Rehabilitation of Services and Infrastructure Appendix VIII: Environmental Safeguard Grievances Appendix IX: Air and Water Quality Monitoring Photographs Appendix X: Environmental Safeguard Screening Status of Additional Section of RCIP Road for New Contract Appendix XI: Tree Cutting Approval Status Appendix XII: Permits and Clearance Appendix XIII: Status of Bio-engineering Works Appendix XIV: COVID-19 Risk Management Compliance Monitoring Checklist Appendix XV: Other Photographs of Progress Activities Rural Connectivity Improvement Project ii Semi-annual Environmental Monitoring Report Oct. 2020 – Mar. 2021 LIST OF FIGURE Figure 1: Location Map of Project Provinces and Project Districts of RCIP ...................... 2 Figure 2: Status of Forest Clearance Obtained (Nos.) ...................................................... 9 Figure 3: Numbers of Air Quality Test Conducted..............................................................11 Figure 4: Numbers of Water Quality Test Conducted ....................................................... 12 Figure 5: Progress on Water Sprinkling for Dust Control (Days) ...................................... 14 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: List of Roads ..........................................................................................................3 Table 2: Status of Compliance with Environmental Provisions of Loan Covenants ............ 6 Table 3: List of Roads with Updated IEEs/EMPs ................................................................. 9 Table 4: Status of MoU between PIU and DFO …................................................................10 Table 5: National Ambient Air Quality Standards ................................................................. 11 Rural Connectivity Improvement Project iii Semi-annual Environmental Monitoring Report Oct. 2020 – Mar. 2021 1. INTRODUCTION 1. The Rural Connectivity Improvement Project (RCIP) will construct about 380.6 (revised length 380.98) kilometers of rural roads to all-weather standard covering 16 priority districts of Nepal. The project will also focus on improving institutional arrangements, business processes, and associated capacity building, particularly on road asset management and road safety. The Project aims to improve transport efficiency of the rural road network, which will contribute to expansion of economic opportunities and poverty reduction. This will be realized by: (i) improving the district road network, (ii) facilitating safe and appropriate road usage, (iii) increasing efficiency of transport services, and (iv) enhancing the Department of Local Infrastructure Development and Agricultural Roads (DOLIDAR) (now Department of Local Infrastructure, DoLI) capacity for road asset development and management. Project immediate outcomes will be improved accessibility to social services and markets, increased fuel efficiency, reduced; travel time, accidents and vehicle emissions and better employment opportunities outside agriculture, both through improved access to economic centers and increased industrial activities in the project districts. The Project is funded by Asian Development Bank (ADB). 1.1 Brief Project Description 2. Under the project, there are 27 roads constituting 28 road subprojects (Road-1 and Road-3 of Rolpa forming 2 Sub-projects of single road) measuring to 380.98 km. These roads are distributed over 17 districts in 5 provinces namely: Province 1-Jhapa, Illam, Panchthar, Morang, Sunsari and Dhankuta (constituting 13 Roads); Bagmati Province- Dolakha, Kavre, Sindhuli, Sindhupalchowk, Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Chitwan (8 Roads), Gandaki Province - Parbat (2 Roads); Lumbini Province- Rolpa (3 Roads) and Rukum –East (1 Road) and Karnali Province, Rukum-West (1 Road) (Figure 1). These roads are subsumed under 11 packages (11 NCB contracts) (Appendix I and Table 1). The civil work contracts are already awarded to contractors by PCU in various dates in year 2018, 2019 and 2020 The construction period for roads under each of the contracts is 2 years with additional 3 years of maintenance that includes 1 year Defect Liability Period (DLP) and 2 years for Performance Based Maintenance (PBM). The Project was started on April 2018. 3. Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration (MoFAGA) is the executing agency (EA) of this Project. DoLI is the implementing agency. The Project Coordination Unit (PCU) headed by Project Coordinator under DoLI is the central office for overall project management, contract administration and implementation through its regional PIUs headed by the Project Managers (PMs) established at Jhapa (PIU1), Lalitpur (PIU2), Parbat (PIU3), Rolpa (PIU4) and Rukum (PIU5). 4. Yooshin Engineering Corporation, Korea in association with Environment & Resource Management Consultant (P) Ltd, Nepal & BDA, Nepal (P) Ltd. is the Construction Supervision Consultant (CSC) for the project. 5. The target of the Project is to improve the existing gravel/earthen rural road to asphalt pavement with gravel shoulder on either side of the road. The Project work mainly comprises of 30 mm of asphalt pavement, 150 mm of crushed stone base course, 200 mm of granular subbase course and 350 mm gravel on either side of shoulder. The construction work also includes cross drainage, side drain, masonry and gabion structure, bioengineering,