Democratic Republic of Timor Leste Ministry of Infrastructure National Directorate for Roads, Bridges and Flood Control Preparing the Road Network Development Project (ADB TA No. 7100- TIM) Initial Environmental Examination Rehabilitation of Road Link Ermera to Maliana (A11-01) May 2009 This report was prepared by the Government of Timor Leste and is not an ADB Document. Page i INITIAL ENVIRONMENTAL EXAMINATION Table of Contents A Introduction 1 A.1 Background 1 A.2 Purpose and Scope of the Initial Environmental Examination 1 A.2.1 ADB Guidelines 1 A.2.2 GoTL Requirements 2 A.3 Process and Implementation 5 B Description of the Sub-Project 8 B.1 Subproject Objective 8 B.1.2 Beneficiaries and Need 8 B.1.3 Brief description 9 B.2 Anticipated Works 9 B.3 Cost and Benefit Estimate 11 B.3.1 Financial Project Cost 11 B.3.2 Main Project Benefits 11 B.4 Sub-Project Alternatives 12 C Description of the Environment 14 C.1 Physical Resources 14 C.1.1 Topography and Geology 14 C.1.2 Seismic Activity 18 C.1.3. Climate 18 C.1.4 Water Resources 19 C.1.5 Air Quality 22 C.2 Ecological Resources 22 C.2.1 Land Cover and Vegetation 22 C.2.2 Biodiversity and Wildlife Management Areas 26 C.3 Human & Economic Development 32 C.3.1 Population 32 C.3.2 Agricultural Development 32 C.3.3 Quarries, Borrow Sites and Disposal Sites 32 C.3.4 Industrial Development 33 C.3.5 Infrastructure 33 C.4 Quality of Life Values and the Socio-Cultural Environment 34 C.4.1 Ethnic and Cultural Diversity 34 C.4.2 Poverty Levels 34 C.4.3 Education and Health 34 C.4.4 Land Tenure 34 C.4.5 Historical and Cultural Sites 34 D Screening of Potential Environmental Impacts and Mitigation Measures 37 D.1 Overview 37 D.1.1 Assessing Environmental Impacts 37 D.1.2 GIS – Environmental Sensitivity Mapping (ESM) 37 D.2 Design / Pre-Construction Phase 40 D.2.1 Protection of Biological Value and Protected Areas 40 D.2.2 Environmentally Sound Design 41 D.2.3 Road Safety 41 D.2.4 Social or Community Concerns (pre-construction) 41 D.3 Construction Phase 42 D.3.1 Social or Community Concerns (construction) 42 D.3.2 Geological, Soil Instability and Erosion 42 Preparing the Road Network Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) Development Project Timor Leste (ADB TA: 7100-TIM) May 2009 Page ii of 87 D.3.3 Controlling Sediment 48 D.3.4 Controlling Storm water 48 D.3.5 Management of Stockpiles, Spoil-heaps, Batters 49 D.3.6 Air Quality and Dust Control 50 D.3.7 Noise Control 50 D.3.8 Quarry Selection and Management 50 D.3.9 Offsite and Waste Management 51 D.3.10 Safety and Health 51 D.3.11 Cultural Heritage 52 D.3.12 Site de-commissioning 52 D.4 Operation Phase 53 D.4.1 Peoples Safety 53 D.4.2 Rehabilitation and Maintenance of Practices 53 D.4.3 Noise Control 53 E Environmental Management and Monitoring Plan 54 E.1 Environmental Management Plan 54 E.2 Environmental Monitoring Plan 55 E.2.1 Reporting Arrangements 56 E.3 Institutional Implementation and Reporting Arrangements 57 E.3.1 Sub-Project Implementation 57 F Public Consultations and Information Disclosure 61 F.1 Consultations and Awareness 61 F.2 Information Disclosure 61 G Findings and Recommendations 62 H Conclusions 62 References 63 List of Figures Figure 1: Simplified Procedure for Environmental Assessment and 4 Pollution Control in Timor Leste Figure 2: Schematic Flowchart of the Environmental Assessment Procedures 7 for TA 7100: Developing the Road Network in Timor Leste Figure 3: Subproject Location Map 8 Figure 4: Topography Map 15 Figure 5: Slope Map 16 Figure 6: Geological Stability Zone Map 17 Figure 7: Timor Leste Rainfall Distribution Map 18 Figure 8: Historic Annual Rainfall 19 Figure 9: Flood prone areas within the project area 20 Figure 10: Areas Prone to Flooding Map 21 Figure 11: Landcover Map 25 Figure 12: Biological Value Area Map 31 Figure 13: Population of Sub Districts Map 36 Figure 14: Sensitivity Classes Map 39 Figure 15: Bio-Engineering Solutions 1 45 Figure 16: Bio-Engineering Solutions 2 46 Figure 17: Locations for Bio-Engineering Mitigation Measures 47 Figure 18: Examples of Sedimentation Control Structures at Construction Stage 49 Figure 19: Flow Chart for Milestones in Environmental Assessment 60 and Management Activities for TA 7100 inTimor Leste List of Tables Table 1: Relevant Environmental law and Regulations in Timor Leste 2 Preparing the Road Network Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) Development Project Timor Leste (ADB TA: 7100-TIM) May 2009 Page iii of 87 and their current status Table 2: Environmental Classification of Proposed Road Projects 3 Table 3: Selected Environmental and Spatial Datasets in Timor Leste and Their Relevance for Environmental Impact Screening for Road Networks 6 Table 4: Average Annual Daily Travel (AADT) for the Subprojects 9 Table 5: Preliminary Implementation Schedule 11 Table 6: Cost per Subproject Road 11 Table 7: ALGIS Data on Land Cover derives from September 2000 Satellite 23 Remote Sensing Data Table 8: List of Existing and Proposed Protected Areas in Timor Leste 27 Table 9: Designated and Candidate Important Bird Areas (IBA) in Timor Leste 30 Table 10: Significance Threshold Matrix for Environmental Impacts 38 Table 11: Estimated Environmental Management and Monitoring Costs 54 Table 12: Environmental Management Plan (EMP) 64 Table 13: Environmental Monitoring Plan 71 Annex 1: Subproject Environmental Compliance Inspection and Monitoring Form 73 Annex 2: District Profiles 79 Annex 3: Proposed Locations for Bio-Engineering Locations 81 Preparing the Road Network Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) Development Project Timor Leste (ADB TA: 7100-TIM) May 2009 Page iv of 87 Abbreviations AADT Annual Average Daily Traffic ADB Asian Development Bank ALGIS Timor Leste GIS Agency DEA Executing Agency DoE Directorate of Environmental Services DRBFC Directorate of Roads, Bridges and Flood Control EA Environmental Assessment EARP Environmental Assessment & Review Procedures EEO Engineer cum Environmental Officer EIA Environmental Impact Assessment EMP Environmental Management Plan ESM Environmental Sensitivity Mapping/Map ETPA Responsible Department within the Timor Leste Public Administration GIS Geographic Information System IBA Important Bird Area IES International Environmental Specialist MAFF National Directorate for Forestry under the Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries MoI Ministry of Infrastructure NES National Environmental Specialist PM Project Manager PSA Poverty and Social Analysis GoTL Government of Timor Leste IEE Initial Environmental Examination IRR Internal Rate of Return (%) NPV Net Present Value PISC Project Support Implementation Consultant PMU Project Management Unit PPE Personal Protection Equipment QA Quality Assurance REA Rapid Environment Assessment (internal ADB document) RF Resettlement Framework RMUP Road Maintenance and Upgrading Project RP Resettlement Plan SIEE Summary IEE SLM Sustainable Land Management Project (UNDP) TL Timor Leste UN OCHA Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs (UN) Preparing the Road Network Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) Development Project Timor Leste (ADB TA: 7100-TIM) May 2009 Page 1 of 87 INITIAL ENVIRONMENTAL EXAMINATION A. INTRODUCTION A.1 Background This Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) has been prepared as part of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Technical Assistance (TA) in preparing the road network development project (TA 7100-TIM) for rehabilitation of roads in Timor Leste. The proponent is the Ministry of Infrastructure, National Directorate for Roads, Bridges and Flood Control in Timor Leste, aided by international and national consultants provided by this TA. Since the country gained independence in 2002, the road infrastructure, which was greatly damaged during the unrest following the 1999 elections, has received basic emergency repair of many damaged and impassable sections. Nonetheless a decade or more of lack of maintenance has left the road network in a poor condition, which severely hampers access to social services, markets and the movement of goods. To a great extent, the economic development of the country as a whole depends on the connectivity of a reliable road system, as land transport represents the main means of travel within the country. The sample roads selected for rehabilitation are important links, which have been identified during the TA’s Phase 1 of engineering assessments and economic analysis for a “Ten Year Master Plan/Investment Plan for Timor Leste National Road Network”. They will improve connectivity on the local as well as regional level. The Project is therefore expected to support sustainable development, reduce poverty and improve access to markets and social services for the population. The sample roads selected are National Road (NR) Liquica to Batugade (A03-03), Batugade to Mota Ain (A03-04) and Ermera to Maliana (A11-01). The road links are shown in the Map, Fig. 3 below. This IEE covers the Subproject road from Ermera to Maliana (A11-01). A.2 Purpose and Scope of the Initial Environmental Examination The Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) report presents the findings and recommendations of the environmental assessment of the sample road links proposed by the Ministry of Infrastructure. It purpose is to ensure that environmentally sound practices have been incorporated into project design, and potential negative impacts will be avoided or mitigated to acceptable levels. The environmental assessment process follow and complies with Timor Leste regulatory framework and ADB requirements. The environmental impact was considered for quarries, borrow pits, material stockpile sites, contractors' yard, damage to local access roads, and terrestrial and aquatic environment within approximately 500m on both sides of the road corridor. The extent of the study during operation has been limited to the existing road corridor with the exception of noise, which is considered up to 100m on either side of the road.