Bi-Annual Environmental Monitoring Report Project Number: TA8706-UZB February 2018 Uzbekistan: CAREC Corridor 2 (Pap-Namangan- Andijan) Railway Electrification Project Prepared by Uzbekistan Temir Yullari for the Asian Development Bank. This Bi-Annual 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. Your attention is directed to the “terms of use” section of this website. 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. TABLE OF CONTENTS GLOSSARY ............................................................................................................................ 4 1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 5 2. PROJECT DESCRIPTION ........................................................................................... 6 2.1 Existing situation ...................................................................................................... 6 2.2 Current status of the Project .................................................................................... 9 3. LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND INSTITUTIONAL ORGANIZATION .......................... 9 3.3. Legal framework and permissions ............................................................................ 9 3.4. Institutional Organization ....................................................................................... 11 4. ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT ........................................................................ 11 4.3. Implementation of CAP .......................................................................................... 11 4.1.1. Construction of new 6,7 km alignment ............................................................... 11 4.1.2. Construction of third floor in Andijan-1 Depot ................................................... 17 4.2. Environmental Monitoring .......................................................................................... 17 5. INFORMATION DISCLOSURE, CONSULTATION, AND PARTICIPATION ...... 18 6. GRIEVANCE REDRESS MECHANISM ................................................................... 18 7. SUMMARY ................................................................................................................... 19 7.1 CAP IMPLEMENTATION AND NEXT STEPS ......................................................... 19 7.2. EMP IMPLEMENTATION .......................................................................................... 19 8. ATTACHMENTS .......................................................................................................... 25 ATTACHMENT 1. License on usage sand and gravel from authorized deposit in Namangan Province .............................................................................................................................. 25 ATTACHMENT 2. Picture of meetings of UTY’s environmental specialist with population of Kizil Ravat and Yoshlik villages ........................................................................................... 27 ATTACHMENT 3. Information list distributed among people in the project area .............. 28 ATTACHMENT 4. Results of baseline noise level measurements and air quality ............... 30 ATTACHMENT 5. Certificate of Kokand Sanitarian Epidemiological Station ...................... 36 2 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ADB – Asian Development Bank CAP - Corrective Action Plane CMR - Cabinet of Ministers EHS - Environmental, Health and Safety Guidelines EIA – Environmental Impact Assessment EMP – Environmental Management Plan EMR – Environmental Monitoring Report ES - Environmental Specialist GRM – Grievance Redress Mechanism HH – Household IEE – Initial Environmental Examination IFC - International Financial Corporation LARP – Land Acquisition and Resettlement Plan MAC - Maximum Allowance Concentrations PCB - Polychlorinated Biphenyl PIU – Project Implementation Unit PMC – Project Management Consultant PPE - Personal Protective Equipment PPTA – Project Preparatory Technical Assistance RCA - Rural Citizen Assemblies RD - Ruling Document RoW - Right of Way RUz - Republic of Uzbekistan SEC - Statement on Environmental Consequences SEE - State Environmental Expertise SES – Sanitary and Epidemiological Services SPS - Safeguard Policy Statement SSEMP - Site Specific Environmental Management Plan TA – Technical Assistance UTY - Uzbekistan Temir Yullari 3 GLOSSARY Glavgosexpertisa State Department responsible for Conducting Environmental Expertise Under SNPC Khokim Governor of administrative unit Khokimiyat Regional government authority KMK National acronym for Construction norms and regulations Makhalla A community of neighbors, which is based on full independence and self-governance. SanR&N Sanitary - epidemiological norms and regulations ZEP National acronym for Statement on Environmental Consequences 4 1. INTRODUCTION 1. The Government of Uzbekistan has signed a Loan Agreement with ADB for the electrification of the railway line Pap – Namangan - Andijan. The proposed project will electrify the missing 145.2 km of non-electrified track linking major cities in the populous Fergana Valley with Tashkent. This will facilitate direct and efficient operation of both freight and passenger train services and thereby promote economic and social development of the Fergana Valley. 2. ADB has provided a technical assistance for the Project preparation in accordance with ADB requirements. Along with this, the national feasibility study are being developed by national design institute Boshtransloyiha (BTL). 3. The Project will be implemented within a period of three years starting from May 2017. Preparation and planning activities was carried out during 2016-2017. The estimated completion date is June 2020 and the financial closing date is December 2020. 4. The project will have two outputs: (i) Output 1: Railway infrastructure along the Pap-Namangan-Andijan line upgraded. This includes electrification of 145.2 km of the single-track main railway line to 27.5 kilovolts alternating current (including the electrification of the locomotive depot in Andijan and a spur line to Uchkurgan), construction of 2 traction substations and dispatcher points, purchase of maintenance equipment and machinery, modernization of signaling and communications facilities, and construction of external power supply facilities which will transmit electricity from the main grid to the traction substations. The project will build upon another initiative being taken by UTY and the government to realign 6,7 km of the railway line to bypass a section of the line that currently traverses the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic. The construction of this bypass will not be considered part of the ADB-financed project, but rather as an associated facility. UTY and the government confirmed that the development of the bypass was not done in anticipation of ADB’s financing of the project. (ii) Output 2: Safety of railway operations improved. With the project, it is expected that train frequencies and speeds will increase. In addition, the presence of the power lines may pose additional risks of electrocution. To offset any potential negative impacts, the project will support UTY in (i) conducting an assessment of the existing and anticipated safety situation to the general public including children, (ii) supporting the development of practical countermeasures, and (iii) training of staff to plan future railway developments in the safest manner. 5. Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) was conducted for the Project which consisted of Initial examination of electrified part of railway (145,2 km) and due diligence for the realigning 6,7 km. Based on the results of due diligence assessment of new 6.7 km a Corrective Actions Plan (CAP) was developed in order to bring environmental performance at construction site in compliance with ADB SPS (2009) requirements. 6. Supervision Consultant for this project took up its duties in December 2017. It is planning that preparation of tender documents for Contractor will be completed in first quarter of 2018. 7. This environmental monitoring report provides information on status of the CAP implementation for the period July-December 2017 and next steps for full implementation activities indicated in the CAP. Next bi-annual EMR will include information on CAP implementation for the new part of alignment and Environmental Management Plan (EMP) implementation for existing part. 5 2. PROJECT DESCRIPTION 2.1 Existing situation 41. Pap-Namangan-Andijan railway line under consideration runs through the territory of two provinces of Ferghana Valley of Uzbekistan – Namangan (Pap, Chust, Namangan, Chortoq, Khakkulabad districts) and Andijan (Figure 1). Namangan’s part of the road is about 112 km, while Andijan’s part is about 33 km. The railway line runs through the territory of settlements and agricultural lands. The main settlements that are crossed by the railroad are: Pap city, Namangan, Chortoq, Uychi, Haqqulobod, Paytug, Qurgan Yer, and Andijan city. 42. The existing railway line is a single-track line, and the length of the section to be electrified is 145.2 km. The railway