Public Disclosure Authorized Khyber Pakhtunkhwa-Southern Area Development Project (KP-SADP) Dera Ismail Khan, Lakki Marwat and Tank Districts Final Public Disclosure Authorized Environmental and Social Assessment (ESA) 23rd October 2012 Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized PCNA Secretariat Planning and Development (P&D) Department Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Civil Secretariat - Peshawar KP-Southern Area Development Project Environmental and Social Assessment (ESA) Executive Summary This document presents the Environmental and Social Assessment (ESA) report of the Southern Area Development Project (SADP), which is to be implemented in Dera Ismail Khan (DI Khan), Lakki Marwat and Tank districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province of Pakistan. The Government of Pakistan (GoP) has requested the World Bank (WB) to establish a Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) for the recovery and rehabilitation of the crisis affected areas of KP, Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), and Baluchistan. The KP-SADP is planned to be funded through the MDTF. Environmental and Social Screening and Assessment Framework The Bank has prepared an Environmental and Social Screening and Assessment Framework (ESSAF), in accordance with the OP 8.0 for emergency operations – applicable to all interventions under the MDTF. It specifies the environmental and social assessment requirements that the implementing agency will need to fulfill before any Project under MDTF is implemented. The present ESA has been carried out in pursuance of the environmental assessment requirements defined in the ESSAF. Project Overview KP-SADP aims to improve the well-being of unserved and underserved low income communities of the three districts (DI Khan, Lakki Marwat and Tank) where people have been badly affected by militancy and are deprived of basic facilities and livelihood opportunities. The project components include: Component A: Community Development support; Component B: Community Investment Program, - Sub-component B1: Social Infrastructure, - Sub-component B2: Productive Infrastructure, - Sub-component B3: Assets building for ultra-poor; Component C: Project Implementation Support. Regulatory Framework The present study has been carried out in response to the requirements defined in the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act of 1997 – which requires an environmental assessment to be carried out for each development project listed in scheduled I and/or II of the EIA/IEE Regulations 2000, and the World Bank’s Operational Policy 4.01, which requires the environmental assessment to be carried out for Category A and B projects being considered under the Bank’s financing. Brief Description of the Project Area DI Khan DI Khan is situated on the right side bank of the River Indus, and is the Divisional Head Quarter of the southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It borders the Punjab and Baluchistan provinces. Total area of DI Khan district is 7,326 square kilometers (sq km), with a population density of 181 persons per sq km. The total population of DI Khan district is 1,329,456 in 2011-12. Agriculture and fisheries are the main sources of livelihood of rural population. The total cultivated area in DI Khan district is 246,802 hectares (ha). Lakki Marwat District Lakki Marwat came into being as a new district of Bannu Division on 1st July 1992. The area consisting of arid plains could not be developed due to a number of constraints, including water shortage and lack of irrigation networks - due to which it inherited an extremely weak agricultural base. Transport and mineral sectors are the main stay of the economic life of the people of the area, while agriculture is the main source of livelihood of the rural population. ii KP-Southern Area Development Project Environmental and Social Assessment (ESA) Total area of Lakki Marwat district is 3,164 sq km with a population density of 238 persons per sq km. The total population of Lakki Marwat district is 753,572 in 2011- 12. The total cultivated area in Lakki Marwat district is 116,900 hectares. Tank Tank, an old Tehsil of district DI Khan, was upgraded to a full-fledged district on July 1, 1992. It has since long commanded a very important position in the whole southern districts belt of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in general and in ex-DI Khan Division in particular, due to its location, trade and commerce which flows from tribal areas and Afghanistan. The district is dominated by Bhittani and Mahsud tribes and the topography is partly plain and partly hilly. The road linking Quetta with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa originates from Tank via Wana and Zhob. Total area of Tank district is 1,679 sq km with a population density of 217 persons per sq km. The total population of Tank district is 364,863 in 2011-12. Agriculture and trade are the main sources of livelihood of rural population. The total cultivated area in Tank district is 24,445 hectares. Stakeholders’ Consultations During the pre-appraisal mission of the project the Project Planning and Implementation Cell (PP&I) of the Planning and Development Department was delegated the task to organize a series of consultations with district level stakeholders as well as provincial stakeholders aimed at creating awareness amongst the decision-makers, civil society, local opinion leaders, community elders and communities at large on the respective roles and tasks including different needs and priorities for implementing this project. The objective was to sensitize the stakeholders including policy makers, participating communities on the KP-SADP’s development objectives, components, opportunities, methodologies, and potential constraints in the implementation process. These consultations on KP-SADP provided a forum for various stakeholders to exchange views and fill the knowledge gap and promote synergies amongst them for a greater efficiency during the project implementation. Impact Assessment and Mitigation The project components B and C are likely to include and finance infrastructure and livelihood related schemes such as water supply, sanitation, solid waste disposal, rehabilitation/reconstruction of water courses/channels, renewable energy systems, storage facilities, processing/packing facilities, rural link roads, and livestock sector development schemes that would be implemented in the three districts. The potentially negative environmental and social impacts of the above-listed schemes are likely to include water sources not safe for drinking purposes, contamination of soil and water resulting from inappropriate waste disposal, health and safety hazards for the communities, unavailability of land on voluntary basis, inadequacy of the schemes sighting, inequitable distribution of the intended benefits of schemes, blocked access routes, damage to the public infrastructure, damage to crops and cultivated fields, trees cutting and felling, and damage to cultural heritage sites and graveyards. The impact assessment carried out during the ESA exercise has revealed that most of these potential impacts are temporary and localized in nature with low to moderate severity, and are mostly reversible. Furthermore, with the help of appropriate mitigation and control measures/application of mitigation checklists, most of these potential impacts will either be avoided altogether, or their likelihood of occurrence and severity will be further reduced, thus making these sub-projects/schemes environmentally responsible and socially acceptable. These mitigation measures include screening the water sources for their suitability against the drinking water standards; appropriately treating/disposing the sewage and solid waste; properly iii KP-Southern Area Development Project Environmental and Social Assessment (ESA) locating the schemes; ensuring community participation and consent in designing and locating the infrastructure/facilities; ensuring equitable distribution of scheme’s benefits; ensuring that the land for the schemes is voluntarily donated by the community; avoiding/minimizing damages to crops, trees and infrastructure and repairing/rehabilitating/compensating any damages; compensatory tree plantation; and educating the community through awareness raising campaigns on aspects such as waste disposal, water conservation and efficient use, and modern irrigation and cultivation techniques. Environmental and Social Management Plan An Environmental and Social Management Plan (ESMP) has been included in the ESA, in order to provide implementation mechanism for the mitigation measures identified during the study. The salient features of the ESMP are briefly described below. The overall institutional responsibility for the implementation of ESMP as well as environmental and social performance of the project rests with the Project Management Unit (PMU) and thus with the Project Director (PD). H/she will be supported by the Deputy Director, Infrastructure, who will be the Environmental and Social Focal Point (ESFP) in the PMU. In addition, ESFPs will be nominated separately in the District Implementation Units (DIUs), and within the line directorates. These ESFPs will coordinate the effective implementation of ESMP including integration of environmental and social guidelines into the schemes’ design, monitoring, and preparing quarterly progress reports on ESMP implementation. A part-time safeguard specialist will also be engaged for SADP during the first year of the project to support the ESFP at PMU in the execution of the mitigation measures/plans and reporting on each subproject