RTDA/ Rwanda Feeder Roads Development Project Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) for selected feeder roads in the District of Nyabihu, Rwanda –Project ID: P 126498 REPUBLIC OF RWANDA Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized RWANDA TRANSPORT DEVELOPMENT AGENCY (RTDA) FEEDER ROADS DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (FRDP) UPDATED ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT (ESIA) Public Disclosure Authorized FOR REHABILITATION, UPGRADING AND MULTI-YEAR MAINTENANCE WORKS OF INDICATIVE FEEDER ROADS NYABIHU DISTRICT, 93 KM (3 LOTS) Public Disclosure Authorized NYABIHU September 2020 0 RTDA/ Rwanda Feeder Roads Development Project Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) for selected feeder roads in the District of Nyabihu, Rwanda –Project ID: P 126498 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Government of Rwanda (GoR) through the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI) and different Development Partners have initiated and intensified their effort to support feeder road infrastructure development to minimize post-harvest loss and high transport cost across the country. A significant proportion of Rwanda's rural population whose livelihoods depend on agriculture lacks adequate access to rural transport facilities, including feeder roads that strongly hampers the agricultural development and prevent them having access to markets, enhancing their competitiveness and improve their incomes and livelihoods. In this regard, the GoR launched the Rwanda Feeder Roads Development Project (FRDP) to develop agricultural marketing roads. This project received financing from IDA to rehabilitate, upgrade and maintain 270 km of selected feeder roads in Rwamagana, Gisagara, Karongi and Nyamasheke as parent Districts. The GoR also received additional funding for the rehabilitation/ upgrading and multi-year maintenance 450 km of selected feeder roads for new six districts, namely Gatsibo, Nyagatare, Nyaruguru, Gakenke, Rutsiro and Nyabihu Districts. The six selected feeder roads in Nyabihu District include: FR1 (Gasiza- Kibisabo- Muringa-Gitebe :14 Km), FR2 (Kibisabo-Masha-Arusha-Mizingo-Masha: 33Km), FR3 (Nteranya-Kareba: 6Km), FR4 Kibisabo-Kanyaru-Rugamba-Gihirwa: 14Km, FR9 (Gipfuna-Muringa: 10Km) and FR16 (Kagogo-Gakamba-Munzuri (Pinus): 16Km). With the required expertise in road construction, the feeder Roads Development project (FRDP) has been shifted from MINAGRI to Rwanda Transport Development Authority (RTDA). Nyabihu District is one of the 7 Districts that make the Western Province. It is made up of 12 sectors, subdivided into 73 Cells and 473 villages. The District covers a surface area of 531.5 sq.km, with a population of 294,740inhabitants and population density of 548 inhabitants per sq. km. The six selected feeder roads to be rehabilitated/Upgraded in Nyabihu District have been dived into three Lots as follow: Lot 1 with 34Km, Lot 2 with 33Km and Lot 3 with 26Km. The contractors hired to rehabilitate the selected feeder roads in Nyabihu District are JV (Joint Venture) CSC&EC with Fair Construction Ltd for Lot 3 and JV CRBC with NDP Ltd for Lot 1 and Lot 2. The monitoring consultant for feeder roads rehabilitation/upgrading works in Nyabihu is JV MARISWE with ASTRIK. In 2017, the project conducted feasibility study in Nyabihu District identified 200.7 km from seventeen feeder roads in poor condition in need of rehabilitation. Considering the prioritization of roads to be rehabilitated in Nyabihu and with the additional financing budget, 93 km of feeder roads have been selected for rehabilitation, upgraded and maintained in Nyabihu District. The major activities associated with the rehabilitation/upgrading of selected feeder roads in Nyabihu District include rehabilitation/upgrading of carriageway pavement with a standardized width, bridges and drainage work as well as maintenance of rehabilitated infrastructures. The existing average carriageway width of the selected feeder roads ranges from 2.1 to 5.1 m and will be upgraded to 6m width in line with the road standards in Rwanda. However, through this rehabilitation/upgrading of feeder roads in Nyabihu District; it is planned that 74.5km out of 93km will be sealed. Therefore, preparation of detailed design report and updating the environmental and Social Impacts Assessment is required, accordingly, for this selected priority roads. Given the nature and scope of the selected feeder road project and the associated activities, the FRDP has been assigned environmental assessment category of “category A” which means that the project is expected to have potential negative environmental impacts, and thus the preparation of an i RTDA/ Rwanda Feeder Roads Development Project Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) for selected feeder roads in the District of Nyabihu, Rwanda –Project ID: P 126498 Environmental and Social Impact Assessment/ Environmental and Social Management Plan (ESIA/ESMP) is mandatory. In order to comply with the Organic law 04/2005 of 08/04/2005 determining the modalities of protection, conservation and promotion of environment in Rwanda and Ministerial Order N° 004/2008 of 15/08/2008 establishing the list of works, activities and projects that have to undertake an environmental studies and the Ministerial Order No 003/MINIRENA/2015 of 24/04/2015 determining modalities for application, issuance and use of mineral and quarry licenses, Environmental and Social Impact Assessment/Environmental and Social Management Plan (ESIA/ESMP) was prepared and publicly disclosed in 2018 for Feeder Road project in Nyabihu district for seventeen (17) feeder road sections. Due to the recent changes in project design for upgrading, rehabilitation and maintenance of selected six feeder roads (FR1, FR2, FR3, FR4, FR9 and FR16) out of the previous 17 feeder roads and change in institutional arrangement, updating of the 2018 ESIA/ESMP is necessitated before commencing civil works to ensure that the planned project activities are implemented in an environmentally friendly, socially acceptable manner and are in full compliance with the World Bank’s and Rwanda’s environmental and social policies and regulations, include (i) Article 67 of the Organic Law N° 04/2005 determining the modalities of protection, conservation and promotion of environment in Rwanda, (ii) Ministerial Order No 003/MINIRENA/2015 of 24/04/2015 determining modalities for application, issuance and use of mineral and quarry licenses. (iii) General guidelines for Environmental and Social Impact Assessment in Rwanda. Therefore, With the new contract approach used for Nyabihu Feeder roads, updating the ESIA is the responsibility of the contractors, and the updated ESIA should be cleared by the World Bank before any Civil works. The purpose of this report is to prepare project specific ESIA/ESMP which will identify and assess both social and environmental potential impacts associated with 93 km feeder road project through a process of stakeholders and public consultation and environmental investigation. It also aimed at to provide sufficient detail on the project subcomponents to Rwanda Development Board department of investment promotion (in charge of environmental studies) in order to allow RTDA and construction contractor to make an informed decision on the project subcomponents. The findings of the ESIA study showed that the District is a mountainous region characterized by steeper slopes, with an altitude above 1,800 m and a very rich and vast hydrographic network and the development of the proposed feeder roads project in Nyabihu District has both positive and negative impacts. The positive impacts include employment opportunity, skill transfer, enhanced economy in rural areas, increase and improvement in social and economic conditions and improved transport system among others. Potential negative impacts likely to occur include lose and change in land use, lose and damages of biodiversity (fauna and flora), landslides, relocation of households, increase in erosion rates, soil pollution due to spill of oil, grease and other chemical/material on road, disruption of natural drainage, water pollution due to construction activities in or nearby water bodies or disposal of wastes; air pollution due to dust and gases emissions from the construction machineries, increase in water demand, risk of health and safety, risks to health due to poor wastes disposal and outside labor employment; increase in noise increased road congestion, and damage of public utilities. The current figures identified for negative impacts during detailed design are of 32.9 ha of additional land to have 10.5 m ii RTDA/ Rwanda Feeder Roads Development Project Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) for selected feeder roads in the District of Nyabihu, Rwanda –Project ID: P 126498 right of way, loss of 10,193 trees, five (5) water valve chambers and Seven (7) water taps which will be relocated and 100 HHs to be total relocated. Much can be done to avoid, mitigate, or compensate for the negative environmental and social impacts of a road project, but it is important to identify potential impacts early in the road planning process and to make provisions for avoiding or mitigating these effects wherever possible. Failure to identify potential impacts may result in delays and cost increases later on in the project’s development. Neglecting to account for impacts may also cause the road agency to adopt solutions that compromise the environment. This ESIA study has produced different mitigation measures that will be applied to