Additional Financing of Maharashtra Rural Connectivity Improvement Project (RRP IND 52328) Initial Environmental Examination Project Number: 52328-002 September 2020 Proposed Loan India: Maharashtra Rural Connectivity Improvement Project—Additional Financing Prepared by the Maharashtra Rural Road Development Association, State Government of Maharashtra, for the Asian Development Bank. This initial environmental examination 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 on ADB’s 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. Currency Equivalents (as of 08 September 2020) Currency unit – Indian Rupee (₹) ₹1.00 = $0.014 $1.00 = ₹73.91 ABBREVIATIONS ADB – Asian Development Bank DPR – detailed project report GDP – gross domestic product ha – hectare km – kilometer MMGSY – Mukhya Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (Chief Minister’s Rural Road Scheme) MRRDA – Maharashtra Rural Road Development Association PISC – project implementation support consultant PIU – project implementation unit PMGSY – Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (Prime Minister’s Rural Road Development Program) PMU – project management unit SPS – Safeguard Policy Statement, 2009 TA – technical assistance NOTE (i) In this report, “$” refers to United States dollars. Additional Financing of Maharashtra Rural Connectivity Improvement Project (RRP IND 52328) Table of Contents I. Introduction Project Background 1 IEE Objectives 2 Extent of IEE 3 Study Approach and Methodology 4 Reconnaissance Survey and Initial Consultations 4 Primary Data Collection 4 Secondary Data Collection 4 Public Consultations 5 Other Tools, Additional Surveys and Studies 5 Assessment of Potential Impacts 5 Preparation of the Environment Management Plan (EMP) 5 Structure of IEE Report 5 II. DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT 6 Project Location 6 Proposed Project 10 Project’s environmental category 13 Characteristics of Existing Roads and Bridges 14 Climate Resilient Rural Road Improvement 14 Use of Innovative Technologies 15 III. POLICY AND LEGAL FRAMEWORK 16 Regulatory Requirements for the Rural Road Upgrading 16 Environment Codes of Practices 17 ADB Safeguard Policy Statement (SPS) of 2009 19 Safeguards Provisions in the Bidding Documents 20 International Conventions and Treaties 23 IV. ENVIRONMENTAL BASELINE 24 Geography and Project Administrative Boundary 24 Physical Environment 26 Climate and Meteorology 26 Physical and Geography 27 Soils 27 Seismic Hazard 28 Land Use Pattern 28 Surface and Ground Water Quality 29 Flora and Fauna 37 Forest 37 Protected Areas 39 Socio-Economic 55 Population 55 Economy 57 Transportation 58 V. IMPACT ASSESSMENT AND MITIGATION MEASURES 60 Identification and Assessment of Environmental Impacts 61 Summary of Impacts Assessment and Mitigation measures 63 Project Design and Pre-Construction Stage 63 Road and Bridge Selection Criteria 63 Clearing of vegetation and removing trees 64 Shifting of utilities and common property resources 64 Design and planning of embankment construction 65 Hydrology and Drainage 65 Establishment of Construction Camp, temporary office and storage area 66 Traffic Management and Road Safety 66 Construction Phase 67 Sourcing and transportation of construction material 67 Loss of Productive Soil, erosion and land use change 68 Compaction and Contamination of Soil 68 Construction Debris and waste 69 Air and Noise Quality 69 Tree plantation 70 Wildlife protection 70 Ground Water and Surface Water Quality and Availability 71 Hydrology, Sedimentation and Erosion of the river 71 Occupational Health and Safety 72 Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) 72 Post Construction Phase 72 Air and Noise Quality 72 Site restoration 73 Hydrology and Drainage 73 VI. PUBLIC CONSULTATION AND INFORMATION DISCLOSURE 114 Public Consultation Background 114 Consultation Method and Information Disclosure 114 Participants to the Transect Walk 114 Results of Public Consultation 115 Information Disclosure 117 Public Consultation and Communication Plan for future 118 VII. ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT PLAN 120 Environmental Management Plan 120 Environmental Management and Monitoring 120 Institutional Setting to Implement the Environmental Safeguards 121 VIII. ANALYSIS OF ALTERNATIVES 125 No-action option 125 With project option 125 IX. GRIEVANCE REDRESS MECHANISM 128 Grievance Redress Mechanism 128 X. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 131 Conclusion 131 Additional Financing of Maharashtra Rural Connectivity Improvement Project (RRP IND 52328) Tables Table1. Distribution of the target rural roads for the Maharashtra Rural Connectivity Improvement Project – Additional Financing. 7 Table 2. Distribution of the target bridges for the Maharashtra Rural Connectivity Improvement Project – Additional Financing. 8 Table 3. Pertinent Environmental Laws that are applicable for the project works 16 Table 4. Summary of the ADB‘s environmental safeguard categorization 19 Table 5. Distribution of the districts in different divisions of the State Maharashtra and corresponding target quantity of rural roads and bridges. 25 Table 6. Land Use in Maharashtra as of 2018. 29 Table 7. Summary of protected areas in Maharashtra 39 Table 8. Summary of the number of taxonomic groups reported from IBAT. 47 Table 9. List of species under the Amphibia group that are CR and EN according to the IUCN records. 48 Table 10. List of species under the Liliopsida group that are CR and EN according to the IUCN records. 49 Table 11. List of species under the Mamalia group that are CR and EN according to the IUCN records. 50 Table 12. List of species under the Actinopterygiia group that are CR and EN. 50 Table 13. List of species under the Magnoliopsida group that are CR and EN according to the IUCN records. 52 Table 14. List of species under the Aves group that are CR and EN according to the IUCN records. 52 Table 15. Summary of the different threats to EN and CR species found in the state of Maharashtra. 53 Table 16. Traffic Growth Rates used in Projections 59 Table 17. Multi-Criteria Analysis to Determine the Potential Environmental Impacts 62 Table 18. Interaction between Environmental Components and Maharashtra RCIP Road Improvement Additional Financing 63 Table 19. Analysis of Environmental Impacts for the RCIP Additional Financing 74 Table 20. Number of participants of the transect walks in every district. 115 Table 21. Comments raised by the community or transect walk participants 115 Table 22. Potential environmental impacts of the no-action option and with project Scenario 126 Table 23. Composition of the GRC members per level 129 Figures Figure 1. Locations of the proposed rural roads under the Maharashtra Rural Roads Connectivity Project additional financing. 9 Figure 2. A typical rural road design (cross-section) 11 Figure 3. General indication of the construction program for the rural roads. 11 Figure 4. Improvement design (sample) from the Design Project Report (DPR) bridge in Pauni Taluka, Bhandara 12 Figure 5. As a sample schedule, construction program for the previous bridge design (Figure 4). 13 Figure 6. Condition of rural road (SH-51 to Gotra Bhiwapur MDR-45). 14 Figure 7. Administrative location of Maharashtra along with the other states of India. 24 Figure 8. Map of the districts of Maharashtra. 25 Figure 9: Map showing varying amount of rainfall annually in different parts of Maharashtra. 26 Figure 10. Soil map Maharashtra 27 Figure 11. Network of surface water quality monitoring stations in Tapi Basin 30 Figure12. Historical WQI (2007 to 2018) of 6 districts in Tapi Basin 30 Figure13. Network of surface water quality monitoring stations in Godavari Basin 1 31 Figure 14. Network of surface water quality monitoring stations in Godavari Basin 2 32 Figure 15. Trend of annual WQI across districts of Godavari Basin 32 Figure16. Trend of annual WQI across districts of Godavari Basin 33 Figure17. Network of surface water quality monitoring stations in Krishna Basin 34 Figure 18. Trend of annual WQI across districts of Krishna Basin 34 Figure19. Network of surface water quality monitoring stations in West flowing rivers 35 Figure 20. Trend of annual WQI across districts of West Flowing Basins 36 Figure 21. Spatial representation for average groundwater WQI 37 Figure 22: Distribution forest cover across the State of Maharashtra. 38 Figure 23. District-Wise Forest Cover of Maharasthra (2013) 38 Figure 24: Map of Wildlife Protected areas in Maharashtra (Source: ENVIS Centre on Wildlife & Protected Areas, 2019) 46 Figure 25. A photograph of the Wild Water Buffalo (Bubalus arnee ) 49 Figure 26. Geographic range of Cremnoconchus carinatus 51 Figure 27. Population Distribution by Household, Urban, Rural, and by Gender. Maharashtra, 2011 56 Figure 28. Population 0-6 Years Old by District, State of Maharashtra, 2011 57 Figure 29: Framework of the GRM process 130 Appendixes Appendix 1. List of rural roads under the Maharashtra RCIP Additional Financing. Appendix 2. List of bridges under the Maharashtra RCIP Additional Financing Appendix 3. General Environmental Management Plan for the rural roads Appendix 4.1. Environmental Monitoring Plan (EMoP) for the rural roads during Design and Pre-