INTEGRATED SAFEGUARDS DATA SHEET CONCEPT STAGE Public Disclosure Copy Report No.: ISDSC6092 Date ISDS Prepared/Updated: 26-Feb-2014 Date ISDS Approved/Disclosed: 26-Feb-2014 I. BASIC INFORMATION A. Basic Project Data Country: China Project ID: P132775 Project Name: China: Gansu Rural-Urban Integration Infrastructure Project (P132775) Task Team Binyam Reja Leader: Estimated 27-Aug-2014 Estimated 20-Jan-2015 Appraisal Date: Board Date: Managing Unit: EASCS Lending Investment Project Financing Instrument: Sector(s): Rural and Inter-Urban Roads and Highways (100%) Theme(s): Rural services and infrastructure (50%), Regional integration (50%) Financing (In USD Million) Total Project Cost: 297.65 Total Bank Financing: 150.00 Financing Gap: 0.00 Public Disclosure Copy Financing Source Amount Borrower 147.65 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development 150.00 Total 297.65 Environmental A - Full Assessment Category: Is this a No Repeater project? B. Project Objectives 18. The PDO is to provide targeted residents of Wuwei Municipality and Linxia County with improved and safe transport access to economic opportunities and social services. Beneficiaries 19. The project is designed to ensure development benefits reach isolated residents in Wuwei Municipality and Linxia County, thereby ensuring China’s and Gansu’s development is shared with vulnerable communities and extreme poverty in these communities is eliminated. The project would ensure that these targeted groups are active participants in the economy by linking them to economic opportunities and social services. More specifically, rural residents will benefit from having shorter travel time to reach essential social services and job opportunities. They will also be able to transport Public Disclosure Copy their produce to urban markets efficiently. At the same time, urban residents will also benefit from better integration with the rural economy and enjoy better access to agricultural products and rural labor. Business in urban areas would benefit from a larger market. C. Project Description A. Concept 1. The proposed project is to improve rural accessibility by improving and expanding the current road network. To this end, the project will contain specific investments to construct and upgrade priority roads that would ensure effective road connection between rural communities and nearby towns. The proposed roads in Wuwei are located in the Urban-Rural Integration Core Area supported by the Urban-Rural Integration and Development of Core Area Master Plan. Linxia 12th Five Year includes the development an urban-rural integration program and the proposed roads in the sub-plan for transport sector. The projects will also improve the roads available in the new urban areas that foster urbanization and inclusive rural-urban integration. The project will support capacity building program for road safety and maintenance planning, budgeting, and execution. 1. Description 2. Component 1. Road Access Improvement (Total cost: US$288.43 million; IBRD Loan: US $144.63 million).This component finance the (a) construction of about 88 km new roads in Wuwei and about 34 km new roads in Linxia; and (b) rehabilitation of about 57 km existing roads in Linxia. (See Annex 3 for detail project description by project city). 3. Component 2. Institutional Development and Capacity Building (Total cost: US$9.22 million; IBRD Loan US$5.37 million). This component is designed to enhance the capacity of local Public Disclosure Copy governments to provide sustainable and safe road network in their respective jurisdiction, and for sustaining the benefits under the project.. The component includes: (i) comprehensive planning framework for road construction, operation and maintenance. This sub-component will finance a study to introduce lifecycle planning whereby the financing requirements for road construction, operation and maintenance are considered jointly during the planning stage. The study will also help both governments to develop a long-term rural road maintenance funding arrangements, with a view to identifying resources for rural and lower-level roads that are often neglected during the resource allocation process; (ii) road safety program in project areas. This sub-component includes road safety education and training to the public, developing the capacity of traffic policy to collect and analyze traffic accident data with a view to develop safety mitigation measures; (iii) research on innovative road design, construction techniques, and socio-economic impact of rural-urban integration. This subcomponent will finance studies for (a) introducing new road design and construction techniques in desert areas, (b) effective road development and operational procedures for rural-urban integration in minority areas, and undertaking socio-economic impact of the project; and (iv) project management and monitoring support. This sub-component will finance training and study tours for local officials, and financing consultants to support implementation, monitoring and evaluation of project activities. D. Project location and salient physical characteristics relevant to the safeguard analysis (if known) The project is in Wuwei City and Linxia County, Gansu Province. All the physical activities are in the urban and peri-urban area of Wuwei City and Linxia County. Wuwei Municipality, located at the east of Gansu Hexi Corridor, is a prefecture-level city in northwest central Gansu province. It borders Public Disclosure Copy Yingchuan and Inner Mongolia in the north; Lanzhou Municipality, provincial capital of Gansu Province in the east; and Qinghai Province in the south. Its position makes it an important business and transportation hub for the area. Wuwei has one district, and three counties with a land area of 33,000km2 and a population of 1.82 million. Linxia county is located in the middle of Gansu Province, the transition zone of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and Loess Plateau. Linxia is a county of the Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture. It borders Yongjing County in the north; Dongxiang County and Hezheng County in the east; Gannan Prefecture in the south; and Qinghai Provinces in the west. Linxia consists of 19 townships with a population of 381,200 and a land area of 1212km2 E. Borrowers Institutional Capacity for Safeguard Policies Gansu Province has worked with the Bank since 1980s. At present, it has four ongoing projects financed by the Bank. The province is familiar with the Bank’s procedures and requirements. Under the provincial level, project implementation and coordination will be carried out by Wuwei City and Linxia County respectively. Wuwei and Linxia have established their Project Leading Group (PLG) with a vice mayor or a country governor as the head of the PMOs, assisted by a number of government agencies. PMOs have been established under the guidance of the PLGs. The PMOs consist of departments responsible for financial, engineering, procurement, social and environmental management. The PMOs will designate staff for environmental safeguards management and for the coordination among consultants and the PMOs. PMO will receive trainings of the Bank safeguard policies during project preparation. The training will be provided by the Bank and the environmental consultants engaged by the PMOs. The capacity of the PMOs will be strengthened to meet the Bank’s requirement for project safeguards management. Public Disclosure Copy F. Environmental and Social Safeguards Specialists on the Team Feng Ji (EASCS) Jun Zeng (EASCS) II. SAFEGUARD POLICIES THAT MIGHT APPLY Safeguard Policies Triggered? Explanation (Optional) Environmental Assessment OP/ Yes Environmental Assessment (OP 4.01) is BP 4.01 triggered. The project mainly finances construction and improvement of urban and rural-urban roads, and the associated facilities such as bridges, culverts, sewage and storm water pipelines and traffic safety facilities (e.g. lighting, traffic signals). There will be 12 urban- rural roads in two districts and one town in Wuwei Municipality, and 9 urban-rural roads in Linxia County. Most of the urban-rural are less than 10km with a road width less than 20 meters. Of the roads proposed under the project, 57.41 kilometers are for the rehabilitator of existing roads. It is expected that the project will bring about Public Disclosure Copy positive environmental and social benefits to local communities. It will improve rural accessibility, promoting inclusive urbanization and rural-urban integration.Road construction will cause construction impacts, e.g. nuisance of dust and noise, wastewater and spoil, disturbance to traffic and local communities. Environmental concerns during operation mainly include noise, road safety, vehicle emission etc.. These potential impacts are small scale, site-specific, and can be readily mitigated with good engineering design and construction management practice. Two separate EA and EMP will be prepared for Wuwei City and Linxia County respectively. Given that project investments including the road alignments have been determined, Environmental Framework is not needed. Environmental impacts will be assessed in the EA and measures proposed in the EMP. Cumulative and induced impacts from road construction will be part of the EAs for Wuwei and Linxia. The EA will cover the project activities in the project influence area, and analyze environmental and social issues Public Disclosure Copy associated with the project, which include, among others, • Design Phase. Environmental considerations will include (i) balance of cut and fill for construction; (ii) avoiding disturbance to local communities, irrigation systems and farmland; (iii) good design for road drainage system and road safety. • Construction Phase. EA will address construction-related impacts such as (i) disposal of spoil, burrow pits, nuisance of dust, noise, waste, and wastewater; (ii) disturbance to local communities and agricultural activities etc.; (iii) local traffic disturbance; and (iv) potential pollution to the streams caused by construction activities. • Operation Phase: (i) road maintenance (e.g. road safety, drainage system). A stand-alone Environmental Management Plan will be prepared based on the above environmental assessment. The EMP includes, Public Disclosure Copy among others, • Generic Environmental Code of Practices (ECOPs) for contractors for inclusion in the bidding documents and civil work contracts; • Specific mitigations measures for potential adverse impacts of the project; •The measures for construction (e.g. ECOP) will include provision for qualified environmental supervisors in the supervision team; The proposed new road and infrastructure are in line with the urban plans for the two cities; Site specific stream protection plans will be developed as suggested; and the requirements for the chance finding procedures will be included in the contracts • A monitoring plan for the EMP; • An institutional framework for project preparation and implementation for project activities; • An institutional strengthening plan covering training and technical assistance; and • Adequate budget for the EMP implementation. TA under component 2 is for capacity building Public Disclosure Copy only in developing design standards and other related institutional development. There will not be specific investments identified. Natural Habitats OP/BP 4.04 No The project is mainly in the urban and peri- urban areas which have been disturbed by intensive human activities.. The draft EA shows that the project will not affect rivers/stream which is considered as natural habitats. The proposed bridges will traverse some low lying areas, gullies, and dry/shallow stream beds. There are no endangered species or of special importance in the project area that could be affected by project interventions. The project will not convert, degrade or restore any natural habitats or critical natural habitats. This policy is not triggered. Forests OP/BP 4.36 No The project will not have impacts on the health and quality of forests, nor affect the rights and welfare of people and their level of dependence upon or interaction with forests, nor aim to bring about changes in the management, protection, or utilization of natural forest or Public Disclosure Copy plantations. This policy is not triggered. Pest Management OP 4.09 No The project will not include any procurement of pesticides or pesticide application equipment; nor introduce any new pest management practices, or expand/alter existing pest management practices; nor lead to substantially increased pesticide use and subsequent environmental and health risks. Road maintenance in the project area will not involve the use of pesticides due to the elevation and climate conditions in Wuwei and Linxia. It will be further clarified in the EA. This policy is not triggered. Physical Cultural Resources OP/ TBD Based on the available information and BP 4.11 preliminary screening, No physical cultural resources have been identified to be affected by the project. It will be further assessed by the EA. The policy is marked as “TBD” at this stage. Indigenous Peoples OP/BP 4.10 Yes Linxia is a Hui autonomous county with 40% of its population is Hui ethnic minorities. Based on project proposal, there are Hui groups/villages present in the project area and the Bank’s OP4.10 on Indigenous People is triggered. A Public Disclosure Copy Social Assessment as required by the policy will be conducted, and an Ethnic Minority Development Plan will be developed by the client. As the proposed components include construction of local roads which will serve local communities directly, clients were reminded that the project designs should be consulted with and agreed by the local people/ communities. And any social impact on local people/communities needs to be identified and addressed. Therefore, Social Assessment exercises are needed, and Social Assessment reports should be prepared. The clients are reminded to pay special attention to collecting women’s views on the project. Involuntary Resettlement OP/BP Yes Land taking caused by project construction is 4.12 unavoidable. The main involuntary resettlement impact will include structure demolition, land acquisition and temporary land taking. Two Resettlement Action Plans (RAP) will be prepared by Wuwei Municipality and Linxia County in both English and Chinese. In the Public Disclosure Copy project preparation phase, locations of some subcomponents might not be determined or might change during project implementation; therefore both Wuwei and Linxia are required to prepare a Resettlement Policy Framework (RPF). Linkage projects: The Golden Avenue (Jinse Dadao Road) in Wuwei is identified as the linkage project as defined by the OP4.12. Given the resettlement of the road has been completed; a Due Diligence study on its resettlement practice should be conducted. The due diligence report should be included in the Wuwei RAP. The screening of other potential linkage project will be continuous during the project preparation. Safety of Dams OP/BP 4.37 No The project will not finance construction or rehabilitation of any dams as defined under this policy. Not applicable Projects on International No Waterways OP/BP 7.50 Projects in Disputed Areas OP/BP No 7.60 Public Disclosure Copy III. SAFEGUARD PREPARATION PLAN A. Tentative target date for preparing the PAD Stage ISDS: 10-Jan-2014 B. Time frame for launching and completing the safeguard-related studies that may be needed. The specific studies and their timing1 should be specified in the PAD-stage ISDS: During preparation mission (November 2013) the draft EA reports prepared by the EA institute were reviewed by the Bank team. The updated EA documents and Social Safeguards documents (RAPs, RPFs, SAs and EMDP) will be submitted to the Bank’s team for review in February, 2014. IV. APPROVALS Task Team Leader: Name: Binyam Reja Approved By: Regional Safeguards Name: Peter Leonard (RSA) Date: 26-Feb-2014 Coordinator: Sector Manager: Name: Mark R. Lundell (SM) Date: 26-Feb-2014 1 Reminder: The Bank's Disclosure Policy requires that safeguard-related documents be disclosed before appraisal (i) at the InfoShop and (ii) in country, at publicly accessible locations and in a form and language that are accessible to potentially affected persons.