Due Diligence Report April 2013 AFG: Water Resources Development Investment Program Tranche 1- Construction of Northern Basin Development Main Canals Prepared by for the Ministry of Finance and the Asian Development Bank.
Islamic Republic of WATER RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT INVESTMENT PROGRAMME TRANCHE 1 ADB Grant 0167 - AFG NORTHERN BASINS DEVELOPMENT AND FLOOD MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME Due Diligence Report for Construction of NBD Main Canal Structures Contract no. MEW/1277/ICB April 2013
Islamic Republic of Tranche 1 C1: Northern Basin Development Page i
Islamic Republic of Tranche 1 C1: Northern Basin Development TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Table of Contents... Abbreviations... Glossary... Executive Summary... i ii iii iv 1. Introduction... 1 1.1 Background... 1 1.2 Rationale and Status of the Report... 2 1.3 Sub-Project Physical Works... 2 2. Field Surveys and Findings. 2 2.1 Approach.. 2 3. Impact and Mitigation Measures... 3 3.1 Impact... 3 3.2 Mitigation Measures... 4 3.3 Compensation.. 4 4. Conclusion... 4 List of Figure Figure 1: NBD Location Map... 1 List of Tables Table 1: Distribution of 250 Main Structures... 2 Table 2: Summary of Impact... 3 Annex Annex 1: Questionnaire... 5-8 Annex 2: location and selected photographs of area maps... 9-19 Page i
Islamic Republic of Tranche 1 C1: Northern Basin Development ABBREVIATIONS ADB : Asian Development Bank DDR : Due Diligence Report FFA : Framework Financing Agreement GoA : Government of IR : Involuntary Resettlement LAR : Land Acquisition and Resettlement (impacts) LARP : Land Acquisition and Resettlement Plan MAIL : Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock MEW : MFF : Multitranche Financing Facility MEW :, NBD : Northern Basins Development NVDA : Nangarhar Valley Development Authority PIO : Program Implementation Office RBA : River Basin Agency SIM S.p.A : Società Italiana Monitoraggio (Italy) WRDIP : WUA : Water Users Association Page ii
Islamic Republic of Tranche 1 C1: Northern Basin Development GLOSSARY Affected Household/Family: All members of a household residing under one roof and operating as a single economic unit; who are adversely affected by the Project or any of its components. It may consist of a single nuclear family or an extended family group. Affected Person (AP) : All the people (or household) affected by the Project through land acquisition, relocation, or loss of income; and include any person, household [sometimes referred to as project affected family (AF)], firms, or public or private institutions. APs, therefore, include (i) persons whose agricultural land or other productive assets such as trees or crops are affected; (ii) persons whose businesses are affected and who might experience loss of income due to the Project impact; (iii) persons who lose work/employment as a result of Project impact; and (iv) people who lose access to community resources/property as a result of the Project. Category C : A proposed project is classified as category C if it has no involuntary resettlement impacts. Displaced Persons : People who are physically displaced (relocation, loss of residential land, or loss of shelter) and/or economically displaced (loss of land, assets, access to assets, income sources, or means of livelihoods) as a result of (i) involuntary acquisition of land, or (ii) involuntary restrictions on land use or on access to legally designated parks and protected areas. Jerib : Traditional unit of land measurement in. One Jerib is equal to 2000 square meter of land. 5 Jeribs make 1 hectare. Jirga : Pashto language meaning a community development council or assembly. Land Acquisition: The process whereby a person is compelled by a public agency to alienate all or part of the land s/he owns or possesses, to the ownership and possession of that agency, for public purposes, in return for fair compensation. Rehabilitation : Compensatory measures provided under the Policy Framework on involuntary resettlement other than payment of the replacement cost of acquired assets. Relocation : Displacement or physical moving of the APs from the affected area to a new area/site and rebuilding homes, infrastructure, provision of assets, including productive land/employment and re-establishing income, livelihoods, living and social systems. Shura: Local institution which represent the seniors of a rural community. They are mostly the decision makers at village level. There are two types of Shura - NSP/MRRD established shuras and tribal shuras. NSP shuras or CDCs are responsible mostly for developmental work while the tribal shuras are responsible for conflict resolutions, jirgas etc. Currently both shuras function for both responsibilities and are represented by the same group of people. Vulnerable : Who might suffer disproportionately or face the risk of being marginalized from the effects of resettlement and includes : (i) female-headed households with dependents; (ii) disabled household heads; (iii) poor households that fall on or below the poverty line (within the meaning given previously); (iv) landless; (v) elderly households with no means of support; (vi) households without security of tenure; (vii) households of indigenous population or ethnic minority; and (viii) marginal farmers (with landholdings of five acres or less). Page iii
Islamic Republic of Tranche 1 C1: Northern Basin Development EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1. The Government of (GoA) entered into a Framework Financing Agreement (FFA) with Asian Development Bank (ADB) under the tranche 1 of Multitranche Financing Facility (MFF) to finance the Water Resources Development Investment Program (WRDIP). 2. The Tranche 1 project has four components: (i) Northern Basins Development (NBD) that includes rehabilitation and upgrading of irrigation infrastructure, and development of a river basin agency (RBA) and water users associations (WUAs) for water management; (ii) Nangarhar Valley Development Authority (NVDA) Improvement that includes irrigation rehabilitation and upgrading, development of WUAs, and a management reform plan for the NVDA; (iii) Flood Management that includes development of flood protection infrastructure along the Amu Darya River and development of a national flood management program; and (iv) Project Management and Program Development that includes a program development facility to prepare the subsequent two tranches of the MFF. 3. The two components under Tranche 1 - C1: Northern Basins Development (NBD) and C3: Flood Management, fall under the responsibility of the Ministry of Energy and Water (MEW). The component C2 of the Tranche - Nangarhar Valley Development Authority (NVDA) Improvement is under the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL). 4. The NBD sub-components involve the design and construction of a new Bangala Weir, rehabilitation and upgrading of the Samarkandian and Nehri Shahi weirs, and construction of large number of water apportionment and other structures on 6 main traditional canals spreading over Balkh and Jowzjan provinces. This Due Diligence Report (DDR) is concerned with the construction of NBD main canal structures. 5. Construction of the water apportionment and other structures was originally planned based on the concept of implementing the physical works involving no land acquisition and resettlement (LAR) impact. The sub-project thereby was classified as Category C project as per ADB safeguards policy. Preparation of a Land Acquisition and Resettlement Plan (LARP) therefore was not necessary to be in place. However, during implementation of the infrastructure works, the sub-project requires compliance with ADB s safeguards requirements on involuntary resettlement (IR), adhering to laws and policies, in order to make sure that the project followed all safeguard requirements and no one is disadvantaged in the process of development. This DDR is formulated to assess that the safeguard plans are adequately covered under the subprojects impacts and mitigation measures. The report presents the findings from the study conducted in the area where the aforementioned infrastructure works were planned to take place. This document is presented as a. 6. The sub-project physical works comprise the construction of 250 main structures - 237 new water apportionment structures on the six major canals, together with 13 miscellaneous structures. Implementation of all physical works are planned to be carried out on existing canals or roadways, involving no new land acquisition. 7. Field surveys of all 250 sites were conducted to ensure that the safeguard measures are adequately complied with the ADB s safeguard requirements on involuntary resettlement. A standard questionnaire was used in conducting the survey which ended in September 2012. Survey result shows that implementation of physical works will neither Page iv
Islamic Republic of Tranche 1 C1: Northern Basin Development require any permanent acquisition of land, nor will involve physical displacement of any household. Also, no household will lose any part of its land-holding. As shown in the Table 2, out of 250 structures, only 28 will involve temporary land acquisition issues. However, some temporary acquisition of land will be required for diversion works. In such cases, the owners have indicated that they have no objection to the temporary use of their lands for works related to flow diversion or other purpose. The project will pay careful attention to avoid or minimize any unforeseen impacts. 8. Under the terms of the construction contract, the Contractor is responsible for negotiating and agreeing any compensation with the owners or tenants before the works commence. This is either paid in cash or in kind, whereby the Contractor may agree to assist the farmers with some land drainage works, or cleaning old or blocked tertiary irrigation ditches etc. Whilst this is largely a self-regulating process, the PIO Office also monitors the situation and can intervene and act as a mediator in the event of any disputes arising. 9. After reviewing the information on land area, it is clear that the sub-project will not result in any permanent land acquisition. No family is required to be resettled. Very minor temporary impact will occur and proper steps have been taken to mitigate those impacts. Although the project areas are inhabited by different ethnic groups, no significant differences in cultural and socio-economic identity among the different language groups, no specific adverse impacts are anticipated to warrant separate indigenous peoples plans. Since the sub-project will not require permanent acquisition of any land, residential houses or buildings and will not cause any impact involving physical displacement of any household, it can be classified as Category C as per ADB safeguard policy. Page v
Islamic Republic of 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background 1. The Government of (GoA) entered into a Framework Financing Agreement (FFA) with Asian Development Bank (ADB) under the tranche 1 of Multitranche Financing Facility (MFF) to finance the Water Resources Development Investment Program (WRDIP). The purpose of this investment program is to increase the productivity of irrigated agriculture and improve environmental sustainability due to improved water resources management through infrastructure development, capacity building and institutional strengthening. 2. The Tranche 1 project has four components: (i) Northern Basins Development (NBD) that includes rehabilitation and upgrading of irrigation infrastructure, and development of a river basin agency (RBA) and water users associations (WUAs) for water management; (ii) Nangarhar Valley Development Authority (NVDA) Improvement that includes irrigation rehabilitation and upgrading, development of WUAs, and a management reform plan for the NVDA; (iii) Flood Management that includes development of flood protection infrastructure along the Amu Darya River and development of a national flood management program; and (iv) Project Management and Program Development that includes a program development facility to prepare the subsequent two tranches of the MFF. 3. The two components under Tranche 1 - C1: Northern Basins Development (NBD) and C3: Flood Management, fall under the responsibility of the Ministry of Energy and Water (MEW). The component C2 of the Tranche - Nangarhar Valley Development Authority (NVDA) Improvement is under the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL). 4. The NBD sub-components involve the design and construction of a new Bangala Weir, rehabilitation and upgrading of the Samarkandian and Nehri Shahi weirs, and construction of large number of water apportionment and other structures on 6 main traditional canals spreading over Balkh and Jowzjan provinces. This Due Diligence Report (DDR) is concerned with the construction of NBD main canal structures. NBD location map is presented in Figure 1. Figure 1: NBD Location Map North Basins Development area Page 1
Islamic Republic of 1.2 Rationale and Status of the Report 5. Construction of the water apportionment and other structures was originally planned based on the concept of implementing the physical works involving no land acquisition and resettlement (LAR) impact. The sub-project thereby was classified as Category C project as per ADB safeguards policy. Preparation of a Land Acquisition and Resettlement Plan (LARP) therefore was not necessary to be in place. However, during implementation of the infrastructure works, the sub-project requires compliance with ADB s safeguards requirements on involuntary resettlement (IR), adhering to laws and policies, in order to make sure that the project followed all safeguard requirements and no one is disadvantaged in the process of development. This DDR is formulated to assess that the safeguard plans are adequately covered under the subprojects impacts and mitigation measures. The report presents the findings from the study conducted in the area where the aforementioned infrastructure works were planned to take place. This document is presented as a. 1.3 Sub-Project Physical Works 6. The sub-project physical works comprise the construction of 250 main structures - 237 new water apportionment structures on the six major canals, together with 13 miscellaneous structures. Implementation of all physical works are planned to be carried out on existing canals or roadways, involving no new land acquisition. Distribution of the structures across the canals is shown in Table 1. Table 1: Distribution of 250 Main Structures Canal Number of Structures Remarks Nehri Shahi 60 Chemtal 42 Aqcha 52 Includes Mangajin, Khamaqa and Muridan canals Abdullah 29 Mustaq 33 Daulatabad 20 Sub-total of water apportionment structures Miscellaneous locations 13 Total 250 237 Miscellaneous structures such as culverts etc. 7. The water apportionment structures are un-gated but hydraulically designed to limit the flow from the primary canal into the secondary canal in accordance with signed water apportionment agreements, based upon the irrigated land area attributed to the secondary and tertiary canals. All works are on existing canals or roadways and do not involve any new land acquisition. 2. FIELD SURVEYS AND FINDINGS 2.1 Approach 8. Field surveys of all 250 sites have been conducted to ensure that the safeguard measures are adequately complied with the ADB s safeguard requirements on involuntary resettlement. A standard questionnaire (Annex 1) was used in conducting the survey which ended in September 2012. Given the ethnic diversity of the people in project areas, careful attention was given to ensuring that the survey team was able to interview people using Page 2
Islamic Republic of their preferred language to avoid any possible misunderstandings arising from mistranslation of words or concepts. 9. Given the considerable volume of paperwork in the process of collecting field data, these have not been reproduced as part of this report, but are summarized in the subsequent sections. However, bound copies of the interview sheets are retained in the PIO offices and may be inspected at any time, should this be deemed necessary. 10. Mention should be made that the obvious constraint in carrying out the survey works had been the threat of insurgency in certain areas of the project. The frequent changes of security situation from unstable to volatile, sometimes reduced the possibilities to carry out more detailed field surveys. However, consultants have attempted to carry out the relevant tasks to the extent possible. 3. IMPACT AND MITIGATION MEASURES 3.1 Impact 11. The sub-project implementation works will neither require any permanent acquisition of land, nor will involve physical displacement of any household. Also, no household will lose any part of its land-holding. As shown in Table 2, out of 250 structures, only 28 will involve temporary land acquisition issues. All of these issues are related to temporary use of land for diversion works. In all cases the owners have indicated that they have no objection to the temporary use of their lands for works related to flow diversion or other purpose. Canal No of Structure No. of Land Acquisition Issues Table 2: Summary of Impact Land Owner and/or Tenants identified Objections from Land Owner and/or Tenants on Construction % of Total Structures NahriShahi 60 1 Yes No 1.7% Remarks Temporary land acquisition only Chemtal 42 18 Yes No 42.8% Temporary land acquisition only Aqcha 52 Nil Yes No Nil Temporary land acquisition only Abdullah 29 3 Yes No 10.3% Temporary land acquisition only Mustaq 33 2 Yes No 6.1% Temporary land acquisition only Daulatabad 20 3 Yes No 15.0% Temporary land acquisition only Miscellaneous 13 1 Yes No 7.7% Temporary land acquisition only Total (all canals/struct ures) 250 28 11.2% 12. In most cases, if not in all, the impacts are likely to arise from the needed work to temporarily divert the flow in the canal. There is no adverse impact on the downstream flows as these are maintained at all times. Site specific impacts include: Page 3
Islamic Republic of Temporary loss of crops on the affected land. Temporary loss of arable land for grazing. Reduced crop yields after reinstatement. 3.2 Mitigation Measures 13. The project will pay careful attention to avoid or minimize the impacts on likely affected people, even though the level of impact will be limited. The project will undertake the following mitigation measures: Minimizing working areas and hence temporary land take. Timing of the works to, wherever possible, allow owners or tenants sufficient time to harvest crops before commencing any works. Expediting the works to mitigate loss of agricultural potential. Stripping and preserving top soil from the affected areas for future reinstatement. Reinstating the working areas, including replacing top soil to mitigate any longer term reduction on crop yields etc. Minimizing cutting or removal of trees, particularly cash producing fruit or nut trees. Replanting trees as necessary once the area has been reinstated. 3.3 Compensation 14. Under the terms of the construction contract, the Contractor is responsible for negotiating and agreeing any compensation with the owners or tenants before the works commence. This is either paid in cash or in kind, whereby the contractor may agree to assist the farmers with some land drainage works, or cleaning old or blocked tertiary irrigation ditches etc. Whilst this is largely a self-regulating process, the PIO Office also monitors the situation and can intervene and act as a mediator in the event of any disputes arising. 4. CONCLUSION 15. After reviewing the information on land area, it is clear that the sub-project will not result in any permanent land acquisition. No family is required to be resettled. Very minor temporary impact will occur and proper steps have been taken to mitigate those impacts. Although the project areas are inhabited by different ethnic groups, no significant differences in cultural and socio-economic identity among the different language groups, no specific adverse impacts are anticipated to warrant separate indigenous peoples plans. Since the sub-project will not require permanent acquisition of any land, residential houses or buildings and will not cause any impact involving physical displacement of any household, it can be classified as Category C as per ADB safeguard policy. Page 4
Islamic Republic of ANNEX 1 IR Check list Page 5
Islamic Republic of INVOLUNTARY RESETTLEMENT CHECKLIST (Due Diligence Activity) A. Introduction 1. Each subsection/ section needs to be screened for any involuntary resettlement impacts which will occur or already occurred. This screening determines the necessary action to be taken by the project team. B. Information on subsection/ section: a. District/ Administrative Name: b. Location (km): c. Civil work dates (proposed): d. Technical Description: C. Screening Questions for Involuntary Resettlement Impact 2. Below is the initial screening for involuntary resettlement impacts and due diligence exercise. Both permanent and temporary impacts must be considered and reported in the screening process. Involuntary Resettlement Impacts Yes No Not known Remarks Will the project include any physical construction work? Does the proposed activity include upgrading or rehabilitation of existing physical facilities? Will it require permanent and/or temporary land acquisition? Is the ownership status and current usage of the land known? Are there any non titled people who live or earn their livelihood at the site or within the corridor of impact (COI) / Right of Way (ROW)? Will there be loss of housing? Will there be loss of agricultural plots? Page 6
Islamic Republic of Involuntary Resettlement Impacts Yes No Not known Remarks Will there be losses of crops, trees, and fixed assets (i.e. fences, pumps, etc.)? Will there be loss of businesses or enterprises? Will there be loss of incomes and livelihoods? Will people lose access to facilities, services, or natural resources? Will any social or economic activities be affected by land use related changes? Are any of the affected persons (AP) from indigenous or ethnic minority groups? If yes, please describe the situation D. Involuntary Resettlement Impact 3. After reviewing the answers above, EA/ Safeguard Team confirm that the assigned/ proposed subsection/ section is [ ] Has involuntary resettlement (IR) impact, a resettlement plan (or corrective action plan) is required [ ] Has No IR impact, no resettlement plan is required. A due diligence report for the assigned section is prepared. Prepared By: Verified by: Signature: Name: Position: Signature: Name: Position: Date: Date: Page 7
Islamic Republic of Additional Notes: (sketch map or pictures) Page 8
Islamic Republic of ANNEX 2 LOCATION AND SELECTED PHOTOGRAPHS OF AFFECTED AREA MAP Page 9
Islamic Republic of Chemtal district selected photos of affected areas Page 10
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Islamic Republic of Abdullah Canal photos of affected areas Page 16
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Islamic Republic of Daulat Abad Canal photos of affected areas Page 18
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