vietnam managing natural hazards project€¦ · web view2012/04/12 · -natural disasters...

SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAMMINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT (MARD)

CENTRAL PROJECT OFFICE (CPO)

VIETNAM MANAGING NATURAL HAZARDS PROJECT(VN-Haz Project)

ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT(EA)

Water Resources University

Consultancy & Technology Transfer Company

March - 2012

E2993 v8

Table of ContentsList of Annexes.........................................................................................................................iiLIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES......................................................................................iiiAbbreviations..........................................................................................................................ivAbbreviations..........................................................................................................................ivEXECUTIVE SUMARY.........................................................................................................1Chapter 1: Introduction..........................................................................................................5

1.1 Background.......................................................................................................................51.2. Objectives and Scope.......................................................................................................6CHAPTER 2 PROJECT DESCRIPTION..............................................................................82.1. Project Objectives and Components................................................................................8

2.2. Project Areas and Main Activities.................................................................................17CHAPTER 3 POLICY, LEGAL, AND INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK..................21

2.1 World Bank’s Safeguard Policies...................................................................................212.2 National Policy, Regulations, and InstituionalFramworks.............................................22CHAPTER 4. ENVIRONMENTAL BACKGROUND.......................................................274.1. Environmental Background...........................................................................................284.2 Natural Disaster Situation and Response Capacity.........................................................36CHAPTER 5 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT...........................................395.1 Potential Positive -Iimpacts............................................................................................395.2 Identification of Potential Negative Impacts..................................................................435.3 Assessment of Potential Negative Impacts during Construction....................................485.4 Assessment of Environmental Impacts during Operation..............................................545.5. Analysis of alternatives..................................................................................................56

CHAPTER 6. PROPOSED MITIGATION MEASURES.................................................606.1 Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF)........................................606.2 Mitigation measures for Phase 1 subprojects..................................................................676.3 Dam Safety Framework (DSF).......................................................................................676.4 Implementation and Monitoring Arrangement………………………………………676.4.1 Responsible agencies:..................................................................................................676.4.2 Reporting arrangement................................................................................................676.4.3 Safeguard training and capacity building...................................................................676.4.4 Budget allocation.........................................................................................................68

CHAPTER 7 PUBLIC CONSULTATION..........................................................................727.1. Objective and Methodology...........................................................................................727.2 Public Consultation Results............................................................................................73

References……………………………………………………………………………………85

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Environmental Assessment (EA)Viet Nam Managing Natural Hazards Project (VN-Haz)

LIST OF ANNEXESAnnex 1: Subproject List and Location Maps

Annex 2: National Policies and Institutions

Annex 3: Background on Key River Basins

Annex 4: Background on Natural Disaster

Annex 5: Initial Screening for Potential Negative Impacts of Subprojects

Annex 6: Public Consultation

Annex 7: Pictures of Field Trip and Public Consultation

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LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 2.1. List of the activities to be implemented under Component 3..................................18

Table 2.2: Classification of subprojects under Component 4 by type of works.......................19

Table 2.3: Number of proposed subprojects under Component 4 by the provinces................19

Table 2.4: Number of proposed subprojects under Component 4 by river basins....................20

Table 2.5: List of the first phase subprojects (5 provinces, 5 basins).......................................20

Table 2.1: Relevant WB’s Safeguard Policies..........................................................................21

Figure 2.1: Environmental Management Structure...................................................................26

Figure 4.1. River basins and Provinces related to VN-Haz Project..........................................27

Figure 4.2. Locations of national parks and important nature reserves....................................32

Figure 4.3. Location of key socio – economic zones................................................................34

Figure 4.4: Population density in the key river basins in the project area................................34

Figure 4.5. Economic structure of the key river basins in the project area...............................35

Figure 4.6. Locations of key cultural sites................................................................................36

Table 5.1. Identification of potential negative impacts.............................................................43

Table 5.2: Impacts due to land acquisition and relocations of first phase Component 4 subprojects (RAPs for five-first phase subprojects).................................................................46

Table 5.4: Comparison between “without project” and “with project” option.........................57

Table 6.1: Technical Guideline for Safeguard Screening and Actions for Component 4 Subprojects................................................................................................................................70

Table 7.1. Public consultation during the development of the EA and ESMF.........................72

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ABBREVIATIONSCAFSCP Commune Annual Flood and Storm Control Plan CBDRM Community-Based Disaster Risk ManagementCCCC Commune CBDRM Coordination CommitteeCCFSC Central Committee for Flood and Storm Control

CDPM Centers for Disaster Prevention and Mitigation CFSC Committee for Flood and Storm Control (at Province, District

and Commune levels)CPC Commune People's CommitteeCPMO Central Project Management Office CPO Central Project Office CSC Construction Supervision ConsultantCSEP Contract Specific Environmental PlanDARD Department of Agriculture and Rural DevelopmentDMC Disaster Management Center

DONRE Department of Natural Resources and EnvironmentDPC District People's CommitteeDRM Disaster Risk Management ECOP Environmental Code of PracticesEA Environmental AssessmentEIA Environmental Impact AssessmentEMC Environmental Management ConsultantEMP Environmental Management Consultant EMDP Ethnic Minority Development PlanEMP Environmental Management PlanEMPF Ethnic Minority Policy Framework EPC Environmental Protection CommitmentESMF Environment and Social Management Framework ESU Environmental and Social Unit GoV Government of VietnamM&E Monitoring & EvaluationMARD Ministry of Agriculture and Rural DevelopmentMONRE Ministry of Natural Resources and EnvironmentOP/BP Operational Policy/Bank ProceduresPCFSC Provincial Committee for Flood and Storm Control PCSR Provincial Committee for Search and RescuePPMU Provincial Project Management UnitRAP Resettlement Action PlanRPF Resettlement Policy Framework SA Social AssessmentUXO Unexploded OrdnancesVN-Haz Vietnam – Managing Natural Hazards Project

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WB World Bank

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EXECUTIVE SUMARY

1. Vietnam Managing Hazards Project (VN-Haz or the Project) is one of the projects invested by the Government of Vietnam to support the implementation of “the National strategy for Natural Disaster Prevention and Mitigation to 2020”. The project is partially funded by the World Bank's loan and will be carried out in 10 provinces in the central region, including Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Da Nang, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, and Ninh Thuan.

2. The development objective of the Project is to increase the resilience of the people and economic assets to natural hazards in selected river basins of the project provinces within the overall framework of the Vietnam’s National Disaster Prevention, Response and Mitigation Strategy Towards 2020. To achieve this objective, a river basin approach has been used in the Project design by focusing investments in major river basins, integrating components activities to avoid small and scattered efforts, and applying structural and non-structural measures to reduce the vulnerability to natural disasters. The Project activities will be implemented through the following five components, namely Component 1: Strengthening Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Institutions, Information Systems and Planning; Component 2: Strengthening Weather Forecasting and Early Warning Systems; Component 3: Community-Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM); Component 4: Priority Disaster Risk Mitigation Investments; and Component 5: Project Management.

3. Objective of the Environmental Assessment (EA): To be in line with the World Bank (WB) safeguard policy (OP/BP 4.01) an EA was carried out to examine environmental issues and impacts associated with the project based on a river basin approach. The EA presents the policy, legal, and institutional aspects relevant to the environmental management and natural disaster situations; assessed the potential impacts both positive and negative, including consideration on alternative options; and proposed measures to mitigate the potential negative impacts, including recommendation to strengthen the environmental management during the design of the Project.

4. National policy and institution framework: The Government has established national policy, regulations, and institution related to environmental management and natural disaster. Law on Environmental Protection (2005) sets out regulations requiring an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) or an Environmental Protection Commitment (EPC) for a development project. The EIA report is developed at an early stage of the project preparation (feasibility study).

5. World Bank’s safeguard policy: The Project has been assigned as category “B” and WB clearance of the mitigation measures is required. The Project triggers the following six WB’s safeguard policies: Environmental Assessment (OP/BP 4.01); Physical Cultural Resources (OP/BP 4.11); Indigenous Peoples (OP/BP 4.10); Involuntary Resettlement (OP/BP 4.12); Safety of Dams (OP/BP 4.37); and Projects on International Waterways (OP/BP 7.50). It has also to comply with the policy on Public Consultation and Information Disclosure. The Project will not affect critical natural habitats/protected areas and/or involve forest logging/production.

6. Environmental background: The existing environmental conditions in the Central Region are presented including those in the context of river basins especially for Ma river basin, Ca river basin, Thach Han river basin, Gianh river basin, Vu Gia-Thu Bon river basin, Tra Khuc-Tra Bong river basin, and Kone river basin. Most of the rivers are short and steep causing fast water flows and accumulation of sediment at the river mouths. The Project area

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lies within the tropical monsoon region, with an average temperature of 27oC. The Central Region’s climate is divided into two major patterns, the North Central and the South Central Coast. The air quality is generally good, except in some urban areas where levels of dust and noise are relatively high. Across the entire area, the groundwater quality is good and can be used for domestic water supply. However, high content of iron or manganese or salinity can be observed in some specific areas. Surface water quality is also good, except the high content of total suspended solids due to riverbank erosion. However, the water quality is often degraded during and after heavy rains or storms. The soil quality of the region is generally good. The terrestrial ecosystems of the region mainly consist of natural and plantation forests. Freshwater ecosystems in the Project area are not unique and many National Parks and Natural Resources Reserves of high biodiversity value have been established.

7. Population densities of most of river basins are below the national average, except Tra Khuc and Kone river basins. All of river basins have rural population, accounting for more than 70% of the total population. Agricultural, forest, and vacant land areas are being reduced due to construction of transportation network, irrigation system, hydropower plants, urban areas and factories. The infrastructure in the Project area is still poor, especially the rural road systems which haven’t met the need for transportation and rescue in heavy rains or floods. The regional economy is still in a difficult situation and the marine resources are being over-exploited.

8. The Central Region often experiences most of the different types of natural disasters in Vietnam, of which the most frequent are floods, typhoons, heat waves, and droughts. Floods and inundations in the region usually occur on a large scale, simultaneously in several provinces, sometimes cover the entire region. Floods have been hitting the region more frequently and more fiercely, causing human casualties, property damage, and soil and water pollution. Storms and tropical low pressures are happening more regularly and intensely.

9. Positive Impacts: The overall impacts of the Project will be positive. Results of the assessment show that the Project would benefit the country and local communities, namely: (i) Reduction of human losses and property damage by protecting approximately 900,000 people (more than 210,000 households), including people of 5 ethnic groups: Muong, Thai, Co Tu, H’re and Cham, and nearly 50 thousand of hectares of productive land from annual floods and droughts; (ii) Facilitation for socio-economic development and improvement in living standards for local people in the project areas; (iii) Raising community awareness and natural disaster risk management capacity of different levels; and (iv) Improvement in quality of living environment. Technical assistance and financial support to be provided under Components 1, 2, and 3 will continue to strengthen policy and institutional capacity of key agencies at national and local levels as well as capacity of local communities to address natural disaster issues.

10. Negative Impacts: The negative impacts will be mainly due to civil works to be carried out under Component 4, especially those related to: (i) Land acquisition and resettlement of local people including ethnic minority people and gravesites and (ii) Site clearance and construction which could temporary increase levels of dust and other air pollution, noise, vibration, water pollution, local traffic volume, safety risk, and other impacts on local residents and businesses. The impacts, however, will be small to moderate, localized, and temporary considering that civil works will only be limited to rehabilitation and upgrading, and can be mitigated through good construction management and practices with close supervision of contractors by field/site engineers and in consultation with local authorities and local residents. To mitigate these impacts a standard Environmental Code of Practices (ECOP) has been developed and will be included in the bidding and contract documents for

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the Component 4 subprojects. There are UXO risks during construction but this risk is considered moderate and could be mitigated through an UXO examination and clearance (as needed), prior to the commencement of civil works. There are also risks during operation if the infrastructures are not properly designed and/or maintained adequately and/or sluices are not properly operated. However, these risks are also considered moderate and could be mitigated through proper design, close consultation among stakeholders, and the capacity building activities to be carried out under Components 1, 2, and 3. Risk related to coastal erosion could be mitigated through proper design of coastal structure and consultation with nearby local authorities and communities. The Project will not affect any national and local physical cultural resources, historical sites, and nature and biodiversity reserves.

11. Potential negative impacts of Component 3 subprojects will be limited to community infrastructure and very small works such as construction of buildings and meteorological stations and they can be mitigated through the participatory planning process and/or the application of good construction practices. A simple ECOP has also been developed and it will be applied to bidding and/or construction contracts for Component 3.

12. Environmental Safeguard Management Framework (ESMF) and other Environmental Safeguard Documents/Instruments: Given that the subprojects will be implemented in phases an ESMF has been prepared to ensure that the subprojects and activities to be financed under the Project would not create adverse impacts on the local environment and local communities and the residual and/or unavoidable impacts will be adequately mitigated in line with the WB’s safeguard policy. The ESMF process describes criteria for safeguard screening of subprojects, including an exclusion list, and identification of impacts; basic principles for development of mitigation measures; requirements for WB safeguard clearance; and implementation, supervision, monitoring, and reporting. The ESMF also provides guidelines for preparation of an Environmental Management Plan (EMP) for a subproject, including actions to facilitate effective implementation of the EMP, institutional arrangement, safeguard training and capacity building, and budget allocation and source of funds. EMPs have been prepared for the year 1/phase 1 subprojects. For the subproject involving dam safety, a Dam Safety Framework (DSF) has also been prepared including guidelines for preparation of a Dam Safety Report (DSR) for large dams and a Dam Safety Inspection Report (DSIR) for small dams. The ESMF is prepared as a stand alone document and is closely connected to other social safeguard policy documents of the Project, namely the Ethnic Minority Policy Framework (EMPF), the Resettlement Action Plans (RAPs), and the Ethnic Minority Development Plans (EMDPs).

13. Implementation arrangement: The Central Project Management Office (CPMO) in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has overall responsibility for ESMF implementation within the Project, including training on safeguard policy frameworks and action plans (ESMF/EMP, DSF/DSRs/DSIRs, RPF/RAPs, and EMPF/EMDPs) for the Provincial Project Management Units (PPMUs) and other related units; selecting an external monitoring agency; supervising and reporting on environmental and social issues. The PPMUs would be responsible for the development and implementation of the safeguard action plans (EMPs, DSRs/DSIRs, RAPs, EMDPs) in cooperation with the District Resettlement Committees (DRCs) and local agencies and regularly monitor the implementation. CPMO will supervise and monitor the implementation of safeguard measures at least twice a year and report annual monitoring results to the World Bank.

14. Public Consultation: In consistency with the Bank’s requirements regarding public consultation and information disclosure, consultations were carried out during the preparation of the EA and ESMF one in June-July 2011 and one in September 2011. Participants in these

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consultations included farmer and fisherman households likely to be directly or indirectly affected by the Project, local authorities; central and local state agencies, NGOs, civil society organizations, etc. Stakeholders’ issues and concerns were taken into account in the preparation of the safeguard documents. Most of the provinces and communities in the project area showed enthusiasm in supporting the implementation of the Project and wished that the Project would be carried out soon.

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION1.1 Background

15. As one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries, Vietnam is highly susceptible to typhoons, floods, seawater intrusion, landslides, drought, and forest fires. In November 2007, the Government of Vietnam (GoV) approved a National Disaster Prevention, Response, and Mitigation to 2020 strategy which lays out the country’s primary disaster risk management objectives. Investment needs, covering both infrastructure and institutional capacities were estimated. In October 2009, the Government released an Implementation Plan pertaining to this strategy. The Plan designated the Central Committee for Flood and Storm Control (CCFSC), within the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), as the focal point for implementation. Responsible provincial and local committees are responsible for addressing disaster risk management in an integrated manner.

16. The World Bank (WB) has been active in supporting disaster risk management and water resources management through the Natural Disaster Management Project (WB4), which has been under implementation since May 2006 and planned to be completed in June 2011. It has supported investments in disaster mitigating infrastructure (e.g. safe harbors for fishing boats, sea dyke construction, etc.), provided support for post-disaster reconstruction in eight provinces affected by typhoons in 2007 and 2008. It has also successfully piloted the concept of community based disaster risk management in 30 communes, and provided technical assistance in disaster damage assessment, disaster risk management-related budgetary planning, and other areas. In addition, the Bank has been providing the Government with training, technical assistance, and analytical inputs on various DRM matters under the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR). The program has applied the concept of Climate Resilient Cities in Vietnam, explored options for financial plans related to disaster risks, raised public awareness in disaster risks, and undertaken disaster risk assessments in selected provinces. Based on recent disaster risk management investment experience, especially the WB4 project, MARD - on behalf of the Government - and the WB have been developing a new project to continue providing support on national disaster risk management namely Vietnam Managing Natural Hazards Project (VN-Haz, the Project). This Project will apply lessons learned from other projects. The Project will be implemented in 10 provinces in the Central Coast of Vietnam, which are most likely to be affected by typhoons and floods. Typhoons and floods in the Central Coast often occur with high frequency and severity and cause serious damages. Provinces covered by the project will be Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Da Nang, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh and Ninh Thuan.

17. The Central Project Office (CPO) of Water Resources Projects under MARD has been charged with Project preparation and lists of priority activities and investments have been proposed and feasibility studies have been carried out.

18. To be eligible for WB funding the proposed Project must comply with the WBs safeguard policies that are triggered for the Project, including: Environmental Assessment (OP/BP 4.01); Physical Cultural Resources (OP/BP 4.11); Indigenous Peoples (OP/BP 4.10); Involuntary Resettlement (OP/BP 4.12); Safety of Dams (OP/BP 4.37); Projects on International Waterways (OP/BP 7.50); as well as the Public Consultation and Information Disclosure. Moreover, individual EIA and/or Environmental Protection Commitment (EPC) for each specific subproject will be prepared and submitted for GoV approval as required by the Government’s EIA regulations.

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19. To meet the WB safeguard requirement per OP/BP 4.01, preparation and WB approval of an Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Project, including the Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF) and the Environmental Management Plans (EMPs) for the first year subprojects are required. The Consultancy & Technology Transfer Company of Hanoi Water Resources University has been contracted for the preparation of the EA, and the ESMF. The assignment was carried out from 1 June 2011 to 10 September 2011. The main activities included collection of project information and background data, field visits to the 10 provinces for collection of environmental data (water, sediment, etc.), field surveys, and consultation with key agencies and authorities located in the regions, in particular the local authorities and line departments such as the Provincial Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DONRE) of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE), the Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) of MARD, and the provincial Department of Planning and Investment (DPI) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI). The results are provided in this report.

1.2. Objectives and Scope

20. The main purpose of the EA is to identify potential impacts of the Project to ensure that potential negative impacts are adequately mitigated to an acceptable level and that an opportunity to enhance the potential positive impacts is integrated in the Project design. The following approach was used in the preparation of this EA:

Study Approaches

Desk review. Review of Project description, draft feasibility studies of the proposed subprojects, environmental conditions (land use, etc.) of the Project area as well as the proposed subprojects sites, WB safeguard policies and documents for previous and existing similar projects, Government regulations applicable to the project, etc.

Conduct a preliminary assessment of potential environmental impacts of the sub-projects by classifying the subprojects according to types of works, area/basin, social/environmental risks/impacts, etc. and identify the subproject with significant risks so that field visits and/or primary data collection could be made.

Carry out surveys and field studies to collect data on water, air, land use, sediment, etc. Collect relevant data from related agencies and partners from central to local levels.

Apply environmental matrixes and checklists for each type of subproject works to facilitate the planning for minimizing the potential environmental risks and maximizing the environmental benefits; Study existing materials and descriptions of subprojects; Use professional knowledge and working experience in the country and discuss with key agencies and other national consultants working on feasibility studies and other technical aspects as well as the WB’s environmental and social specialists.

Propose an Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF) and technical guidelines for preparation of an Environmental Management Plan (EMP) for the subprojects given that they will be implemented in phases. Resettlement Policy Framework (RPF), Ethnic Minority Policy Framework (EMPF), and and Dam Safety Framework (DSF) are also being prepared to guide the preparation of actions when land acquisition, resettlement, ethnic minority, and dam safety are involved. These policy frameworks are prepared in line with WB safeguard policy requirements and

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will be translated into local language and disclosed locally and at WB’s InfoShop and Hanoi office.

Conduct public consultation in line with the Government guidelines taken into account WB policy and guidelines on consultation.

Structure of the Report

21. Given that the ESMF and DSF are prepared separately, this report will therefore briefly summarizes the key points of these frameworks while details are referred to the ESMF and DSF. Other social safeguard documents referred in this report such as the Social Assessment (SA), the RPF, and the EMPF are also prepared as standalone documents. In this context the EA report is divided into -7 chapters and 7 annexes as follows:

Chapter 1 Introduction

Chapter 2 Project Description

Chapter 3 Policy, Legal, and Institutional Frameworks

Chapter 4 Environmental Background

Chapter 5 Environmental Impact Assessment

Chapter 6 Proposed Mitigation Measures

Chapter 7 Public Consultation

Annex 1: Subproject List and Location Maps

Annex 2: National Policies and Institutions

Annex 3: Background on Key River Basins

Annex 4: Background on Natural Disaster

Annex 5: Initial Screening of the Potential Negative Impacts of Subprojects

Annex 6: Public Consultation

Annex 7: Pictures of Field Trip and Public Consultation

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CHAPTER 2 PROJECT DESCRIPTION

22. This chapter presents the Project objectives and components including the Project areas and proposed subprojects. Locations of the proposed subprojects are presented in Annex 1.

2.1. Project Objectives and Components

23. The project development objective is to increase the resilience of the people and economic assets to natural hazards in selected river basins of the project provinces within the overall framework of the Vietnam’s National Disaster Prevention, Response and Mitigation Strategy Towards 2020. To achieve this objective, a river basin approach has been used in the Project design by focusing investments in major river basins, integrating components activities to avoid small and scattered efforts, and applying structural and non-structural measures to reduce the vulnerability to natural disasters. The Project activities will be implemented through the following five components:

Component 1 : Strengthening Disaster Risk Management Institutions, Information Systems and Planning (US$ 7.0 million ).

24. The specific objective of Component 1 is to strengthen institutional and technical capacities at national, provincial and local level on disaster risk management (DRM) in order to better plan and mitigate hazard risks, thereby reducing potential loss of life, damage to property, and economic disruption. The institutional strengthening will be in line with the priorities outlined in the National Strategy for Natural Disaster Prevention, Response and Mitigation to 2020 its national Action Plan and draft DRM law, which serves as the overarching document for the Government's approach to disaster management and MARD’s Institutional Vision for 2020.

25. The component will focus on the institutional mechanisms relevant to national, provincial and local levels as well as regional scale for hydromet services. The DRM institutions of 10 provinces of Central Vietnam (Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Da Nang, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh and Ninh Thuan) will be covered with an renewed focus on a river basin approach.

26. Component 1 will have three sub-components: (i) Strengthening DRM institutions, (ii) Improvement of the DRM information systems, and (iii) Support for the integration of DRM in river basin Planning.

27. Under the first sub-component, Strengthening DRM Institutions, the project will provide relevant support to implement the National Platform on Disaster Preparedness, Prevention and Mitigation and Adaptation to Climate Change. This activity aims to facilitate inter-ministerial coordination meetings, policy dialogue and knowledge-sharing mechanisms between the government ministries, development partners, academic institutions, NGOs and private sector. One of the outputs of this activity will be to develop an on-line web-based knowledge sharing portal on Disaster Risk Management (DRM) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) at national level. The sub-component will also review and update DRM codes, standards and technical manuals for water resources management at river basin level. Technical assistance will be given for a study on the feasibility of financing mechanisms for DRM.

28. The sub-component will support the establishment of 8 Provincial Disaster Management Centers (PDMCs) in the project target provinces (except in Quang Ngai and Da Nang where PDMCs already exist). This would include renovation of office facilities and

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basic equipments. Before establishing PDMCs, a detailed study on the performance of existing PDMCs and standing office of PCFSC will be conducted in order to propose the most relevant PDMC model. The experience and lessons learned from the existing PDMCs and river basin approach adopted in this project will be considered while establishing PDMCs in eight provinces.

29. The sub-component will strengthen DRM technical capacity of government agencies at different levels. This will require an update of training needs assessment of national and provincial level agencies involved in DRM work which was done by the on-going Bank-financed NDRMP, and subsequent training would cover all aspects of DRM such as risk, vulnerability assessments, preparedness, search and rescue, and response. The National level Disaster Management Centre (DMC), which is mandated to offer CBDRM training to provincial and district level staff, will be supported with technical assistance to improve training content. Technical expertise on CBDRM will be strengthened at the provincial and lower levels following a Training of Trainers (ToT) approach, using an experienced local consultancy firm to conduct the trainings. The national DMC would provide supervision, technical guidance and monitoring of these trainings.

30. The CBDRM training curriculum will integrate on-going capacity development related to Community Based Adaptation (CBA). This activity is closely related to component 3 (CBDRM), and ToT training would cover all 10 provinces. The ToT training will target provincial level staff, and after the training, these staff would participate together with other experts in providing similar trainings to selected district and commune (component 3) level staff. It is proposed to conduct CBDRM trainings in each of the 28 districts selected under component 3. This sub-component will also support international training on DRM and study tours.

31. The second sub-component, Improvement of the DRM information Systems, will support DRM databases, spatial interpretation tools, and dam/reservoir safety information systems. Strengthening existing DRM databases and information systems include update and addition of indicators such as hazards, vulnerability, risks, livelihood groups, data on damage and loss, socio-economic information and post disaster interventions. MARD’s current information collection procedures will be improved and linked to the proposed information systems. In addition, links will be established to existing socio-economic database of General Statistics Office (GSO) of Vietnam. Interactivity of the databases is expected to be enhanced by strengthening query and quality checking procedures. This activity will help to harmonize all existing DRM databases and provide access to agencies involved in DRM related work.

32. A database on smaller dams/reservoirs held by MARD is currently not available at the provincial level. There are at least three different management layers of reservoirs (provincial, district and commune level), and lack of coordination and information exchange weakens the reservoir operation and disaster preparedness. Improved coordination and sharing of information can promote better management of these reservoirs and protect lives and livelihood assets. The project will support: (i) an inventory of existing medium and small scale reservoirs, their safety standards, operational procedures; (ii) development of a software that can be applied at national and provincial level; (iii) development of guidelines for safety of medium and small reservoir/dam operations in 10 provinces, and (iv) a training program on how to use the database, software and on guidelines for safety of medium and small reservoir operations to provincial and district staff.

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33. The third sub-component, Support for the Integration of DRM in River Basin Planning, will help integrate DRM into river basin management. In particular, the sub-component would support: (a) data collection and assessment of exposure, risks and vulnerability at the basin scale, (b) identification of vulnerable areas, and possible structural and non-structural measures to mitigate the natural disaster risks. The sub-component will cover all river basins in the 10 project provinces to be supported under the project, and take place in two phases: a study phase and the preparation of the river basin plan itself.

34. The study phase will assess the main DRM problems in the river basins (such as environmental degradation, soil erosion, drought, landslides, sedimentation, solid waste management, water quality, flood impacts); the climate change impacts on the major river basins; flood mapping combining existing hazard and vulnerability maps prepared under NDRMP project with new data sets; an institutional analysis; and an inventory of existing plans (land use, provincial disaster management plans, agriculture, transport). The DRM priorities and basin risk maps would then be integrated into river basin plans.

35. At present, nine out of ten provinces have prepared Integrated DRM Plans (IDRMs) under the Bank-funded NDRMP project. At the same time, the National Target Programme on Climate Change requests provinces to prepare provincial plans on adaptation to climate change. Given that there are similarities with respect to actions under DRM and CCA and that promoting two similar plans may add complexity for the provincial authorities, there is a need to integrate CCA into DRM action plans aiming to address short term priorities, but at the same time with long-term perspectives. This activity will promote a joint action plan for CCA and DRM in 10 provinces based on lessons and experiences from IDRMP exercise and updated comprehensive vulnerability and risk analysis.

36. Finally, the sub-component will provide training on the use of hydrological models and GIS tools to DRM staff at provincial level and will be closely linked to component 2 of the project. This activity will promote use of existing data on land use, vulnerabilities and risk maps from NDRMP project combined with satellite imageries for preparation of flood maps in eight river basins (Ma, Ca, Vu Gia-Thu Bon, Tra Khuc Tra Bong, Kone Ha Thanh, Thach Han, Gianh, Cai Phan Rang). These flood maps will contribute to preparation of river basin plans and joint action plans for DRM and CCA described above. Technical specialists from the sub-Department for Water Resources and Flood and Storm Control within the provincial DARD, MARD’s Water Resources Directorate and Faculty of Hydrology in Water Resources University (WRU) will be trained on modeling, use of satellite maps and GIS.

Component 2: Strengthening Weather Forecasting and Early Warning Systems ($30.0 million)

37. The objectives of component 2 are to strengthen hydrometeorological services, weather forecasting and early warning systems for disaster preparedness at all levels and to improve delivery of locally relevant early warning products and services. Particular emphasis will be given to strengthening the integration of the existing and planned hydro-met components in the country. Two sub-components will be implemented: (i) Designing and implementing an integrated national hydromet forecasting and early warning system and end-to-end applications at the regional and provincial level; and (ii) Strengthening hydromet observation and monitoring network, computer hardware and ICT infrastructure.

38. Sub-Component 2.1 Technical Assistance for development and implementation of an integrated National Hydromet forecasting and EW System and end-to-end applications ($6 million): This sub-component will cover the technical assistance to design a nation-wide

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integrated system and to provide overall guidance and implementation support. This will include the preparation of hydrometeorological implementation plans for the national and central region and the design of a nation-wide communication system. Priorities to be addressed include (i) Analysing institutional frameworks, staff capacity requirements and Preparation of Concept of Operation; (ii) providing technical advice on software, forecasting models, instruments, computer architecture and data processing; (iii) Instrument specifications, ensuring inter-operability of the observation networks and contract performance monitoring; and (iv) providing support for the development and testing of a sustainable hydromet business model. An Integrator will be hired at the beginning of the project to develop a detailed framework and to support and monitor the implementation of the integrated system.

39. Technical support will be provided for the maintenance and operation of hard- and software of weather forecasting and early warning systems according to the developed concept of operation. The national level strengthening will ensure better integration of the planned improvements (observation, forecasting and communication infrastructures) proposed for three regional hydrometeorological centers (north-central, mid-central, and southern) under sub-component 2.2. Synergies and collaboration will be sought with other proposed and existing investment programs, including the Government-funded MONRE investment program and donor-funded programs such as the Italian ODA program phase I & II, the Mekong River Commission’s-HYCOS, the USAID support and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) assistance.

40. An overall training strategy will be developed to improve the technical capacity at national, regional and provincial levels based on user information needs and institutional analysis. The objectives of the training are to maintain the hard- and software, use the weather and hydrological models and analyse model outputs (down-scaling), and prepare quality forecast products and early warning information. The capacity development programs will include training on weather forecasting, drought monitoring, storm surge prediction, seasonal climate prediction and assessment of climate change impacts. Improvement of forecast models and other software include high resolution non-hydrostatic Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models, topography and land use database, ensemble multi-scale weather forecast models for short range forecasts, hydrological and hydraulic models for flood forecasting and flash flood warning, integration of radar data (existing) for hydraulic models and development of techniques for quantitative precipitation estimate from radar and visual display and analysis system.

41. User interaction, climate data and information sharing will be strengthened by establishing a national user forum (linked to a national platform supported under component 1). This sub-component includes study tours and on-the-job training for managers. Strengthening of end-to-end application includes user training on interpretation of early warning products for provincial departments, district staff and communities for better informed decisions. Three regional hydro-met centers (north-central, mid-central and southern) are included.

42. Sub-Component 2.2. Strengthening hydro-met observation and monitoring network, computer hardware and ICT infrastructure ($20 million): This sub-component will support the establishment of multi-hazard early warning systems, including the installation of automated hydro-meteorological observing networks and communication systems through provision of equipment and relevant training.

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43. Major priorities to be addressed include: (i) Upgrading ICT infrastructure and computer hardware at national, regional and provincial NHMS centers, (ii) modernization of hydromet observation and monitoring infrastructure in north-central, mid-central and southern regional centers; and (iii) improvement of technical capacity to maintain instruments, including observation, data transfer and communication between provincial, regional and national hydro-met centers. Installation of computer systems and forecast interpretation tools such as GIS mapping facility to deliver rapid location-specific forecasts are included. Three regional hydro-met centers (north-central, mid-central and southern) are included under this sub-component1This sub-project would be implemented in the two phases: (a) Phase 1 (southern region) to complete the initiative taken by the NDRMP, and (b) Phase 2 (national and central region).

44. Major investments include High Performamce Computer (HPC) hardware and operating software, service development and technical support for the national center, upgradation of computer hardwares and operating softwares, service development and technical support for the provincial centres; modernization and upgrading of existing meteorological stations and automatic weather stations, upgrading to SMS automated rain gauge networks, automatic water level and rain gauge stations, integrated discharge and suspended sediment, water level and rainfall measuring devices and boats for discharge and velocity measurements. This sub-component covers upgrading of communication networks to connect provincial and regional centres with the national centre and setting up a LAN and other communication networks in three regional centres, together with a reliable backup system. Real time status of major and important reservoirs will be included within the LAN communication network for development of flood forecasting services. Upgrading of equipment and networks will be closely coordinated with ODA activities to avoid potential duplication and overlaps.

45. The sub-component will include support for the southern regional hydromet centre. This support will facilitate an upgrade of meteorological instruments and an enhancement of the hydrological monitoring along the Mekong river. The support in question will focus on the design and establishment of an automated hydrologic network and on defining clear operating procedures for the network. The modernization will cover automatic weather stations, river discharge measurements devices, suspended sediment measurement, sounding depth measurement device, automatic water level recorders and flood measurement poles; and calibration and evaluation of flood danger/alarm levels. It will also help complete the renovation/construction of office buildings for five provincial centres and other fire fighting and early warning equipments. Training and capacity development activities include operation and maintenance of automatic weather stations, maintenance of water level and rain measurement devices and maintenance of discharge and water depth measurement instruments.

Component 3: Community-Based Disaster Risk Management ($22.0 million)

47. This component will build on the successful pilot experiences in community-based disaster preparedness including safer commune planning and risk management awareness under the current Bank-financed NDRMP project. It also introduces new design features, including river basin approaches, cluster approaches, interactive Management Information

1 The priority (i) on “modernization of measurement/monitoring infrastructure and data transfer” will be excluded for mid-central region as this has already been covered by ODA assistance to the Regional Hydro-Meteorological Centre located in Da Nang.

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System (MIS) with commune reporting by cell phone and private sector-commune partnerships.

48. The objective of this component is to help implement the GoV’s national CBDRM strategy (Decision 1002/QD-TTg). As a result this component, approximately 100 communes will be better prepared for natural disaster events.

49. The selection of communes will be carried using a clustering approach which will ensure that the communes selected are those benefiting from the larger scale infrastructure investments supported under Component 4. This integration, following a river basin approach, will maximize and better sustain the impacts from the larger scale DRM investments as well as the commune level engagement. Under the first phase of the DRM investments, 27 communes have been identified for support (see Table 1). The identification of the remaining communes will be conducted after project inception. The abovementioned objective will be achieved through two sub-components: (i) Commune Institutional Strengthening and (ii) CBDRM Investments.

Table 1. The List of Proposed Commune for Phase 1 CBDRM Activities

No Province District Commune River basin1 Thanh Hoa Yen Dinh Yen Thinh Ma river2 Dinh Hoa Ma river3 Dinh Thanh Ma river4 Dinh Cong Ma river5 Dinh Binh Ma river6 Dinh Tuong Ma river7 Yen Tam Ma river8 Yen Giang Ma river9 Thieu Hoa Thieu Thanh Ma river

10 Tho Xuan Xuan Vinh Ma river11 Ha Tinh Cam Xuyen Cam Phuc Rac River

12 Cam Long/ Thien Cam town Rac River

13 Cam Nhuong Rac River14 Cam Thang Rac River15 Quang Nam Duy Xuyen Duy Phu Thu Bon river16 Duy Thu Thu Bon river17 Duy Tan Thu Bon river18 Duy Hoo Thu Bon river19 Binh Dinh Tuy Phuoc Phuoc Hoa Kon river20 Phuoc Hiep Kon river21 Phuoc Quang Kon river22 Phuoc Loc Kon river23 Phuoc Thuan Ha Thanh river24 An Nhon Nhon An Kon river25 Nhon Phong Kon river26 Nhơo Hau Kon river27 Nhon Khanh Ha Thanh river28 Nhon Hung Ha Thanh river

50. Commune Institutional Strengthening ($2.0 million). This sub-component aims to develop the capacity of participating commune-level stakeholders and agencies2 to plan and

2 Commune-level stakeholders and agencies in this document refer to not only government

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engage in a broad range of risk reduction measures encompassing “pre-, during- and post-disaster” activities. Gender equality and integration will be ensured through these capacity development initiatives, as too will be the focus on vulnerable groups. Main activities include:

Strengthening of commune-level flood and storm risks management procedure. This activity will help commune-based institutions to prepare a commune-annual flood and storm risks management plan (CAFSCP) on yearly basis. 3 The plan will improve early warning and support the Communal Committee for Flood and Storm Control (CFSC) and its counterparts to understand responsibilities during pre- and post-disaster activities.

Training for commune-based institution leaders. The project will provide training to improve capacity of CFSC, CBDRM facilitators and other commune-level stakeholders and agencies (see Appendix 1 for details of training).

Development of inter-communal support platforms. This activity will develop an inter-communal support platform where leaders of the CFSCs and commune-based institutions conduct exchange visits to plan co-operation for pre- and post-disaster activities, including joint evacuation exercises, post-disaster clean up and relief operations.

Community Resilient Planning: Each participating commune will: (i) identify its vulnerability through a participatory risk assessment; (ii) prepare and update commune-level annual flood and storm control plans (CAFSCP) based on the risk assessment; and (iii) integrate the CAFSCP into commune socio-economic development plans.

Private sector-commune partnerships. This project seeks to develop enterprise-community collaboration for enhancing commune resilience to disasters and thereby support the Government’s development objectives under the National Community-Based DRM Program and the National Program of Developing New Rural Areas, both of which highlight private sector engagement as a key requisite for successful implementation.

51. CBDRM Investments ($18.0 million). This sub-component will fund CBDRM activities identified in the updated CAFSCPs. Risk reduction measures will include non-structural and structural measures determined through the VCA and CAFSCP and driven by the needs of the local communities, which would include representatives of most vulnerable in the communes.

Non-structural measures: Activities will include evacuation drills, public awareness raising, communications/early warning systems, provision of small equipment such as small boats, pumps, and first aid kits. Activities will be followed by participatory workshops to review the results and document the lessons learned in the CAFSCP.

Structural measures: The project would support the participating communes to construct small-scale physical structural measures in a hazard-resilient manner. These would include multi-purpose shelters, evacuation roads, bridges, river bank

agencies, institutions, political parties and interest groups, but also other private organizations and citizens.

3 This activity would build on existing manuals such as CCFSC Manual/Handbook, the “four on the spots’ motto” and CCFSC “Emergency response and early recovery guidelines”.

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rehabilitation, retention ponds as well as reforestations and other structures identified by the target communes. The project will also provide support to prepare plans and designs for such prevention measures and plans for the management, operation and maintenance of each structural measure built. The CPC would be responsible for monitoring and reporting on the progress and quality of construction as well as for preparing and implementing operational and maintenance guidelines.

52. Monitoring and Evaluation of CBDRM. As a part of the project-wide M&E framework, the project will set up a CBDRM monitoring system that will be both participatory and also use a web-based Management Information System (MIS) at national and sub-national levels. The system will record the performance of each commune in close to real time. Key performance information on the status of project implementation will be available to authorized users at national and provincial level.

Component 4: Priority Disaster Risk Mitigation Investments ($104.7m)

53. A river basin approach will be used to identify and prioritize major DRM investments (subprojects) within the four selected river basins in the Central Region. The structural measures will mitigate risks posed by storms, floods, landslides and drought, including river and sea dykes/ embankments, safe harbors, rescue roads and bridges, and reservoirs. The Government strategy on reservoirs for disaster management objective would mainly be focusing on rehabilitation of selected existing dams and reservoirs to improve their safety. The rehabilitation would involve safety measures such as lowering and/or expansion of existing spillway or building addition spillway, additional backfill with better compaction of the main dam and its auxiliary apparatus, termite treatment, grouting, and installation of safety monitoring devices.

54. Based on the Integrated DRM Plans (IDRMPs) developed under the on-going Bank-financed NDRMP project in all 12 project provinces using hydraulic modeling technology piloted in the three provinces of Thanh Hoa, Quang Tri and Quang Nam. These plans provide number of priority infrastructure investments within the context of disaster risk management and climate change adaptation for long-term benefits. These plans have been reviewed and endorsed by MARD and the provincial authorities.

55. Experience learned from the on-going Bank-financed NDRMP project proved that an investment of approximately UD$ 12 million protecting 12 communes with population of 64,000 and 5,271 hectares of rice land. A dam safety investment with budget of US$ 6 million protected 8 communes living downstream 80,960 population and about 4,500 hectares of agricultural land. Similarly an amount of US$ 2.5 million to build a safe harbor in one of the province in the Central Coast that helped protect about 1,500 small fishing boats to evacuate during the typhoons season of the last and this year. This proves that priority infrastructure investments are crucial to protect livelihood and economic assets of local people who are living in the disaster-prone areas. This is also confirmed in the Government’s strategy on DRM prevention and mitigation.

56. Phase 1 Investments : These will include the high priority specified in the approved IDRMPs, and are most advanced in term of preparation including technical engineering, economic/financial, social safeguards aspects. A maximum of two such ‘subprojects’ would be implemented per one province over the course of the first two years of the project

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depending on the readiness of preparation of subprojects. Greater priority would be given to those subprojects that incorporate a river basin approach, and have complementary investments under other components clustered nearby. Six subprojects have been confirmed as ready for inclusion in Phase 1 spanning in 5 provinces, including four dyke or embankment upgrading, one bridge with connecting rescue roads, and one reservoir upgrade. These are:

(i) 42 km. of a river dyke system in a tributary of Ma river basin in Thanh Hoa province

(ii) 7 km. of river bank protection and 3 km. of rescue roads and 100 m. birdge in Ca river basin in Nghe An (2 subprojects)

(iii) 11.5 km of Phuc-Long-Nhuong Sea-dyke improvement in Ha Tinh province, prepared by the current NDRMP project

(iv) Dam safety improvement in Vu Gia-Thu Bon river basin in Quang Nam province

(v) 4 km. of River embankment erosion protection in Kon river basin in Binh Dinh province

57. Phase 2 Investments : These investments would include other high priority physical investments that need further detailed preparation work after project start-up, and that together with Phase 1 investments fall under within the cost ceilings indicated above. Provinces would undertake detailed technical, social, environmental and economic design work over the course of year 1 and 2 and submit these for approval by MARD and no objection by the World Bank for execution in years 3, 4 and 5. 28 other subprojects are shortlisted for inclusion in Phase 2 including 11 dyke, embankment and weir repair, 3 roads/bridges, 2 harbors and 9 reservoir subprojects. The harbor works would involve some dredging of sea sand, construction of breakwater structure, buoys and anchoring system for fishing boats to hire during flood and typhoon events. Reservoir works would be mainly on rehabilitation a stated earlier. Details of phase 2 proposed by provinces are in Appendix 1.

Component 5: Project Management ($3.8m)

58. The objective of this component is to deliver sound project coordination, financing and procurement, as well as ensure timely reporting and lesson learning. This component provides financial support for those project implementing entities in MARD and MONRE responsible for project coordination, financial management and procurement, as well as ensuring compliance with relevant safeguards and fiduciary policies. It would provide incremental operating cost for implementing agencies at all levels in managing the implementation of the project.

59. Strengthening of both national and provincial implementation capacity of the project will include provision of office renovation, equipment facilities and vehicles, external monitoring on fiduciary and safeguards, internal audit and control, operating expenses and training. The component will also support the establishment of an effective M&E system for the project and applicable to the broader DRM sector including tracking the implementation of the National DRM Strategy. The system will monitor the performance of the various implementing partners at national and local level and the achievement of project deliverables as defined in the results framework and detailed M&E design. An independent baseline and final evaluation will be funded.

60. The detailed design will be prepared by international technical assistance in the first six months of project implementation. Funding is provided for an independent baseline to take

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place between appraisal and project effectiveness, and final evaluation in Year 5. The estimated cost includes contribution from the Government, such as personnel, office space, and utilities both at the central and provincial level.

2.2. Project Areas and Main Activities

61. The Project areas will cover 10 provinces in the Central Region of Vietnam including: Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Da Nang, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, and Ninh Thuan. The areas will involve four major river basins and five small basins considered to be Vietnam’s most disaster-prone areas. The four major basins are (a) Ma basin in Thanh Hoa province, (b) Ca basin in Nghe An province, (c) Vu Gia-Thu Bon basin in Da Nang and Quang Nam provinces, and (d) Tra Khuc-Tra Bong basin Quang Ngai provinces. The five smaller basins are Giang, Nhat Le, Thach Han, Kone and Dinh river basins within Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Binh Dinh and Ninh Thuan. Figure 3.1 presents the provincial boundaries.

2.2.1. Activities to be implemented under Components 1, 2, 3.

62. Most activities to be implemented under Components 1 and 2 will be related to technical assistance and capacity building aiming to strengthen planning and forecasting capacity of the Government at national and provincial levels. Procurement of equipment, renovations of offices, and construction of small hydrometeorological stations would be involved.

63. Activities to be implemented under Component 3 aim at implementing a Community-Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) program. Activities have been proposed for 10 provinces and will include: Support for the establishment or activities of Centers for Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (CDPMs) at provincial, district and commune levels; Providing training and communication, awareness raising and capacity strengthening activities on natural disaster prevention at community levels in select communes; Building and renovating CDPMs, building disaster prevention storages and public houses, etc. List of activities under Component 3 is shown in Table 2.1.

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Table 2.1. List of the activities to be implemented under Component 3No Component / Sub-component / Activity

Sub C 3.1 Capacity strengthening for CBDRM A Commune Resilient Planning1 Commune risk assessment preparation 2 Commune annual flood and storm control plan (CAFSCP) Improvement 3 Integration of safety plan into Socio Economic Development Plan4 Commune Resilient PlanningB Commune Institution Strengthening1 Facilitation skill2 CBDRM, risk assessment and safety plan3 Exchange visits4 M&E training5 Network of CFSC (community for flood and storm control)6 CPC/CF follow-up training

Sub C 3.2 CBDRM InvestmentsC CBDRM Non-structural Investment1 Public evacuation drills2 Information, education and communication (IEC) material development3 Public awareness 4 School education and evacuation drills5 Loud speaker system6 Safe house design training7 Mass organization training (first aid, evacuation support, others)

8 Equipment for emergency responseD CBDRM structural measure investment1 Small scale structures (Multi-purpose shelter, feeder road, pumps,…)

2.2.2. Subprojects under Component 4

64. The subprojects proposed under Component 4 are the structural measures proposed in the Implementation Plan of the National Disaster Prevention, Response, and Mitigation to 2020 strategy. The subprojects were selected based on the following criteria: i) in line with the Vietnam’s Second National Strategy and Action Plan on National Disaster Management and Management for the period 2010 – 2020; ii) under the DRM strategy/plan; iii) proved benefits from DRM; iv) and/or not yet funded by the Government and donors. DRM investment subprojects will be integrated into the provincial level economic and social development and DRM plans. Of the 43 subprojects proposed by the Government 34 subprojects have been selected for consideration and the subproject list and locations are provided in Annex 1. The proposed subprojects could be classified by type of works as follows: (1) Upgrading river dikes and revetments; (2) Upgrading rescue roads/bridge; (3) Upgrading dams and reservoirs; and (4) Dredging of river mouth and upgrading of fish berths.

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Scope of the activities are described in Table 2.2. Table 2.3 and Table 2.4 provide the number of the subprojects by provinces and river basins, while Table 2.5 provides a brief description of the subprojects to be implemented during the first phase.

Table 2.2: Classification of subprojects under Component 4 by type of works

Type of worksNo. of Subprojects

Main activities

(1) Upgrading river dikes and revetments, including roads and bridges

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- Upgrading: Raising and widening cross-section, reinforcing dike surface (combined with traffic way function), construction of wave-prevention walls on the dike surface, dike slope embankments; Construction of under dyke culverts; Construction of premises for the dike management and flood and storm prevention and control unit on the dike, construction of pumping stations to the river.

- Revetment: Reinforcing river banks mainly with slope revetments (ashlars or rock gabions aranged in reinforced concrete frames (pile up or excavate earth to form slope design before reinforcing)); Construction of reinforced concrete wave-prevention walls on the revetment surface; Construction of management and operation roads combined with transport ways on top of the revetments; Construction of drainages to the river.

(2) Upgrading rescue roads/bridge

5Raising and widening rescue road cross-section, stabilize road surface to facilitate rescue activities; construction of culverts accross the roads, construction of traffic bridges combined with overflow dam.

(3) Upgrading dams and reservoirs, including upgrading and widening flood drain for An Trạch weir

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- Raising and widening cross-section, reinforcing dam surface (combined with traffic road function and reservoir management and operation function); Construction of wave-prevention walls on the dam slope; Reinforcing upstream slope, plantting grass on downstream slope; Supplementing or repairing drainage structures, new construction or reparing/upgrading flood drain; New construction or reparing/upgrading sluices; Construction of head management house; New construction of management and operation roads, reparing and upgrading irrigation canals.

-Replacing 12 old valvet gates by 12 flat valvet gates operating by electricity to gain control in operation of flood drain; Widening 2 more drain sections on two sides of the weir to increase flood drain capacity; Reinforcing absorption yard and basin; Reparing the weir; Equiping automatic control system.

(4) Coastal structure (river mouth dredging, fishing boat habors

3

Dredging passages to ensure safe water-line for fishing boats to enter habors to avoid storms; Construction of flow control embankments; construction of dyke protection for habors and surrounding; Construction of technical infrastructure for anchorages; Construction of mooring posts.

Total 34

Table 2.3: Number of proposed subprojects under Component 4 by the provinces

Province Thanh Hoa

Nghe An

Ha Tinh

Quang Binh

Quang Tri

Da Nang

Quang Nam

Quang Ngai

Binh Dinh

Ninh Thuan Total

Number of subprojects 1 9 2 1 6 4 6 2 2 1 34

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Table 2.4: Number of proposed subprojects under Component 4 by river basins

River basins Ma CaHa

Vang-Rac

Gianh River

Thach Han

Vu Gia-Thu Bon

Vu Gia-Thu Bon

Tra Khuc-

Tra Bong

Kone River

Dinh River Total

Number of subprojects 1 9 2 1 6 4 6 2 2 1 34

Table 2.5: List of the first phase subprojects (5 provinces, 5 basins)

No. Provinces Subprojects

1 Thanh Hoa Maintaining, upgrading and treating the key parts of the left dyke of Cau Chay river (section from K0-K42)

2 Nghe An Upgrading dike site of Luong Yen Khai, Thanh Chuong

3 Nghe An Bridge combining with overflow connecting rescued roads, Nghi Loc and Vinh city

4 Ha Tinh Upgrading dike site Phuc Long Nhuong, Cam Xuyen district

5 Binh Dinh Upgrading anti-erosion embankment of Kone river for safety, An Nhon and Tuy Phuoc district

6 Quang Nam Repairing and upgrading Thach Ban Reservoir, Duy Xuyen district

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CHAPTER 3 POLICY, LEGAL, AND INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK

65. This Chapter briefly presents the WB safeguard policy as well as the national policy, legal, and institutional frameworks related to natural disaster and environmental management of which more detailed information on the latter is provided in Annex 2.

2.1 World Bank’s Safeguard Policies

66. WB’s regulations on environmental protection are provided in the form of operational policies (OPs), including 10 policies, of which OP 4.01 on environmental assessment is an important environmental policy. To be referred to also is the WB Group’s Environmental Health and Safety Guidelines. Below summarizes key objectives of WB’s policies triggered for the Project:

Table 2.1: Relevant WB’s Safeguard Policies

Policy Objective

OP/BP 4.01Environmental Assessment

To ensure the environmental and social soundness and sustainability of investment projects.

To provide decision makers with information on potential environmental and social impacts related to the project.

To enhance the transparency and participation of affected communities into the decision making process.

OP/BP 4.11Physical Cultural Resources

The policy aims to avoid, or mitigate, adverse impacts on cultural resources which are important as sources of valuable historical and scientific information, as assets for economic and social development, and as integral parts of a people's cultural identity and practices, including graves and graveyards. The policy provide guideline to ensure that (a) Physical cultural resources are identified and protected in the project and (b) National legislations on Physical Cultural Resources Protection are fully complied with.

OP/BP 4.10Indigenous Peoples

To ensure that ethnic peoples: (a) Receive full respect for their dignity, human rights, and cultural uniqueness; (b) Do not suffer adverse effects during the development process; (c) Receive culturally compatible social and economic benefits; and (d) Benefit from consultation and participatory processes.

OP/BP 4.12Involuntary Resettlement

To ensure that the following policies will be applied: (a) Avoid or minimize involuntary resettlement and impacts on economic activities, including loss of livelihoods; (b) Provide transparent compensation procedures during involuntary taking of land and other assets; (c) Provide sufficient investment resources to enable the persons displaced by the project to share in project benefits (implemented through the Resettlement Action Plan); (d) Restore and improve the standards of living of persons affected by the project; and (e) Provide prompt and effective compensation at full replacement cost for losses of assets attributable directly to the project. Development of Resettlement Plan and mitigation measures must be carried out based on consultation with affected populations and participatory approaches.

OP/BP 4.37Safety of Dams

To ensure that dam safety issues are adequately addressed, especially for high and/or risky dams; The policy applied to new dams, existing dams, and/or dams under construction that are related to infrastructure to be financed by WB.

OP/BP 7.50Projects on International Waterways

To ensure that the projects neither affect the effective use and protection of international waterways, nor the relationship between the Bank and the borrower and between nations sharing the same waterway.

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67. To comply with these policies, the following safeguard documents have been prepared:

– An Environmental Assessment (EA) assessing the environmental background of the project as a whole, including the EMPs of first year subprojects, and possible follow-on year subprojects. A social assessment was also carried out for the Project.

– An Environmental and Social Safeguard Framework (ESMF) for phase 2 subprojects, including a standard Environmental Code of Practices (ECOP) for civil works to be carried out under Component 4 and actions related to dam safety and subprojects related to dredging and upgrading of fishing boat harbor, and a simple ECOP to be applied to the activities to be implemented under Components 2, 3 that are related to civil works. The ESMF is prepared separately as a standalone document.

– A Dam Safety Framework (DSF), outlining the policy requirements for ensuring safety of dams to be rehabilitated and/or upgrading including a technical guideline for preparation of Dam Safety Report (DSR) and a sample table of content. The DSF will be applied to all the subprojects involving dams. The DSF is prepared separately as a standalone document.

– Ethnic Minority Policy Framework (EMPF) and Resettlement Policy Framework (RPF) clarifying resettlement principles, organizational arrangements and designing standards applicable to subprojects. The EMPF and RPF are prepared separately as standalone documents. Relocation of graves will be carried out based on the principle of replacement cost and in accordance with local cultural practices, taking into account cultural preferences which are typical for each ethnic group as set out in the RAPs and EMDPs.

– During the preparation of the EA and ESMF, two consultations were conducted: one in June-July 2011 and one in September 2011. Participants in these consultations included farmer and fisherman households directly or indirectly affected by the projects, local authorities, central and local state agencies, NGOs, civil society organizations, etc. Stakeholders’ interests were taken into account in the preparation of the safeguard documents.

2.2 National Policy, Regulations, and Institutional Frameworks

2.2.1 Policy on natural disaster

68. Natural disaster management. On 16 July 2007, the Government approved the “National Strategy for Natural Disaster Prevention, Response and Mitigation to 2020”. Accordingly, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) is the standing agency and to cooperate with relevant agencies to support the Government in executing state management in the field of disaster management. The overall goal of the Strategy is to “Mobilize all resources to effectively implement disaster prevention, response and mitigation from now up to 2020 in order to minimize losses of human life and properties, damage of natural resources and cultural heritages, and the degradation of environment, contributing significantly to ensure the country sustainable development, national defense and security”. To achieve this goal, tasks and measures are laid out as follow: (1) Consolidate the system of laws, policies and mechanisms; (2) Consolidate organizational structure; (3) Human resources development and social mobilization, (4) Financial resources; (5) Community awareness raising; (6) Ensure safety for dyke, reservoir and dam systems; (7) Enhance the search and rescue capacities; and (8) Promote international cooperation and integration.

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69. For the Project areas, natural disaster prevention and mitigation tasks and measures in the strategy include:

(i) North Central Region: Radically prevent floods, and take initiatives in preventing and responding to storm, drought and storm surge, for which the following solutions must be taken in places in the same time: making flood control plannings for river systems, reviewing and adjusting dyke system plannings as bases for activities of dyke construction, upgrading, protection, and management; strengthening of underdyke structures; treatment of weak dyke foundation; and reinforcing dyke surface for rural traffic, etc.

(ii) Central Coast and the Eastern South: the approach applied for the areas is "Proactiveness in disaster prevention, and adaptation for development", for which following solutions are considered as priorities: planning residential, industrial and tourism areas; planning and constructing disaster prevention and mitigation structures, and transportation infrastructures to ensure flood resilience and drainability; shifting crops and animal husbandry; strengthening dykes, building reservoirs and embankment structures, and increasing forestation; building storm shelters for boats and ships; establishing and upgrading coastal communication stations for typhoon, sea rise and tsunami warning.

2.2.2 Other policies

70. There are also other policies and plans related to environmental protection, socioeconomic development, water resources planning, and flood prevention and natural disaster mitigation that are relevant to the Project. Key policies and plans are highlighted below while a brief background are provided in Annex 2.

National Strategy for Natural Disaster Prevention, Response, and Mitigation to 2020

National Strategy on Environment Protection to 2010 and Direction to 2020

Planning on Socio-Economic Development of Central Coastal Line to 2020

Water resources planning of regional level and provincial level

Planning on flood prevention and natural-disaster mitigation for key river basins

2.2.3 EIA regulations

71. The Law on Environmental Protection (2005) sets out regulations on strategic environmental assessment, environmental impact assessment and environmental protection commitment of development activities. Environmental impact assessment report is developed at the same time as investment project preparation (feasibility study). Time of preparation, submission and approval of reports are detailed in Term 2, Article 13 of Circular 26/2011/TT-BTNMT. The project’s type for the environmental assessment is carried out based on the list of project types in Annex I and Annex II of Decree 29/2011/ND-CP.

72. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). Articles from 12 to 28 in Chapter 3 of Decree 29/2011/NĐ-CP provide detailed regulations on the preparation, appraisal and

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approval of an EIA report, inclduing a detailed description of technical and management solutions to address negative impacts and environemtnal monitoring program. According to this Decree, the subprojects under the Project that require an EIA approval are included in Annex II of the Decree.

73. Environmental Protection Commitment (EPC). Article 29 to 36 in Chapter 4 of Decree No. 29/2011/ND-CP identifies scope of the EPC requirements, including the review and approval process and responsibilities of the project owners and agencies in charge of the EPC preparation, description of pollution mitigation measures, environmental monitoring programs, and committment to comply with environmental standards. EPC can be considered a simplified EIA for investment activities that have smaller impacts. Some of the subprojects under the Project will have to prepare EPCs for approval by the disctrict authorities.

2.2.4 Pollution control and other regulations

74. Other related regulations include:

Regarding construction: Law on Construction No. 16/2003/QH11 and some Decrees such as the Decree No.12/2009/ND-CP dated 10th February 2009 on managing construction and investment projects and Decree No. 209/2004/ND-CP dated 16th December 2004 on managing the quality of construction projects.

Regarding planning, land acquisition and resettlement: Law on Land No.13/2003/QH11 dated 26th November 2003; Decree No. 197/2004/ND-CP on compensation, support and resettlement when the State acquires land; Circular No. 116/2004/TT-BTC on instruction on executing the Decree No.197/2004/ND-CP, etc.

Regarding disaster management: Law on Dykes No. 79/2006/QH11 dated 29 Nov 2006, Ordinance No. 32/2001/PL-UBTVQH10 dated 04 April 2001 on the exploitation and protection of irrigation works, Decree detailing some of the Flood Prevention and Response Ordinance No. 08/2006/NĐ-CP dated 16 Jan 2006, etc.

Regarding dam safety: The Decree No. 72/ND-CP dated 07/05/2007 of the Government's dam safety management clearly provides provisions for dam construction, dam management and state management on dam safety. The Decree distinguishes between small and large dams. Small dams are normally less than 15 meters in height. Large dams are 15 meters or more in height and/or create a reservoir having a capacity above 3,000,000 m3. Dam owners must have detail plans for water regulation, sluice and related works operation, dam safety and hydrological monitoring/ inspection, dam maintenance and protection, dam rescue, dam safety reporting, flood and inundation prevention in the downstream. All plans must be carried out strictly. MARD is responsible for the state management of reservoirs and dams nationwide. The Directorate of Water Resources under MARD assists MARD to implement the function of state management on safety of reservoirs. The Ministry of Industry and Trade is responsible for the state management of hydroelectric dam safety. Provincial People's Committees (PPCs) are responsible for the state management function on reservoir safety in their provinces. PPCs assign the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to implement this function.

Other related areas: Law on Forest Development and Protection No. 29/2004/QH11, Law on Labor dated 23 June 1994, Law on Cultural Heritage No. 28/2001/QH10, Law on Water Resources No. 8/1998/QH10.

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Vietnamese Environment Standards: National technical regulations on quality of drinking water QCVN01:2009/BYT; National technical regulation on quality of domestic water QCVN02:2009/BYT; National technical regulation on quality of surface water QCVN08:2008/BTNMT; National technical regulations on quality of groundwater QCVN09:2008/BTNMT; National technical regulations on quality of coastal water QCVN10:2008/BTNMT; Air quality – Standards for ambient air quality QCVN05:2009/BTNMT; Air quality – Maximum allowable concentration of hazardous substances in the ambient air QCVN06:2009/BTNMT.

Dam design standards for flood cycle: 500 to 1000 years for dam grade I; 200 years for dam grade II; 100 years for dam grade III; 67 years for dam grade IV; and 50 years for dam grade V.

2.2.5 Institutional framework related to natural disaster

75. MARD plays a lead role in disaster risk management (DRM) in Vietnam. The Central Committee for Flood and Storm Control (CCFSC) is the national disaster risk management agency responsible for formulation of all flood and typhoon related policies and mitigation measures. The CCFSC is chaired by the Minister of MARD and comprising representatives from the Office of Government, the Ministry of Defense, and other agencies. The Department of Dyke Management and Flood Control (DDMFC) of the Directorate of Water Resources of MARD serves as the secretariat.

76. At the provincial level, the lead DRM coordination body is the Provincial Committee for Flood and Storm Control and Search and Rescue (PCFSC) with its Secretariat in the sub-Department for Water Resources and Flood and Storm Control within the provincial DARD. The Provincial People’s Committee (PPC) has the ultimate authority on major decisions at the provincial level, while the equivalent People’s Committees hold responsibility at district and commune levels in line with the overall provincial decision framework. Coordination between provincial authorities which share the same river basins (and hydrological risks) is underdeveloped.

77. At commune level, the Disaster Management Center (DMC) established within MARD in early 2010 serves as the implementing agency and focal point for the national CBDRM program. The DMC is responsible for developing strategies, policies, plans and guidelines related to natural disaster prevention, response and mitigation at commune level. The DMC also manages certain databases and provides technical assistance to the Directorate of Water Resources in the field of natural disaster prevention, response and mitigation and climate change adaptation on a national scale.

78. The National Hydro-Meteorological Services (NHMS), an operational unit under the MONRE, is mandated to carry out meteorological, hydrological and environmental observations, provide weather and hydrological forecasts, and provide other specialized services in support of planning for disaster prevention and preparedness. It provides hydro-meteorology information for making engineering designs of disaster-resistant infrastructure and for storm early warnings to communities. At the national level, NHMS has a data center and a hydro-meteorological forecasting center, and it has nine regional hydro-meteorological centers and several provincial hydro-met forecasting centers. The communication on hydrology and meteorology information at provincial and lower level is often inadequate as are the links between the national and local level systems.

2.2.6 Institutional framework related to environmental management

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79. According to Chapter 8 of the Law on Environmental Protection, key national agencies responsible for management of environmental protection include the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE), the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Public Security, and other ministries, ministerial-level agencies, and Government-attached agencies. At provincial level, the responsibilities rest with Provincial-level People's Committees, District-level People's Committees, and Commune-level People's Committees. Key responsibilities are provided in Annex 2.

Environmental Management structure is shown in Figure 2.1.

Figure 2.1: Environmental Management Structure

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CHAPTER 4. ENVIRONMENTAL BACKGROUND

80.

Given that the river basin approach is used to identify and prioritize investment subprojects, this chapter presents the environmental background and the natural disaster situation of the Central Region in the context of river basins, while more detailed information is provided in Annexes 3 and 4 and the river basin boundaries are shown in Figure 4.1.

Figure 4.1. River basins and Provinces related to VN-Haz Project.

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4.1. Environmental Background

4.1.1. Natural features

Geographic location

81. The Project area covers 10 provinces along the Central Coast of Vietnam (Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Da Nang, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, and Ninh Thuan) and involves 9 river basins: Ma (Thanh Hoa province), Ca (Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces), Ha Vang-Rac (Ha Tinh province), Gianh-Nhat Le (Quang Binh province), Thach Han (Quang Tri province), Vu Gia–Thu Bon (Da Nang and Quang Nam provinces), Tra Khuc-Tra Bong (Quang Ngai province), Kone (Binh Dinh province); and Dinh (Ninh Thuan province). The area is bordered by the East with the South China Sea, the North with Ninh Binh, Hoa Binh and Son La provinces, the South with Lam Dong and Binh Thuan provinces, and the West with the Vietnamese – Laotian border.

Topography

82. The central coastal provinces form a strip of land between the Truong Son Mountain Range on the West and the South China Sea, stretching from Thanh Hoa to Ninh Thuan with a coastline of more than 1,000 kilometers (km). The Truong Son Mountain Range rises precipitously above the coast, its spurs jutting into the sea at several places, forming a steep typography and a thin lowland strip. The plain area is divided into three strips, the coastal strip including sand dunes, lagoons, coves and gulfs, the middle lowland areas, and the innermost alluvial plain. These typographic features exacerbate the impacts of natural disaster (especially floods). Floods will cause serious consequences, especially in cases of rapid on-set flooding (due to mountainous surface and short and steep rivers), slow withdrawal of floodwater (due to low and depressed areas in the middle and small and scattered drainage systems) and flash floods in the mountainous areas.

Climate

83. The Project area lies within the tropical monsoon region, with an average temperature of 27oC. The Central Region’s climate is divided into two major patterns, the North Central and the South Central Coast. In the North Central area, in the winter, the monsoon winds usually blow from the northeast, picking up considerable moisture across the sea; consequently the whole area is influenced by cold and rainy weather, in contrast to the dry winter in the North of Vietnam. In the summer, the winds stop bringing moisture from the sea, while the Southwest winds blow from the opposite direction, causing hot and dry weather. During this season, daytime temperature can rise up to 40oC while the air humidity is very low. In the South Central Coast area, the northeast monsoon winds are often weaker therefore, in the summer, strong southwest monsoon winds usually occur from the Gulf of Thailand resulting in dry and hot weather for the whole area. Key characteristic of the climate in the Central Regions are summarized as follows:

From Thanh Hoa to Quang Tri: The season of maximum rainfall is from September to November, which makes up 80% of the total annual precipitation, therefore floods often occur on a large scale in this period of time. The dry season begins from July to the next August, coinciding with the hot and dry season associated with the Southwest winds, high rate of evaporation (960 – 1,200 mm/year), sand-bearing winds affect cultivating fields, resulting in soil degradation.

From Da Nang to Ninh Thuan: the rainy season begins towards the winter i.e. from September to late December.

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Ninh Thuan is the area most affected by El Nino, with a higher number of droughts affected months than other areas. Climate change has considerably reduced the flow of cold air over the area, and as a result, storms occur more often, and the sea level is rising, which has led to an increase of salinity intrusion in the whole area.

Hydrographic conditions

84. The project area comprises a number of river networks, mostly of large and medium rivers such as Ma River in Thanh Hoa, Ca River in Nghe An, Gianh River and Nhat Le River in Quang Binh, Thach Han River in Quang Tri, Vu Gia-Thu Bon River in Da Nang and Quang Nam, and Tra Khuc-Tra Bong River in Quang Ngai. Most of the rivers are short and steep causing fast water flows and accumulation of sediment at the river mouths. They are originated within the territory of Vietnam, except Ca River system (Nghe An) originated from Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR), and Ma River which originates in Vietnam flows through Lao PDR and comes back to Vietnam again. The hydrography of the rivers in the Central Region is largely determined by the South China Sea tides. In the area, there is a large number of important irrigation works and canal systems serving the purposes of water supply, irrigation and water transport for the area. The river water resources are being over-exploited resulting in decline of quantity (currently 50% of the flow is being exploited), especially in Ninh Thuan (79-80% of the flow is being exploited). Water scarcity in the dry season and floods in the rainy season are often the case in the whole area.

85. Ma River is short and steep, rapid concentration of flows. Ma River flow varies greatly, small flow in the dry season, and floods in rainy season. Ma River has one flood peak a year. Ca River is an international river, narrowing in the upstream, widening towards downstream, with two flood peaks a year, and frequent double floods. Vu Gia-Thu Bon flow has two separate seasons. The flood season often begins from half a month to a month later than the rainy season and often not stable. For Tra Khuc-Tra Bong Rivers, slope typography creates straight flows from the highlands to the lowlands, which can easily cause floods in the rainy season and drought in the dry season. Flow varies in different months with a big difference between the highest flow and lowest flow and a prolonged flood season.

Climate change

86. Climate change is expected to alter the current runoff and rainfall regimes. MONRE has estimated an increased mean annual temperature for Vietnam from climate model simulations under a range of emissions scenarios. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report produced in 2007 provides the predictions for Viet Nam, for the period 2080–2099, assuming a “medium” emission scenario, based on the results of 21 Global Circulation Models (GCMs).

87. Most of the increase in average annual rainfall predicted by the GCM models is expected to occur in the already wet months of the year, with only a minor increase over the dry season. The result would be that the seasonal variation in river flows would increase, with a greater variation in runoff at the seasonal scale. The frequency of dry season water shortages may also increase, because of higher dry season evaporation rates. The higher temperatures will increase plant water requirements, increasing the dry season crop water demands. The other change expected is higher intensity of rainfall which will exaggerate the current issues in Vietnam regarding natural disasters in general, and some new risk issues in particular such as dam safety.

River bank sedimentation and erosion

88. River bank and coastal erosion and river sedimentation happen in most of the rivers, resulting in a relatively high content of suspended solids in the rivers.

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Air quality

89. The air quality is generally good, except in some urban areas where levels of dust and noise are relatively high.

Groundwater quality

90. Across the entire area, the groundwater is of relatively good quality and can be used for domestic water supply. However, the groundwater in some areas still contains high content of iron or manganese or salinity.

Surface water quality

91. Under normal conditions, the quality of surface water is quite good, except the high content of suspended solids due to riverbank erosion. However, the water quality is often severely degraded during and after heavy rains or storms. Floodwater can also dissolves and/or spreads pollutants from waste dumping and treatment sites, broken sewage systems, faeces and wastes from toilets, etc. Disease-causing pollutants and microorganisms are largely spread by rainwater and floodwater. In the dry season, water level in rivers and lakes is lower and water flows become diminished, causing water pollution or salinity intrusion. Water quality of Ma River is relatively good, high suspended solids in the rainy season, deep salinity intrusion in the dry season, signs of pollution from domestic and industrial wastewater can be observed in some areas. Water quality of Ca River is at Grade B level appropriate for irrigation uses and has salinity intrusion in the dry season. Vu Gia-Thu Bon Rivers have most of the parameters that are below permissible limits for Grade A water (appropriate for domestic water supply purposes), except suspended solid and coliform bacteria. Tra Khuc-Tra Bong water quality is relatively good. In some monitoring locations, BOD and COD values exceed permissible limits for Grade A water.

Soil quality

92. The soil quality of the region is generally good. However there are issues related to dioxin contamination at Da Nang airport where dioxin content in the soil exceeds 1,000 part per thousand (ppt) with a total contaminated area of up to 88,000 m2. At Phu Cat Airport (Quy Nhon), the total area of dioxin-contaminated soil is about 4,000 m2 and is concentrated in the airport area. Besides, there are areas contaminated by toxic chemicals during the war in Cam Lo, Dong Ha, Khe Sanh and Quang Tri. Other issues include land degradation due to destruction of watershed forests; desertification due to sand-bearing winds from Quang Binh to Binh Thuan; saline soil; reclaiming of wild lands; encroachment of seashores; destruction of mangrove forests for aquaculture farms and construction of salinity prevention dykes; and soil contamination due to agricultural chemicals.

Mineral resources

93. The area has diversified mineral resources, which make up about 60% of iron ore reserves, 80% of tin reserves, 100% of Cronite reserves and 40% of lime reserves of the whole country.

4.1.2. Ecological features

Terrestrial ecosystems

94. The terrestrial ecosystems of the region are mainly characterized by the natural and plantation forests within the Truong Son Mountain Range. In the past, due to inappropriate exploitation of watershed forests, forests in some areas such as Dakrong (in Quang Tri province) have been severely affected; natural forest area has been reduced to 60%. Forests

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have been lost due to illegal logging, forest fires, Construction of hydro-electric power plants, encroachment on coastal protective forests to fully exploit mineral resources of titanium, clearing of forests for agriculture, etc. Marshlands, mangrove forests and coastal zones continue to be degraded due to improper aquaculture development.

Aquatic ecosystems

95. The freshwater ecosystems found in the project area are not unique. Despite having about 670 km of coastline, 23 river mouths, many lagoons, a broad continental shelf with plentiful resources, abundant marine resources (with a reserve of about 620,000 tons of fish, 2,750 tons of shrimp and 5,000 tons of squid), the marine resources of the region are being over-exploited.

National Parks and Reserves

96. In the area, many National Parks and Natural Resources Reserves of high biodiversity value have been established, such as: Ben En National Park (in Thanh Hoa provine), Pu Mat National Park (in Nghe An province), Vu Quang National Park (in Ha Tinh province), Khe Net National Reserve and Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park (in Quang Binh province), Cu Lao Cham Marine Reserve, Ba Na – Nui Chua and Son Tra National Reserves (in Da Nang), etc. The establishment of many new reserves is being proposed at many sites such as Quy Nhon Marine Reserve, Nui Ba reserve (Binh Dinh), Vu Gia – Thu Bon river basin reserve with the aim to protect the migration routes of Moi fish, Chinh bong fish, etc. Location of the National Parks and important natural habitats are identified on Map in Figure 4.2.

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Figure 4.2. Locations of national parks and important nature reserves

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4.1.3. Socio – economic features

97. The Central Region, with the concentration of major economic zones, possesses a lot of advantages as a strategic location, including human resources, 17 sea ports, 15 economic zones, 22 industrial zones, 2 export processing zones, 8 airports, 2 national highway, East-West Economic Corridor and projects of tens of billions USD worth. However, these potentials haven’t been effectively tapped to boost the regional economy. In general, each province has its own advantages but lacks strategic planning, with small and scattered and spontaneous production still being common practice. Deep-water seaports of Chan May, Da Nang, Ky Ha and Dung Quat are not operating at full capacity. Industrial – export processing zones lack attention and investment from national and international enterprises. In the Project area, the establishment of Dung Quat deep-water seaport and Industrial zone has formed a key economic zone spanning from Lien Chieu (Quang Nam - Da Nang) to Dung Quat (Quang Ngai), shaping an economic and tourism development axis along the Coastal areas, and connecting to a series of rising urban centers, including Hue, Da Nang, Hoi An, Tam Ky, Quang Ngai, Quy Nhon and large economic zones such as Chan May – Lang Co, Chu Lai, Dung Quat, and Nhon Hoi. In addition, Chan May deep water seaport and Industrial – Commercial – Service zone project and Nhon Hoi deep-water seaport and Economic zone project will lead to an expansion of the key economic region to the South to include Binh Dinh province. Locations of key Socio – economic zones are identified on Map in Figure 4.3.

Population

98. Vietnam has a young population age structure and high fertility, contributing to rapid population growth in many communities, exerting pressure on local resources and the environment. The people most directly affected by this are also the poorest who are least able to change livelihoods or lifestyles to cope with, or combat, local environmental decline.

99. Some impacts of strong population growth include: loss of arable agricultural land to development with marginal land use and increasing land degradation; clearance of native forests by farmers, loggers, and developers; increasing consumption of fossil fuels adding to climate change effects, etc.

100. The population in Project area is approximately 20 million people (according to 2006 Statistical Yearbook). In 2005, the population density of Vietnam was 242 people per km2, making it one of the most densely populated countries in Southeast Asia and in the world. Population densities of some main river basins in the Project area are shown in Figure 4.4. In the Project area, population densities of most of river basins are below the national average, except Tra Khuc and Kone river basins. All of the river basins have a rural population more than 70% of the total population.

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Figure 4.3. Location of key socio – economic zones

Figure 4.4: Population density in the key river basins in the project area

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Land use

101. Agricultural, forestry land and unused land areas are being reduced due to the shift of land use to construction of transportation networks, irrigation systems, hydro power plants, urban areas and factories.

Infrastructure

102. In the urban areas, the infrastructure is quite good. In rural areas, the infrastructure is still poor, especially the rural road systems which haven’t met the needs for transportation and rescue in heavy rains or floods. Smaller scale community projects at commune level are quite small and scattered.

Economic situation and structure

103. The economy is growing at a fair rate, at 8.4%/year; while the growth rate of agriculture, forestry and aquaculture is at 5.29%/year. However, the regional economy is still in a difficult situation, with a high proportion of agriculture, forestry and aquaculture (37.8%), and 80% of the population working in agriculture. Rural labors are still suffering from lack of employment, low income and low living standards. Economic structure of the river basins is shown in Figure 4.5.

Agriculture and Aquaculture

104. The main form of agriculture is rice cultivation and other edible crops, cultivation and catching of aquatic products which are heavily dependent on nature variables, therefore, poor crops and/or considerable damage often occur when there are floods and storms.

Ethnic Minority Groups (EMGs)

105. The area is home of different EMGs, including Muong (in Thanh Hoa), Thai (in Thanh Hoa and Nghe An), Cham (in Ninh Thuan), H’re (in Quang Ngai) and Kotu (in Quang Nam and Da Nang). EMGs are unevenly distributed from the East to the West. Kinh people reside mainly in the coastal lowlands.

Figure 4.5. Economic structure of the key river basins in the project area

Physical Cultural and Natural Heritages

106. There are some important physical cultural and natural heritages such as Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park – the world heritage, and My Son temple complex, Hoi An Ancient Town. Locations of key cultural sites are identified on map in Figure 4.6.

Community Health

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107. Rural health services haven’t been well-equipped in the provinces covered by the project area. Epidemics and environmental pollution often occur after floods due to a lack of sewage systems. During and after floods or storms, floodwater spreads waste from toilets, causing epidemics and environmental pollution. Since 2004, cattle and poultry disease epidemics have been happening nearly every year.

Figure 4.6. Locations of key cultural sites

4.2 Natural Disaster Situation and Response Capacity

108. The Central area within the project coverage experiences most of the different types of natural disasters in Vietnam, of which the most frequent are floods, typhoons, heat waves, etc. Floods and inundations in the Central region usually occur on large scale, simultaneously in several provinces, sometimes cover the entire region (such as in 1999, 2003, 2009, 2010). Floods have been hitting the region more frequently and more fiercely, causing human casualties, property damage, and soil and water pollution. Flash floods occur from the river sources in Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Nam, Da Nang, and Quang Ngai. Storms and tropical low pressures are happening more regularly and intensely. Data shows that in the period of 10

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years from 1981-19912, the number of storms hitting Central provinces made up 65% of the total number of storms in Vietnam. Heat waves often develop in lowlands such as the coastal plain and river valleys. In river valleys, hot weather is occurring at greater length and intensity.

109. Annex 4 provides detailed information regarding natural disaster situation in the key river basins including the response capacity at the provincial level.

Response capacity

Institutional arrangement:

110. To respond to natural disasters of complex and unpredictable trends, and ensure aligned implementation of flood and storm prevention, response, search and rescue, and disaster mitigation throughout the state administrative system, most of the provinces have set up provincial Committee for Flood and Storm Control (PCFSC) and Committee for Search and Rescue (PCSR). The committees are in charge of supporting Provincial People’s Committee (PPC) in managing and coordinating with relevant units to carry out its state administration function in this area. The PCFSC is chaired by Provincial People’s Committee (PPC) and representatives of key agencies. The committee is responsible for providing concrete guidance to lower levels, examining and revising all the plans related to flood and storm control and search and response and ensuring feasibility and mobilizing human forces, supplies and materials and equipments for the activities. In addition, the CFSC and CSR are also established at different local departments and agencies which are all under the management of PPC and PCSFS. Each key works such as reservoir, dike, etc. also has their own CSFS. The Search and Rescue main forces include units such as provincial Military headquarters, Defense headquarters, Police, Red Cross. The action plan is always divided into 3 key activities: Preparation before flood season, response to storms and floods, and post-disaster recovery activities. However, capacity of these entities remains weak due to limited experience and financial resources.

111. Infrastructure and equipment

Currently, key infrastructure in most provinces/river basins (especially the large ones) includes: irrigation works, hydropower plants, reservoirs, pumping stations, dams, river revetments, coastal revetments, anchorages for avoiding storms, fishing boat harbors, hydrometeorological stations, weather forecast information network. However, most of them are old, outdated, and/or incomplete.

For Thanh Hoa, there are more than 800 reservoirs and dams of different sizes in the whole river basin, including 24 national and provincial important reservoirs, 3,000 km of canals, 1,008 km of river and coastal revetments, 881 sluices and 181 work protection embankments. There are 3 ship anchorages for avoiding storms (Lach Hoi, Lach Truong and Lach Bang); 7 hydrometeorological stations; and 30 gauging stations.

For Ca river basin, there are 1,214 reservoirs of different sizes; 810 pumping stations; 586.6km of river, in-field and coastal embankments; 17 meteorological stations and 11 gauging stations, of which some stations have stopped functioning.

For Ha Tinh (Ha Vang – Rac river basin), there are 32 dike systems with a total length of 316 km most of them are small with low elevation and limited flood and storm prevention capacity. There are 345 reservoirs/dams with the total capacity of 762 million cubic meters and 48 weirs and most of them are old.

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For Quang Nam province and Da Nang city, there are a number of dams and reservoirs of different sizes of which many are built in Thu Bon river basin. A number of anchorages have also been built such as Cu Lao Cham (Quang Nam), Hong Trieu (Quang Nam), and Tho Quang (Da Nang). There are 2 meteorological stations: one representing for lowland areas (Da Nang station) and one representing for the mountainous areas (Tra My station) and 18 rain gauge stations. Along the Vu Gia – Thu Bon river system, there are 8 gauging stations, including 2 stations measuring flow rate and water level, 2 stations measuring water level in the midstream of Thu Bon river and Vu Gia river, and 4 stations measuring water level in the downstream area under tidal effects.

For Quang Ngai there are 527 irrigation works (including 110 reservoirs, 324 dams and 93 pumping stations). A number of dikes and salinity prevention works as well as a number of reservoirs in Thu Bon river basin. A number of anchorages have been built such as Dung Quat, Sa Ky, Tinh Hoa, Ly Son, My A, Sa Huynh ports. There are 3 basic gauging stations, 3 specialized gauging stations, 7 rain gauge stations, 3 meteorological stations and 94 flood level marking poles.

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CHAPTER 5 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT

112. This chapter presents the assessment of the potential impacts of the Project in the context of a river basin management as well as at the subproject level. As mentioned in Chapter 2, the proposed activities to be implemented under Components 1, 2, 3 will be limited to technical assistance, capacity building, and small civil works such as renovation and/or construction of offices/buildings and hydrometerolocal stations and community infrastructure. The subprojects to be implemented under Component 4 will involve four types of works: rehabilitation and/or upgrading of dykes and embankments; rehabilitation and/or upgrading of dams/reservoirs; rehabilitation and/or upgrading of roads; and dredging or river mouths and/or upgrading of ports/harbors for fishing boats. The subprojects will be selected using a river basin approach with investments clustered together to maximize impacts. The assessment therefore focused on the potential impacts of the Project on policies and plans related to natural disaster, flooding, and water resources management in the context of integrated river basin management as well as on socio-economic environment, natural environmental (air, noise, vibration, land/soil, water, waste), and biological environment (forest, fisheries, biodiversity, etc.).

5.1 Potential Positive Impacts

5.1.1 General benefits

113. In recent years, together with the global climate change, the weather and hydrological phenomenon in Vietnam, and particularly in the Central region, have been changing in increasingly complicated trends, not following traditional cycles (the rainy and flood season can begin earlier and end later than in the past). Serious natural disasters with unusual signs have been occurring with greater frequency and intensity. Floods and storms occurred every year, especially in 1998, 1999, 2005, 2009 in the Central region have caused extensive negative impacts on human lives and properties of the people and the Government. To mitigate these impacts a number of policies, plans, and institutional frameworks have been established (see Chapter 3 and Annex 1) and technical assistance and financial resources have been provided by the WB and other donors to facilitate the implementation of the policies, plans, and priority investment. Implementation of the Project would have potential positive impacts in strengthening national, provincial, and local capacities for natural disaster prevention, preparedness, and mitigation built on the experience of the previous and/or the on-going projects. Specifically, the VN-Haz Project would have the following positive impacts:

- Strengthening the capacities of national, provincial and local disaster risk management entities to better plan and mitigate against hazard risks, thereby reducing losses of life, damage to property, and interruptions of economic activities.

- Improving weather forecasting and early warning systems to more effectively collect, process, and disseminate information to enable various stakeholders to undertake more timely and effective actions to mitigate against disaster risks and respond to weather events more generally; and

- Putting in place effective structural measures to reduce typhoon and storm risks in high priority areas.

- Raising community awareness and natural disaster risk management capacity of different levels.

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114. Given the design and scope of the Project as described in Chapter 2, it is concluded that implementation of the VN-Haz Project is in line with the target of the National Strategy for Natural Disaster Prevention, response and mitigation to 2020, the National Strategy on Environment Protection to 2010 and Direction to 2020, the regional and provincial water resources plans, and the flood prevention and natural disaster mitigation plans developed by the Government (see scope of the plans in Annex 1). The key benefits are described below while specific expression by local agencies and/or people’s committee is highlighted in boxes.

5.1.2 Reduction of human losses and property damage

115. Reducing human losses and property damage for the Central region, especially for the communes and districts along the river basins, is one of the significant positive impacts of the Project. Most of the storm and flood prevention and response infrastructure in the Project provinces are relatively poor, which is one of the reasons of increased human losses and property damage in these provinces. The subprojects will focus on addressing these weaknesses, through activities such as upgrading and repairing existing rescue roads which currently cannot meet the requirements in case of floods, increasing safety of reservoirs, upgrading ship anchoring sites for avoiding storms, etc. According to the Resettlement Action Framework (RAF) report, the Project will protect approximately 900,000 people (more than 210,000 households) from annual floods and droughts, including people of 5 ethnic groups: Muong (in Thanh Hoa), Thai (in Thanh Hoa and Nghe An), Cham (in Ninh Thuan), H’re (in Quang Ngai) and Kotu (in Quang Nam and Da Nang).

116. Public consultations suggested that the groups most affected by natural disaster risks are children, women, elderly, ethnic minorities and the poor. These disadvantaged groups are the most important beneficiaries of the Project. These groups expressed their strong wishes to support the Government’s effort in reducing human losses and property damage due to natural disasters because their lives are already difficult without these losses. Thus the Project has been designed to give high priority for investment to the urgent needs for natural disaster prevention and mitigation as well as securing the lives and properties of local communities. The Project would also help maintain the trust of people in the Communist Party and the Government, making them feel secured to focus on production and settling down their lives.

Anti-erosion revetment for Ve river is the wish and urgent need of local communities. The Ve river revetment project receives a lot of support from the local communities.- In many years, Ve river bank erosion has always been a serious problem of the province, which has always been raised at the People’s Council meetings at different levels of Mo Duc and Tu Nghia districts. Along Ve River there are over 20 sections suffering from erosion, of which 6 most severely eroded sections have been included in the project of Ve river revetment.Irrigation Agency – Quang Ngai DARD, 7/2011- Nghia Hiep commune is one of the communes where sections of Ve river banks suffer from serious erosion, of 5-10 m each year, especially, some sections used to suffer from 20 m erosion in one year. The local communities expressed the wish for Ve river revetment to be built as soon as possible to help secure their lives, lands and properties. The residents in Nghia Hiep commune used to make a community petition to the district and commune People’s Committees, asking for investment in Ve river bank revetment.- The lost land area for the construction of Ve river bank revetment within the territory of Nghia Hiep commune would be small and include only riverside agricultural land (residential lands would be untouched); the compensation would only be required for the lost crops of the residents.

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Nghia Hiep CPC – Tu Nghia district, 7/2011

Flood risks and potential positive impacts of the subproject “Upgrading Luong Yen Khai dike system in Thanh Chuong district” to Thanh Luong commune, Thanh Chuong district, Nghe An province

- This is a commune frequently affected by flood and inundation. The existing dike system now can only be enough to prevent small floods (happening around May), while a historical flood happens every 9-10 years, which can be as high as the roof-top of a house. During big floods, the 5 hamlets were completely separated and could only be accessed by boats, and with 100% of agriculture land inundated. This affected children’s learning, the life of local people, and agriculture production. From 2007 to 2010, there were human losses, mostly school children, due to floods every year.

- The commune has implemented some measures in response to natural hazards such as carrying out communication activities to encourage the people to take initiative in preventing floods, setting up a radio system to inform the people in lowland areas of floods and inundations, mobilizing people to build rafts and boats, etc. However, such measures are often not effective; due to a low and sunken typography and a small dike system, the local people are often brought into a passive position when there is flooding.

- The beneficiaries of the project would be all of the people in these mountainous hamlets – where floods and droughts are often the case. There would be no affected populations (according to the commune People’s Committee, if additional land is required, the local residents were willing to donate their lands for road and dike construction).

- The local authorities and people are willing to support the project; there was no request for compensation because the project would improve local traffic in flooding conditions, reducing human and property losses, protecting the crops, and the children wouldn’t need to be off school when there are floods.

Thanh Luong CPC (23/6/2011)

5.1.3. Facilitation for socio-economic development

117. Another important positive impact of the Project is facilitating the socio-economic development of the Central region, especially the riverside or river mouth lowland areas. According to the Social Assessment, the Project would protect approximately 50,000 ha of production lands from floods and droughts each year. The subproject group of upgrading dikes, revetments, and reservoirs would help preserving the lands or increasing agricultural area and productivity, increasing incomes and livelihoods opportunities, and help the local production and people’s lives in the areas affected by natural disasters recover faster. Specifically, the subproject group of upgrading dikes and revetments would help preserve the lands and ensure better security for agricultural production by avoiding loss of agricultural lands due to river bank erosion. Some subprojects of upgrading and reinforcing reservoirs and dams, besides the effect of ensuring dam and reservoir safety and increasing flood drain capacity, would also be effective in increasing irrigation capacity and irrigated area and supplementing the groundwater for people’s domestic and production purposes. The subproject group of upgrading rescue roads would enhance transport activities for rescue purposes and trading between communes and districts. The subproject group of upgrading anchoring sites would contribute to increasing the fishing productivity and also enhancing trading between provinces. In addition, the upgrading of natural disaster prevention and response infrastructure would possibly create a lot of jobs for local residents in the project

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area. The socio-economic development, in turn, would increase the human capacity and material resources for natural disaster response and post-disaster recovery of the communities. The Project also would, at the same time, help developing the local infrastructure and creating a better investment environment to attract investors.

5.1.4 Raising community awareness and natural disaster risk management capacity of different levels

118. The survey and public consultation results show that some areas are still quite passive in their flood prevention and response activities, especially at village and commune levels. There is still lack of good awareness of natural disaster risks and communication activities on storm and flood prevention and response haven’t received enough attention.

The current status of community awareness and natural disaster management capacity.

The communication, education and awareness raising for the communities in terms of flood and storm prevention and response hasn’t received adequate attention, therefore, a number of officers and local people haven’t been well aware of the disasters and their prevention, and their disaster response skills are still limited, which has caused preventable losses of human lives and properties.

Storm and flood prevention and response 2010 report, Loc ha district, Ha Tinh province

119. Through its activities, the Project would help the people in the provinces increase their awareness on natural disaster risks as well as community-based DRM capacity. Raising the community awareness on natural disaster prevention and response would help the residents and the communities change their attitudes and behaviours in their response to climate change, especially towards the environment, including: use and protection of forest resources (watershed and protective forests), water resources, dikes, revetments and dams; proactive response to natural disasters, mobilization of internal forces to rescue and support each other in disaster events and in post-disaster reconstruction, etc.

5.1.5. Improvement in quality of living environment

120. The rivers in the Central region are narrow and steep. This characteristic forms a relatively high river flow in the flood season, which results in river bank erosion happening more frequently. This can be easily found in river basins in the Central region such as Cau Chay river basin (the section running through Yen Dinh district – Thanh Hoa province), Ca river basin (the area in Anh Son district – Nghe An), Thu Bon river basin (the area in Duy Xuyen district, Quang Nam), Kone river basin (the section running through An Nhon district and Tuy Phuoc district), Dinh river basin (the section running through Phan Rang city – Ninh Thuan), etc. The river bank erosion process is the result of increased content of suspended solids in the river water and it can largely affect domestic water quality for the riverside residents. This is also reflected in the opinions of many Environment Protection Agencies of the Project provinces. The subproject group of upgrading river revetments would reduce the river bank erosion process, which will help improving the river water quality especially in terms of suspended solids parameter.

121. The Project’s activities would reduce the inundation currently occurring every year in the Central provinces or damage to fishing boats at river mouth areas after storms. This would be very effective in reducing the environmental degradation happening after storms and floods, and increasing the local residents’ habitat quality.

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Natural disaster risks situation and VN-Haz Project’s positive impacts to Ha Tinh province.

The natural disaster risks affecting Ha Tinh are mainly from floods and storms. Losses caused by floods and storms are quite big every year, for example in 2007, in Huong Khe district, 29 people were killed, 44 were injured and the property damage was about 1,001 billion VND. The historical flood in 2010 killed 54 people and the total damage was estimated to be 6,400 billion VND. Apart from human losses and property damage, the floods and storms also cause serious damage to the environment.

The VN-Haz Project would support Ha Tinh in strengthening capacities of flood and storm prevention and response, reducing human and property losses, especially loss of human health and environment quality because after flood events, domestic water sources of the people are often contaminated, diseases often increase (such as red eye sores, skin diseases, diarrhea, etc.), the environmental landscape is seriously degraded (with wastes, mud, dead animals and plants, etc.), the offensive smell is present everywhere, etc.

Source: Dike management & Flood and Storm Prevention & Response Agency, Ha Tinh province, 21/6/2011

5.2 Identification of Potential Negative Impacts

5.2.1 Type and scale of negative impacts

122. Potential negative impacts of the Project would be mainly due to land acquisition and civil works activities to be carried out under Component 4 subprojects. Type and scale of key impacts are identified in Table 5.1 and Sections 5.2.2 to 5.2.6 and discussed in Sections 5.3 and 5.4. Potential negative impacts of the first phase Component 4 subprojects are showed in Table 5.3, while Annex 5 provides an initial safeguard screening for the proposed subprojects. Section 5.5 discusses the “with project” and “without project” options.

Table 5.1. Identification of potential negative impacts

No. Potential negative impacts

Scale of impacts Explanation

1 Land acquisition and resettlement of local people including ethnic people

Moderate, localized, and can be compensated and mitigated

It is the WB’s and Government’s policy to avoid and/or minimize land acquisition and resettlement. Moreover, most works will be limited to reinforcing, upgrading, and improving of existing structures (not for new construction) therefore the need for land acquisition will not be large.

2 Impacts on ethnic minorities and/or adversely affect ethnic groups

Moderate, localized, and can be compensated and mitigated

In the Project area, there are 5 ethnic groups: Muong, Thai, Co Tu, H’re and Cham.

3 Potential impacts on physical cultural resources

Minor, localized, and can be mitigated

The proposed subprojects are located far from from recognized historical, cultural, and archeological sites, and thus will not affect recognized physical cultural resources.However, important and unrestored physical culture resources could be found during subproject construction.Some graves may have to be relocated from the

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construction sites6) 4 7) Potential impacts on

natural habitats and/or forest

No impact The proposed subprojects are located relatively away from these areas

5 UXO risks Moderate and localized, and can be mitigated

Most areas are developed for resettlement and production however there are areas where UXO may exist. Although the risk is low but the impacts can be significant if it involves the loss of life and/or injuries.

6 Environmental quality impairment and social issues

Moderate, temporary, localized, and can be mitigated

Construction activities may cause: - Air pollution due to dust and exhausts, noise, vibration, gas.- Soil and surface water pollution due to overflow rainwater, leaked oil, domestic wastes (solid and liquid), dredging activities- Public health risks, social conflicts or interference in local business, economic activities, traffic congestion, risks of traffic accidents, impacts on downstream water uses during site clearance and construction.

7 Possible contamination of soil and water quality from the disposal of dredged materials during construction

Moderate, temporary, localized, and can be mitigated

There are 3 subprojects related to dredging of access channels and the activities could impact soil and water quality due to dredging and disposal of dredged materials during construction.

8 Risk related to safety of dams and/or dykes during operation

Minor and can be mitigated

There are potential downstream impacts - inundation of new areas as a result of spillway expansion or construction of new spillways - especially need for any additional land acquisition and warning to people who are living in downstream. Although the risk is low but the impacts can be significant if it involves the loss of life and/or injuries.

9 Likely to cause water use conflicts during operation


Most subprojects do not involve operation of sluice gates. Moreover the application of community-based disaster risk management (CBDRM) for the Project would enhance close consultation among local communities.

10 Likely to create coastal erosion and/or water quality nearby during operation


There are 3 subprojects related to dredging construction anti-wave dike and embankment. There could be a risk on coastal erosion and/or water quality nearby during operation

123. Phase 1 subprojects have been screened in accordance with the type and scale of key impacts given in Table 5.1 and the results are presented in Table 5.1A below.

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Table 5.1A: Results of Safeguard Screening for the Phase I Component 4 Subprojects

No. Subproject name Investment Items

Type of works

River basins

Potential negative impacts per the

screening criteria indicated in Table 5.1

Safeguard document prepared

GOV require

ment

I. Thanh Hoa1 Maintain, upgrade and treat the

key parts of the left dyke of Cau Chay river (section from K0-K42), Yen Dinh district

Upgrade 42 km dyke site; Renew structures on the site; build more rescue roads

Dyke/road

Ma River (1), (3), (4), (5), (8) RAP, EMP EIA

II. Nghe An2 Upgrade dyke site of Luong Yen

Khai Line, widen, stabilize the surface 2.87 Km Dyke/road

Ca River (1), (4), (5), (8) RAP, EMP EIA

3 Bridge combining with overflow connecting rescued roads, Nghi Loc and Vinh city

65m bridge combining with overflow and 1 Km road and a drain sluice with B=7.5 m

Dyke/road

Ca River (1), (5) RAP,EMP EPC

III. Ha Tinh4

Upgrade dyke site Phuc Long Nhuong, Cam Xuyen district

Upgrade dyke site of 11.41 km; Renew 21 drainage sluices crossing the dyke; build 12 road sites combining with dyke rescue with the total length of 8.974 km

Dyke/road

Ha Vang-Rac River

(1), (3), (4), (5), (8) RAP, EMP EIA

VII. Quang Nam5 Repair, upgrade Thach Ban

reservoir, Duy Xuyen districtMain dam, overflow, intake gate, management house and road

Dam Thu Bon River

(1), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8)

RAP, EMP EIA

IX. Binh Dinh6

Upgrade anti-erosion embankment of Kone river for safety, An Nhon and Tuy Phuoc district

1.2 km Thang Cong section, Nhon Phuc commune; 1.5 km Song Ngheo section, Nhon Hau commune; 1.8 km Tam Dan, Nhon An commune; 1.3 km embankment in the downstream of Ba Di bridge, Phuoc Loc commune

Dyke/road

Kone River

(1), (3), (5) RAP,EMP EIA

*Note: (1) Involve land acquisition and/or resettlement, (2) involve ethnic minority, (3) involve PCR, (4) involve UXO risk; (5) involve civil works; (6) involve dredging; (7) involve dam safety; (8) likely to involve land/water use conflicts; (9) involve river mouth construction.

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5.2.2 Land acquisition and resettlement

124. During the Project preparation stage, it is difficult to estimate the total numbers of resettlement people and the areas of land acquisition because technical design has not been prepared and some subprojects have not been identified specifically. However, the social assessment suggested that the Project will affect three main groups of PAPs (Project Affected Peoples), encompassing agricultural PAPs (counting for a majority, more than 80% of total PAPs), business and service PAPs, and salary-earned PAPs that work for administrative agencies, companies, and factories. Among these three types of PAPs, agricultural or business PAPs will have their livelihoods and incomes affected due to partial productive land acquisition or business postponement during the construction stage. Salary-earned PAPs will not have their livelihoods and incomes affected.

125. Compensation will be paid to PAPs in line with the Resettlement Policy Framework (RPF) prepared for the Project. While there may be PAHs (Project Affected Households) as a result of the project implementation, these cases would almost certainly all involve compensation for land acquisition rather than resettlement. For the first year subprojects, there is land acquisition of 1,284 households and only 3 households have to resettle (Table 5.2). It should be noted that many PAPs volunteer to dominate their land for the Project like PAPs in Yen Dinh commune in Thanh Hoa province Thanh Luong commune in Nghe An province, Duc Loi commune in Quang Ngai province, Phuoc Loc commune in Binh Dinh province. There would be thousands hectares of land would be temporally acquired for construction sites. The effects of temporary land acquisition could be reduced by restoring the landscapes to their original condition after it has been used.

Table 5.2: Impacts due to land acquisition and relocations of first phase Component 4 subprojects (RAPs for five-first phase subprojects)

Subproject Total affected HH

Permanent land (m2)

Temporary land (m2)

Remarks No. of grave

relocationI. Thanh Hoa1. Maintain, upgrade and treat the key parts of the left dyke of Cau Chay river (section from K0-K42), Yen Dinh district

781 147,337 537,673

42,000 m dyke; 11

communes in 1 district

3

II. Nghe An

2. Bridge combining with overflow connecting Rescue roads, Nghi Loc and Vinh city

5 0 200

Small bridge 65m long and

1,020 m access road; 2 commune,

2 districts

0

3. Upgrade dyke site of Luong Yen Khai 83 13,300 0

2,870 m dyke; 2

communes, 1 district

0

III. Ha Tinh4. Upgrade dyke site Phuc Long Nhuong, Cam Xuyen district

335 91,402 011,000 m; 4

communes, 1 district

1

IV. Quang Nam5. Repair, upgrade Thach 7 0 20,000 1 communes, 0

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Ban reservoir, Duy Xuyen district 1 district

V. Binh Dinh6. Upgrade anti-erosion embankment of Kone river for safety, An Nhon and Tuy Phuoc districts

73 9,156 1,0375,700 m; 4

communes, 2 districts

18

Total 1,284 261,195 558,910 22

5.2.3 Potential impacts on ethnic minority groups

126. The Project will cause land acquisition of some households, including ethnic minority households belonging to ethnic minority groups of Muong (in Thanh Hoa), Thai (in Thanh Hoa and Nghe An), Cham (in Ninh Thuan), H’re (in Quang Ngai) and Kotu (in Quang Nam and Da Nang). However, these impacts are marginal because selection of works and technical solutions comply with the Project requirements, i.e. minimizing land acquisition and assets of the local people. According to results of preliminary social surveys of the Project provinces and the RAP for the first phase subprojects, it is estimated that about approximately 1,284 households (with about 5,525 persons) will be affected by the subprojects (Table 5.2 ), of which most of ethnic minority people are beneficiaries of the Project. Environmental impact assessments of Phase 1 subprojects indicate that no ethnic minority people have been identified to be affected these subprojects (Table 5.3 ).

5.2.4 Potential impacts on physical cultural resources

127. Physical cultural resources are defined as movable or immovable objects, sites, structures, groups of structures, and natural features and landscapes that have archaeological, paleontological, historical, architectural, religious, aesthetic, or other cultural significance. Physical cultural resources may be located in urban or rural settings, and may be above or below ground, or under water.

128. In the Project are, there are 8 physical cultural sites. However, most proposed subprojects are located relatively far away from these areas (see location maps in Annex 5). Only 1 subproject in Thanh Hoa province is located nearby Ba Trieu temple with a distance of 1 km. The subproject involves in repairing the weak points in the exiting dike. Consequently, it is assumed that the impacts of the subproject on the Ba Trieu temple will be not significant.

129. It should be noted that, although the Project is assessed not to affect the recognized physical cultural resources, important and unrestored physical cultural resources could be found during subproject construction. Some graves may have to be removed from the construction sites. For Phase 1 of the project, 22 individual graves of three subprojects in Thanh Hoa, Ha Tinh, and Binh Dinh will have to be relocated.

130. Relocation of graves would be carried out by households whose graves are affected (as is the normal practice in Vietnam). Rituals for relocation of graves may be different among Kinh, and ethnic minority peoples. Affected households will receive compensation payment to conduct the relocation on their own. Payment to the grave relocation includes costs of excavation, relocation, reburial, purchasing land for reburial (if any), and all other reasonable costs associated with necessary rituals by the local practice. Local ritual means relocation of graves will be carried out in accordance with local cultural practices, taking into account cultural preferences which are typical for each ethnic group. When graves of ethnic

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minorities are affected, grave relocation rituals adopted will be documented in respective Ethic Minority Development Plan (EMDPs) based on the consultation with affected ethnic minority peoples during project implementation. Where graveyard - owned collectively by ethnic groups, are affected, appropriate consultation with affected groups will be conducted during social assessment under respective subproject to work out solutions acceptable to affected ethnic minorities. Relocation of graves will be done satisfactorily to the affected households prior to the commencement of construction

5.2.5. Potential impacts on natural habitats and/or forests

131. There are 10 nature reserves, protected areas, or protection forests in the project area. However, all the proposed subprojects are not located nearby any protected areas, nature reserves or protection forests. Locations of these areas are provided in Chapter 4 while more information is provided in Annex 3.

132. The subproject “Repairing and upgrading the safety for Chan Son reservoir, Dai Loc district, Quang Nam province” and “Upgrading to ensure the safety for 4 reservoirs: Truoc Dong, Truong Loan, Hoc Khe, Ho Cau – Da Nang city” are located 1 km far from Ba Na – Nui Chua National Park. Most of these reservoirs are of small scale capacity, except Ho Cau reservoir which is a medium one. Due to small construction works, it is anticipated that implementation of these two subprojects will not cause significant impacts on Ba Na – Nui Chua National Park. The same situation can be anticipated for the subproject “Upgrade, repair overflow bridges of rescued road Dong Tuy Phuoc – An Nhon – Phu Cat – Binh Dinh province” which is 1 km far from Thi Nai swamp. As the result, it is concluded that the Project will not cause any adverse impacts on the natural habitats and/or forest.

5.2.6. Cumulative negative impacts

133. As identified in the previous sections, the Project would have no impacts on natural reserves, natural forests and sites with physical cultural resources. Impacts from the land acquisition and resettlement process are moderate. Negative impacts of the project in degrading the environment quality during the construction stage are preliminarily assessed as not significant and can be mitigated with proper management measures.

134. The subprojects are dispersed along different river basins with different implementation timelines. They would also involve only rehabilitation and upgrading of existing facilities/infrastructure and there are no other major infrastructure projects planned in the project areas during the implementation of the Project. Therefore, the cumulative negative impacts of the Project would likely to be marginal.

5.3 Assessment of Potential Negative Impacts during Construction

135. This subsection discusses the types and natures of potential negative impacts on natural environment and biological environment based on the four different types of subproject works and on the information available in the feasibility study for the first phase subprojects. Results discussed in this section suggested that the impacts during site clearance and construction of the proposed subprojects would be limited to small to moderate, localized, and temporally and could be mitigated through effective control of contractor performance and the proposed mitigation measures are discussed in Chapter 6.

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5.3.1. Subproject group of upgrading river dikes and revetments

Site clearance activities

136. During the site clearance of the subprojects of constructing and upgrading river dikes and revetments, a number of structures adjacent to the dikes and revetments will be relocated (3 households will be relocated in the subproject of “Upgrade dyke site Phuc Long Nhuong”, Ha Tinh province); some areas of crops and plants located right next to the dikes will be cleared (about 118,119 m2 of agricultural land and 418 m2 of garden land will be cleared for the implementation of the subproject “Upgrading the left dyke of Cau Chay river, Thanh Hoa province”; 59,488 m2 of agricultural land will be affected and 13,798 m2 of garden land will be cleared when upgrading Luong Yen Khai dyke, Nghe An province, etc.).

137. The demolition of structures, old revetments, temporary buildings, etc. would generate wastes, used bamboos and iron sheets and filths, mud, rocks, etc. as well as offensive odors and wastewater. Cutting and destruction of vegetation cover (bamboo, Acacia, sugarcanes, sandalwood, etc.) would generate solid wastes, tree trunks, branches, leaves, etc. However, the volume of wood, tree branches and leaves cut down will be reused as domestic fuel and construction materials by the residents. Therefore, the extent of impacts of the site clearance activities for the subprojects of upgrading river dikes and revetments is considered not large, but specific mitigation plans are required.

Impacts on air environment

138. The earth excavation and dike upgrading activities (over 1 million m3 of excavated soil and earth fill for the subproject of the left dyke of Cau Chay river, Thanh Hoa province; 186,315 m3 soil for the subproject of Luong Yen Khai dyke, Nghe An province) would generate a considerable amount of dust (according to WHO, the dust generation ratio is 0.1-1 g/m3) which would result in air quality impairment.

139. The operations of vehicles transporting soil and sand and other construction materials and the operations of construction machines on the work sites, etc. would generate various exhausts into the air environment. The amount of exhausts would depend on the number of construction vehicles, machinery type and construction methods. The extent of these impacts would cover the areas along the transport routes and upgraded and construction dikes and revetments.

Impacts on water environment

140. The activities related to earth excavation, dike reinforcing and river revetment construction would create impacts on the river water quality, increasing the turbidity of river water in the construction sections, especially in the rainy season when landslides carry soil and rocks into the big river beds.

141. Transportation of excavated soil and construction materials would scatter soil and sand on the road surfaces. Construction material storages and construction activities at the work sites would also generate a number of solid wastes and used oil. These wastes can be brought with rainwater runoff into nearby aquatic areas, resulting in increased turbidity and impacts on aquatic ecosystems.

142. Domestic wastewater, toilet seepage from worker camps would also be another source of impacts on water environment without preliminary treatment before dumping into the environment.

Impacts on ecosystems

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143. During the upgrading of dykes and construction of river revetments, activities such as earth excavation, dropping sand bags and ashlars into the river, etc. would contaminate the river water environment and affect river bed creatures. However, this impact would exist in a short time and thus would not create much damage to the aquatic ecosystems.

Impacts of quarries and borrow pits

144. Existing quarries will be used for supplying materials for subproject construction activities. Since these commercial quarries are licensed by local authorities and have to comply with the government environmental protection regulation, their impacts on the environment are not expected to be significant.

145. Subprojects of upgrading river dikes and revetments would also involve opening of new borrow pits for construction activities such as earth fills of river dykes and revetments. This would create impacts on the environment including: loss of topsoil affecting productive land, land instability from incorrect earth removal or unstable deposition of spoil, leading to landslides or erosion events; discharge of sediments into watercourses, rice paddies, drainages, and irrigation canals; noise and vibration; dust emissions affecting health; disturbances or damage to physical cultural resources; damage to agricultural land and native vegetation; visual impacts. Associated mitigation measures during construction and operation as well as closure requirements of these quarries and borrow pits can be addressed by applying mitigations measure included in the Environmental Codes of Practice (Annex 1, Section V, 5.4).

Impacts on the socio-economic situation

146. The presence of subprojects of upgrading river dikes and revetments would foster local services, increase needs for food, leading to the increase in the price of local goods.

147. Some dikes involve large amount of construction works which would require the concentration of a large number of workers from other areas, posing threats of social conflicts between the workers and the local residents.

Impacts on the local traffic

148. Road traffic: The transportation of construction materials would increase the traffic level and risks of traffic accidents on the transport roads. In addition, heavy-weight vehicles would also damage inter-village and inter-commune roads, affecting local residents’ travel.

149. Water transportation: The concentration of buoys, drafts, ships serving the construction of dike and revetment foundations on the rivers would temporarily appropriate some areas of surface water, reducing the width of river transport routes, blocking the circulation of ships. However, this impact would only occur during the early construction stage of river dikes and revetments.

5.3.2. Subproject group of rehabilitating/upgrading of dams/reservoirs


150. Subprojects of upgrading reservoirs mainly introduce structural measures to upgrade and secure groups of head works (earth dams, flood drain weirs, sluices, etc.). The site area in need of clearance is not large, including a small area of small forestry plants and bushes, aquaculture farming ponds near the earth dam, and a small area of agricultural land of some households. The site clearance activities involve mainly leveling and clearance of some small areas of crops, the impacts come mainly from rainwater runoff, which brings with it rocks and

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soil and wastes, affecting the water environment in the aquatic areas nearby and in the reservoirs.

151. However, the construction stage will require some certain area for machines and equipments gathering site and worker camps. The appropriated land area will be cleared for construction site preparation. A small amount of exhausts will be generated from ground leveling vehicles.


152. During the construction stage, equipments such as land compactors, pile-driving machines, bulldozers, heavy-weight trucks, etc. will be used. The operations of such machines will emit an amount of exhausts into the air. The level of exhausts will differ depending on the characteristics of different equipment and transportation and operation methods.

153. The transportation of materials for reinforcing dams is the main source of impacts on air environment. Based on the estimated sources of materials needed, mainly soil, for dam construction of the subprojects, a part of this amount of materials will be exploited on site, while another part will be transported from other areas by road. Means of road transports will carry soil and sand from material storages within 15 km of the construction sites. Therefore, the impact scope will encompass areas along the transport routes. However, because the reservoirs are located far away from residential areas, the impacts from dust and exhausts generated on the local residents will be considerably reduced.


154. Domestic and construction wastewater will be generated during the construction process. In addition, rainwater runoff will bring down soils and rocks affecting the surface water quality of adjacent aquatic areas. The amount of pollutants from wastewater running into the reservoirs will not create significant impacts on the river water quality given the nature of small remedial works and small number of workers and the large capacity of the reservoirs which will dilute the pollutants. However, the activities of reinforcing dam feet and bodies may cause localized impacts on the water quality of the reservoir basins close to the work sites. Loose rocks and soil may be swept to the reservoirs, resulting in increased turbidity and concentration of suspended solids in the water.

Impacts on ecosystems

155. The operations of machines, equipments and construction vehicles will generate noises which may affect the activities and behaviors of the animals living near the construction sites. Big mammals with large active regions, fast-moving, and sensitive to disturbance effects which are located near the work sites will resettle to distant and tranquil forests high in the mountains. Those species living near residential areas such as deers, muntjacs, wild boars, etc., will at first move further away from the work sites, usually to desolate low mountain areas to reside, then may go back to the forest and/or fields near the work sites for food. Small mammals, birds, and reptiles would only move away from the flooded areas or scatter not far away from the work sites to live. Since all subproject sites are located far from natural habitats, this kind of impact is anticipated to be not significant.

156. Moreover, to satisfy the domestic needs of the workers, services including food services will grow and the food services of specialties of wild animals could be inevitable. Broader markets for these wild products and animals will encourage the local people to hunt forest animals to meet the needs of customers. However, the construction contractors need to carry out measures to educate the workers and raise awareness on forest protection.

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Impacts on the social-economic situation

157. During the construction and upgrading of reservoir structures, the construction units could block the flow to the downstream areas. This may lead to temporary water shortages for the cultivation areas in the downstream, affecting the lives and production of the communities in the project area.

158. During the construction stage, a number of workers may be mobilized from other areas. This may affect daily living conditions of the local residents. A number of people from other locations moving to the Project areas may result in an increase of prices of domestic goods due to increased consumption of goods and necessities. In addition, social conflicts may also occur due to differences in lifestyle and culture between the workers and local residents. Besides, the concentration of workers may also lead to growth of businesses and entertainment services, including social evils such as gambling, drugs, prostitutes, etc. However, because the reservoirs to upgrade are of small scale and the number of workers gathered will not be large, it can be concluded that the negative impacts of these subprojects on the nearby communities would likely to be low. Meanwhile, there will be some positive impacts such as generating high level of consumption, leading to the growth of other services and circulation of goods in the local areas. Therefore, the lives of the local people will be improved, which will foster the socio-economic conditions of the area.

5.3.3. Subproject group of upgrading rescue roads/bridges


159. Negative impacts during the site clearance stage of the subprojects of upgrading rescue roads include: impacts from acquisition of agricultural land of some households (rice and other edible crops); topographic and geomorphological survey activities can generate some pollutants such as exhausts, waste water, solid wastes (small amount); and traffic hindrance. These activities would also require some site clearance, removal of vegetation cover, causing soil erosion, etc. however, these impacts will be localized and temporary.


160. Roadbed leveling and earthwork activities or embankment activities in low-lying areas will generate a relatively large amount of dust, which affect the air quality. This effect would be serious during windy or dry time. Dust will arise and spread and impact on nearby residential areas, affecting the ecosystem in the region, especially dust on the foliage affects the photosynthesis process of plants.

161. The operation of construction equipment will also affect the quality of ambient air due to vehicles using gasoline or diesel could produce exhaust gases from combustion such as dust, carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and hydrocarbons (HC). These are highly toxic substances compared to earth surface dust and with high concentration and/or long exposure may have negative impacts on the health of construction workers and nearby residents. The process of loading and unloading of construction materials (stone, sand, cement etc.) at storage areas could also generate dust, especially during a strong wind condition.

162. Construction workers and residents living around the construction area and along the construction roads could be affected by dust, emission and noise arising from road construction activities.

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163. During rescue road construction phase, wastewater mainly from construction activities, domestic wastewater from construction sites and work camps, and rainwater runoff could be discharged into nearby water courses causing water pollution especially with respect to lower dissolved oxygen (DO), higher level of oil/grease, turbidity, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), and coliform bacteria. Construction and/or upgrading of bridges may also involve disturbance of bottom sediment and affect water quality. However, given small scale of works and small number of workers these impacts are considered to be small and can be mitigated.

Traffic safety and occupational safety

164. Rescue roads upgrading and construction processes will use a variety of trucks and other vehicles. This activity will not only increases the density of traffic on the roads in construction area but can be dangerous for road users and residents along the road due to dust, noise and traffic accidents. The overloaded trucks/vehicles can also damage surface and/or structure of the local roads making local transport more difficult and/or dangerous. Occupational accidents at the construction site can occur during the construction, operation of machinery and construction equipment if users and workers are not guided to use safety and no labor protection equipment accordingly.

5.3.4. Subproject group of river mouth dredging and coastal infrastructure construction


165. Subprojects involving dredging, upgrading of harbors and storm shelters in the estuary, and coastal areas, are located relatively far from populated areas, and thus the negative impacts during site clearance are unlikely to be a major issue. Site clearance activities include mainly clearance of trees on the alluvial soil. Potential impacts of geological survey, topography, drilling activities may increase the level of air and water pollution, however, the impacts would be localized, temporarily, and can be mitigated.


166. Dredging will be carried out with pumping method. Spoils are pumped up via pipelines and/or transported by trucks and/or other vehicles to dredging disposal sites. This activity may scatter dust and exhaust gases into the surrounding environment. The main sources of the exhausted gases are from dredging vehicles (NOx, CO, CO2, HC). Dredged spoils which in dry air and wind will scatter dust into the surrounding environment. However, the dredging sites are located away from residential areas (the distance from My A harbor dredging site to the nearest residential area is 800m), the pollutants are highly likely to be assimilated, thus would not cause serious impacts on the local residential areas. These exhausted gases would affect mainly the direct workers, are localized and temporary during the construction duration, and only require simple mitigation measures.

167. The disposal of dredged materials to leveling sites may also generate a number of gases with offensive smell such as methane (CH4) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) from decomposed sediments and dead bodies of marine animals. However, the areas surrounding of disposal sites are thinly populated. Therefore, dust and exhausted gases could deposit or scatter quickly to the air and the impacts of polluted air environment on the local residents are expected to be low. In addition, the river bed sediments are composed mainly of sand, pebbles, shells (area of Cua Sot,

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Ha Tinh), etc. Therefore, generation of toxic gases such as CH4, H2S from decomposed dredged spoils would also be low.

Impact on water environment

168. Dredging activities could increase water pollution due to disturbance of bottom sediments and could increased turbidity and suspended solids content in the river mouth and coastal water environment. In addition, the transportation of dredged spoils to leveling sites and the disposal of dredged spoils could also pose risks of sea water pollution such as spillage of dredged spoils during transportation; wastewater from dredged materials running into the sea during the pouring of dredged spoils onto leveling sites; breaches of leveling site embankments causing leakages of spoils into the surrounding environment, etc.

Coastal sedimentation and erosion

169. Activities of dredging anchoring sites for avoiding storms could pose risks of coastal erosion during the construction stage. Reasons of erosion include: (i) dredging activities will cause areas of silts to lose, (ii) activities of boats regularly going in and out of the work sites will create big waves; and (iii) the surface with cleared vegetation cover cannot hold the soil.

Impacts on fishing activities

170. Activities of dredging anchoring sites, transportation of dredged materials would affect the fishing activities of local people. However, based on the survey, there are not a lot of fishermen working in the area of My A harbor in Quang Ngai, Nhat Le river mouth in Quang Binh, or Cua Sot area in Ha Tinh; there are mainly anchoring fishing boats.

Impacts on road and sea transport

171. One of the problems arising during the dredging activities and construction of items of the subprojects is increasing the local traffic. There are two forms of transport, (1) road transport serving the construction of in-land items, and (2) sea transport (mainly) serving the transportation of construction materials (rock, sand, cement), dredged spoils, and the traveling of dredging vessels and installation of sea traffic signs.

172. The road transport serves mainly the transportation of construction materials. However, according to the field visit during the EA study, the current traffic level on the access roads for the sea harbor areas is not high. Therefore, the impacts of the subprojects on the road transport are likely to be moderate.

173. Dredging activities and construction of works on the sea will considerably affect the traffic situation of the seaport areas. These areas, at the present, have high frequency of fishing boats entering and existing for storm avoidance. Therefore, the increased number of vessels serving the dredging activites and construction of wave-prevention embankments will pose risks to safety of sea traffic. In addition, these activities will also affect anchoring sites of the local people during the construction period.

5.3.5. Small Work under Component 3

174. The impacts due to Component 3 will be limited to small works such as construction of buildings and/of offices and/or construction of community roads/bridges. Some minor impacts could be expected during construction stage, mainly are (i) disturbance of natural habitats or nearby local communities due to clearing of construction site, and (ii) noise, dust, vibration, traffic hindrance, wastes due to construction of works.

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5.4 Assessment of Environmental Impacts during Operation

175. The overall impact will be positive during Project operation. However, there are some risks related to dam safety, land/water use conflict or coastal erosion and water quality issues in case of extreme event. Key risks are discussed below.

176. Risks due to dams/dyke/structure breach: In the Project area, there are 7 existing large dams according to WB criteria and many small dams/dykes. All the subprojects involving dams, dykes or reservoirs have been designed to increase the safety of those structures. However there are risks of dams/dyke/structure breach during project operation due to (1) poor capacity for design, construction and operation, (2) chronic lack of financial resources, and (3) chronic lack of right attitude/culture on operation and management as well as dam safety inspection. The risk could be seen quite low but the impacts would be significant if it happens, especially during an extreme event.

177. Land/water use conflicts:This risk would happen if the operation of spillway gates/sluice gates of reservoirs are inappropriate, resulting in local flooding and possible impacts on water quality and water uses. It would also happen in case of upgrading dikes. When the dike system at one side of the river is strengthened and blocked the water to come in, the flood would goes over the other river side. Inundation at the other river side would be more serious and then potential negative impacts would be raised. This case could be seen clearly at the subproject “Upgrade dyke at the north of Dinh river – Ninh Thuan province”.

Upgrade dyke at the north of Dinh river – Ninh Thuan province” and the concerns of the local community.

- The Dinh river dike (11.5 km) holds an important function of protecting Phan Rang city – the economic, political and social center of Ninh Thuan province. Currently, some parts of the dike are quite low so flood comes over the dike and causes inundation some communes of the city during flood time. Inundation also happens at the other side of the river. When the dike is upgraded, including widening and increasing the height, the flood could not comes over the dike anymore. Consequently, inundated situation at the other river side would be more serious. The district and communes at the river side raised the requests as follow:

Ninh Phuoc district:

- Technical measures for flood draining and prevention would be needed.

- An Hai, An Phuoc and Phuoc Thuan communes would be included in Component 3 of V project.

Phuoc Thuan commune:

- There should have a plan to balance/ maximize benefits and minimize damages and impacts on local people’s lives at both banks of Dinh river, especially on the southern bank (Phuoc Thuan commune has 18,000 people; An Hai commune has 12,000 people and 1,500 ha of agricultural land).

Ninh Thuan province, July 6th, 2011

178. Unstable lives of relocated households after the project implementation: When relocated to new places, the relocated households will need to begin a total new life which can be very different from what they have known. Relocated households might not adapt and integrate into new community or new living conditions (health, education, water supply and drain, traffic etc.) in poor resettlement areas. If resettlement programs and plans are ineffective or inadequate, the lives of relocated people would become increasingly difficult or poorer than before, and they would be more severely affected in case of natural disasters. For their livelihood needs, these people could destroy the forests or reserves, violate

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dike/revetment safety corridors to plant crops, collect plants and hunt animals, etc. In the end, natural disaster risks would happen to them and other communities. This risk is however considered to be low especially in light of the CBDRM application and scaling up.

Potential erosion and water quality issues of nearby coastal area

179. This potential impact would likely to occur only with the three proposed subprojects of upgrading harbors/anchoring sites for avoiding storms. During the subproject operation stage, the amount of traffic of fishing boats entering/exiting the harbors/anchoring sites would increase, posing a threat to the water quality in the river mouth areas due to increase in turbidity, contamination from oil leakages or wastes (liquid and solid) from ships and the fishery service areas, etc. As a result, river mouth ecosystems would be directly affected, which in turn would affect the coastal ecosystems. It’s worthy to notice that coastal ecosystems (mangrove forests, corals, seaweeds) are natural structures which can prevent coastal lands from waves and storm winds. This impact however is considered to be small and the mitigation measures can be identified during the preparation of the subproject’s EMPs.

5.5. Analysis of alternatives

180. The proposed subprojects to be carried out under Component 4 will be carried out on/along the existing dykes, dams, roads, and reservoirs so that alternative analysis regarding site selection is not an option. However, an analysis between “without project” and “with project” was carried out by comparing the potential impacts on socioeconomic conditions, natural conditions, and policy and institutional capacity related to natural disaster. The results are summarized in Table 5.4 and briefly discussed below.

Implementation of the project will require land acquisition and involve ethnic minorities while the construction activities of the Project will generate pollutants, exhausts, construction and domestic wastes and wastewater, etc., causing soil, water, and air pollution in and around the Project area. However, these impacts could be mitigated and/or compensated. In addition, the decision of the project to support only rehabilitation and/or upgrading of existing infrastructure instead of new construction, which avoid and/or limit involuntary resettlement and environmental impacts from opening new areas, etc.

Nonetheless, the implementation of the subprojects of upgrading dikes and revetments, reservoirs, river mouth dredging and upgrading harbors for avoiding storms, construction infrastructure for flood and storm prevention and control, etc. are considered necessary to protect human, livelihoods and property of the people. Sea dikes and river dikes protect human and fields from storms and floods. Rescue roads will be needed in case water level rises and isolate the communities. Reservoirs prevent floods and droughts, and at the same time reserve fresh water and supply domestic water to the people. Health stations, schools provide basic social services and can be flood and storm public shelters, ensuring human protection services are provided in case of disasters. Local private houses and concrete community houses can be used as the flood shelters for the local people in floods and storms as well.

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Strengthening of disaster risk management institutions, information systems and planning capacity will improve the Government capacity and its staff to forge effective coordination and cooperation among agencies and key stakeholders as well as improve information collection, dissemination, and reliability including maps and other planning tools to integrate DRM into river basin planning.

Strengthening weather forecasting and early warning systems will improve weather forecasting and early warning capacity of the agencies especially for disaster preparedness at all levels, and thus help reducing losses of life and properties. An integrated and modernized hydromet system will be developed while the hydromet infrastructure and early warning systems (EWS) will be strengthened. This capacity will also help improving effectiveness of the provincial plans on flooding and water resources management.

Implementing the Community-Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) will build on the experience from the on-going pilots to scale up the CBDRM efforts to some 100 communes in the 10 target provinces. The activities will increase capacity of local communities to better prepare for floods and storm events including natural disasters through communal-scale investments and capacity building and using a participatory planning and supervision approach. Attention would be provided to vulnerable groups such as children, women, elderly and disabled people. Support would be given to pilot public-private-community partnerships in local DRM preparedness. Implementation of this component would be closely linked to the investments under component 4 through a geographical clustering of interventions to ensure maximum synergies from investments of different scales.

Table 5.4: Comparison between “without project” and “with project” option

Subject Without Project With Project Remarks

Socio-economic conditions

-Safety risks to human and infrastructure and agriculture production in flood season remain high.

- No opportunity to increase agricultural land area

-Preventing and/or reducing damages caused by natural disasters: storms, floods, erosions; Protecting infrastructure, offices, schools, health stations and production in the area.-Providing an opportunity to increase agricultural land area due to rehabilitation and/or upgrading of reservoirs.

+++

-Annual investment in economic activities in the area is limited due to floods and storms

-Securing investment and economic development activities which can contributing to socio-economic growth and create environmental landscape in the project area.

+

-Rural traffic is limited by floods and storms, hindering rescue activities, daily activities of local people and socio-economic activities.-Rescue roads and dikes that are not upgraded will hinder local traffic

- During floods and storm, rescue activities would be more effective due to enhanced dike and rescue road conditions.- Rural traffic in the Project area will be improved because rehabilitation and/or upgrading works can be combined with improving the local traffic, meeting transport demands in the area.

+++

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-Households continue to live and work as normal.

-Land acquisition, site clearance, construction activities, gathering of workers, etc. will disturb social and economic activities of the areas; The impacts will be compensated and/or mitigated.

---

-Some communities living near river banks will lose residential and production land due to erosion and landslide.

-Ensure that residential and production land next to river banks will not suffer from soil erosion.

++

Natural conditions

-Natural disasters continue to occur such as: dikes will be breached, water overflowing the dikes in flood season, revetments will collapse or encroached in many places; reservoirs cannot ensure safety, etc.

-Natural disaster risks will be reduced: dikes and revetments will be stronger and safer; Water in reservoirs will be safety retained in flood season; sluices could be more effective in regulating floods, etc.

+++

-In flood season and under impacts of climate change, etc. there are risks of flooding due to inability to regulate floods, dike breaches, river bank erosion and landslide, etc., which will cause flood to expand on large scales. At the same time, pollution and diseases emerge and will be wide spread.

-Reduce risks of flooding; Reduce sources of pollution due to flooding; Reduce diseases caused by floods such as cholera, fever, typhoid, etc.; Limit the development of harmful insects and parasites. +++

-The land reserve next to dikes and river banks can be lost due to erosion and landside every year in the flood season. Agricultural land can be affected and become impossible to grow crops on.

-Upgraded dikes and revetments, etc. will contribute to stabilize land reserve, increase utilization value of some areas within project areas.

+++

-Slow economic activities would be continued as usual.

-Enhance local economic and service activities by using local materials and labour. +

-Some areas lack irrigation water in the dry season; Groundwater level is reducing gradually due to over-exploitation without supply sources.

-Upgraded reservoirs will provide an opportunity to ensure adequate supply for agricultural irrigation for the lowlands and increase sources for surrounding groundwater.

+

-Traffic density is suitable with population density and production density in the area.

-Traffic density on transport roads will increase significantly; Transportation of bulky materials can cause accidents on the roads, especially in crowded roads or roads near schools.

-

--The existing vegetation cover can reduce the heat in the summer and balance the microclimate.

--Some subprojects involves cutting of trees to construct roads, widen dike surface or prepare construction site, etc. However, the clearance area will be limited.

--

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-No construction activities will be implemented with existing works and no disturbance of current environmental conditions.

-Construction activities of the Project will generate pollutants, exhausts, construction and domestic wastes and wastewater, etc., causing soil water and air pollution in and around the project area. These impacts will be localized, temporary, and will be mitigated.

---

Policy and institutional capacity to be responsive to natural disaster

-Limited implementation of the national policies and plans due to limited funding sources and capacity of key agencies

-Supporting the implementation and/or improvement of the national policies and plans related to natural disaster. +++

-Limited technical capacity to forecast the situation.

-Installation of hydrologibcal stations with associated capacity building will enhance capacity to forecast the flood/storm events.

+++

-Limited understanding and cooperation of local communities in responding to natural disasters especially during the emergency and/or rescue activities.

-Increase knowledge and capacity of local communities on natural disaster and how to management them including investment in small infrastructure will strengthen capacity of local people to be responsive to the natural floods/storm events and natural disasters and thus reducing damages on human life and properties.

+

Note: +++ Major potential positive impacts of the project; --- Major potential negative impacts of the project

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CHAPTER 6. PROPOSED MITIGATION MEASURES

181. This chapter presents the proposed measures to mitigate the potential negative impacts of the Project based on the assessment conducted in Chapter 5. Given that the subprojects and activities will be implemented in phases, an Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF) has been prepared as a standalone document in line with the WB’s OP/BP 4.01 requirement and it will be applied to all the subprojects to be financed under the Project. A Dam Safety Framework (DSF) has also been prepared as a standalone document in line with OP/BP 4.37 and it will be applied to all the subprojects involve safety of dams and/or reservoirs. The ESMF is connected to the social safeguard policy documents namely the Ethnic Minorities Planning Framework (EMPF) and the Resettlement Policy Framework (RPF) and their respective actions plans namely the Resettlement Action Plans (RAPs) and the Ethnic Minority Development Plans (EMDPs) for the subprojects. Sections 6.1 and 6.2 summarize main objectives and key elements of the ESMF and DSF while Section 6.3 describes the implementation and monitoring arrangement of the mitigation measures including the need for safeguard training and budget.

6.1 Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF)

6.1.1 Objective and scope

182. The main objective of the ESMF is to ensure that the subprojects and activities to be financed under the Project would not create adverse impacts on the local environment and local communities and the residual and/or unavoidable impacts will be adequately mitigated in line with the WB’s safeguard policy. Given that the implementation arrangement of the activities to be implemented under Components 1, 2, 3 will be different from the subprojects to be implemented under Component 4, the ESMF will comprise two parts: (a) the ESMF process which will be applied only for the Component 4 subprojects including a standard Environmental Code of Practices (ECOP) to be incorporated into the bidding and contract documents for civil works and (b) the mitigation measures for other Project activities involving civil works, including a simple ECOP. The ESMF process is summarized in Section 6.1.2, while the mitigation measures for other Project activities are summarized in Section 6.1.3.

6.1.2 The ESMF Process

183. The ESMF process will be applied only for the Component 4 subprojects. The process has been designed to comprise 5 key steps: (1) Eligibility screening, (2) Technical screening and identification of key impacts and documentation, (3) Development of mitigation measures and public consultation, (4) Information disclosure and WB safeguard clearance, and (5) Implementation, monitoring, and reporting. The first year Component 4 subprojects have gone through the first three steps and specific mitigation plans (RAPs, EMDPs, and EMPs//DSRs) have been prepared and these documents will be submitted to WB for public disclosure and clearance. The safeguard screening, impact assessment, and preparation of safeguard documents for all the second and follow-on year subprojects will be carried out during the Project implementation and the safeguard documents (RAPs, EMDPs, and EMPs, including dam safety report as needed) will be submitted for WB clearance before their approval and implementation. Key elements of the ESMF process are highlighted as follows:

184. Safeguard screening: Figure 6.1 and Table 6.1 identifies criteria and actions to be undertaken during the safeguard screening process. The subprojects will comply with Government EIA regulations and those involving land acquisition/resettlement and ethnic minority will comply with the RPF and EMPF. To avoid potential adverse potential socio-environmental impacts on areas of critical importance such as national parks, biological

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Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF)Viet Nam Managing Natural Hazards Project (VN-Haz)

conservation areas, protected forests or areas of historical values, subprojects under the VN-Haz Project will be screened for their environmental eligibility. The subprojects that potentially adversely affect areas of biological importance, conversion of site with valuable landscape, removal of objects with historical/religious appreciation, or encroachment on mangrove forest regardless of the size will be excluded from the Project financing.

185. The criteria for exclusion of subprojects have been developed with reference to Annex III of Decree No.29/2011/ND-CP (listing the projects subject to appraisal by MONRE) as detailed below:

a) Subprojects that use land of national parks, natural reserves, world heritage, historical/cultural sites, nationally protected landscapes, biosphere conservation sites;

b) Subprojects that cause conversion of forests including mangrove forests, watershed protection forests, waves/wind shield forests, etc;

c) Subprojects that cause sea encroachment of 20 ha or more;

d) Subprojects that cause conversion of two-crop rice field land of 20 ha or more with high productivity;

e) Subprojects having project sites in more than one province.

186. EMP: All the subprojects will prepare an EMP for the subproject in line with the technical guideline provided in the ESMF. The EMP will also include a standard ECOP, an environmental monitoring program, safeguard training, and an implementation arrangement including the required budget and funding sources. For those related to dams and reservoirs, preparation of a Dam Safety Report (DSR) for a large dam and a Dam Safety Inspection Report (DSIR) will be carried out and is considered a part of the EMP. For the subprojects related to dredging near the river mouth and/or upgrading/construction of coastal infrastructure a quick study on existing conditions along the coast with respect to erosion in the subproject and nearby area and background conditions of the nearby ecosystem will have to be conducted during the preparation of the EMP for the subproject so that the extent of the potential impacts as well as the required mitigation measures could be identified.

187. Standard ECOP (Annex 1): This document is prepared as an annex to the ESMF and it will be included in the bidding and contract documents of all the civil works to be carried out under the subprojects. The document identifies general procedures as well as roles and responsibilities of contractor, subproject owner, and construction supervision consultant/field engineer. Specific actions to be carried out by contractor are identified under 2 separate sections:

General Provisions including “the Chance Find procedure” and

Management of Construction comprising general management of construction site and activities, management of environmental quality (air, noise/vibration, water, wastes, etc.), management of work camp, management of stockpiles, quarries, and borrow pits, management of dredging, and monitoring of potential impacts.

6.1.3 Mitigation measures for other Project activities

188. Simple ECOP (Annex 1): To mitigate the potential impacts of the civil works activities to be implemented under Components 1, 2, 3, a simple ECOP has been prepared and it will be incorporated into all the bidding and/or contract documents of all the activities involving civil works. The simple ECOP describes roles and responsibilities, the “Chance

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Find” procedures, and Good Environmental and Housekeeping practices. Efforts will be made to integrate the knowledge on environment and social safeguard into the planning process and capacity building as appropriate.

6.2. Mitigation measures for Phase 1 subprojects

189. Five EIAs as required by the government regulations on environmental impact assessment and six EMPs have been prepared for these subprojects and presented as separated documents. Potential negative impacts and major mitigation measures of the first phase Component 4 subprojects are showed in Table 5.3.

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Table 5.3: Potential Negative Impacts of the First Phase Component 4 Sub

Components Physical Biological Socio Others Mitigation measuresAir, noise, vibration

Land, soil, water

Solid waste, Sludge

Forest, natural habitats

Fish, aquatic life

Land acquisition, resettlement

Indigenous peoples

Physical cultural resources

Livelihood, community disturbance

Local flood, traffic, safety

Off-site impacts

Subproject 1: Maintain, upgrade and treat the key parts of the left dyke of Cau Chay river (section from K0-K42), Yen Dinh district (Thanh Hoa) (240 bil VND); Scope include: upgrade 42km dyke site; Repair, upgrade and renew structures on the site, including construction of sluices; build more rescue roadsBackground/Key issues: [ protect property and life of 130,000 people; protect 10,000 ha agricultural land and ensure the safety for infrastructures; build the rescue road to boost the socio-economic development for 25 communes in Yen Dinh district] [781 affected HHs, of which 18 HHs lose more than 20% of productive land; 04 HHs have to relocate graves; 43 HHs are in vulnerable group (18 poor HHs, 20 FHHs)]; [1 million cubic meters will be excavated and dyked; dust and noise in construction phase]Pre-const. L L L N L H N L M L L - Land acquisition and relocation of

graves will be compensated and implemented in accordance with the RAP before the construction.- Ensure effective implementation of ECOP and consultation with local residents

Construction M M M N L N N L M M M

Operation N N N N N N N N M L N - Ensure effective O&M; Build capacity of local community with high risks through the application of CBDRM

Subproject 2: Upgrade dyke site of Luong Yen Khai (Nghe An) (45 bil VND): Scope includes (Line, widen, stabilize the surface of 2.87km)Background/Key issues: [protect life and property for 10,756 inhabitants and maintain production stability for 651.8 ha of agricultural land]; 83 affected HHs, of which 80 HHs lose their agricultural land, 03 HHs lose adjacent garden to their residential land, affected land is 13,300 m 2];[ 186,314.98 m3 soil will be excavated and dyked; dust and noise in construction phase]Pre-const. L L L N L H N L M L L - Land acquisition will be compensated

and implemented in accordance with the RAP before the construction- Ensure effective implementation of


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ECOP and consultation with local residents


Subproject 3: Bridge combining with overflow connecting rescued roads, Nghi Loc and Vinh city (Nghe An) (27 bil VND); Scope includes 65m bridge combining with overflow and 1Km road and a drain sluice with B=7.5m

Background/Key issues: [improve the economy and reduce poverty for about 13,709 people in Hung Hoa and Nghi Thai communes by increasing access ability to the administrative centers, market centers, health care, education and social services, reducing the time and cost for agricultural products transportation];5 affected HHs , earth fill K95 7,940 m3, mud dredging 687m3, dust and noise in construction phase ].

Pre-const. L L L N L H N L M L L - Land acquisition will be compensated and implemented in accordance with the RAP before the construction.- Ensure effective implementation of ECOP and consultation with local residents



Subproject 4: Upgrade dyke site Phuc Long Nhuong, Cam Xuyen district (Ha Tinh) (180 bil VND); Scope include: upgrade dyke site of 11.41 km; Renew 21 drainage culverts crossing the dyke; build 12 road sites combining with dyke rescue with a total length of 8.974 km.

Background/Key issues: [Preventing and reduction of disaster damage by storm, tropical depression, storm surges occur frequently in direct of 19,728 persons/2,471 ha of Thien Cam town, Cam Phuc, Cam Nhuong communes and indirect of 12,450 persons/1,345 ha of Cam Xuyen town and Cam Thang commune.]; [335 affected HHs, of which 125 households will lose agricultural land, 119 households will lose house-stage garden, 22 households will lose aquacultural land, and 44 households will lose residential land]; [excavation soil 90,000 m3; dust and noise in construction phase]

Pre-const. L L L N L H N L M L L - Land acquisition and relocation of graves will be compensated and implemented in accordance with the RAP before the construction.- Ensure effective implementation of


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ECOP and consultation with local residents


Subproject 5: Repair, upgrade Thạch Ban reservoir, Duy Xuyen district (Quang Nam) (86 bil VND); Scope includes: Main dam, overflow, intake gate, management house and road

Background/key issues:[ reduce the vulnerability due to the external factors such as drought, floods and erosion, flood control issues will be enhanced, protect more than 10,000 people in two communes (Duy Phu, Duy Thu), protect infrastructure such as houses of citizens, clinics, post offices, markets, kindergartens, primary schools, secondary schools, inter-village transportation system and electricity]; [7 affected HHs in Duy Thu commune would have temporary acquisition of 2 ha of plantation forest land]; [150,000 m3 of fill-land, 1,748.05 m3 of stone, 11,271.84 m3 of sand and gravel are needed for the construction; Air, noise and water pollution]

Pre-const. L L L N L H N L M L L - Land acquisition will be compensated and implemented in accordance with the RAP before the construction- Ensure effective implementation of ECOP and consultation with local residents


Operation N N N N N N N N M L N -To ensure effective O&M; Build capacity of local community with high risks through the application of CBDRM

Subproject 6: Upgrade anti-erosion embankment of Kone river for safety, An Nhon and Tuy Phuoc district (Binh Dinh) (47bil VND); Scope include (i) 1.2 km Thang Cong section – Nhon Phuc commune; (ii) 1.5km Song Ngheo section – Nhon Hau commune; (iii) 1.8 km Tam Dan – Tan Duong section – Nhon An commune; (iv) 1.3 km embankment in the downstream of Ba Di bridge – Phuoc Loc commune.Background, key issues: [Upgrading anti-flood and anti-inundation capacity for all of the dyke belong to Kone river dyke system aim to protect directly human, infrastructure, land, house and property of 49,183 people (8,197 households) in 3 communes Nhon An, Nhon Hau, Nhon Phuc (An Nhon District) and Phuoc Loc (Tuy Phuoc District)]; [73 affected HHs in 3 Ward PCs of Binh Dinh province, including: 16 HHs in Phuoc Loc Commune, 13 HHs in Nhon An Commune, 27 HHs in Nhon Phuc Commune and 17 HHs in Nhon Hau Commune]; [45,092 m3 of excavation land and 66,673 m3 of fill-land; Dust, noise, water pollution]Pre-const. L L L N L H N L M L L - Land acquisition and relocation of

graves will be compensated and implemented in accordance with the RAP


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before the construction.- Ensure effective implementation of ECOP and consultation with local residents


Note: The following criteria are used for the assessment of level of impacts: None (N) –no impact; Low (L) – Small works, minor impacts, localized, reversible, temporary; Medium (M) –Small works in coastal/sensitive areas, medium scale works with moderate impacts of which most are reversible, reducible and manageable, localized, temporary; High (H) –Medium scale works in coastal/sensitive area, large scale works with significant impacts (socially and/or environmentally) of which many are irreversible and require compensation; Both M and H levels need implementation of the mitigation measures, monitoring, and adequate institutional capacity on safeguard.

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6.3 Dam Safety Framework (DSF)

190. For the subprojects involving dams and reservoirs, preparation of a Dam Safety Report (DSR) will be required for a large dam and high hazard dam, while preparation of a Dam Safety Inspection Report (DSIR) will be required for small dam. The DSF provides criteria for determining type of dams (large or small) as well as actions to be carried out during the subproject preparation, supervision, and monitoring. For large and high hazard dams, involvement of a dam safety expert/panel will be necessary.

6.4 Implementation and Monitoring Arrangement

6.4.1 Responsible agencies:

191. The implementation and monitoring arrangement for the proposed mitigation measures will basically follow the Project implementation arrangement. For the overall project, CPMO of MARD will be responsible for supervision and monitoring of the mitigation measures implementation including provide training and capacity building as needed. It is anticipated that and Environment and Social Unit (ESU) will be established and a Central Environmental Management Consultant (CEMC) will be hired to assist in performing these tasks.

192. For Components 1, 2, 3 activities the agencies responsible for the components (i.e. PPMUs of DARD for Components 1 and 3 and the Project Management Unit (PMU) of MONRE for Component 2) will be responsible for (a) ensuring that the simple ECOP is included in the bidding and contract documents and it is effectively implemented by contractor, (b) integrating safeguard knowledge and consideration into the planning and capacity building process, and (c) reporting the safeguard performance in the component progress report.

193. For Component 4 subprojects, PPMUs of DARD will be responsible for implementation of the proposed mitigation measures, especially those under the responsibility of contractor. PPMU with assistance from the Construction Supervision Consultant (CSC) and/or field engineers will also ensure close coordination with local authorities and communities and take appropriate actions in responding to any complaints and/or issues raised on the ground. The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental at provincial level (DoNRE), and the PPCs, and representative from mass organization and/or local community are also the key parties involving in the implementation and/or monitoring of the proposed mitigation measures.

194. The Contractors are responsible for implementing mitigation measures and the mitigation costs will be part of the contract. The CSC is responsible for assisting PPMU in supervision and monitoring the day-to-day implementation of mitigation measures undertaken by the contractor and this responsibility will be part of the CSC TOR.

6.4.2 Reporting arrangement

195. The implementation progress will be included in the subproject and Project progress reports. PPMU with assistance from the CSC will include safeguard performance at subproject level to report to CPMO periodically. At the project level, CPMO assisted by CEMC will prepare safeguard performance report twice per year for submission to the World Bank describing the Project progress and compliance with the ESMF and other safeguard requirements.

6.4.3 Safeguard training and capacity building

196. Although most of the Project provinces have been involved in the implementation of WB safeguard under the on-going WB funded projects, knowledge and experience on WB

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safeguard requirements as well as of environment and social issues remain limited. Given that most of the key mitigation measures are good engineering practices, the safeguard training should focus on increasing knowledge on (a) safeguard policy and procedures to implement the safeguard instruments (RAP/RPF, EMDP/EMPF, EMP/ESMF, DSR/DSF) designed for the Project and subproject (b) specific training on supervision and monitoring of contractor performance, including forms and reporting process, and (c) general knowledge on good construction practices for reducing potential impacts on local environment and safety aspects.

197. Given the number of the subprojects and its nature/locations, it is anticipated that at least 4 safeguard training courses should be provided during the first 3 years of the project implementation. The training should first focus on the knowledge, policies, and procedures related to land acquisition and resettlement and involvement of ethnic minority and/or other social aspect so that RAP implementation could be completed before construction start. All key staff responsible for the activities should particapate in the training. The supervision of contractor training should be conducted at least 1 month before the construction. The key participants should include PPMU staff and its consultants (CSC), and representatives from local agencies, local communities, and/or mass organizations, responsible for supervison of contractor.

6.4.4 Budget allocation.

198. To ensure that the proposed mitigation measures will be effectively implemented, budget will be allocated for the following activities:

Feasibility studies and safeguard documents for the second phase subprojects.

Detailed design and construction supervision including those mitigation measures identified in the EMPs.

Environment Management Plan (EMP) and monitoring.

Social safeguard monitoring, especially for RAP and EMDP.

Land appropriation.

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Figure 6.1 – Schematic Flowchart for Safeguard Actions for Components 3 and 4 Subprojects

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CPMO conduct initial screening to determine the environmental category of subprojects (Step 1)

Involve civil works that could generate potential negative impacts under

Component 4: PPMU prepare EIA/EPC as required by GoV regulations. If the subproject involves dam, DSF will be

followed (Step 3)

Pass: CPMU identifies potential negative impacts (environment and social), mitigation measures and/or next actions–using the

checklist forms, discuss the results with local government and/or communities –Apply criteria described in Table 5.1 (Step 2)

CPMO monitor/report safeguard implementation/performance in the project progress report; WB will periodically review and monitor the results/reports (Step 5)

PPMUs prepare EMPs in line with ESMF, including ECOP, dam safety report (DSR) and/or water quality

monitoring as needed; the EMPs will be submitted for WB clearance. Public consultation will be part of the EMP preparation. If UXO risk exists, the EMP will also include measures to

mitigate the risk (Step 4).

(Steps 3 and 4)

Small civil works under Component 3 with small impacts and no EIA/EPC is required (Step 3)

Fail:

The Project will not fund the proposed activities

Involve ethnic peoples: PPMU prepare EMDP

(Step 3)

Involve land acquisition, relocation, and/or compensation: PPMU prepare RAP

(Step 3).

PPMUs use the ECOP for small civil work in the ESMF and include them in

the bidding and contract documents

(Step 4)

PPMUs prepare RAP in line with RPF, including

consultation with affected population. Compensation must be paid before the civil works could

begin (Step 4)

PPMUs prepare an EMDP in

line with the EMPF

(Steps 4)

PPMUs, assisted by Construction Supervising Consultant (CSC) and/or field engineer monitor and supervise contractor performance and report the results periodically to CPMO; Information disclosure should be conducted periodically (Step 5)


Table 6.1: Technical Guideline for Safeguard Screening and Actions for Component 4 Subprojects

Potential negative impacts

Required mitigation actions

(If Yes)

Required

document

Remarks

(1) Permanent or temporary loss of land or resources for any families,

Identify the amount and nature of land required, owner, and/or other issues and prepare a RAP to provide compensation and/or assistance following the RPF.

RAP Prior consultation with WB, proper documentation, and Post review by WB may be necessary.

(2) Likely to involve ethnic minorities and/or adversely affect ethnic groups

Carry out social assessment process through free, prior, and informed consultations and prepare an EMDP in accordance with guidance in the EMPF. The project will support increasing awareness of affected population, in respective languages of ethnic minority groups, about the Grievance Redress mechanisms, and building capacity of those involved in the existing Grievance Redress mechanism on the required tasks, including dealing with or mediating complaints from individual and/or ethnic groups, recording and reporting, and monitoring proposed resolutions.

EMDP Prior consultation with WB, proper documentation, and Post review by WB may be necessary.

(3) Likely to have artifacts or remains found during excavation works, and physical relocation of grave.

Physical relocation of graves is likely. If this is the case follows the procedure described in the RPF and the RAP;

A standard “Chance Find” Procedure included in the ECOP will be incorporated in the subproject EMP.

RAP

EMP

Preparation of procedures to address when local grave is encountered has been included in the RPF.

Contractor will apply the chance finds procedure

(4) Likely to involve UXO risk?

If identified at the feasibility stage, include the clause in the EMP. The procedures would include: contact responsible agencies and complete the clearance before conducting construction activities. The subproject will be required to provide a UXO clearance certificate before undertaking site clearance and/or construction.

EMP PPMU will be responsible for contacting the concerned agencies and obtain clearance to secure safety of the project area

(5) Involve civil works which can generate air, noise, and/or water

Include the standard ECOP into bidding and contract documents and ensure that Construction Supervising Consultant (CSC)

EMP PPMU will ensure that the ECOP is included in the

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pollution, soil erosion, public health risks, and/or impacts on downstream and/or nearby water uses during site clearance and construction.

and/or field engineer closely monitor performance of contractor.

contract and the CSC responsibility to supervise the contractors is included in the TOR.

(6) Involve dredging and/or possible contamination of soil and water quality from the disposal of dredged materials during construction

Prepare a Dredging Materials Disposal Plan (DMDP) during the preparation of the EIA/EMP and/or detailed design. Compliance with the DMDP has been included in the standard ECOP.

EMP Technical guidelines are provided in Annex 3

(7) Involve risk related to safety of dams Apply DSF and include the mitigation

measures as part of the EMP: For a large and high hazard dams prepare a dam safety report (DSR) as described in the DSF.

Identify local community with high risk and provide capacity building as part of the Component 3 implementation.

EMP

/DSF

PPMU/CPMO will ensure that this is the case.

(8) Likely to cause land/water use conflicts due to dyke safety and/or sluice operation

Identify areas/local community with high risks and provide capacity building as part of the Component 3 implementation.

EMP PPMU/CPMO will ensure that this is the case

(9) Likely to create coastal erosion nearby during operation.

Conduct a review for potential erosion in nearby area and identify areas/local community with high risks and provide capacity building as part of the Component 3 implementation.

EMP PPMU/CPMO will ensure that this is the case

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CHAPTER 7 PUBLIC CONSULTATION

7.1. Objective and Methodology

199. The objective of public consultation is to ensure affected populations can participate in the decision-making and implementation of the project, improve knowledge of the communities on the project and project impacts on their life. The contribution of stakeholders will ensure that the project will meet the communities’ demands and will bring potential benefits to the communities.

200. During the preparation of EA and ESMF, two consultations were carried out, as presented in Table 7.1.

Table 7.1. Public consultation during the development of the EA and ESMF

Stage Objective Methodology

Identification of scope of EA and ESMF

(First Public Consultation)

June and July, 2011

Identify key stakeholders

Introduce the project

Identify environmental background elements

Preliminary study of project impacts and mitigation measures

Organize meetings with stakeholders such as CPC, DPC, DARD, DONRE, NGOs (such as Farmer Association, water user organization (WUO),etc.), and some affected households

Survey questionnaires

Finalization of EA and ESMF

(Second Public Consultation)

September, 2011

Discuss and collect feedbacks on the contents and results of EA and ESMF

Recommendations of local authorities or communities to the investment owner and project owner during the project implementation

Organize meetings with stakeholders such as CPC, DPC, DARD, DONRE, NGOs (such as Farmer Association, WUO), and some affected households. Moreover, consultation was also carried out at the central level, including MARD, MONRE and MPI.

Sending EA and ESMF reports to stakeholders and ask for feedbacks

201. Key stakeholders are identified as follow:

– Directly affected populations: populations currently living in the subproject areas, under direct impacts from project activities, including farmer households, ethnic minorities living next to dikes, embankments, reservoirs, rescue roads, fishermen, etc.

– Indirectly affected populations: some communities living in communes and districts near subproject areas (or on the other side of the river in subprojects of upgrading river dikes and revetments), households living downstream, fishermen of provinces and districts adjacent to subproject areas, etc.

– State agencies, including: MARD, MONRE, MOET, DARDs, DONREs, etc.

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– Other organizations and individuals, including: national and regional NGOs, regional civil society organizations.

202. Methods and techniques used in the consultation during the first meetings are organizing meetings with stakeholders such as local authorities (CPC, DPC relevant to subprojects), State agencies (DARDs, DONREs), NGOs (Farmer associations, WUOs, other NGOs, etc), and some affected households. In addition, to enable the communities to raise their voices and express their opinions and expectations, public consultation was also carried out using a survey method. Two survey questionnaires were developed, including a survey questionnaire on environmental background and a survey questionnaire on natural disaster situation and consequences, which include questions about respondents’ expectations and requests to the Project. Communities selected to carry out public consultation were directly related to the Project, beneficiary communes and affected communes were especially taken into account. The first public consultation was carried out in June and July, 2011 with 41 meetings in total. During the second consultation to collect feedbacks on EA and ESMF drafts, apart from methods and techniques used in the first public consultation meeting, another method was applied. The draft EA and ESMF reports were sent directly or via official to key stakeholders and asked for feedbacks in writing. The second public consultation was carried out in September, 2011 with 36 meetings in total. Details are provided in Annex 6.

7.2 Public Consultation Results

203. Below summarizes key opinions collected from the first meeting:

– Most of the provinces and communities in the project area showed enthusiasm in supporting the implementation of the project because natural disasters have an enormous impact on these areas, causing great losses to the people and affecting the overall development rate of many provinces, districts and communes. Therefore, this is an urgent issue and a top priority of the Central provinces. The local communities within the project area all wished that the project would be carried out soon.

– The provinces would support and facilitate the project implementation as best as they could, especially in land acquisition issues during site clearance and regarding construction of items which have potential negative environmental and social impacts;

– The project beneficiaries mainly include farmers, fishermen, many of which are poor households and some of which are EMGs. Affected populations are not large, most of them expressed support to the project, many households volunteered to donate land or didn’t demand compensation for potentially lost crops and houses, etc.

– The subprojects involve mainly upgrading and improving existing degraded or unqualified works, therefore the project’s potential adverse impacts are not extensive, which would only occur mainly during the construction stage and can be mitigated with appropriate measures.

204. This consultation aimed to present the draft EA and ESMF. Below summarizes opinions collected from the second meetings:

– Most of the local authorities and communities agreed with the Project implementation, however, they requested that the construction would be carried out as quickly as possible, reducing delays and prolonged time of construction, ensuring environmental

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protection and the project staff perform their responsibilities and ensure quality of work.

– Agreed with the contents of EA and ESMF reports and environmental pollution mitigation measures mentioned in the reports;

– Requested that the Project owner would be committed to strictly comply with potential negative impacts mitigation activities such as environmental monitoring and management.

– To mitigate potential negative impacts of the Project on local communities and people’s lives, the Project components should be effectively implemented step by step, avoiding mass and disorderly construction.

– Requested that the contractors would comply with their commitment to mitigate the potential impacts of the Project including the environmental management and monitoring;

– Some local authorities proposed to develop policies for punishment or even unilateral termination of contracts with the contractors in case they don’t comply with the commitment. Especially, the environmental monitoring systems will need to be carried out adequately and periodically in line with the environmental protection programs.

– The local authorities and community representatives of the communes will collaborate in sharing and solving the problems arising during the project implementation.

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Annex 1: Standard Environmental Code of Practices (ECOP) for the Subprojects

Table of content

I. Introduction

II. Relevant World Bank’s Safeguard Policies and Government’s Regulations

III. Responsibilities

IV. General Provisions

4.1 Contract Specific Environmental Plan (CSEP)

4.2 Non-compliance and Incident Reporting Procedure

4.3 Coordination with Government Authorities and the Public

4.4 Community Relations

4.5 Mitigation Objective

4.6 Implementation of “Chance Find” Procedures

4.7. Prohibitions

V. Management of Construction

5.1 Management of Construction Sites and Activities

5.2 Management of Environmental Quality

5.3 Management of Work Camp

5.4 Management of Stockpiles, Quarries, and Borrow pits.

5.5 Management of Dredging

5.6 Monitoring of Potential Impacts

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I. Introduction

1. Objective. This Environmental Code of Practices (ECOP) was prepared to guide the planning and implementation of the mitigation measures to be carried out by Contractor during construction. It sets out standard practices and procedures for managing the potential negative impacts on local environment and local communities of all civil works to be carried out under the Project. The ECOP will be included as a separate annex in all bidding and contract documents and the field engineers and supervisor will be assigned the responsibility to ensure compliance and reporting. The Contractor will be made aware of and commit to this obligation and know that cost for implementation of the measures is part of the construction cost.

2. Scope and application. This ECOP will be applied to all the subprojects to be implemented under Component 4. For the sake of clarity, “construction” in this document includes all site preparation, demolition of structures, spoil disposal, materials and waste removal and all related engineering and construction activities.

II. Relevant World Bank’s Safeguard Policies and Government’s Regulations

3. World Bank’s safeguard policies. This ECOP is prepared to satisfy the WB safeguard requirements under OP4.01 (EA) which requires planning, implementation, and monitoring of the mitigation measures during construction.

4. GOV’s regulations. There are a number of GoV regulations, standards, code of practices, etc. related to environmental and safety that are relevant to construction activities and environmental quality. In addition to the main laws and regulation outlined in the Environmental and Social Management Framework, the ones related to environmental quality and safety are listed below (not exhaustive) and have to be closed observed:

Water environment

- QCVN 01:2009/BYT: National technical regulation on drinking water quality- QCVN 02:2009/BYT: National technical regulation on domestic water quality- QCVN 08:2008/BTNMT: National technical regulations on surface water quality - QCVN 09:2008/BTNMT: National technical regulations on groundwater quality - QCVN 10:2008/BTNMT: National technical regulations on quality of coastal water - QCVN 11:2008/BTNMT: National technical regulation on industrial wastewater

quality.- QCVN 14:2008/BTNMT: National technical regulations on quality of domestic

wastewater - QCVN 24:2008/BTNMT: Industrial wastewater – Discharge standards - TCVN 5502:2003: Supplied water – Requirements for quality- TCVN 6773:2000: Water quality – Water quality for irrigational purposes - TCVN 6774:2000: Water quality – Water quality for aquaculture protection - TCVN 7222:2002: Water quality – Water quality for concentrated domestic water

Soil environment

- QCVN 03:2008/BTNMT – National technical regulation on the allowable limits of heavy metals in the soils;

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Air environment

- QCVN 05:2008: Air quality – Standards for ambient air quality - QCVN 06:2008: Air quality – Maximum allowable concentration of hazardous

substances in the ambient air.- QCVN 07:2008: Air quality – Threat hold of hazardous substances in the air.- TCVN 6438:2001: Road vehicles – Maximum permitted emission limits of exhausted

gases- TCVN 6438:2001 - Road vehicles - Maximum permitted emission limits of exhaust.- QCVN 07:2009: National technical regulations for classification of hazardous wastes

Vibration and Noise

- QCVN 27:2010/BTNMT – National technical regulation on Vibration (replace TCVN 6962:2001 - Vibration emitted by construction works and factories - Maximum permitted levels in the environment of public and residential areas;

- QCVN 26:2010/BTNMT – National technical regulation on Noise (replace TCVN 5948:1999 Acoustics - Noise caused by transportation means when speeding - Allowable level)

- TCVN 5949:1998 Acoustics - Noise in public and residential areas - Allowable level

Labor Health and Safety

- Decision No.3733/2002/QĐ-BYT issued by Ministry of Healthcare dated on 10/10/2002 about the application of 21 Labor health and safety standards that concerned about microclimate, noise, vibration, Chemicals – Permitted level in the working environment.

Moreover, regarding planning and design of infrastructure, operation and management of the water supply systems, and water source option to serve domestic water supply systems the following standards are used:

- Decision No.628/BXD-CSXD of the Ministry of Construction (MOC) dated 14th

December 1996: Vietnamese Construction Regulations and Standards;- Design standards No. 20TCN-33-85 for water supply projects;- Instructions for preparation and approval of town construction planning of MOC in

1998;- Construction standard TCXD No.66:1991 on Operation of water supply and drainage

systems - Safety requirements;- Construction standard TCXD No. 76:1979 on Procedures for technical management in

operation of water supply systems; and- Construction standard TCXD No.233:1999 on criteria used for choosing surface

water, groundwater sources to serve domestic water supply system.

III. Responsibilities

5. The subproject owner (PPMUs) and the contractor are the key entities responsible for implementation of this ECOP. Key responsibilities of the subproject owners and the contractors are as follows:

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(a) Subproject owner

- General: The subproject owner (PPMUs) on behalf of the Central Project Management Unit (CPMO) is responsible for ensuring that the ECOP is effectively implemented. The subproject owner will assign a group of qualified staff to be responsible for preparation and management of environmental and social safeguard of the subproject throughout its life, including supervision of contractors. The subproject owner is responsible for preparing the safeguard reports and submitting to the CPMO.

- For the contract involving dredging, the subproject owners with assistance of the consultants will prepare a Dredge Materials Disposal Plan (DMDP) during the preparation of an EMP or detailed design as appropriate.

- During construction, the subproject owners will assign the Construction Supervision Consultants (CSCs) and/or field engineer to be responsible for monitoring and supervision of the compliance of the contractors to fulfill the agreed CSEP (see below). Responsibilities of the CSCs would include the following: (a) monitoring the contractors’ compliance with the environmental plan, (b) taking remedial actions in the event of non-compliance and/or adverse impacts occur, (c) investigating complaints, evaluating and identifying corrective measures; (d) advising to the Contractor on environment improvement, awareness, proactive pollution prevention measures; (f) supervising the Contractor’s activities in responding to the complaints; (g) providing guidance and on-the-job training to field engineers on various aspects to avoid/mitigate potential negative impacts to local environment and communities during construction.

(b) Contractors

- Contractors have the responsibility of carrying out contracted works through fulfilling the agreed CESP (Contract Environmental Specification Plan as defined in General Provisions below). In doing so, the contactors will establish and maintain contact with the subproject owner and local residents, and keep them informed of construction matters likely to affect them. This may include regular and frequent distribution of newsletters and attendance at meetings at the request of the subproject owner with representatives of local residents groups.

- Contractors will provide information and reporting telephone “Hot Line”, staffed at all times during working hours. Contact details should be prominently displayed at the sites. Information on the construction progress, including the projected activities that might require closure of traffic or may cause safety risk should be timely provided.

- Contractors have the duty to secure appropriate permits and licenses before undertaking the works or moving heavy equipment. It is the responsibility of the Contractors to monitor the development and implementation of new environmental legislation and regulation and to use the appropriate standards prevailing at the time of awarding contracts. Contractors must comply with all prevailing legislation at the time of construction, including any requirements under health and safety.

IV. General Provisions

4.1 Contract Specific Environmental Plan (CSEP)

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6. Contractors will be required to prepare a CSEP describing how the Contractor intends to operate construction at works sites as well as other specific measures necessary to avoid and/or reduce the potential negative impacts as required in the ECOP, especially those related to management of the construction site; transportation of construction materials, especially dredge materials; control of dust, noise, and vibration; solid and liquid waste management; and public health. Given different scope and nature of civil works, scope and nature of the CSEP could be differ and all the CSEP will be reviewed and approved by the PEMC to be assigned by the subproject owner.

4.2 Non-compliance Reporting Procedures

7. Contractors must comply with the CSEP, and must ensure that their Sub-Contractors (if any) also comply with it. To ensure that necessary action has been undertaken and that steps to avoid recurrence have been implemented, the CSC/PEMC and/or Contractors must advise the subproject owner within 24 hours of any serious incidents of non-compliance with the CSEP that may have serious consequence. In the event of working practices being deemed dangerous either by the subproject owners, the local authorities, or the other concerned agencies, immediate remedial action must be taken by the Contractors. The Contractors must keep records of any incidents and any ameliorative action taken. The records on non-compliance that could be practically addressed (not cause serious impacts) should be reported to the subproject owner on a monthly basis.

8. The Contractor will be responsible for dealing with any reports forwarded by the subproject owner, Police or other agencies by (following instruction from the subproject owner representative as appropriate) as soon as practicable, preferably within one hour but always within 24 hours of receipt by either the Contractor. The CSC/PEMC will monitor and ensure that the Contractor has taken appropriate action. Where appropriate, approval remedial actions may require an agreement from the local authorities and/or other GOV agencies. Procedures should be put in place to ensure, as far as is reasonably practical, that necessary actions can be undertaken to avoid recurrence and/or serious damage.

4.3 Liaising with Authorities and the Public

9. Prior to the commencement of subproject activities and throughout the construction duration, the Contractors will work closely with the local authorities and other agencies to ensure full compliance with GOV regulations and will also provide adequate information on the Project to the General Public, especially those that may cause public safety, nuisance, and sensitive areas and the locations of storage and special handling areas.

10. The Contractor will provide information and reporting telephone “Hot Line” staffed at all times during working hours. Information on this facility shall be prominently displayed on site hoardings.

4.4 Community Relations

11. Contractors will assign a community-relation personnel, who will be focused on engaging with the community to provide appropriate information and to be the first line of response to resolve issues of concern. Contractors will take reasonable steps to engage with residents of ethnic minority backgrounds and residents with disabilities (or other priority groups as appropriate), who may be differentially affected by construction impacts.

12. Contractors will ensure that local residents nearby the construction sites will be informed in advance of works taking place, including the estimated duration. In the case of work required in response to an emergency, local residents shall be advised as soon as

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reasonably practicable that emergency work is taking place. Potentially affected residents will also be notified of the ‘Hotline’ number, which will operate during working hours. The “Hotline” will be maintained to handle enquiries regarding construction activities from the general public as well as to act as a first point of contact and information in the case of any emergency. All calls will be logged, together with the responses given and the callers' concerns action and a response provided promptly. The helpline will be widely advertised and displayed on site signboards.

13. The Contractor respond quickly to emergencies, complaints or other contacts made via the ‘Hotline’ or any other recognized means and liaise closely with the emergency services, local authority officers and other agencies (based on established contacts) who may be involved in incidents or emergency situations.

14. The Contractor will manage the work sites, work camps, and workers in a way that is acceptable to local residents and will not create any social impacts due to workers. Any construction workers, office staff, Contractor’s employees, or any other person related to the Project found violating the “prohibitions” activities listed in Section A2 below may be subject to disciplinary actions that can range from a simple reprimand to termination of his/her employment depending on the seriousness of the violation.

4.5 Mitigation Objectives and Special Considerations

15. Main objective of this ECOP is to minimize the potential negative impacts during construction on local environment, local community, and human and environmental safety and disturbance. The Contractor is expected to implement the activities in line with the following approach as much as possible in close consultation with the supervision and/or field engineers who will be assigned by PPMU to supervise the contract. Key approaches include, but not limited, to:

- Minimize impacts and restore damages;- Replanting trees in project areas; - Control erosion and sedimentation during construction; - Proper control of suspended solids during dredging; - Use main roads when possible; - Heavy traffic restrictions; - Control (collection, disposal) of wastes (solid and liquid); - Minimize disturbance to local population; Frequent meetings with local people and

provision of timely and adequate information to the project affected peoples (PAPs) so that their living and production conditions could be managed;

- Engage and provide labour opportunity for local population; - Application of proper safety and warning measures in the construction sites,

especially in dredging activities; - Provision of temporary crossings and bridges during construction of bridges;

Application of proper safety and warning measures; - Conduct public information campaign and outreach program, including training

and capacity building.

4.6 Implementation of “Chance Find” Procedures

16. If Contractors discovers archeological sites, historical sites, remains and objects, including graveyards and/or individual graves during excavation or construction, the Contractors will carry out the following steps:

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- Stop the construction activities in the area of the chance find;

- Delineate the discovered site or area;

- Secure the site to prevent any damage or loss of removable objects. In cases of removable antiquities or sensitive remains, a night guard shall be arranged until the responsible local authorities or the National Culture Administration take over;

- Notify the supervisory Project Environmental Officer and Project Engineer who in turn will notify the responsible local authorities and the Culture Department of Province immediately (within 24 hours or less);

- Responsible local authorities and the Culture Department of Province would be in charge of protecting and preserving the site before deciding on subsequent appropriate procedures. This would require a preliminary evaluation of the findings to be performed by the archeologists of National Culture Administration. The significance and importance of the findings should be assessed according to the various criteria relevant to cultural heritage; those include the aesthetic, historic, scientific or research, social and economic values;

- Decisions on how to handle the finding shall be taken by the responsible authorities and Culture Department of Province. This could include changes in the layout (such as when finding an irremovable remain of cultural or archeological importance) conservation, preservation, restoration and salvage;

- Implementation for the authority decision concerning the management of the finding shall be communicated in writing by relevant local authorities; and

- Construction work could resume only after permission is given from the responsible local authorities or Culture Department of Province concerning safeguard of the heritage.

4.7 Prohibitions

17. The following activities are prohibited on or near the Project sites:

- Cutting of trees for any reason outside the approved construction area; Hunting, fishing, wildlife capture, or plant collection; Buying of wild animals for food; Having caged wild animals (especially birds) in camps; Poaching of any description; Explosive and chemical fishing; Disturbance to anything with architectural or historical value;

- Building of fires; Use of unapproved toxic materials, including lead-based paints, asbestos, etc.; Use of firearms (except authorized security guards); Use of alcohol by workers in office hours; Driving in an unsafe manner in local roads;

- Washing cars or machinery in streams or creeks; Maintenance (change of oils and filters) of cars and equipment outside authorized areas: Creating nuisances and disturbances in or near communities; Disposing garbage in unauthorized places; Indiscriminate disposal of rubbish or construction wastes; Littering the site; Spillage of potential pollutants, such as petroleum products; Collection of firewood; Urinating or defecating outside the designated facilities; and Burning of wastes and/or cleared vegetation.

V. Management of Construction

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5.1 Management of Construction Sites

18. This section outlines the requirements relating to site management practices that should be implemented during site operation. These relate to working hours, site layout and appearance and good housekeeping as well as operations of equipment and vehicles. Monthly inspection/meeting should be conducted to ensure that these procedures are adhered to. The Contractor must follow a ‘good housekeeping’ policy at all times. The site should be cleared by the Contractor on completion of the construction.

19. The Contractor is required to minimize, as far as reasonably practicable, any adverse environmental impact of their construction activities. All appropriate licenses and consents in respect of site operations will be timely secured. Key measures are as follows:

(i) General requirements on construction sites. A construction site must satisfy the following requirements

- Site layout. The overall site layout must be designed and approved under regulations to suit the construction location, the site’s area, natural and climate conditions in the place of construction, facilitate the construction and ensure safety for human, machines and equipments at the construction site and the surrounding areas affected by construction activities.

- Site arrangement. Supplies and materials are placed neatly according to the approved overall plan design. Supplies, materials and obstacles are not placed on roads, emergency exits or fire entrances. Flammable and explosive material warehouses are not arranged near the place of construction and tents. Waste materials are removed and discharged in prescribed places. Water drainage systems are regularly cleared to ensure that the construction ground is always dry.

- Signs. At the construction site there are signs according to Article 74 of the Construction Law. At the main entrance, a plan of the overall ground of the construction site and working regulations is displayed. Safety measures and rules are publicized at the construction site for compliance. At dangerous places at the construction site, such as trenches and foundation pits, there are fences, warning signs and instructions for accident prevention. At night, signal lights are turned on.

- Good housekeeping: The Contractor will follow a ‘good housekeeping’ policy at all time for the workers and the surrounding environment. This will include, but not necessarily be limited to the following: dust and noise control; waste treatment, keeping the site clean and tidy. To sites located near residential areas, wastes must be covered and collected and properly disposed off. Construction and waste materials during transportation must be properly covered to ensure safety and environmental sanitation. In case the Contractor does not comply with environmental protection regulations, the project owner and environmental authorized state agencies will have the power to suspend the construction operations. Persons responsible for adverse environmental impacts during the construction will be held responsible and compensate for any damages caused at his fault.

- Power safety: Motive and lighting power grids at the construction site are separate and installed with general circuit-breakers and sectioned circuit-breakers for cutting off power in part or the whole of the construction area. Ensure power safety for workers, construction machines and equipment at the construction site. Electric equipment are safely insulated during the construction process. Workers are guided on power safety

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techniques and ways to give first aid to persons who get electric shock in power accident.

- Fire and explosion safety: the Subproject Management Unit needs to set up a commanding board for fire and explosion prevention and fighting at the construction site, which has its own working regulations on its specific duties and powers. Fire and explosion prevention and fighting plans are appraised and approved under regulations. The contractor organizes a fire and explosion prevention and fighting brigade which has its own working regulations on its specific duties and tasks. At the construction site, local fire fighting equipments are arranged. At fire-prone places, inflammable signboards and fire fighting and alarm equipment are installed to promptly detect fires and take remedies.

(ii) Requirements during construction. During construction, the following requirements must be satisfied:

- Working hours: Core working hours will be from 0800 to 1800 on weekdays and 0800 to 1300 on Saturday. Individual site requirements which differ from the above will be considered on a site by site basis. Noisy operations shall not take place outside these hours without prior approval from the subproject owner. All construction related traffic will abide by the agreed hours of working for each site. Any exemption will require an agreement with the Subproject owner, subproject, and/or local authorities.

- Before starting construction, an approved design of construction measures is required, including labor safety solutions for workers and construction machines and equipment for each job, which has explanations about technical and use instructions.

- During construction, the approved design as well as regulations, standards and technical processes are complied with. Jobs dependent on the quality of previous jobs are performed only after the previous jobs have been tested to meet quality requirements under regulations.

- Construction measures and safety solutions are periodically or extraordinarily examined for modification according to practical conditions at the construction site.

- Organizations and individuals are fully capable in the jobs they perform under regulations. Operators of construction machines and equipment and performers of jobs with strict labor safety requirements are trained in labor safety and possess labor safety cards under regulations.

- Construction machines and equipment with strict labor safety requirements are inspected by and registered with competent agencies under regulations for operation at the construction site. During operation, they comply with safety processes and measures. If construction equipment is operated outside the construction site, the investor approves safety measures for construction-affected people, machines, equipment and works inside and outside the construction site. If due to construction conditions, equipment have to be placed outside the construction site and while not in operation, if they operate outside the construction site, such is permitted by authorized agencies under local regulations.

- Workers at the construction site are provided with medical checks-up and safety training and adequate personal safety equipment under the labor law.

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- Unexploded Ordnance (UXO): Although the risk is not present in the entire project area, in some subproject areas such as in Quang Nam and Quang Tri, the Contractor will be responsible for ensuring UXO safety of the construction site. The response process needs to be included in emergency procedures. The emergency procedures will be prepared and carried out if UXO risk is identified at the construction site.

(iii) Clearance and rehabilitation of construction site after completion:

- On completion of the works the Contractor will clear away and remove all materials and rubbish and temporary works of every kind. The site will be left clean and in a condition to the satisfaction of the PPMU. Any potentially hazardous defects to the works will be made good, prior to permanent reinstatement.

5.2 Management of Environmental Quality

(a) Water quality

20. The Contractor must take all the efforts to prevent wastes (solid and liquid) discharge into all rivers and coastal water and to protect surface and groundwater from pollution and other adverse impacts including changes to water levels, flows and general water quality. Discharge of engine oil and oily waste from dredgers and construction machines to the rivers will be strictly prohibited. Engine oil, used oil, and other toxic substances and hazardous wastes must be properly collected, stored, treated, and/or disposed off. Key measures are as follows:

- Used oil/engine oil: The oil container at the construction site (especially when the site is located less than 10 meters from the waterways) must be of sufficient strength to ensure to prevent leakage. The container must be situated within a secondary containment system (bunded), which will prevent the release of any leaked oil. The Contractor must make provisions to ensure that all hazardous substances including oil drums or containers on site are properly labeled and properly stored and that no oil or other contaminants are allowed to reach water courses or groundwater.

- Wastewater from sites: Whenever possible, the Contractor must minimize the amounts of wastewater that need to be discharged and find alternative means of disposal. The Contractor will ensure that any seepage and wastewater arising from the works and camp sites must be collected and discharged via a settlement tank. The standards for wastewater treatment prior to discharge must be agreed in advance with the ESA. Contaminated water or water of an uncertain quality must be discharged into sewers by tankers or other approved means of disposal.

- Drainage. Water drainage must be designed to avoid stagnant conditions that could create bad smell and unsanitary condition. The Contractor must agree with the ESA in advance, details of the methodology to be employed, prior to commencement of the construction. Particular attention must be given to regular pest control treatment (particularly rats and flies); removal of sludge and other debris after drainage; reducing smell nuisance from sludge and algae by measures including deodorizing, hosing down etc. Safety measures must also be taken to protect both the general public and employees and to prevent fly-tipping and illegal access during the development works.

- Water quality monitoring: The Contractor must ensure continuous compliance with all the above conditions under the monitoring of the Subproject Owner and/or field

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engineer, including undertaking water quality monitoring at specific sites and are in compliance with government regulation related to wastewater management and water quality monitoring.

(b) Dust, noise, vibration

21. The Contractor must take all the efforts to control dust, noise, and vibration levels from the site, as far as is reasonably practicable. Excessive noise/vibration generation activities must be in accordance with GOV standards. For critical areas, the Contractor many be required to conduct noise measurement in close consultation with the local residents and establish appropriate measures to control and manage noise level. Measures for reducing dust and other air pollution, noise, and vibration are provided as follows:

- Inform the residents: Prior to commencement of work at any site, the Contractor will be required to inform the local authority and residents regarding the construction plan and potential noise and vibration that may occur from the construction activities, including measures to reduce noise and vibration.

- Dust control: The Contractor will ensue that no burning of waste materials on site; adequate water supply is available on site; dry sweeping of large areas is not allowed; Cover all trucks carrying loose or potentially dusty materials (soil, mud, etc.) to and from construction site; Water or sprinkle the construction areas periodically, especially at site located near residential area; avoid overloaded of trucks; routinely clean public roads and access routes; Ensure vehicles working on site have exhausts positioned such that the risk of re-suspension of ground dust is minimized (exhausts should preferably point upwards), where reasonably practicable; Control driving speed on un-surfaced haul routes and work areas; Ensure bulk cement and other fine powder materials are delivered in enclosed tankers and stored in silos with suitable emission control systems to prevent escape of material and overfilling during delivery; Mix large quantities of cement, grouts and other similar materials in designated areas; Store materials with the potential to produce dust away from site boundaries where reasonably practicable; Minimize the amount of excavated material held on site; Sheet, seal or damp down unavoidable stockpiles of excavated material held on site, where required; Seal or re-vegetate completed earthworks as soon as reasonably practicable after completion.

- Care must be undertaken during the transportation of dredge spoil to and from the construction site; the spoil must be covered at all time. Fly-tipping will not be permitted. Loads must only be deposited at designated sites. The Contractor will be responsible for all the trucks delivering to, or exiting from, a worksite and will clean up all damage that may occur to public road and other public facilities. Care should be taken when loading or unloading vehicles or dismantling scaffolding or moving materials to reduce impact noise. Loading or unloading bays may have to be housed in suitable acoustic enclosures.

- The installation of sheet piling with a diesel or air driven impact or drop hammer may not be acceptable on some of the sites. Use of hydraulically operated or vibratory hammers may be necessary in these circumstances to drive and extract sheet piling, provided the soil strata are suitable for such equipment. Where practicable, rotary drills and bursters actuated by hydraulic or electrical power should be used for excavating hard material. Noisy plant or equipment will be sited as far away as is practicable from noise sensitive buildings. The use of barriers, (e.g. soil mounds), site

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huts, acoustic sheds or partitions to deflect noise away from noise sensitive areas must be employed wherever practicable.

- The Contractor will be obliged to comply with the vibration levels established by agreement with the ESA on a site by site basis given due attention to minimize human exposure (1 Hz to 80 Hz) and protection of damage to nearby structures.

(d) Solid waste control and treatment

1. Solid wastes from subproject construction activities. The subproject construction activities will generate a big amount of escaped soil and stones, cement bags and other surplus materials (oily wastes, miscellaneous woods, etc.). Although solid wastes discharged in this stage are not toxic or dangerous (except for some oily wastes such as oily cloths after cleansing machines and equipments, etc.), proper measures for waste collection and treatment are required to avoid contaminating the environment and affecting local landscape. The Contractor must make a commitment to collect all escaped soil and stones and transport to designated areas or reuse them for dyke/road construction. Bags and other solid wastes will be collected for recycling or burning or taken to temporary dumps in the area (solid wastes disposed at these temporary dumps must be buried or covered in a sanitary way). In addition, during subproject construction, uncontrolled discharging of solid wastes into the environment needs to be minimized to reduce impacts to environmental landscape, transportation and daily activities of local residents, and the environment (water quality, soil quality and natural habitats).

2. Domestic solid wastes. During subproject construction, the Contractor must carry out appropriate measures for waste collection and treatment. The domestic wastes will be collected in plastic or wooden bins with lids placed in convenient places and in worker canteens. Periodically, at appropriate time, transport those bins to the dumping lot (the Contractor will select a proper location for the dumping lot, at least 500 m away from residential areas, 200 m away from work camps and surface water sources, and not in the prevalent wind direction of the area) to dispose of the wastes, from which the local Urban Environmental and Construction Company will be hired to carry out proper removal and treatment. The Contractor must sign a contract with the Urban Environmental and Construction Company to collect and treat solid wastes generated during the subproject construction. In case the wastes cannot be transported to the dumping lot (for example, due to lack of appropriate transport route), wastes must be buried at temporary dumps in the project area in a sanitary way – a waste layer covered by a layer of soil, and when the dump is filled, it is covered by a soil layer about 50 cm thick. Temporary dumps must be located at least 500 m away from residential areas, 200 m away from work camps and surface water sources, and not in the prevalent wind direction of the area. Upon completion of works, cover the entire temporary dumps with soil, ensure land and landscape restoration for the subproject area.

(d) Traffic and Transportation

22. The Contractor will be required to use designated construction traffic routes as directed by the local authorities and the Police. The number of truck movements, hours of operation and any truck holding areas will be agreed in advance with the local authority and the Police. Plans will be required for each site showing the site entrances/exits and the agreed access roads for use to the nearest main road, and the routes to be used by truck to and from the strategic road network.

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- The Contractor will maintain an up to date log of all drivers that will include a written undertaking from them to adhere to the local authority’s approved routes for construction traffic. In the case of non-compliance, the Contractor and/or their sub-contractor(s) would be in breach of contract, necessitating disciplinary action against individual drivers.

- The Contractor may be required to provide truck stickers uniquely identifying the group of construction sites included in each contract, details of which shall be submitted to the local authority for approval. For identification purposes the Contractor will fix these in a prominent position on all trucks frequently serving the construction site. The identification will need to be sufficiently large to be easily read from a distance of 20 meters. Trucks waiting to enter or leave the site must switch off their engines to avoid unnecessary engine noise and emissions. Restrictions on the size and weight of vehicles accessing each site may be imposed depending on agreed access routes.

- For construction that interference with a carriageway or footway, the Contractor will inform the local authorities, responsible agencies, and local residents before commencing the works and proposed measures to minimize the safety risk and inconvenience to the public. All necessary consents and licenses must be obtained in advance. The safety of the public must be ensured. In the case of temporary footways, reasonable access shall be provided for people in accordance with the following requirements: (a) Any temporary footways and carriageways will be constructed to the reasonable requirements of the local authorities and should have uniform surfaces as much as possible; (b) Clear signing must be provided at all times for pedestrian routes with the minimum number of changes to all temporary layouts in order to reduce confusion. Advance warning should, if possible, indicate alternative existing wheelchair-accessible routes; (c) After completion of the works all materials arising from the works will be cleared from the highway leaving the same in a clean and tidy condition to the reasonable requirements of the local authorities; and (d) The Contractor will be responsible for any damage caused by their activities to the roads and public facilities in the vicinity of the worksite. Any defects caused by the Contractors must be rectified immediately if dangerous or otherwise within 24 hours.

- Any street furniture (electrical or non electrical) cannot be removed or relocated by the Contractor or any of its sub-contractors without written agreement from the responsible agencies.

(d) Excavation Materials and Demolition Materials

3. Earth excavation must be carefully handled to reduce dust and possible obstruction and causing nuisance and health impacts to local residents. Excavation that affects public roads (such as pipeline and bridges) must be properly planned in consultation with local authority and informed to the residents in advance. All dredged spoils as well as excavation materials will be reused for dike/road construction and/or land filling at or nearby the work site. Demolition materials must be properly disposed off. The Contractor must consult ESA on the final selection of disposal sites and methods.

(f) Protection of natural habitats

4. During the construction stage, if mitigation measures of air, noise, water and soil pollution, the project will create negative impacts on the growth and development of some animal and plant species in the area, especially aquatic species. Proposed mitigation

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measure is to develop a detailed plan and speed up the construction progress. The Contractor must observe the national and local regulations and policies related to protected areas/species, wildlife sanctuaries. No trees in sensitive areas shall be cut without obtaining prior agreement with the authorities. Strengthen monitoring the contractor’s compliance with environmental protection commitments. In addition, organize training courses to improve environmental protection awareness of the staff and local communities.

5.3 Management of Work Camp

27. The Contractor will consult with local authority regarding the location of the worker camps and will provide appropriate water supply, garbage collection, toilets, mosquito net, and other health protection measures to all workers. Fishing, wildlife hunting, and other social disturbance to local societies are prohibited. Training of workers on safety, good hygiene, and prohibitions activities is required. Detail measures as follow:

(i) During the preconstruction stage:

Contractor will consult with local authority and subproject management unit regarding the location of the worker camps

Once work camp location is identified, the Contractor will set up temporary accommodation for all the workers throughout the construction or maintenance period. In terms of supply and storage of domestic water at the work camp area, the Contractor will comply with the following requirements: (a) Provide adequate drinking water supply for the work camps in appropriate tanks/containers. The Contractor will identify appropriate public water source for drinking in consultation with the local authority; (b) in case no appropriate source of water is identified, the Contractor will take water from other sources which will be tested and treated before supplied to the work camps; (c) All water supply and storage areas must be away from the wastewater storage area, drainage system or other sources of contamination according to the regulations. Water from drains or contaminated water must not be used as domestic water at the site.

At all construction sites, facilities for washing and necessary and appropriate tools must be provided by the Contractor. Bathrooms must be provided separately for male and female workers. Such facilities must ensure convenience for use and cleaning.

Waste discharges, wastewater must be properly collected and disposed off.

First aid/Emergency aid kit. The first/emergency aid kit must be available at the work camp area and managed by a responsible person. This person must be trained on emergency/first aid. Injured or seriously sick people must be taken to the nearest hospital.

Community relations. The Contractor will ensure that conflicts between the workers and local population are avoided.

(ii) Construction stage:

Work camps must be kept clean and tidy, unaffected by oil spill and construction wastes. Any oil spilt or leaked must be cleaned immediately to avoid soil and water contamination. Some actions to carry out are as follow: (a) avoid oil leakage into surface water or groundwater; (b) wastewater must not be disposed directly to

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natural water areas; (c) solid waste materials are removed and discharged in prescribed places at frequent intervals; (d) First/Emergency aid supplies and materials and cleaning tools are regularly provided.

PPMU will monitor the housekeeping of work camp areas and ensure these areas are kept clean throughout the construction period.

(iii) Construction completion.

During this stage, all work camps and facilities will be cleared away and removed from the site. The site will be rehabilitated to ensure the operation of the works.

5.4 Management of Stockpiles, Quarries, and Borrow Pits

28. Commercial quarries and borrow pits approved by local environmental agencies should be used as much as possible. If non-commercial quarries and/or borrow pits are used, in consultation with the Construction Management Consultant (CSC) and/or field engineers, the Contractor will comply with the following requirements:

Large-scale borrow pits or stockpiles will need site-specific measures that go beyond those required in this ECOP.

All locations to be used must be previously identified in the approved construction specifications. Sensitive sites such as scenic spots, areas of natural habitat, areas near sensitive receptors, or areas near water should be avoided.

An open ditch shall be built around the stockpile site to intercept wastewater.

Stockpile topsoil when first opening a borrow pit and use it later to restore the area to near natural conditions.

If needed, disposal sites shall include a retaining wall.

If the need for new sites arises during construction, they must be pre-approved by the responsible local authorities.

If landowners are affected by use of their areas for stockpiles or borrow pits, they must be included in the project resettlement plan.

For any stockpile, quarry, or borrow pit sites involved in this project, but not to be used afterwards. The contractor will prepare and implement a Contract Specific Environmental Plan (CSEP) in compliance with the ECOP that includes management of borrow pits and their closure plans.

If access roads are needed, they must have been considered in the environmental assessment. The alignment for each of these roads must be clearly determined with its impacts and mitigation measures

5.5 Management of Dredging

29. Some of the Component 4 subprojects may involve maintenance dredging of existing river mounts/coastal area. For these subprojects, a dredge material disposal plan (DMDP) will be prepared by the project owner during the preparation of an EMP or detailed design stage as appropriate. The DMDP will describe the amount of dredge materials and its potential contamination during dredging and disposal as well as the mitigation measure to be carried out during dredging and disposal process. The Contractor will be required to strictly follow

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the DMDP as well as to make all efforts to avoid and/or minimize potential negative impacts on local use of land, beaches, and/or water especially impact on local fisheries. Details will be prepared as part of the Contract Specific Environmental Plan (CSEP) given due attention to address the following issues:

Pollution control during the transport of the dredged materials from the dredging site to the disposal area;

Potential increase in turbidity and pollution of the water in the areas due to the dredging and potential impacts on other nearby beneficial uses;

Potential contamination of soil and water source including groundwater nearby the disposal area; and

Potential misuse of the contaminated dredged materials for public infrastructure and households.

30. The assessment of dredged materials must be based on quantitative methods based on sampling and analysis/testing (such a toxicity characteristics leachate procedure-TCLP for hazardousness), and the determination of the use of the dredged materials should be conducted in light of these test results, considering the legal requirements for potential end uses.

5.6. Monitoring of Potential Impacts

31. The Contractor will be required to carry out the following monitoring program and a monitoring plan will be included as part of the CSEP:

IMPACT PARAMETERS EXAMPLE LOCATIONS FREQUENCY

Air emissions Dust level Vicinity ofclearing works

In windyconditions

Noise and vibration generation

Noise levels to meet TCVN/QCVN requirements

In the vicinity ofsensitive receivers

In response tocomplaints

Erosion andsedimentation

Efficiency of erosion and sediment controls

Erosion andsediment controls

After heavy rainevents

Surface waterqualitydeterioration

TSS, pH, BOD,salinity, coliform

Upstream and downstream of dredging and/or construction works, especially when other beneficial uses (aquaculture, water supply sources, etc.) are located.

Regularly duringconstruction works

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REFERENCES

1. Department of natural resources and environment of Thanh Hoa province, 2010, Report on environment status in Thanh Hoa province.

2. Department of natural resources and environment of Nghe An province, 2010, Report on environment status in Nghe An province.

3. Department of natural resources and environment of Ha Tinh province, 2010, Report on environment status in Ha Tinh province.

4. Department of natural resources and environment of Quang Binh province, 2010, Report on environment status in Quang Binh province.

5. Department of natural resources and environment of Quang Tri province, 2010, Report on environment status in Quang Tri province.

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7. Department of natural resources and environment of Quang Nam province, 2010, Report on environment status in Quang Nam province.

8. Department of natural resources and environment of Quang Ngai province, 2010, Report on environment status in Quang Ngai province.

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20. Department of Agricuture and rural Development of Ninh Thuan province, Report on storm and flood prevention of Ninh Thuan province, 2008, 2009,2010.

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Assessments. 37. Final draft report of Vn-Haz first year subprojects Environmental Management Plans.38. Final draft report of Vn-Haz Resettlement Action Plans.

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