Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)documents1.worldbank.org/curated/zh/122681468349795859/... ·...

Socialist Republic of Vietnam World Bank Ministry of Transport Mekong Transport Infrastructure Development Project (MTIDP)

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PR

Socialist republic of Vietnam

Ministry of Transportation World bank

Environmental Impact Assessment

(EIA)

PROJECT: MEKONG TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (MTIDP)

VOLUME II – EIA FOR ROAD NETWORK IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS

PROJECT ORGANISM IN CHARGE CONSULTANT PROJECT MANAGEMENT UNIT I CENTER FOR ASSISTING COMMUNITY

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT In association with CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING OF TOWN AND INDUSTRIAL AREA

HANOI, MARCH 2007

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Table of Contents

1 INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................................................1

1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE MTIDP ............................................................................................... 1 1.2 THE GOALS AND AIMS OF THE MTIDP................................................................................... 1 1.3 THE EIA METHODOLOGY AND DATA SOURCES ..................................................................... 3 1.4 EIA STUDY TEAM ................................................................................................................... 3 1.5 THE PURPOSE AND STRUCTURE OF THIS VOLUME.................................................................. 3

2 POLICY, LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE FRAMEWORK..................................................4 2.1 POLICY, LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE FRAMEWORK OF WORLD BANK ................................ 4 2.2 POLICY, LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE FRAMEWORK OF GOV............................................... 4 2.3 GOV INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL AGREEMENTS........................................................ 5 2.4 THE GOV LEGAL DOCUMENTS FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MTIDP ................................. 6 2.5 PROJECT ADMINISTRATIVE FRAMEWORK................................................................................ 7

3 PROJECT DESCRIPTION...............................................................................................................8 3.1 THE NEED FOR ROAD NETWORK IMPROVEMENT ................................................................... 8

3.1.1 National Highways................................................................................................................................................ 8 3.1.2 Provincial Roads ................................................................................................................................................... 9 3.1.3 Traffic Safety ....................................................................................................................................................... 10

3.2 OVERVIEW OF ROAD NETWORK IMPROVEMENTS................................................................. 10 3.2.1 Rehabilitation and Improvement of National Highways .................................................................................... 10 3.2.2 Rehabilitation and Improvement of Provincial Roads ....................................................................................... 11

3.3 THE DESCRIPTION OF THE FIRST YEAR INVESTMENTS ......................................................... 11 3.3.1 National Highways.............................................................................................................................................. 11 3.3.2 Provincial Roads ................................................................................................................................................. 13

3.4 OVERVIEW OF FUTURE INVESTMENTS .................................................................................. 14 3.4.1 National Highways.............................................................................................................................................. 14 3.4.2 Provincial Roads ................................................................................................................................................. 16

3.5 THE RESETTLEMENT OF THE MTIDP.................................................................................... 21 3.7 STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS OF THE PROJECT ................................................................................ 23 THE STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATION PROCESS IS FURTHER DESCRIBED IN SECTION 8 OF THIS REPORT. 3.8 IMPLEMENTATION PLAN ............................................................................................... 26 3.9 IMPLEMENTATION COST.............................................................................................................. 30

4 BASELINE DATA ..........................................................................................................................32 4.1 PHYSICAL CONDITIONS OF PROJECT AREA........................................................................... 32

4.1.1 Climate ................................................................................................................................................................ 32 4.1.2 Geology and Topography.................................................................................................................................... 33 4.1.3 Soils ..................................................................................................................................................................... 33 4.1.4 Surface Water ...................................................................................................................................................... 40 4.1.5 Groundwater ....................................................................................................................................................... 40


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4.2 BIOLOGICAL CONDITIONS OF PROJECT AREA....................................................................... 40 4.2.1 Aquatic Biodiversity ............................................................................................................................................ 40 4.2.2 Terrestrial Biodiversity ....................................................................................................................................... 41 4.2.3 Protected and Sensitive Areas............................................................................................................................. 42 4.2.4 Rare or Endangered Species............................................................................................................................... 43 4.2.5 Forestry Activities ............................................................................................................................................... 44

4.3 SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONDITIONS OF PROJECT AREA.............................................................. 45 4.4 ETHNIC MINORITIES.............................................................................................................. 46

5 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS AND MITIGATION MEASURES ......................................47 5.1 ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT METHODS AND SCOPE ....................................................... 47

5.1.1 Impact Assessment Categories............................................................................................................................ 47 5.1.2 Mitigation Hierarchy .......................................................................................................................................... 48 5.1.3 Temporal, Geographic, and Technical Scope of Assessment............................................................................. 48

5.2 PHASE I SUB-PROJECTS.......................................................................................................... 49 5.2.1 Impacts on Physical Conditions and Proposed Mitigation Measures ............................................................... 49 5.2.2 Social Impacts ..................................................................................................................................................... 69

5.3 PHASE II PRELIMINARY IMPACTS AND MITIGATION MEASURES.......................................... 75 5.3.1 Physical Impacts.................................................................................................................................................. 75 5.3.2 Social Impacts ..................................................................................................................................................... 80

5.4 REGIONAL AND CUMULATIVE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS.................................................. 80 5.4.1 Economic Development....................................................................................................................................... 81 5.4.2 Traffic Safety, Flow, and Vehicle Maintenance Costs ....................................................................................... 81 5.4.3 Social Evils, Rural Landscape; and Livelihood Changes...................................................................................... 81 5.4.4 Eco-Tourism........................................................................................................................................................... 81

6 ANALYSIS OF ALTERNATIVES ...............................................................................................82 6.1 NATIONAL HIGHWAYS ALTERNATIVES ................................................................................ 82 6.2 PROVINCIAL ROADS ALTERNATIVES .................................................................................... 83 6.3 ANALYSIS OF ALTERNATIVES – THE NEED FOR MORE ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS 87

7 ROAD NETWORK IMPROVEMENTS ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION PLAN...................90 7.1 OBJECTIVE OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION PLAN (EAP)................................................. 90 7.2 CONTENTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT PLAN ......................................................... 90 7.3 GOV IMPLEMENTATION ARRANGEMENTS ........................................................................... 90 7.4 HUMAN RESOURCES TO IMPLEMENT THE EAP..................................................................... 91

7.4.1 Environmental Specialist Positions in the EAP.................................................................................................. 91 7.4.2 Capacity Building Requirements to Implement the EAP.................................................................................... 92

7.5 PHASE I INVESTMENTS.......................................................................................................... 93 7.5.1 Summary of First Year Environmental Impacts ................................................................................................. 93 7.5.2 Environmental Mitigation Measures .................................................................................................................. 93 7.5.3 Environmental Monitoring Measures ................................................................................................................. 97 Source: the CSD 2006........................................................................................................................................................ 99 7.5.4 Environmental Monitoring and Reporting ......................................................................................................... 99

7.6 FUTURE INVESTMENTS.......................................................................................................... 99 8 PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT.............................................................................................................99

8.1 OVERVIEW OF PROJECT-LEVEL PUBLIC CONSULTATION ACTIVITIES .................................. 99 SOURCE:THE F/S OF THE MTIDP .................................................................................................... 101


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8.2 ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTATIONS ROUND I .................................................................... 101 8.3 ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTATIONS ROUND II ................................................................... 103

9 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS.....................................................................105 9.1 CONCLUSIONS ..................................................................................................................... 105 9.2 RECOMMENDATIONS........................................................................................................... 106 SAFEGUARD INDEPENDENT MONITORING CONSULTANT (SIMC) .................................................. 107 PMU SAFEGUARDS SPECIALIST: TERMS OF REFERENCE ............................................................... 109 PPMU SAFEGUARDS SPECIALIST: TERMS OF REFERENCE ............................................................. 109

1. Public Consultation Meeting Report Format ................................................................................110 PARTICIPANTS ............................................................................................................................ 110

CONTENTS OF THE MEETING .................................................................................................................................... 110 COMMENTS OF REPRESENTATIVES .......................................................................................................................... 110

2. SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE ................................................................................................... 111

Appendices

Appendix 1: Preliminary the TORs for Environmental Specialists ……………………..............….111

Appendix 2: Formats for Environmental Consultation Surveys …………………………………….113

List of Tables Table 2.1 GOV International Environmental Agreements...............................................................................5 Table 3.1: Road situation in some provinces in Mekong Delta region...........................................................10 Table 3.2: Upgrading of National Highways....................................................................................................11 Table 3.3: Upgrading of Provincial Roads........................................................................................................13 Table 3.4: Phase II Upgrading of National Highways .....................................................................................14 Table 3.5: Phase II Upgrading of Provincial Roads .........................................................................................16 Table 3.6. Scope of land acquisition for the road component in the MTIDP .....................................................21 Table 3.7. Summarized resettlement impacts for the road component in the MTIDP.......................................21 Table 3.8: Summary Stakeholder Analysis.......................................................................................................23 Table 3.9 Implementation Plan.........................................................................................................................27 Table 3.10: Highway and Provincial Road Costs...............................................................................................30 Table 4.1. Seasonal rainfall compared to annual rainfall in the Mekong River Delta ...................................32 Table 4.4 Protected Areas in the sub-project areas..........................................................................................42 Table 4.5. Flooded landscapes in Mekong River Delta.......................................................................................42 Table 4.6. Forest area in 2003 in the Mekong River Delta...................................................................................44 Table 5.1 Summary of Environmental Impacts for Phase I National Highway and Provincial Road ........49 Table 5.2: Estimated result of polluted substances' tonnage dispersing from NH and PR ................................57 Table 5.3. Pollution dispersion coefficients in directions Z and Y (σz and σy).............................................58


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Table 5.4 Prediction inputs................................................................................................................................58 Table 5.5. Prediction results of pollutants density in horizontal direction......................................................58 Table 5.6. Estimated results of horizontal pollution substance concentration ....................................................59 Table 5.7: Rule of thumb for predicting impact significance for earth moving activities .............................61 Table 5.8. Noise calculation results at different distances from the middle of roads.....................................62 Table 5.9. Noise Calculation at different distances from middle of the road......................................................63 Table 5.10: TCVN 5949 (1998) –Maximum permitted noise levels in public and residential areas................63 Table 5.11: First Phase Earthworks.....................................................................................................................65 Table 5.12: First Phase Pavement Works............................................................................................................65 Table 5.13: Permanent land acquisition for Phase I of MTIDP...........................................................................69 Table 5.14. Potential emergency conditions and accidents...............................................................................72 Table 5.15: Predicted air pollution for NH 91. ...................................................................................................76 Table 5.16. Predicted noise pollution at different distances from the middle of NH 91..................................76 Table 5.17: Tonnage calculation results of Pollution substance dispersed from the PRs .................................77 Table 5.18. Estimated results of horizontal pollution substance concentration ..................................................77 Table 5.19. Noise Calculation at different distances from middle of the road....................................................78 Table 5.20: Phase II Earthworks..........................................................................................................................79 Table 5.21 Phase II Pavement Works ................................................................................................................79 Table 5.22 Scope of Land Acquisition of Phase II National Highways and Provincial Roads ....................80 Table 5.23 Resettlement Impacts of the Phase II National Highways and Provincial Roads .......................80 Table 6.1. Economic evaluation of NH improvement projects without Bassac River improvement ...............82 Table 6.2: List of selected National Highways for upgrading..............................................................................82 Table 6.3. Upgrading of Provincial Roads: Phase I..............................................................................................85 Table 6.4. Upgrading of Provincial Roads: Phase II.............................................................................................85 Table 6.5. Results of Economic Analysis..............................................................................................................86 Table 6.6 Results of Cost Effectiveness Analysis ...........................................................................................87 Table 6.6. Comparison of environmental impacts between the two options: realise the MTIDP road projects or not realised ..........................................................................................................................................................88 Table 7.1 The GOV implementation arrangements for the EAP...................................................................90 Table 7.2: Capacity Building Plan ( for all the MTIDP projec) ......................................................................92 Table 7.3: Environmental Impacts of the Project ............................................................................................93 Table 7.4 Pre-construction and construction phase mitigation measures ......................................................94 Table 7.5 Operation phase mitigation measures..............................................................................................96 Table 7.6 Environmental monitoring measures...............................................................................................97 Table 8.1. Summary consultation process for the MTIDP.................................................................................100 Table 8.2. Public perception on the impacts of MTIDP on key economic sectors...........................................102 Table 8.3: Public perceptions on level of environmental pollution in the Project area................................103


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Table 8.4 Future environmental consultations...............................................................................................103 Table 9.1. Summary of Potential Impacts ...........................................................................................................105

List of Figures

Figure 1.1. The Mekong Delta Region of Vietnam ................................................................................2 Figure 3.1: Condition of the National Highway Network in the Mekong Delta region ........................9 Figure 4.1 Topography of the Mekong delta ......................................................................................33 Figure 4.2: Salinity intrusion map of Mekong delta .............................................................................34 Figure 4.3: The highest line of the G/L 4 salinity, 1998 dry season .....................................................36 Figure 4.4: Constant Aluminous line (pH = 5) in Delta River Area .....................................................37 Figure 4.5. Major Soil Groups of the Mekong Delta ............................................................................39 Figure 4.6: Protected areas in Mekong delta........................................................................................43 Figure 5.1: The impact of construction activities on water quality......................................................50 Figure 5.2: The impact of operation activities on water quality. .........................................................53 Figure 5.3 Construction impacts on air quality...................................................................................56 Figure 5.4: The impact of operation activities on air quality...............................................................57 Figure 5.5: Location of materials for earthworks and pavements........................................................67 Figure 5.6: Major Soil Groups of the Mekong delta............................................................................68 Figure 6.1. Overall Process for Provincial Road Screening..................................................................83


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Abbreviations & Acronyms

ADB Asian Development Bank AIDS Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome AusAID Australian Agency for International Development CGE Computable General Equilibrium CSW Commercial Sex Worker DFID United Kingdom Department for International Development DMC Developing Member Country DPT Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis EDRC Economics and Development Resource Center EIRR Economic Internal Rate of Return EMDP Ethnic Minority Development Plan EAP Environmental Action Plan ENPV Economic Net Present Value EREA Economic Analysis and Operations Support Division FDI Foreign Direct Investment FNPV Financial Net Present Value GDP Gross Domestic Products GoV Government of Vietnam GSO General Statistics Office HCMC Ho Chi Minh City HEPR Hunger Eradication and Poverty Reduction (program) HIV Human Immunodeficiency Virus IADB Inter-American Development Bank IDU Injecting Drug User IMF International Monetary Fund IMR Infant Mortality Rate IOM International Organization for Migration IPDP Indigenous People’s Development Plan M&E Monitoring and Evaluation MDB Multilateral Development Bank MMTRR Multi-modal Transport Regulatory Review MOT Ministry of Transport MTIDP Mekong Transport Infrastructure Development Project NCD Non-communicable Disease NGO Non-governmental Organization NH National Highway NPV Net Present Value PAPs Project Affected Persons PC People’s Committee PDOT Provincial Department of Transport PHRD Policy and Human Resources Development PIA Poverty Impact Assessment PIP Project Implementation Plan PIR Poverty Impact Ratio PMU Project Management Units PPA Participatory Poverty Assessment


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PPC Provincial People’s Committee PPTA Project Preparatory Technical Assistance PRA Participatory Rural Appraisal RAP Resettlement Action Plan RRMU Regional Road Management Unit RRP Report and Recommendation of the President RUC Road User Cost SA Social Assessment SOE State-owned Enterprise STI Sexually Transmitted Infection SWRF Shadow Wage Rate Adjustment Factor TOR Terms of Reference UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNFPA United Nations Population Funds VBARD Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development VBSP Vietnam Bank for Social Policies VIWA Vietnam Inland Waterway Administration VLSS Vietnam Living Standard Survey VND Vietnamese Dong VOC Vehicle Operating Cost WB World Bank WHO World Health Organization


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1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the MTIDP

The Mekong Transport Infrastructure Development Project (MTIDP; the project) is being implemented to improve the road and waterway transport network in the Mekong River Delta region in the south of Vietnam. The Government of Vietnam (GOV) has received financial assistance in the form of a project loan from the World Bank to assist in project implementation. The Ministry of Transport (MOT) has assigned Project Management Unit No.1 (PMU1) to be the implementing agency for project pre-construction and construction activities. The MTIDP is designed to improve the Mekong Delta’s road and waterway transport system using an integrated and multi-modal approach. The project focuses on relieving congestion on key roads and inland waterway routes by upgrading existing infrastructure, with the aim of ensuring that project benefits will be equally distributed and contribute to poverty reduction in the region. Project implementation will commence in late 2006. In broad terms, the project includes the following three components:

(i) Investments on main supply corridors to improve the standard and connectivity of trunk road and canal networks

(ii) Investments to connect the poor to supply corridors through feeder waterways and roads at the commune and provincial levels

(iii) Institutional support to the MOT, Province Departments of Transport (DOT) and Vietnam Inland Waterways Administration (VIWA)

The MTIDP will be implemented in the thirteen provinces of the Mekong Delta region in Vietnam (refer Figure 1.1). The region holds a key position in national economic development and accounts for approximately 27% of Vietnamese Gross Domestic Product (GDP) mainly from agricultural activities. Ensuring adequate access to markets for agricultural products will be essential to continued economic growth in the Mekong Delta region and is one of the key drivers of the project. The project is being carried out in the context of the GOV’s Plan of Transport Development to 2010 and Direction to 2020 and the International Agreement on Cooperation for Sustainable Development of the Mekong River Basin. In order to meet the requirements of the GOV and the World Bank for environmental assessment of transport infrastructure development projects, which have the potential for large-scale impacts on the environment, an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has been undertaken to complement the preparation of a Feasibility Study (FS).

1.2 The Goals and Aims of the MTIDP

The overall goal of the project is to support economic development in the Mekong Delta region and reduce poverty. To achieve this goal, the project has the following aims:

(i) To increase the capacity of the transport logistics system to meet growing demand (ii) To improve the range of transport options to support economic diversification (iii) To reduce transport costs for all producers and consumers in the region (iv) To relieve bottlenecks on the main supply chains and better link the poor to these

supply chains



Figure 1.1. The Mekong Delta Region of Vietnam



1.3 The EIA Methodology and Data Sources

The following steps were implemented in the EIA methodology:

(i) Desktop data collection and review: Secondary data sources were identified and reviewed to allow collation of relevant information on the project details and environmental and social conditions in the project area.

(ii) Field surveys: Field surveys were carried out to observe conditions in the project area and collect primary data for key issues, including social data and land use patterns. Consultations were held with relevant local authorities (DONRE, DOT, PPC, DPC, CPC) and local communities (refer to Section 8).

(iii) Reporting: the EIA report was prepared to meet the GOV and World Bank’s requirements.

A full list of data sources used in EIA preparation is contained in Appendix 2 (Volume I).

1.4 EIA Study Team

The EIA study team was made up from specialists from Center for Assisting Community Sustainable Development (CSD) and other institutes and organisations. Details of the EIA study team are included in Appendix 1 (Volume I).

1.5 The Purpose and Structure of this Volume

This volume of the EIA is Volume II – EIA for Road Network Improvement Projetcs. This volume has been prepared to provide a detailed environmental assessment of road network improvements proposed under the MTIDP. This volume is supported by two other volumes: (i) Volume I – EIA Framework Report, which contains a broad description of the MTIDP and an overview of environmental and social conditions within the region of the MTIDP as well as typical environmental impacts of the MTIDP activities and a Framework Environmental Action Plan; and (ii) Volume III – EIA for Waterway Network Improvement Projects, which contains a detailed environmental assessment of waterway network improvements proposed under the MTIDP. The structure of this volume is as follows:

(i) Introduction (ii) Section 2 provides an outline of the policy, legal and administrative framework that

applies to the project (iii) Section 3 provides a description of the road improvement sub-projects of the MTIDP (iv) Section 4 presents baseline data on key aspects of the physical, biological and socio-

economic environment in the road sub-projects areas (v) Section 5 identifies typical environmental impacts of the road network improvements

being carried out as part of the MTIDP (vi) Section 6 provides a discussion of the process that was implemented to analyse

alternatives for road improvements as part of the MTIDP (vii) Section 7 provides a Framework Environmental Action Plan (EAP) for the project

describing typical environmental impacts, mitigation measures and monitoring measures for the road network improvements being carried out as part of the MTIDP

(viii) Section 8 describes the public involvement activities associated with the project (ix) Section 9 presents the conclusions and recommendations



2 POLICY, LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE FRAMEWORK

2.1 Policy, legal and administrative framework of World Bank

The following World Bank safeguards operational policies are relevant to this volume of the MTIDP:

(i) OP 4.01-Environmental Impact Assessment: The World Bank’s Operating Procedure (OP) 4.01 (October, 1998) sets out the basic requirements for the environmental assessment process, including public consultation requirements, for projects involving World Bank financing. OP 4.01 establishes the requirements for categorization of projects based on the expected level of environmental impacts. Category A projects are those projects that are ‘...likely to have significant adverse environmental impacts that are sensitive, diverse or unprecedented. These impacts may affect an area broader than the sites or facilities subject to physical works.’ For Category A projects, a full-scale environmental assessment report is required, the content of which is described in Annex B of OP4.01

(ii) OP 4.04 - Natural Habitats: sets out the World Bank’s approach to projects that are located in areas of conservation significance or are likely to affect natural habitats.

(iii) OP 11.03(4.11) - Cultural Property: establishes the World Bank’s approach to protection of items of cultural property.

(iv) OP 4.12 - Involuntary Resettlement: establishes the World Bank’s procedures for management and compensation for project affected households subject to involuntary resettlement and identified when a Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) is required to be prepared. Triggers for OP 4.12 include: involuntary taking of land or other assets; and when the involuntary taking of land or other assets results in adverse impacts on the livelihoods of displaced persons1.

(v) OP 4.20 - Indigenous Peoples: establishes the World Bank’s approach to indigenous peoples and ethnic minorities and identifies when an Indigenous Peoples Development Plan (IPDP) is required to be prepared. Triggers for OP 4.20 include when: ethnic minorities are project beneficiaries; projects adversely affect ethnic minorities; ethnic minorities live in the project area; or access to natural resources by ethnic minorities is lost or restricted2.

2.2 Policy, legal and administrative framework of GOV

The policies of the GOV that are relevant to environmental assessment are as follows:

(i) The Law on Protection of the Environment (LEP) was enacted in 1993. The LEP:

a. Identifies the responsibilities of the state centre, provinces, organizations and individuals to prevent and remedy environmental deterioration and pollution and carry out specified environmental protection functions;

b. Provides for the development of environmental standards and submission of environmental impact assessment reports on new and existing facilities;

c. Provides for responsible parties to pay compensation for environmental damage; d. Establishes the right of individuals and organizations to petition for enforcement

of environmental regulations; e. Calls for civil and criminal penalties for violations; and f. Encourages international environmental co-operation.

The LEP has been revised and the revised version is due to be implemented from July 2006.

1 Source: ‘World Bank Social Safeguards Policies Technical Guidance for the Transport and Agriculture and Rural Development Sectors’

(2005) 2 Source: ‘World Bank Social Safeguards Policies Technical Guidance for the Transport and Agriculture and Rural Development Sectors’

(2005)



(ii) Circular No. 490/1998/TT-BKHCNMT (Circular 490) was promulgated in 1998 to provide guidance on setting up and appraising environmental impact assessment reports for investment projects. The Circular identifies the legal requirements according to the stages of implementation of a project and its category. Two categories of project are defined; Category I projects for which a detailed environmental impact assessment (EIA) report is required and Category II projects for which a lesser degree of environmental assessment is required.

(iii) Decree 175/CP was promulgated in 1994 to guide implementation of the LEP and provides broad guidelines for division of responsibility among Ministries; environmental impact assessments; pollution prevention and disaster control; sources of finance; and environmental inspections and standards. Appendix II of this Decree also provides guidance on the content of a detailed EIA report.

(iv) Decree No. 143/2004/ND-CP dated July 12, 2004 amends Decree 175/CP and establishes the appraisal regime for environmental impact assessments (EIAs). In accordance with Decree 143, the MoNRE will be responsible for appraising and reporting to the Prime Minister for the EIAs in nine specified areas (national parks, nature reserves, recognized cultural and historical sites, lands belonging to at least two localities, projects to build permanent bridges equal or greater than 1,000m in length, and concerning hydroelectric plants with capacities of 100 cubic meters or more). The DoNREs will be responsible for appraising and reporting to the relevant Provincial Peoples Committees (PPCs) for the EIAs in all other areas.

(v) Vietnamese Environment Standards (the TCVN on environment) including standards on sampling and sample preservation; analysis methods; standards on quality of air, surface water, groundwater, soils, standards on emission, waste water, standards on dumps, and standards on incinerators.

a. TCVN 5937 - 1995: Air Quality - Ambient Air Quality Standards b. TCVN 5942 - 1995: Water Quality - Surface Water Quality Standards c. TCVN 5944 - 1995: Water Quality - Ground Water Quality Standards d. TCVN 5301 - 1995: Soil Quality e. TCVN 5949 - 1999: Acoustic

(vi) 22 TCN 242-98 Guidelines for Environmental Impact Assessment in the Feasibility Study and Design of Transport Constructions’ which contain requirements for development of the EIAs for road infrastructure and inland waterways.

2.3 GOV International Environmental Agreements

Table 2.1 summarises the international environmental agreements which the GOV is party to.

Table 2.1 GOV International Environmental Agreements

International Environmental Agreement Signing Date

Potential Implications for MTIDP

Convention on wetlands of international importance especially as waterfowl habitat (Ramsar) 1971 20/9/88

There are two Ramsar sites in Vietnam, neither is located in or near the project area.

Convention concerning the protection of the world cultural and natural heritage 1972 10/10/87 There are no World Heritage Areas

in or near the project area.

Convention on international trade in endangered species of wild fauna and flora (CITES) 1973 20/01/94 Relates to trade of species. No

implications for the project.

MARPOL convention for prevention of pollution from 29/08/91 No implications for the project.



International Environmental Agreement Signing Date

Potential Implications for MTIDP

ships 1973/78

United Nations convention on the law of the sea 1982 25/07/94 No implications for the project.

Vienna convention for the protection of the ozone layer including the Montreal protocol for substances that delete the ozone layer

26/01/94 No implications for the project.

Basel convention on the control of Tran-boundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal 1989 13/03/95 No implications for the project.

United Nations framework convention on climate change 1992 16/11/94 No implications for the project.

Convention on biological diversity (CBD) 1992 16/11/94 Biodiversity issues are addressed in this report. There are no specific implications for the CDB.

UN convention of combat désertification 23/11/1998 No implications for the project.

Stockholm convention on persistent organic pollutants (POPs) 23/05/2001 No implications for the project.

Convention on migratory species of wild animals (CMS) Unknown No implications for the project.

2.4 The GOV legal documents for implementation of the MTIDP

Project related legal documents include:

(i) Based on the Document No. 1239/CP-QHQT dated August 31st, 2005 by the Prime Minister assigning Ministry of Transport to assume the technical support project to prepare for the MTIDP, which is valued US$ 999,000, a non-refundable financial assistance in the form of a grant from the Japan PHRD Fund and entrusted through WB.

(ii) Based on the Decision No 3193/QD-BGTVT dated 26/10/2004 by the Minister of Transport on approval of the technical support project in preparations for the MITDP.

(iii) Based on the Document No 7077/GTVT-KHPR dated 9/12/2004 by the Ministry of Transport approving the bidding plan for the technical service package in preparations for the MITDP.

(iv) In consideration of the PMU1 request stated in the Document No 1924/KH-TC, dated 25/11/2004 on approval of the bidding plan for the technical service package in preparations for the MTIDP and according to the non-refundable assistance agreement from the Japan PHRD entrusted through the WB, signed on 28/10/2004 between the representatives of the Government of Vietnam and WB.

(v) Document No 3300/QD - BGTVT by the Ministry of Transport dated September 7, 2005 on approval of assessment result technical consultancy proposal on EIA of MTIDP between the Joint Venture of Center for Environmental Engineering of Towns and Industrial Areas and Center for Assisting Community Sustainable Development as EIA Consultant.

(vi) Document No 3926/QD - BGTVT by the Ministry of Transport dated October 18, 2005 on approval of the negotiation result and contents of EIA consultant contract – MTIDP between the Joint Venture of Center for Environmental Engineering of Towns and Industrial Areas and Center for Assisting Community Sustainable Development.

(vii) Economic contract signed on 21 October 2005 between PMU1 and the representative of the Joint Venture of Center for Environmental Engineering of Towns and Industrial



Areas and Center for Assisting Community Sustainable Development on the implementation of the EIA consultancy for the MTIDP.

2.5 Project administrative framework

The key agencies with environmental responsibilities in Vietnam include:

(i) Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) is the lead agency for the development of environmental policy and environmental protection. At local levels, Provincial Departments of Natural Resource and Environment (DoNRE) implement the MoNRE’s responsibilities.

(ii) In some urban areas there are also Environmental Committees. These are usually chaired by the Vice-Chairman of the Peoples Committee, and include the representation of relevant line departments.

The administrative structure for the transport sector has, at the national level, the Ministry of Transport responsible for constructing, maintaining and operating highways and waterways. The major road projects are usually assigned to a project management unit PMU, dedicated to that project or a group of related projects. The PMUs come under the direct control of the Ministry of Transport.

(i) The MOT has overall responsibility for the transport sector infrastructure, facilities and services. The MOT functions also include the formulation and implementation of transport policies, standards, and guidelines on planning and capital budgeting. While the MOT has overall responsibility for the transport portfolio, other central government ministries have overlapping responsibilities. This is the case of the Ministries of Planning & Investment (MPI), Construction (MOC), Finance (MOF), Defence (MOD) and Police (MOP).

(ii) The Vietnam Road Administration (VRA) was established in 1993 to administer the road transportation system in Vietnam as a subordinate modal administration under the MOT. The duties of the VRA include the development of strategic, legal and technical directions for road management. VRA manages and plans the maintenance of a national road network of about 8,000 km through its four Regional Road Management Units (RRMUs).

(iii) For the MTIDP responsibility rests with the PMU1. The PMU1 will have responsibility for the implementation of the project. They are also responsible for obtaining all of the necessary Gov approvals including those on environmental considerations.



3 PROJECT DESCRIPTION

3.1 The Need for Road Network Improvement

The Mekong Delta road network, with a total length of approximately 28,000 km, is classified into national roads, provincial roads, and district/rural or feeder roads. Much of the network is located in flood-prone areas and part of it may become impassable during the wet season, resulting in the emergence of vast areas that are not accessible by vehicle.

3.1.1 National Highways The National road network is about 1,713 km. The main national roads are National Road No.1 between Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Ca Mau (the primary trunk road connecting the northern to the southern regions and the Mekong Delta region to the HCMC), National Road No. 80 between Vinh Long and Ha Tien and National Road No. 30 along the Mekong River to the Cambodian border.

The national highway network of the Mekong delta region was the subject of a number of rehabilitation and upgrading projects in recent years, especially between the HCMC and Vinh Long. The NH1 section from Can Tho to Ca Mau, as well as the NH 61 between Can Tho and Go Quao, and the NH 80 between Vam Cong and Vinh Long, are currently being upgraded. The main remaining bottlenecks of the national highways are the crossings of urban areas, such as on the recently upgraded NH1 section between Vinh Long and the HCMC. Furthermore development and encroachment on both sides of this road are growing fast over its whole length.

There are 19 ferry crossings in the region that also constitute bottlenecks. However major bridges were recently constructed (Vinh Long), or are under construction (Can Tho). A major bottleneck is still remaining at NH 60 from Soc Trang to Tra Vinh province; there is still no ferry connection.

The national highway sections that remain in very poor condition are mostly secondary links with low traffic volumes.

The whole road network in the Mekong delta is subject to flooding. The highest flood water levels were recorded in 1961 and 2000. Flooding may last from a couple of days up to 3 months. Many road sections therefore need to be raised more than what would otherwise be required from a structural point of view. However, where flooding has been reported on National Highways, it last often just a few hours and can in many cases be reduced with improved drainage. The cost of raising the roads should be balanced with assessment of the real impact of flooding to avoid overinvestment in some sections while much of the remaining network not even have funds for maintenance. Figure 3.1 below shows the condition of the national highways in the Mekong delta region as recorded by the Consultant and the National Highway short list. Traffic is growing fast. Most of the network still has inferior pavement and sub grade strength. Thanks to the relatively low traffic loading due to the fact that the heavier commodities are transported on waterways, the paved roads have not deteriorated as fast as otherwise might have been expected. However, with the projected increase in trucks and heavy vehicles traffic, structural overlays will soon be required on many roads. The most obvious observation about the road traffic is the movements of conflicting streams where different road user groups (cars, motorcycles, bicycles and pedestrians) are competing for the same road space because paved shoulders are generally not available or are too narrow. Lack of enforcement of land use restrictions in the right of ways makes this situation even worse. As a consequence, traffic congestion is increasing and the average traffic speed is decreasing.



Figure 3.1: Condition of the National Highway Network in the Mekong Delta region

3.1.2 Provincial Roads Of the 2,600 km of provincial roads surveyed during the study, only about 35 % was paved. Out of the total length of roads and tracks in the Mekong Delta, only an estimated length of around 3,000 – 3,500 km is asphalted, which means that most of the secondary and tertiary roads are gravel or earth tracks.

The paved provincial and district road network generally consists of single lane roads of about 3 – 3.5 m wiPRh and intermediate to two-lane roads of about 4 – m wiPRh and 1.5 m wide concrete paved roads used for 2-wheelers. A majority of the roads are located along canals and rivers and where 2 wheeler roads are established, the waterways are generally used for local freight transport.

The general status of the provincial road network in Mekong Delta is poor and includes many road sections that are not passable during rainy season. In rural areas at which the majority of the delta population lives, the traffic volume is generally very low and predominately 2 wheelers. The number

LEGEND



of trucks is also very low, since the big bulk of commodities are transported in the waterways. The following table shows a number of communes having no road access even when a commune has road access, many households have to walk or take the waterway a long distance before reaching reach the roads (Table 3.1).

Table 3.1: Road situation in some provinces in Mekong Delta region

Province Number of communes without roads An Giang 5%

Kien Giang 7% Can Tho 20% Bac Lieu 30% Ca Mau 80%

Source: Southern Ho Chi Minh Project, the TEDI South Paved provincial roads are predominantly 3.5m- wide carriageway while the remaining is gravel or earthen. Commune roads mainly vary from 1.5m to 2.5m wide. Some of them have concrete surface that proves to be a sustainable solution, with low maintenance requirements.

3.1.3 Traffic Safety Traffic safety is a significant issue in Vietnam. Up to 10 000 people die in traffic accidents in the country every year, about 47% of them on National Highways according to the Road Safety Action Plan in Vietnam (ADB). Accident data indicates that about 700 -1000 people die on National Highways in Mekong delta region alone, with 1036 reported fatal accidents in 2004 and 670 in 2005 (Source the RRMU7). Extrapolation of the statistics from RRMU7 and Can Tho PDoT show about 45 fatal accidents a year on NH91 between Can Tho and Vam Cong/Lo Te (51km). Accident data for Provincial, District and Rural Roads have not been available for the Consultant. However, as shown in the Social Assessment, section Of the 317 respondents, 59 people, or 19 percent, reported that they or their household members had suffered some traffic accidents. Motorcycles being the most dominant motorized transport in the country, the motorcycle accidents constitute the largest number of such accidents, followed by vehicle and boat accidents. Accidents reported also include what the respondents called “light accidents”, such as falling from motorcycles because of the poor road conditions. .

3.2 Overview of Road Network Improvements

3.2.1 Rehabilitation and Improvement of National Highways Improvement works that recommended to be taken up to rehabilitate and upgrade are approximately 98 km of national highways, including 13.52 km under NH 53, 40.85 km under NH 54, and 43.89 km under NH 91. Improvements will be carried out on the existing alignment by widening and upgrading the roads to a Class II, Class III or Class IV standard following the highway design standards of Vietnam (TCVN 4054-1998), as supplemented by the AASHTO standards. Present traffic on the selected roads ranges between 300 vpd and 2000 vpd (four-wheel vehicles) with an estimated average growth rate of about 7% over the next 10 years. Given the high level of non-motorized and two-wheeler traffic, all improved roads (except in very low traffic remote areas) will include paved shoulders for improved road safety. Works will also include rehabilitating and/or constructing bridges and culverts and raising the road levels where required in flood prone areas.

The improvements/rehabilitation works generally comprise:

(a) Pavement widening, pavement strengthening and bituminous overlays; (b) Raising the roadways in areas of frequent flooding;



(c) Widening and paving of shoulders; (d) Repairing or replacing bridges and drainage culverts; (e) Highway upgrading through urban areas; (f) Improving or constructing landings for ferry crossings; (g) Providing traffic safety features, including signs and road markings.

3.2.2 Rehabilitation and Improvement of Provincial Roads One of the main objectives of the project is to connect, through the secondary road network, the center of economic activities and areas with high poverty concentration in the Mekong region to the main transport corridors.

Based on a screening of a long list of secondary roads, considering connectivity to main transport corridors, service to areas with higher potential agriculture productivity, service to areas with high poverty density, and equitable distribution of benefits, it is recommended that a total of 205.25 km of secondary roads be upgraded to an all-weather standard in the thirteen provinces.

Considering the low traffic volumes on most of the provincial roads, as well as the need to optimize benefits from the proposed investments, it was considered that improving all-weather connectivity and accessibility and improving the riding quality of selected roads within the delta would take priority over road widening. Accordingly, improvements will be carried out along the existing alignments by upgrading the roads through providing structural overlays, or through complete reconstruction where the existing road structure has collapsed or where they are earth roads. Work will also include rehabilitating or constructing bridges and culverts and raising road levels where required in flood prone areas. All proposed bridges would be a standard 9 m wiPRh.

The improved roads will be constructed with either single lane (3.5 m) or two -lane (6.0 m) bituminous surface treated (BST) paved carriageways, depending on existing conditions and traffic demands. All roads will have 1.0 m paved shoulders on each side.

3.3 The Description of the First Year Investments

3.3.1 National Highways A summary of the proposed national highways contracts is provided in Table 3.2 below.

Table 3.2: Upgrading of National Highways

NH Name

Section name

Length (km) Situation Description of improvement

Base cost1

($ mil.)

National Highway Phase 1 – Year 1 – 4

NH 53

NH 53-3

Km 56.0 – 61.61

4.61

Normal, BTN road surface (Bn = 9 -9.0m, Bm = 6,5 m) and earthen road shoulder (Bv = 1.0 m), crowded residents area at both road sides

Widening both sides and upgrading to BTN 4 lanes, Class II Standard (Formation wiPRh: 17. 0 m; carriageway wiPRh 14. 0 m; divider wiPRh 1. 0 m; shoulder wiPRh 0,5 m paved plus 0,5 m verge)

4.459

NH 53

NH 53-10

Km 130.44 – 139.35

8.91

Section Km 130 + 440 – Km 138 + 000, 2 – 2.5 m very bad earthen road bicycle and motorbike used only and difficult to use in raining season. Section Km 138 + 000 – km 139 + 350, 3 m with asphalted surface & earthen shoulder (Bn = 6 – 7,5 m, Bm = 3,5 m, Bv = 1.0 m)

Widen and upgrade to AC 2-lane Class IV standard over earth road with the addition of one lane.1 new landing stage for ferry included (Formation wiPRh: 9.0 m; carriageway wiPRh 6.0 m; shoulder wiPRh 1.0 m paved plus 0.5 m verge)

2.644

NH 54

NH 54 – 5,6,7,8

40.854

Section Km 85 + 000 – km 125 +854, in bad situation with asphalted surface &

Widen and upgrade from 1-lane to AC 2-lane Class IV standard, (Formation wiPRh: 9.0 m; carriageway wiPRh 6.0 m; shoulder

12.114



NH Name

Section name


Base cost1

($ mil.)

Km 85.00 –

125.854

earthen shoulder (Bn = 6 – 7,5m; Bm = 3,5 m, Bv = 1.0 m)

wiPRh 1.0 m paved plus 0.5 m verge)

Phase I Program

54.374 - 19.217

1. Estimated cost is base cost, excluding contingencies and construction supervision and contract management NH 53-3 (KM56+000 ÷ KM60+610); Bridges (Nos/Length): 01/131.2 m

This section of NH53 is the entrance to Tra Vinh town. The short road of about 4.6km is in a fair condition with carriageway of approximately 7m and earthen shoulders. The area is densely populated and ratio of motorbikes is very high. With all traffic-modes competing for the space available, this is an accident-prone section. The section includes one weak bridge that is proposed to be replaced. The reconstructed road will have 4 lanes, 2x7 m carriageway and 1.5 m paved shoulders on either side that will allow for the 2-wheelers to use the shoulders. NH 53-10 (KM130+440 ÷ KM139+350); Bridges (Nos/Length): 01/131.2 m The project road connects the coastal and one of the poorest areas at

one side of Lang Sac River with NH54 in the more developed areas at the other side of the river and also links to some main provincial roads such as PR915, PR914. Apart from about 900m existing road with BST in poor/fair condition, the rest of this route which is the first priority national road of Tra Vinh province of about 8km is earth track/small dikes or new alignment passing the shrimp ponds and farm land. Improvement of this last missing link will play an important role in a full connection of NH53. One new bridge also is proposed to replace a weak and narrow bridge at Dai An commune and Lang Sac terminals will be build to serve ferry crossing. NH 54-5/6/7/8 (KM85+000 - KM125+854); Bridges (Nos/Length): 04/295.8 m The Project covers a part of NH54 the Tra Met – Tap Son Road in Tra Vinh province approximately 41kms which starts at km 85+000 (Tra Met Town) and ends at km 125+854 (Tap Son Intersection). The road links built up areas at Tap Son, Tieu Can, Cau Ke and Tra Met towns together. This section crosses NH60 at Tieu Can town and NH53 at Tap Son town.



Existing road sub grade structure is observed to be fairly stable with formation wiPRh Bn=6.0-7.5m and carriageway Bm=3-5m. From km112 - km117 the road pavement is rapidly deteriorating and many potholes and deterioration of the pavement structure is observed. The remaining road to Tra Met was in a fair condition during the condition survey early in the rainy season. However, it is observed that the road has deteriorated during the rains. With an expected increase in heavy transport and traffic volume, strengthening of the pavement as well as widening is recommended. It is proposed to have new bypass to Cau Ke and Tieu Can towns following the Master Plan of each town. Four (4) weak bridges having the loading capacity less than 18 tons are proposed to replace by the new ones.

3.3.2 Provincial Roads A summary of the proposed contracts for the provincial road improvement works is provided in the following Table 3.3:

Table 3.3: Upgrading of Provincial Roads

PR Name

Section name


Base cost1

($ mil.)

Provincial Roads Phase I – Year 1 – 4

2 – BT

BÕn Tre PR 884 13.72

Road surface in bad situation and not asphalted (Bn = 5.5 – 8.0m, Bm = 3.5 –5.5 m, Bv = 0,5 –1m) and weak bridges

Upgrading to Class IV Standard, with asphalted and 2 lanes (Bn = 9m, Bm = 6m, Bv = 1m paved plus 0,5 m verge) Build 5 bridges with total length 292m.

$USD 10.154M

1 –ST

Sãc Tr¨ng PR 04

15.30

Road in normal/bad situation with BST $ surface and earthen shoulder (Bn = 4 -5m, Bm = 2 – 4 m; Bv = 0 – 0,5 m) and weak bridges

Upgrading to Class V Standard, asphalting, 1 lanes (Bn = 6,5 m; Bm = 3,5 m; Bv = 1m paved plus 0,5 m verge) Build 8 new bridges with total length 181m and 1 simple landing stage

2.892

2 – CM

Cµ Mau CN – CVD

8.50

Road in bad situation (Bn = 4,5 – 5,5 m; Bm = 3,0m -3,3m; Bv = 0,5 -1m) and weak bridge

Upgrading to Class V Standard, asphalting, 1 lanes (Bn = 6,5 m; Bm = 3,5 m; Bv = 1m paved plus 0,5 m verge) Build 8 new bridges with total length 299.4 m

Phase I Program 37,52 8.356

1. Estimated cost is base cost, excluding contingencies and construction supervision and contract management Ben Tre: PR 884 PR 884 in Ben Tre connects a densely populated area to Song Ham Luong River, which is a tributary to Mekong. It connects to NH 57 in west via a ferry crossing and to the provincial center of Ben Tre in the east. The area has extensive agricultural production, including fish farming. The existing road is an earth track that becomes soaked and nearly impassable during the rainy season. To improve the road will serve the purpose of improving the access to the main waterway and National Highway system as well as give the opportunity for improved access to the provincial capital with its education, health and market facilities. Ben Tre is also located along Cha Sai canal that is a part of Corridor 3. The road that proposed to be improved is a length of 14 km, and 4 new bridges.



Due to the regional importance of this road, it is proposed to improve it to a Class IV road with 6 m carriageway. Soc Trang: PR 04 (KM0+000 ÷ KM15+300), Bridges (Nos / Length): 8 / 181.02m The road is connecting NH1 and Bac Lieu River which is a part of Corridor III in the other end and is 15.3 km long. The road is in a very poor condition. About 1.6 km will be completely new alignment and about 1 km of new construction on the embankment of an existing earth road. The remaining 13 km is an about 2.5 m paved road in a poor condition. It is proposed to improve the road to a 3.5 m paved DBST road with 1.5 m shoulders. Cau Mau: Cai Nuoc - Vam Dinh (KM0+000 ÷ KM26+000); bridges (Nos / Length): 8 / 299.4m

The provincial road from Cai Nuoc – Vam Dinh is an earth track that not is passable in the rainy season. The aim of the Government is to extend the road to the fishery town of Cai Doi Vam and open up the area for amore efficient access to the market. The project proposes to improve the road with a complete new pavement structure to a 3.5 m carriageway (single lane) road. The new construction will be about 9 km from the junction with NH 1. Another section (from km 9.000 to km 26) will be constructed by the PDoT. However, there are no funds for the bridges. It is therefore proposed to fund 7 bridges at this section and 1 bridge at section 0 – 9.

3.4 Overview of Future Investments

3.4.1 National Highways A summary of the proposed contracts for the national highway improvement works is provided in the following Table 3.4. Table 3.4: Phase II Upgrading of National Highways

NH Name Section name Length

(km) Situation Description of improvement

Base cost1

($ mil.)

Phase II – Year 2 – 6

QL 53

QL 53 – 7,8

67.000 – 114.010

47

Section Km 67.000 – 114.010, BTN surface situation (Bn = 7 – 8 m, Bm = 5,6 – 5,8 m) normal and earthen shoulder (Bv = 1.0m) bad

Upgrading to BTN, 2 lanes, class IV standard and traffic management (Formation wiPRh: 9.0m; carriageway wiPRh 6.0 m, shoulder wiPRh 1.0m paved plus 0,5 m verge)

6.393



NH Name Section name Length


Base cost1

($ mil.)

QL 91

QL 91 – 1,2 Km 7.000 – 50.889

43.890

Section km 7 + 000 – km 8 + 500, BTN surface situation (Bn = 18 m, Bm = 12m) normal and earthen shoulder (Bv = 0,5 – 1,0 m) in very bad situation

Widening and Upgrading to BTN, Class III Standard, 2 lanes (Formation wiPRh: 12 m; carriageway wiPRh 7m; shoulder wiPRh 2m paved plus 0,5 m verge)

21.643

QL 80

QL 80 – 3 Km

72.631 – 88.345

15.710

Section km 72.631 – 88.345, surface asphalted (Bn = 7,5 – 8,5 m, Bm = 6 m) normal and earthen shoulder (Bv = 0,5 -1 m) in very bad situation

Traffic management – road safety improvement (BTN cover, a 50mm layer, stone embankment)

3.407

Phase II Program 106.600 - 31.443

1. Estimated cost is base cost, excluding contingencies and construction supervision and contract management NH 91-2 (KM7+000 ÷ KM50+889); Bridges (Nos/Length): 05/518.6 m NH 91 parallel to Hau River Delta and represents the main link from NH 1 in Can Tho to NH 80, the planned Ho Chi Minh Expressway and towards Cambodia. It is also passing through two major economic and political centers, namely: Long Xuyen City and Chau Doc town. The Project covers a part of NH91: The proposed alignment starts from km 7+000 (Can Tho Port) and ends at km 50+889 (Cai San bridge approach, boundary of Can Tho and An Giang) and links O Mon, Thot Not and Lo Te towns together. Existing road is commonly on embankment with height varies from 0-2m, sub grade is stable and in fair condition. Road asphalt surface is maintained and generally in fair condition. Because many traffic accidents occur annually and non-motorized and motorized transport is very high, this road is expected to be over-serve in the forthcoming time. It therefore is proposed to improve together with the bypass to Thot Not town to avoid excessive resettlement and right of way acquisition.

Along the project road there are 16 existing bridges built before Year 1975, loading capacity of H20-44, wiPRh from 7m-11m. Some of the bridges do not meet the loading requirement and navigational clearance for waterway transport also. It therefore is proposed to improve to increase the wiPRh and capacity. Among the existing 16 bridges only five are proposed for replacement and others can still be maintained to maximize its full use. The road is an accident-prone section with around 45 fatal accidents a year. To widen the road and provide space for motorcycles on the shoulders is aimed to increase the safety as well as the capacity.



3.4.2 Provincial Roads Table 3.5: Phase II Upgrading of Provincial Roads

PR Name

Section name

Length


Base cost1

($ mil.)

Phase II – Year 2 – 6

1 – AG

An Giang PR 941

2.60

Asphalted surface, wiPRh 6m, normal situation but weak bridges

Building 13 bridges with 405 m length and 9m wiPRh and BST crane supply road, 2 lanes (Bn = 9m; Bm = 6m; Bv = 1m paved plus 0,5 m verge)

2.583

1-VL PR 909 21.4

Not asphalted, in bad and very bad situation (Bn = 4.0 – 5.0 m; Bm = 3,5 –5,5 m, Bv = 0,5 –1m) and weak bridge

Upgrading to class V standard, asphalt, 1 lane (Bn = 6,5 m; Bm = 3,5 m; Bv = 1m paved plus 0,5 m verge) Building 2 new bridges with total length 81.1 m

2.397

3-LA

PR 835B 11.97

Gravel path (Bn = 5,5 – 7,5 m; Bm = 3,5 – 5,5 m; Bv = Bv = 0,5 – 1m) in very bad situation

Upgrading to Class IV Standard, asphalting, 2 lanes (Bn = 9m, Bm = 6m, Bv = 1m paved plus 0,5 m verge)

3.245

1-TG PR 865 13.05

Gravel path (Bn = 5,5 – 7,5 m; Bm = 3,5 – 5,5 m; Bv = Bv = 0,5 – 1m) in very bad situation

Upgrading to Class IV Standard, asphalting, 2 lanes (Bn = 9m, Bm = 6m, Bv = 1m paved plus 0,5 m verge) Build 6 new bridge with total length 243,3m

3.245

2-PR PR 841 1.4 In executing, Class

IV Standard

Building 7 new bridges, length 398,42m, wiPRh 9,0m and BST crane supply road (Bn = 9m; = 6m, Bv = 1m paved 0,5 m verge)

2.183

4-CT

TT – TL 11.9

Gravel path (Bn = 5,5 – 7,5 m; Bm = 3,5 – 5,5 m; Bv = Bv = 0,5 – 1m) in bad situation and weak bridge

Upgrading to Class V Standard, asphalting, 1lane(Bn = 6,5 m; Bm = 3,5 m; Bv = 1m paved plus 0,5 m verge) Building 10 new bridges with total length 341.46 m

3.609

3-HG PR 926 24.4

Gravel path (Bn = 5,5 – 7,5 m; Bm = 3,5 – 5,5 m; Bv = Bv = 0,5 – 1m) in bad situation and weak bridge

Upgrading to Class V Standard, asphalting, 1lane (Bn = 6,5 m; Bm = 3,5 m; Bv = 1m paved plus 0,5 m verge) Building a new bridge with length 82.08 m

2.307

4-KG

BN – TH 16.85

Gravel path and path (Bn = 5,5 –7,5 m; Bm = 3,5 –5,5 m; Bv = 0,5 –1m) most in bad situation and weak bridge

Upgrading to Class V Standard, asphalting, 1lane(Bn = 6,5 m; Bm = 3,5 m; Bv = 1m paved plus 0,5 m verge) Building 12 new bridges with total length 270.4 m and a simple landing stage.

1.508

1-CM

Thoi Binh – U Minh

9.5

Gravel (Bn = 4,5 m; Bm = 2,5 m; Bv = 0,5 – 1m) in bad situation

Upgrading to Class V Standard, asphalting, 1lane(Bn = 6,5 m; Bm = 3,5 m; Bv = 1m paved plus 0,5 m verge) Building a new bridge with length 24.54 m and 2 simple landing stages

2.840

2-BL

CS – HCMR 26.36

Gravel (Bn = 4,5 m; Bm = 2,5 m; Bv = 0,5 – 1m) in bad situation and a bridge uncompleted

Upgrading to Class V Standard, asphalting, 1lane(Bn = 6,5 m; Bm = 3,5 m; Bv = 1m paved plus 0,5 m verge) completing an unfinished bridge (80% road with length

2.797



PR Name

Section name

Length


Base cost1

($ mil.)

280m)

2-TV TN 8.3

Earthen road (Bn = 5m; Bm = 3m; Bv = 0,5 – 1m) in bad situation and 1 weak bridge

Upgrading to Class V Standard, asphalting, 1lane(Bn = 6,5 m; Bm = 3,5 m; Bv = 1m paved plus 0,5 m verge) Building a new bridge with total length 37.5 m

1.098

6-TV PR 915 20.0

Asphalt road, bad and normal edges (Bn = 4 -6m; Bm = 3 -3,5 m; Bv = 0,5 – 1m) weak bridge

Upgrading to Class V Standard, asphalting, 1lane(Bn = 6,5 m; Bm = 3,5 m; Bv = 1m paved plus 0,5 m verge) Building 3 new bridges with total length 150 m

2.965

Phase II Program

167.73 - 29.30

9 1. Estimated cost is base cost, excluding contingencies and construction supervision and contract management Vinh Long: PR 909 (KM7+000 ÷ KM27+000), Bridges (Nos / Length): 2 / 81.1m The project road is located south of Vinh Long, and connects the rural areas with NH 53 in the north and Provincial Road 905 in the south. The single lane road is a gravel road for about 14 km, and the remaining is an earth track that is impassable for cars during the rainy season. Waterways are the main mode of transportation in the entire area, and the settlements are therefore concentrated along the waterways. In addition to rice farms, the area has aquaculture and fruit farming where good accessibility is important. As a complement to the waterway transport, the road will be important to open up the area towards the provincial and national road net as well as Vinh Long.

Dong Thap: PR 841 The road passes along Mekong River near the border to Cambodia. The provincial government and the major part of the road acknowledge the importance of the road, but no bridge is currently under reconstruction. However, the 7 bridges along the road are very weak and need to be replaced. They are all 3.5 m steel truss bridges with wooden deck with carrying capacity for motorcycles, but they are not passable for a normal car. In order to open up the road for cars, it is therefore proposed to construct 7 new bridges. The road serves as an important regional link, as well providing access to landing stages along the river. To replace the bridges with new ones with sufficient bearing capacity will open up the road for



cars buses and commercial vehicles which will improve the accessibility to the area and create new opportunities for the people in the area. Can Tho: TT - TL District road TT-TL is about 15 km and connects to NH 91 west of Thot Not to PR 622 (which is an earth track in poor condition). Except for the first 2.3 km of gravel road, TT-TL is an earth track with narrow wooden bridges only passable for motorbikes. It is 17 bridges along the proposed road section of 12 km. Due to the limited budget; only 10 of the 17 bridges will be replaced within the project. The road passes along feeder waterways, and slope erosion is a problem at many locations, not only damaging the waterway, but also the parallel road. It is therefore proposed to do bank protection, which will combine the two objectives of protecting the road as well as the waterways. The new road is proposed to be 3.5 m carriageway with bituminous surface dressing. The road will create greatly improved access to an area where most of the population only can reach the nearest market town via waterways.

Hau Giang: PR 928 PR 928 is a single lane road along Long Phu canal. The road serves a rather densely populated and economically vital area. The road section, which is proposed to be reconstructed, is 24.4 km long is varying from gravel to earth track in a very poor condition, and the road is impassable for cars during the wet season. Only the last few km of the DBST paved road is in a fair condition. It is proposed to reconstruct the road to a single lane DBST paved road with 3.5 m paved shoulders. The road crosses 11 waterways with 11 concrete and steel bridges. 10 of the bridges are in fair condition, and only 1 bridge is proposed to be replaced with a new RC bridge which will met the requirement of a service load of 13 tons. The road is an important regional link and gives

access to the national highway network and the markets in Cai Tac and Phung Hiep. It is complementing the parallel waterway that is extensively used, and there are many small landing stages along the canal, or the boat owners simply berth the boat to a tree and load the boat with fruits and agricultural products which are carried there by foot or brought by motorcycle. Soc Trang: PR 04 (KM0+000 ÷ KM15+300), Bridges (Nos / Length): 8 / 181.02m The road is connecting NH1 and Bac Lieu River which is a part of Corridor III in the other end and is 15.3 km long. The road is in a very poor condition. About 1.6 km will be completely new alignment and about 1 km of new construction on the embankment of an existing earth road. The remaining 13 km is an about 2.5 m paved road in a poor condition. It is proposed to improve the road to a 3.5 m paved DBST road with 1.5 m shoulders.



Bac Lieu: Cau Sap – Ninh Quoi The road connects NH1 and the southern waterway of Corridor 3 with the rural areas to the north. An extension of the road would connect it to NH63 from Cau Mau towards Rach Gia. The existing gravel road along Quan Lo Ngan Dua canal is about 26.5 km long. The road is proposed to be reconstructed to 3.5 m single lane road with DBST pavement. In urban sections, a dual carriageway road with 6 m pavement is proposed. Out of the 9 waterway crossings, there are 7 bridges, all in a fair condition. 2 new bridges are proposed in the MTIDP. The road is an important regional link, and when it is upgraded, it will still be the only all weather road in the central Bac Lieu province.

Kien Giang: Giong Rieng - Thanh Phuoc (km0+000-km16+850); bridges (Nos / Length) : 12 / 270.4m The existing road connecting NH 61 to the provincial administrative centre at Giong Rieng is paved and in a fair condition, although some erosion and stability problem is caused by slope erosion along the parallel canal. The connectivity to the central parts of Tien Giang province is very poor. From Giong Rieng, PR 865 continues as an earth road at the dikes of Thot Not canal. This is a very lively feeder canal which serve the purpose of exporting rice and other agricultural products from the area, and the landing stages with rice handling equipment where the rice is loaded to small barges for transport to Can Tho is seen actively used at frequent intervals of a few km. The earth road is mainly used for personal transport and light household commodities by motorbikes. Upgrading of the road to a single lane paved road is expected to greatly improve accessibility to Giong Rieng with markets, health and education facilities as well as be a part of the connection to the north of the province. It will also connect to the Tan Hiep canal that also is a part of the waterway feeder canal component and connects to the main corridor, the Rach Soi - Hau Giang canal along NH 80. Since the road also will ease the transport from farms to the landing stages, it will help to improve the local connectivity to the waterway that carries substantial regional transport.

Cau Mau: Cai Nuoc - Vam Dinh (KM0+000 ÷ KM26+000); bridges (Nos / Length): 8 / 299.4m The provincial road from Cai Nuoc – Vam Dinh is an earth track that not is passable in the rainy season. The aim of the Government is to extend the road to the fishery town of Cai Doi Vam and open up the area for amore efficient access to the market. The project proposes to improve the road with a complete new pavement structure to a 3.5 m carriageway (single lane) road. The new construction will be about 9 km from the junction with NH1. Another section from km 9.000



to km 26 will be constructed by the PDoT. However, there are no funds for the bridges. It is therefore proposed to fund 7 bridges at this section and 1 bridge at section 0 – 9.

Ca Mau: Thoi Binh - UMinh (KM0+000 ÷ KM9+500); bridges (Nos /Length): 01/24.54m Crossing with two canals on both ends among them one is a main southern waterway as known corridor 3, this route has a big congestion for many years it therefore is became first priority of province. The gravel short road of 9.5km is now in poor condition and difficult to transport by a 2-wheel vehicle in rainy season. Upgrading to BST 1 lane road and constructing a new bridge at Km4+950 and two small terminals for ferry crossing are proposed.

Tra Vinh: Tra Noc and PR 915 Selected road ĐT Tra Noc located in Tra Vinh Province is approximately 8.30 km which starts at km 0+000 (Intersection with NH60) and at km 3+300 the road branches into two roads, the left one ends at km 6+300 (Intersection with PR911) and the right one ends at km 5+300 (Intersection with SIDA road).

The existing road is running parallel to a small canal about 6 m wide used by small boats. On the first 3 km the road is an existing 2 – 3 m wide earth track in poor condition and the other sections are only on dikes road usable by motorbikes and bicycles, but in very poor condition. The existing alignment is passing through small villages with scattered houses, rice fields and fishponds on one side and the canal on the other side. Investment in this road will improve the farm to market connection since it will serve as a link to between NH60, PR911 and SIDA road. PR 915 is a “non- existing” road approximately 60 km long and, according to the PDOT report, is planned in the future to be one of a Tra Vinh Provincial Road. This road runs along the Bassac River and the Nam Song Hau road is on the other side of this river. Building PR 915 will improve the access of local communities to the Bassac River.



3.5 The Resettlement of the MTIDP

The results of subproject screening and survey conducted by FS and inventory of losses for proposed road and waterway routes of the first year program show that there are no sites of cultural heritage will be impacted. In general, priorities are given to the land of lower economic values or unused land. The methods of realigning or one-side development (widening) both for roads and waterways are widely used. The Project will pose inconsiderable resettlement impacts due to required land acquisition for rehabilitation, improvement and widening of national and provincial roads and waterways, some bridges... So far it is not clear about the temporary land acquisition of the project. This would be identified when more information are available in stage of detailed technical design. The Tables below provide more detailed data on the scale of land acquisition and resettlement caused by the MTIDP subprojects.

Table 3.6. Scope of land acquisition for the road component in the MTIDP

Road Length (KM)

Loss of residential land (m2)

Residential plus garden land (m2)

Perennial crop or garden land (m2)

Annual crop land (m2)

Loss of pond (m2)

Special use land (m2)

Total land loss (m2)

BT DT 884 13.72 3,141 0 7,254 0 0 23,672 34,068 VL DT 909 21.40 815 26,970 10,370 36,137 2,829 614 77,735 ST DT 04 16.64 1,512 0 5,905 86,882 0 0 94,299

BL CS-HCMR 25.00 14,585 60,696 3,551 8,785 0 77 87,694

CM CN-CDV 9.00 0 12,549 998 9,870 0 210 23,627

KG BN-RG-TH 16.65 2,272 32,485 20,061 0 0 1,168 55,986

TV NH 54 23.64 3,982 0 59,348 68,925 0 3,175 135,430 TV NH 53 8.91 454 0 32,310 10,864 2,172 0 45,799 CT NH 91 30.10 26,623 0 0 76,991 76,244 0 179,858 TOTAL 165.06 53,384 132,699 139,798 298,454 81,245 28,916 734,496

Source:the FS final report

Table 3.7. Summarized resettlement impacts for the road component in the MTIDP

RelocatedRebuild main house

Relocated business

Losing >20% HH holding

Marginally affected

Total number of PAPs

Vinh Long DT909 19 0 1 10 375 404Ca Mau (CN-CDV) 0 0 0 0 124 124Kien Giang (BN-RG-TH) 66 65 55 0 690 876

Bac Lieu (CS-NQ- 0 0 0 0 1,556 1,556



ND) Ben Tre DT 884 0 0 0 0 859 859Tra Vinh QL 54 17 0 0 0 483 500Tra Vinh QL 53 7 0 0 0 533 540

Source: FS final report

The following environmental effects in resettlement site need to be considered:

- Resettlement sites should be far from pollution sources

- Resettlement sites should be developed in the project area with all drinking water, sanitation and required infrastructure, including health and education facilities are being provided at those sites

- Resettlement sites should have similarities in socio-economic, production conditions and using natural resources with the old one.

- Effects from resettlement sites on physical conditions may include pollution of surface water as a result of solid or liquid waste discharges. Resettlement sites will be designed to incorporate adequate solid and liquid waste management systems.

Finally, regarding the resettlement needs under the project, most project-affected-people (PAP) would not require relocation. They will simply stay in their immediate vicinity with some movement of homes or business in the immediate vicinity most often only having to move a few meters. For others who will require relocation, the option selected was provided them with alternate sites within the GOV’s existing resettlement sites that are fully equipped with drinking water, sanitation and other infrastructure needs that are fully organized and implemented at each site in advance of people being relocated there as well as health and education facilities. This option is being pursued as opposed to the project developing new sites and working more with the GOV’s overall plan for the resettlement of disadvantaged people due to development activities or natural conditions such as annual flooding.

3.6 Preliminary Engineering Design of Highways and Roads

In accordance with the TOR (Contract for Consulting Service between the PMU1 and Louis Berger Group, INC signed on 10th June 2005), preliminary design have been done in correspondence with Decree 52/1999/NĐ-CP dated 08th July 1999 issued by Prime Minister, and following the Provisions 5.8, 5.9, 5.10, 5.11, 5.12 pages 23 of the TOR. Preliminary engineering design is based on the engineering inventory and survey and carried out to an appropriate technical standard selected in accordance with TCVN 4054-98, 22 TCN 273-01 and other codes and guidelines as mentioned in FS Appendices, Volume VII: Preliminary Engineering of National & Provincial Roads.

Collection of available data was carried out by Consultant through meetings with Gov/Provincial Agencies as well as representatives from private sector, they mainly are: the VRA, TPMU9, TPMU7, RRMU7, and PDOT of 13 provinces. The Consultants conducted series of consultation with the PDOTs to discuss about the selected roads in their respective provinces. The comments raised during the 1st and 2nd workshop were discussed with the PDOTs and incorporated into the preliminary design. Information and data that could be used as references for the Preliminary Engineering purposes i.e. soil investigation; hydrology, topographic survey, Feasibility Study (FS), Technical Design (TD) and also future planning along the route were collected.

Preliminary Engineering Design and Description of Works with detailed cost estimates are shown in Appendix 12A to 12C in Volume VII of the FS appendices. The content of preliminary design consists of some components as follows:



• Appendix 12: Preliminary Engineering Main Report: This appendix enumerates number of reports/documentations provided by the PDOTs or the PMUs. Road design codes, standards and guidelines; Road classification, design traffic volume, design lane capacity; Technical class, geometry design criteria, super-elevation design; Pavement design standard; Design principles and approach of bridges; Material sources; Methodology of unit price analysis and cost estimation; Routine maintenance are demonstrated in detail at this appendix.

• Appendix 12A: Preliminary Engineering on National Roads and Appendix 12B: Preliminary Engineering on Provincial Roads: General view maps showing road alignment, scope of work and typical cross sections for respective sections are illustrated. Location and overview, scope of the project; existing condition of roads, intersections, roadside drainage, crossing culverts, bridges are interpreted in terms of tables, pictures and texts. Proposed road works, including: Road geometry, design road alignment; Soft soil treatment; Design pavement structure for period of 10 year using the BB test, the DCP, the CBR; Design grading are discussed. The bridge/drainage works and miscellaneous works are also recommended.

• The first year program proposed for national highways and provincial roads is based on the schedule of the project. Bill of quantity for all of civil works has been prepared.

• Appendix 12C: Preliminary Engineering of Bridges on National/Provincial Roads: Basic design parameter is demonstrated in detail. Navigation clearance for each provincial road in the short list is issued by the PDOTs and was used to propose span length requirement. Typical cross section of structural elements and approach road is prepared in A4 size. Bridge quantity is assumed for each bridge.

• Appendix 12D: Unit Price Analysis and Cost Estimate: The Consultants study all quantity calculations and cost estimates in the TD and FS gathered. Equipment, material and labour cost in all items of work in each selected project roads has been analysed in detail. All regulations and price lists in each province were collected and incorporated in price analysis.

3.7 Stakeholder Analysis of the Project

The stakeholders are defined as those who have an interest, or a stake in the Project, including “those who are likely to be affected by the project as well as those who may have an influence over the project”3. Based on the review of the secondary data, fieldwork, and formal and informal meetings/consultations, the Consultant has identified the following stakeholder groups, and their characteristics, interests, and influence are summarized in Table 3.6

Table 3.8: Summary Stakeholder Analysis

Stakeholder Categories

Relevant Stakeholders

Characteristics Social situation, Location, Size, Organizational Capability

Interests Commitment to Status Quo vs. Openness to Change

Influence* High, Medium, or Low

Donor World Bank (WB) Large international development organization with focus on poverty reduction.

Interest in developing project that will help social and economic development of Mekong Delta by improving overall transport network (multi-modal) and contribute to poverty reduction.

High

Government Policymakers

Government of Vietnam (GoV) and Ministry of Transport (MOT)

Borrower. Responsible for transport sector infrastructure, facilities, and services of Vietnam.

Strong interest in improving overall transports network, stimulating further economic development, and assisting poverty reduction.

High

Implementing Agency

Project Management Unit No. 1 (PMU1)

Under the MOT, responsible for overall implementation of the MTIDP, including resettlement.

Strong interest in successfully implementing the MTIDP as designated implementing agency.

High

Other Interested Groups in Public Sector

Vietnam Inland Waterway Administration (VIWA)

Under the MOT, responsible for administration of inland waterway transport of Vietnam. Will be provided with assistance for institutional strengthening by the MTIDP.

Interest in improved inland waterway infrastructure as modal administration for inland waterway.

Medium

3 Social Analysis Sourcebook: Incorporating Social Dimensions into Bank-supported Projects, World Bank, 2003. P.10.








Vietnam Road Administration (VRA)

Modal administration for road transportation system under the MOT.

Interest in improved road infrastructure as modal administration for roads.

Medium

Project Management Unit Waterways (PMU-Waterways)

Under the MOT, responsible for implementation of waterway projects. The MTIDP include waterway components, and cooperation from the PMU-Waterways will be critical in smooth implementation of the MTIDP.

Interest in improved inland waterway infrastructure as institution responsible for managing waterway projects.

Medium

Provincial People’s Committees (PPCs)

In charge of development planning, including that of transport sector with assistance of the PDOT, of respective province. Regulates passenger transport fares in consultations with transport service provider associations. For resettlement and land acquisition required for implementation of the MTIDP, acts as “Steering Committee for Land Acquisition”.

Strong interests in receiving investments in their provincial priority roads and waterways that will help achieve their development and poverty reduction goals. Their interest lies in obtaining more investments for their respective provinces’ identified priorities than investments optimized for entire Mekong Delta, which is MITDP’s objective.

Medium

Provincial Departments of Transport (PDOTs)

In charge of provincial transport infrastructure. Proposed their priority roads and waterways for the MTIDP investments based on their transport master plan. Some operate joint-stock companies (transport services, construction, and maintenance) in respective province.

Strong interest in receiving investments to improve their provincial priority roads and waterways. Their interest lies in obtaining more investments for their respective provinces’ identified priorities than investments optimized for entire Mekong Delta, which is MITDP’s objective.

Medium

District Authorities

Responsible for working with PMU1 to carry out resettlement and land acquisition required for implementation of the MTIDP by forming “Land Acquisition Committee”.

Strong interest in receiving investments to improve transport infrastructure in their respective districts.

Low

Local Communities (Poor and non-poor, vulnerable groups such as women and ethnic minorities)

Many are living in poverty. Lack access to all-weather roads. Have organizational framework to conduct community-level activities (led by commune and/or village leaders), but generally unskilled and uneducated.

Strong interest in gaining access to all-weather roads for their economic activities and for improving their standard of living. Concerned about the current lack of appropriate transport infrastructure (particularly roads).

Low Intended Beneficiaries

Users of Transport Infrastructure (Includes: pedestrians; users of transport services; owners of vehicles and boats; and providers of transport services)

Much overlap with local community in general, but includes those who may not necessarily live in project area. Pedestrians Non-owner end-users, such as passengers and users of freight shipping services (most of poor users of transport services are likely to be in this category), and public and private firms that use transport services. Non-owner operators (hired drivers and boat operators) of vehicles/boats. Owners of vehicles and boats, including both owners of private vehicles/boats and commercial vehicles/boats (including enterprises that use their own vehicles/boats for transport of inputs and products). In rural areas: Individual owners of vehicles/boats are also operators of vehicles/boats (Individual owner-operators) On major routes: Larger-scale owners, joint-stock companies (including those operated by the PDOTs)

All interested in gaining access to better transport infrastructure. Their interests in keeping status quo or change are likely to vary from each other. Interest in gaining access to all-weather roads. Interested in provision of cheaper, faster, safer, and more convenient transport services. Interest in improved transport infrastructure that will save their operating time and provide more comfort. Interested in improved transport infrastructure that will save their operating costs. Those who own and operate small boats on feeder waterways may prefer status quo because local communities overwhelmingly prefer having road access. (There is possibility that people will use roads instead of waterways if they have access to improved all-weather roads.) Given lack of off-farm employment opportunities in rural areas, some villagers expressed concerns about potential loss of jobs for those who are currently operating small boats.

Low (individuals and small enterprises) Medium-low (larger enterprises, joint-stock companies operated by the PDOTs and other SOEs)

Adversely Those who will be Those who are located right along Willing to resettle or provide land in Low








Affected Persons affected by Resettlement and Land Acquisition among “Local Population in General” mentioned above

selected road and waterway sections that will require resettlement or land acquisition. Characteristics vary depending on location, but general characteristics are same as “Local Communities in General” mentioned above.

order to gain access to better transport infrastructure, but concerned about the compensation issue. Landlessness is highly associated with poverty in Mekong Delta, where majority of population’s living relies on agricultural activities, thus resettlement and land acquisition must be appropriately compensated.

Associations of Transport Service Providers and Vehicle/Boat Owners, as well as Vietnam Inland Waterway Association

Some of them appear to be well-organized. In some provinces, associations are ones that make recommendations on regulated fares and rates, subject to approval of PPC.

Interest in gaining access to better transport infrastructure but also interest in keeping the current fare/rates structure, over which they have control to deter free competition, which is likely to lower their benefits by pushing the fares and rates down.

Medium Organized Interest Groups

Joint-stock Transport Service Companies Operated by the PDOTs

Larger-scale enterprises operated by the PDOTS to provide transport services

Interest in gaining access to better transport infrastructure but also interest in keeping current fare/rates structure to deter free competition that is likely to lower their benefits by pushing fares and rates down.

Medium

* Relative degrees of influence. Source: The FS of the MTIDP In general, all of the key stakeholder groups are supportive of the MTIDP, sharing the interest in obtaining improved transport infrastructure in the Mekong Delta Region. Appropriate mitigation measures, of course, need to be implemented a proposed in this report, for those expected to be adversely impacted by various issues related to the Project, including resettlement and land acquisition. No group that may strongly oppose the proposed Project has been identified. Differences in interests and potential conflicts, however, arise when it comes to the selection of transport infrastructure pieces and the allocation of total Project budget. The main issue concerns the distribution of the total investment between national highways, provincial roads, and other Project components (i.e. waterways components).

The Government of Vietnam and the Ministry of Transport main objectives are to remove the bottlenecks of the current transport network to improve the overall connectivity in the Mekong Delta Region to help the overall development of the region, as the most important agricultural production area of the country and poverty reduction. However, other groups, naturally, are more interested in the improvements of the specific transport infrastructure they are in charge of. For example, between the Vietnam Road Administration (VRA) and the Vietnam Inland Waterway Administration (VIWA), the preferences for investments are largely divided between roads and waterways. Provinces tend to be more interested in gaining investments in their own priority roads and waterways than the overall network connectivity of the Mekong Delta Region. Local communities (communes and villages) are interested in the improvements of the transport infrastructure that runs through their respective villages/communes. Furthermore, interests are also divided among the users of the transport infrastructure: those who mainly use waterways or those who ship large amount of goods on waterways do favour investments in waterways, while those who transport perishables on the road desire to have better roads. These differences among key stakeholders make it necessary to balance their interests because the lack of consensus and understanding and/or the existence of strong opposition would increase the possibility of Project failure. To reach a consensus, continuous consultations (both formal and informal) are keys to come up with a successful project that will be beneficial to all groups, and the Consultant has consulted with them throughout the period of the consultancy services.



The stakeholder consultation process is further described in Section 8 of this report. 3.8 Implementation Plan

The proposed implementation plan is presented as a separate volume to the FS and summarized below:

• The project is divided into two phases – Phase I (Year 1, 2 and 3 program) and Phase II (Year 3, 4, 5 and 6 program). The entire project, including final contract payments and completion reports, is envisaged to commence when the Credit becomes effective by July 1, 2007 and to be completed within a six-year period. The six-year period is made up by about a one-year lead in and initial procurement/consultant selection period, about 4 years of construction for Phase 1 and 2, which will overlap, and an additional year to cover final Defects Liability Periods and final disbursement of Credit funds. It is thus programmed to be completed by will be June 30, 2013.

• Design and tendering for the Phase I program are scheduled to take place between July and December 2007. Award of the first contracts is scheduled to take place by end 2007, with work scheduled to start by early 2008, Phase I works will be completed by early 2010.

• The above notwithstanding, the Phase I and Phase II implementation programs are interrelated and overlapping. Design and tendering for Phase II, program is scheduled to carry out concurrently with implementation of Phase I, works so that there is an uninterrupted flow of work throughout the implementation period. Detailed design for the Phase II is to start by end December 2007, and tendering and award of contracts is programmed to be completed by 2010 The Phase II works are scheduled to start in 2010 and be substantially completed by 2013 including effects liability periods. As no civil works contract may commence before the engagement of construction supervision consultancies the engagement of the DSCs for Phase 2 design and Phase1 and 2 supervisions are a critical activity.

• An early start on land acquisition and resettlement activities for Phase 1 is required to ensure that acquisition is completed well in advance of construction so that implementation of the project works is not delayed. Accordingly, land acquisition and resettlement should start as soon as the requirements are known and approved. For the Phase I program, this means that land acquisition should start as soon as the MoT has approved the project, and, if possible before Credit Effectiveness.

• It is essential that land acquisition and resettlement requirements for the Phase II program be identified as early as possible during the design stage. Thus these activities, together with the environmental impact assessment and environmental management plans, are to be included in the scope of work for the Phase 2 engineering design and construction supervision consultant.

A summary of the plan is presented in Table 3.9.



Table 3.9 Implementation Plan

ID T ask Nam e Duration Start Finish

1 MTIDP Implementation Program 91 mons 1/2/06 6/23/13

2 Project Processing and Approval 18.5 mons 1/2/06 7/10/07

3 Draft Final Report Submission 2.5 m ons 1/2/06 3/17/06

4 Com ments and Approva l by GoV 1.5 m ons 3/18/06 5/1/065 Pre-Appra isal Mission 0.5 m ons 5/2/06 5/16/06

6 Fina l Report Submission 0.5 m ons 5/17/06 5/31/06

7 FS Approva l by GoV 0.5 m ons 6/1/06 6/15/068 Confi rm Contract Packaging and Schedul ing 1 mon 6/1/06 6/30/06

9 Appra isal Mission 0.5 m ons 8/15/06 8/29/0610 Bank Board Approval 0 .5 m ons 10/14/06 10/28/06

11 Contract Negotiations 1 mon 11/13/06 12/12/0612 Loan Agreem ent Signed 0.5 m ons 12/28/06 1/11/07

13 Cred i t Effectiveness 6 mons 1/12/07 7/10/07

14 Consultant Recruitment for Phase I Program 15 mons 7/1/06 9/23/07

15 Issue Request for Submission of EOIs, Prepare and Subm i t EOIs 3 mons 7/1/06 9/28/0616 Evaluate and Approve Consul tant Shortl ists 3 mons 9/29/06 12/27/06

17 Prepare and Submi t Proposals 2 mons 12/28/06 2/25/07

18 Evaluate and Approve Consul tant Se lection 2 mons 2/26/07 4/26/0719 Negotiate, Approve and Sign Contracts 3 mons 4/27/07 7/25/07

20 M obi l ize Consul tants 2 mons 7/26/07 9/23/0721 Consultant Activities for Project 70 mons 9/24/07 6/23/13

22 Package No. CS-1 : Deta i l Design Phase II & Construction Supervision Services(Nai tonal Highway) Phase I + II

56 m ons 9/24/07 4/29/12

23 Package No. CS-2 : Deta i Design Phase II & Construction Supervision Services(Main waterway Corridors) Phase I + II

56 m ons 9/24/07 4/29/12

24 Package No. CS-3 : Deta i Design Phase II & Construction Supervision Services(Provincial roads & Feeder) Phase I + II

42 m ons 9/24/07 3/6/11

25 Package No. CS-4 : Insti tu tional support to M oT 56 m ons 9/24/07 4/29/1226 Package No. CS-5 : Insti tu tional Support to VIWA 56 m ons 9/24/07 4/29/12

27 Package No. CS-6 : In tegrated Project Im plem entation Audi t Services 70 m ons 9/24/07 6/23/1328 Package No. CS-7 : Financia l Audit Services 60 m ons 7/20/08 6/23/13

29 Phase I (Year 1, 2 & 3 Program) 54.5 mons 7/1/06 12/21/10

30 Detaile d Engine ering Des ign Consultant (DEDC) 20.5 mons 7/1/06 3/6/0831 Design and Bid Doc. for Phase I Program 13 mons 7/1/06 7/25/0732 Recru it DEDC and Consul tant mobil ized 3 mons 7/1/06 9/28/06

3/175/15/165/316/156/30

8/2910/28

12/121/11

7/10

9/2812/27

2/254/26

7/259/23

4/29

4/29

3/6

4/294/29

6/236/23

9/28

Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q42006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013




33 Supplem entary Surveys and Investigations 4 mons 9/29/06 1/26/07

34 Prepare and Approve SBDs for ICB & NCB Works 4 mons 2/26/07 6/25/0735 Deta i led Designs, Estimates & Bid Docum ents 4 mons 3/28/07 7/25/07

36 Prequalification of Contractors 4 .5 mons 6/26/07 11/7/0737 Prepare and Approve PQ Doc.& Criteria 2 mons 6/26/07 8/24/07

38 Advertise and Request PQ Appl ications 1.5 m ons 7/26/07 9/8/07

39 Evaluate and Approve Prequal. Contractors 2 mons 9/9/07 11/7/07

40 Tender and Award Contracts - Phase I 4 mons 11/8/07 3/6/0841 Invi te B ids from Prequal i fied Contractors 1 mon 11/8/07 12/7/07

42 Evaluate, Approve and Award Contracts 2 mons 12/8/07 2/5/08

43 Negotia te and Sign Contracts 1 mon 2/6/08 3/6/08

44 Land Acquisition and Re s ettlem ent 15 mons 9/29/06 12/22/0745 Land Acquisi tion and Resettlement 15 m ons 9/29/06 12/22/07

46 Civil Work s 34 mons 3/7/08 12/21/1047 Upgrading of National Highw ays 34 mons 3/7/08 12/21/1048 Package No. NH-1 : NH 53-3 Km 56.000 – 60.610 (4.61 km ) and NH 53-10

Km 130.440 – 139.350 (8.91 km)24 m ons 3/7/08 2/24/10

49 Package No. NH-2 : NH 54-5 ,6,7,8 Km 85.000 – 125.854 (40.85 km ) 34 m ons 3/7/08 12/21/10

50 Upgrading of Waterw ays Corridor 2 34 mons 3/7/08 12/21/1051 Package No. WW-1 : Km 80 - 170 (90 km) 22 m ons 3/7/08 12/26/09

52 Package No. WW-2 Km : 170 - 253 (83 km ) 34 m ons 3/7/08 12/21/10

53 Package No. BR-1 : Rehabi l i ta tion bridges 18 m ons 6/5/08 11/26/09

54 Upgrading of Provincial Roads 15 mons 6/5/08 8/28/0955 Package No PR-1 & PR-2: DT 884 - Ben T re (13.72 km ) 12 m ons 6/5/08 5/30/09

56 Package No PR-3 & PR-4: DT 04 - Soc T rang (15.3 km ) 15 m ons 6/5/08 8/28/09

57 Package No PR-5 & PR-6: CN-CDV - Ca M au (8.50 km ) 15 m ons 6/5/08 8/28/0958 Phase II (Year 4, 5 & 6 Program) 54 mons 10/9/07 3/15/12

59 Detaile d Engine ering Des ign 15 mons 10/9/07 12/31/0860 Design and Bid Documents for Phase II Program 8 mons 10/9/07 6/4/0861 Site Surveys and Investigations 6 mons 10/9/07 4/5/08

62 Resettlem ent Surveys and Reports 5 mons 10/9/07 3/6/08

63 Deta i led Designs, Estimates & Bid Docum ents 6 mons 12/8/07 6/4/08

64 Tender and Award Contracts for Phase II Program 7 mons 6/5/08 12/31/0865 Invi te B ids from Prequal i fied Contractors 2 mons 6/5/08 8/3/08

66 Evaluate, Approve and Award Contracts 3 mons 8/4/08 11/1/08

67 Negotia te and Sign Contracts 2 mons 11/2/08 12/31/08

68 Land Acquisition and Re s ettlem ent 16 mons 12/8/07 3/31/0969 Land Acquisi tion and Resettlement 16 m ons 12/8/07 3/31/09

1/266/25

7/25

8/249/8

11/7

12/72/5

3/6

12/22

2/24

12/21

12/2612/21

11/26

5/308 /288 /28

4/53/6

6/4

8/311/1

12/31

3/31





70 Civil Work s 36 mons 4/1/09 3/15/1271 Upgrading of National Highw ays 36 mons 4/1/09 3/15/1272 Package No. NH-3: NH 91-1,2 Km 7.000-25.800 (18.80 km ) 33 m ons 4/1/09 12/16/11

73 Package No. NH-4: NH 91-1,2 Km 25.800-50.889 (25.09 km) 36 m ons 4/1/09 3/15/12

12/163/15


84 Upgrading of Provincial Roads & Feeder Waterw ays 18 mons 6/30/09 12/21/1085 Package No PR-7 & PR-8: DT 909 - V inh Long (21.4 km) 12 m ons 6/30/09 6/24/10

86 Package No PR-9 & PR-10: BN – TH - Kien Giang (16.85 km) 15 m ons 6/30/09 9/22/10

87 Package No PR-11: T B – UM - Ca Mau (9.5 km ) 12 m ons 6/30/09 6/24/10

88 Package No PR-12 & PR-13: CS-HCM R - Bac L ieu (26.36 km) 15 m ons 6/30/09 9/22/1089 Package No PR-14 & PR-15: DT 941 - An Giang (2.6 km) 12 m ons 6/30/09 6/24/10

90 Package No PR-16: DT 835B - Long An (11.97 km ) 12 m ons 6/30/09 6/24/10

91 Package No PR-17 & PR-18: DT 865 - Tien Giang (13.05 km) 15 m ons 9/28/09 12/21/10

92 Package No PR-19 & PR-20: DT 841 - Dong T hap (1.40 km ) 12 m ons 9/28/09 9/22/1093 Package No PR-21 & PR-22: T T-T L - Can Tho Ci ty (11.90 km) 15 m ons 9/28/09 12/21/10

94 Package No PR-23 & PR-24: DT 928 - Hau Giang (24.40 km) 12 m ons 9/28/09 9/22/10

95 Package No PR-25: T N - T ra Vinh (8.30 km) 12 m ons 9/28/09 9/22/10

96 Package No PR-26 & PR-27: DT 915 - Tra Vinh (20 km ) 15 m ons 9/28/09 12/21/1097 Package No. FC-1 : Upgrading of Feeder Canal in An Giang 10 m ons 6/30/09 4/25/10

98 Package No. FC-2 : Upgrading of Feeder Canal in Ca Mau 10 m ons 6/30/09 4/25/10

99 Equipment Supply & Installation 25 mons 5/31/09 6/19/11

100 Package No. ES-1 : Navigation Aids for Corridors 2, 3 & Feeder Canals 25 m ons 5/31/09 6/19/11

101 DEFECT LIABILITY PERIOD 44.2 mons 7/30/09 3/16/13

6/249/22

6/249/22

6/246/24

12/219/22

12/219/229/22

12/214/254/25

6/193/16



3.9 Implementation Cost

Highway and Road costs estimated to be USD 121 million dollars. This estimate is indicative and subject to change. Table 3.10 presents information on costs as presented in the Project Implementation Plan.

Table 3.10: Highway and Provincial Road Costs Cost

Distribution Base Cost

(million USD) Category

Quantity (km/no.)

Description % Foreign

% Local Foreign Local Total

A. Civil Works

Upgrading of National Highways: Phase I

19.22

NH 53-3 Km 56.000 – 60.610

4.61 Widen and upgrade to AC 4-lane Class II standard 85% 15% 3.79 0.67 4.46

NH 53-10 Km 130.440 – 139.350

8.91 Widen and upgrade to AC 2-lane Class IV standard 85% 15% 2.25 0.40 2.64

NH 54-5-:-8 Km 85.000 – 125.854 40.85 Widen and upgrade to AC 2-lane

Class IV standard 85% 15% 10.30 1.82 12.11

Upgrading of National Highways: Phase II

21.64

NH 91-1,2 Km 7.000 – 50.889

43.89 Widen and upgrade to AC 2-lane highway to Class III standard 85% 15% 18.40 3.25

21.64

Sub-Total, National Highways

98.26 34.73 6.13 40.86

Upgrading of Provincial Roads: Phase I

8.54

2-BT: PR 884

13.72 Two-lane (6.0 m) carriageway w/ improved shoulders 85% 15% 2.18 0.39 2.57

1-ST: PR 04

15.30 Single lane (3.5 m) carriageway w/ improved shoulders 85% 15% 2.46 0.43 2.89

2-CM: CN – CDV


Upgrading of Provincial Roads: Phase II

29.31

1-AG: PR 941


1-VL: PR 909


3-LA: PR 835B


1-TG: PR 865


2-PR: PR 841


4-CT: TT – TL 11.90 Single lane (3.5 m) carriageway

w/ improved shoulders 85% 15% 3.07 0.54 3.61

3-HG: PR 928


4-KG: BN – TH




Cost Distribution

Base Cost (million USD) Category

Quantity (km/no.)

Description % Foreign

% Local Foreign Local Total

1-CM: TB – UM (Thoi Binh-U minh)


2-BL: CS – HCMR


2-TV: TN


6-TV: PR 915


Sub-Total, Provincial Roads 205.25 32.17 5.68 37.85

C. Land Acquisition and Resettlement

National Highways 15% 85% 1.04 5.91 6.95

Provincial Roads 15% 85% 1.19 6.74 7.92

Sub-Total, Land Acquisition &Resettlement 2.23 12.65 14.87

D. Implementation Assistance

- Construction Supervision Services Phase I, Phase II And Detail Design Phase II of National Road works

90% 10% 3.16 0.35 3.509

- Construction Supervision Services Phase I, Phase II And Detail Design Phase II of Provincial works

90% 10% 3.27 0.36 3.632

- Institutional Support to MoT 0.45% 90% 10% 0.58 0.06 0.64

- Providing heightened fiduciary, safeguards, general project monitoring

0.45% 90% 10% 0.58 0.06 0.64

- Financial Audit Services 0.25% 90% 10% 0.32 0.04 0.36

- Incremental Administration 90% 10% 2.70 0.30 3.00

Sub-Total, Implementation Assistance

10.61 1.17 11.781

E. Contingencies

Physical Contingencies: 7.87

- Civil Works 10%

- Implementation

Assistance 0%

Price Contingencies

- Civil Works 5% 7.87

- Implementation

Assistance 5%

Sub-Total, Contingencies 15.74

Total Project Cost (A+B+C+D+E) 71% 29% 95.48 25.63 121.03



4 BASELINE DATA

4.1 Physical Conditions of Project Area

4.1.1 Climate The Mekong River Delta is dominated by a tropical monsoon climate. There are two distinct seasons in terms of the atmospheric circulation: northeast in winter and southwest in summer. The south western wind appearing in the rainy season often affects the Mekong River Delta from the middle of May to early October and the north eastern wind comes from November to the middle of March of the following year. In the transitional period, the wind changes between the two circulations of the atmosphere. The typical characteristics of temperature, humidity, sunshine and radiation are quite stable during the year and very favourable for agricultural production. The average temperature during the year is over 27oc and total heat volume is from 9,700 to 10,000oC. The sun radiation is about 150kcal/cm2/year, fluctuating less than 2.5% through the months in the year. The highest number of hours with sunshine is 10-12h/day in the peak sunshine month and the average sunshine hours are 5-8h/day. Evaporation measured by Picher is 2-3 mm/day in the rainy season and 3-4 mm/day in the dry season. The average humidity in the Mekong River Delta is 85% in the rainy season and 80% in the dry season. In the Mekong River Delta, storms and hurricanes are rarely seen but when they occur torrential rain is often accompanied. These factors limit the socio-economic development in the Mekong River Delta.

About 90% of the annual rainfall corresponding to 75 - 80% of the river water volume accumulates in the rainy season (see Table 4.1). The rainy season coincides the flooding season and during this time nearly one third of the area of the Mekong River Delta is flooded, thus basically changing the hydrographical regime of rivers and canals.

Table 4.1. Seasonal rainfall compared to annual rainfall in the Mekong River Delta

Rainy season Dry season Rainy season Dry season No. Station

(mm) (%) (mm) (%) No. Station

(mm) (%) (mm) (%)

1 Ca Mau 2152 91 224 9 13 Go Cong 1190 96 52 4

2 Bac Lieu 1599 95 87 5 14 Cai Lay 1169 97 35 3

3 Vinh Long 1328 93 99 7 15 Tra Vinh 1410 96 53 4

4 Can Tho 1588 94 95 6 16 Chau Doc 1164 88 160 12

5 Soc Trang 1714 94 115 6 17 Long Xuyen 1345 91 135 9

6 Cao Lanh 1264 93 92 7 18 Cho Moi 1288 93 103 7

7 Ben Tre 1388 96 60 4 19 Tan Chau 1075 90 113 10

8 Moc Hoa 1453 92 119 8 20 Vi Thanh 1656 94 108 6

9 My Tho 1298 94 84 6 21 Dai Ngai 1775 96 74 4

10 Rach Gia 1878 91 176 9 22 Tan Hiep 1666 94 103 6

11 Tan An 1443 94 93 6 24 Ha Tien 1711 88 235 12

12 Ben Luc 1490 95 82 5 25 HCM City 1807 94 125 6

(Source: Meteorological data, 42A program)



The annual rainfall in the Mekong River Delta is quite diverse and stable. However, there are distinct differences by territorial regions: the difference is between 2000 – 2300mm in the western region (Ca Mau, Rach Gia, Ha Tien, Dai Ngai, Soc Trang), reducing gradually to the central region (about 1200 – 1500mm) and increasing a little bit in the eastern region (about 1600 – 1800mm).

4.1.2 Geology and Topography In general, the Mekong River Delta is rather flat with low altitude, except some places with high mountains such as those in An Giang and Kien Giang. However, in fact, the topography of the Mekong River Delta is divided into complicated topographical positions. Here, there are large depression areas, deeply flooded during the rainy season with difficult water drainage with many aluminous belly-bottoms of the delta. They include the Plain of Reeds, Long Xuyen Quadrangle, and the western part of the Hau River. In these depression areas, there are almost no natural rivers, but the network of canals is expanding widely.

Figure 4.1 Topography of the Mekong delta

4.1.3 Soils Soil types found in the project area include:

(i) Alluvial soils: account for 30% of the area of the Mekong Delta and are formed by sedimentation transport and deposition. Alluvial soils are found near large rivers and watercourses.



(ii) Saline soils: account for 36% of the area of the Mekong Delta and are formed by marine sediment accumulation or the penetration of highly saline groundwater. Saline soils are generally found near the coast.

Figure 4.2: Salinity intrusion map of Mekong delta Source: CSD (2006)



(iii) Actual Acid Sulphate Soils (ASS): account for 41% of the area of the Mekong Delta. ASSs are soils containing a build up of iron sulfides (Pyrite FeS2) in their upper layers. Acid sulphate soils develop by the drainage of coastal marshes and swamps that contain pyrite that is then oxidized to jarosite resulting in the production of sulphuric acid. In addition the acidity dissolves aluminum, which is toxic to plant growth.

The area of aluminous soil is 1,600,263 ha, in which 1,050,000 ha is light and average aluminous soil (in deep aluminous layer), most of them have been used for rice growing and cultivation of other crops such as sugarcanes, cassava, taro etc. 550,263 ha in many areas in the Plain of Reeds, Long Xuyen Quadrangle and Ca Mau Peninsula. Most of the areas have been planted with forest trees and some of them have been used for rice farming and the rest is unused.

The main disadvantage of this soil group is the state of alum and its toxin increases when the pH reduces, but when irrigation is good and with suitable investment of fertilizer, high yield can be recorded. However, the quality of agricultural produce, particularly rice grown on aluminous soil is lower than on other type of soil in the region. Due to a large area of aluminous soil in the Mekong River Delta, the water sources are aluminous: in the early rainy season, the water in many areas is infected with alum with the pH varying between2.5-5. In the early 1980s, the alum infiltration area was more than 1 millions ha, and the duration of alum was 2-5 months depending on the regions. In recent years, thanks to the development of irrigation projects, the area affected by alum has been narrowed and the duration of alum infiltration has reduced. At present in the Mekong River Delta, only the Ha Tien Quadrangle, the northern part of Quan Lo Phung Canal, U Minh, the central part of the Plain of Reeds, and Bac Dong-Bo Bo are affected by alum and salinity.

In the dry season, when the soil cracks, oxygen infiltrates deep into the underground soil layers, thus oxygenating the pyrite layer, forming alum causing factors or through capillarity aluminous water runs from deep layers into the ground surface. In the early rainy season, rainwater hydrolysis washes away aluminous water, together floodwater with a long duration of inundation the soil environment is fastidious and evolutions occur, forming Fe2+, Al3+ ions dissolving in the ground water, thus poisoning plants. Acid liberated through the process of oxygenating aluminous soil increases the transformation of clay minerals, particularly osmotic and stimulates the dissolvent of aluminium in the soil solution. In this process liberated H+ ions attack clay minerals and replace Al3+ ions on the surface of kali minerals, thus increasing the concentration of aluminium in the soil solution.

Flood plays an important role in cleaning alum and improving aluminous soil. The irrigation network with the supply of sufficient fresh water in the dry season also contributes to the improvement of aluminous soil.



Figure 4.3: The highest line of the G/L 4 salinity, 1998 dry season Source: Southern Institute of Water Resources Science

T h e h i g h e st l i n e o f t h e 4 G /L sa l i n i t y i n 1998 d r y

EA ST SEA

W EST SEA

L EGEN D S

C onstant line of 4g/l salin ity in 1998

A verage l ine of sal ini ty Salin ity line in 1993 A reas w i th sal ini ty over 4g/l



Figure 4.4: Constant Aluminous line (pH = 5) in Delta River Area Source: Southern Institute of Water Resources Science

Constant Aluminous line (pH = 5) in Delta River Area

WEST SEA

EAST SEA

LEGEND pH



(iv) Potential ASS (PASS): account for an unknown area of the Mekong Delta. PASSs are

soils that contain alum-producing ore (Pyrite FeS2) that has not been oxidized through contact with oxygen. The pH of PASS is usually near neutral and they are inert unless disturbed. Disturbance of PASS and exposure to oxygen results in oxidation of the pyrite leads to acid generation.

(v) Sandy soils: accounting for 1% of the area of the delta. Sandy soils are mainly found in the sand dunes near estuaries in Tra Vinh and Soc Trang provinces.



Figure 4.5. Major Soil Groups of the Mekong Delta

soil



4.1.4 Surface Water Availability of surface water is generally good and it is used for a range of purposes including domestic, agricultural, irrigation and transportation purposes. Salinity intrusion and acidity in the dry season however affects availability of surface water particularly in coastal provinces. The salinity infiltration in the Sub- project area gradually increases from February to April and the first several days of May and then reduces. March and April witness the highest salinity degree

4.1.5 Groundwater At present in the Mekong River Delta, the underground water mainly serves domestic use of the local people and in some places for watering flowers and fruit trees. The underground water is most valuable during the dry season, from December to May in the following year, particularly in the coastal areas. However, in some areas, the underground water is also used during the rainy season when sunshine lasts long. According to geologists, the underground water in the Mekong River Delta is enough to serve domestic use and watering subsidiary crops. To serve agricultural production and aquaculture, surface water sources are used.

4.1.6. Air

The result of surveys of the quality of air in urban areas in the Mekong River Delta, in the provinces Long An, Dong Thap, An Giang, Tien Giang, Vinh Long, Ben Tre, Can Tho, Tra Vinh, Ca Mau, and Bac Lieu conducted in recent years is shown in the tables of the annexes. In general, the quality of air in the urban areas in the Mekong River Delta is polluted by dust and noise.

The monitoring result of the quality of air in some urban areas shows that in the rush hours, the concentration of dust in the main transport roads reaches 0.55-0.65 mg/m3, two times higher than the allowable limit (in Tan An, Soc Trang…). The cause of dust and noise pollution is due to the quality of poor roads and vehicles. To limit the pollution, many provinces are investing in asphalting and building pavements for main transport roads, building more parks, growing more green trees in the urban areas and investing in sweeping and water spraying vehicles during the dry season. In addition, some urban areas have regulated roads for trucks, conducted periodical safety inspection of vehicles and banned the operation of old means of transports to limit pollution.

4.2 Biological Conditions of Project Area

4.2.1 Aquatic Biodiversity It has been estimated that within the project area there are approximately 260 freshwater species of fish, which represents nearly half of all the recorded fish species in the country, together with numerous species of shellfish, amphibians and other organisms (World Bank, 2003). Common freshwater species include Cyprinida spp, Gobiidae spp, Schilbeidae spp, Ariidae spp and shrimp species such as Macrobrachiam spp. Water-based biodiversity in the sub-project areas has a range of direct use values, such as a source of food and income generation, as well as other indirect values.

Regional flora: 845 plant species have been identified belonging to 512 branches, 139 families in the Mekong River Delta. These plant species belong to 5 high-level plant phyla. They include fern (Polypodiophyta), pine (Pinophyta), cycad (Cycadophyta), gnet (Gnetophyta) and magnolia (Magnoliophyta). The diversity of vegetation here is also shown in the proportion of taxon (family, branch and species) of each phylum.

Table 4.2. Taxon Proportion in High Botanies Having Atery in Mekong Delta River

Botany The number of

families Density

The numberof branches

Density The number of

species Density



Polypodiophyta 9 6,47 16 3,12 22 2,36 Pinophyta 2 1,43 2 0,39 2 0,23 Cycadophyta 1 0,71 1 0,19 3 0,35 Gnetophyta 1 0,71 1 0,19 1 0,11 Magnoliophyta 126 90,68 492 96,11 828 96,95

Total 139 100 512 100 854 100 (Source: Vu Nguyen Tu 1998)

In addition to the nature reserves are planted trees and crops such as fruit trees, shading trees, vegetables, subsidiary crops and rice crops. Natural plant species remaining in the region found along transport roads, canals and vegetation groups accompanying rice are not characterized by biodiversity. The regional fauna are not found in their habitat environment. Rare, precious animal and plant species listed in the Vietnam Red Book are not found in this region.

The situation of vegetation coverage in the project sites can be divided into the following ecological systems:

1. Agricultural ecological system

2. Mangrove forest ecological system

3. Cajuput forest ecological system

4. River estuary ecological system

4.2.2 Terrestrial Biodiversity

The two dominant natural terrestrial ecosystems in the Mekong Delta are coastal mangroves and Melaleuca swamp forests. Damage caused during wars, as well as exploitation of forest products and reclamation of land for agriculture and shrimp farming have led to large-scale destruction of terrestrial ecosystems in the region. It is estimated that the area of coastal mangroves have reduced by 63% since 1976, while Melaleuca forests have been reduced by 72% in the same period (ADB, 2000). There are currently 49,300 ha of natural forest within the project area, outside of protected areas. Table 4.1 summarizes some key characteristics of coastal mangrove and Melaleuca ecosystems in the Mekong Delta.

Table 4.3 Characteristics of Terrestrial Ecosystems in Mekong Delta

ECOSYSTEM TYPE DOMINANT SPECIES COMMENTS ON DISTRIBUTION

Coastal Mangrove

Rhizophora spp Avicenna spp Bruguiera spp Nipa spp Sonneratia spp

Present throughout coastal zone of the Delta. Distribution is sparse in areas with intensive shrimp farming and human settlement or where pollution from upstream activities (such as agrochemical use) is present.

Melaleuca Swamp Forest

Melaleuca spp Present in inland areas in seasonal inundated land comprising ASS.

Apart from scattered areas of generally low value vegetation, terrestrial biodiversity in the Mekong River Delta is now concentrated largely in a number of protected areas. Section 4.3.3 describes the gazetted and proposed protected areas in the Mekong Delta region.



4.2.3 Protected and Sensitive Areas

Table 4.4 Protected Areas in the sub-project areas

PROTECTED AREAS4 PROVINCE AREA (HA)

Mui Ca Mau National Park Ca Mau 41,682

Thanh Phu Nature Reserve Ben Tre 4,510

Dam Doi Nature Reserve Bird Sanctuary Ca Mau 132

Cha La Nature Reserve Bird Sanctuary Ca Mau 14 (Source: Birdlife International, 2004)

Table 4.5. Flooded landscapes in Mekong River Delta

Type Landscape

1. Coastal areas 1.Coastal mudded areas

2. Aquaculture at coastal area

3. Coastal Mangrove Forest

4. Coastal Rice Area

5. Unflooded Grass-plot at coastal area

2. River Estuary 6. Mud area at river estuaries

7. Salt making at river estuaries

8. Aquaculture at river estuaries

9.Manggrove Forest at river estuaries

3. River 10. Rivers and small canals filled with water frequently

11. Flooded grass field

12.Rice area at flooded grass field

13. Other trees at flooded grass field

14. Seasonally flooded Cajuput forest

4. Lake 15. Frequently flooded Cajuput forest

5. Lagoon 16. Seasonally flooded Grass-Plot

17. Seasonally flooded Cajuput forest

18. Seasonally flooded rice field

(Source: Nguyen Van Nhan 1997)

4 In order of protected area size



Figure 4.6: Protected areas in Mekong delta Source: the CSD (2006)

4.2.4 Rare or Endangered Species

Rare or endangered species in the project area are found predominantly in protected areas. The main categories of rare or endangered species include a small number of mammals, water birds and some aquatic species.

Regional fauna:



Throughout years of exploitation, the Mekong River Delta has gradually loses its biodiversity. Many species no longer exist.

Mammals:

Le Dien Duc (1989) has listed 23 mamal species in the Mekong River Delta, including long-tail monkey (Macaca fascicularis), smooth feather otter (Lutragale perspicillata), fish cat (Prionailurus), and other species such as pangolin (Manis javanica), squirrel (Tamiops rodolphii), spotted civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus), civet (Herpestes javanicus), wild cat (Prionailurus benganensis), deer (Cervus unicolor), otter (Lutra sumatrana), and small claw otter (Aonyx cinerea). These mammal species are facing the danger of extinction to different extent and are found in the wetland of U Minh.

Amphibian reptiles:

According to incomplete survey results, the regional amphibian reptiles in the Mekong River Delta include crocodile (Crocodylus porosus), batagur tortoise (Batagur baska), colour varan (Varanus salvator), many-coloured boa (Python reticulatus), (Le Dien Duc 1989). These species are found in Upper U Minh.

Birds:

The number of bird species in the Mekong River Delta is large, distributing in different ecological systems in the inland wetland and coastal river estuaries. These species belong to four habitats: Cajuput forests: 97 species, 4 species of which are being endangered at the global level; mangrove forest and peat marshland: 92 species, 7 species of which are being engendered at the global level; wet grass land and marshland: 100 species, 9 species of which are being endangered at the global level; farmland and populated areas: 83 species, 3 species of which are being endangered at the global level.

Le Dien Duc (1989) has listed 92 water bird species in the Mekong River Delta. The Vietnam Red Book (1992,2000), IUCN Red Book (1996), BirdLife International (2000) have listed engendered animal and plant species in the Mekong River Delta.

4.2.5 Forestry Activities In terms of forestry activities, the area of plantation forest in the area is very low. Plantation forest is concentrated mostly in Ca Mau, accounting for 97,200 ha.

Table 4.6. Forest area in 2003 in the Mekong River Delta

Unit: 1.000 ha

No. Location Total area Natural forest Planted forest

01 Long An 64,9 0,8 64,1

02 Dong Thap 10,7 10,7

03 An Giang 12,5 0,6 11,9

04 Tien Giang 10,8 0,3 10,5

05 Ben Tre 5,3 1,0 4,3

06 Kien Giang 110,9 49,9 61,0

07 Can Tho – Hau Giang 2,1 2,1

08 Tra Vinh 8,2 0,9 7,3

09 Soc Trang 14,3 14,3



10 Bac Lieu 6,1 6,1

11 Ca Mau 101,7 101,7

Total 347,5 53,5 294,0

(Source: Year Statistics - Statistic Department 2)

4.3 Socio-Economic Conditions of Project Area5

With a population of 17 million, the Mekong Delta constitutes over one-fifth of the country’s total population of 82 million. As its land area makes up about 12% of the country’s territory, the region’s average density of 430 persons per square kilometre is almost double of the national average. The vast majority of this population lives in rural areas. The Kinh (Viet), which comprises approximately 85% of the national population, makes up over 90% of the Mekong Delta’s population. The minority groups include Khmer (6%), Chinese (or Hoa, 1%), and very small numbers of other minority groups such as Cham, Tay, Ngai, and Gia Rai. In Kien Giang, Soc Trang, and Tra Vinh Provinces, the Khmer minority population comprises as much as 10 to 30% of the provincial population, but most of it resides in remote districts, communes, and villages. The latest data on poverty published by the General Statistics Office (GSO) (preliminary results of the 2004 Vietnam Living Standard Survey (VLSS)) show an estimated general poverty rate of 15.3% for the Mekong Delta (as of 2004) as compared to 18.1% for the entire country.6 Of the eight regions of Vietnam, this rate is the third lowest. Nevertheless, measured by the absolute number of those who are classified as “poor” and because of its high population, the Mekong Delta is one of the regions with the highest concentration of the poor in the country with approximately 2.6 million poor people, or 18% of Vietnam’s poor, making the region the second only to the North Central region. Furthermore, it is estimated that the Mekong Delta has the highest percentage of the population who “would be unable to sustain a serious adverse shock”7. This group of population does fall under the poverty line, but would fall (back) into poverty when adverse economic shocks hit because they have little asset to use as cushion. In general, the characteristics of the poor in the Mekong Delta can be summarized as: landless; ethnic minorities; those who rely upon “working-for-hire” employment opportunities in the agricultural sector; and women.8 Within the Mekong Delta, poverty incidence is generally higher in Bac Lieu, Soc Trang, Kien Giang, and Tra Vinh Provinces, approximately corresponding to those that have higher concentration of the Khmer minority population in the Mekong Delta. In a region where people heavily rely on agricultural activities, land is an invaluable asset. In the Mekong Delta, landlessness is highly associated with poverty, and it is on an increasing trend. The proportion of landlessness among the poor, at 39%, is significantly higher than the average of the Mekong Delta9. There is a vicious cycle of crisis, sales of land, and indebtedness, or what one may call a “poverty trap”. The low education attainment, and accordingly low literacy rate, of the Mekong Delta’s population does not help the situation. Of the people aged 15 and above, over 45% never completed primary education, and this rate is significantly higher than the national average of 27%. Among the poor, only 5% have an education attainment above primary school10. 5 The section is extracted from the Main Report of the FS Study. See Volume IV of FS study for more detailed information. 6 “2002 and 2004 Poor Household Rates by Poverty Line Standard Applied for Period 2006-2010”, Press Release, August 9, 2005, General Statistics Office (GSO), Socialist Republic of Vietnam. 7 Vietnam Development Report 2004, Joint Donor Report to the Vietnam Consultative Group Meeting, Hanoi, December 2-3, 2003. p. 35. 8 “Mekong Delta Poverty Analysis”, Final Report, October 2004, Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID). P. 10. 9 Vietnam Development Report 2004, Joint Donor Report to the Vietnam Consultative Group Meeting, Hanoi, December 2-3, 2003. p. 39 & p.

109. 10 Ibid.



People in the Mekong Delta suffer severe limitation of access to social infrastructures in general. The health sector in the Mekong Delta faces severe resource constraints although the higher incidence of health problems as compared to the other regions of Vietnam. Supply of clean water is still a concern to many. Education is available, but cost of attending schools makes it difficult for poor children to receive education. It is indicated that physical access to schools can also be difficult by secondary sources. In fact, many hamlets in the Mekong Delta still lack access to all-weather roads today. Measured by the proportion of hamlets that have all-weather roads within two kilometres, the residents in Ca Mau Province face the most severe limitation, with only 28% of the hamlets having reasonable access to all-weather roads.11 This is followed by Bac Lieu, Hau Giang, and Soc Trang Provinces. A strong association between rural poverty and market access has been found by a study conducted on poverty in Vietnam.12

4.4 Ethnic Minorities13

The main ethnic groups in the Project areas are Khmer, Hoa and Cham. There are also a few of Tay, Ngai and some other ethnic groups living in the 13 Project provinces in Mekong River Delta Region. Although ethnic minorities in the project provinces may reside intersected or mixed with each other and with the Kinh majority, in one area may present people of different ethnic groups, but general geographical trends in distribution of different ethnic minorities are remarkable. Ethnic groups with highest population in 13 provinces in Mekong River Delta Region are Khmer (1,025,861 people, making up 6.36% of the total regional population), Hoa (199,778 people, making up 1.24%), Cham (13,766 people, making up 0.09%). Following are Tay (1,369 people, making up 0.01%), Ngai (1,170 people, making up 0.01%) and other ethnic groups (Thai, Muong, Nung, Gia Rai and others, including foreigners and unidentified ethnic people altogether are of 4,216 people, making up 0.03%). Kinh majority is of 14,884,515 people, making up 92.97% of the total regional population. Khmer ethnic people (the same ethnicity with their originals in Cambodia) mostly distribute in Tra Vinh (accounted for 30.09% of the province population), Soc Trang (28.85%), Kien Giang (12.16%), Bac Lieu (7.91%), An Giang (3.85%), Can Tho (2.42%), Vinh Long (2.02%), Ca Mau (1.86%), Hau Giang (1.70%). In provinces Long An, Dong Thap, Ben Tre, and Tien Giang, Khmer people just make an insignificant percentages (0.02% to 0.03%). Khmer people usually are poor farmers and fishers. They normally do not have business ability as Kinh and Hoa people do. Therefore, they usually trade in their road-faced land and business convenient land for much larger agricultural area inside to live on agriculture. Hoa is the ethnic minority of the second highest population after Khmer people in Mekong River Delta Region. They mostly distribute in Soc Trang province (accounted for 5.83% of the total province population), Bac Lieu (3.08%), Kien Giang (2.18%), Can Tho (1.79%), Tra Vinh (1.02%), Hau Giang (0.98%), Ca Mau (0.95%), Vinh Long (0.06%), An Giang (0.55%). In provinces Long An, Dong Thap, Tien Giang and Ben Tre, Hoa people are just of 0.21 to 0.40%. They mainly live on business in towns, commune centers, along roads and intersection of roads and waterways. They live mixed with Kinh people and other ethnic minorities. Hoa people usually have a better living standard than those of other ethnic minorities. Cham people are of much lower percentage to provincial population in comparison to Khmer and Hoa people (0.01% to 0.61%). They mainly distribute in An Giang province (12,435 people, making up

11 The preliminary results of the 2004 Vietnam Living Standard Survey (2004 VLSS) were directly provided by the World Bank Hanoi. 12 Minot, Nicholas, Bob Baulch, and Michael Epprecht, in collaboration with the Inter-Ministerial Poverty Mapping Task Force,

2003. “Poverty and Inequality in Vietnam: Spatial Patterns and Geographic Determinants”, Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and Brighton, UK: Institute of Development Studies. P. 70.

13 This section is drawn from the FS report. There is no site-specific ethnic information presented in this EIA report.



0.61% of the provincial population), then Kien Giang province (362 people - 0.02%), Tra Vinh (163 people - 0.02%). Can Tho City (126 people, 0.02%), Dong Thap (122 people, 0.01%). The other provinces: Tien Giang, Vinh Long, Ben Tre, Hau Giang, Soc Trang, Bac Lieu and Ca Mau, each has about 35 to 99 Cham people, making up 0.01% of the population of each province. The Cham is the most populous ethnic minority group in the Southern Coast of Vietnam. Out of Cham’s total population of about 90,000 people throughout Vietnam, two third of them are concentrated in Southern Coastal provinces, such as Binh Dinh (about 3,000 people), Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan (57,000 people). The rest 30,000 of Cham live in the Mekong Delta, concentrating in An Giang and Kien Giang provinces, and some in the Eastern South. While the Cham in plains of the Southern Central Coastal provinces mainly engage in agriculture, mostly based on cultivation of crops and, in much lesser extend, animal husbandry, the Cham in An Giang, in contrast, mostly engage in commercial activities, particularly of traditional medicine and cloth, or are being fishmen of the Mekong river downstream water. Usually, the Cham form separate, pure ethnic villages in a pure or in a ethnic-mixed communes. Most the Cham of Southern Central Coastal provinces practice Hinduism and are matrilineal. Traditional Hinduism Cham families are extended, including many generations. Land and properties used to be common assets of all members of extensive family. The oldest women are heads in Hinduism Cham families and are household’s decision-makers. The small part of Central Coastal Cham believes to Muslim. The latter is religion for the most of Cham of the Mekong River Delta. Rank the fourth position in regard to population in Mekong River Delta Region, following Khmer, Hoa and Cham people, is Tay people.Tay people mostly concentrate in Long An province (220 people, making up 0.02% of the total province population), then in Kien Giang (204 people, 0.01%), Tra Vinh (175 people, 0.02%), Dong Thap (136 people, 0.01%), An Giang (104 people, 0.01%), Tien Giang (100 people, 0.01%). The other provinces Soc Trang, Bac Lieu, Can Tho City, Hau Giang, Ca Mau, Vinh Long, and Ben Tre, each has 30 - 90 Tay people, making up from 0.001% to 0.01% of the province population. Next are Ngai people. They distribute mostly in An Giang province (435 people, accounted for 0.02% of the province population), then in Tra Vinh (160 people, 0.02%), Dong Thap (145 people, 0.01%). The other provinces Hau Giang, Ca Mau, Bac Lieu, Ben Tre, Soc Trang, Vinh Long, Tien Giang, Can Tho City, Long An, and Kien Giang, each has 5 - 88 Ngai people, accounted for 0.001% to 0.01% of the province population. The most of ethnic minorities living in upland, mountainous parts have houses built on stilts. While the plain-habituating ethnic minorities, including Cham and Khmers live in onground houses. The role of elders, chief of villages and heads of kinships still play important role in social relations within the ethnic minority communities.

5 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS AND MITIGATION MEASURES

5.1 Environmental Assessment Methods and Scope

5.1.1 Impact Assessment Categories

The following impact categories were employed for sub-project, regional, and cumulative assessment:

No Impact. An impact is assessed as “no impact” if it is physically removed in space or time from the environmental component, or if the impact is so small as to be un-measurable. Major Impact. An impact is assessed as “major” if it has the potential to significantly affect an environmental component. A major impact can be positive or negative. The following criteria were used to determine whether a given impact is “major”:

- Spatial scale of the impact (site, local, regional, or national/international);



- Time horizon of the impact (short, medium, or long term); - Magnitude of the change in the environmental component brought about by the

activities (small, moderate, large); - Importance to local human populations; - Compliance with international, national, provincial, or district environmental

protection laws, standards, and regulations; and - Compliance with WB guidelines, policies, and regulations.

Minor Impact. An impact is assessed as “minor” if it occurs but does not meet the criteria for a major impact as described above. A minor impact can be positive or negative. Unknown Impact. An impact is assessed as “unknown” if the significance of the effect cannot be predicted for any of the following reasons:

- the nature and location of the activity is uncertain; - the occurrence of the environmental component within the impact area is uncertain; - the time scale of the effect is unknown; or - the spatial scale over which the effect may occur is unknown.

5.1.2 Mitigation Hierarchy There are several strategies to mitigating a major negative impact. The following strategies were employed for this report (in order of priority):

(a) Avoid the impact. To “avoid” means to be able to change some aspect of the project design, construction, or operation such that the impact no longer occurs (e.g., changing the alignment of a road so it avoids a national park).

(b) Minimize the impact. To “minimize” means to implement measures that will reduce impacts to acceptable levels (e.g., ensuring that construction equipment meets TCVN industrial emission standards).

(c) Rectify the impact. To “rectify” means to allow an impact to occur, and then afterwards take measures to rehabilitate the environment to a level whereby the impact is within acceptable limits (e.g., filling in used limed pits as part of construction clean-up).

(d) Compensate for the impact. To “compensate” means to allow the impact to occur, then afterwards provide non-monetary compensation (first priority) or monetary compensation (second priority) for losses created by the impact (e.g., if a farmer must be resettled, the first compensation priority is to provide replacement land and housing. If replacement land and housing cannot be provided, the replacement value of losses should be calculated and provided to the farmer.).

5.1.3 Temporal, Geographic, and Technical Scope of Assessment The scope of the assessment of Phase I was bound by the following:

• Temporal Scope: The assessment considers pre-construction, construction and operation phases for Phase I investments (National Highways: NH 53, NH 54, and provincial Roads: PR 884, PR 04, CN-CDV).14

• Technical Scope: The assessment considers impacts that may occur to the following:

o Physical environment (air, water, soil),

14 For ease of reading Pre-Construction phases are merged into “Construction” in this report the only substantial “pre-construction” impacts and

mitigations are those relating to resettlement and ethnic minority development planning.



o Biological environment (terrestrial ecosystems, aquatic ecosystems, protected areas, sensitive areas), and

o Social (resettlement, ethnic minorities, health and welfare

• Physical Scope: the impact area of the Project physically bound the assessment. The impact area of the project is bound any impacts that occur within the technical scope during the assessment’s temporal scope (see above)

The key information sources for the assessment were the 2,300-page FS report and 100-page Project Implementation Plan. When appropriate, reference is made to the FS or implementation plan for more details on those impacts/mitigations. The assessment also conducted pollution prediction modelling for air quality and noise, and whenever possible, drew upon secondary data from available sources.

5.2 Phase I sub-projects

Phase I sub-projects, the summeries the results of the environmental impacts were assessed as follows:

Table 5.1 Summary of Environmental Impacts for Phase I National Highway and Provincial Road

Construction Operation

Project Impacts Salinity Intrusion No Impact No Impact Surface Water Quality Minor Negative Impact Minor Negative Impact Hydrology and Flooding No Impact Major Positive Impact Erosion and Sedimentation Minor Negative Impact Major Positive Impact Air Quality Minor Negative Impact Major Negative Impact Noise Minor Negative Impact Major Negative Impact Earthworks (incl. spoil disposal and acid sulphate soils) Minor Negative Impact No Impact Resettlement Minor Negative Impact No Impact Ethnic Minorities Minor Negative Impact Minor Negative Impact Cultural Heritage Minor Negative Impact No Impact Accidents, Worker and Public Safety Minor Negative Impact Minor Negative Impact Regional/Cumulative Impacts Economic Development Minor Positive Impact Major Positive Impact Traffic Safety, Flow, and Vehicle Maintenance Costs No Impact Minor Positive Impact Social Evils, Rural Landscape, and Livelihood Unknown Unknown Ecotourism Unknown Unknown

5.2.1 Impacts on Physical Conditions and Proposed Mitigation Measures Salinity Intrusion – No Impact (Construction); No Impact (Operation);

Some roads are located in salinity intrusion areas (No4-ST, No. 2-BL, 4-KG, 2-CM), and several roads are near salinity intrusion areas. However, it is not expected that any project roads will exacerbate salinity intrusion because Phase I activities focus on upgrading roads from their former beds, thus minimising hydrological changes that could affect salinity intrusion.



Surface Water – Minor Negative Impact (Construction); Minor Negative Impact (Operation)

There are no specific locations where Phase I highways or roads are expected to create significant negative impacts on sensitive surface water bodies. However, Phase I activities include the construction and operation of 28 bridges – all of which are water crossings – and some road alignments will run quite close to river stretches (e.g. PR 884 will be quite close to water sections of the Song Ham Long tributary, and D04 will be parallel to the Nu Gia river for over one kilometre), and therefore, minor negative impacts are inevitable during both construction and operation. Construction A number of construction activities may impact water quality: cement batching, road cuts/fills, excavations, leaching from waste dumps, equipment yards, and asphalt plants, construction of bridges, human wastes from construction camps and worker areas. The impacts of these activities are presented in the below impact hypothesis diagram.

Figure 5.1: The impact of construction activities on water quality. The most prudent approach to responsible environmental management then is to work towards meeting the standards set forth by TCVN. The impacts of construction activities on water quality are presented below:

• Road Cuts and Fills: Road cuts and fills along the Project are frequently used for road widening and new alignments. If these activities occur in or near a water body, they will increase the total suspended solids in the water column. Most cuts and fills will occur away from sensitive ecological habitat (fisheries, mangroves), will be small in magnitude, and will occur for a short period of time.

• Waste Dumps: Waste dumps for solid waste, oil products, hazardous material; lime, etc are common and necessary to construct roads and bridges. Waste from these dumps can enter water

bridges

Impacts

Excav-ations



bodies via two paths. The first path is through direct dumping of solid wastes into water bodies. The second is from leaching of waste materials from nearby waste dumps into water bodies.

• Equipment Yards: Equipment yards house hazardous materials and petroleum products, either in storage tanks or in machinery. Spills and leaks from these fall onto the ground and leach into nearby water bodies.

• Asphalt Plants: Asphalt plants leach oil products to nearby water bodies. These oil products will have a significant effect if the water bodies house mangrove ecosystems, important fisheries, or are used for domestic consumption.

• Bridges and other construction works near water: The Project will construct 28 bridges, some of which may require work in and around water. This will have several potential impacts, including:

o Sediment Resuspension: Most cases of sediment resuspension will be short term, small scale, and self-mitigating. Therefore, is not necessary to mitigate the impacts of sediment resuspension for most pier, pile, and cofferdam construction activities.

o Benthic impacts: Excavation of the soft bottom can remove important bottom-living

aquatic life (benthos). However, with the exception of the small area directly underneath bridge foundations, the bottom will readily be re-colonised by replacement benthic organisms within a few seasons. As the original habitat will probably have changed due to the piling (water depth, current pattern etc) the new population may differ from the original one.

o Fisheries impacts: The disturbance caused by bridge construction may temporarily

cause displacement of fisheries and other mobile marine animals. All other things being equal, these animals will usually return to the area once the disturbance ceases.

o Construction Sites: Construction sites near water bodies are common for bridge

building. It is common for these sites to be cleared, to house equipment, and for work to be undertaken from this site. Because of their proximity to water bodies, construction sites for bridge building have the potential to be a source of pollution for water bodies. In particular, cement making, oil leakages, and the spillage of hazardous materials can be significant environmental problems.

• Construction Camps: The main water quality issue with construction camps is sanitation.

These camps typically have poor sanitary conditions, and human wastes are directly deposited into water bodies, as latrines or septic systems are not available. For this reason, construction camps can significantly increase the concentration of pathogenic disease vectors – particularly if the same water bodies are being used downstream for agricultural or human consumption.

Operation It is likely that the Project will have a number of operation phase impacts on water quality. As opposed to construction impacts, operational impacts are long term, and some impacts have the potential to accumulate, thereby increasing in severity with every passing year. For example:

• Aquatic Impacts: heavy metals that drain from the road will leach into the water, be absorbed by phytoplankton and zooplankton, and eventually, bioaccumulation in fishes. If eating the fishes (especially the same humans over a long period of time), the human will accumulate large



concentrations of metals in their bodies. Over several years, this will create a human health problem for those people that eat contaminated fishes.

• Agriculture Impacts: Heavy metals and toxins that drain from the road to agricultural areas or irrigation canals have the potential to contaminate and/or reduce in agricultural crop production near the Project area. The main agricultural crop in the study area is rice. Although there is virtually no data in Vietnam on rice contamination from road run-off, researchers from the International Rice Research Institute in Manila have identified heavy metals such as zinc and copper – common metals that are emitted or leaked from motorised vehicles – as useful micronutrients that are needed by rice plants in small amounts. Other metals such as cadmium and lead are problems for rice and reduce productivity. Fortunately, rice plants, even if they absorb these metals, do not translocation them to grains. Thus, rice grain is least likely to be contaminated by such heavy metals.15

• Sediment Impacts: The long-term impact of sediment contamination by surface water run-off should be recognised. Studies in North America16 showed that metals, especially lead, which has a low solubility, generally exceed background levels in sediments and aquatic plants near the source of highway run-off. However, long-term or short-term impacts of metals to aquatic macrophysics were not demonstrated in these case studies. One study showed that sediment loads of lead, nickel and zinc were highly correlated to traffic volumes. Lead and zinc concentrations in sediments were highest in the spring, gradually decreasing over the remainder of the year. It is expected that a similar cycle would exist in the Project area, with the beginning of the rainy season being the equivalent of snowmelt in spring.

Example operation-phase activities that may impact water quality are presented below:

• Asphalt Deterioration: Asphalt leaches petroleum and heavy metals such as nickel. Leaching is most significant just after construction and just after rainy periods.

• Soil Erosion: Analysis: Soil erosion from road embankments will increase total suspended solids in the receiving waters. This is particularly important if the embankment is adjacent to a sensitive water body, such as a mangrove forest or aquaculture area.

• Tire Wear, Gasoline Emissions, Vehicle Spills/Leaks, and Vehicle Deterioration: These activities can release a broad range of contaminants into receiving waters, particularly: asbestos, nickel, manganese, petroleum, lead, cadmium, PCBs, rubber, and copper.

• Animal Wastes: There are two main kinds of animal wastes: faeces and road-kills. Animal faeces (usually human and livestock) will be deposited either on the road or on the embankment, and road -kills is generally left along the side of the road to decompose. Both kinds of animal wastes can leach directly into receiving waters (lake, river etc) and, if human used these waters for consumption or aquaculture may create a human health risk.

15 The heavy metals remain in straw – if this is used as animal fodder or as a substratum for growing mushroom, the metals can re-enter the

food chain and cause significant human health impacts. 16 Transportation Research Board,, 1983. National Cooperative Highway Research Program Report Number 264.



Figure 5.2: The impact of operation activities on water quality.

Construction: Through good design and adherence to good construction practices, disturbances during construction can be minimised, and the site can be stabilised to prevent long-term water quality changes. The Project should promote the following good practices for water crossing construction. These practices will help maintain ambient water quality (see text box).

Best Practices – General Working In and Around Water

• Restrict clearing width, and do not grub the right of way between the road and vegetation line within 100 meters of the waterway. Preserve vegetative cover as long as possible.

• Waste debris from grubbing should be hauled back and disposed of more than 100 meters from the waterway.

• Every effort should be made to complete the water crossing as quickly as possible once the work begins. Limit the duration to minimize environmental impacts.

• Work should be undertaken during the dry season and completed before the first rainy season. • Construction of water crossings through mangrove areas should not take place during fish

breeding/migration periods. • Borrow material should not be excavated from the watercourse, except as part of a designed

channel improvement. • Equipment and materials should be stored at least 100 meters from the water’s edge. • Culverts should be installed so that the pipe has at least ten percent of its diameter below the

streambed. This will encourage formation of a shallow sediment layer in the pipe, and should ensure enough flow depth for fish movement. This is particularly important in brackish and marine waters.

• Control materials on the job so that loose boards, nails, and other debris will not enter the waterway and flow downstream.

• Do not clean concrete buckets, wheelbarrows, or shovels in water bodies. Instead, wash them with hoses at least 50 meters from the water bodies so that run-off is filtered through vegetation.

Mitigations



Waste dumps; equipment yards, asphalt plants, and cement batching plants all produce deleterious substances that could contaminate water bodies.17 Common deleterious substances include sediments, raw and uncured concrete, mortar, glues, paints, lubricants, organic and inorganic contaminants, fuels and oils. These types of pollution are “non-point”, meaning they do not come from a specific location into the receiving waters (point-source pollution usually comes through a industrial or domestic discharge pipe). Non-point pollution is a serious issue in highway construction and operation. Most forms of non-point pollution can be minimised by following best management practices for controlling pollution near water bodies. Specifically, the Contractor should adhere to: 1) TCVN 5524 (1995): General Requirements for Protecting Surface Water Against Pollution; and 2) TCVN 5295 (1995): General Requirements for Protection of Surface and Underground Water Caused by Oil and Oil Products. There are a number of specific Project practices that should be adopted in order to meet TCVN 5524 and TCVN 5295. These are summarised in the following box.

Operation: Operation phase mitigations include:

• Ensure road drainage systems are well maintained and free of blockages; • Ensure materials used in road improvements works do not contain potential toxic lactates; • Ensure resettlement sites have adequately maintained solid/liquid waste management systems

All of these operation mitigations can be achieved by implementing thorough and routine roads maintenance program. 17 A deleterious substance is any substance that, if added to a water body, would degrade water quality to a point that exceeds TCVN standards

for that water body.

Best Practices – Management of Petroleum and Hazardous Products

• Prevent the entry of lime, cement, or fresh concrete into waterways. Raw or uncured waste concrete and grouts should be disposed of by removal from the development site or by burial on the site in a location and in a manner that will not impact on a watercourse, Carbon dioxide gas and diffusers should be on site at every water crossing. If uncured concrete spills into the water body, CO2 gas and diffusers can be used to neutralize the lime.

• Wash-down waters from exposed aggregate surfaces, cast-in-place concrete and from concrete trucks should be trapped onsite to allow sediment to settle out and reach neutral pH before the clarified water is released to the storm drain system or allowed to percolate into the ground (approximately 48 hours).

• Clean and dirty runoff should be kept separate. The dirty runoff (from truck washing, batching area, materials unloading area) should be isolated and channeled to a settling pit. Pumping it back to the washing areas can recycle supernatant from the settling pit. Sediment can be removed and placed in a location approved by the Engineer.

• Fuels, lubricants, and hydraulic fluids for equipment used on the development site should be carefully handled to avoid spillage, properly secured against unauthorized access or vandalism and provided with spill contaminant according to codes of practice.

• Fuelling and lubricating of equipment onsite should only be done after the equipment to be serviced is moved to a constructed service pad with a separate drainage collection system, as far as possible from detention or sedimentation facilities and leave strips.

• Any spillage of fuels, lubricants, or hydraulic oils should be immediately contained and the contaminated soil removed from the site and properly disposed of in a location approved by the Engineer.

• Hydraulic fluids for machinery used for instream work should be biodegradable in case of accidental loss of fluid.

• Waste oils and hydraulic fluids should be collected in leak-proof containers and removed from the site for disposal in a location approved by the Engineer.

• The rinsing and cleaning water or solvents for glues, paints, wood preservatives, and other potentially harmful or toxic substances on the development site should be controlled so as to prevent leakage, loss or discharge into the storm drain system.

• Wood wastes, such as hog fuel, sawdust and wood chips, are not acceptable for fill material. Wood wastes have the potential to release toxic lactates into the aquatic environment.

• Where land is being re-developed, and there is contamination on site, those contaminants must be removed, disposed of, or otherwise neutralized, as prescribed by the Engineer.



Hydrology and Flooding – No Impact (Construction); Major Positive Impact (Operation)

The current hydrology of the project area is one that lends itself to substantial and regular flooding. The reasons for the flooding are complex, though key relevant parts of the reasons are presented in the following scenario:

In general, on-land transportation and canal banks systems divide Mekong River Delta into small cells. Flood from the borders of cells cannot overflow freely as before. Water fills cell-by -cells from upper areas to downstream areas. Therefore, flood regime in fields and on river is changing day by day. With these cells in place, the flood transmission time in fields is slower, inundation duration is longer due to flood drainage condition is more difficult. Larger and larger areas are inundated due to the embankment of enclosing dykes.

This scenario results in increasing reliance on road drainage and canals to regulate water flow when natural drainage by land is no longer possible. Not all of these transport routes can accept the volumes and flow rates – and the result is that roads and/or canal banks collapse during flood periods.

Phase I highways that are subject to the above scenario include NH 53-3, NH 53-10, and NH 54-5, 6, 7, 8 because they are in areas of high flooding risk due to low road beds and heavy rains. The road upgrades proposed for these sections (improving road bed, and drainage) will actually reduce flooding risks, thereby providing significant positive benefit by reducing flood areas and reducing road maintenance costs and improving transport efficiency during rainy season.

Erosion and Sedimentation– Minor Negative Impact (Construction); Major Positive Impact (Operation)

During construction it is likely that exposed soils will be subject to erosion. However, these impacts are temporary and localized. During operation, the chances of erosion occurring will actually be reduced because the roadbeds and drainage will be improved from their original conditions. Thus, it is expected that highways/roads subject to the greatest flood improvements (see above) will also exhibit the greatest reductions in erosion and sedimentation.

Measures to minimize erosion during construction include:

• Water exposed areas during windy conditions • Minimize of size and duration of exposed areas • Implement diversion structures, such as drains or fences, to divert clean runoff away from

exposed areas; and

• Implement sediment capture devices, such as traps or basins, to avoid sediment laden runoff entering watercourses

See text box above for “working in and around water” for additional information.

Air Quality – Minor Impact (Construction); Major Impact (Operation)

Construction: During construction of highways there are a number of potential air quality and noise impacts:

• Site preparation impacts. The process of freeing and levelling space and bridge construction along routes will affect on air quality:

o Dust generated from transportation and loading construction materials (rock, sand, cement, concrete, etc.) affects on air quality.

o The area of green trees cleared will contribute to the change of microclimate of the area. However, the bulldozed area is not large so the impact rate is not significant.

o Coal dust and toxic gases such as SO2, NO2, CO, THC emitted by transportation vehicles pollutes surrounding air environment and affects on the living of the local people and workers.

Impacts

Impacts

Impacts

Mitigations



o Noise, shake made by transportation vehicles and construction facilities strongly affects on the surrounding areas.

• Material transport impacts. Material transportation leads to the following impacts on air quality: o Vehicle noise negatively impacts the livelihood of the people living along roads. The

allowed noise standard in the living quarters is 60 dBA in daytime and 45 - 55 dBA in nighttime. For production areas in intermix with living quarters the values are 75 dBA in daytime and 50 -70 dBA in nighttime. Various vehicles will generate different noise intensity. For example lorries and buses: 84 - 95dB, 4-stroke car: 94 dB, and 2 stroke car 80-100 dB.

o Construction vehicles create a number of pollution emissions. According to WHO, pollution emissions from construction vehicles include dust (0.9 together with such toxic gases as NOx, SO2, CO and THC emitted from fuel burning reduces ambient air quality.

• Worker impacts. Daily activities of workers in constructions will negatively impact on air quality. The following reasons could be considered:

o Smell from domestic solid waste and wastewater.

o Pollution gases such as dust, SOx, NOx, CO, THC resulting from cooking.

Most of these impacts are temporary and localised. Figure 5.3 demonstrates the process by which construction activities decrease air quality, and inter alia, affect human health and economic development in the Project Area. Unfortunately, there has not been enough research in Viet Nam (or elsewhere) to understand the air quality impacts of construction activities to make quantitative predictions for this Project. In the absence of quantitative data, impact evaluation was based on professional experience and available information on construction activities.

Figure 5.3 Construction impacts on air quality

Operation:

There are two main activities that will affect air quality during operations: vehicle movement and vehicle exhaust. The process by which they will affect air quality is described in Figure 5.4.



Figure 5.4: The impact of operation activities on air quality

Based on the pollution index of World Health Organization (WHO), vehicle flow and the length of road, we can measure average tonnage of pollution substances dispersing from roads in the long list (See table 3.9).

Table 5.2: Estimated result of polluted substances' tonnage dispersing from NH and PR

Pollution tonnage (kg/h) No. Road Horizontal

(km) Dust SO2 NOx CO THC NH

2

Road 53: Km56 – Km60 and Km130.440 – Km139.350 (Tra Vinh)

42 3,10 7,15 49,59 9,99 2,76

3 Road 54: Tra Met – Tap Son (Km85 – Km125+854)

40 3,35 7,72 53,57 10,79 2,98

PR 1 PR 884 - BT 14 0,91 2,11 20,78 4,18 0,81 2 PR 04 - ST 15 1,18 2,73 23,20 4,67 1,05

Source: Center for Assisting Community Sustainable Development, 2005

In this report, Gauss and Berlyand models are used for calculation dispersion of pollutants emitted from transportation. In these calculations, it is assumed that emission source is continuous and unlimited, wind direction is perpendicular to road surface, and in this case, root of mean air pollutant density created by the road has the following form:

C (x,z, h) = ⎥⎥

⎦

⎤

⎢⎢

⎣

⎡

⎟⎟⎠

⎞⎜⎜⎝

⎛⎟⎟⎠

⎞⎜⎜⎝

⎛ −−+⎟

⎟

⎠

⎞

⎜⎜

⎝

⎛

⎟⎟⎠

⎞⎜⎜⎝

⎛ +− 2

2

2

2

2)(

21exp

2)(

21exp

22

zy

hzhzMσσπ

Where: M = pollutant emission capacity of the road (g/m/s) u = average wind speed (m/s) at 2m h = Height of road surface in comparison to surrounding area



z = Height of the point where pollutant density to be estimated (m) σz = Dispersion coefficient at direction z σy = Dispersion coefficient at direction y

In Mekong River Delta there are 2 dominating wind directions: northeast (from May to October) and southwest (from September to April next year). Density of pollutants will be predicted in both seasons for a certain distance x (taken from the middle of the road). Coefficients σz, σy and other parameters are determined in tables 5.2 and 5.3.

Table 5.3. Pollution dispersion coefficients in directions Z and Y (σz and σy)

North – East wind, Atmosphere durability A, B

Distance from middle of the road 10m 20m 30m 40m

σz 2.26215 3.48160 4.81906 6.25642

σy 1.03978 1.94434 2.80403 3.63582

South – west wind , Atmosphere durability A, B

Distance from middle of the road 10m 20m 30m 40m

σz 1.62928 2.11832 2.60334 3.08517

σy 1.03978 1.94434 2.80403 3.63582

Source: the CSD, 2005

Table 5.4 Prediction inputs

M (mg/m/s) The pollution substance emission capacity of road (g/m/s) Calculation in table 5.7

U (m/s) Wind speed at 2m high 0.5-2.0 m/s

H(m) Road surface height compared with ground 0.5 m

Z(m) the height need to calculate 0.35 m


Prediction results of pollutant density for CO, NOx, and VOC in horizontal direction are described below.

Table 5.5. Prediction results of pollutants density in horizontal direction

WiPRh (m) 10 20 30 40 TCVN 5937 (1 h average)

Highway 53: Km56 – Km60 and Km130 – Km139 (Tra Vinh) CO (mg/m3) 0.0225 0.0237 0.0239 0.0240 40

NOx (mg/m3) 0.1116 0.1175 0.1188 0.1193 0.4 (N02 only)

VOC (mg/m3) 0.0062 0.0065 0.0066 0.0066

Highway54: Tra Met – Tap Son (Km85 – Km125+854)

CO (mg/m3) 0.0255 0.0268 0.0271 0.0272 40

NOx (mg/m3) 0.0255 0.0268 0.0271 0.0272 0.4 (N02 only)

VOC (mg/m3) 0.0070 0.0074 0.0075 0.0075




Note : Calculating with average speed of 45km/h

Table 5.6. Estimated results of horizontal pollution substance concentration

Horizontal (m) 10 20 30 40 QL53: Km56 – Km60 and Km130 – Km168 (Tra Vinh)

CO (mg/m3) 0.0252 0.0265 0.0268 0.0252 NOx (mg/m3) 0.1249 0.1314 0.1329 0.1249 VOC (mg/m3) 0.0069 0.0073 0.0074 0.0069

QL54: Tra Met – Tap Son (Km85 – Km125+854)


PR 884 - BT


PR 04 - ST



The above table has some limitations that should be considered:

• The calculations are intended to predict pollution generation from traffic – not ambient air quality. Conversely, TCVN 5937standards are for overall ambient air quality – which includes pollution generated by sources other than road traffic (domestic burning/cooking using coal, industries, generators, etc). There is a risk that calculated traffic pollution generation results will underestimate future ambient pollution levels – creating what is known as a ‘false-positive’ assessment (in this case, concluding a result to be within standard, but in fact, it exceeds standard).

• The calculations give no consideration to traffic volume changes.It should be expected that traffic volumes are overestimated at some times of day, and underestimated at other times of day; and do not account for long-term growth trends.

• The table compares predicted nitrogen oxide (NOx) levels against nitrogen dioxide (NO2) pollution standards. NO2 is a subset of NOx and therefore direct comparisons of sample against standard would risk creating what is known as a ‘false-negative’ assessment (in this case, concluding a result to exceed standard, but in fact, it is within standard).

• The table does not predict pollution generation from provincial roads. Based on the above calculations, comments regarding the limitations of the calculations, and TCVN standards for ambient air quality, one must be careful when drawing conclusions on impact significance. At present, the following can be said:

• During operation the density of NOx generated from National Highway No. 53 is lower than the 1 hours NO2 ambient standards presented in TCVN 5937-1999. However, as the proportion of



NO2 in NOx is not known, it cannot be confidently stated that NO2 pollution generation will exceed TCVN standard.

• During operation the density of NOx generated from national Highway 54 is lower than TCVN standard for NO2, and inter alia, NO2 generation is expected to be lower than NOx standards.

• CO pollution levels are expected to be within TCVN standard for both national highways. However, in the absence of ambient data it cannot be confidently said that operation-phase ambient levels of CO will fall within TCVN standards; and

• No comment can be made about VOC pollution - there are no Vietnamese standards for VOC, nor could ambient VOC standards be located from other nations (e.g. US EPA) or multilateral donors (e.g. WB, ADB).

Measures to minimise construction phase air quality impacts include:

• Vehicles transporting soil and/or crushed rock should be: 1) doused with fresh or salt water18 . The water shall come from a water body that is not considered to be ecologically sensitive.19 The Engineer must approve the water body being used for the source before the Contractor can use it to extract water; and 2) covered with an industrial-grade tarpaulin. It is important that the tarpaulin completely covers the truck bed. A “flapping” tarpaulin is likely to increase dust levels, and therefore, be counterproductive as a mitigation measure;

• Employ the use of a water truck to spray earthworks; • Locate batching sites and construction yards at least 500 m from a sensitive receptor (school,

pagoda, residences etc); • Fit the tipping point of soil and aggregate with a permanent water spray to allow for dampening

of materials; and • Site asphalt and hot-mix plants will be located at least 500 meters away from the nearest

sensitive receptor (e.g., school, pagoda, hospital) Measures to minimise operation phase impacts include:

• Implement a thorough and routine roads maintenance program. Example items in the program should include:

o Watering trucks should spray water onto the road during the dry season in urban areas during the dry season on an as-needed basis

o Undertake regular maintenance and cleaning of roads • Work with local authorities to restrict movements of polluting vehicles

Noise Impacts – Minor Impact (Construction); Major Impact (Operation)

Construction Phase Due to the diverse construction situations encountered by the Project, it is not possible to quantitatively predict noise level impacts of the project during construction. However, it is probable that many Project construction activities will increase ambient noise to a level that exceeds TCVN 5949 (1998) standards. The magnitude of the impact will depend upon the specific types of equipment being used, the length of time the equipment is used, and the proximity of the equipment to urban/residential areas. Based on the Consultant’s current knowledge of each of these variables, the following five activities may cause the greatest noise impacts during construction 20:

1. Concrete Mixing: Concrete mixing activities have a maximum noise level of 90dBA at 15 metres. If concrete is being mixed in residential areas, it will sound 8 times as loud as the national standard of 60 dBA (during 0600 – 1800) at a distance of 15m.

18 The choice of fresh or salt water depends on the proximity of the water body and how the water will affect the quality of the materials being

transported. 19 The ecologically sensitive areas in this Project are estuaries and mangrove forests found along Packages 4 and 5. 20 Noise emission estimates in this section are presented in previous CEETIA reports, unless otherwise stated.

Impacts

Mitigations



2. Pile Driving for Bridges and Viaducts: Pile driving machines can produce noise levels that range between 70 and 104 dBA at 15 meters. However, recent tests on pile drivers in Viet Nam found that standard equipment was emitting noise in excess of 140 dBA. As humans generally perceive noise levels to double every 10 dBA, pile driving with standard machinery (i.e., diesel pile drivers that do not contain shrouds) in a residential area will sound about 256 times louder than the national standard of 60 dBA (from 0600 – 1800).

3. Drilling: Drilling activities have maximum noise levels of 99 dBA at 15m. However, in this Project they will be relatively short-term, and generally occur in rural areas.

4. Earth Moving: Earth moving is a general term for all those activities that move earth from one location to another location. It can be large-scale (i.e., several machines working at one location) or small scale (one machine working at one location). It could also be long-term (several months at one site) or short-term (a few days at one site). The Project will undertake a number of earth-moving activities, and these activities will vary in terms of the temporal and physical scope. For this reason, impact significance of each earth moving activity is highly variable. Earth moving requires several types of machines, including:

• backhoes (maximum noise of 93 dBA at 15m); • graders (maximum noise level of 95 dBA at 15m); and • tractors and trucks (maximum noise level of 96 dBA at 15m).

The cumulative effect of several machines working at the same site will raise noise levels to 100 dBA. A monitoring program during construction is required in order to understand the noise levels created by each earth moving activity. However, in the absence of a monitoring program, the following rules of thumb will help determine impact significance (Table 5.5).

Table 5.7: Rule of thumb for predicting impact significance for earth moving activities

Column 1 Column2 Column 3 Distance from residential area < 100m 100m - 500m > 500m Number of machines > 4 2 – 4 1- 2 Duration of activities Months Weeks Days Impact Significance HIGH MEDIUM LOW Mitigation Necessary? YES UNCERTAIN NO

Earth moving activities that possess the characteristics of Column 1 in the above table are likely to cause noise levels impacts that necessitate mitigation.

5. Generator Operation The noise that generators produce varies greatly by the size, age, and

manufacturer. Although there are many generators used internationally that are relatively quiet, the generators used for construction projects in Viet Nam are typically of Russian or Chinese origin – where noise reduction has not been a priority design issue. Recent information on generators for highway construction in Viet Nam suggests that generators used for the Project will emit up to 82 dBA at 15m.

Operation Phase The method used for prediction of noise is the method that is used in the Great Britain for calculating soundproofing of new building and for construction planning and assessment of impacts created by transportation. In this method, distance for calculating standard noise is 10m from roadside, at height of 1,2m from soil surface, with standard road surface. The prediction formula is the following:



6.305110150040331101)1( −⎟⎠⎞

⎜⎝⎛ ++⎟

⎠⎞

⎜⎝⎛ +++=

Vpg

VVgQghLep (dBA)

Where: Q = Traffic circulation density (vehicle/hour). V = Average circulation speed (km/hour). p = Portion % of heavy lorries participating in traffic circulation. This method is applied for good foundation with small slope road. One of the advantages of the method is it can give rather good prediction of noise intensity at a certain point when combined with other dispersion methods. The accuracy is enhanced because the influence of distance, surface, obstacle screen and refraction on sound transmission is taken into consideration in calculation. The method is useful especially for the crossroads and the road that has various complicated sections. For noise prediction in the project area the following inputs are used:

• Road slope: 0 % • Average speed of traffic circulation: V= 45 km/h • Vehicle flow: According to the counting result, Vehicle flow varies from 82 to 251

units/an hour.

After project completion, vehicle flow along the route will be increasing in number and loading. According to the counting results, vehicle flow varies from 82 to 251 units per hour. The portion of heavy lorries (the biggest source of noise) within the flow will be creasing and occupy 4-22% total number of vehicle. The average speed of vehicle on highway is 45 km/h.

In design, the routes will be even and flat, sound reflected road surface is made from asphalt concrete (coefficient a = -0.1). Using the above-mentioned formulae, noise prediction for main routes will be calculated. The results are described in the table 5.10.

If specific noise is usually measured at the level of 1.2-1.5 m from road surface in the known distance r1 (m) from noise source ("r1" usually equals to 1m for industrial noise source and 7,5m for transportation noise source) then noise at the distance r2 > r1 will reduce intensity value in ΔL(dBA) in comparison to that at r1 using the following formulae:

• Noise source is a point: ΔL= 20logĠ

• Noise source is a road: ΔLd= 10logĠ

Where: a is a coefficient describing the influence of topography on noise adsorption and reflection,

a = - 0.1 for bitumen and concrete roads,

a = 0 for bare soil surface,

a = 0.1 for pasture.

Prediction results of Leq (dBA) noise equivalent at different distances from roadside of main routes are described in Table 5.6.

Table 5.8. Noise calculation results at different distances from the middle of roads

Distance Highway 53 Km56-Km60 and Km130-Km139 Highway 54 Km85 – Km125+854

Noise (dBA )

10m 57.4 58.6

20m 54.7 55.8

30m 53.1 54.3



Distance Highway 53 Km56-Km60 and Km130-Km139 Highway 54 Km85 – Km125+854

40m 52.0 53.1

50m 51.1 52.3

60m 50.4 51.6

70m 49.8 50.9

80m 49.3 50.4

90m 48.8 50.0

100m 48.4 49.6

Table 5.9. Noise Calculation at different distances from middle of the road

10m 20m 30m 40m 50m 60m 70m 80m 90m 100m

Noise (dBA) Ql53 Km56-Km60 and Km130-Km1139 57.4 54.7 53.1 52 51.1 50.4 49.8 49.3 48.8 48.4 Ql54 Km85 – Km125+854 58.6 55.8 54.3 53.1 52.3 51.6 50.9 50.4 50 49.6 PR 884 - BT 54.8 52.1 50.5 49.4 48.5 47.8 47.2 46.7 46.2 45.8 PR 04 - ST 56.4 53.7 52.1 51.0 50.1 49.4 48.8 48.3 47.8 47.4

Source: the CSD, 2005 The above table has some limitations that should be considered:

• The calculations give no consideration to traffic volume changes (e.g. during a 24 hour cycle, and over the long term of many years). Therefore, it should be expected that traffic volumes are overestimated at some times of day, and underestimated at other times of day; as well, traffic volumes are likely underestimated in the long term.

• The calculations only account for noise generated by road traffic. The calculations do not account for ambient noise levels in the road corridor generated by sources other than road traffic (shops, industries, generators, etc). Therefore, it should be expected that the above results underestimate post-project ambient noise levels. Based on experience on other projects, the probable operation phase noise levels could be 10% to 35% higher when accounting for other ambient noises that occur within a road corridor.

Ambient noise standards are guided in TCVN 5949 (1998). These standards are applicable for both construction and operational phases of the Project and are presented in the below table:

Table 5.10: TCVN 5949 (1998) –Maximum permitted noise levels in public and residential areas

Period of Time Area

0600 – 1800 h 1800 – 2200 h 2200 – 0600 h Quiet Areas Hospitals, Libraries, Sanatoria, Schools 50 dBA 45 dBA 40 dBA

Residential Areas Hotels, Houses, Apartments 60 dBA 55 dBA 50 dBA

Commercial and Service Areas 75 dBA 70 dBA 50 dBA



Based on the above calculations, comments regarding the limitations of the calculations, and TCVN standards for ambient noise, it can be said that:

• Commercial and service areas adjacent to the highways should experience noise levels within the TCVN standards;

• Residential areas adjacent to the highways should experience noise levels near the limit of the TCVN standards

• Hospitals, schools, and other types of quiet areas adjacent to the highways should experience noise levels that exceed the TCVN standards. For this reason, it is recommended that hospitals, schools, and other types of quiet areas be located at a distance far enough away from the highway such that the TCVN standards for noise can be achieved.

Construction: Construction-phase noise reduction measures include:

• Ensure construction vehicles and equipment are well maintained • Restrict noisy activities to day time periods • Inform local community of schedule of construction activities • Install temporary acoustic shields in the vicinity of very noisy activities • Provide workers with noise protection equipment

Operation: A range of operation phase measures can be implemented to mitigate noise levels, including: • Implement practical and feasible noise reduction measures at sensitive receivers when

monitoring indicates exceedance of the TCVN noise levels • Work with local authorities to restrict movements of poorly maintained vehicles • Work with local planning authorities to restrict planning of sensitive receivers (hospitals,

schools, etc) along those stretches of highway/road that are expected to exceed TCVN standards for those receivers.

Earthworks Impacts – Major Impact (Construction); No Impact (Operation)

First phase road works activities will require approximately 1,189,000 m3 of earthworks materials: sand, laterite soil, borrow material, cohesive soils for slope protection, crushed stone, and drainage materials are the most common materials required for highway and road subprojects (see below table). In addition, the same road works will excavate about 328,000 of material m3. 21 Of the excavated material, about 124,000 m3 has potential for use in the Project; the remaining 204,000 m3 is considered unsuitable for the Project and will be disposed. This leaves a net requirement of about one million cubic metres of material for earthworks for first phase road works (Table 5.8)

21 Excavate = to extract natural solid or soft material from land; Dredge = to extract natural solid or soft material from water bodies.

Impacts

Mitigations



Table 5.11: First Phase Earthworks

Unit NH 53 NH 54 PR 884 PR 04 CN-CDV Sub-Total Roadbed excavation (Class 1) m3 30,372 152,806 29,097 15,600 4,457 232,332 Roadbed excavation (Class 3) m3 10,644 3,956 - - 13,317 27,917 Roadbed excavation (manual) m3 26,424 42,114 - - - 68,538 Disposal of unsuitable material m3 12,356 164,053 28,314 - - 204,723 Horizontal drainage layer m3 43,024 24,988 - - - 68,012 Borrow material - embankment m3 138,195 362,471 - - - 500,666 Selected soil for filling embankment m3 - - - 171,590 - 171,590 Sand filling for embankment m3 - - - 48,521 74,460 122,981 Sand bags bag - 11,000 - - - 11,000 Surcharge material for embankments m3 - 21,452 - - - 21,452 Selected soil for embankments m3 - 151,660 - - - 151,660 Laterite Soil m3 18,487 29,784 - - - 48,271 Tree chopping <50cm diameter tree - - 1,801 - - 1,801 Cohesive slope protection m3 32,038 - 30,046 - 12,325 12,325 Crushed stone-fish bone gutter m3 - - 97 - - 97 Excavated material backfilling m3 1,739 - - - - 1,739

Sub-total - excavation m3 67,440 198,876 29,097 15,600 17,774 328,787 Sub-total–earthworks requirements m3 233,483 590,355 58,457 220,111 86,785 1,189,191 Sub-total-disposal of unsuitable material m3 12,356 164,053 28,314 - - 204,723

Source:The F/S of the MTIPD

In addition to earthworks, first phase activities will require about 145,000 m3 of aggregate material for pavement (Table 5.9) and small additional volumes (i.e. less than 1,000 m3) of crushed rock will be required for utilities.

Table 5.12: First Phase Pavement Works

Unit NH 53 NH 54 PR 884 PR 04 CN-CDV Sub-Total Pavement Aggregate sub-base course m3 24,629 11,236 0 13,842 7,013 56,720 Aggregate base course m3 19,114 45,157 19,757 0 4,675 88,703

Sub-total m3 43,743 56,393 19,757 13,842 11,688 145,423

Source: The F/S of the MTIPD

The aggregate and earthworks material will be sourced as follows:

• Sand. There are two kinds of sand that will be used by the project: Fine Sand - used as backfill or embankment materials; and coarse sand - used as a component of cement concrete & asphaltic concrete. The closest sources for coarse sand f include: Dong Nai river, East and West Vam Co river, Tan Chau in An Giang province (Upstream of Mekong river), Hong Ngu in Dong Thap prov. (Upstream of Mekong river), Binh Minh, Vung Liem in Vinh Long of Tien & Hau River (Downstream of Mekong river).



• Crushed Stone: In Mekong Delta, there are three quarries that supply most of the local crushed stone: Ba Doi quarry, An Giang province (2,000cu.m/day); Co To quarry, An Giang Province (4,000cu.m/day); and Hon Soc quarry, Kien Giang province (2,000cu.m/day). Each quarry has from 4 to 7 crushed stone machines. The products are rip-rap stone and aggregate crushed stone in various size that could be used for suitable roadwork. The compressive strength of stone is low. Therefore, a lot of national projects in Mekong Delta had to use the high quality aggregate of other quarries in Binh Duong & Dong Nai province which located in the north and north-east of HCMC and transport to site by inland waterway network: Hoa An quarry, Dong Nai province (4-:-6,000cu.m/day0; Tan Dong Hiep quarry, Binh Duong province (4-:-5,000cu.m/day); Nui Dinh quarry, Ba Ria – Vung Tau province (2-2,500cu.m/day).;

• Laterite soil/Selected soil: Laterite or selected natural soil is not choice in Mekong delta. It is very expensive and is of limited supply. As a result, transport management officers prefer to use fine sand & dust stone for embankment and aggregate crushed stone for subgrade in upgrading or rehabilitation.

• Other major materials: Manufactured materials such as steel bars, portland cement, asphalt cement, geotextile fabric, fiber, are provided on site by suppliers.

The locations of these materials are found in Figure 5.5 below:



Figure 5.5: Location of materials for earthworks and pavements 1)

Source: the F/S of the MTIPD



Mitigation 1: Permanent Loss of Natural Materials. Ensure materials are being consumed conservatively. For example, materials should be purchased at their economic value (not at a subsidized value); materials should be procured from the closest quarries to the project site whenever possible (to minimise transport costs) and the GOV regulations for materials extraction should be adhered to (as presented in the FS study).

Mitigation 2: Re-use excavated/dredge materials. As a general rule, the coarser the material the more use it is for engineering and the less useful for environmental schemes whereas the trend is totally reversed for the soft silts and clays have limited use for engineering but are well suited to restoration of wetlands and other environmental options.

Figure 5.6: Major Soil Groups of the Mekong delta

Mitigations

soil



5.2.2 Social Impacts22 Resettlement – Minor Impact (Construction); No Impact (Operation)

The Project will pose severe resettlement impacts due to required land acquisition for rehabilitation, improvement and widening of national and provincial roads, some bridges... According to the results of preliminary inventory of losses, its road component of the first phase of the program will acquire about 60.107 ha of land permanently. The affected land includes residential (18.05 ha), land of special uses, agricultural (rice, annual crops, fruit trees, or land of aquacultures of which there of residential land, mixed residential with garden (3.39 ha), garden and perennial crops land (28.94 ha), annual rice crop (25.967 ha) (Table 5.13).

Phase I: 2,840 effected households, of which: 170 households seriously effected (7 household required permanent relocation, 49 households lost more than 20% land, and 114 households have to rebuild main house on the left land) (Table 5.14).

Table 5.13: Permanent land acquisition for Phase I of MTIDP

Provinces/town/commune Residential land (m2)

Perennial crop or

garden (m2)

Annual crop land

(m2)

Special use land (m2)

Total land (m2)

TV QL 53 – 3 (Km 56 – Km60 + 650) 1 Trà Vinh Town 615 3.684 2.082 0 6.381 2 Châu Thành Province 576 15.383 36 2.109 18.104 Sub-total QL 53 –3 1.191 19.067 2.118 2.109 24.485

TV QL 53-10 (Km 130-440 Km130+350)

1 Duyên Hải Province 333 26.901 4.235 875 32.344 2 Trà Cú Province 121 5.409 6.629 1.297 13.456 Sub-total QL 53 – 10 454 31.109 10.854 2.172 45.799 TV QL 54 – 5 -8 (Km 85 –Km125 +854) 1 Cầu Kè Province 5,706 57,141 69,991 3,264 136,102 2 Tiểu Cần Province 1,368 44,714 44,757 1,817 92,656 3 Trà Cú Province 1,883 17,298 31,511 634 51,325 Sub total QL54 8,957 119,153 146,259 5,715 280,083 BT PR 884 1 Châu Thành Province 5,664 92,149 3,597 1,347 102,757 2 Chợ Lách Province 271 7,389 103 22,325 30,088 Sub-total PR 884 5,935 99,538 3,700 23,672 132,845 ST PR 04 1 Mỹ Xuyên Province 1,513 5,905 86,883 0 94,300 Sub-total PR 04 1,513 5,905 86,883 0 94,300 CM PR CN – CDV 1 Mỹ Xuyên Province 0 10,723 5,646 202 16,571 2 Mỹ Xuyên Province 0 2,780 4,204 0 6,984 Sub-Total PR CN – CDV 0 13,407 9,850 202 23,555 Grand total 18,050 288,380 259,674 33,870 601,067 Source: Data on damages and socioeconomic survey in effected residential area, Institute of Sustainable Development and Environment Study, Dec. 2005 &Jan. 2006

22 See Volumes IV and V of the FS study for more information on socio-economic conditions and proposed mitigation measures.

Impacts



Temporary and acquisition requirements for Phase I is not yet known. These areas and their impacts be identified when more information are available during detailed design stage. Measures to mitigate the effects on the PAPs are to be detailed within a resettlement plan for each road subproject. The basic steps for the preparation of these plans are presented below:

• Step 1. Based on the preliminary subproject design, it needs to identify what category of the project is in the resettlement effects23: (i) no resettlement effect, (ii) insignificant resettlement effect, and (iii) significant resettlement effect. Both (ii) and (iii) require preparation of a resettlement plan.

• Step 2. Further refine the project preliminary physical design by consulting with potential DPs and engineers to avoid resettlement effects as much as possible. For example, a realignment and adjustment of direction of roads, stations and giving priority to the existing routes, using of public land…may reduce the level of resettlement impacts on affected persons.

• Step 3. For projects falling under categories (ii) and (iii) above, a census survey of all the potential the DPs shall be conducted. This includes socioeconomic data of DPs, measurement of type, and level of loss. The census survey (or the DMS) establishes the cut-off date for the eligibility of entitlement, and is carried out in the attendance of relevant local authorities. The following types of data needs to be collected:

o Information on the DPs Demographic, education, income, and occupational profiles Inventory of all property and assets affected Socioeconomic production systems and use of natural resources Inventory of common property resources if any Economic activities of all displaced person, including vulnerable groups Social networks and social organization Cultural systems and sites

o Data on land and the area Map of the area and villages affected by land acquisition Total land area acquired for the Project Land type and land use Ownership, tenure, and land use patterns Land acquisition procedures and compensation Existing civil facilities and infrastructures

• Step 4. In parallel to the DPs’ census survey, consultation with the DPs will continue to identify their preferences and special needs that should be addressed in the RP. In addition, information on market prices for land, crops, and other assets need to be collected from respective provincial, district, and commune authorities and the local market, so that the cost estimates for the RP can be provided.

• Step 5. Prepare an RP. The Entitlement Matrix in this framework (See Volume V of FS) should be used for each project. In addition, specify the number of the DPs, the size of affected land, the number of other assets affected, and the compensation amount for each category.

• Step 6. Present the draft RP at the public meeting for the subproject. Any comments made during the meeting need to be incorporated into the draft RP.

23 Resettlement effect is significant for a subproject when the DP is physically displaced and/or 10% or more of their productive

assets are lost. The term “resettlement effects” includes the loss of crops and incomes, in addition to physical relocation. While resettlement should be avoided, in cases where it cannot be, the entitlement policy outlined in this RPF will apply.

Mitigations



Ethnic Minorities – Minor Impact (Construction); Minor Impact (Operation)

The results Inventory of Losses also show that some subprojects will pose certain direct resettlement impacts on the DPs of ethnic minorities and indirect positive impacts on some ethnic minorities’ communities. Thus the proposed development of NH 53, NH 54 in Tra Vinh province will impact an unknown number of households of ethnic minorities group. Besides, there Khmer ethnic minority population also live in groups in proximity of in distance about less than 3 Km to the proposed national roads NH53, NH 54 (Tra Vinh province), NH 91 (Can Tho city), or provincial roads Ben Nhut – Rong Gieng – Thanh Hung (Kien Giang province), or PR 04 (Soc Trang). The ethnic minorities DPs will be compensated in accordance with policies and provisions of the MTIDP’s RPF and the RP and an Ethnic Minority Development Plan (EMDP) for the project will be developed to treat with the ethnic minority issues in accordance with provisions of the EMPD. Measures to mitigate impacts on ethnic minorities are to be detailed within the EMDP. The plan will consist of a number of activities and will include mitigation measures of potentially negative impacts, modification of subproject design, and development assistance. In the event of land acquisition in ethnic minority communities, the project will ensure that their rights will not be violated and that they be compensated for the use of any part of their land in a manner that is culturally acceptable to them. The compensation will follow the Resettlement Policy Framework developed for the MTIDP. An Ethnic Minorities Development Plan will include:

1. Legal Framework 2. Baseline data 3. Land tenure 4. Strategy for local participation 5. Technical identification of development or mitigation activities 6. Institutional arrangements 7. Implementation schedule 8. Monitoring and evaluation 9. Cost estimates and financing plan.

In EMDP for subproject areas in which ethnic minorities will only be positively affected as a result of Project activities the EMDP should report on:

1. The identification efforts and results, 2. The social, economic, and cultural uniqueness of the ethnic groups, 3. The information dissemination strategy, 4. The process and effort, 5. The consultation process, 6. Feedback from the communities, 7. The project impact upon the ethnic minority groups, and (viii) the strategy for the ethnic

minorities to participate in Project design and implementation. In EMDP for subprojects in which ethnic minorities will be negatively affected by land acquisition or loss of other assets due to the Project the above information will have to be supplemented with:

1. Identification of the adverse impact, and 2. Develop mitigation measures..

Cultural Heritage Property – Minor Impact (Construction); No Impact (Operation)

The results of subproject screening and inventory of losses for proposed routes of the first year program show that there are no sites of cultural heritage will be impacted. Exception is made for the case of the subproject PR Ben Nhut – Rong Gieng - Thanh Hung which likely poses marginal impacts on some small area of garden attached land with trees and gate of a Khmer’s temple in Thanh Phuoc commune, Rong Gieng district, Kien Giang province.

Impacts

Impacts

Mitigations

Mitigations



The Project should meet with stakeholders in the Thanh Phuoc Khmer temple and prepare a mitigation plan for land loss in the temple. One suggested measure is for the Project to purchase land of similar size, quality, and purpose, and provide appropriate vegetation/gate for the garden and the temple. Accidents, Worker and Public Safety – Minor Impact (Construction); Minor Impact (Operation)

Table 5.12 summarizes the emergency conditions that could arise during the construction and operation of the Project.

Table 5.14. Potential emergency conditions and accidents

Potential Emergency Conditions and Accidents Potential Impacts

Construction Phase

Spillage of chemicals, fuels or oils on land

- Pollution of soil - Adverse effects on agricultural production - Public health effects from contact with contaminated soil

Failure at waste storage sites

- Pollution of soil - Pollution of water quality - Release of odours - Public health effects from exposure to waste

Fire – fuels, chemicals etc. - Injuries or death of public and construction workers - Damage to property - Damage to vegetation / crops

Accidents involving operation of equipment or accidents involving the general public but caused by project construction

- Injury or death to workers - Injury or death to - the general public - Damage to equipment

Explosion – fuels, chemicals etc. - Injuries or death of public and construction workers - Damage to property

Operation Phase

Road accidents

- Injuries or death to workers or public - Water quality or soil pollution from escaped fuel or oils with

attendant public health effects - Damage to property

Construction phase mitigations: The contractor should prepare and implement an accident contingency plan to account for:

• Spillage of chemicals, fuels or oils on land • Failure at waste storage sites • Fire – fuels, chemicals etc. • Accidents involving operation of equipment or accidents involving the general public but caused

by project construction • Explosion – fuels, chemicals etc.

The Contractor and PMU1/PPMUs should undertake measures to minimize the risk of accidents to workers and the public alike, as well as minimize social impacts of workers on the local communities. Proposed measures include:

• Undertake training of construction works to minimize conflicts with local communities, particularly in relation to safety, hygiene and transmission of diseases;

• Ensure appropriate safety signage at construction sites;

Impacts

Mitigations



• Inform local communities on the dates/times of construction activities; • Ensure construction camps and construction sites have adequate sanitation and waste

management systems; • Ensure construction workers have access to and are trained in the use of construction safety

equipment; and • Work with local authorities to implement awareness campaigns for local community about

issues associated with presence of construction workers. Operation phase mitigations: A road safety program should be implemented for Highway NH 53 and NH 54. Road safety is a complex issue and will require the assistance of several groups, including the Viet Nam Road Administration (VRA) and the National Traffic Police (CSGT). In order to develop a road safety program that is consistent with national road safety planning, the aforementioned groups should co-ordinate efforts with the National Traffic Safety Committee (NTSC). The NTSC assisted in the preparation for a National Road Safety Plan for NH 1. Whenever practical, the NH 53 and NH 54 Road Safety Programs should be consistent with aims and objectives of the National Road Safety Plan. The Road Safety Program should have three components: 1) road design and engineering; 2) enforcement of road safety rules; and 3) road safety education. Each is described below.

1) Road Design and Engineering: The Project should consider the following five critical factors to promote the safety of highway users:

1. Road markers. Priority sections for road markers (signage) are low-visibility areas, intersections, crosswalks and high-density urban and rural areas. Signage should include signs that indicate speed limits, no U-turn, bumpy road, curve in road, low visibility, yield, stop, merge, pedestrian or animal crossing, train crossing, school children crossing, and hospital zone. The signs should be adequately spaced from each other so as not to overload the driver with information. The signs should also be put far enough from what it is announcing to give the driver time to react.

2. Road Markings. In addition to road markers, the Project should have adequate road markings. This includes: painted sections to delineate crosswalks, lane markings, shoulder markings. In order to help motorised vehicles recognise an area to slow down, the Project could paint white “warning strips” before crosswalks or other areas where it is necessary to proceed with caution. Warning strips are a relatively new idea for Viet Nam (there are test “warning strips” in some other urban locations of Hanoi). In general, these strips are 0.5 - 1.0 m wide, and become successively closer as they approach the crosswalk – giving the driver a sense to slow down. The strips are usually 0.5 - 1.0 cm high, and give the driver a small bump every time a warning strip is crossed.

Figure 5.7: The use of road markings to improve safety.

3. Designated crossing areas. The Project should ensure there are adequate crosswalks, overpasses, underpasses or box culverts in high-density areas and highly used farming areas. The Project should take into consideration the local context when building these structures. Crossings in rural areas should be adequately lit such that pedestrians are visible to traffic.

Median marking

Warning strips for cross-walk

Traffic

Cross-walk with markings



4. Pullover areas. The Project should be designed to ensure there are safe locations for public buses, school buses, and factory shuttle buses in key areas along the Project route. Pull-over areas should be planned by collaborating with the responsible authorities (e.g., Peoples Committees, factory directors, Ministry of Education) during the design stage. Pull-over areas should be marked both by paint and signs.

5. Safe Intersections. Ensure safety at intersections. This means signage, crosswalks, adequate length of road to merge, and, potentially, traffic lights.

In order to ensure that the above safety measures are considered in a detailed, systematic, and objective manner, the Project could consider employing an independent body to undertake a Road Safety Audit. The purpose of the audit is to identify specific safety issues along the road, and give specific suggestions on how to mitigate these problems.

2) Enforcement of Safety Rules: The Traffic Police and Traffic Inspectors should enforce the safety of passengers and pedestrians. Traffic Inspectors can set up vehicle inspection stations along high traffic sections of NH 53 and NH 54. The stations can be used to ensure that motorized vehicles are safe and that drivers are in possession of their motor insurance and vehicle licence. In addition, they should promote the use of seatbelts and helmets. Safety rules should be developed for and adhered to by all highway users, including pedestrians and users of bicycles, motorcycles and vehicles. Rules should apply to speed limits, stop and yield signs and traffic lights, U-turns, crosswalks, the use of the highway and shoulder, and drinking and driving.

3) Education and Communication: It is recommended that MoT and/or PMU 1 advise affected groups of the exact alignment, vehicular traffic, and operation dates. This will enable groups to make informed decisions about building subsequent safety features. For instance, some schools are built close to the new alignment. A necessary feature would be a yard or parking lot in front of schools so as to allow parents to wait for their children in a safe area. If MoT/PMU 1 provides relevant information to the school and the District and Provincial People’s Committees, they can make decisions about building a yard or a parking lot. And, if the school and authorities communicate their decision to MoT/PMU 1, then they can build a pullover or merge area to fit the community’s future plans. During the operations phase, large-scale education campaigns should support enforcement programs. The combination of both should result in changes in road user behaviour. Education campaigns should include pedestrian safety, vehicle safety, and education on drinking and driving. Education campaigns need the political support of local People’s Committees. To be most effective, they could be managed by the Fatherland Front and implemented by one of the community level Unions (i.e., Women’s Union or Youth Union). Information about traffic safety can be communicated in a number of ways. The Consultant has identified three major vehicles for transmitting information: radio and print, community mobilization and outreach, and health education and promotion. These are discussed below.

1. Radio and print: Discussions with the Women’s Union confirm that the use of local radio and print are effective ways of transmitting information. Radio announcements, newspapers, posters, and billboards can be used to stimulate awareness and knowledge about: 1) the dangers of speeding and drinking and driving; 2) the proper use of crosswalks, bicycle paths, and the road in general; 3) proper behaviour towards road signs; and 4) existing enforcement measures.

2. Community mobilization and outreach: Community mobilization can also be an effective vehicle for education. Community-based groups can be trained as promoters of safe driving and safe road use. They can act as advocates of safe driving and transmit information to the community through informal and formal mechanisms. A District-level Union should conduct the initial “train the trainer” workshops at the community level and work with groups to diffuse information. Groups that have been trained to promote road safety could make presentations at schools to teach traffic safety education for children and adolescents. Traffic Police or Traffic Inspectors could accompany them to provide details about local enforcement programs. Children could then be nominated to act as spokespeople for their schools to promote safety in crossing



and using the road. A buddy system could also be implemented whereby older students help younger students cross the road. Traffic Police and community groups could make presentations in the workplace of men and women in order to target adults. Critical issues such as drinking and driving should be discussed.

3. Health education and promotion: Road safety should become an integral part of health education. Issues to be addressed include the use of seatbelts and helmets, the use of headlights and signalling, and the observance of traffic signage. Strong support from and involvement of the medical community is required for this type of safety initiative to be implemented.

5.3 Phase II Preliminary Impacts and Mitigation Measures

The impacts expected for Phase II (NH 91, and a number of provincial roads projects) are expected to be similar to impacts experienced during Phase I. This section provides some guidance on key issues that may need to be considered during detailed design, construction, and implementation of Phase II.

5.3.1 Physical Impacts Salinity Intrusion

Phase II impacts are expected to be similar to that of Phase I Surface Water Quality

Phase II impacts are expected to be similar to that of Phase I. Hydrology and Flooding

The National road No91 route running along Hau River makes a dyke system-preventing flood overflowing from the river into fields in early flooding period when water level in Hau river is higher than water level in fields. In main flooding period, in the west part of the Hau River after having additional water from the Long Xuyen quadrangular, water level in fields is higher than in the river. Water runs back into the Hau river backcrossing bridges and culverts on the National road No91. After upgrading, if there is not a flood draining corridor, the National road No91 in combination with the Ben Nhut- Giong Rieng-Thanh Hung provincial road would cause a deeper inundation to the Tan Hiep district (Kien Giang province), Thot Not and O Mon districts (Can Tho province). Especially, in recent years Can Tho city experiences serious flooding and inundation due to high sea tide and big flood. In flooding season, this route often is under water with the same situation of the National road No80 that badly affects on the quality and lifetime of the road foundation.

The following provincial roads should be carefully considered of their impacts on inundation and hydrological regime:

• The route 2-PR (provincial road No841) connecting Hang Ngu to the Viet Nam-Cambodia border is the very big flood draining route from the Tu Thuong area directly to the Tien river (Qmax recorded during year-2000 flood is 3,952 m3/s).

• The provincial road No941 from An Chau to Tri Ton stretching along the Mac Can Dung canal is located in the inundated area of the Long Xuyen quadrangular with the water depth of 2-3 m, and in some sections flood overflows the road. There are some flood draining culverts such as Bon Tong, Kien Hao- Nui Chac Nang Gu, Ba The, My Thai those should be widened.

• The provincial road No941 in combination with the National road No91 and the southern side of the Tri Ton canal creates a flood reservoir triangle in the Chau Phu district, An Giang province that divides the Long Xuyen quadrangular into small cells and makes inundation in the area more serious as well as flood draining duration much longer. In general, the in-land transportation system in the Long Xuyen quadrangular has the level high enough to control peak water level below 4.60 m on the Mekong river at Chau Doc. If water level exceeds that value then flood from the Hau River would overflow the National road No91 in some sections from



Chau Doc to Vam Cong (during year-2000 flood, it was recorded that 32,3 km of road was inundated with the depth of from 10 to 60 cm), and almost whole the route 941 was overflowed.

• The provincial road No865. The section to be upgraded is located in the Tien Giang province – the lowest area in whole route, stretching along water route No2. The embankment of the provincial road No865 in combination with the water route No2 would become a dyke line redistributing flood-draining stream from the Dong Thap Muoi area. Thus, the flood-draining situation in the Dong Thap Muoi area would be changed in the future. Flood draining flow would stagnate at Tan An if appropriate measures for dredging the Vam Co Tay river bed to increase draining capacity of the river is not taken.

Air Quality

Construction phase will yield similar air quality impacts as predicted during Phase I. In addition, operation phase air pollution has been predicted for NH 91, using the same methods as per Phase I. The results are presented in Table 5.15

Table 5.15: Predicted air pollution for NH 91.

Wipph (m) 10 20 30 40 TCVN 5937 (1-hour averaging)

Highway 91: Can Tho – Cai San CO (mg/m3) 0.0576 0.0606 0.0613 0.0615 40

NOx (mg/m3) 0.2858 0.3008 0.3041 0.3054 0.4 (N02 only)

Source: the CSD, 2005 Based on the above calculations, comments regarding the limitations of the calculations (presented in Phase I analysis), and TCVN standards for ambient air quality (presented in Phase I analysis), it can be said that during operation the density of NOx and CO levels emitted by traffic from National Highway No. 91 are expected to be within standards in TCVN 5937 – 1995.

Noise

Prediction results of Leq(dBA) noise equivalent at different distances from roadside of main routes are described in Table 5.16.

Table 5.16. Predicted noise pollution at different distances from the middle of NH 91

Distance Highway 91

dBA

10m 60.2

20m 57.5

30m 55.9

40m 54.8

50m 53.9

60m 53.2

70m 52.6

80m 52.1

90m 51.6

100m 51.2



Table 5.17: Tonnage calculation results of Pollution substance dispersed from the PRs

Pollution tonnage (kg/h) No Road Length

(km) Dust SO2 NOx CO THC NH

7 NH 91: Can Tho – Cai San 58 19,96 25,27 175,39 35,32 9,74

PR 3 PR 909 - VL 21 1,98 4,57 27,81 5,60 1,76 4 PR 928 - HG 24 3,23 7,44 39,78 8,01 2,87 5 PR 915 - TV 20 1,69 3,90 25,86 5,21 1,50 6 CS - HCMR 26 3,82 8,81 43,69 8,80 3,40 7 PR 8355 - LA 12 0,92 2,11 23,45 4,72 0,81


Table 5.18. Estimated results of horizontal pollution substance concentration

Horizontal (m) 10 20 30 40

QL91: Km 7 – 50 (Can Tho – Cai San)


PR 909 – VL


PR 928 – HG


PR 915 – TV


CS – HCMR


PR 8355 – LA

CO (mg/m3) 0.0915 0.0963 0.0974 0.0978



NOx (mg/m3) 0.4543 0.4781 0.4834 0.4854 VOC (mg/m3) 0.0253 0.0266 0.0269 0.0270


Table 5.19. Noise Calculation at different distances from middle of the road

10m 20m 30m 40m 50m 60m 70m 80m 90m 100m

Noise (dBA) Ql91 60.2 57.5 55.9 54.8 53.9 53.2 52.6 52.1 51.6 51.2 PR 909 - VL 58.2 55.5 54.0 52.8 52.0 51.2 50.6 50.1 49.7 49.2 PR 928 - HG 60.4 57.7 56.1 55.0 54.1 53.4 52.8 52.3 51.8 51.4 PR 915 - TV 57.6 54.9 53.3 52.2 51.3 50.6 50.0 49.5 49.0 48.6 CS - HCMR 61.7 59.0 57.4 56.3 55.4 54.7 54.1 53.6 53.1 52.7 PR 8355 - LA 58.6 55.9 54.3 53.2 52.3 51.6 51.0 50.5 50.0 49.6


Based on the above calculations, comments regarding the limitations of the calculations (presented in Phase I analysis), and TCVN standards for ambient noise (presented in Phase I analysis), it can be said that:

• Commercial and service areas adjacent to NH 91 should experience noise levels within TCVN standards;

• Residential areas adjacent to NH 91 should experience noise levels near the limit of TCVN standards

• Hospitals, schools, and other types of quiet areas adjacent NH 91 should experience noise levels that exceed TCVN standards. For this reason, it is recommended that hospitals, schools, and other types of quiet areas be located at a distance far enough away from the highway such that TCVN standards for noise can be achieved.

Earthworks

Second phase road works activities will require approximately 1,795,000 m3 of earthworks materials: sand, late rite soil, borrow material, cohesive soils for slope protection, crushed stone, and drainage materials are the most common materials required for highway and road subprojects (Table 5.20). In addition, the same road works will excavate about 314,000 of material m3 24. Of the excavated material, about 124,000 m3 has potential for use in the Project; the remaining 266,000 m3 is considered unsuitable for the Project and will be disposed. This leaves a net requirement of about 1.5 million cubic metres of material for earthworks for first phase road works - about 50% greater volume than required during Phase I In addition to earthworks, Phase II activities will require about 332,000 m3 of aggregate material for pavement (Table 5.21) and small additional volumes of material for revetment works for NH 91 (6,124 m3 of roadbed excavation; 21,796 m3 of borrow material; and 13,795 m3 of rip-rap stone). These volumes are roughly similar to that of Phase I. The aggregate and earthworks material will be sourced from similar locations as per Phase I (Fugire 5.5).

24 Excavate = to extract natural solid or soft material from land; Dredge = to extract natural solid or soft material from water bodies.



Table 5.20: Phase II Earthworks

Unit NH 91 PR 909 PR 941 PR 835B PR 865 PR

841 TT-TL PR 928 BN-TH TB-

UM CS-

HCMR TN PR 915 Sub-Total

Roadbed excavation (Class 1) m3 124,750 35,762 3.094 14,244 - 953 8,092 16,592 1,565 7,752 23,318 5,644 13,600 77,516

Roadbed excavation (Class 3) m3 - 6,973 - - - - - - 2,130 - - - - 9,103

Muddy Excavation m3 - - - - 7,719 - - - - - - - - 7,719

Roadbed excavation (manual) m3 41,583 - - - - - - - - - - - - 41,583

Disposal of unsuitable material m3 166,333 10,197 3,094 14,244 - 952 8,092 16,592 - 7,752 19,407 5,644 13,600 265,907

Borrow material - embankment m3 279,074 - 5,460 25,137 - 1,680 104,244 - - 13,680 - 72,492 175,200 676,967

Selected soil for filling embankment m3 - 47,793 - - 100,347 - 17,255 59,280 24,443 - 129,411 64,694 29,000 472,223

Sand filling for embankment m3 - 109,401 - - 115,785 - - - 147,606 - - - - 372,792

Sand backfilling of ponds m3 - - - - 54,033 - - - - - - - - 54,033

Late rite of sub-grade/shoulder m3 27,161 - 12,194 56,139 - 3,752 31,892 - - 30,552 - - - 161,690

Cohesive slope protection m3 33,951 33,951

Excavated material backfilling m3 21,473 467 21,940

Sub-total - excavation m3 166,333 42,735 3,094 14,244 7,719 953 8,092 16,592 3,695 7,752 23,318 5,644 13,600 313,771 Sub-total–earthworks requirements m3 340,186 178,667 20,748 81,276 270,165 5,432 153,391 59,280 171,509 44,232 129,411 137,186 204,200 1,795,683

Sub-total-disposal of unsuitable material m3 166,333 10,197 3,094 14,244 - 952 8,092 16,592 - 7,752 19,407 5,644 13,600 265,907

Table 5.21 Phase II Pavement Works

Pavement unit NH 91 PR 909 PR 941 PR 835B PR 865 PR 841 TT-TL PR 928 BN-TH TB-UM CS-HCMR TN PR 915 Sub-Total Aggregate sub-base course m3 38,622 8,910 0 14,364 18,792 0 9,818 33,632 13,901 0 7,425 6,848 16,500 168,812

Aggregate base course m3 28,089 15,620 3,900 9,576 12,528 1,400 6,545 29,280 9,268 11,400 20,227 4,565 11,000 163,398

Sub-total m3 66,802 25,439 4,841 24,775 32,185 2,241 16,363 63,840 23,169 11,400 27,652 11,413 28,415 332,210



5.3.2 Social Impacts The implementation of Phase II will require acquisition of about 40 hectares of land (see below table). Most of this land is residential/garden land, annual cropland, and ponds. This amount is about 25% more land than required for Phase I, but in relative terms with other projects, 40 hectares is considered to be relatively small at a regional level (Table 5.22).

Table 5.22 Scope of Land Acquisition of Phase II National Highways and Provincial Roads

Inventory of Losses

Road Length (KM)

Residential land (m2)

Residential & garden

(m2)

Perennial crop or

garden (m2)

Annual crop land

(m2)

Ponds (m2)

Special use land

(m2)

Total land (m2)

VL PR 909 21.40 815 26,970 10,370 36,137 2,829 614 77,735 BL CS-HCMR 25.00 14,585 60,696 3,551 8,785 0 77 87,694 KG BN-RG-TH 16.65 2,272 32,485 20,061 0 0 1,168 55,986 CT NH 91 30.10 26,623 0 0 76,991 76,244 0 179,858

TOTAL 93.15 44,295 120,151 33,982 121,913 79,073 1,859 401,273

Source: The F/S of the MTIDP About 143 households will need to be relocated, and about 4,600 people will be affected by the Project (Table 5.23). These numbers indicate a higher resettlement impact than by Phase II than by Phase I (24 households, 2272 PAPs). However, these numbers are still relatively low compared to most civil works projects that acquire land in the Mekong delta. It is expected that mitigation measures for Phase II will follow the same steps as described in Phase I.

Table 5.23 Resettlement Impacts of the Phase II National Highways and Provincial Roads

Relocated Rebuild main house

Relocated business

Losing >20% HH

holding

Marginally affected

Total number of PAPs

Vinh Long PR909 19 0 1 10 375 404

Kieng Giang (BN-RG-TH) 66 65 55 0 690 876

Bac Lieu (CS-NQ-ND) 0 0 0 0 1,556 1,556

Can Tho NH 91 58 0 0 0 1,779 1,837

TOTAL 143 65 56 10.2 4,400 4,673

Source: The F/S of the MTIDP

5.4 Regional and Cumulative Environmental Impacts Regional environmental impacts are first-order impacts that result from an addition of the sub-project level environmental impacts across the project area. Regional environmental impacts provide a relatively simple, initial view of the overall project level environmental impacts of the MTIDP.

Cumulative environmental impacts are second order impacts that arise from the sub-projects acting in combination with other past, present and future activities and development. That is, cumulative impacts are the result of interactions between the sub-project level environmental impacts. Cumulative impacts can be:

- Additive: impacts that result from the combined effect of a number of smaller impacts

- Compensatory: impacts that occur when the effects of one project or activity act to offset the effects of another

- Synergistic: impacts that result when smaller impacts combine to create different or more significant impacts – the overall impact is greater than the sum of the individual impacts



- Masking: impacts of multiple projects overlap in a way that there is no perceived additional impact, usually for an initial period of time after which impacts become one of the other types of cumulative impacts

The below text provides a description of example regional and/or cumulative impacts that arise from the Project. These descriptions and evaluations should be considered preliminary and subject to review, discussion, and revision before confident conclusions can be drawn on the significance of their impacts at a regional or cumulative level.

5.4.1 Economic Development Minor Positive Impact (Construction); Major Positive (Operation) An improved land transport system in the Mekong delta will create favourable conditions for economic development. Indeed, this is the first objective of the FS study: determine the optimum combination of investments in roads, waterways and ancillary infrastructure that will maximize economic and social returns. These benefits are further discussed in the FS report.

5.4.2 Traffic Safety, Flow, and Vehicle Maintenance Costs No Impact (Construction); Minor Positive Impact (Operation) During construction phase there is some risk that traffic safety and flow will be constrained in some parts of the Mekong. However these constraints, at a regional level, are expected to be minor in nature. During operation, the converse should occur – improved roads are expected to reduce travel times, maintenance costs, and improve traffic safety. These benefits are further discussed in the FS report.

5.4.3 Social Evils, Rural Landscape; and Livelihood Changes

Unknown The road improvements will aid in changing the Mekong delta, from a resource rich, but transport constrained society to a society that can enjoy more development and livelihood options. With these changes may come a mix of positive and negative impacts:

• ‘Social evils’ (a catch-all phrase in Vietnam that includes drugs, prostitution, and gambling) have the possibility to spread further into the Mekong delta as transport systems improve;

• Rural landscape changes: Along upgraded and rehabilitated roads, people tend to move to live along the two sides, causing disorder of existing village structure. In addition, aagricultural land may be lost and farmer livelihoods may shrink away from the roads in some areas, giving way for industry and commerce.

• Rural livelihood changes: Job opportunities for affected people will be more diverse. In add

• It ion to agricultural production, rural people can apply for jobs at industrial zones. Rural livelihoods may change due to new incomes and new job opportunities.

The significance of these points is not yet well understood and therefore has not been given a ranking in this environmental assessment.

5.4.4 Eco-Tourism Unknown Eco-tourism areas currently face many difficulties due to population and economic development pressures. With this status quo in mind, several of the project roads and waterways will open new areas for ecotourism. Whilst a positive financial benefit will likely be realised through ecotourism, it is not yet clear how long ecotourism can be sustained – particularly in remote provinces such as Ca Mau, An Giang, and Kien Giang if those areas do not have adequate management plans, policies, and staffing to continue the long term protection of those areas.

Coastal ecotourism sites, ports and anchorages that have not been equipped with environmental protection facilities may create hazardous emissions on water environment. Oil exploitation and



marine and river transportation incidents may create oil spill risks, which will cause direct negative impacts on marine and coastal environment in the Mekong River Delta region.

The significance of these points are not yet well understood and therefore have not been given a ranking in this environmental assessment.

6 ANALYSIS OF ALTERNATIVES 6.1 National Highways Alternatives The FS study presented an analysis of national highways alternatives for financing under the Project. The analysis was essentially an economic valuation, using the World Bank’s HDM-4 model to consider the NPV and IRR of the following highways:

• NH53 • NH54 • NH91

The FS Consultant carried out an analysis for the selected roads, over a 20 years period beginning in 2005 – the base year. Costs and benefits were valued in constant prices, or in terms of the price level prevailing during the base year of the project. The economic costs include project management costs, physical contingencies and resettlement costs, but they do not include price escalation contingencies since all economic benefits were estimated in 2005 terms. A discount rate of 12% has been used, as for similar projects in Vietnam. The results of the economic evaluation from the HDM4 project analysis are given in Table 6.1 below in the without Bassac river improvement scenario (a second scenario, using Bassac river, was also developed, see FS for details).

Table 6.1. Economic evaluation of NH improvement projects without Bassac River improvement

WITH HCM Expressway WITHOUT Bassac River

NPV (in mil. of

USD)

IRR (in %)

Total (*) construction cost

(in US$ mil.)

Economic Calculation

NH53: - Construct 4-lane AC NH53-3 in 2009 + 1.27 17.5 5.68 √√√ - Upgrade to AC NH53-7&8 in 2008/09 + 1.71 17.0 9.03 √√√ - Construct 2-lane ST NH53-10 in 2009 with light ferry + 3.22 29.9 3.41 √√√ NH54: - Lane addition & upgrade to AC in 2007/08 + 5.02 18.4 15.76 √√√ NH61-3: - Lane addition & upgrade to AC in 2007

- 0.37

10.1

3.77

xxx

NH80-3: - Upgrade to AC–light & widen in 2007/08 + 11.78 29.2 10.40 √√√ NH91: - Reconstruct NH91-2 in 2007/08 + 0.83 12.6 30.88 √√√

(*) Total financial cost, including management costs, resettlement and physical contingencies, in constant price 2005.

Based in part on this analysis, NH 61-3 was deleted from the list of potential highways. A later decision to delete NH 80-3 was also made. The selected national highway alternatives are presented below:

Table 6.2: List of selected National Highways for upgrading

Upgrading of National Highways: Phase I

NH 53-3 Km 56.000 – 60.610 4.61 Widen and upgrade to AC 4-lane Class II standard

NH 53-10 Km 130.440 – 139.350 8.91 Widen and upgrade to AC 2-lane Class IV standard

NH 54-5-8 Km 85.000 – 125.854 40.85 Widen and upgrade to AC 2-lane Class IV standard

Upgrading of National Highways: Phase II

NH 91-1,2 Km 7.000 – 50.889 43.89 Widen and upgrade to AC 2-lane highway to Class III standard



Engineering details on favoured alternatives for upgrade (carriage wiPRh, material inputs, etc) are provided within the FS report.

6.2 Provincial Roads Alternatives Unlike national highways, the secondary roads in the FS study were screened on social as well as economic criteria. Social criteria were selected for their consistency with the socio-economic development objectives of the region. For this, three criteria defined during the first project workshop were used: (a) connectivity to the main transport corridors, (b) roads that serve areas having higher agriculture output, and (c) roads that are passing through the areas with high poverty density. While applying these three main criteria, others such as ‘avoiding over investment’ and ‘equity’ have also been considered appropriately. The details on the logical steps followed for screening the secondary roads are presented in Figure 6.1 and discussed below.

Figure 6.1. Overall Process for Provincial Road Screening (Source: The FS of the MTIDP)



The overall screening was intended to take a long list of provincial roads and allocated them to one of three categories:

1. ‘Do-nothing or Do-minimum’ – this is the base case alternative against which the Alternative 1 is evaluated. Under this alternative no improvement works are considered and only the maintenance works being carried out as per the maintenance standards and policy are included.

2. ‘Reconstruction Option’ - It includes: reconstruction of all earthen roads; roads with weak base and very poor pavement condition; roads with weak base or very poor condition; improvement of shoulders; reconstruction of all sub-standard/ weak bridges; improvement construction of drainage system; and maintenance policy same as considered in Alternative 0.

3. ‘Overlay Option’ – It includes: thick overlay of all pavements in fair to poor condition; improvement of shoulders; reconstruction of all sub-standard/ weak bridges; improvement/ construction of drainage system; and maintenance policy same as considered in Alternative 0.

The steps for the screening process are described below:

Step 1 - Preparing the Long List of Secondary Roads

The first step of the selection of secondary roads was based on a participatory approach, whereby, all the Provincial Departments of Transport (PDoTs) were contacted and their existing and future plans for development of secondary roads collected and discussed. The PDoTs have prepared a Master Plan for the development of the provincial roads in a phased manner. The list of projects included in these 13 provincial master plans is extensive, but it includes both provincial and commune priority roads. The Long List was prepared province by province, rather than for the whole study region in order to maintain a certain degree of equity in the screening of the roads and to make sure that all provinces were covered and equally considered.

Step 2 - Connecting the Secondary Roads with Main Transport Corridors

The second step was to establish the connectivity of the secondary roads included in the Long List with the main transport corridors. A detailed map was prepared for this purpose and the secondary roads that were not connected to either a National Highway or a main waterway were excluded from the Long List (See Volume II of FS).

Step 3 - Excluding the Roads that may Result in Over Investment

The list obtained after Step 2 was further subjected to the process of elimination of those roads that would result in ‘over investment’ in the event of their being selected for the investment under MTIDP. This would result in wasting scarce resources as well as distributing them unfairly. Based on the road condition survey conducted by the Consultant, all such roads that were found to require very large works or, conversely, to be in good condition were excluded from the list developed in Step 2.

Step 4 - Sequencing the Secondary Roads as per Agriculture Activity

In the Mekong delta agriculture and related activities are major sources of income for the majority of the population, and this potential needs to be exploited further in order to impart impetus to the regional economic growth. When analyzing the available data on GDP, it was observed that the agriculture sector contributes to about half of the GDP of Mekong Region. Generally, the agricultural areas are connected to the main transport corridors through the secondary roads, and thus improving roads linked to high agricultural output areas would facilitate the agricultural growth in the Mekong delta region. Therefore agricultural production at the district level was considered to prepare an “Agriculture-Index” for the roads obtained from Step 3. For this, the agriculture production of the districts through which a road passes was estimated. When some of the districts were partially covered by a road, judgment was used to take only a part of the production of these districts based on the area covered by the road to the total area of the district under consideration. Having prepared the combined agricultural production for each road, these were then divided by the length of the road to obtain the index. Thus the Agriculture-Index is actually the total agricultural production served by a road divided by the length of the road. The roads obtained from Step 3 were ranked in descending



order separately for each of the provinces. This was further combined with the poverty index (discussed in Step 5) for screening the roads in each of the provinces.

Step 5 - Including the Poverty Dimension in Road Screening

For inclusion of poverty dimension in the screening of the roads, the Social Assessment presented in Part 5 of this volume was used. A “Poverty-Index” was defined as the number of poor at the district level, estimated by considering the incidence of poverty at the provincial level and multiplying it with the population of the district. For all the districts in a province, the same incidence of poverty as applicable for the province was used. The number of poor was combined as per the districts covered by a road and this was then divided by the combined area of these districts to arrive at the poverty-index associated with the road.

Step 6 - Province-wise Screened List of Roads

In each of the provinces the roads that are connected to main transport network (National Highways and main waterways) were ranked as per the Agricultural–Index and the Poverty- Index in the decreasing order of the value of those indexes. Since the final list should include roads that are linked to economic activities, as well as serving the poverty areas, it was decided to use the Agriculture-Index and Poverty-Index together rather than to combine them by using subjective weights. Finally, an initial cut-off length of 100 kms of roads per province was adopted. In case the total length of roads in a province was less than 100 kms, all the roads were selected. To select the roads in the provinces having more than 100 kms of roads, the roads with higher Agriculture- Index were considered. There were cases where a road with high Agriculture-Index had also a high Poverty-Index. However, it was ensured that an adequate number of roads having high Poverty-Index were also included, even if they would have ranked lower as per their Agriculture-Index.

The Consultant selected the first ranked secondary roads in each province and checked the total corresponding investment, which came up to US $ 80 million. The selected roads are shown in yellow on Table 6.2. The Consultant was advised that the total budget available for the improvement of Provincial and Commune roads was only US $ 35 million. Considering this constraint, the Consultant engineers shortened and revised the design of the selected roads to remain within this limit.

In order to check the biasness in the prioritization of roads, a province-wise cost effectiveness analysis was undertaken for the roads where the benefits could not be quantified, against the roads that were selected. For this, the estimated investment was divided with the population served by the road. The higher the value is , the lower the possibility of road is being selected. The results are presented in Table 6.3. An analysis of Table 6.3 reveals that except for Soc Trang province, the investment per population served for the roads not selected is higher that those selected. Thus it can be inferred that the roads selected on the basis of economic evaluation ratios (Table 6.2) are not biased, hence it may not require further modification and can be considered as final. The resulting selected provincial road alternatives are presented below:

Table 6.3. Upgrading of Provincial Roads: Phase I BT: PR 884 13.72 Two-lane (6.0 m) carriageway w/ improved shoulders ST: PR 04 15.30 Single lane (3.5 m) carriageway w/ improved shoulders CM: CN – CDV 8.50 Single lane (3.5 m) carriageway w/ improved shoulders

Table 6.4. Upgrading of Provincial Roads: Phase II AG: PR 941 2.60 Two-lane (6.0 m) carriageway w/ improved shoulders TG: PR 865 13.05 Two-lane (6.0 m) carriageway w/ improved shoulders 2-PR: PR 841 1.40 Single lane (3.5 m) carriageway w/ improved shoulders 4-CT: TT – TL 11.90 Single lane (3.5 m) carriageway w/ improved shoulders 3-HG: PR 928 24.40 Single lane (3.5 m) carriageway w/ improved shoulders 4-KG: BN – TH 16.85 Single lane (3.5 m) carriageway w/ improved shoulders 1-CM: TB – UM (Thoi Binh-U minh) 9.50 Single lane (3.5 m) carriageway w/ improved shoulders 2-BL: CS – HCMR 26.36 Single lane (3.5 m) carriageway w/ improved shoulders



2-TV: TN 8.30 Single lane (3.5 m) carriageway w/ improved shoulders 6-TV: PR 915 20.00 Single lane (3.5 m) carriageway w/ improved shoulders

Table 6.5. Results of Economic Analysis



Table 6.6 Results of Cost Effectiveness Analysis

6.3 Analysis of Alternatives – the need for more environmental considerations

It is necessary to recall that the road projects in the MTIDP are only to upgrade and rehabilitate the existing roads, none of them are to build any new roads. Presently, the FS has recommended only one alternative of road upgrading and rehabilitation, therefore, analysis of alternatives by needs for more environmental considerations is just a comparison between two options: realize project or not realize project.

Comparative results of positive and negative impacts between the two options are presented in table 6.5. below. It is also notable that negative environmental impacts caused by the road improvement works are generally short-term; and methods for their mitigation are well understood from direct experience in the project area, provided that the environmental management plan and mitigation measures recommended that plan are properly implemented.

The resultant comparative results of positive and negative impacts on environment of the selected option is that when the road projects of the MTIDP are completed, more benefits will be created for the environment (in both social and natural aspects) than the other options.



Finally, regarding the resettlement needs under the project, most project-affected-people (PAP) with not require relocation. They will simply stay in their immediate vicnity with some movement of homes or business in the immediate vicinity most often only having to move a few meters. For others who will require relocation, the option selected was provide them with alternate sites within the GOV’s exisiting resettlement sites that are fully equipped with drinking water, sanitation and other infrastructure needs that are fully organized and implemented at each site in advance of people being relocated there. This option is being pursued as opposed to the project developing new sites and orking more with the GOV’s overall plan for the resettlement of diasadvantage people due to development activties or natural conditions such as annual flooding.

Table 6.6. Comparison of environmental impacts between the two options: realise the MTIDP road projects or not realised



Note: - - - heavy negative impact + + + great positive impact

- - medium negative impact ++ medium positive impact

- minor negative impact + minor positive impact 0 no impact

Realize road projects Impact indicators

Preparation stage

Implementation stage

Operation

stage

Not realize road projects (impacts on environment generated from operation

of the existing roads)

Dust, exhaust gases, noise

- - - - - - - - (due to many earthenroads)

Salinity intrusion 0 0 0 0

Flood - - - - 0 - -(due to low altitude ofroads and poor drainagesystems)

Alum contamination, erosion, land slides

- - - - 0 - - - (due to weak road bed)

Water pollution - - - - - -

Bio-diversification - - - (pressure may beincreased on naturalsanctuaries due toincrease inaccessibility)

0

Landscape, historical and cultural heritages

- - 0 0

Traffic congestion, accidents

- - - - (traffic accidentsmay be increased)

- - (traffic congestions)

Economic and production activities

- - - - + + + - (incapability of economictransactions)

Income and poverty - + + + + - -(less opportunities inaccess to works and jobs)

Ethnic minorities - - + + - - (less accessibility toeducational, cultural and jobopportunities)

Resettlement, mode of land use

- - - 0 0 0

Community health - - - + + (increasedaccessibility to healthservice)

- (less accessibility to healthservices)

Trans-border pollution 0 0 - (increased vehicleflow causes increasein gases)

0



7 ROAD NETWORK IMPROVEMENTS ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION PLAN

7.1 Objective of the Environmental Action Plan (EAP)

The objectives of the EAP are as follows:

(i) To integrate environmental management into project management during whole MTIDP implementation process.

(ii) To ensure that all the MTIDP activities follow existing law and regulations on environmental protection of the Viet Nam government and the World Bank (WB).

(iii) To minimize impacts of the MTIDP on environment, to make sure that at least they should get allowable standards of Viet Nam on environment.

(iv) To prevent risks of environmental pollution from the MTIDP activities.

(v) To apply the most appropriate technical measures in controlling environmental pollution from MTIDP activities.

7.2 Contents of environmental management plan

The main contents of the EAP are as follows:

(i) Identifying implementation arrangements for EAP

(ii) Technical measures to mitigate adverse environmental impacts and enhance positive environmental impacts

(iii) Measures for observing and monitoring progress of each activity in a certain phase of the project, i.e. preparation, construction or operation phase in order to ensure conformability of activities to the existing law and/or regulations on environmental protection.

(iv) Establishing a framework for making quarterly and annual reports of environmental protection activities to the relevant agencies.

(v) Developing plan and organizing education and training courses on safety and environment to the MTIDP project staff and workers.

7.3 GOV Implementation Arrangements

The following GOV implementation arrangements apply to the EAP:

Table 7.1 The GOV implementation arrangements for the EAP

Organisation Role The EAP Responsibilities

MoF, SBV Borrower • Sign loan agreement. Loan agreement will include loan covenant that requires borrower to follow the Project EAP.

MoT Project Owner • Responsible for overall Project management • Responsible for submission of EIA to MoNRE and/or its DONREs and/or

PCs to receive appropriate GOV certificates. • Responsible for financing and successful implementation of EAP. • Overall responsibility to submit EAP/SEAP progress reports to the

MoNRE and/or its DoNREs, and WB, if required.

PMU 1 Project Management Unit

• Submission of the EIA/EAP to MoT • Managing the EAP budget on behalf of the MoT • Guiding and supervising implementation of the EAP during construction

phase of national highways. Activities include: i. Drafting and integrating environmental clauses and contractor

specifications into construction bidding documents



Organisation Role The EAP Responsibilities ii. Ensuring that environmental considerations are made as part of the

contractor bid evaluation process (i.e. ability of bid to address environmental clauses and specifications in bidding documents)

iii. Approving the Contractor’s Site Environmental Action Plan (SEAP) when relevant.

iv. Supervising implementation of environmental management activities under the SEAP

v. Reporting on the EAP progress to concerned parties

Provincial Project Management Units (PPMUs) within Provincial Departments of Transport (PDOTs) under Provincial Peoples Committees (PPCs)

• Coordination of activities with the PMU-I Responsibility for and oversight of implementation of the provincial roads component, including environmental performance

• Liaison with and reporting to the World Bank and GOV on environmental issues related to provincial roads

• Preparing and submitting to the MoT all studies, designs, bid plans, bid documents, contract documents, etc. including environmental requirements

• Overview of contractors’ implementation of the EAP for provincial roads • Implementation of land acquisition and resettlement plans together with

PPC for provincial roads • Monitoring of construction progress and quality including environmental

performance

To be announced Construction Contractors for national highways and provincial roads

• Preparation of Site Environmental Action Plan • Conduct the SEAP • Reporting of the SEAP to the PMU 1

MoNRE, Provincial DoNREs, Provincial and District PCs25

Environmental Regulator

• Review and appraisal of Sub-project EIAs/Registration for Securing Environmental Standards as per the GOV policies.

• Issue appropriate the EIA certificates and/or environmental approvals for sub-projects

• Ensure the EAPs are being conducted as described in the EIA reports

7.4 Human Resources to Implement the EAP

7.4.1 Environmental Specialist Positions in the EAP Experience on other projects has found that there is substantial benefit in assigning one person in each management unit to take responsibility for implementing their respective duties in the EAP. In the case of the MTIPD project, the following recommendations are made:

(i) Assign one person to the PMU-1 as Environmental Safeguards Specialist: 30.000US$ (ii) Assign one person for each PPMU as Environmental Safeguards Specialist:

130.000US$ ( for all the MTIDP projec) (iii) Retain at least one Safeguards Independent Monitoring Consultant to review and

monitor EAP implementation: 60.000 US$ ( for all the MTIDP projec) The environmental safeguard specialist positions will be part-time posts held by regular staff within the PMU and PPMUs. It is expected that environmental safeguards specialists will hold other posts within PMU/PPMU (social safeguards, engineering, etc); The safeguard independent monitoring position will be on contract with Ministry of Transport.

25 Under new GOV policy there are at least four options for environmental regulator in Phase I sub-projects: the MONRE, DoNRE,

Provincial PC, and District PC. The choice of regulator(s) will likely depend upon the specific characteristics of the subproject in question: A national highway with length of greater than 50k or crossing one or more provincial boundaries will have MONRE as regulator; a provincial road less than 50 km but crossing several districts will have the DoNRE has environmental regulator; a small road reconstruction in one district may have the District PC as environmental regulator.



The preliminary TORs for these positions are found in Appendix 1.

7.4.2 Capacity Building Requirements to Implement the EAP Environmental management is a relatively new task for most EAP stakeholders. Therefore, this EAP includes a plan to improve the capacity of EAP stakeholders to carry out their respective EAP duties. The basic activities of the EAP capacity building plan are described in the below table. Note that this plan should be designed and implemented by a Senior Environmental Safeguards Consultant. It is expected that the consultant input will be about 2 months.

Table 7.2: Capacity Building Plan ( for all the MTIDP projec)

Capacity Building Objectives

Provide key stakeholders with the intellectual resources necessary to conduct their respective EAP duties.

Designed and Implemented By Senior Environmental Safeguards Consultant

Primary Target Groups

Key stakeholders of the EAP: PMU-1 and PMU-W safeguards specialist, PPMU Safeguards Specialists (one per PPMU), DoNREs and selected PPCs, and Safeguard Independent Monitoring Consultant (1)

Implementation Period First 12 months of project

Activities to Achieve Objectives

Activity Comments Location Key Participants Schedule Project-wide EAP Introductory Training Workshop

Purpose: introduce stakeholders to key sections of EAP and responsibilities for EAP implementation. Lead by: Senior Environmental Safeguards Consultant Duration: 1 day

HCMC

PPMU Safeguards Specialists

PMU-1 and PMU-W Safeguards Specialist

First quarter of Year 1 5.000 USD

National Level Follow-up Training

Purpose: follow-up meetings and discussion on how to implement national waterways component safeguard responsibilities. Lead by: Senior Environmental Safeguards Consultant Duration: 2 days

HCMC

PMU-1 and PMU-W Safeguards Specialist

Selected Contractors and Design Consultants

Second and third quarter Year 1 5.000 USD

Provincial Level Follow-up Training

Purpose: follow-up meetings and discussion on how to implement feeder canal component safeguard responsibilities. Lead by: Senior Environmental Safeguards Consultant Duration: 2 days per province

One training session in each province

PPMU Safeguards Specialists

Selected Contractors and Design Consultants

Second and/or third quarter Year 1 36.000 USD



SIMC Training Courses

Purpose: practical training, discussion, and field trips for SIMC on how to implement their TORs. Lead by: Senior Environmental Safeguards Consultant Duration: 2-5 day/course

To Be Announced

All SIMCs that will work on the project Third and/or

fourth quarter of Year 1 7.000 USD

Awareness Raising Meetings

Purpose: build support for EMP Implementation – ensure PPMU and PMU management are aware of their EAP responsibilities Lead by: MoT, with support from Senior Environmental Safeguards Consultant Duration: 1 hour/meeting

To Be Announced

Senior PPMU and PMU staff

Third and/or fourth quarter of Year 1 7.000USD

7.5 Phase I Investments

7.5.1 Summary of First Year Environmental Impacts Table 7.3 belows summarises the environmental impacts expected to occur as a result of the project.

Table 7.3: Environmental Impacts of the Project


Project Impacts Salinity Intrusion No Impact No Impact Surface Water Quality Minor Negative Impact Minor Negative Impact Hydrology and Flooding No Impact Major Positive Impact Erosion and Sedimentation Minor Negative Impact Major Positive Impact Air Quality Minor Negative Impact Major Negative Impact Noise Minor Negative Impact Major Negative Impact Earthworks (incl. spoil disposal and acid sulphate soils) Minor Negative Impact No Impact Resettlement Minor Negative Impact No Impact Ethnic Minorities Minor Negative Impact Minor Negative Impact Cultural Heritage Minor Negative Impact No Impact Accidents, Worker and Public Safety Minor Negative Impact Minor Negative Impact Regional/Cumulative Impacts Economic Development Minor Positive Impact Major Positive Impact Traffic Safety, Flow, and Vehicle Maintenance Costs No Impact Minor Positive Impact Social Evils, Rural Landscape, and Livelihood Unknown Unknown Ecotourism Unknown Unknown

7.5.2 Environmental Mitigation Measures Environmental mitigation measures are proposed to reduce major negative impacts to acceptable levels. Mitigations are also proposed to further reduce minor negative impacts whenever possible.



The hierarchy for formulating mitigation measures is presented in Section 5 of this report and can be summarised as follows: 1) avoid the impact; 2) minimise the impact; 3) rectify the impact; and 4) compensate for the impact.

Table 7.4 Pre-construction and construction phase mitigation measures

IMPACT MITIGATION OBJECTIVES MITIGATION MEASURES RESPONSIBILITY COST

Physical Conditions Surface Water Quality Highways – all Provincial Roads - all

Ensure surface water quality meets ambient TCVN standards (TCVN 5942 –surface water, TCVN 5943 – coastal water, TCVN 5944 – groundwater); .

Conduct construction activities in accordance with TCVN 5524: General Requirements for Protecting Surface Water Against Pollution; and TCVN 5295: General Requirements for Protection of Surface and Underground Water Caused by Oil and Oil Products. Example mitigations include: • Implement sediment capture devices,

such as traps or basins, to avoid sediment laden runoff entering watercourses

• Avoid clearing activities during the rainy season

• Store chemicals, fuels/oils in covered areas away from watercourses with concrete floors and bunding

• Ensure prompt clean-up of any spills • Implement solid and liquid waste

management systems at construction camps and at construction sites

• Implement wheel washing facilities at construction sites

Contractor

Estimated in contractor bidding documents

Erosion and sedimentation Highways – all Provincial Roads - all

Minimize erosion of exposed areas and sediment loads in waterways

Conduct construction activities in accordance with TCVN 5524: General Requirements for Protecting Surface Water Against Pollution; Example mitigations include: • Water exposed areas during windy

conditions • Minimize of size and duration of exposed

areas • Implement diversion structures, such as

drains or fences, to divert clean runoff away from exposed areas

• Implement sediment capture devices, such as traps or basins, to avoid sediment laden runoff entering watercourses

Contractor


Air Quality Highways – all Provincial Roads - all

Minimize amount of dust generated and effects on sensitive receivers

• Water exposed areas during windy conditions

• Minimize of size and duration of exposed areas

• Cover of trucks carrying dispersible materials

• Ensure construction vehicles and equipment are well maintained

Contractor


Noise Highways – all Provincial Roads - all

Minimize noise generated and effects on sensitive receivers

• Ensure construction vehicles and equipment are well maintained

• Restrict noisy activities to day time periods • Inform local community of schedule of

construction activities • Install temporary acoustic shields in the

vicinity of very noisy activities • Provide workers with noise protection

equipment

Contractor





Earthworks – Consumption of Natural Materials (rock, sand, soil, etc) Highways – all Provincial Roads - all

Ensure natural materials are being consumed conservatively

• Purchase materials at their economic value whenever possible.

• Do not purchase materials that are subsidized

• Procure materials from closest quarries whenever possible

• Adhere to GOV regulations for sand extraction

• Use on-site materials whenever possible.

Contractor Estimated in contractor bidding documents

Earthworks – excavated or dredged materials

Ensure highest value uses of excavated and dredged materials

• Use for construction purposes whenever possible

• Discuss use of remaining materials with local people and local governments – ensure highest value options for materials are implemented (agriculture, natural habitat creation, reclamation)

The PMU 1/PPMUs Contractor


Earthworks – Potential and Acid Soils Highways – only those in acid sulphate areas (e.g. NH 53 and 54) Provincial Roads – only those in acid sulphate areas)

Understand extent and magnitude of hazardous soils and minimize disturbance

Identify extent and magnitude of ASS and other contaminated soils in vicinity of sub-projects. Whenever possible, design excavations to avoid disturbing the PASS or ASS.

If PASS/ASS must be disturbed, follow steps conducted on similar WB-financed projects in the Mekong delta, for example: • Dispose PASS/ASS into contained areas

with internal bunds • Construct drainage ditch around perimeter

of bunds to collect leachate, and return it back to main waterway.

• Cover contained the PASS/ASS with the PVC membrane

• Ensure safety near the containment area

The PMU 1/PPMUs Contractor


Socio-economic Conditions Resettlement Minimize

resettlement resulting form land use changes

Implement resettlement and compensation procedures contained in project Resettlement Development Plan and Policy Framework / RAP

The PMU 1 / PPMUs

Estimated in RAP

Ethnic Minorities

Minimize disruption to ethnic minorities

Implement resettlement and compensation procedures contained in project Ethnic Minority Development Plan

The PMU 1 / PPMUs

Estimated in the EMDP

Cultural and Heritage Sites

Compensate stakeholders of cultural and/or heritage sites that will lose land/property.

Meet with stakeholders in the Thanh Phuoc Khmer temple and prepare a mitigation plan for land loss in the temple. One suggested measure is for the Project to purchase land of similar size, quality, and purpose, and provide appropriate vegetation/gate for the garden and the temple.

The PMU/PPMU Estimated in the RAP




Accidents, Worker Safety, and Public Health

Improve public health conditions

Prepare accident contingency plan, finance the plan, and train staff to implement the plan

Undertake training of construction works to minimize conflicts with local communities, particularly in relation to safety, hygiene and transmission of diseases

Ensure construction camps and construction sites have adequate sanitation and waste management systems

Ensure construction workers have access to and are trained in the use of construction safety equipment

Work with local authorities to implement awareness campaigns for local community about issues associated with presence of construction workers

Contractor The PMU 1 / PPMUs


Table 7.5 Operation phase mitigation measures

IMPACT MITIGATION OBJECTIVE MITIGATION MEASURES RESPONSIBILITY COST

Physical Conditions Surface Water Quality

Ensure surface water quality meets ambient TCVN standards (TCVN 5942 –surface water, TCVN 5943 – coastal water, TCVN 5944 – groundwater);

Implement a thorough and routine roads maintenance program. Example items in the program should include: • Ensure road drainage systems are well

maintained and free of blockages • Ensure materials used in road

improvements works do not contain potential toxic lactates

• Ensure resettlement sites have solid and liquid waste management systems that are adequately maintained.

The VRA / PDOTs

Air Quality Minimize emissions of pollutants and effects on sensitive receivers

Implement a thorough and routine roads maintenance program. Example items in the program should include: • Watering trucks should spray water onto

the road during the dry season in urban areas during the dry season on an as-needed basis

• Undertake regular maintenance and cleaning of roads

Work with local authorities to restrict movements of polluting vehicles

The VRA / PDOTs

Estimate in operating budget of each road

Noise generation

Minimize noise generation and effects on sensitive receivers

Implement practical and feasible noise reduction measures at sensitive receivers when monitoring indicates exceedance of the TCVN noise levels Work with local authorities to restrict movements of poorly maintained vehicles

The VRA / PDOTs

Socio-economic Conditions



IMPACT MITIGATION OBJECTIVE MITIGATION MEASURES RESPONSIBILITY COST

Accidents, Worker and Public Safety

Improve public health conditions

Work with local authorities and NGOS to implement the HIV/AIDS awareness program in local communities Ensure resettlement sites have solid and liquid waste management systems that are adequately maintained

The VRA / PDOTs The PMU 1 / PPMUs

7.5.3 Environmental Monitoring Measures Table 7.6 Environmental monitoring measures

IMPACT PARAMETERS EXAMPLE LOCATIONS FREQUENCY STANDARDS

USED Phase I cost estimation

Pre-construction & construction stage Physical Conditions Air emissions

Dust levels, CO, and NOx

Vicinity of clearing works

At least once for each sub-project prior to construction (to establish baseline, and during construction (to establish impact)

TCVN 5737-1995 TCVN 5948-1995

1,300 USD

Noise and vibration generation

Noise levels to meet TCVN requirements

In the vicinity of sensitive receivers

In response to complaints

TCVN 5949-1995 TCVN 5948-1995

600 USD

Disturbance of hazardous soils

Pesticides and heavy metals in sediments Acidity levels in sediments

In areas of known contamin- action or ASS/PASS that will be disturbed

Prior to disposal Prior to reuse

TCVN 7209-2002 TCVN 6496-1999 (ISO 11047 – 1995)

1,700 USD

Salinity intrusion

Salinity levels In sub-project areas being constructed in/ near saline soils

At least once during construction works in saline locations

TCVN 5942 – 1995 TCVN 6649 - 2000

500 USD

Biological Conditions Protected areas And sensitive areas

Disturbance of Nui Cam Nature Reserve, U Minh Nature Reserves (south and north reserves)

Closest borders of Nui Cam Nature Reserve, closest borders of U Minh nature reserve.

At least once during construction

Observation 600 USD

Socio-economic Conditions Land use changes

Refer sub-project RAP

Refer RAP Refer RAP Refer RAP





Disruption to communities

Safety and hygiene conditions in construction camps Community complaints received

Construction camps

Regularly during construction works

Observation

Inequitable effects on ethnic minority groups

Refer EMDP Refer EMDP Refer EMDP Refer EMDP

Operation Stage Physical Conditions Air emissions

Dust levels, CO, and NOx

Vicinity of clearing works

At least twice for each sub-project during operation (to establish impact)

Relevant TCVN standards

Surface water quality deterioration

TSS, pH, alum, to meet TCVN 5942 requirements

Downstream of bridge maintenance that disturb ASS and contaminated soils Downstream of drainage points from dredge disposal locations

Twice during wet season, twice during dry season in ASS or PASS areas

Relevant TCVN standards TCVN 5942 - 1995

Salinity intrusion

Salinity In areas where changes to salinity regime are expected to occur

Twice in wet and dry season in saline areas

Relevant TCVN standards

Biological Conditions Protected areas and sensitive areas

Disturbance of Nui Cam Nature Reserve, U Minh Nature Reserves (south and north reserves)

Close Borders of Nui Cam Nature Reserve, close of U Minh nature reserve.

At least once during operation of sub-projects within 10km of protected or sensitive areas

Observation

Socio-economic Conditions





Accidents and safety issues

Number of accidents, deaths, vehicle violations, etc.

On all roads As needed Discussion with local police authorities

Source: the CSD 2006

7.5.4 Environmental Monitoring and Reporting The following environmental monitoring and reporting framework will apply to the project:

(i) Each construction contractor will be fully responsible for all required environmental management and mitigation activities for the works under the project that will be specified in each contract, and the contractors will provide monthly reports to the PMU1 or PMU-W on the implementation of the requirements contained in the relevant sub-project EAP and the results of the environmental performance monitoring outlined in the EAP.

(ii) During construction, for each sub-project, PMU1 and PMU-W will engage an independent organization to conduct periodical environmental monitoring and prepare reports for submission to the PMU, DONRE and WB. The timing and frequency of these reports will vary depending on the sub-projects and will be defined in the sub-project EAP.

(iii) During operation, for each sub-project, the PMU1 and PMU-W will engage an independent organization to conduct periodical environmental monitoring for at least the first 2 years of operation and reports to the PMU, DONRE and WB. The timing, frequency and duration of these reports will vary depending on the sub-projects and will be defined in the sub-project EAP.

7.6 Future Investments

Phase II investments shall follow a similar EAP as Phase I investments. This EAP should be formulated as part of the preparation for Phase II. Cost estimation for environmental monitoring for phase II: - National Highways: 900 million VND - Provincial roads: 1,350 million VND

8 PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT

8.1 Overview of Project-Level Public Consultation Activities

The Consultant has involved as many stakeholder groups as possible in the process of selecting project corridors and designing the Project. During the process of conducting engineering, economic, and social studies in order to select optimal investment combinations, the Consultant closely consulted with the PMU-1, as well as Provincial People’s Committees (PPCs) and the PDOTs. In particular for the purpose of preparing the Social Assessment, the Consultant conducted extensive fieldwork to inform the details of the Project and discuss with the PPCs and PDOTs of all provinces of the Mekong Delta Region and to also hear opinions of commune and village leaders as well as the local communities in general of selected districts. For the development of the Baseline Profile, the Consultant again consulted with the local populations. The preparation process of RAP is also consulting PAPs and is taking into consideration their opinions and concerns. The two formal Project workshops have also served as the place for key stakeholders to participate in the Project design. Table 8.1 summarizes this process.



Table 8.1. Summary consultation process for the MTIDP Type of Participation Activity Stakeholder Groups* Timing & Duration Output Constraints

Project Identification

Donor (WB); Government Policymakers (GoV & MOT – Borrower); Implementing Agency (PMU1); Other Interested Groups in Public Sector (VIWA, VRA, PMU-Waterways, PPCs, & PDOTs).

Up to signing contract. Project Contract. -

Donor (WB); Government Policymakers (GoV & MOT – Borrower); Implementing Agency (PMU1); Other Interested Groups in Public Sector (VIWA, VRA, PMU-Waterways, PPCs, & PDOTs); Private Sector Firms; & NGOs.

Formal Consultation Workshops (3 workshops during Consultancy Services – Inception, Interim, & Final)

Public Consultations

Those mentioned above, plus District and Commune PCs; Local Communities in General, including both poor and non-poor, and other vulnerable groups such as ethnic minorities and PAPs.

Informal Consultations – throughout Consultancy Services.

Formal workshop minutes; incorporation of feedback into Project design and into related reports.

Difficulty of full coverage and definitional issues of all project affected communes.

Identification of Project Components

Donor (WB); Government Policymakers (GoV & MOT – Borrower); Implementing Agency (PMU1); Other Interested Groups in Public Sector (VIWA, VRA, PMU-Waterways, PPCs, & PDOTs); Private Sector Firms; NGOs; District and Commune PCs; Local Communities.

From start of Feasibility and Preliminary Design Consulting Services. Finalization following Second Workshop (Interim Workshop).

Road & waterway corridors, landing stages, and other transport infrastructure identified to be included as part of MTIDP.

Different priorities and preferences for Project components among key stakeholders, which need to be balanced well.

Preparation of SA

Mainly Local Communities. Assistance and inputs provided by PPCs, PDOTs, & District & Commune PCs.

From start of Feasibility and Preliminary Design Consulting Services.

SA Report. General project covers entire Mekong Delta, which cannot be fully covered due to time and resource constraints, thus analysis has to be generalized to some extent.

Preparation of RAP and IDPD/EMDP

PAPs (those who may need to be resettled or whose land may need to be partially acquired) among those who are included in Local Communities in General, & ethnic minority communities. Assistance and inputs provided by PPCs, PDOTs, & District & Commune PCs.

From when preliminary identification of project components are made to end of Consultancy Services.

Detailed RAP for First-year Program; Socioeconomic profile of PAPs; M&E guideline for PAPs; & Resettlement Policy Framework.

Large resettlement needs in particular for waterway components. Time and resource constraints.

Preparation of Socio-economic Baseline Profile

Mainly Local Communities in areas surrounding selected road and waterway corridors of First-year Program. Assistance and inputs provided by PPCs, PDOTs, & District & Commune PCs.

Following identification of First-year Program to end of Consultancy Services.

Socioeconomic Baseline Profile of First-year Program; M&E Guideline.

Time constraints, difficulty of full coverage and definitional issues of all Project-affected areas and groups.

Preparation of Project Implementation Plan (PIP)

WB; PMU1; PMU-Waterways; & PDOTs.

Following identification of Project components and by WB disclosure date.

PIP. Time constraints.

Feas

ibili

ty a

nd P

relim

inar

y D

esig

n

Preparation of EIA & EMP

PMU1; PPCs; & PDOTs. (Prepared under separate contract by another Consultant.)

Commenced during latter half of Feasibility and Preliminary Design Consulting Services and expected to be completed by WB disclosure date.

EIA & EMP Time and resource constraints. Difficulty of coordination because EIA is under separate contract from all other components.



Type of Participation Activity Stakeholder Groups* Timing & Duration Output Constraints Project implementation done by PMU1 & PMU-Waterways with assistance from PPCs, PDOTs, & District PCs. (Some decentralization options for project implementation of provincial roads and waterways may be considered.)

Entire implementation period.

Improved Transport Network in Mekong Delta.

Project Implementation, Supervision & Monitoring

Intended Beneficiaries (Local Communities), & Other Affected & Interested Groups, including those affected by resettlement and land acquisition.

Information dissemination on details of project for respective Project area populations significantly in advance of commencement. Continuous consultations during Project implementation so that it minimizes anticipated as well as unexpected negative impacts during implementation. Participation of local populations in implementation is possibility to allow them to have temporary wage earning opportunities.

Monitoring Report.

Time and resource constraints. Difficulty of full coverage and definitional issues of all Project-affected areas and groups. Limited expertise on social issues and M&E in implementing agencies.

Project M&E

PMU1; PMU-Waterways; PPCs, PDOTs; District PCs; Local Communities in General, including those who are affected by resettlement and land acquisition, Other Interested Groups.

Socioeconomic Household Surveys, focus group discussions with local communities and other affected persons at times specified in M&E Guidelines in Baseline Report. M&E of PAPs as specified by RAP.

M&E Report. Time and resource constraints. Difficulty of full coverage and definitional issues of all Project-affected areas and groups. Limited expertise on social issues and M&E in implementing agencies.

* Only lists main stakeholder groups to be involved, and this does not mean the participation is limited to the listed stakeholder groups.

Source:The F/S of the MTIDP

8.2 Environmental Consultations Round I The EIA Consultant conducted consultations with representatives of environment managers in Project; construction and urban management and leaders of local branches, agencies and organizations. The first consultation was held to pre-test the questionnaires and collect initial comments from managers, professionals and local authorities in some provinces. The CSD has consulted 24 scientific workers from the Provincial Department of Science, Technology and Environment and the Department of Construction of the provinces of Soc Trang and Tra Vinh. In the second consultation, the CSD collected 86 opinions and comments from managers of the environment, construction and urban management sectors and representatives of local authorities in the provinces of Can Tho, Hau Giang, and Tien Giang.

The EIA Consultant conducted consultation with some informants at the provincial and district level and from different provincial departments such as Natural Resources and Environment, Planning and Investment, Construction, Agriculture and Rural Development and Transport and the Urban Management Unit, the Provincial People’s Committee and the Land Acquisition and Compensation Unit. The team members directly consulted them on issues relating to the MTIDP in their provinces such as socio-economic conditions, development orientations, environmental impacts if the Project is implemented, their assessment on possible impacts of the MTIDP on local cultural and social factors and their recommendations to the Project in the future.



Based on the questionnaires developed and finalized after the protest in the first consultation, interviewers collected information from four provinces in the Mekong River Delta and processed the filled-in questionnaires with the software SPSS 12.0.

Assessing the economic development orientations of the provinces in the Mekong River Delta, 83.7% of the respondents said agriculture and aquaculture are playing an important role in the economy of the Mekong River Delta at present. Industries, especially aqua-product processing industry, trade and services are developing strongly in these provinces. Also according to opinions of managers and professionals in the Mekong River Delta provinces, the priority orientations for economic development in this region are given to agriculture, aquaculture, aqua-product processing, trade, services and tourism. However, 84.9% of the respondents said if the MTIDP is implemented, there would be positive impacts on the development of key economic sectors in the Mekong River Delta such as agriculture, trade, services and tourism. Some correspondents said that the Project would also have negative impacts on some sectors such as forestry, tourism and fisheries (Table 8.2).

Table 8.2. Public perception on the impacts of MTIDP on key economic sectors

Positive impacts Negative impacts

Economic sectors Number of respondents % Number of

respondents %

Agriculture and aquaculture 73 84.9 1 1.2

Industry and processing 70 81.4 2 2.3

Trade and services 63 73.3 4 4.7

Fisheries 56 65.1 7 8.1

Tourism 57 66.3 10 11.6

Forestry 29 33.7 16 18.6

On criteria of local socio-economic development, 50% of the respondents (43/86) held that the objective of hunger eradication and poverty reduction is the first priority of the provinces in the Mekong River Delta. The next priorities are job creation and income generation for the local people (38%). On the reduction of traffic congestion, there are different opinions but most of them considered it as the fourth or fifth priority in the criteria of local socio-economic development

In the Mekong River Delta, most of the Khmer ethnic minority group is concentrating therefore there are many Khmer pagodas. In addition, there are many historical relics, which have been classified as national historical relics. 36% of the respondents said that cultural and historical relics would be affected by MTIDP. The implementation of this project will not affect much the customs and habits of the local people. 79% of the respondents agree with this statement while 23.3% of them said the project would have positive impacts on the customs and habits of the local people.

On land acquisition and resettlement, 59.3% of the respondents said there are no difficulties if the MTIDP is implemented in their provinces. However, 19.8% of them said there would be some difficulties in land acquisition and resettlement if the MTIDP implemented because many households are living and doing business along roads and rivers. 61% of the respondents agreed with the alternative of compensation in cash according to the State rates, but 58.1% agreed with the alternative of building of houses in the resettlement sites for the affected people. However, in each specific sub-project, a more detailed sociological survey is needed on land acquisition and resettlement so as to take a more specific and precise alternative.

Most of the respondents (72%) held that the MTIDP would not affect labour and employment in their localities. Some of them even said that the project would provide job opportunities for a section of



non-agricultural labouring people if contractors employ local labourers (52.3%). On community healthcare, 18.6% of the respondents held that there will be negative impacts on community health if the MTIDP is implemented in terms of the concentration of dust, noise, solid wastes which will affect the lives of the local people. Meanwhile, up to 39.5% of the respondents said the project will have positive impacts on local people’s health and 41.9% said the project would not affect the health of the local people.

Environmental pollution in the localities is concerned by most of the people questioned. Most of the respondents assessed that there is environmental pollution in their areas, particularly solid wastes, wastewater, and dust pollution. This issue is to be given attention to during the implementation of sub-projects, particularly those to be implemented in urban areas, industrial and populous areas (Table 8.3).

Table 8.3: Public perceptions on level of environmental pollution in the Project area

Serious pollution Pollution No pollution Number of respondents

% Number of respondents

% Number of respondents

%

Solid wastes 21 24.4 50 58.1 12 14

Waste water 24 27.9 32 37.2 6 7.0

Dust 30 34.9 30 34.9 18 20.9

Noise 17 19.8 8 9.3 30 34.9

Bad smell 8 9.3 31 36.0 39 45.3

On the view on the implementation of the MTIDP, 83.7% of the respondents support it, 2.3% do not want and 15.1% express no opinion about this issue. On local requests to the MTIDP, 73.3% of the respondents proposed job creation for local labourers, 46.5% requested for job training for local people’s children and 50% wished for more communication to raise awareness of the local people to take part in the process of implementation of the MTIDP and knowledge on traffic safety.

Other opinions of the respondents proposed that the Project should take into account the local socio-economic development plans and strategies so as to well coordinate with local authorities to contribute to the common development of the whole region. More detailed surveys on social conditions and environment should be needed for sub-projects to ensure the suitability of each locality and each road route. Specific plans should be worked out for compensation and support for the people affected by the Project such as job training, employment of local labourers and house rental support etc. In general, the respondents wished the project to be implemented so as to improve the transport infrastructure in the Mekong River Delta to achieve the objectives of the regional socio-economic development.

8.3 Environmental Consultations Round II

The Consultant has provided a summary EIA to project stakeholders (government officials, NGOs, project affected persons) to disclose project information and receive feedback and comment on proposed environmental impacts and mitigation measures. For the roads component of MTIDP, the following consultations are proposed (Table 8.4)

Table 8.4 Future environmental consultations

No Sites Sample size Methods 1 Road NH53: 20 people - 1 public consultation meeting;



(national highway)

- Tra Vinh town (km 56- km 60) or NH 54: - Tra Met town (km 85-854)

- 20 households structured interviews (questionnaires); - 3 in-dept householder interviews

2 Road (province)

PR 884: Ben Tre town, Tan Phu commune, Chau Thanh district.

15 people - 1 public consultation meeting; - 15 households structured interviews (questionnaires); - 2 in-dept householder interviews

NH 53, km56 – km 60 is the entrance section of Tra Vinh Town, where the population is dense and high traffic operations.. in addition, in this section there is a bridge in poor conditions and it has been proposed for renewal. Provincial road 884, section connecting Ham Luong river is also a dense residential area and an area of high agricultural production, when this section is upgraded, it will be more favourable and easier to connect Ben Tre province’s central with the Water way Corridor No 3, and therefore it generates a great impact on the socio-economic situation of the population here.

The local authorities and people in the region supported the upgrading of the routes as it will create good conditions for better economic development in the region, goods exchange consolidation,... and the final result is to improve the living quality of the people in the region.

The local authority has implemented the milestones setting for years for the population living along the routes. This work has created favourable conditions for the ground clearance and moving of the local households.

Most of opinions of the local people who live alongside the routes, concentrated on such issues as dust, smoke and noise during the implementation (13/15 opinions in Ben Tre and 18/20 in Tra Vinh). The next interest is implementation progress, which should be quick, avoiding delays.

To mitigate the above issues, the local people recommended several measures like the implementation units should speed up the progress, complete items one by one. Equipments and machines used should be in accordance with the technical requirement; reduction of noise, dust and watering should be applied to reduce dust in the dry season. Following the final round of consultations, the EIA report has been revised and finalised. Vietnamese copies of the final EIA reports will be made available for public review:

• At the World Bank Info shop Library in Hanoi • At the VDIC • At each participating Provincial Peoples Committee headquarters.

Example environmental survey and consultation forms are found in Appendix 2.



9 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

9.1 Conclusions

The MTIDP is expected to play an important role in socio-economic development in 13 provinces of the Mekong Delta Region through improved road and waterways transport networks. The Project is strongly supported by the Government, Ministry of Transport and local people in the region. The MTIDP’s road improvement activities are conducted in two phases:

Phase I: National Highways NH 53, NH 54; Provincial Roads PR 884, PR 04, CN-CDV

Phase II: National Highway NH 91; Provincial Roads PR 909, PR 941, PR 835B, PR 865, PR 841, TT-TL, PR 928, BN-TH, TB-UM, CS-HCMR, TN, PR 915.

The focus of construction works is on rehabilitation and upgrading of existing alignments. No new alignments will be created. An economic analysis found that all national road and provincial road activities will bring substantial net economic benefits to the Project area. In addition, implementation of these project activities will bring numerous improvements, including traffic safety, reduced flooding, reduced erosion, reduced vehicle operation costs, and reduced road maintenance costs. In essence, the Project is expected to bring net social, economic, and environmental benefits to the Mekong delta and its people. However, it is important to recognize the MTIDP’s project area – the Mekong delta – is a dynamic environment that is home to a range of sensitive components: protected areas, melaleuca forests, peat bogs, potential acid sulphate and acid sulphate soils, vast areas of flatlands barely above sea level, saline soils, susceptibility to natural hazards such typhoons, and extreme sensitivity to flooding and erosion. All of these components have a significant and ongoing influence on the ability of local people – most of whom are poor farmers – to sustain their livelihoods. Given this context of the Project and the Project area, the EIA report presents a number of environmental considerations for future phases of the Project. They include:

• NH 53, NH 53, Dong Thap Muoi, Tu giac Long Xuyen and some other project areas are located in acid sulphate or potential acid sulphate soils. Excavation works can therefore cause land contaminated by alum and acidification of water, which, inter alias, can create damage to both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. There is substantial experience in mitigating acid sulphate soils, and if this experience is applied to the Project in a clear and thorough manner then the environmental impacts of excavating this soil should be minor.

• During the construction stage in all sites, especially in residential areas, noise, dust and exhaust gases pollution are important issues. Those impacts are temporary and can be minimized by applying strict management and technical measures. During operation it is possible that air quality and noise levels may exceed TCVN standards for NH 53, NH 54, and NH 91.

A summary of potential impacts for Pre-construction, construction, and operation of roads investments is presented in Table 9.1.

Table 9.1. Summary of Potential Impacts


Project Impacts

Salinity Intrusion No Impact No Impact

Surface Water Quality Minor Negative Impact Minor Negative Impact




Hydrology and Flooding No Impact Major Positive Impact

Erosion and Sedimentation Minor Negative Impact Major Positive Impact

Air Quality Minor Negative Impact Major Negative Impact

Noise Minor Negative Impact Major Negative Impact

Earthworks (incl. spoil disposal and acid sulphate soils) Minor Negative Impact No Impact

Resettlement Minor Negative Impact No Impact

Ethnic Minorities Minor Negative Impact Minor Negative Impact

Cultural Heritage Minor Negative Impact No Impact

Accidents, Worker and Public Safety Minor Negative Impact Minor Negative Impact

Regional/Cumulative Impacts

Economic Development Minor Positive Impact Major Positive Impact

Traffic Safety, Flow, and Vehicle Maintenance Costs No Impact Minor Positive Impact

Social Evils, Rural Landscape, and Livelihood Unknown Unknown

Ecotourism Unknown Unknown

In order to minimize negative and enhance positive environmental impacts of the MTIDP, the project has prepared an environmental management plan, which includes:

• Measures to mitigate negative environment impacts; • Measures to monitor the implementation of mitigations; • Institutional arrangements to implement the EAP; • Staffing recommendations to implement the EAP; and • Capacity building plan to ensure that environmental safeguards specialists at thePMU-1 and

PPMUs can implement the EAP

9.2 Recommendations

Successful implementation of environmental safeguards in a manner consistent with OP 4.01 and the policies of the Government of Vietnam can be best achieved if the following recommendations are implemented:

1. The Project will implement the Environmental Action Plan (EAP) prepared for the project. Of particular importance is that Environmental Specialists are assigned within thePMU and PPMUs, that these specialists receive the requisite training to conduct their tasks, that contractors prepare and implement Site EAPs, and that the EAP is adequately financed and perhaps, most importantly, that the EAP is supported within the highest levels of theMOT, PMU, and PPMUs.

2. This report and its EAP become the content base for preparing all environmental assessment reports required under the Law of Environmental Protection 2005.

3. That all recommendations in the EIA to minimize and mitigate any adverse impacts be fully considered and incorporated in the detailed project deigns to be prepared for the specific civil worlks contracts under the project.



Appendix 1: Preliminary TORs for Environmental Specialists

Safeguard Independent Monitoring Consultant (SIMC)

Reports To: MOT

Duties: Main duty is to monitor the progress to which each PPMU and PMU are making towards achieving their EAPs. To conduct this duty, the SIMC will

1. Review the EAPs for all main national highways and provincial roads (if relevant)

2. Review key outputs of the EAPs as they are produced: (i) Environmental clauses in bidding documents (ii) Contractor method statements, specifications, and/or

conditions of contracts to on environmental mitigations (iii) Site EAPs prepared by contractors (iv) EAP and Site EAP progress reports (environmental

monitoring reports, consultation reports, etc)

3. Review EIA reports submitted to the GOV, GOV EIA certificates for main canals, GOV ‘registration for securing environmental standards’ for feeder canals.

4. Visit main national highways and provincial roads sites to verify the



progress described in the EAP

5. Discuss EAP implementation challenges and opportunities with PPMU and PMU safeguard specialists

6. Prepare a report that summarises the findings and recommendations for further implementation of the EAPs

The SIMC will work on an ongoing, part-time basis throughout the project. The SIMC reports will be reviewed during the WB/MOT review missions and submitted as part of the PMU and PPMU regular reports to the WB/MOT.



PMU Safeguards Specialist: Terms Of Reference

Reports To: PMU1 Director

Duties: The PMU1 Safeguards Specialist is responsible for ensuring implementation of the EAP for all project activities managed by the PMU1. Specific duties include:

− Ensure the PPMUs and CPMUs follow guidance of the EMP’s Monitoring and Mitigation Measures as described in Section 1.1 and 1.2 of the EMP;

− Ensure all relevant EMP parties (PPMUs, DPMUs, SIMC, CDBs) provide safeguards reports to the CPMU. Manage a library of environmental safeguards reports such that they can be forwarded to the WB and other organisations as described in Section 1.3 of the EMP

− Ensure the capacity building plan is implemented, as described in Section 1.4 of the EMP.

− Ensure that the PPMUs and DPMUs fully understand their role on how to integrate environmental considerations into the procurement process, as described in Section 1.6 of the EMP.

− Manage day-to-day tasks relating to the proposed Environmental Management Plan Fund

− Develop the TORs and oversee the activities of the Safeguard Independent Monitoring Consultant(s) (SIMC);

PPMU Safeguards Specialist: Terms Of Reference

Reports To: PPMU Director

Duties: PPMU Safeguards Specialist plays a key role in ensuring safeguards are implemented throughout province-level responsibilities. Specific duties include:

Responsible for implementation of Province-level environmental safeguards. This includes:

− Receive completed sub-project environmental screening checklists from the DPMUs (see Annex 1 for guidance). If the checklists reveal sensitive or unclear issues then meet with the DPMU Safeguards Specialist to further discuss specific environmental concerns. After these concerns have been adequately resolved, the PPMU Safeguards Specialist submits to the CPMU and DoNRE a preliminary environmental report. The report should include: 1) a 2-4 page summary evaluation of environmental issues associated with the main sub-projects proposed in the province’s implementation plan; 2) the completed “Environmental Screening Checklists” for sub-projects proposed under the implementation plan.

− Receive comments on preliminary report from the DoNRE. Based on these comments, draft one EIA report for each PPMU Annual Implementation Plan. Send completed EIA report to both the DoNRE (for approval under Circular No. 490/1998/TT-BKHCNMT) and CPMU. Receive EIA certificate from the DoNRE for each annual EIA submission. Forward a copy of the EIA certificate to the CPMU.

− Insert environmental requirements into bidding documents developed by the PPMU. The environmental requirements will be based on proposed mitigation measures described in the DoNRE-approved EIA report.

− Participate as the “environmental” member of province-level bid evaluation boards. Provide an evaluation of each bidding document as having either an “unsatisfactory” or “satisfactory” attention to the environment (see Annex 3 of EMP for guidance).

− Guide and monitor the implementation of contractors environmental mitigation measures and/or Site Environmental Management Plans



Appendix 2: Formats for Public Consultation and Surveys

1. Public Consultation Meeting Report Format

WORKING WITH …………………. REGARDING REPORT ON ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENTS UNDER MTIDP

Time: Venue:

PARTICIPANTS

1) Representatives of the district: 2) Representatives of communes: 3) Representatives of Women Associations: 4) People of the area affected by the project: 5) CSD specialists:

CONTENTS OF THE MEETING

1) CSD specialists will present the report of environmental impact assessment, include: a. Information of project (norm, target and advantages from the project) b. Describe the project (construction options) c. Existing environmental conditions in the area d. Overview of project impacts on environment (construction, operation ..) e. Solutions of environmental impact limit f. Environmental Management Plan (environmental plan, people health, ..)

COMMENTS OF REPRESENTATIVES



2. Survey Questionnaire

SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM

Independence - Freedom - Happiness - - - - - - - - - - - -

Households affected by implementation of

MTIDP

Full name of household: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . .. . . Address: . . . . . . . . Street/ Group: . . . . . Ward/Commune: . . . . ... .. . District . . . . . . . province…….. Date of the Survey: The Survey team consists of : Mr/Ms: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Representative of . . …. . .. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . .. . . . . . . Mr/Ms: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Representative of ….. . . . .. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . .. . . . . . . Mr/Ms: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Representative of . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . .. . . Certify the following results: A. Household Characteristics: A.1. Name of household head: A.2. Total number of people in the household: . . . persons. Male: . . . . Female:. …. A.3. No. of people in working age-group (18-55): . . . .. . . . .. persons A.4. Education Level: a. Primary education: . . . . .persons. b. Secondary education: . . . . . . persons. c. Higher Education:……….persons. B. Household Incomes: B.1: Income from primary source: ………………………………………………VND/month B.2: Primary Occupation (mark X): Fishing:. . . . Agriculture:. . . . Own Business……………. Government employee………Employee in private sector…….Hired labour: . . . …… Others (specify) …………….: . . . . . B.3: Average income from other sources: .. . . .. . . . .. . . . . . .. . .. . . . . . . .VND/ month B.4: Secondary Sources for income (Specify): .. . . .. . . . .. . . . . . .. . .. . . . B.5: Any income drawn from affected land/shop/house: Yes………..No……….. B.6: Total Average household income…………………………………………VND/month C. Affected land: C.1: Total Area of land holding:…………..m2. + Provided legal documents: . . . . . . . . . . . m2. Document No.: . . . . . . . . . . . + No legal documents: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. m2 + Being in disputes: . . . . . . . . . m2 C.2: Affected areas and classification: . . . . . . .. . . . .. . . . . m2, in which: + Residential land: . . . . . . . . . .. . .. m2 + Agriculture land: . . . . . . . . . . . . . m2 + Other land: . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . m2

C.3: Remaining Area:…………..m2. C.4: Is remaining sufficient for use: …….Yes/No C.5: Same or different use? Same/Different C.6: Total land area by type affected for compensation purposes:

a. Agricultural……………… …m2



b. Residential:………………….m2 c. Other (specify)………………m2

D. Affected Structures: D.1: Types of structures: . . . . . . . . . . D.2: Permit: Yes/No. If Yes, number………… D.3: No. of floor: single/double/three/four D.4: Total area of affected structure (of all floors) ……………………m2 D.5: Area of affected part (all floors): ………………………………….m2 D.6: Whether remaining structure can be used: Yes/No D.7: Total area (all floors) of structure for compensation:…………….m2 D.8: In case of loss of entire structure, is there land behind for reorganization: Yes/No E. Other Structures: E.1: Other Structures (boundary walls, graves, wells, etc.) affected. Describe the structures and types of impacts and provide information on types of structures and area/quantity affected;

a. ……………..……………………………………………………………………………… b. ……………………………………………………………………………………………. c. …………………………………………………………………………………………….

F. Crops and Trees:

Trees Crops Type No. Lost26

Area (m2):

Yield/quantity:

a. b. c. d. e.

G. Business: Any impact on business: Yes / No If yes, please specify: …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. H. Relocation: In case of displacement, where will you relocate your house/business? a. Same locality………….. b. Move with relatives in the city………………….

c. Move to other place…… d. Don’t know ……….………….

I. Your opinion about the presentation on the project’s impacts to environment: 1. Environmental impacts caused by upgrading traffic, which are mentioned in the summary a. Right and sufficient b. Not really sufficient and exactly c. Other…………………………………………………………………………………………. d. In your opinion, what kind of impact is the most significant? …………………………………………………………………………………………………..

2. Mitigation measures mentioned in the summary: a. Right and sufficient b. Not really sufficient and exactly c. Other…………………………………………………………………………………………. d. In your opinion, what kind of mitigation measures is the most efficient? …………………………………………………………………………………………………..

26 Equivalent to value of dong



J. How and how often do household’s members take part in traffic system? 1. Waterways (ship, boat, ferry….) a. Everyday b. Quite often b. Sometimes 2. Roads (car, motorbike, bus…) a. Everyday b. Quite often b. Sometimes K. How road or waterway upgrading bring about your family’s benefit? a. Production b. Business c. Services d. Aquaculture e. Trading f. Other…………………………………………………………………………………………. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. I. Agreement with the Project: Agree / Disagree .. . . .. . . . .. . . . . . .. . .. . . . . . . .. . . .. . . . .. . . . . . .. . .. . . . . . . .. . . .. . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . . Reason:……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… __________________________________ ____________ ___________ Confirmation of commune People Committee Householders Investigator

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