Environmental impact:
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The Project has been screened as B/1.
As the project will consist of several relatively similar road improvement
sub-projects, the exact location of which had not been identified with
precision before project appraisal, a phased approach was applied for the EDD.
At the first stage, a Sector Environmental Assessment (SEA) was carried out.
At the second stage, after the road sub projects are identified, the EA will
include: (i) screening of proposed subprojects and identification of those
that need partial or full EIA study; and (ii) carrying out specific
environmental impact assessments for selected roads.
The SEA shows that no major environmental impacts of the project are expected.
The proposed road works will consist of the rehabilitation and maintenance of
already existing road sections and there will be no new road construction
and/or widening undertaken. The possible addition of a short climbing lane at
steep road sections would not require any land acquisition. Most potential
environmental impacts will be temporary, during the construction phase, and
will cause only minor and localized negative effects. Most of them will be
limited to the effects associated with rehabilitation works, such as dust and
noise, smell due to the use of bitumen, disposal of solid materials removed
from the roads during construction, erosion control, and labour camp
management. These impacts are common in road rehabilitation works and can be
mitigated with existing management techniques. In order to minimize potential
off-site impacts, materials (e.g. asphalt, stone, etc.) would be supplied only
from sources with approved licenses, permits, and/or approvals for environment
and worker safety. Furthermore, any equipment used during construction would
meet internationally recognized standards for environment and worker health
and safety.
After completion, the project will have positive indirect impacts on human
health and safety through decreased number of accidents, reduced air pollution
resulting from more constant rates of travel speeds on rehabilitated road
sections, cleaning up of solid waste from roadside drains, and reduced water
pollution resulting from rehabilitated drainage systems. In addition, the
residents in the area of influence of the road subprojects will benefit from:
(i) a reduction in travel times and in transport costs, (ii) improvements in
the quality of road passenger and cargo transport; and, (iii) employment
generation.
The SEA includes an EMP that identifies measures to mitigate any potential
impacts, and also provides monitoring plans, budgets, responsibilities, and
schedules of execution. A detailed monitoring plan designed to confirm the
effectiveness of the mitigating measures is included in the EMP. It contains
detailed environmental compliance-monitoring requirements, including
parameters and indicators for the recommended mitigation measures.
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