The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Ethiopian Roads Authority = 2 / International Development Associationiao L iVote ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ANALYSIS OF THE FIVE ROADS SELECTED FOR REHABILITATION AND/OR UPGRADING WOLDIYA-ADIGRAT-ZALAMBESSA ROAD '.L,~~~~~~. . ..y Final Report October 1997 PLANCENTER LTD [r jJ Opastinsilta 6, FIN-00520 HELSINKI, FINLAND Phone +358 9 15 641, Fax +358 9 145 150 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................... i ABBREVIATIONS ...................... iv GENERAL MAP OF THE AREA ...................... v EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...................... vi 1. INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Background .... I 1.2 Location of the Study Area .......................... I 1.3 Objective of the Study ........................... I 1.4 Approach and Methodology of the Study ....... . 2 1.5 Contents of the Report ........................... 3 2. POLICY, LEGAL AND INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK ... 4 2.1 Policy Framework Frarne..work 4 2.2 Legal Framework Frarnew..ork 6 2.3 Institutional Framework..................... I 8 2.4 Compensation and Resettlementtion.... ..............12 2.5 Public Consultation 15 3 DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSED ROAD PROJECT .16 4 BASELINEDATA ...18 4.1 Description of the Road Environment ................. 18 4.2 Physical Environment ......................... 20 4.2.1 Climate and hydrology .20 4.2.2 Physiography .21 4.2.3 Topography and hydrography .21 4.2.4 Geology .22 4.2.5 Soils and geomorphology .22 4.2.6 Seismicity and earthquakes .23 4.3 Biological Environmentlogical ..........iro23 4.3.1 Land use .23 4.3.2 Flora .23 4.3.3 Fauna .23 4.4 Human and Social Environment .24 4.4.1 Characteristics of the population living by/along the road .24 4.4.2 Housing situation .26 4.4.3 Local economic activities by the road . 30 4.4.4 Social acceptability of the project .31 4.4.5 Construction camps 32 5. POTENTIAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS ... 36 5.1 Physical Environment . .36 5.1.1 Soil and erosion .36 5.1.2 Hydrological conditions and water quality ... 39 5.1.3 Nuisancenoise .39 5.1.4 Air quality .39 5.2 Natural Environment and Biodiversity . .40 5.2.1 Loss of terrestrial vegetation .40 5.2.2 Destruction of wildlife habitat and impediment to movement of wildlife .40 Plancenter Ltd i October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report 5.2.3 Encroachment into ecologically sensitive areas40 5.3 Human and Social Environment: Social Issues 40 5.3.1 Social acceptability ..................... 40 5.3.2 Resettlement/displacement of people ....... 40 5.3.3 Demographic changes .................. 41 5.3.4 Change in way of life ....... ........ 41 5.3.5 Impacts on women ..................... 41 5.3.6 Impacts on indigenous peoples ...... ...... 42 5.3.7 Induced development ................... 42 5.3.8 Conflicts between locals and immigrants . ... 43 5.4 Human and Social Environment: Economic Issues .44 5.4.1 Loss of agricultural lands .44 5.4.2 Loss of grazing land .44 5.4.3 Loss of property....................... 44 5.4.4 Employment opportunities .45 5.4.5 Change in economic activities .45 5.4.6 Effects on public and private services . 45 5.4.7 Impacts on national economy .46 5.5 Human and Social Environrient: Other Issues .46 5.5.1 Cultural, religious and historical areas . 46 5.5.2 Health and sanitary issues .46 5.5.3 Road safety .47 5.5.4 Public consultation .47 6. ANALYSIS OF ALTERNATIVES . .48 7 MITIGATION MANAGEMENT PLAN ...49 7.1 Physical Environment . .49 7.1.1 Soil and erosion .49 7.1.2 Hydrological conditions and water quality ... 50 7.1.3 Nuisance noise .511 7.1.4 Airquality .51 7.1.5 Construction spoils .51 7.2 Natural Environment and Biodiversity . .51 7.2.1 Loss of terrestrial vegetation .51 7.2.2 Effects on wildlife and wildlife habitat . 52 7.3 Human and Social Environment: Social Issues .53 7.3.1 Social acceptability .53 7.3.2 Resettlement/displacement of people .53 7.3.3 Demographic changes .53 7.3.4 Change in way of life 54 7.3.5 Impacts on women .54 7.3.6 Impacts on indigenous peoples .54 7.3.7. Induced development .54 7.3.8 Conflicts between locals and immigrants ....54 7.4 Human and Social Environment: Economic Issues .55 7.4.1 Loss of agricultural lands .55 7.4.2 Loss of grazing land .55 7.4.3 Loss of property .55 7.4.4 Employment opportunities .56 7.4.5 Effects on public and private sector 56 7.5 Human and Social Environment: Other Issues .56 Plancenter Ltd ii October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report 7.5.1 Cultural, religious and historical areas ...... 56 7.5.2 Health and sanitary issues ....... ........ 56 7.5.3 Public consultation ....... ...... 56 8. ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING PLAN ..................... 62 8.1 Soil and Erosion . .62 * 8.2 Terrestrial Vegetation . .62 8.3 Agricultural Land .62 8.4 Health and Safety . .63 8.5 Nuisance Noise and Dust . .63 8.6 Equipment Fueling and Maintenance . .63 8.7 Cleanup . .63 8.8 Monitoring of Social and Economic Issues . .63 9. TRAINING NEEDS ..... ........ 64 APPENDICES Appendix 1. List of Team Members Appendix 2. References/Baseline Documents Appendix 3. List of Organizations, Institutions and Persons Met/ Interviewed during the Work Appendix 4. Field Visit Programme Appendix 5. Minutes of the Public Consultation Appendix 6. NGO Questionnaire Appendix 7. Scoping List for Environmental Impacts Appendix 8. Baseline Data/Physical and Natural Environment Appendix 9. Baseline Data/Human and Social Environment Plancenter Ltd iii October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report ABBREVIATIONS ADLI Agricultural-Development-Led-Industrialization EA Environrmental Assessment EELPA Ethiopian Electric and Power Authority EIA Environmental Impact Assessment EIRR Economical Internal Rate of Return EPA Environmental Protection Authority EPE Environrmental Protection of Ethiopia (Proclamation 1/1995) ERA Ethiopian Roads Authority ETCA Transport Construction Authority EU European Union FA Farmers Association FDRE Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia m.a.s.l. meters above sea level MEDAC Ministry of Economic Development and Cooperation NGO Non-governmental Organization NPV Net Present Value PA Peasants Association RGRRO Regional Government Rural Road Organization RSDP Road Sector Development Program TCDE Transport Construction Design Enterprise TOR Terms of Reference TFR Total Fertility Rate TGE Transitional Governent of Ethiopia Plancenter Ltd iv October 1997 * , PROPOSED ROAD UNDER RSDP TRUNK ROAD Phase 1 Phase 2 - ˘holt Uoqoiog Roo _ AOPt unodiog Rxd G!.M _ pg0 ux d' Rood - Gni u0-dIiN Rod _A=hrot Re'notb- Rxd Aoehe RoNOMAJOR LINK ROAD Phase I Phase 2 I- Moholt ucro,n s Ro-d G,oM upg disnq Rond GrooM upnrding Rood AsphO.t ogr~oog ROAD NEW CONSTRUCTION MAJOR LINK ROAD Phase I Phose 2 N- eN Chroo NRe Const-flioh ALL WEATHER ROADS - / ' ; t(t~~MKELE., !' P-de Rox G i J \ y lQ~~~~~~~~~~~~~-i ADIGRAT Adwa Axum Mariartj Abreha Astbhca MEKELE Kwiho, 4620 t RAS DEJEN _ Maychew Mt.Abune Yosel lM Gelowdios 4190 ,/ Werc to 4231 Lalibela Or4. Mt.GUNA 6 ~~WOLDIYA Gishen Maryom \= 6 Estifanos 4100 DESE ° Mt.TALO 4C70 Mt. HOKE LEGEND FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF ETHIOPIA g Major Tourist Areas 6 Monastery ETHIOPIAN ROAD AUTHORITY Minor Tourist Areas _ Mountain Peak THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF THE FIVE Historic Route/Project Road 0 Ruin ROADS SELECTED FOR REHABILITATION AND /OR UPGRADING ArOther Roods WOLDIYA ADIGRAT-ZALAMBESA PLANCENTER Ltd. Finland Major Batte Site TOURIST SITES Church Figure L.1 | Dote EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report The road from the Woldiya to Maichew is very slippery, because material used is fine and becomes a "mud cake" when it rains. The driving is very difficult on Alamata Mountain and in Gira Kasso area where many accidents happen due to the soil. The road causes 20-30 major accidents annually between Woldiya and Maichew. During a dry season dust is a problem to pedestrians and drivers not only here but along the whole gravel road. After Maichew road goes through Adishehu, Ambalaje and Betmara towns in the terrain with very difficult uphills and downhills where the driving conditions are also very difficult. After Betmara the road goes over the flatter part of Tigray. The road goes through Hiwane, Mainebri, and Adigudom, and also from here there is an access road to the Lalibela-Adwa road. After Quiha the road reaches Mekele, the capital of the Tigrean Regional State. This part of the road to Mekele is in a very bad condition and inconvenient to drive. The old Italian road is surfaced and visible most of the time. The road condition between Maichew and Mekele towns is so bad that it creates problems for the Maichew administration "even run the Government business" since the vehicles are broken during the trip from Maichew to Mekele. Also the consultants saw a number of vehicles, mainly trucks and trailers, broken on the road due to its condition at a time of a field visit. Before Mekele the road has already a new alignment going around the new international airport which is under construction. The road entering the town is also planned to have a new realignment which would be a part of the ringroad in the future according to the Master Plan to Mekele town. At the end of the town one road goes to the north-west to Hagere Selam and eventually to Adwa. The road from Woldiya up to Maimekden is a gravel road except in Mekele town. Also Mekele has been one time capital of the Empire and Emperor Yohannes's palace has been turned into an interesting museum housing manuscripts, books, and furniture from the emperor's time. It is also here where the camel caravans climb up from the Danakil Depression, carrying tablets of salt. Salt trade by the Afars may not be any more the most important source of money to the Afars, but historically this trade has been important from Danakil Depression to the highlands. The depression is one of the hottest places on the earth, with many points more than 100 meters below sea level. It is the site of famous dry salt lake from which the Ethiopians since time immemorial have obtained their bars of salt or amoles used both for consumption and as 'money'. Mined by the Afar people, the salt is loaded on camels and taken up into the highlands, where it is in considerable demand and fetches good price. From Maimekden to Adigrat the road is a good asphalted road recently maintained. After Maimekden the road crosses Agulai, Wukro, and Negash towns. According to the tradition it was in Negash where the Muslims got a shelter during Profet Muhamred's time when they fled in fear of persecution by the Meccans. After Negash the road goes to Frewoine, where some houses were already marked to be demolished. Before Adigrat the road goes through Edagahamus town. Adigrat is the administrative center of Misrakawi/EasternTigray Zone. It is also an important business center. In Adigrat there is also a fuel depot for the northern region; fuel is imported here from the Massawa port. Also a drug factory is under construction in Adigrat. PJancenter Ltd 19 October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report less than 600 mm (Zalambessa). There are two distinct rainy seasons along the road that is the main rainy season (June - September) and Belg (March - May) Climate is the principal cause of flows since the annual mean rainfall decreases from Woldiya to Zalambessa correspondingly frequency of perennial rivers decrease similarly. The high run off coefficient of sedimentary and crystalline rocks is the main cause of high floods of seasonal rivers during the rainy season. In addition human activity that is high deforestation is the main reason for high floods in the area and low flow or no flow during dry period of the year. Deforestation of upper catchment have produced high sedimentation and siltation on the road section from Robit to Alamata. The rainfall of the study area is divided into two seasons: the rainy season (Kiremt), between the month of June and September, and a dry season from October to March (Bega). In the month of April and May minor rains (Belg ) often occur. The total annual rainfall varies from 990 mm, 615 mm and 540 mm in Woldiya, Mekele and Adigrat respectively. The June - September rainfall varies between 200 mm and 800 mm along the road corridor. The average annual precipitation in the project area decreases in general from 990 mm in South to 540 rmm in North. Yearly Rainfall for Selected Location In The Project Area is shown in Table I in Appendix 8. Temperature The mean annual temperatures is between 14.1 and 22.1 IC along the road corridor (see Table 2 in Appendix 8). Water Resources The primary sources of water is rainfall. Though there are no major perennial rivers along the road corridor between Woldiya and Zalambessa, there are a number of streams and catchment areas with the potential to produce very strong and intensive floods. Lake Ashengi near Korem is located about 3 km away from the road. Ground water From Woldiya to Robit extensive fractured aquifer localised at fault zone and fractured areas of high productivity. Static water level greater than 20 meters. From Robit to Alamata alluvial unconfined aquifers static water level greater than 20 meters. Alamata to Hiwane fractured localised aquifers with static water level greater than 20 meters. Hiwane to Zalambessa fracture aquifers confined with static water level greater than five meters. 4.2.2 Physiography 4.2.3 Topography and hydrography The road traverses different topographic terrain of hilly mountainous, rolling and undulating hilly plains and flat plains. The road crosses the Awash, Danakil and Tekeze river basins drainage. Plancenter Ltd 21 October 1997 ,, ..vvv*.-VV q,, . . Ľv v 7 V t , ..-'S-,."i,o"...:.-.'2.........S 7 m +n ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~14' 3r ,-rrr-,-Vr.. rV r-- ,r- - - w - - ~ - + 1 B Q 9X~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ VV 49IN, VVVt7 VVv-V IVI j VVVVtV,t VW7S 1W . fid Ste * YZb~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 23 Q~n&t4..y SedIm* + Ei BmJ tl,w.Cdr.1t.d IODY-DGA-ZLM EA RA _ --P ( m- ----------- Ms o I,aj. )iueq7IDt Dogali 6mtIOo.D.o.t ?orli,AUo, ~~~~~~~~~~~~TU~~Th212 ~~ Dabi.hab For~~~aUoa 1.. 8.a Sari.. 5sgz)ng~- - -r- - - - - * Alkaline lk.alt sad Sy.nit.~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I W Mo L E G E N D ~ uppar nMP ~ 1 LACNTRLT. itai - pSei OIA=FEEA GOEOLOGICA OFEAPOI - Otpa RoaDsU FRCAgureMCN Lt d.Fnate 3v. Be, Be ~~~~~I-Be 7 digrat - / 9 ~~~~~~~Be E- + ~Meke' ;~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~. q F L .. .. . LA- :< Chromic Eutric and Calcic Cambisols N Eutric Nitosols E~7h Dystric and Humic Cambisols CaLmbic Arenosols Vetric Cambisols and Vetric Luvisols Humic,MoUic and Vetric Andosols Lithosols Chromic and Pellic Vetrosols Caleric and Eutric Fluvisols Haplic, Calcic and Luvic Xerosols Chromic and Orthric Luvisols Project Road Other Roads P H A S E S 1 Lithic W Stoney Flooding FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF ETHIOPIA THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF THE FIVE ROADS SELECTED FOR REHABILITATION AND/OR UPGRADING WOLDYA-ADIGRAT-ZALAMBESA ROAD PLANCETER Ltd. Finland SOIL MAP Figure 4._3 Date EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report 4.2.6 Seismicity and earthquakes The road section from Woldiya to Korem is found in seismic and earthquake active part of the Ethiopian rift system. 4.3 Biological Environment 4.3.1 Land use The present land use of the road corridor between Makmati Iwir and Zalambessa is intensively cultivated and this include rainfed cultivation, grazing on unimproved pasture and fallow. The major crops in the cultivated areas include teff, wheat, barley, maize, sorghum, millet and horse bean. Bushland and shrubland occupy the area between Woldiya to Michew and mostly found on the side slopes and footslopes. Figure 4.4 shows the general land use - land cover along the road. 4.3.2 Flora The natural flora of the study area between Woldiya and Zalambessa has disappeared due to over exploitation of forest resources, due to population growth, increased demand for agricultural land, encroachment for grazing, feulwood and construction practices. The original vegetation cover is evident along this section of the project area. Figure 4.5 shows the land cover that would have developed in the absence of human influence. Gumburda - Grakas forest is one of the National Forest Priority area covering 26,000ha. Table 3 in Appendix 8 depicts the major tree and shrub species found in the project area. There are plantation forest along the road corridor and the dominant exotic tree species commonly planted are identified as Eucalyptus camaldulensis, Eucalyptus globulus, Eucalyptus grandis, Cupressus lusitanica, Acacia albidas, Acacia saligna, Sesbania sesban, Leuceana leucocephala, Casuarina equisitifolia, Melea azadiracbta and Shinus molle. 4.3.3 Fauna The wildlife population and native wildlife habitat have been significantly impacted by subsistence agricultural practices in the project area and this has resulted in low wildlife population diversity in the region. However, in the Simien National Park and the Shire wildlife reserve, both west of the project area, have a diverse wildlife population. Figure 4.6 shows the wildlife conservation areas located around the project road. A list of occasionally and accidentally seen wildlife species in the area are given in Table 4 in Appendix 8. 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'.':.':...';".,:,.... , ,:.,:'..,' :.'. . .::.................." ;...... y. . .. .,- : y y.........: . : . . ............. -:aB.{-. .y-:. .: . . -' . '..., .,i... *. ::w,.0'''ye 4 , ...................',"' ..'.',",..'''.,.'',...'''.''''i. : :- .. .: .-............. .. . 2 Y l I - ii aa E~~~~~~~~~. . ......E >ffigt-*Q-em,--~~~~~~~..s .... ....... .. :f a i 1 Y 3~y .i:--y:aY 40' 2>0 ;d z ......... . te ............ |FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF ETHIOPIA =e GOtBhSE § ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ETHIOPIAN ROAD AtJTHORRrY -..gr :) ......................... ... lTHE ENVIRONMENZAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF THE FIVE - I YA | ~~~~~~~~~~~~ROADS SELECTED FOR REHAILITATION AND /OR UPGRADING , /=Ft _ ,~~~~IY ,,! %~~~ ~ ~~ERSA I WELDIYA-ADIGRAT-ZALAMBESA | ~~~~PUMCNTER Ltd. rN I ~~~~~~~~~~~~~LAND USE _ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ | Fig~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~T5ure 4*LL I Date 5 3 3 eAdi kRyn 3~~~~~~ - AL_M)ESA 3 ;t ~SF0di'9 1 ADrGRAT Howzen 4 5 i A 7 Sinka to LEGEND CONIFEROUS FOREST 2 ir 3 MEKEL /- 3 n. Juniperst / -0 5di H udem( Podocerpus 4 5 WOODLAND & SAVANNAH 3 juniperus 2 Acacia -- . MOych,w Kor? GRASSLANDS _ ato STEPPE 1 2 4 Lalibela\ Project Road Other Roads 2 § I t Reginol City 2 WOLDI A o Other Toens 2 J @ ~~~~~~~~~Hayx k 2 1 DESE 4 \ FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF ETHIOPIA ETHIOPIAN ROAD AUTHORITY THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF THE FIVE ROADS SELECTED FOR REHABIUTATION AND /OR UPGRADING WOLDIYA-ADIGRAT-ZALAMBESA PLANCENCER Ltd. Finlond CLIMATIC CLIMAX VEGETATION MAP Figure 4., |Date Adi keyih j 1 R~~~~~~~~~~~DIGRAT\ Hawzen f \ tt\Sinktot 2 Wikro 3 ~~~~~~~MEKECIO Ma ekden Semen Mountains Kwih Adi Gudem 4 Maychew H SokoW Kobo' Lcfblib, el J 5 .W LDIAY/ )Hayk . . . - DESE V: .'.'::..'.'.':1.. .' .'.':':... .: ....::' ::: .....::,:---........ LEMEN 1. PANGOUN E NATIONAL PARKS FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF ETHIOPIA 2. ARDVARK NATIONAL PARKS UNDER ESTABUSHMENT ETHIOPIAN ROAD AUTHORIY 3. SIMEN FOX WILOUFE RESVES THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF THE FIVE 4. CELAA aABOON CONTROLED AREAS ROADS SELECTED FOR REHABILITATION AND /OR UPGRADING . OTHER ROADS WOLDIYA-ADIGRAT-ZALAMBESA REGIONAL cry PLANCENTER Ltd. Finland O OTHER TOWNS WILDLIFE CONSERVATION AREAS Figure +^ | Date EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report 4.4 Human and Social Environment 4.4.1 Characteristics of the population living by/along the road Settlement pattern The whole survey area is very densely populated. The towns and rural people are quite evenly distributed along the road. Majority of people still live in the rural areas. However, there are about twenty towns along the road. The urbanization in the woredas along the road is quite high when compared with the other Ethiopian areas. Only in three woredas out of 12 the rate is below ten percent of total woreda population. Five out of these twelve more than one quarter are urban. Also the existing 'small' towns are considerable, the population, only in two towns the population is less than three thousand inhabitants, while six has the population over ten thousand. The biggest towns along the road are Mekele (100,000 pop.), Adigrat ( 40,000 pop.), Alamata (26,000 pop.), Woldiya (25,000 pop.), Kobo and Maichew (20,000 pop. each). (Table 1, Appendix 9) In most woredas along the road nearly all urban population live in the towns which have been developed by the road. The houses are often attached to each others by the road although also in the towns the detached housing units are more common (56-57%). In the countryside villages are formed from the detached houses with the compounds around. Size of Population along the road The people living in the towns through which the road goes are directly affected by the road. The town population along this road amounts to over 300,000 persons. Many people living in the rural areas of the woredas along the road are also directly affected in their everyday life. The total population in these woredas is about 1,200,000 persons. The indirect impacts of the road are felt by nearly 3 million people who live in the zones by the road. (Table 1, Appendix 9). Sex Ratio The sex ratio is balanced only in Semen Wollo Zone, in all the other zones and in all the woredas there are more women than men from S1 to 52 percent of the total population. In the urban areas the ratio is even more biased in favour of women the average being 54-55 percent of urban population from 52 percent in Woldiya and Robit to 58 percent in Alaje woreda. Female headed households Female headed households in the whole Amhara Region forms 20 percent of all households. In rural areas the share is little less or 19 percent, while in the urban areas the figure goes up to 42 percent. In the Tigray Region the percentage share of female headed households is higher, 31 percent of total households, 27 percent in the rural areas and 50 percent in urban areas. This means that half of the urban households living by the road are also economically dependant on women and their income. Hotels, restaurants, bars, talla and taj houses by the road are mainly run by women (93%) many of which are heads of their families. The Plancenter Ltd 24 October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report better road is anticipated to increase the transitory traffic and hence benefit also these households. Fertility and the population under 15 years of age The total fertility rate (TFR) of 5.355 for the Tigray Region is quite high. Although the urban rate is lower it is still quite high being more than 4 even for urban areas. Also the share of population under 15 years of age is high in Tigray Region. More than half of population are under 15 years of age in Egda Hamus town near the Eritrean border. The lowest share can be found in Woldiya town where one third are below that age. The average share is also lower in Semen Wollo Zone than in Debubawi and Misrakawi Tigray Zones. Also the total fertility rate is lower. The population growth seems to be slower in the southern part of the road and quite strong in Tigray. (Appendix 9, Table 2, Table 1) Average household size The average regional household size is smaller in Tigray (4.3) than in Amhara (4.8) region. However in the first part of the road in Semen Wollo and Debub Tigray it is smaller being 4.1 persons per household. In the northerm part the family size increases to 4.4 persons in a household. The urban families have approximately less than 4 persons (Appendix 9, Table 3). Ethnicity The road goes from one ethnic region to the other, from the Amrhara Region to the Tigray Region. The Tigraways form a clear majority in their own national region and the Amharas in theirs. The share of Amharas decreases very rapidly after Alamata woreda towards the north and the share of Tigraways increases being nearly hundred percent in the northern part of the road (most 'Eritreans' are also Tigraways). (Appendix 9, Table 4). There are several ethnicities, about 30, living along/by the road, most represented by few persons, some by tens or hundreds, very few with thousands. However, the Sahos and Afars do; they are indigenous (or maybe here more 'traditional') people to the east from the road in the Danakil Depression area. The Saho tribes live in the coastal depression south of Massawa and most of them have been herdsmen like Afars. Sahos' seasonal migrations have taken them up to the plateau where some have permanently settled on the eastern slopes (and many adopted Tigrigna as their language). Also the Afars' share is bigger in the north, and especially in Agula town where they form one tenth of the total population. Religion The Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity is the major religion along the road. Most Tigraways and Amharas are adherent to it. The share of Christians is more than 90 percent in all other woredas than Alamata where it is less than 80 percent of total population (78%). Here every fifth person is a Muslimn. Also in Wukro woreda the share is more than ten present, in every other less than that. The share of Muslims is increasing, however, in urban areas, being 40 percent in Agulai town. (Appendix 9, Table 5). There are few Protestants in this area and the share of Catholics is increasing near the Eritrean border; in Adigrat and Zalambessa their share is 3 and 4 percent of total urban poulation, respectilvely. Plancenter Ltd 25 October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report Literacy rate About three quarters of urban men are literate, the share increases towards the north. The share increases also in the rural areas as well as among urban and rural women. (Appendix 9, Table 6). Migration About half of the urban population are migrants, 52 percent of urban population in Debubawi Tigray and 48 percent in Misrak Tigray. In the rural areas, where the movements in absolut numbers is biggest, the percentage share of migrants among the total population is only 9 in the northern part and 16 percent in the southern part of the road. In urban area 20 percent of all migrants moved to the area within one year or less before the national census 1994 shows that the growth of towns is very much dependant on migration in the whole survey area. (Appendix 9, Table 7). Future growth of towns along the road The growth rate for urban areas is assumed to be 3.7 percent annually and in the rural areas 2.1 percent. However, taken into consideration the migration to the towns in the survey area, the urban growth might easily be higher than projected. The new road is also anticipated to benefit the economic activities in the area, the fact that would pull more people to the towns. High fertility rates and high shares of population under 15 years of age in the survey area will put great pressure on the farming lands which will push out more people to the towns. Urbanization in the survey area has totally depended on the present road and the trend will continue even without the upgrading. However, good road will benefit to the living standards and increase economic activities through better transportation of people and goods. 4.4.2 Housing situation There are nearly 690,000 housing units in Tigray, out of which nearly half in the zones by the project road; and 60 percent of the urban housing units can be found in these two zones. In urban areas of the Tigray Region nearly all houses are permanent (95 %) and nearly half of the houses (44%) are attached with two or more housing units. Mainly due to the climatical (and partly ethnic and cultural) reasons the type and construction of houses vary in this region. Most houses in Tigray are traditionally built from stone and mud (72%) showing the fact that the forests have been absent for a long time. Especially the rural houses are built from stones (76%) while the urban houses are using more wood and mud (or mixture of mud/dung/teff straw) and less than a half of urban houses are of stone (48%). Debubawi Tigray stone houses constitute 56 percent of all houses and 36 percent are made of wood and mud. The share of stone houses increases towards the north and in Misrakawi Plancenter Ltd 26 October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report Tigray the share is as high as 86 percent and only 10 percent are of wood and mud of all housing units. However, in the urban houses more wood is used than in the rural areas. In the urban areas in the southern part of the road half of the houses (52 %) are made of wood and mud and in the northern part one fifth (19%). Most roofs in the survey area are from traditional materials such as thatch, wood and mud, and to a lesser extent of bamboo or reed. Iron corrugated sheets are more common in the south (24%) than in the north (13%) where most tin roofs can be seen in urban areas (82%). The iron sheets are also showing the better economic situation due to its price compared to the traditional thatched roofs. The main material used for floors is mud (81- 85%). 55 percent of houses in Tigray Region is one room houses and 28 percent have two rooms. the comparative percentages for Amhara Region are 70 and 22 percent, respectively. In Tigray there are in average 4 persons per urban housing units. In big towns the average increases and also in Zalambesa near the Eritrean border. There are also more households than housing units in the whole survey area. In the whole Tigray 1.05 households in average live in one housing unit. Bathing facilities In the urban areas the bathing facilities are available only to 4 percent of all housing units. It is a little bit higher than regional average due to the big towns along the road. People bathe themselves taking water from the taps where available or by rivers, ponds and lakes. Toilet facilities Very few people have any toilet facilities in rural areas. The share of all toilet facilities is decreasing when going towards north. The availability of toilet facilities is bigger in urban than rural areas. However, the share of available toilet facilities decreases with the growth of town. In the small and medium size towns the share goes up (Edaga Hamus 92%) and in the bigger towns down (Mekele 47%, Maichew 51%, Alamata 63%, and Adigrat 75%). Electricity for lighting Nearly half of the urban households (48%) in Tigray use electricity for lighting. The share is same in Misrakawi Tigray zone while in southern zone 58 percent use electricity for lighting. All towns along the road have electricity. However, the distribution of its use is very uneven. In Mekele the share is 85 percent and in Adigudem less than one percent use electricity for lighting. (Adigrat 79%, Maichew 57%, Wukro 62% and Alamata 38% of households) Plancenter Ltd 27 October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report In many towns there are some street lights and/or shops and bars have lights during the night. The increased used of street lighting especially would make the road safer for pedestrians. The high price of electricity is, however, discouraging fact even in their present use. Availability of radio, telephone and TV Radio is more common in Tigray Zones than in Amhara Region: it is available in about 15 percent of houses in the whole Tigray and in urban areas in about 40 percent of households, and for more than half of the housing units only in Mekele. In the rural Amhara areas about five percent of households have a set and in towns about every third household has a radio The availability of television is very rare in the survey area. In all the other towns except in Waja and Adigudem some sets can be found. Only in Mekele seven percent of housing units have a TV set. Every Monday morning there is a half an hour long radio program about traffic and traffic safety. The program is prepared by the Ministry of Information and Culture in collaboration with the Road Transport Authority. The program was earlier transmitted between 6.30 -7.00 but now it is sent after the 8.00 morning news. Due to the change of transmission time many people are now unable to listen it, because they are already working at that time in the offices or children attending school etc. The earlier time reached more people. However, more than a half of housing units in most towns and quite a considerable number of rural people are potential listeners in the survey area. Very few people have the access on TV sets which could be also used for traffic education and information about traffic behaviour. Now there are no programs concerned about traffic problems/ education/ behaviour. There are telephone connections to every town along the project road. In Mekele the frequency is highest: nearly five percent of housing units has a connection. In Adigrat nearly four and Korem and Maichew about two percent have connections. Ownership and cost of houses Less than half of the houses in the towns in Tigray are owned by the households living in them. In Debub Tigray Zone 45 percent owns their house while only 38 percent do so in the Misrakawi Tigray Zone. The kebeles are renting very few houses in these towns; in northern part less than one percent is rented from kebele and in the south five percent. The houses are often rented from the other private households, in the north half of the households live in a house they rented from the private market and in the south nearly forty percent (38%). (Appendix 9, Table 8). Most houses, especially in rural areas, are built from local materials, mainly stones and mud, and the material is and has been collected often by the houseowner. In the towns the wood houses are common, and wood and mud houses cost about 800 birr per square meter and the hollow block houses about 1200 birr per square meter. The transportation costs for cement add the costs about 30 percent. The moderate house of hollow blocks costs about Plancenter Ltd 28 October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report fifteen to twenty thousand birr. Also the (eucalyptus) poles used to the mud houses are getting more expensive and must be transported sometimes long distances as well. Rents. The average monthly rent per housing unit for the whole Tigray region is 35 birr per month. The rents, however, varies a lot in the survey area. Highest average can be found in Mekele where the monthly average for rents is 60 birr. The lowest average rents are in Waja where it is 9 birr. (Appendix 9, Table 8). Type offuel usedfor cooking Nearly all households are using more than one type of fuel for cooking (Appendix 9, Table 9). By far the most common fuel is still fire wood and leaves, which are more or less the only fuels in the countryside but also in the urban areas where, however, also some other fuels are used by few households. Urban households prefer charcoal due to its smokelessness; more than half of the households use it. The share of electricity (used mainly by electric metads for injera baking) is negligible. Only in Mekele and Adigrat about five percent is using electricity for cooking. Kerosine is used by ten percent of housing units in Adigrat. In the northern towns kerosine is used a little bit more than in the southern part of the road, only in Alamata and Maichew its use is more than one percent. Dung is used for cooking, especially in Korem (30%) and Zalambessa (28%). . Growing population and increasing urbanization along the road will increase the use of fire wood and will have a clear impact on the natural habitat along the road. The increase in use of alternative fuels is too slow to slow down the share of fire wood (partly due to the increased price of electricity and now non-subsidised kerosine). As a rule use of fuel wood increase with the modern fuels which are not substituting wood. The road is used to fuel wood transportation by different means. Mainly women but also animals carrying the wood loads to the markets or home is a commnon sight in the survey area. The future construction camps will put more pressure to the trees and forests in the area. The road construction with construction camps will increase the use of wood and charcoal considerably. Drinking water Majority of people (71-74%) in Tigray region get their drinking water from the unprotected springs, rivers, ponds and lakes. However, less people in the zones in the survey area are using unprotected water sources than what is the regional average (78 %).The possible accidents with the hazardous materials/chemicals on the road/bridges might cause the pollution of water on which many people might be dependant on. In the towns the tap water is used by 66 percent of population, in the towns in the two zones by 76 percent of urban population. In most of the towns the drinking water is supplied from boreholes. Plancenter Ltd 29 October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Repon 4.4.3 Local economic activities by the road Agriculture In the whole survey area agriculture is the main economic activity. The farm sizes are small and the crop farming is mainly subsistence farming based on the traditional farming methods. Most farms are rainfed, and if the rains are in time and last long enough the yilds are good. However, this is also the area were the shortage of food is felt easily due to the failure in crop production. There are some irrigated farms near Robit town and few plans for increased irrigation. Crops here are typical to the highlands: teff and other grain, beans and peas, oil seeds, vegetables, and in some localities also banana and/or fruit trees are grown. Animal husbandry Most cattle in the survey area is needed for the crop farming system in the whole survey area. Animals are walking on the road when they are taken .to drinking places or to markets or to the compounds for night. In the survey area a little over ten percent of the households keep their livestock during the nights inside the house/room where also people sleep. Industry In big towns there are many small industrial enterprises such as garages, different workshops etc. while bigger industry is located in Mekele, where also a new cement factory is under construction. In Adigrat a drug factory is near completionL The better road is expected to increase also industrial activities through better and cheaper transportation. Service sector is considerable especially in the towns where it serves mainly local needs but road is also important to the sector when transporting raw materials to the service sector enterprises and their ready made products to other localities. Good hotels can be found in Woldia and Mekele where also international airport is under construction. Small hotels, restaurants and bars exist in every town along the road serving not only local people but also transitory traffic. These activities are extremely important to women who are running these businesses. Since many of these women are sole supporters of their families (50 percent of urban families are female headed) many more are dependant on these activities. The urban households are also served by many women who are carrying fuel and other necessities to the markets. Economically active population and unemployment Economical activity is higher in the countryside than in the towns where about half of the men are economically active. Men are more active than women both in urban and rural areas. The economical activities do not include reproductive work (such as fetching fire wood or water, cleaning house or making food) which partly explains the lower rate for women. Plancenter Ltd 30 October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report Men's unemployment rate varies from town to town, from seven in Wukro to 20 in Edagahamus where also women's unemployment is highest or 20 percent. The lowest unemployment rate, little over one percent, for women can be found in Adishehu. Although the unemployment rates are lower to the rural areas, there will be no problems to hire the unskilled labour to the road construction project. Status in employment The information about the status of employment or major industrial divisions are not available separately for the zones. However, it is assumed that the regional shares give some kind of idea about the situation also in the zones which all include also towns with more than ten thousand people (Appendix 9, Table 10 and 11). The unpaid family workers form the largest status group about half of all economically active persons. Especially women work as unpaid labour for the household. Self employed and unpaid family members together is more than 90 percent of labour force, showing that family based private enterprices (shops, bars, farms) is the biggest form of ownership of means of production. The government employees are mainly located to the towns and about one third of them are women. 4.4.4 Social acceptability of the project Social acceptability of the project to rehabilitate / upgrade the present road is very high. All people and organizations interviewed as well as all participants in the public consultation in Mekele gave a clear acceptance to the project. The only concerns are related to the construction period. However, the longer term benefits are expected to be much bigger than the temporary problems caused by the construction period. Both the people living by the road and those using the road for transportation/ transitory traffic see the road be vital and beneficial to their communities, local business and national economy. The project and the pavement is anticipated to increase the benefits. The project would free the local people from the biggest problem, dust, caused by the present gravel road. The improved condition of the road is anticipated to speed up the transportation, decrease considerable the costs of transportation due to less breakages and other failures, and increase the traffic safety. Benefits for the local residents Although the road is mainly constructed to connect/link the far away places for transportation of goods and people, most road users are pedestrians who use the road very locally. For them the access on many local facilities and services is more important than long distance mobility. Road is extensively used for local social and economic activities as well as local transportation needs, very often by traditional means. The road gives better access on health and education facilities and other services and to the administrative centers. The buildings for these institutions are usually by the road due to the accessibility by motor vehicles. Plancenter Ltd 31 October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report The better road helps especially women because they are the main local users of the road. They take care of many social tasks (such as sickness in their own family or death occurrence in some other) also during the times and better road is seen to be also safer road. Many women move to the relatives or familiar families who live by the road for better and quicker access to the clinics for delivery. The school attendance by girls is also bigger in towns and by the road and better road is anticipated to increase enrollment. The road is important to the local economic activities. The road makes commercial activities possible/profitable for the permanent shops and bars and creating the road side trade and markets. Many people come from the far away villages to the towns and market places or simply to the road side to sell/barter whatever they have. Charcoal, fuel wood, animals, grain, vegetables, nug-oil, or whatever people have to sell. One of the justifications to rehabilitate/upgrade the road is the assumption that the agricultural production would increase due to the better marketing outlets. Already now the road is important for agricultural inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides etc. and outputs for transporting the farm products such as grain, etc. to the other areas. Especially the present and future planned irrigation plantations need road to bring their products to the national markets. The proper pavement would bring also minibuses to the road serving local transportation and making the travel fees cheaper. Benefitsfor the transitory traffic The acceptance of the present road itself by those who use it for transitory traffic and/or for long distance transportation is natural, and the plan to pave the road was very much welcomed. The road is an important import/export link from Eritrea to the inland of Ethiopia. Also the national and international tourism is anticipated to increase in the survey area especially with the better road. Problems with the present road Dust is one of the biggest problems for the locals and for the drivers. With the better roads accidents due to the dust are expected to decrease. Costs due to the poor condition of the present road are very high and the accidents common. 4.4.5 Construction camps Construction camps are one of the characteristic features of any road construction project. Although not yet present on this road, but once established, the camps will have several impacts on the surrounding environment of the camps. Many of the previous camps have with time developed into real towns. Earlier the camps were simply called 'ERA camps', most construction work done particularly for the last two decades by ERA. According to the FDRE's policy, the construction work is mainly done by private contractors and is open also to foreign tenders. However, no big changes are to be expected in the camp practice; new construction camps follow more or less the previous ERA camp models and practices. Changes may be expected in the (decreased) number of workers residing in the camps. Plancenter Ltd 32 October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report The camps are situated usually outside the towns and often (sometimes kilometers) away from the existing roads. Although ERA has the right to occupy any site for road construction sites (suitability of place, rents etc) are discussed and agreed together with the local administration. The first persons to arrive to the site are carpenters, masons etc. who start the construction of the camp. They first stay on perdiem basis in the towns near the camp site. When the offices, residences, ware houses, main workshops, kitchen and mess-hall and all other required buildings are ready, the construction labour move in. There are normally 150-250 people residing in the main camp. All of them are professional and skilled workers and move from outside to the camp. The personnel include technical as well as clerical staff. The camps themselves turn out to be like small towns which are headed by a Camp Administrator. The rules and habits in the camp are mainly to keep discipline and order. For example, no alcohol is allowed in the camps. Neither are the families of the workers allowed to stay overnight in the camps. It is also more economical way to lodge all the workers in one place than have dispersed lodging in the surrounding area. The kitchen serves all staff at the fixed times. Most food items such as meat, grain, vegetables, etc. is bought from local markets to the camp kitchen. Sometimes bigger quantities of items either not locally available or due to the increased local prices, are bought and transported with trucks from the nearby bigger towns. Fire wood is sometimes bought from the construction site if the site is situated in bushy land or it is bought from local markets. The fact that all workers live in the camp makes it also easy to transport them to the construction sites in time and back to the camp. The workers usually stay in the camp one month and every fourth week-end they are taken to the town for asbesa/shopping week- end. The local economies benefit from these visits, but social and personal conflicts are also common. Although the camp administration does not allow temporary huts and houses to come too close to the camp to avoid looting or other misbehaviour, drinking houses and small markets sprout up selling whatever is wanted by the construction workers. Because of the increased demand on goods and services many people settle down near the camp to do their business. Many of them are without any farmlands and some of them stay even after the camp is demobilized. The camps have also impacts on the physical environment. The increased need for fire wood and charcoal rises also local prices and more trees are cut down to be sold and even more wood is wasted to produce charcoal with inefficient local methods. The supply area might be considerable especially along this road because of absence of real forests. Not only the camp workers but also other people residing near need fuel wood and other sources. The inflation of prices do temporarily benefit business people while at the same timne the poorer sections of the communities will suffer even more. The people who settle down are also putting some pressure to the local public services. The drinking water situation might be difficult in some places, and the boreholes are needed to Plancenter Ltd 33 October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report construction camps. The location of boreholes should be such that they can later benefit the local people. Although the camps have their own health units for minor health hazards, the more serious cases or cases not belonging to the camp sanitarians, the workers and migrants put also pressure to the local health services. These impacts are directly felt only so long as the camp exist. The main camp will stay for one or two years at the same place, while the 'advance camps' will be established maybe after 60-1 00 kilometers away. Sometimes there are also smaller 'satellite camps' if needed. The contractor is responsible to see that the living conditions for the camp residents are kept satisfactory. "Labour Proclamation No. 42/1993" covers the conditions of work including aspects such as hours of work, wage, leave, payment due to dismissal, workers health and safety, compensation to victims of employment injury, dismissal because of redundancy, grievance procedures and any other similar matters. It states also that worker or employer shall have the right to establish and form trade unions or employers' associations. Earlier it was ERA that supervised the conditions in the camps (or in construction), now it will be left mainly to the consultants. Use of local andforeign labour The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs is empowered to ensure that local labour is hired in accordance with the law. The local labour consists about 300400 workers. Only men were hired earlier for the work, nowadays also women take part also on road construction work. Since the trunk road construction will be open to the international tender, some foreigners may enter the construction work. In this case the Ministry of Labour issues work permits for foreign workers upon the request by the contracting authority. Wages and salaries The level of wages paid by public and private construction enterprises differ significantly. However, the constructor upgrading/rehabilitating the road is required to pay at least the minimum wage to unskilled workers. If the employer is not doing that the workers can complain about this or from other shortcomings to trade unions. For example, unskilled labourers' wage levels vary a lot depending on the locality etc. The wages for unskilled labour vary between 1.3 to 2.5 and for skilled workers between 8.30 to 20.80 Birr. Plancenter Ltd 34 October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report The permanent workers are legally entitled to paid leave: (i) annual leave not less than fourteen working days during the fist year and added annually by one day. (ii) thirteen days for public holidays annually, (iii) for the family reasons such as marriage or death paid leave for three days (possibility for unpaid leave during serious other events), (iv) sick leave not exceeding six months, (v) maternity leave is granted for a period of thirty days preceding the presumed date of confinement and sixty days after it. Benefits in kind include accommodation, food transport and expenses related to transfer. These benefits are not considered as wages, according to the labour proclamation. Details of benefits are normally specified in collective agreements. Plancenter Ltd 35 October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalarnbessa Road Final Report 5. POTENTIAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS The construction and operation of the Woldiya - Zalambessa road project intended with positive impacts on regional as well as national economy may also bring avoidable as well as unavoidable adverse impacts on the environment as well. However some of the adverse effects, associated with the construction of the project, will be short-term and reversible nature and stem from ground disturbance associated with operating the quarry and borrow sites (Table 5 summarises the identified potential constraints of the proposed quarry and construction material sites), operation of equipment's and housing of the labour force, but very few that will lead to permanent change. The potential environmental impacts likely to result from the proposed road project are evaluated based on data collected from field investigations and available information reported in the literature and visits made to different Government offices and public consultation. 5.1 Physical Environment 5.1.1 Soil and Erosion The major adverse issues during construction stages are erosion, stability of slopes, material use, change in surface water hydrology and quality and sedimentation/siltation. Erosion Road side ditches which are constructed to divert surface drainage water to the adjacent lands are major contributors to soil erosion.-Erosion can be enhanced due to the following activities especially on hilly terrain due to: - Cuts in soil and rock and construction of embankment ( widening of the road). - Borrow pits and quarries if they are located along river banks. - Excavation of foundations for replacement and /or additional drainage bridges and culverts. - Not compacted embankments and spoiled materials. Slope stability Clearing and grabbing by equipment and blasting of rocks for road widening will affect the slope stability. The section of the road on hilly terrain and volcanic geological formation is a relatively unstable section of the road (Alamata-Hiware). Soil contamination by spills of hazardous material Soil contamination can occur due to spills of oils and fuels from engines, improper disposal of used oil, lubricants and others, and accidental spills of hazardous materials due to accidents caused by increased traffic for construction. Plancenter Ltd 36 October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report Table 5-1 Constraints of the Proposed Quarry and Borrow Pit Sites Inspected Borrow Constraints Pit Location (km) Quantity Agricultural land Terrestrial Private/ Access road Available (M') Vegetation public Property RQ-01-04+500 100000 No effect No effect Telephone NR and electric line SB-01-08+500 75000 No effect No effect No effect NR BM-01-10+000 30000 Minor effect No effect No effect NR BM-02-24+670 30000 No effect No effect No effect NR SB-02-26+000 40000 No effect Isolated trees No effect NR BM-03-37+100 350000 No effect No effect No effect NR RQ-02-37+500 100000 No effect No effect No effect Required SB-03-39+700 50000 No effect Bush land No effect Required BM-04-50+500 150000 Minor effect No effect No effect Required SB-04-50+600 500000 Minor effect No effect No effect Required RQ-03-53+000 125000 No effect No effect No effect Requircd BM-05-66+500 100000 No effect No effect No effect Required SB-5-79+900 800000 No effect Grazing and bush NT electric Required land line RQ-4-79+900 50000 No effect Grazing and bush No effect Required land BM-6-80+200 100000 No effect No effect No effect NR SB-6-91 +400 60000 Close to agri-land No effect No effect NR BM-7-93 +200 50000 minor effect No effect No effect NR BM-8-100+600 200000 No effect No effect No effect NR SB-7-105+400 60000 No effect No effect No effect NR BM-9-112+800 40000 No effect No effect No effect NR SB-8-114+700 300000 No effect Grazing and trees No effect NR BM-10-123+350 30000 No effect No effect No effect NR Plancenter Ltd 37 October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Repon RQ-5-129+500 100000 No effect No effect No effect NR BM-1 1-134+800 50000 No effect No effect No effect Required SB-10-142+200 30000 No effect No effect No effect Required BM-12-145+700 70000 No effect No effect No effect NR RQ-6-155 +300 150000 No effect No effect No effect Required SM-I 1-156+000 30000 Close to agri-land No effect No effect NR BM-13-160+400 150000 No effect Grazing land No effect NR SB-12-167+500 70000 No effect No effect No effect NR BM-14-173+500 10000 No effect No effect No effect Required SB-13-179+200 90000 No effect Grazing land _ No effect NR QM-7-183+600 3000000 No effect Bush land No effect Required BM-15-185+300 900000 No effect No effect No effect NR SB-14-187+800 100000 No effect Eucalyptus tree No effect NR BM-16-202+150 75000 Major effect Grazing land No effect Required BM-17-215+100 50000 Major effect No effect close to Required houses SB-15-215+600 80000 Minor effect No effect close to NR houses BM-18-227+400 30000 No effect No effect No effect NR SB-16-229+400 100000 No effect No effect No effect NR RQ-8-231+900 200000 No effect No effect No effect NR SB-17-239+ 100 150000 No effect No effect No effect NR BM-19-241+500 45000 No effect No effect No effect NR SB-18-255+300 140000 No effect No effect No effect Required BM-23-302+600 80000 No effect No effect No effect NR SB-21-310+000 120000 Partially on agri- Grazing and bush No effect NR land land * RQ - Rock Quarry SB - Sub-base Material BM - Borrow Material NR - Access not required Plancenter Ltd 3 8 October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report 5.1.2 Hydrological conditions and water quality Water resources and water quality Along the road perennial rivers which can be used during construction are few and far apart (Golina, Illala, etc.). There are small springs and streams with small discharges during the dry period of the year which are used by the local people for water supply and irrigation. The use of these streams and springs will completely deplete them and may lead to a situation where there is no flow downstream. Replacement and new construction of additional drainage's bridges and culverts will discharge cement slag, oil spill hazard (especially during dry season minimum flow). Temporary cut-off flow during construction of bridge piles in rivers will change the regime flow of the river, which affects the water quality (increased turbidity).Constraction of flow at culverts and bridges will change the regime flow of the river (increased velocity). Quarries and borrow pits can be used for water harvesting after the construction of the road if the geological condition and the topography are favouring. Upgrading and/or rehabilitation of the road shall not cause substantial effect on the water resources and water quality along the road route. There may be a positive impact due to addition of culverts and energy dissipaters maintenance and providing which will decrease the velocity of the water and decrease the turbidity of the water downstream (improving the water quality). Highway runoff pollution has insignificant adverse irnpact, since highway runoff occurs during rainy season when the streams and flood path have high floods. Therefore, the dilution effect is significant. 5.1.3 Nuisance Noise Excessive noise levels from operations of construction equipment and vehicles will cause disturbance to local residents living in the vicinity of the construction activity. Noise generated from the quarry and borrow pit sites will be an annoyance to only those few residents living near the sites as well as the construction labor force. Noise is generally not considered as a major nuisance by the people. However, noise sensitive areas such as schools, hospitals, residental areas shall be considered during road construction. Noise disturbance affects wildlife also and should be considered in protected areas. 5.1.4 Air Quality There is no air quality information available in the project area. The large number of vehicles in towns create health risks through their engine and exhaust emissions. However, traffic emissions are not seen as a problem by local people. The major effects on air quality during the road construction would be an increase in suspended particles from blasting, excavation and quarrying as well as movement of heavy machinery, trucks and trailers over unpaved roads and the dust caused when all traffic is directed to unpaved detours. Many of these operations will take place in locations away from the towns and settlement areas. Plancenter Ltd 39 October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report 5.2 Natural Environment and Biodiversity 5.2.1 Loss of terrestrial vegetation The impact on natural vegetation would be associated with operating the quarry and borrow areas, and constructing detour and access road to the borrow material and rock quarry sites. Except the Gumburda Grakas National Forest Priority Area, there are no other significant areas of natural or semi-natural forest all along the project area. 5.2.2 Destruction of wildlife habitat and impediment to movement of wildlife There are no major wildlife communities in the project area that will be affected by the construction of the project. 5.2.3 Encroachment into ecologically sensitive areas The project component do not involve any fresh encroachment into terrestrial ecological interest and nature reserves. 5.3 Human and Social Environment: Social Issues The following issues/concerns are all related to the present road and to the anticipated project to upgrade it. The issues/concerns described here were expressed by interviewed local people and organizations by the road and by the participants in public consultation in Mekele. Issues/concerns also include direct observation by the consultants and available/relevant literature on the area and the road project. 5.3.1 Social acceptability According to the interviews/public consultation the social acceptability of the project is high among the local people and among all those engaged in transitory traffic. The new project to asphalt the present road was seen minimizing the present problems and increasing the benefits. The only worries were related to the use of road during its construction. It was also seen and admitted by all that development of the road system causes problems/damages but if mitigation plan is integrated to the planning the problems can be minimized. 5.3.2 Resettlement/displacement of people There will be some people who will be displaced from their present houses and the resettlement question arises due to the project. According to the project design there will be some new alignments on the present road. In the northern end of Robit town some houses will be removed due to the new bridge which is crossing the river east of the present road. Also in Frewoine town before Adigrat many Plancenter Ltd 40 October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report houses are already marked to be demolished due to the road. There are no rural/agricultural farm houses which must be displaced. In Robit the new road alignment goes out of ERA's Right of Way, while in some other places many houses have been build within it. Either legal or illegal buildings the people living in these houses must find a new place to live. In practice the community has helped to find a new place to live. In most towns in the country kebeles own and rent out quite a considerable number of houses/rooms. In the case of resettlement it is easier to kebele if it has houses of it own. However, along this road there are very few kebele owned houses (as compared to other four studied roads). In Robit 8 percent are rented from the kebele when 83 percent of houses are owner occupied. This share is highest on the project road. In Freweyni less than one percent of all houses is rented from kebele, and 45 percent from other private households, one third owns the house they live in. Especially in Frewoine, many displaced people would be private tenants. 5.3.3 Demographic changes There will be no dramatical changes in demography in the project area due to the project. The population growth continue and more people move to the towns. Especially in the northern part of the road the share of women and young population is very high. The present growth and other trends continue with and without the project, there will be no dramatical demographic changes due to the road project. 5.3.4 Change in way of life The changes due to the rehabilitation of the present road will not have any dramatical impacts to the people's present life. With better and faster road also services will be improved, more imported, new and cheaper goods are available raising maybe the standard of living but not the way of living. The electricity often follows the road and change the way of life in many aspects, but also electricity has been introduced to the study area already with the old road. With the better road public transportation possibilities increase, especially private minibuses and taxis are expected to appear also on this road once asphalted, and the travel costs to decrease. Increased mobility is slightly changing also the way of life. 5.3.5 Impacts on women Since the road has existed for years the upgrading project will not have any radical impacts on women. However, asphalted road with better shoulders and drainage and without dust will make it easier, more comfortable and safer for the rural people to use the road as pedestrians and/or for local transportation of goods/products. All local people benefit but especially women, who are the main users of the road as pedestrians. The use of better road during night time will be safer especially to women. Plancenter Ltd 41 October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalarnbessa Road Final Report The shops and bars along the road are run by women. With the better and safer stopping places for cars/trucks/busses would also increase these income generating activities. With the better asphalted road small (private) busses appear to these roads. The travel costs are less than what regular (long distance) busses charge. Lots of social travel obligations would be easier by them. However, many women would still walk some hours twice a week to markets to sell their (mainly agricultural) products. The profits are so low, if any, that even 50 cents will make it difficult for many to afford even this. Due to the big volumes such as fuel many women have to continue to walk to the towns and market places. With the better road the health and educational facilities can be reached quicker and safer. The better road may encourage the parents to send also the daughters to schools. Also the maternity services are reached easier. During the construction period there will be more women engaged in income-generating activities running the restaurants and bars, or selling fuel wood or other local products to the camp workers. These activities will benefit mainly women who are very often the sole supporters of their families. On the other hand, the increased local prices affect especially women who are often worse-off than men. In the places where the houses will be demolished, the resettlement of women headed households should get a special attention. Especially in Frewoine 45 percent of the households have rented the houses from the private other households. Since the female headed households in urban areas constitute half of all households and especially these women are engaged in the road side services (bars, hotels etc) very often on the tenant basis, there should be careful monitoring that also these families are included in resettlement plans. Women are also posed to increased risk of sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies due to the construction camps. 5.3.6 Impacts on indigenous peoples The project area in the south is traditionally Amhara area and in the northern part the Tigraway s are indigenous or traditional. There are some other 'traditional' ethnic minorities such as the Afars and Sahos. Many other ethnicities which are not big in number live in this area more as individual migrants than as ethnic minorities. The road is not bringing any new or different impacts on these people. They will be served by the road in the same manner than it serves Amharas and Tigraways. 5.3.7 Induced development Maybe one of the most common example about the induced development due to the construction of road is the fact that ERA camps which are meant for temporary use, turn out to be permanently settled and sometimes they develop into real towns (The similar development can be found with the previous checking points or kellas.) When the ERA camp has been established, 150-250 workers are moving in it. The camp offers income-generating possibilities to the local people during the construction period Plancenter Ltd 42 October 1997 EA Repon for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report which might last from one to two years. Many people settle down near the camp to trade and offer their services: food, talla, katikala or other drinks, chat, fuel wood or whatever is needed and bought by camp workers. Increased demand inflate the local prices. The people engaged in business by the camp will benefit while those local people who are dependant on the same purchases will suffer in the form of increased prices. Although the impacts will be felt only during the construction period the increased demand of goods and services and higher prices will affect some individuals and families to migrate and settle down near the camp sites for their business. Most of these people are landless and continue to stay after the camp has been demobilized People who are moving near the camp to do any business may rent land from the local kebeles or PAs and build their own houses. Some of them will settle down illegally without any registration by the local administration. The camp needs quite a lot of fuel wood which is bought from the local markets or sometimes from the people coming to the camp to sell it. 5.3.8 Conflicts between locals and immigrants The arrival of 150-250 workers, mainly men, to the construction camps will have several impacts to the local communities. In general the camps are well accepted due to the 300- 400 employment possibilities also to the local people. Possible ethnic conflicts are small, if any at all, in the hills where camps can be located any place, because in all localities people expect to be hired as semi-skilled or daily labour. Skilled labour would come from outside and reside in the camp while locally hired labour will not. Usually the workers stay in the camp for four weeks at a time and during the fourth week- end the whole staff is taken to the near by town for asbesal shopping week-end. However, occasional and personal conflicts will be expected due to many reasons, often due to, drinking. Also the more cash available among the migrant workers might cause personal conflicts. The more cash might inflate also local prices and cause bad feelings in the local population. Especially already worse-off people would be affected negatively. However, also inflation will be temporary. The families are not allowed to stay in the construction camps and the relations between construction workers and local women are common during the construction period. Due to the dislike about condoms among Ethiopian men the occurrence of veneral diseases might increase also among the local population. Many temporary relations result in pregnancies and 'milk payment' court cases increase. Plancenter Ltd 43 October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report 5.4 Human and Social Environment: Economic Issues 5.4.1 Loss of agricultural lands Because the upgrading follows the old road, not very much agricultural lands will be permanently lost. The temporary losses will be in the places, where the detours will be constructed. In these cases, however, the losses are only temporary and therefore there will be no compensation for lost lands. However, if the land has been used as a detour for a year, it will take time before that land can be used as agricultural land. 5.4.2 Loss of grazing land There will be no permanent losses of grazing lands. However, the detour and construction of the access road to the quarry and subbase material sites will affect grazing land. The greater part of the required grazing land is for communal use. The land to be taken is small, therefore, this loss will not result either directly or indirectly in significant changes to the pattern or location of traditional grazing territories. 5.4.3 Loss of property Residential and/or other buildings Few houses will be lost in Robit town and quite many in Freweyni towns due to the project. In Robit town the houses are made of wood and mud and will be compensated because of the new alignment. Compensation is paid based on the value/costs of a new similar house. However, the consultants recommend that the compensated value would cover the costs of a new hollow block house due to environmental reasons. The hollow block houses are not very much more expensive, and would save trees. The price of wood and mud house is about 800 birr per square meter while the hollow block houses cost about 1200 birr per square meter. In Frewoine houses to be removed are built of natural stone, and can be compensated as stone or hollow block houses. According to the practice, compensation depends on the location of the houses, either inside or outside the Right of Way. Compensation should be paid for displaced houses if legally or illegally built. The owner of the house will receive the compensation regardless of the fact if he/she lives in a house or it is occupied by the tenants. In Robit 83 percent of the houses are owner occupied and in Frewoine 36 percent. Crops and trees There will be temporary losses of agricultural land (for detours, ERA camps, storage sites, asphalt plants etc.) In this case the compensation is based on the value of the lost crop for one or two years depending on the time detour is used. There are no forests by the road but some new cultivated groups of trees, more in the southern part of the road, where some trees may be affected. Plancenter Ltd 44 October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report 5.4.4 Employment opportunities Due to high unemployment rates in the towns people along the road wait for the construction work to start due to the anticipated/expected employment possibilities. The road construction employs 150-250 people who resides in the camps. Besides these some 300-400 daily labourers will be hired locally for construction work. Previously only men were hired but now also women participate in road construction work. Some local people will also be hired locally for the camps as cooks and cleaners, some of them women. If the availability of the modern machinery and equipment will increase with new (foreign) contractors the share of local labour might decrease, despite the labour-intensive policy recommended in the RSDP. However, along this road local daily labour will be needed especially in many erosion prone places to level out the worst erosion which would affect the road. Outside the construction work there will be other economic activities due to the construction camp and demand of different products and services by the construction workers. Most of these activities would be run by women. 5.4.5 Change in economic activities There will be no significant changes in the economic activities in the settlements due to the road upgrading project. The road construction will, however, create more opportunities to economic activities which are already available: more services, more sales etc. than create new type of work. Most of this increase in quantity will be temporary by nature, but some may turn out to be permanent even after the camp has been demobilized. 5.4.6 Effects on public and private services During the construction period the construction camps might overload the public services, mainly in the health sector, since in the camps only first aid in case of accidents can be given. Demand on the private services will increase, benefitting the local community. These impacts are temporary. The longer lasting impacts will be on the public transportation, which will be improved, since with the better and paved road mainly private minibuses will appear on the road, as they do in the other parts of the country after pavement. Due to their lower prices more people would use them than what people now use long distance busses. It is also anticipated that more youngsters would enroll to the school or go on to the higher grades due to the better transportation. This effect might be more beneficial to the girls than boys. However, if this happen in a large scale this might put a pressure to the educational institutions. However, better road only gives this possibility, there are so many other reasons why this opportunity will not be used. Plancenter Ltd 45 October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Repon The water and fuel demand/needs will increase during the construction period. The location of the camps must be such as not to put any extra burden to the local resources. 5.4.7 Impacts on national economy This important trunk road connects Addis Ababa to the northern part of the country. The road is also an important import/expolt road between Ethiopia and Eritrea. The increasing industrialization in Mekele and Adigrat using this road benefits national economy in the form of new employment possibilities. With the better road and quicker transportation for agricultural inputs and outputs are expected to inrcease the agricultural production. For the transportation of the ready products or raw materials there are no other alternatives than this road. There are flight connections from Addis to Mekele with an international airport under construction, but these flights will also in the future serve mainly passengers. The condition of the cars will be improved / breaking less due to the better service will save imports of spare parts. On the other hand the imports of the cars/trucks will increase. The improved road will have impacts on tourism w-hich is expected to increase. Also foreign tourists are interested in the historical and cultural sites, many of which are reached from this road. The road from Gobiye to Mekele is rated as one of the scenic routes in the country. Foreigners are also interested in the country's unique natural environment. The foreign currency reserve is expected to grow with the increasing tourism and offer employment possibilities in this sector. 5.5 Human and Social Environment: Other Issues 5.5.1 Cultural, religious and historical areas This road is one of the most interesting historical roads in the country. There are many valuable cultural and historical monuments and sites in the vicinity of the road, and in the towns through which the road goes. However, none of these monuments, places or sites will be directly affected by the upgrading project. The improved road make it easier to the tourists to reach these places. Even if the money they bring is valued, there should be plans already from the beginning to handle the tourist business with the controlled manner. Such as parking places could be negotiated with the authorities of these places. The less known sites such as graveyards or other holy places to the locals might be affected unless negotiated with the locals. 5.5.2 Health and sanitary issues The pavement of the road benefits people, who now suffer from the dust, which is also one of the additional reasons to common respiratory diseases. (People do not complain very much of the other type of air pollution, and the release of harmful emissions need some other measures to be decreased such as better car condition inspection etc.) Plancenter Ltd 46 October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report ERA camps have also easily different health risks. Due to the crowded lodging contagious diseases may cause epidemics, especially in malaria prone areas. Due to the relations between the locals and camp workers, also occurrence of veneral diseases may increase among the local population. There will also be a risk to the construction workers themselves of contracting malaria and other diseases endemic to the area and risk to the public from blasting activities associated with quarry activities and diversion road construction. 5.5.3 Road safety Many reasons contribute to weak traffic/road safety on the road. Dust and high speed are said to be the biggest reasons for the accidents. Animals on the road are causing many accidents. The rainy season is a dangerous time for the transitory traffic due to the slippery nature of the present road and better surface will make the road safer. Due to the bad road condition all cars can not speed but occasionally. However, when the road will be asphalted, the used speeds will get higher. The speed will cause more accidents, while the accidents caused by the dust will decrease. Better inspection of car condition could diminish some accidents (but this belongs to the other authorities, not ERA). The traffic police already now inspects overloads and over speeds. After the Creation of the Road Fund the fines go to this fund instead of the Treasure, and fund money will be used also for better road safety activities. These activities should also include traffic education. 5.5.4 Public consultations Public consultations give to the decision makers environmental data, understanding of likely impacts and information of individual and community preferences as well as possible project alternatives, which can be used to avoid or mitigate negative impacts of the proposed project. Problems during the construction can be mitigated by establishing local committees with the local knowledge of the physical, social and economic environment. The committee should represent different stakeholders. Although the committee was seen to be very necessary especially for compensation issues/concerns, it could also guide in other local issues. For example, local knowledge was felt to be necessary in the cases such as identifying quarry sites, detours and other construction sites before they are selected and decided by the consultant. Local knowledge would minimize the negative impacts. Plancenter Ltd 47 October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report 6. ANALYSIS OF ALTERNATIVES The upgrading of this road to the proposed standard compared to the "zero alternative" (no project) is environmentally more sound solution. The benefits can be justified by the following environrmental and safety points: through upgrading, the erosion problems due to the low standard of the road will be mitigated the new pavements will tremendously reduce the dust and thereby the amount of accidents caused by dust which blocks the visibility from drivers and pedestrians alike will be diminished; reduced dust problem improves the living standards and health status especially in the towns the problem of vehicles tending to change their courses of driving from the carriage way to shoulders and ditches and sometimes outside of the road itself, will be solved by upgrading/rehabilitating the road during the rainy season the paved road will not be as slippery as the present gravel road the problem of flooding to the road near Robit town will disappear with the new bridge Furthermore, the road improvement plans are well accepted by the people residing along the road as well as by the people engaged in the transitory traffic. The adverse impacts of the proposed road improvement are mainly related to the construction period and therefore temporary. These impacts are small compared to the positive economic and environmental benefits of the road rehabilitation. Even the impacts would be minimized by including the technical, operational and phasing procedures in the tender document for the contractor. Plancenter Ltd 48 October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report 7 MITIGATION MANAGEMENT PLAN The potential negative impacts have been identified and discussed in the Chapter 5 and the recommended mitigation measures that should be adopted to avoid or minimise potential adverse impacts are discussed in this chapter, following the same categorization (and numbering) as in Chapter 5. Some of the measures involve good engineering practices while others are viewed from human and social angle. The table in the end of this Chapter 7 provides a summary of the mitigation plan, the organisation responsible for their implementation and cost estimates. 7.1 Physical Environment 7.1.1 Soil and erosion The bidding document for construction should include technical specification for the prevention of environmental hazards and pollution i.e. Erosion: Additional culverts shall be provided to decrease flows where erosion (scouring) of culverts are high (hilly terrain) and at flood plains to increase damming effect of the road. The principle of no scour and no silting design approach shall be adopted in the design of side ditches. Energy dissipators at bridges and culverts shall be maintained and provided where it is necessary. Borrow Materials/Borrow and/or quarry sites: - Materials will be preferably extracted from existing quarries. - Gravels and sands shall not be extracted from minor river bed to avoid scouring and water pollution. - Washing water shall be systematically cleaned before discharging to rivers or streams. - After completion of the work restoration of the sites is required. Cuts in Soil and in Rock and Construction of the Embankment: - Cut of topsoil to be used for plantation of the embankments and to refill borrow pits. - Blasting should be optimized not to cause slope destability and damage adjacent built structures. - Embankment should be compacted. Hydraulic Structures (Bridges and Culverts) Provide appropriate return period floods for deternining the opening dimension of additional culverts and bridges and check the existing structures. Avoid erosion of cuts and fills by providing proper drainage. Plancenter Ltd 49 October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report Care should be taken not to pollute the river water during concrete work from cement slag and spills of oil and fuel by providing diversion and other measure appropriate to each specific site. 7.1.2 Hydrological conditions and water quality Water resources and water quality Construction activities in and around perennial rivers should be conducted during dry season to minimize sediment loading. In order to prevent accident spillage of pollutants to water sources or leakage to the ground, all temporary and permanent storage facilities should be located away from these sites and in a bounded enclosure with an impermeable liners. Waste oil and other liquids originating from on-site maintenance of construction equipment must be disposed of in a proper manner. A spill contingency plan should be drawn up before the start of the construction activities. Periodical monitoring of the road for environmental impact should be conducted and appropriate measure must be taken. In general the rehabilitation of the road have no impacts compared to the existing road from the physical point of view. Once the construction of the project is complete, the contractor is required to remove all equipment from the site and clear the site from potentially hazardous materials. Reclamation of sites exposed during construction will include re-grading and re-vegetation. Water quality Clearing of vegetation cover for excavation and filling of construction areas exposes the underlying soils and rock surfaces to erosion and erodible materials may eventually find their way into the river causing increases in the suspended sediment concentration in the river. However, sound engineering practice by the contractor will be required to completely avoid where possible, or minimize, erosion of excavated areas and spoil dumps to avoid increases in turbidity in the downstream rivers during times of heavy rainfall causing surface runoff. Therefore, these activities should be carried out in the dry season to reduce the potential environmental damage and soil erosion and sediment loading to streams and lakes. In order to prevent accidental spillage of pollutants to water courses or leakage to the ground, all temporary and permanent storage facilities should be located away from these sites and in a bounded enclosure with an impermeable liners. Waste oil and other liquids originating from on-site maintenance of construction equipment must be disposed of in a proper manner. A spill contingency plan should be drawn up before the start of the construction activities. Highway run offs Highway runoff along the side ditches of the road is maximum during rainy season when natural drainages (rivers, streams and flood paths) have peak floods. Therefore discharging the highway run off to the natural drainage will have high dilution effect which will have Plancenter Ltd 50 October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report no change of the water quality. Therefore no mitigation measure is required along the road route. 7.1.3 Nuisance noise Activities producing excessive noise levels should be restricted to the day time, and equipment normally producing high levels should be suppressed or screened when working within a distance of 200 m from any settlement or religious building. To cause the least disruption to the local population, it is recommended that construction producing nuisance level noise shall be minimized or rescheduled so as not to occur at night or locally recognized religious days (i.e., Saints' days, etc.) and Sundays. 7.1.4 Air quality Air quality can be affected by particle emissions during construction work, batch plants operations and traffic. All trucks carrying fine materials should be covered. Where top soil is to be stockpiled for a long period of time, it should be covered or seeded to prevent wind erosion. Traffic speeds should be reduced and regular application of water on road pavements may be required as appropriate to prevent high dust emissions. Poor air quality can result from diesel powered machinery vehicles. Construction machinery must be well maintained to minimize excessive gaseous emission. Once the construction of the road upgrading project is complete, the contractor is required to remove all construction equipment from the site and clear the site of potentially hazardous materials and re-contour and landscape the disturbed areas. Restoration plan of sites exposed during construction will include re-grading of the disturbed areas and planting appropriate ground cover to minimize erosion and to provide a more aesthetically pleasing appearances to the visible project facilities. 7.1.5 Construction spoils Once the construction of the Woldiya - Zalambessa road upgrading project is complete, the contractor is required to remove all construction equipment from the site and clear the site of potentially hazardous materials and re-contour and landscape the disturbed areas. Restoration plan of sites exposed during construction will include re-grading of the disturbed areas and planting appropriate ground cover to minimise erosion and to provide a more aesthetically pleasing appearances to the visible project facilities. All sites will be inspected by ERA Environmental Protection Unit staff and the site clean- up approved before the contractors are allowed to abandon the site. 7.2 Natural Environment and Biodiversity 7.2.1 Loss of terrestrial vegetation One of the major unavoidable impact of roads is the effect on the terrestrial vegetation in the vicinity by the virtue of the construction. Major environmental impact will results from Plancenter Ltd 51 October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report excessive widths of right of way. While some flexibility is essential to achieving stability of cuts and fills, exacting principles of design also need to be adhered in order to avoid excessive destruction of vegetation and disturbance of land. The most important mitigation options for forest resources include: - consider the location of mature trees during route selection for the detour to minimize destruction of trees; - during borrow area clearing, prepare a plan to remove mature trees in the borrow area to obtain optimal benefits from harvested tirnber; - in order to compensate for loss of trees; - replanting must be made mandatory and quarrying must be limited to the direct needs of construction works within the National Forest Priority Areas. To compensate for the losses, it is recommended to re-forest land in the project area. Designation and management of the re-forested area will be co-ordinated and implemented by the Forestry Department of Agriculture Bureau office to establish a Forest Development team to organize and manage the overall implementation of this proposal as soon as the fund is made available for the construction of the project. Forest department of the concerned zonal administration has to be consulted with regard to selecting plant species for land restoration to both erosion and improving habitat. The estimated cost to implement the programme over a period of two years is about Birr 207,000. Table 3 shows the cost break down. Regular programme reports will be prepared by the team and submitted to ERA. Table 3 Cost estimate for compensation reforestation programme Cost Item Amount (Birr) Nursery Support 30,000 Labour and Transport 120,000 Monitoring and Evaluation 30,000 Total 180,000 Contingency (15 %) 27,000 Grand Total 207,000 7.2.2 Effects on Wildlife and Wildlife Habitat Construction of the project will not significantly affect wildlife population because the area has no wildlife reserves and couldn't provide a good habitat to support a diverse wildlife species due to extensive human intervention in the area. Plancenter Ltd 52 October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report 7.3 Human and Social Enviromnent: Social Issues 7.3.1 Social acceptability There should be good information about the future project activities and alternative designs through the consultations along the road. The consultation places should be with short intervals in order to make it possible for people to attend. All stakeholders should be involved in consultations. Also alternative designs should be available before consultation. ERA sets a committee before road construction activities to set the compensations. The role of this committee could be widened to include resettlement and other local development issues. Cost of the mitigation measures The costs of infornation and consultations will be very small if they are arranged along the road when designers go along the road any way. Main cost will be the time used for consultations. However, many future costs to the contractor can/may be avoided due to proper stakeholder participation assuming that environmental costs will be the responsibility of contractor in the future. 7.3.2 Resefflement/displacement of people The demolishing of present houses should be minimized to avoid the displacement of people. Still the displacement of quite many households seems to the unavoidable and the resettlement should be arranged. The ERA coordinated compensation committee should negotiate with the local administration the resettlement and also see that the resettlement is really done. ERA should evaluate the resettlement situation later. Also people who have been displaced from the 'illegal' settlements, should be resettled with those who are displaced from outside Right of Way or from legal settlements. In general a clear resettlement policy should be created instead of traditional practice. The policy should clearly state who are responsible to resettle displaced people and under which conditions. Cost of the mitigation measures At the present the resettlement does not cost anything to the contractor or ERA. The costs needed for proper negotiations for the resettlement of displaced people by ERA compensation committee -- paid by ERA Possible adequate assistance from the state -- by the Government 7.3.3 Demographic changes There is no need for mitigation plan due to the rehabilitation project. Plancenter Ltd 53 October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report 7.3.4 Change in way of life No mitigation plan needed 7.3.5 Impacts on women The local women should be consulted for their needs and recommendations. Often small changes in the design might have quite big positive impacts to women and cost little or nothing at all to the project. 7.3.6 Impacts on indigenous peoples Although the road upgrading does not bring any new negative impacts on these people, it could, however, benefit them and their animals if some new water sources/boreholes are needed for the project and left to their use in the valley area. Also the animal crossings could be negotiated with the locals for better road safety for all parties. 7.3.7. Induced development To induce planned development the camping sites should be selected in a way which take into consideration the available natural resources (such as availability of water, fuel etc.) for potential permanent settlement in the future. The fact that the contractor will choose the construction camps on technical bases locating camps at about 80-100 kilometers' interval should give a few kilometers' flexibility in selection of the sites. The preconditions to chose the location of the camp should be the same as for any planned permanent residence place. Enough water for present and future use, natural resources needed for the permanent settlement and their use should be planned and controlled. Houses which are built temporarely and illegally due to a camp should be registered by kebeles/PAs inorder to avoid illegal permanent settlements. By registration also 'rents' to private land owners would stay at more normal level. 7.3.8 Conflicts between locals and immigrants Although big ethnic conflicts are not to be expected, the decisions of the camp locations have to take this possibility into consideration. The 'shopping week-ends' should be divided among the staff as to avoid all of them to appear to one town at the same time. The health education about veneral diseases (also AIDS is increasing rapidly in Ethiopia) and benefits of condoms should be introduced. Plancenter Ltd 54 October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report 7.4 Human and Social Environment: Economic Issues 7.4.1 Loss of agricultural lands Construction of the road use sub-base material and utilisation of this resource will involve loss of agricultural land on sites. This area is very extensively cultivated and special attention should be given during the construction that no unnecessary losses will happen. Consultation with the local people is important. It is not possible to propose any compensation scheme about the loss of agricultural land because, the final location and extent of the affected area is not determined. Due to this, it is recommended that a detailed assessment should be conducted in the project area, particularly in the selected quarry and sub-base material sites and the compensation plan be formulated and implemented in the future. To compensate loss of land by allotment of agricultural land will not be possible due to unavailability of free land in the project area, therefore, as much as possible avoid all borrow and quarry sites with the potential to completely evict any farmer from his whole farm land. In case of permanent losses there should be serious negotiations between ERA compensation committee and local administration about new lands. While there would appear to be no restriction on constructing detour on arable land, the affected communities must be consulted over the selection of construction material site and routes for access road and detour in these areas to minimise potential damage. After the project the contractor is responsible to rehabilitate the used sites to their previous condition. 7.4.2 Loss of grazing land Consultation with the local cattle owners must be held about the location of camps and other construction sites. The seasonal migration must be taken into consideration. After completion of the construction work, the pasture land should be rehabilitated by reseeding immediately to minimize disturbance to grazing land. Compensation of the lost vegetation estimated by ERA compensation committee must include negotiations with cattle owners themselves. 7.4.3 Loss of property There are no forests by the road but some new cultivated groups of trees, more in the southern part of the road, where some trees may be affected. The value of lost property (grain crops and trees) is estimated by temporary ERA Compensation Committee and based on market price. In Robit due to the new alignment some fruit trees and other permanent crops will be lost and must be compensated. Consultations with the local administration to minimize the removal of houses. ERA compensation committee should be involved with the resettlement planning. Plancenter Ltd 55 October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report 7.4.4 Employment opportunities Local administration should have a say on who would be employed by the contractor The preference should be given to those people who lose their own economic activities due to the project. 7.4.5 Effects on Public and Private Services The construction camps should provide services which otherways would overburden the local public facilities/utilities. The selection of camp sites should be done with the cooperation with local administration. 7.5 Human and Social Environment: Other Issues 7.5.1 Cultural, religious and historical areas The destruction of locally important sites can be avoided in cooperation with local elders/administration. The local religious places, graves and funeral places as well as holy trees or springs must be taken into consideration when the detours, quarry and other construction sites are designed. 7.5.2 Health and sanitary issues Construction and operation of the road project can result in specific health impacts for residents close to construction sites and the workers. To minimise the potential health rislk the following mitigation measures are recommnended: - ensure that adequate health facility systems are in place on-site to deal with the influx of temporary workers and open the facility.to local residents as a benefit of the project to the community; - pre-employment medical screening and effective medical treatment of workers could reduce the likelihood of disease outbreak; - preventive measures for malaria should be strictly enforced in construction camps. It will be important to ensure the use of nets and insect repellents, as well as medical treatment of malaria cases; - improve the provision of a safe water supply and appropriate waste disposal facilities including the provision of sanitary latrines to control other water-borne diseases. Make the water available to local residents and hand over the water system in good working condition to the residents upon project completion; - strict adherence to speed limits on access roads during construction; - erect sufficient and clearly visible warning signs on the road during construction; - borrow area should be graded after use to prevent the formation of a pond which is a suitable ecology for mosquito breeding. - health education about veneral diseases (also AIDS is increasing rapidly in Ethiopia) and benefits of condoms should be introduced 7.5.3 Public Consultations Sound and transparent public meetings/consultations shall be held with relevant information before decision making. Consultations should include all stakeholders and should be held in all localities along the road. Before the public consultation local people should be well informed about the project design and activities. Plancenter Ltd 56 October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report MITIGATION MANAGEMENT PLAN Potential Adverse Mitigation Measure Responsible Cost Environmental Impact Institution/Person I Physical Environment 1.1 Soil and erosion - Erosion * Revegetate and restore bare surfaces Contractor No costing * Blasting should be optimised not to cause slope destabilise and damage to adjacent structures. ERA * Materials will be preferably extracted from existing quarries. - Soil contamination by spills of * Provide appropriate measures to decrease accidents. ERA & Road transport hazardous material * Control careless disposal from engines used oil and lubricants along the road. 1.2 Hydrological conditions and water quality. - Water resources and water * Limit construction activities around perennial rivers to dry season Contractor quality * Storage facilities should be located away from these sites and in a bounded enclosure * Waste oil and other liquids must be disposed of in a proper manner * A spill contingency plan should be drawn up before construction * After construction all equipment has to be removed from the site and clear the site 1.3 Nuisance noise * Activities causing noise to be restricted to the day time/working days, and equipment normally Contractor producing high levels should be suppressed or screened when working within a distance of 200 m from any settlement or religious building. 1.4 Air Quality * All trucks carrying fine materials should be covered. Contractor * Where top soil is to be stockpiled for a long period of time, it should be covered or seeded to prevent wind erosion. * Traffic speeds should be reduced and regular application of water on road pavements may be required as appropriate to prevent high dust emissions. * Construction machinery must be well maintained to minimise excessive gaseous emission. Plancenter Ltd October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report Potential Adverse Mitigation Measure Responsible Cost Environmental Impact InstitutionlPerson 2 Natural Environment and Biodiversity 2.1 Loss of terrestial vegetation ' Consider the location of mature trees during route selection for the detour to minimise destruction of trees Contractor * Rehabilitation of detours afler construction Contractor * Compenstion Afforestation ERA about 200,000 Birr Plancenter Ltd October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report Potential Adverse Mitigation Measure Responsible Cost Environmental Impact InstitutionlPerson 3 Human and Social Environment;Social Issues 3.1 Social acceptability * Good information before the construction should be available to all stakeholders: through Public ERA For ERA coordinator per diems Consultalions held along the road. and transportation costs ' Clear information about the compensation system should be given to those who might he affected. * ERA Compensation Comminee to be established for all road pmjects (including all stakeholders). 3.2 Resettlement To minimize the displacement of people. ERA Less than hundred will be * Consensus of resettlement plans must be achieved resettled 48 000 Birr /hollow block house 3.7 Induced development * To induce planned development the sites should be selected in a way which take into ERA and Local consideration the available natural resources (water, fuel etc) for potential permanent settlement Administration after the construction camps are removed * Houses which are build 'temporarily' due to the camps should be registered by the kebeles/PAs in Local Administration order to avoid illegal permanent settlements. 3.8 Conflicts between locals and * The 'shopping week-ends' should be divided among the staff as to avoid all of them to appear to Contractor immigrants one town at the same time. Plancenter Ltd October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report Potential Environmental Impact Mitigation Measure Responsible Cost Institution/Person 4 Human and Social Environment; Economic Issues 4.1 Loss of agricultural land * Avoid/minimize the temporary losses of agricultural land. ERA $ After the project the contractor is responsible to rehabilitate the used sites to their previous condition. Contractor 4.2 Loss of grazing land * Avoid/minimize the temporary losses of grazing land. ERA * After the project the contractor is responsible to rehabilitate the used sites to their previous condition. Contractor 4.2 Loss of property * The needed areas for construction should be planned as to minimize the effects on the ERA (units of coffee plants and growing crop, coffee plants, and trees eucalyptus trees) * The value of the lost crop should be estimated according to market prises. ERA Compensation * Demolished houses are compensated by ERA according to the costs of a new house. Due to Committee Pricelsq meter: hollow block house the environmental reasons it is recommended that wood & mud & thatch houses are about 1200 Birr (wood & mud & compensated according to the costs of a hollow block house thatch houses about 800 Birr) Plancenter Ltd October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report 5 }luman and Social Environment; Other Issues 5.1 Cultural, religious and historic * Negotiations with Ministry of Information and Culture and UNESCO about Tiya and other ERA/Contractor areas archeological sites. * The local religious places, graves and funeral places as well as holy trees or springs must be taken into consideration when the detours, quarry and other construction sites are designed. * The destruction of locally important sites can be avoided in cooperation with local elders/administration. 5.2 Health and sanitary issues ensure that adequate health facility systems are in place on-site to deal with the influx of Contraclor temporary workers and open the facility to local residents as a benefit of the project to the community; * pre-employment medical screening and effective medical treatment of workers could reduce the likelihood of disease outbreak: * preventive measures for malaria should be strictly enforced in construction camps. It will be important to ensure the use of nets and insect repellents, as well as medical treatment of malaria cases; * improve the provision of a safe water supply and appropriate waste disposal facilities including the provision of sanitary latrines to control other water-bome diseases. Make the water available to local residents and hand over the water system in good working condition to the residents upon project completion; * strict adherence to speed limits on access roads during construction; * erect sufficient and clearly visible warning signs on the road during construction; * borrow atea should be graded after use to prevent the formation of a pond which is a suitable ecology for mosquito breeding. * The health education about veneral diseases (also AIDS is increasing rapidly in Ethiopia) and benefits of condoms should be introduced. 5.5 Public Consultations * Sound and transparent public meetings/consultations shall be held with relevant information ERA before decision making. Consultations should include all stakeholders and should be held in all localities along the road. Before the pubic consultation local people should be well informed about the project design and activities. Plancenter Ltd October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report 8. ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING PLAN Monitoring is carried out to assess any disturbance to the environment and to protect both ERA and the affected parties from false charges. It is recommended that an environmental inspector be assigned to this project by ERA or the Supervising Consultant. The inspector should have a number of short term inputs from the commencement of the construction through to its completion and until cleanup has been finalised. The Environmental inspector will take a pictorial record of all the quarry and borrow material sites and the critical sites before any construction commences. This can be used to ensure that pre-construction conditions have been restored after clean up, specially at quarry and borrow sites, detours and temporary access roads and construction camp sites. The environmental inspector's responsibilities will be to ensure that the mitigation and monitoring requirernents are carried out effectively as outlined in the report and that good construction practices are followed to minimise impacts to the environment. During construction, monitoring of the following indicators are recommended. Although ERA will retain administrative directive and management, certain part of this programmes, as described below, will be performed by other governimental agencies under contract to ERA. 8.1 Soil and Erosion Monitoring during construction shall be done by the environmental inspector as per the mitigation measures recommended in Chapter 7.1.1. During operation the surveillance of erosion should be conducted by the district maintenance office. 8.2 Terrestrial Vegetation The purpose of this programme is to monitor effects of the project during the construction and after the completion of the project. The monitoring of components associated with terrestrial vegetation will be contracted to the Department of Forestry under Agriculture Bureau of the Amhara and Tigray Administrative Region. The Department of Forestry will determine which types of forest stands should be planted and implemented as recommended by mitigation plan and periodically report the progress to ERA. It will be the responsibility of the environmental inspector to be assigned by ERA or the supervising consultant to ensure the protection of important vegetation covers as outlined in section 7.2.1. 8.3 Agricultural Land The Environmental Inspector together with Agriculturist should ensure that topsoil stripping and separate stockpiling occur during construction on agricultural land. Topsoil shall be removed to its actual depth. After completion of the work all stored topsoil shall be returned to its original area. Upon completion of backfilling, the area shall be graded and compacted to allow the topsoil to be replaced uniformly over the original area. Plancenter Ltd 62 October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report 8.4 Health and Safety The contractor will have primary responsibility for treatment and control of the vector- borne diseases in the construction site and workers camps. The monitoring of public health will focus primarily on pre-employment medical screening and the environmental inspector together with the public health departments within the respective administrative regions will conduct periodic surveys of the project area once the construction starts to assess the safety issues associated with construction in the vicinity of the towns and villages. 8.5 Nuisance Noise and Dust It will be the responsibility of the Site Engineer and Environmental Inspector to ensure that appropriate control measures are taken and that construction activities generating significant noise and dust do not occur outside of the hours specified in section 7.13. 8.6 Equipment Fuelling and Maintenance It will be the responsibility of the environmental inspector to ensure that recommendations outlined in section 7.1.2 are implemented and strictly followed. 8.7 Cleanup Following the completion of the road project, it will be necessary to cleanup and rehabilitate the construction site. This monitoring will be maintained for only a short duration during the cleanup of the construction site to ensure that environmental precautions are implemented by the construction contractors and that the required landscaping and re-vegetation programmes on all quarry and borrow areas are done as part of the construction demobilisation project. This shall also include all work necessary to rehabilitate the site including reclamation of the borrow pits, remove waste materials generated during the construction process, surplus materials from right-of-way and pernanently repair or replace all damages resulting from the construction. This will be inspected by the project environmental inspector and the site clean-up approved before the contractor is allowed to abandon the site. 8.8 Monitoring of Social and Economic Issues During design/planning phase ERA's Environmental Protection Unit is responsible to look after that the public consultations are held as agreed in the tender. After the project the Environmental Protection Unit will be responsible to monitor that the resettlement and compensation has been implemented as agreed by the ERA Compensation Committee. Plancenter Ltd 63 October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Final Report 9. TRAINING NEEDS An analysis of the capacity building and training needs and a detailed training plan will be presented in the Sector EA Report. The plan will include the proposal for staffing and responsibilities for the new environmental unit of ERA. Training programmes shall be organized at least at two levels: 1. First level training - training for the staff of the environmental protection unit of ERA, which may be at least partly conducted outside the country 2. Second level training - training organized periodically (eg. annually) at the training center of ERA for its own staff; training possibilities shall be also arranged for designers, contractors, supervisors, operation and maintenance engineers and supervisors of private and government contractors and designers organized by the environmental protection unit in collaboration with EPA and other related institutions. The training contents should be tailored to meet the needs of the personnel concerned. The training progranmmes may contain legal and regulatory aspects, capacity building issues, EA procedure, environmental issues in road design (alternatives), environmental impacts to be assessed, carrying out public participation, preparation of statements, preparation of mitigation plan, preparation of monitoring plan, meaning and influence of the EA, results of the EA process, implementation of the mitigation and the monitoring plan as well as environmental aspects in contract specifications, construction supervision, maintenance and operation supervision, other environmental protection issues etc. Emphasis shall also be given to public education on environmental protection and road safety issues. Plancenter Ltd 64 October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Appendix 1 Final Report List of Team Members LIST OF TEAM MEMBERS Foreign Experts Mr. Hannu Karttunen Team Leader/Road Engineering (2 months in Ethiopia - at the beginning) Ms. Ulla Mustanoja Sociological Aspects (3 months in Ethiopia) Mr. Reima Petajajarvi Road Sector Environmental Impact Assessment (at the beginning) Ms. Auli Keinanen Home Office Coordinator/ELA (1 month in Ethiopia - at the end) Ethiopian Experts Mr. Engida Zemedagegnehu Hydrogeology/Soil Science/Road Engineering Dr. Dejene Woldemariam Ecology/Natural Resources Management Mr. Atnafe Beyene Sociology Mr. Imeru Tamrat Yigezu Institutional, Legal, Policy and Capacity Building Issues Mr. Mengistu Haile Project Coordination and Local Liaison/Road Engineering Plancenter Ltd October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Appendix 2, page I Final Report References/Baseline Documents References/Baseline Documents Relevant Legislative and Policy Papers and Guidelines of the Government of Ethiopia: Proclamation No. 1/1995 Constitution of FDRE Proclamation No. 63/1993 Ethiopian Roads Authority Re-establishment The National Conservation Strategy 1994, Vol. I, II, III and IV Vol II Federal Policy on Natural Resources and the Environment Vol mI Institutuional Framework and Operational Arrangements for the Federal Policy on Natural Resources and the Environment Vol IV Action Plan for the Federal Policy on Natural Resources and the Environment Proclamation No. 9/1995 Environmental Protection Authority Establishment Proclamation No. 4/ 1995 - Definition of the Powers and Duties of the Executive Organs of the FDRE Proclamation Proclamation No. 94/1994 Forest Conservation and Development Conservation (MOA to be requested) Proclamation No. 122/1995 Ethiopian Roads Authority Amendments Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA) 1995: The Profile of Management and Financing of Roads in Ethiopia November 1995. Ethiopian Roads Authority, ERA 1996: Road Sector Development Program, Second Draft, Final Report, January 1996 Environmental Protection Authority 1996: Environmental Policy of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. EPA in collaboration with the Ministry of Economic Development and Cooperation FDRE, Environmental Impact Assessment, Council of Ministers Regulations (draft 1997) Ethiopian Roads Authority, ERA 1997: Reform Study Report, May 1997 Environmental Protection Authority, EPA 1997: Environmental Impact Considerations for Transport Sector Projects (draft) Environmental Protection Authority, EPA 1997: Procedural Guidelines for Environmental Impact Assessment (draft) Plancenter Ltd October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Appendix 2, page 2 Final Report References/Baseline Documents Documents regarding the Five Roads: The Transport Construction Design Enterprise (TCDE) 1994-1995: Pavement condition surveying and designs for the following roads: a) Kulubi - Mieso, Eng. Report (1994) b) Alemgena - Hossana - Sodo Eng. Report, Volume I & II (1995) c) Awash - Mille Eng. Report, Volume I (1994) TecnEcon 1997: Consulting Services for the Five Roads Feasibility Study, Draft Final Report Volume I, II and m, May 1997. Ethiopian Roads Authority/International Development Association. Plancenter 1997: Inception Reports for the Environmental Analysis of the Road Sector and the Five Roads selected for Upgrading/Rehabilitation (2 separate reports, June 1997). Ethiopian Roads Authority/Intemational Development Association. Guidelines, directives and other relevant documents of the World Bank The World Bank 1989: Operational Directive 4.00, Annex A: Environmental Assessment The World Bank 1990: Operational Directive 4.30 on Involuntary Resettlement The World Bank 1991: Environmental Assessment Source Book Volume I Policies, Procedures and Cross Sectoral Issues Volume II Sectoral Guidelines Volume III Guidelines for Environmental Assessment of Energy and Industry Projects The World Bank 1991: Operational Directive 4.01 on Environmental Assessment The World Bank 1994: Roads and the Environment: A Hand Book The World Bank 1994: Road Maintenance and the Environment The World Bank 1995: Operational Policies 4.04 on Natural Habitats The World Bank 1995: Papers on Social Assessment The World Bank 1995: National Environmental Strategies: Learning from Experience The World Bank 1996. The Impact of Environmental Assessment; The World Bank's Experience The World Bank 1997: Participation Sourcebook Plancenter Ltd October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Appendix 2, page 3 Final Report References/Baseline Documents Other relevantlavailable environmental guidelines and documents: Commission of the European Union 1993: Environmental Manual: Environmental procedures and methodology governing Lome IV development co-operation projects Commission of the European Union 1993: Environmental Manual: Sectoral Environmental Assessment Sourcebook Asian Development Bank 1993: Environmental Guidelines for Selected Infrastructures Project The World Conservation Union (IUCN) 1993: Environmental Synopsis of Ethiopia Plancenter Ltd 1992: Environmental Impact Study of the Chida-Sodo Road Project, Ethiopia. African Development Bank Project. Physical and biological environment data of Ethiopia: Kazmin V. 1973: Geological map of Ethiopia. Scale 1: 1,000,000. Ministry of Mines and Energy. Gouin P. 1976: Seismic zoning of Ethiopia. Bulletin of the Geophysical Observatory, Ethiopia. Tesfaye Chemet 1982: Hydrogeological map of Ethiopia. Scale 1:2,000,000. Ministry of Mines and Energy Soil and Geomorphology map of Ethiopia. Scale 1:2,000,000. Ministry of Agriculture, 1982. Mean annual rainfall map of Ethiopia.Scale 1:2,000,000. National Meteorology Service Agency 1982 Master Plan for the Development of Surface Water Resources in the Awash Basin. Ethiopian Valleys Development Studies Authority, Final Report, Vol. 4 and 9. 1989 Feasibility Study of the Birr and Koga Irrigation Project, Acres International Ltd, Canada, and Shawel Consult International, Ethiopia, March 1995 Ethiopian Wildfife and Natural History Society 1996: Important Bird Areas of Ethiopia. Statistics The 1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia. Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. Office of Population and Housing Census Commission. Central Statistic Authority. Results for Oromiya Region - Volume I: Part I. Statistical Report on Population Size and Characteristics, April 1996, Addis Ababa - Volume I: Part II. Statistical Report on Education and Economic Activity, April 1996, Addis Ababa Plancenter Ltd October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Appendix 2, page 4 Final Report References/Baseline Documents - Volume I: Part m. Statistical Report on Migration, Fertility and Mortality, April 1996, Addis Ababa - Volume I: Part IV. Statistical Report on Housing Characteristics, April 1996, Addis Ababa - Results for Harari Region - Volume I Statistical Report, September 1995, Addis Ababa - Results for Dire Dawa Provisional Administration - Volume I Statistical Report, October 1995, Addis Ababa - Results for Tigray Region - Volume I Statistical Report, November 1995, Addis Ababa - Results for Amhara Region - Volume I: Part I. Statistical Report on Population Size and Characteristics, December 1995, Addis Ababa - Volume I: Part II. Statistical Report on Education and Economic Activity, December 1995, Addis Ababa - Volume I: Part m. Statistical Report on Migration, Fertility and Mortality, December 1995, Addis Ababa - Volume I: Part IV. Statistical Report on Housing Characteristics, December 1995, Addis Ababa - Results for Affar Region - Volume I Statistical Report, December 1996, Addis Ababa - Results for Southern Nations - Volume I: Part m. Statistical Report on Migration, Fertility and Mortality, June 1996, Addis Ababa - Volume I: Part IV. Statistical Report on Housing Characteristics, June 1996, Addis Ababa Statistical Abstract 1995, Ethiopia, April 1996 General data of Ethiopia: Spectrum Guide to Ethiopia 1995 Sources of social, cultural, economic and health data: Trends in Developing Economies, World Bank, 1994 The socio-cultural and economic baseline data is based on several documents (books, studies, reports, articles and other relevant literature) Lankinen, Bergstrom, MAkeld & Peltomaa 1994: Health and Diseases in Developing Countries Plancenter Ltd October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Appendix 3, Page 1 Final Report List of Organizations, Institutions and Persons List of Organizations, Institutions and Persons Met/Interviewed during the Work Ethiopian Roads Authority, ERA ERA District Office Manager, Gondar ERA District Office Manager, Adigrat Environmental Protection Authority of Ethiopia, EPA The World Bank, Addis Ababa The Delegation of the European Commission Ministry of Information and Culture Department of Archeology and Anthropology Department of Information Ministry of Agriculture Ethiopian Wild Life Conservation Authority Land Use Policy and Planning Forestry Department Ministry of Economic Development and Cooperation Environmental Planning Unit Road Transport Authority Chairrnan of the Council of Representatives of the Hadiya Zone Economic Development Section Head of the North Wolo Zone Inspector of the Mashilaye Transport Association Accountant of the Mashilaye Transport Association Deputy Chairnan of the Council of Representatives of the South Tigray Zone - Maichew town Traffic Policemen in Hirna, Asebe Teferi and Alamata towns Elders of the Robit town Residents in different villages/towns People interviewed by the roads Plancenter Ltd October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Appendix 3, Page 2 Final Report List of Organizations, Institutions and Persons Participants representing the following organizations in Public Meetings: Place Dire Dawa Date June 20, 1997 Representatives from: 1 Kulubi Saint Gabriel Church Kulubi 1 Kulubi Town Kulubi 3 Kulubi Peasant Association Kulubi 1 Kersa Administration Kersa 1 Education Office Kersa 1 Agricultural Office Kersa 1 Oromo Development Association Kersa 2 Hirna Town Hirna 1 Dire Dawa Administration Dire Dawa 1 Dire Dawa Municipality Dire Dawa 1 Planning Office Dire Dawa I Public Works & Urban Development Dire Dawa I Education Bureau Dire Dawa 2 Agricultural Bureau Dire Dawa 2 Agricultural Office Dire Dawa 1 Trade Council Dire Dawa I Food Complex Factory Dire Dawa I Textile Factory Dire Dawa 2 Chat Association I Alem Maya Administration Alem Maya 2 Alem Maya University Alem Maya I Planning & Economic Devt Office Harar 1 Public Works & Urban Devt. Harar 2 Agricultural Bureau Harar I Social Affairs 1 Harar Beer Factory Harar Place Awash Town Date June 22, 1997 Representatives from: 2 Woreda Council Awash 2 Awash Town Municipality Awash 1 Awash Kebele Awash 1 Women Affairs Office Awash I Justice Office Awash 1 Education Office Awash Plancenter Ltd October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Appendix 3, Page 3 Final Report List of Organizations, Institutions and Persons 1 Trade and Industry Office Awash 2 Public Transport Organization Awash 3 Awash Business Community Awash Awash residents Awash 2 Elders of Awash Town Awash 2 Awash National Park Awash 1 Gewane Town Awash 1 ERA Awash 2 ERA Awash-Gewane Place Mekele Date June 26. 1997 Representatives from: Alamata Administrative Council Alamata Southem Zone Administration Maichew Regional Administration Mekele Regional Admiinstration Mekele Regional Council Mekele Public Works & Urban Development Mekele Planning Bureau Mekele Mining and Energy Bureau Mekele Justice Office Mekele EELPA Mekele Telecommunications Mekele Mekele Town Administration Mekele Mekele Town Administration Mekele Mekele Town Adminstration Mekele Rural Roads Authority Mekele Business Community Mekele Business Community Mekele Relief Society of Tigray Mekele Tigray Development Association Mekele Woin Newspaper Mekele The Press Mekele Eastern Zone Administration Adigrat Public Works & Urban Development Adigrat Plancenter Ltd October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Appendix 3, Page 4 Final Report List of Organizations, Institutions and Persons Place Hossaina Date July 8, 1997 Participants/Representatives from: Amacho Wato town Amacho Wato Peasant Association Limu Peasant Association Limu Tiya town Tiya Business community Butajira Business community Butajira Hadiya Zone Council Hossaina Hadiya Zone Council Hossaina Hadiya Zone Council Hossaina Hadiya Zone Council Hossaina Education Office Hossaina Women's Affairs Office Hossaina Hossaina Municipality Hossaina Hossaina Town Hossaina Hossaina Hospital Hossaina Public Transportation Organization Hossaina Hadiya Development Association Hossaina Business community Hossaina Business community Hossaina Business community Hossaina Business community Hossaina Private investors Hossaina The Press Hossaina KAT Zonal Council Durame Public Works & Urban Development Durame Business community Areka Business community Areka Woreda Council Shinshicho Woreda Council Shinshicho Education Office Shinshicho Sodo Woreda Council Sodo Women's Affairs Office Sodo Business Community Sodo Business Community Sodo Plancenter Ltd October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Appendix 4 Final Report Field Visit Programme FIELD VISIT PROGRAMME The Field Survey on the Five Roads 19.6.-8.7.1997 Date Road Section/Public Consultations 19.6.1997 Addis Ababa - Dire Dawa Night in Dire Dawa 20.6. Public Consultation in Dire Dawa 8.30 - 13.00 Dire Dawa - Harar - Dire Dawa Night in Dire Dawa 21.6. Dire Dawa - Awash Night in Awash 22.6. Public Consultation in Awash 8.30 - 13.00 Awash - Mille - Bati Night in Bati 23.6. Bati - Dessie - Woldia Night in Woldia 24.6. Woldia - Mekele Night in Mekele 25.6. Mekele - Zalambesa - Mekele Night in Mekele 26.6. Public Consultation in Mekele 8.30 - 13.00 Mekele - Adigrat - Axum Night in Axum 27.6. Axum - Gondar Night in Gondar 28.6. Gondar - Bahir Dar - Dangla Night in Dangla 29.6. Dangla - Debre Marcos - Addis Ababa 7.7. Addis Ababa-Hossaina Night in Hossaina 8.7. Public Consultation in Hossaina 8.30 - 13.00 Hossaina-Addis Ababa Persons attending the site visits: Ms. Ulla Mustanoja Senior Sociologist Mr. Engida Zemedagegnehu Hydrogeology/Soil Science/Road Engineering Expert Mr. Dejene Woldemariam Ecology/Natural Resources Management Expert Mr. Atnafe Beyene Sociologist Mr. Taddele Debela Counterpart from ERA Plancenter Ltd October 1997 EA Repon for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Appendix 5, page I Final Report Minutes of Meeting MINUTES OF MEETING Public Consultation due to the Upgrading/Rehabilitation of the Woldia -Adigrat - Zalambessa Road Place Mekele Date June 26, 1997 Time 9:00 - 12:00 Coordinator Ato Tsadek Lemma Facilitators Ato Tadele Debele, ERA HQ, Chairperson Ato Dejene Wolde Mariam Plancenter Ato Atnafe Beyene Plancenter Ms. Ulla Mustanoja Plancenter Agenda 1. Introduction by ERA representative 2. Introduction of the Plancenter Consultants 3. Discussion on the issues raised by the introductions 1. Introduction by ERA representative The representative of ERA explained the purpose of the public consultation and the Road Sector Development Plan (RSDP) in general and specifically the Mojo - Awash - Mille road rehabilitation works that ERA will undertake. In the introduction outlined following issues: * Environmental Assessment is an essential part in planning and designing roads * Environmental impact issues are global by nature and environmental problems crosses national borders. Problems such as ozone layer depletion, soil erosion, forest depletion etc. have become major concern in the world. * Development activities should not disturb the environment and hence mitigation plans must be included already in the planning process. * Benefits of the road and use of natural environment should be harmonized in road construction * Public consultation is a new approach in the road sector and it is believed that it contributes a lot in the designing of the roads. * The public can use this forum to express their ideas regarding the present problems and benefits of the road. Plancenter Ltd October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Appendix 5, page 2 Final Report Minutes of Meeting 2. Introduction by the Plancenter consultants The consultants of Plancenter explained about the general framework of the environment impact assesment (EA) study, the objective of the public consultation meeting and why public participation is necessary. It was stated that road construction have different impacts on the social and physical environment. The environmental impacts can be classified as Physical and natural environment Soil erosion Water Air quality Flora and fauna Human and social environment Community life and economic activities Land aquisition and resettlement Indigenous and traditional populations Cultural heritage Aesthetics and landscape Noise Road safety Managing road works and traffic operations Construction and offsite activities Rehabilitation and maintenance practicies Risks associated with road works and traffic operations It was explained also that public consultation is part of the EA study and the objectives are * Delivering information about the project * Collecting information, opinions and concerns about environmental issues related to the road project * Give different parties of the communities along the road the possibility influence the methods of avoiding, limiting and compensating the possible negative impacts of the road project. * Have discussions abot possible altemative routes or alignments and e.g. temporary by-passer and work sites during road construction The introduction included also that * Participants should mention the problems and benefits that are unique to this road * The consultants would like to hear from the participants different issues regarding the project and what the public says about this road. * The upgrading and rehabiltation works will be on existing road and there will be few alignments in some sections of the road. * In the past there were damages to properties and farm lands and in some areas people reacted negatively and it was difficult to implement road and other projects. Plancenter Ltd October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Appendix 5, page 3 Final Report Minutes of Meeting The need and importance of public participation was also stressed * Participation guarantees sustainability * Participation engourages a sense of responsibility * Participation ensures that things are done in the right way Participants were reminded to include into the discussion * the social problems on the existing road * what should be done in the future to avoid problems that might appear * the beneficiaries of the road * for what purpose the road is used * what mechanism should be used to involve the public in road construction * compensation experiences for the loss of property in the region * resettlement experiences as a result of development activities in the region and how they have been handled etc. * other social and economic issues they consider important 3. Discussion: Highlights of meeting discussions * The road was built during the Italian occupation and no proper maintenance since then. * The road is the life line of the region since manufactured goods come on this road from both outside and other parts of the country. Aid items are also transported using this road. * Previous government had negative attitude to the region * Discussing the benefits of the road and the damages it makes during construction is ridiculous and redundant since the benefits outweigh in all circumstances. Transportation cost has increased very much and for example one quintal of cement cost 100 Birr in Tigray and 50 Birr in Addis Ababa. Cost of transportation is 50-60 Birr per one quintal * Vehicles are deteriorating very soon before serving long * The region is draught prone and many people died earlier due to the lack of roads * It is known that roads destroy farrn lands and other natural resources but compensation should be dealt carefully. This has to be handled according to govenrment rules * Cost of living is becoming high due to the road condition * The roads should be built as soon as possible. Road is useful for administration, social and economic activities etc. * The road near Waja should be given special emphasis since it is flooded every year blocking the traffic for hours. * Constructors do not give emphasis to traffic and constructing detours and this should be handled from all aspects. * Quarry sites should be rehabilitated since constructor do not give attention after using them. * Towns are along the road and if a house is demolished compensation can not be paid by the community. Other bodies should cover the cost * Some towns have master plans and this project should consider these plans * Detour construction betwen Alamata town and Betmara is impossible due to the steep physical feature of the land and should be considered during construction not to block the normal flow of traffic to the region * The road construction should be rerouted to avoid Eritrean land near Zalambesa * Road construction should be handled carefully and the aim should not only be cost saving since Plancenter Ltd October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Appendix 5, page 4 Final Report Minutes of Meeting gullies are created in many areas * Natural drainage should be followed as much as possible to avoid load on some drainage trenches * Secondary ditches should also be constructed carefully to avoid soil erosion * Buss tyres are worn out every three monthh and this cost up to Birr 20000. * Road side is not comparable to the vehicles size and load capacity and sometimes some vehicles are not allowed to enter the country * Maintenance of the future upgraded road should be planned now and has to be integrated in the design. * Planting of trees 10 meters off the road should be considered like in Addis-Debre Zeit road. * Drainage system specially in the towns should be carefully done to avoid negative health impacts. They should not be open and have to be covered or use cement piper (closed drainage). * Bridges should be wider and the drainage should be constructed properly * The road between Alamata and Betmara is narrow and when detour are constructed (even during the construction of the road) poles installed for telecommunication and other purposes should not be affected since they are important for the dayly activities of the region. * Traffic signs are missing in most places and this has to be considered in the planning of the future road * There is a safety problem since the road is narrow and steep * Accidents are caused due to the drivers, road and vehicles interaction and the main cause should be identified. For example, old vehicles, sharp curve, drivers situation and slippery roads are causes for accidents. * The road maintained by a contractor mainly between Woldia and Maichew is narrow and slippery during the rainy season. * The dust has been the major cause for accidents since it blocks visibility for drivers. * Conclusion: Road is built to be used by human beings and should not destabilize their normal activities. * The public consultaion will be an important input to the road construction. * Such fora are also useful for rural roads construction and should be adapted in the future. * The business community would not like the traffic to be delayed or stopped for a day. * Consumption and development goods come from Addis and the port along this road. * Zalambessa case should be settled by higher authorities * Quarry sites, drainage, material sites should be taken care of and dealt properly. * Compensation - who should be responsible? The budget should be allocated from the beginning. * Care should be taken not to destroy trees during the construction. * The region should participate in the design review of the project. Participants of the Public Meeting Representatives from Alamata Administrative Council Alamata Southem Zonal Administration Maichew Regional Administration Mekele Regional Administration Mekele Plancenter Ltd October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Appendix 5, page 5 Final Report Minutes of Meeting Regional Council Mekele Public Works & Urban Development Mekele Planning Bureau Mekele Mining and Energy Bureau Mekele Justice Office Mekele EELPA Mekele Telecommunications Mekele Mekele Town Administration Mekele Mekele Town Administration Mekele Mekele Town Administration Mekele Rurala Roads Authority Mekele Business Community Mekele Business Community Mekele Relief Society of Tigray Mekele Tigray Development Association Mekele Woin Newspaper Mekele- The Press Mekele Eastern Zone Administration Adigrat Public Works & Urban Development Adigrat Plancenter Ltd October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Appendix 6, Page I Final Report NGO Questionnaire QUESTIONNAIRE FOR NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS On the basis of Ethiopian Road Authority's (ERA) in-house preparatory activities and the results of the Road Transport Sector Study, the Government formulated the Road Sector Development Plan (RSDP) covering thc period 1997 to 2007. The RSDP aims to enhance and expand the Ethiopian road network over a ten year period and involves both road rehabilitation and construction of new roads. Detailed design of the individual road components will be developed gradually over this period. Environmental Assessment of the Program is required according to national policies, regulations and guidelines as well as to regulations of the financing institutions. These questionnaires are preliminary for the Environmental Assessment for (a) the rehabilitation of the Mojo-Awash-Mille bitumen surfaced road; (b) the upgrading of the Alemgcna-Hossaina-Sodo gravel road; (c) the upgrading of the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa gravel road; (d) the upgrading of the Debre Marcos-Gondar road; and (e) the upgrading/rehabilitation of the Awash-Kulubi-Dire Dawa-Harar gravel/paved road We cordially ask Your Organization's view about the present environmental situation along the above mentioned road as well as the anticipated positive and negative impacts for the local communities during the construction period and after it. If Your Organization is not active along the roads mentioned above, we nevertheless appreciate your general opinion and experiences about the social and environmental issues/ concerns which should be taken into consideration when constructing/ upgrading or rehabilitating the roads in the country. We kindly ask you to fill the attached questionnaire, However, we welcome any additional comments and suggestions Your Organization can provide of the problems and wishes related to the use and construction of roads. If the space left for the answers is not enough, please, use the back of the paper. The answers are received and studied by the independent consultants participating in the development of the Environmental Assessment (EA) for Road Construction for ERA. The answers will be confidential. Plancenter Ltd October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Appendix 6, Page 2 Final Report NGO Questionnaire Due to the limited time for this preliminary study the filled questionnaires should be back to us no later than the 5th of July to Plancenter Ltd P.O.Box 100086 Addis Ababa [Fax number 614939] Thank You for Your cooperation! Questionnaire for NGOs for the ERA Environmental Name of the NGO: Main office location: Type of activities: Locations of the activities: Participation in decision making The road prodects may have significant impacts to human and natural environment. Therefore, to avoid community or sectional opposition to the road project, the community members along the proposed road sites need to have an opportunity to be involved in an early stage in the planning process. According to your opinion, how should this be done? Who are the individuals or groups who especially should be contacted? Especially for which road construction activities affecting people (loss of land, drainage design, location of schools etc.) should local people be contacted? - Who/which ministry/ authority should have the responsibility to decide that environment will be taken into consideration Use of Road Which are the most important uses of the road by people living by the road? Which of these activities would not exist without the road? Who are the main users of the local roads? - men - women - children - shop keepers - others such as What should/ could be done with the domestic animals to avoid traffic problems? Plancenter Ltd October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Appendix 6, Page 3 Final Report NGO Questionnaire The Biggest Problems with the Roads What are the present problems with the existing road? Which groups of people have problems with the road or who are suffering most of the road'? How these problems should/could be decreased or eliminated according to your judgement? What type of measures - and by whom - can be taken to mitigate the anticipated problems caused by the upgrading/rehabilitation of the road Road Safety and Traffic Accidents Ethiopia has one of the highest frequency of traffic accidents in the world and hence the traffic safety should be increased on the roads. - What are the biggest reasons for road accidents? What are the most "typical" accidents? According to your judgement, what should be the first tasks to decrease the amount of accidents? - Who should do it? Has any of your vehicles had any accident on above mentioned roads (or on some other road)? If yes, what was the reason for accident? - What happened after the accident, what measures were taken to deal with the accident? Compensation Issues In case of an traffic accident such as losing human life, what is the compensation system in practice? What would be the just compensation due to the loss of farn land or other property to the road construction? Erosion Erosion is one of the major causes deteriorating /damaging the roads in Ethiopia. What are the biggest reasons for erosion along the road sides? - Which human or village activities are causing the environmental problems such as erosion (or other problems) to the roads? Plancenter Ltd October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Appendix 6, Page 4 Final Report NGO Questionnaire What could /should be done to avoid these activities? Who should do? Road Construction Period Road construction needs machinery and labour, which disturbs the normal life of the road side people. What arc the biggest problems caused by the construction work? What are the social and environmental problems to the local people left behind by the road construction machinery or their storage? What could/should be done to avoid or mitigate the problems? What benefits are the construction workers/camps bringing to the area? How could the benefits be increased or made permanent? What problems are the construction workers kcamps bringing to the area? What should be done to avoid the problems? What should be taken into consideration during the upgrading/ rehabilitation of the road to mitigate the problems during construction period. Benefitsfrom the improved roads What do you think will be the benefits from the improved road and why? - to the community at large - for the business community - for governmental administrative staff - to the communities along the road - to tourism - to any other persons/groups Plancenter Ltd October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Appendix 6, Page 5 Final Report NGO Questionnaire Settlement patterns Many people are settling down by the roads and build their houses there. What are the biggest reasons for that? Who are the people who prefer to settle down by the road? What are the reasons for the new settlements? What should be done with the illegal settlements? Cultural and Historic Sites and Wild Life Sanctuaries How should/could they be taken into consideration? Plancenter Ltd October 1997 EA for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Appendix 7, Page l Final Report CHECKLIST FOR SCOPING Project: Woldiya - Adigrat - Zalambessa Potential Environmental Impact Area Adverse Impacts No Impacts Beneficial Impacts Evaluation Base I Physlcal Environment 1 Soil and bedrock 1.1 Eroslon X X 1.2 Stability of slopes X 1.3 Soil contamination by spills of hazardous materials X 1.4 Material use X 1.5 Ground subsidence X 1.6 Others 2 Water Resources and Water Ouality 2.1 Changes in surface water hydrology X 2.2 Changes In ground waler hydrology X 2.3 Sedimentation/Siltation X 2.4 Water harvesting X 2.5 Highway runoff pollution X 2.6 Others 3 Air Quality 3.1 Air pollution due traffic X X 3.2 Others Plancenter Ltd October 1997 EA for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Appendix 7, Page2 Final Report Potential Environmental Impact Area Adverse Impacts No Impacts Beneficial Impacts Evaluation Base 1I Natural Environment 4 Biological and Ecological Changes 4.1 Impact on vegetation x 4.2 Impacts on important flora and fauna X(?) 4.3 Degradation of ecosystem with blo-diversity X 4.4 Wildlife reserve X 4.5 Impairment of fisheries X 4.6 Encroachment into precious ecology X 4.7 Others Plancenter Ltd October 1997 EA for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambcssa Road Appendix 7, Page3 Final Report Potential Environmental Impact Area Adverse Impacts No Impacts Beneficial Impacts Evaluation Base III Human and Social Environment 5 Social issues 5.1 Social acceptability X 5.2 Resettlement/Displacement X 5.3 Demographic changes X 5.4 Change in way of liHe X 5.5 Impacts on women X 5.6 Impact on indigenous peoples X 5.7 Induced development X X 5.8 Conflicts between locals and immigrants X 6 Economic Issues 6.1 Loss of agricultural land X 6.2 Loss of property X 6.3 Employment opportunities X 6.4 Change of economic activities x 7 Effects on Public and Private Services X X 8 Health and Sanitary Issues X X 9 Traffic Safety X X 10 Cultural, Religious and Historical areas X 11 Damage to Aesthetic Sites X 12 Impacts on Local and National Economy X Plancenter Ltd Oclobcr 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Appendix 8, page I Final Report Baseline Data/Physical and Natural Environment Baseline Data/Physical and Natural Environment Table 1 Annual Rainfall for Selected Location In The Project Area Month Locations Woldiya Alamata Michew Mekele Adigrat January 28.6 37.7 26.4 2.7 19.2 February 49.0 49.9 40.3 7.3 21.4 March 85.1 66.2 74.2 26.1 47.1 April 97.1 79.5 71.7 42.9 54.8 May 96.8 51.4 76.3 32.7 50.4 June 35.0 29.9 44.4 31.4 46.1 July 160.1 71.7 120.6 214.8 108.4 August 217.5 95.0 162.8 222 .1 105.5 September 100.1 45.5 80.3 36.2 33.4 October 59.8 40.3 54.1 6.3 23.3 November 29.6 23.5 24.8 4.8 16.4 December 29.2 37.1 23. 0 1.3 13.7 Annual 987.8 624.2 798.9 615.9 539.7 Table 2 Mean Monthly Temperature for selected Towns (°C) Station Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Ave. Wold ya 14.3 15.4 16.3 17.0 18.8 19.6 17.7 1S.3 17.7 16.6 153 14.7 18.8 Kobo 18.6 18.7 21.S 22.1 22.5 21.0 24.8 - 21.6 19.5 19.4 2110 Alamata 19.5 20.3 21.9 22.5 23.9 25.8 24.5 22.8 22.8 22.1 20.7 19.6 22.1 Miechew 14.0 14.9 15.8 17.2 18.1 18.9 17.9 17.7 16.6 14.7 14.5 13.9 16.2 Mekele 160 169 18.2 19.3 20.0 20.4 17.9 175 181 17.3 16.1 15.4 17.8 Adigrat 121 13.8 14.7 15.3 15.5 16.0 15 14.5 14.4 13.7 128 121 141 Plancenter Ltd October 1997 EA Report for the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road Appendix 8, page 2 Final Report Baseline Data/Physical and Natural Environment Table 3 The Major tree and shrub species found in the project area Vernacular Name Scientific Name Ekhi Cordia africana Tambush Croton macrostachyus Indrur Balanites aegyptiaca Meger Boswellia papyrifera Humer Tamarindus indica Kontib Acacia senegal Tseada-chea Acacia seyal Tsimmkuya Grewia ferruginea Geba Zizyphus spina-christi Aira Diospyros mespilifornis Bamba Ficus sycomorus Anqwa Commiphora africana Kommer Adansonia digitata Kummel Mimusops kummel Source: Tekeze River Basin Integrated Development Master Plan Reconnaissance Phase Report, Vol. I Table 4 Mammals of the Project Area Common Name Scientific Name Leopard Panthera pardus Anubis Baboons Papio anubis Klipspringer Oreotragus oreotragus Abyssinian Hare Lepus habessinicus Bat-eared Fox Otocyon megalotis Spotted hyaena Crocuta crocuta Striped hyaena Hyaena hyaena Pangolin Asrdwark Orycteropus afer Simen Fox Gelada Baboon Hammadryas Baboon Papio hamadyas Plancenter Ltd October 1997 Appendix 9 Table 2 Total Fertility Rate for Regions and some Towns Total Urban Rural Amhara Region 4.275 2.725 4.475 Semen Wollo Zone 4.080 3.135 4.165 Tigray Region 5.355 4.190 5.580 Debudawvi Tigray Zone 5.430 3.950 5.935 Misrakawi Tigray Zone 5.115 4.060 5.320 Woldia 3.230 Kobo 3.820 Alamata 4.500 Korem 3.340 Maichew 3.160 Mekele 3.905 Wukro 4.280 Adigrat 3.620 Table 3 Average Household Size in the Regions and Zones along the Road - persons per household Total Urban Rural Ail2hara Region 4.8 4.2 4.9 Semen Wollo Zone 4.1 3.8 4.1 Tigray Region 4.3 3.8 4.5 Misrakawi Tigray Zone 4.4 3.9 4.5 Debudawi 4.1 3.9 4.2 Appendix 9 Table 4 The Percentage Share of the Biggest Ethnicities in the Survey Area by Zones, by Woredas and by Towns (%) Semen Wollo Debubawi Tigray Misrakawi Tigray Zone Total Urban Total Urban Total Urban Tigraway <1 66 92 23 95 15 Amnhara 99 7 5 42 1 87 Saho - - <1 -3 6 Afar - <1 1 17 Agew --1 15 <1 - Tigray Amhara Other ethnici ties Woldia woreda 4 94 - Woldia 4 94 Kobo woreda 1 99 - Gobiye 1 99 - Robit 1 99 -Kobo Waja 5 94 Alamnata woreda 62 34 Oromo 2; Agew I - Waja 11 86 - Alamata 65 29 Agew 2; Afar 1 Ofla woreda 89 3 Agew 7 - Koremn 73 21 Agew 5 Endaniehoni 98 1 Maichew 94 4 Agew I Alaje worecla 98 Agew I - Adishehu 99 Hintale Warija woreda 99 - Adigudom 99 Mekele woreda 96 1 Eritreans I - Mckele 96 1 Eritreanis I Wukro worcda 99 Afar I - Agulai 88 Afar 11 - Wukro 98 1 Afar I Saesi Tsaedaemba woreda 95 Afar 2; Saho 2 - Frewoini 99 - Edagahamus 95 4 Gainta Afeshum woreda 98 Saho I Adigrat 95 1 Saho 2; Eritrcans I Gulomahda woreda 96 Saho 2; Ertireans 1 Zalambessa 78 Eritreans 19; Saho I Appendix 9 Table 5 Religions represented along the Woldiya-Adigrat-Zalambessa Road (%) Total Urban Christian Muslim Catholic Christian Mluslim Catholic Amhara Region Woldia woreda 80 19 80 19 - Woldia - - 80 19 Kobo woreda 86 16 86 13 - Gobiye - - 72 28 - Robit 88 12 - Kobo Waja - - 87 13 Alamata woreda 78 21 78 21 - Waja _ - 76 23 - Alamata - - 78 20 Ofla woreda 95 5 90 9 - Korcm - - 90 10 Endaniehoni woreda 95 3 95 5 - Maichew - - 95 5 Alaje woreda 99 1 98 2 -Adishehu - - 97 3 Hintale Wajira woreda 99 1 94 5 -Adigudon - - 92 8 Mekele worecda 91 7 91 7 - Mekele - - 91 7 Wukro worcda 95 5 85 15 - Agulai - - 60 40 - Wukro - 89 11 Saesi Tsacclaemba woreda 95 4 1 94 5 - Frewoini - - 95 5 - Edcagahamus 95 4 Ganta Afeshum woreda 98 1 93 4 - Adigrat - - 93 4 3 Gulomadha woreda 99 1 95 4 - Zalambessa - - 95 -4 Appendix 9 Table 6 Literacy Rate - in percent Urban Rural Men Women Men Women Amhara Region 74 52 19 7 Semen Wollo Zone 64 43 15 5 Tigray Region 71 46 21 7 I Debudawi Tigray Zone 73 47 17 5 Misrakawi Tigray Zone 75 50 29 10 Table 7 The Migration Pattern by Zones along the Road - in percent Semen Wollo Debub Tigray Misrak Tigray Urban- Urban 13 27 27 Rural - Urban 18 24 20 Rural - Rural 53 35 29 Urban - Rural 16 14 24 Appendix 9 Table 8 Average Monthly Rent and Percentage of Rented Houses along the Woldiya-Adig,rat- Zalambessa Road Average monthly rent per housing unit II Rented from kebele - percent of all housing units III Rented from private household - percent of all housing units IV Owner occupied - percent of all housing units I II III IV Amhara Region 17.8 20 22 50 Semnen lVollo Zone 17.60 19 17 56 Woldia woreda - Woldia 19.71 30 25 34 Kobo woreda - Gobiye 5.35 15 7 71 - Robit 8.25 8 8 83 - Kobo Waja 22.01 7 12 72 Tigray Region 35.27 3 41 45 Debubavi Tigray Zonze 38.15 5 37 47 Alamata woreda - Waja 8.95 15 14 66 - Alamata 20.59 12 23 56 Ofla woreda - Korem 9.75 26 24 36 Endaniehoni woreda - Maichew 23.50 4 42 44 Alaje worcda -Adishchu 18.47 3 55 32 Hintale Wajira woreda -Adigudoin 18.24 <1 38 54 Mekele woreda - MQekelc 59.74 2 43 44 Misrakaivi Tigray Zone 34.05 <1 50 38 WLukro woreda A2ulai 18.91 - 50 42 - Wtkro 25.28 2 39 44 Saesi l'saedaemba woreda - Frewoini 18.72 <1 45 36 - Edaga Hamus 28.57 - 64 22 Ganta Afeshum woreda - Adigrat 42.17 <1 55 36 Gulomadha woreda - Zalambessa 45.60 5 46 36 Appendix 9 Table 9. Energy used by a household for cooking in towns along the Woldiya-Adigrat- Zalambessa Road Firewood only or with other fuels - percent of all housing units II Charcoal only or with other fuels - percent of all housing units m Dung only or with other fuels - percent of all housing units IV Kerosine only or with other fuels - percent of all housing units V Electricity only or with other fuels - percent of all housing uniits I . III IV V Amnhara Region 93 14 29 7.4 Woldia woreda - Woldia 86 11 12 26 Kobo woreda - Gobiye 96 11 46 0.7 - Robit 98 12 27 0.2 - Kobo Waja 96 14 24 3.4 (.1 2.4 Alamata woreda - Alamata 92 45 6.7 1.1 - Ofla woreda - Korem 54 30 Enidamehoni woreda - Maichew 94 77 0.4 1.4 0.2 Hintale Wajira woreda -Adigudomn 91 42 44 0.3 - Mekele woreda - Mekele 82 4.5 3.5 5.4 - Wukro 94 87 3.8 0.5 Saesi Tsaedaemba woreda - Frewoini 95 65 13 1.3 Ganta Afeshum woreda - Adigrat 84 66 7 10.7 4.9 Gulomadha woreda - Zalambessa 94 59 28 0.3 _ Appendix 9 Table lOa The Activity Rate Urban Rural Men Women Men Women Amhara Region 59 42 90 77 Semen Wollo 63 44 92 78 Tigray Region 52 35 81 69 Debudawi Tigray 47 30 72 65 Misrakawi Tigray 53 33 82 56 Table IOb Unemployment Rate Urban Rural Men Women Men Women Amhara Region 12 12 .27 .39 Semen Wollo 8 8 .20 .32 Tigray Region 10 10 .59 .89 Debudawi Tigray I10 10 .77 1.57 Misrakawi Tigray 15 12 1.06 1.53 Table lOd Status in Employment in Anihara and Tigray Region by Sex Amhara Region Tigray Region Percent Women* Percent Women* Self employed 36 21 43 31 Unpaid family workers 58 62 49 62 Employers 3 16 2 30 Government employees 0.3 35 2 32 Private employees 2.4 19 2 35 * out of which are women Table 10 e Status in Employment in urban and rural Tigray Region Urban Rural Self employed 46 42 Unpaid family workers 10 53 Employers 4 2 Government employees 21 0.4 Private employees 11 Appendix 9 Table lOc Activity Rate and Unemployment Rate in the Towns Along the Woldiya-Adigrat- Zalambessa Road Activity rate Unemployment rate Mi9en Women iMlen Women Amnhara Region Woldia woreda - Woldia 62 38 10.94 11.24 Kobo woreda - Gobiyc 66 3S 3.14 0.97 - Robit 70 65 0.80 - - Kobo Waja 65 43 6.17 8.38 Alamata woreda - Waja 64 26 12.22 17.82 - Alamata 56 34 10.96 9.44 Ofla woreda - Korein 55 44 9.78 10.90 Endamehoni woreda - Maichew 48 28 9.89 10.04 Alajo woreda -Adishchu 53 46 7.47 1.39 HintaIc Wajira woreda -Adi,oudom 60 41 4.33 13.96 Mckele woreda - Mckelc 49 30 11.73 11.47 - AguIla- 50 22 26.08 2.06 - Wukro 42 30 6.96 10.24 Saesi Tsaeclaenba woreda - Frewoini 54 50 16.22 15.15 - Edagahamus 53 32 19.90 20.03 Ganta Afeshum woreda 19.90 20.03 - Adigrat 42 22 20.91 19.03 Gulomadha woreda - Zalambessa 50 25 18.06 12.16 Appendix 9 Table 11 Economically active population ten years and over by sex and major industrical divisions (Amhara Region and Tigray Region). Amhara Region Tigray Rcgion Total Women % Total Women % Economically active 7 647 025,00 45 1 476 129,00 47 Agriculture, hunting, forcstry&fishing 7 108 910,00 41 1 324 445,00 46 Mining and quarring 1 606.00 20 625,00 17 Manufacturing 130 494,00 61 21 056,00 46 Electricity, gas and water supply 2 435,00 14 907,00 20 Construction 9 887,00 9 6 615,00 15 Wholesale and rctail trade, repair of vehicles, personal and household goods 90 243,00 46 25 804,00 48 Hotels and restaurants 107 328,00 94 21 090,00 93 Transport, storage & communication 24 674,00 21 7 033,00 17 Financial inter-mediation 761,00 20 201,00 16 Real estate, renting and business activ. 794,00 24 353,00 17 Public administration and dcfence, compulsory social security 41 747,00 21 17 110,00 30 Education, health and social work 12 058,00 38 Other social , cultural, personal and household activities 15 411,00 29 7 358,00 46 Private households with employed persons 40 090,00 90 6 045,00 84 Extra territorial organization and bodies 237,00 17 109,00 9 Not stated 36 460,00 54 25 320,00 59