E547 Vol. 2 REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT General Roads Directorate Emergency Road Repair Project Implementation Unit International Development Association PREPARATION OF ROAD MAINTENANCE PROJECT ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT PLAN Submitted by: LOUIS BERGER GROUP, Inc. 100, Halsted Street, East Orange New Jersey 07018 USA FEBRUARY 2002 t . j1 i .j it|6 43 ,-N~ ~ ~ ~~. li;';ri . v ) Louis Berger Group, Inc. REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT GENERAL ROAD DIRECTORATE EMERGENCY ROAD REPAIR PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION UNIT PREPARATION OF ROAD MAINTENANCE PROJECT ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT PLAN TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. BACKGROUND ...............................................1 2. PROJECT OBJECTIVES ...............................................1 3. POLICY, LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE FRAMEWORK ........................2 4. PROJECT DESCRIPTION ...............................................2 5. BASELINE CONDITIONS ................................................3 6. POTENTIAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS ................................................4 7. ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT PLAN .................................................6 8. IMPLEMENTATION ARRANGEMENTS ................................................ 9 9. INSTITUTIONAL STRENGTHENING .................................. ............. 10 10. COSTS OF IMPLEMENTATION ............................................... 10 11. PUBLIC CONSULTATIONS ............. .................................. 11 ANNEXES .12 I. SUMMARY EMP (tables) II. RECORD OF CONSULTATIONS Prefecture of Elbasan. Minutes of Meeting Prefecture of Durres. Minutes of Meeting Prefecture of Vlore. Minutes of Meeting Prefecture of Fier. Minutes of Meeting Prefecture of Berat. Minutes of Meeting Prefecture of Gjirokaster. Minutes of Meeting Prefecture of Korce. Minutes of Meeting Prefecture of Shkoder. Minutes of Meeting Prefecture of Tirana. Minutes of Meeting Prefecture of Diber. Minutes of Meeting Prefecture of Lezhe. Minutes of Meeting Prefecture of Kukes. Minutes of Meeting Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. 1. BACKGROUND Albania is a country of over 29,000 square km and a population of 3.4 million inhabitants with annual per capita income of about US$800. Agriculture generates 56 percent of GDP, and most of the population lives in rural areas. The road subsector has become an increasingly important part of Albania's transport system in the last decade, with rapid growth of vehicle traffic at the expense of other transport modes. The total length of the road network is about 16000 km. The Ministry of Local Government oversees the municipalities responsible for about 1000 km of urban streets, and local government organizations responsible for the remaining 12 000 km of secondary and tertiary roads including 4126 km of rural roads recently separated from GRD. The general condition of the roads, both national and rural, is very poor. The level of Albanian Government financing available for general road maintenance, at about US$7-8 million per year, is totally inadequate to maintain the road network, and the effective maintenance resulting from the expenditure of even these funds is minimal. Albania has been the recipient of substantial amounts of foreign assistance directed to the improvement of the road network, including four IDA projects. In spite of this, the road network is in very poor condition and is verging on being a major constraint to the Government's growth strategy as expressed in the Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper mentioned above. The Government recognizes this, and has requested IDA assistance to improve the country's road maintenance capacity. 2. PROJECT OBJECTIVES The proposed project seeks to improve the overall maintenance of Albania's road network, including both the national and rural roads, both in the near term and on an ongoing basis. Measures to increase general road safety awareness and strengthen coordination of road safety programming would support the establishment of an appropriate enabling environment for a multi- dimensional, sustainable Road Safety Program. The introduction of targeted enforcement strategies, combined with integrated road safety campaigns and remedial measures at accident black spots, would aim to reduce the number of traffic accidents and minimize the offsetting effects of improved road conditions and expected higher traffic speeds. It will have the following specific objectives: * Improving the efficiency of the management of the national and rural road network by (i) restructuring the national road administration (GRD), and (ii) strengthening the rural road administration unit in Ministry of Local Government (MLG). * Improving road safety by (i) developing the institutional capacity in MOT/GRD and MLG to identify hazardous locations and to design and implement physical measures to reduce road accidents at these locations, and (ii) providing technical assistance and equipment to the traffic police to improve law enforcement. The principal issue to be addressed is the need to make the Government's administrative structure responsible for road maintenance more effective. The project therefore also seeks to demonstrate, through the medium of pilot contracts, the effectiveness of using the private sector road construction industry to undertake both routine and periodic maintenance works. Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 1 Louis Berger Group, Inc. The local knowledge based industries of consultants, specialists, and training institutions, will be responsible for the direct management of the contracts on the network through partnership agreements with the local regional offices of the GRD and MLG. 3. POLICY, LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE FRAMEWORK Environmental policy in Albania is governed by the Law on Environment Protection (Law No. 7664 of 21 January 1993, amended by Law No. 8364, dated July 2, 1998). It establishes the functions and responsibilities of the central government agency responsible for environmental matters, the requirements for environmental licensing, requirements for the preparation of environmental impact assessments and penalties for administrative infractions of the environmental code. A new Environment Protection Law has been recently drafted and is due to be ratified by the parliament this year. A new draft Law on Environmental Impact Assessment has also been developed based on EU Directives and international practice. According to the old Law, preparation of environmental impact assessments and environmental impact statements was the responsibility of the Ministry of Environment, which presented a conflict of interest. The new EIA Law requires environmental impact assessments to be prepared by experts contracted by the project developer. The Ministry will not certify these experts but intends to prepare a list of experts approved to provide such services. The Ministry will only have a review and licensing role. The permits will be issued by the Commission for Licensing composed of representatives of different Directorates, specialists, and lawyers. The MoE has recently undergone significant restructuring to improve the environmental management system. An EIA and Information Directorate exists since 2001 with a staff of 5 people. Regional Environmental Agencies exist in all 12 Prefectures, with inspectors having the responsibility to monitor compliance with the environmental regulations. The proposed Road Maintenance Project does not need an environmental impact assessment according to the country's legislation, as EIAs are applied only to new roads of more than 12 Km length. In the past, even this requirement has hardly been implemented because of shortage of staff, priority placed on other more serious environmental concerns (such as industrial development), and the lack of capacity of the environmental agency to make assessments in the roads sector. Quarries and sand extraction and asphalt plants are subject to licensing by the MoE. Contractors in their tender documents are required to show the sources of materials supply. If the materials are to be extracted/prepared by the contractors themselves, then they are required to seek a license from the MoE for this purpose. If the materials are purchased from another enterprise, the MoE reviews the contract with that enterprise and ensures that they have valid operating permits. Solid waste collection and disposal is the responsibility of the local governments and the permits for operators to collect waste as well as the disposal sites should be issued by the local government. In the issuance of such permits, the municipality would seek the opinion of the regional environmental agency concerning the environmental soundness of the selected sites. 4. PROJECT DESCRIPTION The project comprises the following components: a. Civil works to improve the road networks, including: (i) 300 km of roads and bridges of the main road network, based on HDM analysis of the highest priority 1,200 km of the network (US$21 million); (ii) 600 km of roads and bridges of the rural road network based on the Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 2 Louis Berger Group, Inc. selection of the road sections with the highest priority based on economic evaluation (US$10 million); and (iii) improvement of 10 priority black spot locations (US$2 million). b. Goods including (i) Equipment for road survey for GRD and MLG, office equipment, vehicles and supplies for the PIU; (ii) Road safety equipment for GRD and MLG such as reflectorized traffic signs and reflectorized thermoplastic paint for road marking; and (iii) Equipment for the Traffic Police such as radars and blood alcohol tests, and to establish a central data bank on traffic accidents. c. Training and technical assistance including: (i) Training and consultant services for MoT/GRD/MLG to assist in the restructuring of the national, district and local road authorities, designing an appropriate road user charge legislation, collection mechanisms, and distribution arrangements for financing road maintenance operations, and identifying black spots, development / implementation / monitoring / assessment of remedial measures, and introduction of safety audit procedures; (ii) Consultant services to prepare the engineering design and assist the Government during supervision; (iii) Training for the private road construction industry; (iv) Training, technical assistance and consulting services to assist the traffic police to enforce traffic laws and in designing a central data bank on traffic accidents; (v) Technical assistance to improve the franchising system for bus operations. 5. BASELINE CONDITIONS Maintenance assessment surveys on the national road network have revealed that because of the poor response to the needs of maintenance over the past few years, the condition of the network is generally very poor. Consequently the routine maintenance works would be generally 'restorative' works and as such a slightly higher intervention than considered normally as 'routine'. However, all the works would be carried out on existing features of the road or highway, as it exists. No works are required outside the Right of Way, nor reconfiguration of the existing road alignments are warranted, and no resettlement of displaced or moved persons is warranted because of the acquisition of dwellings land or enterprises. Neither should there be loss of means of employment by removal of sites of livelihood. The works will not affect any natural habitats or international waterways. In general, the baseline surveys have revealed the following conditions: * Many features such as culvert wing walls, aprons, and headwalls are broken. Bridge parapets are either partially or completely broken away. * There is the need to fix all drainage structures, culverts, pipes, both brickwork and concrete, and finally to paint those parts of the structure which abut onto the carriageway to ensure that they are visible at night. These features were all painted white in the past when they were in an original condition and white paint will be used again. * The filling and patching of potholes and areas of bituminised pavement that have become loose, dislodged or displaced, is the main works on the carriageway. * For shoulders that have low spots resulting in a dangerous edge step at the side of the asphalt pavement the repairs will involve replacing lost material with suitable graded material to specification. Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 3 Louis Berger Group, Inc. * The profiles of original roadside ditches are completely changed as they have become silted up over long periods or have become the receptacle for waste and garbage. The problem with solid waste dumping is particularly severe because of (i) highway drainage channels being directly used, in a targeted and purposeful manner, as waste disposal sites; (ii) Highway drainage channels picking up waste products indirectly by interconnection to supplementary drainage systems from adjoining lands and properties outside the ROW; (iii) Highway structures being used as latrines and ablution areas in sites directly either side of urban environments, and as such posing serious health risks; (iv) Right of Way areas being used as communal rubbish sites for old worn out or broken industrial machinery, vehicles, and household appliances; (v) In one designated National Park Area, a completely uncontrolled waste disposal activity that is so large as to possibly be an institutionalised dumping ground for official or semi official waste collection services; (vi) On one site where the highway drainage is directly linked, via a local watercourse to the sea, the highway drainage is conveying large amounts of non biodegradable waste products directly onto a beach where the tide either collects it and deposits it elsewhere along the coast, or pushes it further up the beach depending on the state of the tides. * Road safety conditions at most places are very poor. Cambers of road on bends have become damaged by the effects of heavy vehicles. Untreated pothole and patching repairs, particularly on bends where tyre traction and adhesion is critical, pose risk of skidding and loss of control. There is also a lack of hazard warning boards, bollards, or any form of physical barrier on sites that clearly have experienced vehicles going over embankments through hedges and running into walls and roadside banks. * The existing road lengths-man system, (a local man working along the road adjacent to his home or village and with hand tools cleaning road side channels) is a seriously dangerous occupation, especially on the main arterial routes, and in today's road transport environment an inappropriate form of routine maintenance of such heavily trafficked roads. The level of formalised protective measures (coning off work areas, advance waming signs, protective and bright reflective barriers and clothing) are generally not in evidence. 6. POTENTIAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS The anticipated environmental impacts are mainly associated with the civil works as described below. A. Construction Phase * Materials Supply: The road maintenance and restoration works will require asphalt, stone, gravel, and sand and the sources of these materials, even though not directly related to the project, may be a cause for environmental concern. A significant amount of air pollution is generated from the asphalt plants because these plants burn heavy oil, which may contain high sulphur. Besides this, a lot of toxic gases are being emitted in the asphalt plant. The quarries also create a significant amount of particulate emissions, which may create respiratory and health problems. Overexploitation of gravel and sand from rivers may threaten the structural stability of the river banks and change the hydrology and ecology of the river system. Compliance of the materials supply sources with environmental safety standards is therefore essential. * Materials Transport: Transport of construction materials or demolition debris in open trucks, and during traffic hours, should be prohibited so as to minimize exposure to dust and fumes. Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 4 Louis Berger Group, Inc. * Noise and dust: Noise and dust may be a concern at the construction site, for the construction workers, as well as people living and working in the surrounding areas, especially if construction activities are taking place in congested areas. * Traffic Disruptions and vehicular/pedestrian safetv. All road maintenance works will involve temporary disruptions and diversion of normal traffic, which may cause significant inconvenience in congested areas, and pose road safety risks if appropriate signs are not posted while doing the works on the highways and roads in remote areas. * Disposal of construction wastes: The milled asphalt and demolition wastes, if not removed from the site and disposed of properly, could cause pollution of the soil and water with toxic runoff and particulates while also posing an accident risk and impairing the aesthetic quality of the landscape. The materials should be transported and disposed of in accordance with safe environmental practices, or reused to the extent feasible. * Solid wastes and sediments in drains: Roadside drains and ditches filled with solid waste are a serious health hazard, especially if these are used as receptacles for medical or toxic wastes and as defecation sites. Besides the risk of exposure to the waste itself, this has adverse effects also on the aesthetics and the drainage capacity in the relevant road sections. The runoff and leaching of drainage waters may be causing contamination of neighbouring irrigation and drinking water supplies. A number of such sites have been identified under the project, some constituting major dumping grounds requiring significant clean up efforts. * Water pollution: Where construction activities are being carried out in the vicinity of watercourses, improper handling and storage of materials (concrete, asphalt, lubricants, fuels, solvents) may pose risk of water contamination. B. Operation Phase * Road safetv: Increased speed and volume of traffic also raises issues of road safety and the need to maintain speed limits and post appropriate signage. Currently, the lack of preventative and safety conscious maintenance interventions is contributing significantly (either directly or indirectly) to a very bad road safety environment. . Occupational safetv: Occupational safety in road maintenance programs during the operational phase is a significant concern. There appears to be a serious lack of safety advice and/or compliance enforcement by the responsible agencies, suggesting a need for fundamental change in the current road maintenance practices. * Solid waste: Large scale dumping of sold wastes into road side drains is an institutional and community problem which is likely to continue in the long term unless these issues are addressed by the appropriate institutions, such as those responsible for solid waste collection and disposal, enforcement of environmental regulations, and the conununities themselves. C. Social Impacts The proposed project also incorporates a road sector restructuring program under which it is planned to implement a pilot program to out source a part of GRD's design, planning and operational management functions to private contractors. The social aspects of the restructuring program will be assessed and addressed as part of a separate social assessment study prior to Appraisal. Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 5 Louis Berger Group, Inc. 7. ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT PLAN A. MITIGATION MEASURES Mitigation measures to ensure that negative environmental impacts are minimized and positive ones maximized have been incorporated into each phase of project implementation as described below. A summiary of the mitigation plan is provided in Annex 1. Desi2n Phase * Road Aliknment: The design of all the selected routes to be involved in the routine and periodic maintenance WB project will be prepared in order to give basic but precise information to the contractor who will perform the works. These works will not take into consideration any change of the existing road alignment. The contractor will have only to clean longitudinal ditches, culverts, fill potholes with appropriate materials, pain traffic markings and eventually traffic signs, repair parapets, etc. It is understood that routine maintenance works will be limited to the existing road right-of-way, with transport of garbage found in these area to appropriate controlled areas. In other words it is not foreseen any destruction of houses, religious buildings, or taking lands from public, private or religious properties like for example, cemeteries. As well, these works will not involve the use of agricultural or residential areas. * Archaeological Surveys: There should not be any main concern related to archaeological finds in the areas involved in routine maintenance contracts. In case of any archaeological chance finds, the regional archaeological authority will be notified and procedures directed by them will be observed for preservation of these relics. * Embankment & Erosion Prevention Requirements: The tender documents will include appropriate provisions to ensure embankment stabilisation, including the selection of less erodable material, its proper compaction, particularly around bridges and culverts. Contracts shall specify that (i) slopes of road embankments will be seeded with a fast growing crop and potential native seed mix immediately after fill placement to prevent scour and to encourage stabilisation; (ii) embankment slopes and road cuts will be stabilised by re-vegetation with grazing resistant plant species or other appropriate technologies to retain possible instable terrains; (ii) discharge zones from drainage structures will be maintained in order to reduce erosion, particular in instances in which drainage structures are installed and/or road formation levels are raised and create bare slopes. Construction Phase * Materials Supply: Contractors will be required to use or buy material from existing asphalt plants, stone quarries and borrow pits operating with valid environmental and other permits and licenses. Appropriate provisions to this effect will be made in the contract documents as follows. Mining/Quarry Activities. Contracts shall specify that only licensed quarrying operations are to be used for material sources. If licensed quarries are not available the contractors may be made responsible for setting up their dedicated crusher plants at approved quarry sites. Selections of quarries for the purposes of the Project will require the approval of the environmental authority. Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 6 Louis Berger Group, Inc. Asphalt Plants. Contract provisions shall require that asphalt and hot-mix plants will be located at least 500 meters away from the nearest sensitive receptor (e.g., school or hospital) and subject to licensing and approval of the environmental authority, and that operators are required to install emission controls in accordance with the local environmental regulations. It should be clear that the stipulations apply to all such facilities, including those that are privately negotiated. Borrow Pit Restoration Requirements. Contracts will ensure enforceable provisions stating that: (i) Only existing borrow areas approved by the environrental authority will be used for the project ; (ii) Pits management, (including restoration if it will follow the completion of certain works) shall be in full compliance with all applicable environmental standards and specifications; (iii) The excavation and restoration of borrow areas and their surroundings, in an environmentally sound manner to the satisfaction of the GRD (or RRDs), or the construction Supervision Consultant (SC), acting on behalf of the road owner, will be required before final acceptance and payment under the terms of contracts; (iv) Borrow pit areas will be graded to ensure drainage and visual uniformity or to create permanent tanks/dams; (v) Topsoil from the opening of borrow pits will be saved and reused to re-vegetate the pits to the satisfaction of the SC. Additional borrow pits, if necessary, will not be opened without the restoration of those areas no longer in use, and without the approval of the environmental authority. * Materials Transport: Truck operators will be required to cover or wet truck loads, haul materials at off peak traffic hours, and use alternative routes to minimize traffic congestion. The contractor will be required to prepare and submit to the works supervisor a traffic management plan showing routes and times to be used for materials delivery off and on site. * Noise and dust: Construction contractors will be required to limit activities to daylight working hours (not between 8 p.m. and 7 a.m. or as agreed with the public and authorities) and use equipment with noise mufflers. Construction site and materials storage sites will be watered as appropriate to bring down dust. * Traffic Disruptions and vehicular/pedestrian safetv: Contractors will prepare a traffic management plan with appropriate measures to redirect traffic. * Disposal of construction waste: Milled asphalt and demolition debris from the construction site will be disposed of in accordance with the local environmental regulations and at sites approved by the environmental authority. * Solid wastes and sediments in drains: Solid waste clean up will be entrusted to licensed operators, with appropriate provisions in their contract documents to carry out visual inspections for toxic materials before handling, segregate waste fractions as necessary, use appropriate safety measures while handling and transporting the wastes, and disposal at authorized dump sites with approval of the local authorities. * Water pollution: Contractors will be required to properly organize and cover material storage areas; isolate concrete, asphalt and other works from any watercourse by using sealed formwork; isolate wash down areas of concrete and asphalt trucks and other equipment from watercourse by selecting areas for washing that are not free draining directly or indirectly into any watercourse. Contractors will further ensure proper handling of lubricants, fuel, and solvents by secured storage; ensure proper loading of fuel and maintenance of equipment; collect all waste and dispose to permitted waste recovery facility. Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 7 Louis Berger Group, Inc. * Siting of Construction Camps and Related Facilities: Project contract specifications shall stipulate that the siting, construction and environmental restoration of facilities for the housing of construction personnel, the storage of equipment and vehicles, labor camps and similar facilities must be conducted to the satisfaction of, and are subject to the approval of, the SC. It should be clear that the stipulations apply to all such facilities, including those that are privately negotiated. * Other Construction Equipment: All construction equipment shall be licensed and permitted in accordance with Albanian requirements. If Albania does not require air emission standards for construction equipment, such equipment shall be certified to meet European standards or equal. The Contractor shall present a copy of such certification to the SC. Operation Phase * Road safety: The project envisages two separate components of road safety. The first one is a proactive approach to the Periodic Maintenance contracts, whereby each section of road that is included in a periodic contract will be subjected to a Safety Audit and any additional measures that can be undertaken within the terms and conditions of the contract to improve the safety environment will be incorporated in the works. This will cover some 700kms of national roads that are already earmarked for the first phase. Additionally, in collaboration with the police the project will identify at least ten Accident Black Spots and after Safety Audits prepare safety mitigation measures that can be undertaken by local maintenance contractors. During the baseline surveys included in the Consultants preparation programme the highway police headquarters in Tirana were asked to prepare a list of what they considered accident black spots on the national network. Following a country- wide survey of its various patrol locations a national list was prepared. This initial list is in excess of ninety sites. These will all be subject to a review process by the Consultants Road Safety specialist. * Occupational safety: For the first phase of a proposed Road Safety Action Plan the consultants will propose to Government the introduction of a road workers protection policy for the GRD to adopt. The keynote provision of the protection policy will be that on all roads having a certain traffic count, when taken over a 12 hour period, no person will work either alone or without the requisite set of protective signs, cones, and protective barriers. This will be in addition to approved reflective clothing. This policy will apply to all road workers regardless whether they are public sector workers or contractors staff. This will also require the contractors to comply. The result of this policy will be that the road agencies will have to re-assign the staff to roads with less traffic, or alternatively supply the requisite protective equipment and clothing. The second level of operational road safety will be a policy of 'advocacy' whereby, for all first time Routine Maintenance Contractors it is intended to provide - within the provisions of the contract - for a standard set of warning signs and barriers for securing a safe working site in the carriageway. The number and design of signs will be to a standard design commensurate to the class and design speed of the road and in accordance with accepted European standards. Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 8 Louis Berger Group, Inc. This initial set of signs and a set of reflective clothing for a set number of workers will become the property of the contractor at the end of the contract. The contractor will however be responsible for replacing any signs that are lost or broken during the tenure of his contract, and will not receive payments for works where the correct and approved signing and protection of workers is not undertaken. * Solid waste: Although solid waste collection and disposal is the responsibility of the local governments, it may be in the long term interest of GRD/MLG to initiate a dialogue with the appropriate government agencies on this issue. As inadequate drainage affects the roads and interferes with their maintenance, GRD/MLG may prohibit waste dumping, initiate a system of fines to discourage it, and carry out public awareness campaigns to point out how the practice is detrimental to public health as well as instrumental in deteriorating the condition of the roads. B. MONITORING The monitoring plan for the project is summarized in Annex 1. Most of the activities involve site observation and inspection by the construction supervisor, verifying the permits and licenses to ensure that materials are sourced from licensed facilities and solid wastes are disposed of at approved sites, monitoring of noise and dust during construction and specialized testing of solid waste prior to disposal. Mitigation and monitoring activities will run parallel to the physical activities. They will commence at the time men, equipment and/or materials are moved to the site, and will end when the job is completed and all men, equipment and/or materials are removed from the site and the work in a particular location is complete. 8. IMPLEMENTATION ARRANGEMENTS The Design Consultants are responsible for preparing the Bidding Documents for all the pilot contract works that are to be funded by the World Bank and will ensure that the terms and conditions of the contract will require that compliance with safeguards and requirements included in the EMP are an integral part of the contract and as such a condition of contract to proceed and obtain payments and remunerations. Contractors will be required to build into their bid rates the envisaged costs for taking all the appropriate mitigation measures according to the requirements of the EMP. The collection, transport and disposal of solid waste products for cleaning ditches and culverts will be contracted to licensed operators requiring a set number of licences (i) a landowners agreement and (ii) an local government authorisation for all sites used for the disposal of such materials. According to the law Regional Maintenance Departments (national and rural roads) as well as the second level local government (Municipalities, District Councils and Communes) would be the contractor's partners in obtaining the above permissions and licenses. The Supervision Consultant will be responsible for supervising the works and ensuring that the contractors follow the environmental management measures provided in the contractual agreements. The regional agencies of the Ministry of Environment will monitor dust and noise, carry out inspections of solid waste disposal sites, and review the permits and locations and monitor operations of the asphalt plants, quarries and sand/gravel extraction sites. Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. Overall responsibility to coordinate and oversee the implementation of the EMP will be with the implementing agencies for the project - the GRD for the National Road Network component and MLG for the Rural Road Network. As such, they will be responsible for liasing, as necessary, with the environmental authorities, municipalities and local communities on environmental issues, preparing the TOR for the solid waste operators, organizing public awareness campaigns, reviewing traffic management plans for the construction activities, and carrying out periodic reviews of the monitoring data and inspection reports. 9. INSTITUTIONAL STRENGTHENING The GRD and MLG are dealing differently with Road assets management and environment issues and application of the laws and regulations related to that. GRD has its own structures in its HQ to prepare all technical and legal documentation for Works to be performed in the road network under its responsibility, whereas Ministry of Local Government (by law) has delegated those responsibilities to the second level of local government (Municipalities District Councils and Communes) according to the new law of decentralization. MLG is playing only the role of policy maker and planning institution at the national level. Another difference between the two institutions is that in GRD, RMP would be the fifth road project (Transport/Infrastructure Project, Feeder (Rural) Roads Project, National Roads Project, and ERRP), and this has contributed on its greater capacities in procurement, contract management, environment issues. Based on that we would have different requirements on the capacity building and institutional strengthening for each of them. For the GRD it is proposed that it will designate one person in the technical department of its internal organization to be responsible for environmental issues, and one person in each Regional Maintenance Department, in order to have a better interrelation with Local Communities and Regional Agencies of the MoE. Regarding the Rural Road Network, in the District level these structures dealing with the environment are already established, but they are not well trained and experienced to work on specific environment issues related to road work. There is also a need to strengthen MoE capabilities in the road sector, and especially build capacity of the regional agencies to review and issue permits and to carry out inspections. Therefore, it is proposed that the project will finance in the PIU one local environmental engineering consultant to provide training to the MoE and its regional agencies in environmental management aspects of the project (the Polytechnic University has an Environment Engineering branch, which prepare Civil Engineers specialized on Environment Assessment and Environment Protection, especially by civil works). The environmental engineer will also train and develop environmental management capacity within the district level agencies of the GRD and MLG, and organize public awareness campaigns on solid waste management. To better involve and seek cooperation of the environmental authority, it is proposed to include the MoE in the Inter-Ministerial Steering Committee for the project and provide them with the copy of the project documents and the environmental management plan. 10. COSTS OF IM1PLEMENTATION The costs of the personnel of GRD and the Contractor undertaking environmental management measures are included in the general operating expenses of these organizations. The costs of environmental activities of the Design and Supervision Consultant are already factored into their contract. GRD, in previous Bank financed projects, has purchased noise and dust monitoring Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 10 Louis Berger Group, Inc. equipment which will be used also for the purpose of the proposed project. Therefore, purchase of any additional equipment is not foreseen. Additional costs are foreseen with respect to the following: (i) local environmental engineering consultant who will provide training to the MoE and its regional offices, the district level road agencies of the GRD and MLG, and the community focal persons (on solid waste management issues); (ii) training costs which include costs of training materials, meeting venues, and travel costs of participants; (iii) public information campaigns which include costs of producing information materials and focal persons who will organize the community drive to better collect and dispose of solid waste; (iv) costs of licensed operators to clean up solid waste from road side drains and ditches. The table below summarizes the overall costs of EMP implementation. No. Activity Cost 1. Local Consultant (Environmental Engineer) $3000 Fees and Travel for 6 months 2. Training $6,000 3. Public Information Campaigns $3,000 4. Solid Waste Clean Up $120,000 TOTAL $132,000 11. PUBLIC CONSULTATIONS The public consultation meetings have been organized in all the 12 prefectures of the Republic of Albania during February 2002. The aim of these meetings was to present to the main stakeholders representing public central and local institutions, NGOs and affected groups findings regarding environmental and social issues related to this Project. The participation to these meetings was very successful. Media picked up the real importance of this event and local and national TVs and newspapers informed the public on the scope of the Project and its potential social benefits. The Consultant, after a short presentation of the Project, answered to the various questions posed by the public attending the meeting. The result of all the meetings was very positive. Local and Central Institutions represented by the Chairman of the Region and the Prefect, assisted by their technical staff and the Directors of Regional and Rural Road Directorates addressed several questions especially on how the Consultant has envisaged the privatization of the maintenance sector. The Consultant explained how he intends to demonstrate modem maintenance methods to all the various road agencies in Albania by setting out pilot contracts throughout the country. The Consultant also stated that a key component of the Project was to re-orientate the public sector workforce over to private sector road industry. Consequently, they did not envisage any negative social impact on existing departmental staff. All the representative of the various stakeholders stated their commitment to support the project in its stated environmental aims especially with regards to the clearing and disposal of road side garbage which, at the present moment, is blocking ditches and drains and is therefore detrimental to the efficiency of highway drainage in many locations throughout the country. The private sector composed of contractors and consultants will be involved for assisting the central and local institutions to carry out the maintenance projects in the most cost-effective way. Routine Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 11 Louis Berger Group, Inc. maintenance contracts will be tendered on a local basis in order to give opportunities to local companies to develop their capabilities in their regions. In all these 12 meetings, the stakeholders stated very clearly that in their opinion they could not foresee any negative social or environmental impact as a result of the routine and periodic maintenance contracts. Minutes of all the 12 public participatory meetings are attached to this Report (see Annex 2). Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. ANNEXES Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. ANNEX 1 Summary EMP (tables) Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. ALBANIA ROAD MAINTENANCE PROJECT - ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT PLAN A. ENVIRONMENTAL MITIGATION PLAN Cost Institutional Responsibility Phase Issue Mitigating Mcasure Install Operate Install Operate Comments Construction Material Supplv Material Suppgl (a) Asphalt Plant (a) Requirement for official approval or a valid NA NA (a) Asphalt Plant (a) Asphalt Plant -dust operating license from National -worker health/safety Environmental Agency of Albania (NEAA) specified in bid document (b) Stone Quarry (b) See (a) -dust NA NA (b) Stone Quarry (b) Stone Quany -worker health/safety (c) Sand/Gravel (c) See (a) -disturbance to river bed / water NA NA (c) Sand/Gravel (c) Sand/Gravel quality/ ecosystem Contractor Contractor Material Transport Material Transport (a) Asphalt (a) Asphalt (a) NA (a) NA (a) Truck operator (a) Truck operator (a), (b), (c), (d) -dust/fumes -cover truck load to be specified (b) Stone (b) Stone (b) NA (b) NA (b) Truck operator (b) Truck operator in bid -dust -wet or cover truck load documents (c) Sand/Gravel (c) Sand/Gravel (c) NA (c) NA (c) Truck operator (c) Truck operator -dust -wet or cover truck load (d) Traffic Management (d) Haul material at off peak traffic hours (d) NA (d) Minimal (d) Truck operator (d) Truck operator -noise and vehicular exhaust, road Use routes to minimize major traffic sites congestion Construction Site Construction Site (a) Noise (a) Limit activities to reasonable hrs (not (a) NA (a) NA (a) Construction (a) Construction (a), (b), (c), (d), between 11 PM and 7 AM or as agreed at Contractor Contractor (e) to be Public consultation) specified in bid (b) Dust (b) Water construction site and materials (b) YES (b) YES (b) Construction (b) Construction documents storage sites as appropriate Contractor Contractor (c) Traffic Disruption (during (c) Appropriate measures to redirect traffic (c) NA (c) NA (c) Construction (c) Construction construction activity) that are easily seen or easy to follow Contractor Contractor (d) Vehicular/pedestrian safety (off (d) Appropriate lighting and well defined (d) YES (d) YES (d) Construction (d) Construction hours when there is no safety signs Contractor Contractor constnuction activity) (e) Water Pollution from Improper (e) Cover material storage areas Construct (e) YES (e) YES (e) Construction (e) Construction Materials Storage/Management channels to direct runoff to sewage system or Contractor Contractor appropriate treatment facility (f) Sediment runoff (t) provide sediment fence, straw bales or (f) YES (I) YES (f) Construction (f) Construction other sediment traps Contractor Contractor (g) Protection of water resources (g) Take measures to prevent the direct entry (g) YES (g) YES (g) Construction (g) Construction of water from construction sites into streams, Contractor Contractor canals, lakes, wells and aquifers; provide detention basins, where needed (h) Archeological finds (h) Notify archeological authority and follow (h) NA (h) NA (h) Construction (h) Construction their directions Contractor Contractor Waste Disposal a)Construction debris (concrete,asphalt (a) Dispose of in approved locality and cover (a) YES (a) NA (a) Construction (a) NA fuels, paints, contaminated soil) with inert material. Contractor (b) Solid waste (b) Dispose of in accordance with local (b) YES (b) YES (b) Construction (b) Construction I sanitary regulations Contractor Contractor Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. A. ENVIRONMENTAL MITIGATION PLAN (continued) Cost Institutional Responsibility Phase Issue Mitigating Measure Install Operate Install Operate Comments Operation Maintenance ofRehabilitated Road Maintenance of Rehabilitated Road (a) Noise (a) Limit activities to reasonable hours (not (a) NA (a) Minimal NA GRD between II PM and 7 AM or as agreed at Public Consultation Road Sqfety Road Safetl Erosion, rockfall, hazardous conditions Install appropriate waming signs (rockfall, YES Minimal GRD GRD landslide, wet or slippery conditions, dangerous curve, animal or pedestrian crossing, school, slow moving vehicles, merge), reflective markers to indicate steep edge, or convex mirrors to see oncoming traffic at blind curves. Locate wamings at points considered appropriate by good engineering practice and as agreed during Public Consultation Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. ALBANIA ROAD MAINTENANCE PROJECT - ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT PLAN B. ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING PLAN Cost Responsibility Phase What is to be Where How When Why Install Operate Install Operate monitored Is the parameter to Is the parameter to Is the parameter to be be monitored! type of be monitored monitored monitoring equipment Construction Material Supplv (a) Asphalt (a) [NEAA] (a) NA (a) GRD review (a) Before work Assure plant compliance (a) NA (a) NA (a) Plant Operator (a) Plant Operator Plant approval or valid begins with environment, operating license health and safety requirements of Albania (b) See (a) (b) See (a) (b) Stone (b) See (a) (b) NA (b) GRD review (b) Before work (b) NA (b) NA Quarry begins (c) See (a) (c) See (a) (c) (c) See (a) (c) NA (c) GRD review (c) Before work (c) NA (c) NA Sand/Gravel begins Material (a) GRD Regional Transport Maintenance (a) Asphalt (a) Truck load (a) Job site (a) GRD supervision (a) After work starts- (a) NA (a) Small (a) NA Department covered or wet several unannounced inspections (b) Stone (b) See (a) (b) See (a) (b) See (a) (b) See (a) (b) See (a) (b) Small (b) See (a) (b) See (a) (c) Sand/Gravel (c) See (a) (c) See (a) (c) See (a) (c) See (a) (c) See (a) (c) Small (c) See (a) (c) See (a) (d) Traffic (d) Hours and (d) See (a) (d) See (a) (d) See (a) (d) See (a) (d) Small (d) See (a) (d) See (a) Management routes selected Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. Construction Site (a) Noise levels (a) At site or (a) Sound level (a) Once/week- (AM- (a) NA (a) NA (a) NEAA (a) MoE (a) Noise nearest detector PM) and when locals homes complain (b) During material (b) Air quality (b) At site (b) Ringlemann or delivery and (b) NA (b) NA (b) NEAA (b) MoE (b) Dust (dust) equivalent construction (c) Once/week at (c) Traffic pattems (c) At or (c) Observation peak and non peak (c) NA (c) NA (c) NA (c) GRD Regional (c) Traffic near site periods Maintenance Disruption (during construction) (d) Once/week- (d) GRD Regional (d) Visibility and (d) At or (d) Observation evening (d) NA (d) NA (d) NA Maintenance (d) Vehicular/ appropriateness near site Pedestrian Safety (off hours when there is no construction activity) (e) Water (e) Water quality (e) Runoff (e) Observation (e) During (e) NA (e) NA (e) MoE (e) MoE Pollution (from (primarily from site or precipitation (rain, Improper suspended solids) materials snow etc.) and Materials storage areas periodically during Storage/ storage period Management) Operation Maintenance of Rehabilitated Road (a) Noise (a) Noise levels (a) At site or (a) Sound level (a) During (a) NA (a) NA (a) MoE (a) MoE detector maintenance nearest activities or when homes locals complain (b) Road Safety Condition of Along Visual Observation One-two times/year NA NA NA GRD Regional hazard signs highway Maintenance segment include d in project _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. ANNEX 2 Record of Public Consultations Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. ROAD MAINTENANCE PROJECT MINUTES OF THE MEETING AT THE PREFECTURE OF BERAT Locality Berat Date of Meeting February 12, 2002 Time of Meeting 15.00 pm Duration of Meeting 15.00 pm - 16.00 pm (60 min.) Oreanizin2 staff of I.S.O.P. Head of the Focus - Group Artan Xhaxhiu Assistant Aida Buba Secretary Alketa Tabaku Invited: Armando Pezzoni Louis Berger Group Sokol Xhixho S D C Sh.p.k. Area Description: Berat district counts about 6269 jobless people, where only 462 of them receive governmental social welfare. From the statistics, it results that the number of deaths in the last three months of 2001 has been 161. Berat comprises 12014 families in total. The fund of the economic aid that the Berat families profit is 226142 (Leke). The prefecture of Berat has in total 108 km of roads, where 101 km of them are national roads. Description of the Meeting: The meeting was held in the office of the prefecture. The leader of the group Artan Xhaxhiu begins the representation and explains in details the meetings. Mr. Armando Pezzoni shares with the people present in the meeting the project content. He points out that this project financially supported by World Bank and aims at preserving and maintaining the National and the rural roads. This project will last for a period of three years and envisages a fund of $ 30 million. This projects aims at: 1. Establishing an effective organizational structure in the sector of roads maintenance 2. Establishing a system that ensures an appropriate financial level. 3. Establishing the implementation procedures delegating clearly the responsibilities Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. 4. Adopting good staff policies on developing the technical and professional capacities 5. The rehabilitation and maintenance of the selected elements of the National and Local roads by pilot Projects. Mr. Pelivan Shatri, the prefect of Berat asked about when this project will start in Berat and which roads in Berat district will be of great priority. Mr. Pezzoni responded that if the credit will be approved in June then everything would be ready for the beginning of the workings. He pointed out that there are two majors' criteria that are necessary for the adoption of the project. These are social and environmental impacts that might arise from its realization. So we are interested to know your thoughts regarding these issues. This the main purpose of today's meeting, which will be followed by later meetings that are going to be more detailed. Andrea Kusta, Director of Road Maintenance, in Berat emphasized that he appreciated a lot the initiatives of the World Bank and asserted his total support for the project. He pointed out that the periodical maintenance is much easier to be measured, but what bothers me is the way in which the rural maintenance will be measured? He continued to state that the project would not have any social or environmental problems because it regarded only the maintenance of the roads and not constructing new ones. Mr. Pezzoni answered that assessing the technical quality of this project there will be a regional supervisor who will observe and evaluate the works already conducted by the private companies that will be selected as winners of the bids. He stated that what we aim is the gradual privatization of the entire maintenance sector. Only in this way the road maintenance in Albania will be at the levels of other Western countries. Ferdinant Kurteshi, leader of the Environment Agency, requested a detailed report on the impacts that these works will have on the ecological balance because he said that they had had negative experiences regarding this issue. In most of the times the stone aggregate materials have been thrown away straight in the river Osum, polluting the river itself and the surrounding environments and therefore ruining the Ecological balance in the area. Mr. Pezzoni said that permission would be taken for throwing the garbage in the predetermined zones. Niko Mata, major of Berat, stressed that he totally supported the project and asserted his optimism regarding this project. He stated his thought by saying that the implementation of the maintenance project will not cause any social and environmental problems for the city of Berat. He emphasized that Berat must be taken into consideration more seriously in comparison with other prefectures, because it has many problems regarding the roads and the monuments that are located near them. Arben Kademi, leader of Technical Branch Skrapar pointed out that he considered as reasonable the intervention in the road sectors of Qorovodes, Gjerbes, Qafa e Kulmakut. The intervention in these sectors requires the reconstruction of these road structures. He said that he did not think it would have any social and environmental impacts. Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. Mr. Pezzoni explained that an expert will come, who will deal with the technical problems. The prefect of Berat expressed in the end his appreciation and of his staff in the successful implementation of the project financed by the World Bank. He also was optimistic about the "Louis Berger" company, which has assumed the project development and implementation. CONCLUSIONS: The meeting was fruitful; the spirit of cooperation and welcome was obvious among all. The people present in the meeting expressed their desire to get to know the project in details, which will be made possible in future meetings. Among the problems that arose during the talking was that of throwing the solid waste in areas clearly defined, so that the environment would not be polluted. There was also present the local media TV Onufri and journalists of Tomorri newspaper. List of Participants: Pelivan Shartri (The prefect of Berat) Niko Mata (The major of Berat) Shkelqim Cuku (Director of the Mainatance Road Directory, Skrapar) Ajet Methaxhi ( Inginier of the Skrapar city hall) Arben Kolemi (Head of the Technical Branch, of the Rural Road company, Skrapar) Safet Saliasi (The mayer of Polican) Konstadin Dino (person in charge of Services office in the Prefecture of Berat) Andrea Kusta (Director of Road Maintenance, Berat) Fatos Zotka (Head of the City Hall council) Luan Abedini (Head of the District council) Ferdinand Kurteshi (Head of the Environment Agency) The local Media (TV Onufri, The local newspaper "Tomorri", the newspaper "Shekulli" Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. ROAD MAINTENANCE PROJECT MINUTES OF THE MEETING AT THE PREFECTURE OF DIBRA Locality Dibra Date of Meeting February 15, 2002 Time of Meeting 13.00 pm Duration of Meeting 13.00 pm - 14.30 pm (75 min.) Oreanizing staff of I.S.O.P. Head of the Focus - Group Artan Xhaxhiu Assistant Aida Buba Secretary Alketa Tabaku Invited: Remus Ambrus Louis Berger Group Sokol Xhixho S D C Sh.p.k. Area Descrintion: The number of the unemployed persons in the Dibra Prefecture is 3539 inhabitants. 571 of them profit the governmental social welfare. There are 18412 families in Dibra and the fund of the assistance is 356250 leke. Dibra Prefecture has 181 km of roads. 153 of them being national roads. Description of the Meetin2: Head of the organizing staff, Mr. Artan Xhahiu, presented the participant present in the meeting and made a description of the aim of the project. Representative of Louis Berzer Mr. Ambrus made a general and brief description of the project. He stressed that the project is financed by the World Bank and includes the maintenance of the roads in a period of 3 years. The project will be concentrated on the National and Rural Roads. A new strategy will be used in the implementation of the project in order to adopt it with the political and technical conditions of Albania. The first step is creating an effective organizing structure in the road maintenance sector. It is also foreseen the establishment of a system which guarantees an appropriate finance level. It is very necessary to Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. determine the implemented procedures with a clear delegation of the responsibilities. Another important thing is also the adaptation of the personnel policies for the development of the technical and professional capacities. Mr. Ambrus explained that this project envisages only the maintenance of the selected elements of the National and Local Roads by pilot projects. The World Bank has allocated a fund of 30 million dollars on this project. The aim of this project is that at the end of the project to exist a functional system of the maintenance of the roads all over Albania. We have to be assured that this project does not cause any negative social and environmental impacts. This is the main condition for the beginning the project. Mr. Bajram Kreshi, Mayor of Peshkopia Municipality asked if will this fund be used both on the implementation and designing plan and which are the regions this project will be extended? Mr. Ambrus answered that this is a simple project and the most part of the funds is destined on the maintenance works of the roads. Regarding to the second question, Mr. Ambrus explained that this project will be extended to all the prefectures of Albania and the priorities of them will be determined in a next phase. He stressed that the procedures on the selection of the priorities will be transparent through continuously consultations with the rural experts. Mr. Lulzim Prafasani, Chief of the Urbanity Office in Peshkopia Municipality suggested that during the implementation of the project to give priorities to Dibra Prefecture. He also suggested that regarding the determination of the priorities would be better that the Head of the County Council would decide for them. Mr. Ambrus explained that the aim of the project is to assure a functional maintenance compared with all other developed countries. You will be the main managers of your Roads network. Later, the State will continue to determine a yearly fund on the Road Maintenance. Mr. Afrim Kurtaga, Chief of the Regional Agency of the Environment asked if any qualification trainings in the framework of the implementation of the project are mentioned. Mr. Ambrus stressed that are prepared some training courses on different levels. Mr. Ambrus explained that this project will not include any other projects. It is determined a clear strategy for the implementation of it. The World Bank will charge a supervisor for checking the quality of the maintenance works. Mr.Sami Selishta, representative of the National Albanian Television asked if this project is made known to the media. Mr. Ambrus explained that as it is above - mentioned, the first phases and later on the implementation of the project will follow transparent procedures, which means that media has published and will continue later on to publish the phases of this project. Mr. Fitim Mata, Engineer of the Program Office of Dibra Prefecture, stressed that he is informed before about this project. He has contacted the representative of the Louis Berger Group. He explained that the road of Dibra Prefecture is not under the appropriate parameters. Regarding to my opinion, I do not thing that this project will have any Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. negative influences on both social and environmental viewpoints. The places of the solid waste dumps are clearly determined and the ownership problems are completely resolved. Mr. Fitim Mata, Engineer of the Program Office of Dibra Prefecture, asked that if the materials do not result of a good quality, which will be the following procedures determined in this case? Mr.Ambrus stressed that first we will not permit to work with materials of low quality. If this happens exists always the possibility to change the contractor. Mayor of Peshkopia Municipality stressed that the transport sector is very important in the development of any country. He thinks that the North of Albania is not developed in comparison with south of Albania. I do not think that the implementation of the project will influence on any negative social impacts. Regarding to the ecological problems, the maintenance of the roads is a good factor influenced on them. The Urban Road are in very critic conditions. I agree this project to begin as soon as possible and to see any other possibility for the reconstruction of the new roads. Mr.Afrim Kurtaga, Chief of the regional agency of the environment, explained that the implementation of this project has its own favourable influence on the envoirnment. Mayor of the Municipality stressed that Dibra is necessary to have its own priorities regarding to the low level of the economical and social conditions. He stressed that the Local Authorities welcome and support the beginning of this project. CONCLUSIONS: The participation was of satisfactory level, regardless from the justified missing of the presence of the Prefect. Local Authorities concluded that the project is welcomed and do not cause any negative social or environmental impacts. Participantes: Bajram Kreshi Mayor of Peshkopia Municipality) Qemal Shehu Head of the District Council Xheladin Torba Regional Director of the National Roads) Fitim Mata Engineer of the Program Office of Dibra Prefecture Iljaz Kaca "Nisma Dibrane" Association Afrim Kurtaga Chief of the regional agency of the environment Urim Xhaferri Chief of the Communal Sector, Burrel Lulzim Prafasani Chief of Urbanity Office Muharrem Kola General Secretary of the Prefecture Local Media: TV Dibra The National Albanian Television Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. ROAD MAINTENANCE PROJECT MINUTES OF MEETING AT THE PREFECTURE OF D URRES Location: Durres Day of Meeting: Tuesday Date of Meeting: 12.02.2002 Time of Meeting: 10:00 Duration of meeting: 50' Organizing staff of IPOS: Head of the Focus -Group Xhesi Mane Assistant Eliona Halila, Shkelqim Bodlli Secretary Fjorda Dragoti Invited: Razek Dregheim Louis Berger Group Maksim Arapi S.D.C Sh.p.k. Area Description: The Prefecture of Durres include also Kruja district. The population of this area is 247345 inhabitants consisting on 121501 males and 125884 females. The urban population is 133699 inhabitants and the rural population is 113654 inhabitants. The area surface is 433 km2 and the density is 422,7 - inhab/ km2- Road Network: District Name Length in Km National Road Network Durres 68 57 The Louis Berger Group's Representative, Mr. Razek Degheim, explained to the participants the works financed by World Bank concerning Road Maintenance Project. The Consultant stated that Routine and Periodic Maintenance Pilot Contracts will be launched all over the country following the World Bank procedure. He presented a type of Tender Documents (Bill of Quantities, Price Description and Technical Specification, etc.), which should be used in the procurement phase of this Project. The Consultant invited participants to ask questions concerning environmental and social impact issues which could be envisaged during the implementation of the Project. The Prefect of Durres, Mrs. Paco, said that road maintenance is one of the key problems in Durres District. In the past, a lot of investments in different road segments have been implemented, but due to a concrete lack of maintenance planning, funds and resources, Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. these road sections are in the same bad conditions they were some years ago. The Prefect stressed that local authorities, the Consultants, Local NGO-s have to cooperate and agree a common strategy for a proper maintenance of roads. One of the main issues is the identification of adequate areas where to stock refusal material coming from the maintained road sides. The Deputy Mayor of Durres, Mr. Kertusha asked for more details about privatization of the maintenance sector. S.D.C's representative, Mr. Arapi explained that with the privatization of the maintenance sector the private enterprises will be responsible for different road segments included in their contracts directly to the relevant State institutions. The working relationship between private contractors and the public owners of the road, MOT or MLG, will be regulated by clear contracts in which the type of intervention, their duration will be clearly stated. If the contractor will not perform these works properly they will be not paid. The Consultant added that the works carried out by local contractors will include routine maintenance (i.e. cleaning and repair of drainage structures, repair of potholes and broken road surfaces, etc.) and also periodic maintenance (i.e. asphalt overlays, retaining wall construction, etc.). Mrs. Habibi, representative of the Foundation "For the New Durres" said that she agreed with what the Prefect said about a specific place to stock refusal materials, and pointed out Porto Romano area as one of the inappropriate stock areas. Mr. Ndreka, representative of "Albanian Natural Medicine", said that air and water pollution in Durres region are cause of main concern. He added that clear criteria to measure and monitor these environmental issues have to be taken into consideration during the implementation of this Project. This should be done in close co-operation with Local NGO-s. The Chairman of the County, Mr. Alizoti, said that one of the reasons why the roads are in bad conditions after the rehabilitation is the fact that there is no proper attribution of responsibilities concerning maintenance once the road has been rehabilitated. The Consultants explained in broad terms how they intend to put in place a proper Road Management System for the maintenance sector by involving and building up Albanian contractors and consultants as main stakeholders of this process. All participants pointed out that no negative impacts should have to be foreseen at this stage on environmental and social aspects of Albanian society provided that: 1- Adequate solutions in managing and monitoring mainly solid wastes disposal will be adopted, and 2- Social impact on the progressive conversion from a state industry to privatization will be conducted smoothly, taking into consideration the needs of the construction industry. Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. The Prefect thanked the Consultants and look forward to cooperate closely with them in the near future. The Consultant thanked the Prefect and the participants for their presence in the meeting. Conclusions: All participants expressed that no particular environment and social negative impacts should be associated to this Project. On the contrary, the peaople living in the region will take advantage from this situation. More work and more attention to environmental issues regarding the proper disposal of solid wastes in the region are foreseen by all the attendees to the meeting (specialists, local authorities, environmental NGO-s). Participants: Natasha Paco Prefect of Durres Region Paqesor Zeneli General Secretary of the Prefecture Genci Alizoti Head of the District Council Besnik Kertusha Deputy Mayor (Durres Municipality) Dezdemona Habibi Foundation "For the New Durres" Bajana Ceveli President of the Council of NGO-s Pellumb Hakia Association "Green Globe" Elda Kalaja Association "Green Globe" Fali Ndreka Association "Albanian Natural Medicine" Abdulla Kujovsa As sociation "Gerd Muller-Durres 92" (For Sport & Cultural Activities) Three TV Channels, one having local diffusion (Real TV) and two having national coverage (Arberia and Klan) attended to this meeting and reported about it the same day in their daily News. Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. ROAD MAINTENANCE PROJECT MINUTES OF THE MEETING AT THE PREFECTURE OF ELBASAN Locality Elbasan Date of Meeting February 12, 2002 Time of Meeting 10.00 am Duration of Meeting 10.00 am - 11.15 am (75 min.) Or2anizine staff of I.S.O.P. Head of the Focus - Group Stela Tanellari Assistant Albana Bregu Secretary Anxhela Aleksi Invited: Remus Ambrus Louis Berger Group Shpetim Ngjeci Louis Berger Group Nazmi Patozi S D C Sh.p.k. Elda Bajraktari Interpreter / LBG Area Descrintion: The Prefecture of Elbasan includes the following cities: Elbasan, Gramsh, Librazhd, Peqin. The population of this area is 366.137 inhabitants consisting on 185.470 males and 180.666 females. The urban population is 126.463 inhabitants and the rural population is 239.674 inhabitants. The area surface is 1372 km2 and the density is 163,9-inhab/km2. Road Network: District Name Length in km Classification of the road network National Touristic Mining Forestry Military Elbasan 137 89 13 32 3 Gramsh 64 18 12 34 Librazhd 51 51 Introduction Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. The meeting is opened with a general and brief presentation of the Road Maintenance Project. Miss Stela Tanellari goes on with the presentation of the Louis Berger, SDC and I.S.O.P. representatives. Miss Tanellari gives the floor to the representatives of the Louis Berger and SDC representatives: Mr. Remus Ambrus. Representative of Louis Berger Group First of all, Mr. Ambrus thanks all the participants for their presence and their hospitality and he goes on with the introduction of the project. Among other things he says that this is a very important project of the World Bank In 1999, the Albanian Government has been in contact with the World Bank asking for the encouragement of a project regarding Maintenance of roads. The World Bank answered positively to the Albanian Government. Therefore, an assistance program intending to develop the private construction and consulting industry in the Country in conformity with nowadays demands for maintenance is going to be prepared through pilot projects funded by the World Bank The road network is in very bad conditions. The number of the vehicles is increased and this is a main factor among many other ones, which have negatively affected the road maintenance all over in the country. The aim of this project is to contribute to - The creation of an administrative structure of the road maintenance sector. - To set up functional procedures for the personnel with a clear delegation of the responsibilities - To set up a system applicable all over in the country for the planning, management, supervision of routine and periodic maintenance contracts. The aim of this meeting is to understand from the participants whether this project will have any positive or negative social and environmental impacts in this region. Mr. Ilir Ziarri. Prefect ofElbasan Region Mr. Zjarri thanks the Louis Berger representatives for their participation in the meeting and also says that the intervention on the improvement and maintenance of the roads through this project is really necessary for the prefecture. He stresses that maintaining the side roads is also very important and helps in keeping in good conditions the highway. Then, Mr. Zjarri invited all the attendees representing the local authorities of the region to express their opinion on the scope of this meeting. Mr. Kozma Akani. Chairman of the County Council Mr. Akani considers that this project comes at the right time. Elbasan Region covers 4 districts: Elbasan, Librazhd, Peqin, Gramsh covering a road network of 624 km. In addition, we have to consider all the communal roads linked to the main road network. The Albanian Development Fund has already invested in approximately 100 km of rural roads. Some of these roads, such as: Belsh - Gragot, Belsh - Deshiran, Belsh - Rosh connected with Lushnja City have been repaired in Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. a satisfactory level. We hope that other roads will be part of this World Bank project. Ouestion: Who makes this study, World Bank or Louis Berger Group? Mr. Ambrus answers: The World Bank is funding this study. Louis Berger has been appointed through tender procedure to perform this study. The scope of work of this study is to identify sections of roads included in the Albanian national and rural network subject for the implementation of the pilot project. We have to give a valuable information so that the project to be more effective. The identification of the social and environmental influences is the first phase of this study. Afterwards further meetings would be more specific. We need to know if the project causes environmental problems in the region and more specifically if this project will influence into the environmental viewpoints. Mrs. Shpresa Bania. Chief of the Regional Agency of the Environment Mrs. Banja explains that the road industry has its own specific impact. It is necessary to know that in addition to the project we need also to begin the process of preparing reports on the impacts. These have to go on simultaneously and when there are environment problems to solve them. It is our duty to give an environment permission in order to include as much people as possible in taking this decision. The problems that we face are different, such as: - The deposition of the trashes - Noise, dust that are big problems during the construction of a road. It is necessary to make the assessment of the road works, to have the permission in using the rivers, etc. Mr. Nazmi Patozi, Representative of SDC Company The aim of this project is the maintenance of the roads. The environmental problems occurring in time will be jointly decided. Mr. Remus Ambrus. Representative of Louis Berger Group Do you have any company or entity having negative impacts on the environment? Even the activity of people produces garbage. The problem is that all the garbage they produce is deposited into the road channels. Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. Mrs. Shpresa Bania, Chief of the Regional Agency of the Environment We must do the assessment of all the roads of the Albania and identify where environmental interventions are necessary. Mr.Hysen Dumi, Mayor of Elbasan Municipality Mr. Domi thanks the participants for this first informative meeting and also appreciated the information regarding the project financed by the World Bank on the maintenance of the roads. He stresses that they have to be attentive with this project. They still need some more maintenance activities to improve the new structures, regardless of some interventions already done on them. The municipality of the District must collaborate with the World Bank's project to assist in the cleaning of the big channels that pass through the city. He thanks and assures the present representatives for collaboration on their side. Mr. Gezim Pepini., Director of the Road Maintenance Department Mr. Peqini explains that this department covers 160 km of roads. The Elbasan - Krrabe road, the kilometer 29h, needs some maintenance works. We also face damaged layers through Elbasan - Cerrik - Belsh road. The crossroad Belsh - Belsh with a length of 12 km, has a carriageway width of 3.5 m without side ditches. This is an overpopulated area, where very disturbing problems are the intervened elements of the roads' construction. The other road, Elbasan - Gramsh is in very bad conditions and regarding to this I want to give priority to this road. Ouestion: Do you think this project will have any social and environmental negative impacts? Answer: No, we don 't think there will be any environmental negative impacts. Mr. Ilir Zjarri, Prefect of the Elbasan Region Mr. Zjarri thanks the representatives of Louis Berger for the initiative of this project and he assured the latter for the collaboration of all the local authorities in the implementation of the project. CONCLUSIONS Elbasan Prefecture offered its collaboration and support to the project financed by the World Bank. The representatives of the Local Authorities were conscious and convinced Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. that this project will help the development of this Prefecture. They also mentioned that this project will not have any negative impacts both environmental and social one. LIST OF PARTICIPANTS Ilir Zjarri Prefect of Elbasan Region Kozma Akani Chairman of the County Council Hysen Domi Mayor of the Municipality Gezim Peqini Director of the Road Maintenance Department, Elbasan Diamanta Vito Development Inspector, Elbasan Prefecture Ahmet Mehmeti Ecologic Agency, Elbasan Shpresa Banja Chief of the Regional Environment Agency, Elbasan Prefecture Media TV Egnatia TV Dardan TV Skampa Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. ROAD MAINTENANCE PROJECT MINUTES OF MEETING AT THE PREFECTURE OF FIER Location: Fier Day of Meeting: Tuesday Date of Meeting: 12.02.2002 Time of Meeting: 14:00 Duration of meeting: 60' Organizing staff of IPOS: Head of the Focus -Group Xhesi Mane Assistant Eliona Halila, Shkelqim Bodlli Secretary Fjorda Dragoti Invited: Razek Degheim Louis Berger Group Maksim Arapi S.D.C Sh.p.k Area Description: The Prefecture of Fier includes the following cities: Fier, Mallakaster and Patos. The population of this area is 384386 inhabitants consisting on 192666 males and 191720 females. The urban population is 123828 inhabitants and the rural population is 260558 inhabitants. The area surface is 785 km2 and the density is 254,9 - inhab/ km2 Road Network: District Name Length in Km National Road Network Fier 92 67 The Louis Berger Group's Representative, Mr. Razek Degheim, explained to the participants the works financed by World Bank concerning Road Maintenance Project. The Consultant stated that Routine and Periodic Maintenance Pilot Contracts will be launched all over the country following the World Bank procedure. He presented a type of Tender Documents (Bill of Quantities, Price Description and Technical Specification, etc.), which should be used in the procurement phase of this Project. The Consultant invited participants to ask questions concerning environmental and social impact issues which could be envisaged during the implementation of the Project. Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. The Head of Public Services Dept. in Fier, Mr. Anesi Dhima, asked whether the Road Maintenance Project will include also some urban roads of Fier. Mr. Degheim explained that in principle only National Roads (primary and secondary roads) and Rural Roads will be included in this Project. He also explained in broad terms how the consultants intend set up and keep operational a Routine and Periodic Maintenance Road Management System. The Consultant stressed that will be not any intervention to change the road network to the extent of building new road sections. The main aim of this project is to keep operational drainage structures, repair potholes, clean ditches and culverts, etc. already included in the existing Albanian national and rural road network. The Project foresee also periodic maintenance interventions (i.e. asphalt overlaying, new retaining walls, etc.) where strictly necessary. The Chairman of the County Council, Mr. Ilir Daro, said that he appreciates very much the meeting with the Consultants, but would be better if this meeting would be in a specialists level, because they are competent persons to define priorities. Mr. Degheim stressed that it is very important that in this preliminary meeting all the possible stakeholders will have the opportunity to give their opinion concerning any eventual social and environmental impacts they could envisage related to the World Bank funded Road Maintenance Project. The Prefect of Fier, Mr. Platon Arapi, said that at the present moment the region is facing a lot ofproblems related to the improper management and implementation of road works especially those related to maintenance and/or rehabilitation of drainage and disposal of solid wastes coming from cleaning of ditches, culverts, etc. The Mayor, Mr. Nikollaq Koshovari, said that this World Bank Project its very important for the social impacts that could generate especially in all the small villages around Fier. In some areas the condition of rural roads are so bad that the risk of human dislocation could become a main issue. As well, the garbage refusal has to be mitigated and monitored by identifying additional proper areas to stock it. The Representative of the Ecological Agency of Fier, Mr. Vllasi Milaj, said that this issue about garbage disposal has been already highlight several times without any real involvement from the political main actors of the region. Nobody has never asked for Environmental Agency's or the community opinion before. He is ready to co-operate with the Consultants in order to find solutions for all the environmental problems related to this project. The Director of Rural Roads Directorate of Fier, Rrapi Hysaj, said that he is facing a lot of problems for instance along those roads previously rehabilitated with World Bank funds under the Rural Roads Project just because of lack of their maintenance. As a result, those roads, afterfew years are again in the same conditions like they were before the WB intervention. The Rural Road Directorate has identified and prepared the map of Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. the roads that need intervention and maintenance. From the Ru.R.D. 's survey, there are 200km road in all Fier District, from which 70% are included in periodic maintenance and 30% need rehabilitation. The problem of stocking garbage and refusal materials, it 's not a problem for Ru.R.D, because of a good cooperation with the communities. Areas where to stock this garbage have been already defined. The Director is more concerned about methodology and equipment to be used to take rubbish away, which at the present moment are missing. The Representative of the Regional Road Directorate, Mr. Kujtim Mersini, said that the maintenance works performed by RRDs on the basis of the budget received from the central institutions. Unfortunately, the funds allocated are always insufficient to cover the real needs for maintenance works in the national road network of the region. He his ready to put at the Consultant's disposal all the technical data and statistics in his possession concerning the national road network in Fier region in order to define the road priority contracts with the Consultants. Mr. Degheim thanked the Prefect and all the participants for attending the meeting. Conclusions: All participants agreed that they do not foresee any environmental and social negative impact associated to this important World Bank initiative. It was clear stated also that a solution concerning the proper disposal of wastes resulted from cleaning the road-sides must be treated as a priority issue before the maintenance works contracts will start. All the relevant stakeholders (road specialists, local authorities, environmental NGO-s) are ready to co-operate on this issue. PARTICIPANTS: Platon Arapi Prefect of Fier Ilir Dano Chairman of County Council Nikollaq Koshovari Mayor of Fier Agim Lini Deputy Mayor of Fier Kujtim Mersini Regional Road Directorate Arben Dukaj Regional Road Directorate Rrapi Hysaj Rural Road Directorate Anesti Dhima Head of Public Services (County of Fier) Vllasi Milaj Association "Ecological Agency, Fier" Two TV Channels having local diffusion (TV KOMBI and AVN CHANNEL) attended to this meeting and reported about it the same day in their daily News. RADIO FIER attended to this meeting and reported about it the same day in their daily News. Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. ROAD MAINTENANCE PROJECT MINUTES OF MEETING AT THE PREFECTURE OF GJIROKASTER Location: Gjirokaster Day of Meeting: Tuesday Date of Meeting: 12.02.2002 Time of Meeting: 19:00 Duration of meeting: 60' Organizing staff of IPOS: Head of the Focus -Group Xhesi Mane Assistant Eliona Halila, Shkelqim Bodlli Secretary Fj orda Dragoti Invited: Razek Degheim Louis Berger Group Maksim Arapi S.D.C Sh.p.k. Area Description: The Prefecture of Gjirokaster includes also the towns Tepelene and Permet. The population of this area is 114293inhabitants consisting on 57501 males and 56792 females. The urban population is 44118 inhabitants and the rural population is 701745 inhabitants. The area surface is 1137 km2 and the density is 49,2 - inhab/ km2 Road Network: District Name Length in Km National Road Network Gjirokastra 66 66 The Louis Berger Group's Representative, Mr. Razek Degheim, explained to the participants the works financed by World Bank concerning Road Maintenance Project. The Consultant stated that Routine and Periodic Maintenance Pilot Contracts will be launched all over the country following the World Bank procedure. He presented a type of Tender Documents (Bill of Quantities, Price Description and Technical Specification, etc.), which should be used in the procurement phase of this Project. The Consultant invited participants to ask questions concerning environmental and social impact issues, which could be envisaged during the implementation of the Project. The Chairman of the County Council, Mr. Resul Llogo, thanked the Consultants for their participation in this meeting and their help. He said that the road network of Gjirokaster Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. has been slightly improved during the last period but still a lot of works, especially concerning maintenance, have to be done. He stressed that a clear and adequate road inventory is missing. A lot of road investments, including those funded by the World Bank are going to be lost just because of lack of planned and proper maintenance related to lack of funds. The Mayor, Mr. Murat Kaci, said urban roads needs investments too, especially cobbled ways, which have a historic and monumental value for the town of Gjirokaster. He is ready to co-operate with the Consultants for any information they may require and need, especially concerning the identification of special areas to stock solid wastes resulted from cleaning of ditches and culverts. The General Secretary of the Prefecture, Mr. Kasem Lamaj, asked if the Consultant will take into account the density of the population of each Prefecture in choosing the priority roads. Mr. Degheim said that density of population is also one of the criteria to be added to engineering and social parameters, which will be taken into account in the identification of the priority roads. Especially for the identification of the rural roads priority sections, the Consultants will have to take into consideration the social aspects related to the people living in those areas. Pure engineering methods for classifying level of traffic and/or other parameters for identifying economic viability of the routine maintenance contracts could not be adequate. Regional Director for the National Roads, Mr. Sokol Balla, said that the institution that he represents offers all its potential in order to assure that the Road Maintenance Project funded by the World Bank will be successful. He stressed that the problem of cleaning the road-side from solid wastes has to be solved by the same stakeholders who are participating to this meeting. Everybody agreed on this issue. The Consultants explained in broad terms how they intend to put in place a proper Road Management System for the maintenance sector by involving and building up Albanian contractors and consultants as main stakeholders of this process. The Consultant stressed that will be not any intervention to change the road network concerning to the road extension, but only rehabilitation of drainage structures, repair of potholes with asphalt where is necessary. All participants, in tum, pointed out that no negative impacts should have to be foreseen at this stage on environmental and social aspects of Albanian society in this region. All the participants were confident on the fact that a progressive conversion from a state industry to privatization will be an advantage for everybody, especially for the road construction industry. Mr. Razek Degheim thanked the Prefect and the participants for attending the meeting, for their questions and for the help that they offered in future collaboration. Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. Conclusions: All participants expressed that no environmental and social negative impacts cannot be foreseen at this stage related to the implementation of the Road Maintenance Project. PARTICIPANTS: Murat Kaci Mayor of Gjirokaster Resul Llogo Chairman of the County Council Pandeli Bodiava General Secretary of the Prefecture Kasem Lamaj Vice Secretary of the Prefecture Dasho Bejdo Director of Public Services Dept., Gjirokaster Municipality Leander Mati Director of Public Services Dept., Gjirokaster County Sokol Balla Director of Regional Road Directorate (GRD, MoT) Arqile Puleri Director of Rural Roads Directorate (MLG) Gjergji Meci Engineer, Rural Roads Directorate Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. ROAD MAINTENANCE PROJECT MINUTES OF THE MEETING AT THE PREFECTURE OF KORCA Locality Kor,e Date of the Meeting February 13, 2002 Time of the Meeting 12.00 am Duration of the Meeting 12.00 am - 01.00 pm (60 min.) Ormanizin2 staff of I.S.O.P. Head of the Focus - Group Stela Tanellari Assistant Albana Bregu Secretary Anxhela Aleksi Invited: Remus Ambrus Louis Berger Group Shpetim Ngje,i Louis Berger Group Nazmi Patozi S D C Sh.p.k. Elda Bajraktari Interpreter / LBG Area Description: The Prefecture of Kor,a includes the following districts: Korce, Devoll, Pogradec, Kolonje. The population of this area is 266.322 inhabitants consisting on 134.291 males and 132.031 females. The urban population is 97.139 inhabitants and the rural population is 169.183 inhabitants. The area surface is 1752 km2 and the density is 81,9-inhab/km2. Road Network: District Name Length in km Classification of the road network National Touristic Mining Forestry Military Korce - Devoll 196 115 34 47 Kolonje 117 106 11 = Pogradec 59 58 1 Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. Introduction Mr. Petrika Kondili, the Secretary General of the Prefecture of Korca County opens the meeting with a general and brief presentation of the Project and of the participants present in the meeting. Miss Stela Tanellari, the representative of I.S. O.P. goes on with the presentation of the following Companies: - Louis Berger Group - SD C Sh.p.k. (Designing Company) Mr. Remus Ambrus. Representative of Louis Berger Group Mr. Ambrus presents himself as the representative of the American Company "Louis Berger". He explains that this is not the only project of this Company in Albania. This project brings a new strategy in Albania and it is financed by the World Bank. The road maintenance project funds consist on 30 millions dollars and the duration of this project is 3 years. The aim of this project is to contribute to - The creation of an administrative structure of the road maintenance sector. - To set up functional procedures for the personnel with a clear delegation of the responsibilities - To set up a system applicable all over in the country for the planning, management, supervision of routine and periodic maintenance contracts. In 1999, the Albanian Government had contacted the World Bank asking for the encouragement of a project concerning on roads systematization and maintenance. This project is the response of the World Bank to the Albanian Government request to identify how to promote an assistance program. The road network is in very bad conditions as a result of the following factors: - In the last 10 years the road traffic increased a lot. The Road Network is designed for a lower traffic. - The lack of thefunds from the State Budget for the road maintenance - The actual status of the roads The Consultant (LBG) set the following tasks: - Establishing a system which assures an adequate level of investment - The implementation of the project - To adopt good policies for the personnel and the development of the technical and professional capabilities. - Rehabilitation and the maintenance of the selected elements from the national and local roads. Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. The first phase of our project is to identify the regional roads and the national ones, which might be included into the pilot project. The other phase of the project is the connection of the road sections which will be tendered to the private sector. Some of the key environmental issues to be followed are: - All the materials removed from the road ditches must be taken away from the site to those places acceptable from the environmental point of view. - The appropriate protection of the water sources and irrigation channels from pollution. - Granular materials / asphalt mixes for road surface patching. This meeting is introductory. The road maintenance works will be done following an acceptable environmental procedure. Question: Which is the position of the Local Authorities for the part of the project implementation? Remus Ambrus The Local Authorities will have a key position. The procedure of selection of the road sectors as well as the tender to private contractors will be transparent. The final aim is the privatization of the entire road maintenance system. Ouestion: Should we prepare ourselves to immediately start to proceed on this idea? Remus Ambrus: Not immediately, because at the beginning we have to identify the problems, technical specification, type of materials, etc. The main aim is to achieve no object regarding the environmental negative impacts of this project. Chairman of the County Council Will this project be just maintenance or will it contain rehabilitation of some sectors. Answer: It will mainly be maintenance of the roads. There might be some minor road section needing improvement. Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. Comment of the Local Authorities We need rehabilitation of the roads not only maintenance of them. Ouestion: This project will cover only four or five Prefecture or all over Albania? Answer: All over Albania. Prefect Mr. Sterdanaj agrees with the project requirement for the identification of the Albanian road network. I think that by dividing the available World Bank fund equally for each of the 12 prefectures of the Country, Korca share would about $ 2.000.000. However this amount of money is not sufficient for maintenance of the Korca county roads. There are several road sections needing far more than maintenance. Regarding the social and environmental impacts of the project I think the project will help on the mitigation of the existing problems. Ouestion: I need to know something more about the Category B type environmental pollution. Answer: I'm not expert for this. I'm only a road engineer. Director of the Road Maintenance Department Regarding the environmental issues, we have no laboratory devices for measuring the pollution level. I hope that this is to be taken into consideration for a later phase of this project. Chairman of the County Council Ouestion: Do the project funds financed by the World Bank have a specified destination? Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. Answer: This is an introductory meeting. However I can tell you that our expert is already performing field surveys of the roads in order to determine the actual necessities of the roads from the maintenance point of view. This study is ongoing and everything it will be set down on paper. We will have further contacts with the representatives of the Local Authorities and the Public. Representative of the Environmental ARency Ouestion: What kind of pollution are you thinking about? Would the project foresee something regarding the vegetation of the roads embankments? Answer: The project includes only the maintenance of the roads. The main aim is to privatize the entire road maintenance system and to implement a new strategy. Chief of the County Council The project strategies are not in accordance with the decentralization strategies. On one hand we plan to increase capabilities of the road enterprises and on the other hand the project aims to privatize the sector. We will go on with both strategies or will be changed the decentralization's strategy and to be in accordance with that of the project? Answer: The strategy will be in accordance with that of project. Ouestion: Are there any elements of the project that destroy the environment? Answer: No. CONCLUSIONS The participants of the meeting offered their assistance any time it will be necessary. As for the social - environmental impact, the participants did not have any remarks but in addition they considered the project as a positive one for their Prefecture. LIST OF PARTICIPANTS Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. Pandush Sterdanaj Prefecture Aristokli Ropi Prefecture Albert Jole Municipality of Korca Nuni Tanso County Council Thanas Toma County Council, Korca Maksim Jacelli Road Engineer Koco Josifi KRM "Perla", Korce Isuf Cinga Spokesman Kor,a Prefecture Bardhyl Panelli Envoirnmental Association "Morava" Koco Angeli Regional Road Director Valbona Minga Prefecture, Kor,e Alket Lukra Director of the Road Maintenance Department, Devoll Anesti Teneqexhi Director of the Regional Road Directorate, Kor,e Petraq Condili Secretary General Femi Xhema Chairman of the County Council Media Donika Tele TV Kor,e TV Kristal TV Lobi Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. ROAD MAINTENANCE PROJECT MINUTES OF MEETING AT THE PREFECTURE OF KUKES Location: Kukes Day of Meeting: Saturday Date of Meeting: 16.02.2002 Time of Meeting: 09:00 Duration of meeting: 50' Organizing staff of IPOS: Head of the Focus -Group Xhesi Mane Assistant Eliona Halila, Shkelqim Bodlli Secretary Fjorda Dragoti Invited: Razek Dregheim Louis Berger Group Maksim Arapi S.D.C Sh.p.k. Area Description: The Prefecture of Kukes includes also the towns of Has and Krume. The population of this area is 112050 inhabitants consisting on 56194 males and 55856 females. The urban population is 27419 inhabitants and the rural population is 84631 inhabitants. The area surface is 938 km2 and the density is 68,3 - inhab/ km2 Road Network: District Name Length in Km National Road Network Kukes 173 142 The Prefect of Kukes, Mr. Qemal Elezi, opened the meeting by thanking the Consultants working at the preparation of the Road Maintenance Project funded by the World Bank and introduced all the attendess. The Louis Berger Group Representative, Mr. Razek Degheim explained to the participants the Scope of Works related to this Project. The Consultant stated that Routine and Periodic Maintenance Pilot Contracts will be launched all over the country following the World Bank procedure. He presented a type of Tender Documents (Bill of Quantities, Price Description and Technical Specification, etc.), which should be used in the procurement phase of this Project. Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. The Consultant invited participants to ask questions concerning environmental and social impact issues, which could be envisaged during the implementation of the Project. The Mayor of Kukes, Mr. Ylber Zeneli asked the Consultants to introduce in details themself and the institution they represent, their duty and the scope of their mission in Kukes. Mr. Degheim said that is representing Louis Berger Group, Consultants appointed by the government of Albania for the Preparation of Road Maintenance Project funded by the World Bank. Mr. Degheim is leading the consultants' team in Kukes for a preliminary meeting with all the main stakeholders, who will have an important role in the implementation of this Project. The aim of this meeting is to know their opinion on problems and concerns, which are related to the proper implementation of this Project especially concerning associated environmental and social impacts. The Consultants explained in broad terms how they intend to put in place a proper Road Management System for the maintenance sector by involving and building up Albanian contractors and consultants as main stakeholders of this process. The Consultant stressed that will be not any intervention to change the road network concerning to the road extension, but only rehabilitation of drainage structures, repair of potholes with asphalt where is necessary. Mr. Zeneli asked whether urban roads will be included as a part of this Project. The Consultants explained that in this project will include National Roads (primary and secondary roads) under the Ministry of Transport through its Regional Roads Directorates. As well, Rural Roads, under the responsibility of Ministry of Local Government, will be included in this Project. As a principle urban roads will be not included unless for exceptional reasons. SDC's representative, Mr. Maksim Arapi, explained that a good co-ordination and co- operation between local and central state institutions will be necessary for the successful implementation of this Project. In addition a good working relationship between public and private sector will contribute to a fast development of the road industry in Albania. Mr. Arapi explained that with the privatization of the maintenance sector the private enterprises will be responsible for different road segments included in their contracts directly to the relevant State institutions. The working relationship between private contractors and the public owners of the road, MOT or MLG, will be regulated by clear contracts in which the type of intervention, their duration will be clearly stated. If the contractor will not perform these works properly they will be not paid. The Consultant added that the works carried out by local contractors will include routine maintenance (i.e. cleaning and repair of drainage structures, repair of potholes and broken road surfaces, etc.) and also periodic maintenance (i.e. asphalt overlays, retaining wall construction, etc.). The Consultants foresee to prepare routine and periodic maintenance contracts ready to be launched by June 2002. Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. Mr. Elezi asked the Consultants how do they intend to define the criteria for the identification of the priority roads. Only in Kukes region includes 336 km rural roads and 296km national roads. The Consultants explained that the criteria adopted for their identification will take into account not only engineering issues but, especially for rural roads, safety, environmental, social issues. Mr. Elezi said that one of the main criteria to be adopted should be to take into consideration the level poverty associated to the population living in each prefecture. In Kukes district, for example, there are approx. 3,500 families who live under the poverty level, and only 40% of those families are treated with economical aid. The Chief of the Regional Environmental Agency, Mr. Besnik Hallaci, asked whether the Consultants have already identified road sections to be included in this Project. This will help them to focus their attention on the particular environmental impacts related to the works to be undertaken along this road. For sure all the local institutions will have to think about basic and sound environmental management of land when the maintenance works will start. For instance, proper places must be identified where to stock solid wastes. All the relevant authorities committed themselves to try to find a solution to this issue. The Consultants will call further meetings with local stakeholders, especially with Environmental NGOs, in order to go much more in detail on this issue. Only then the Consultants will define priorities. The Chairman of the County, Mr. Ylber Vata, said that Kukes should have more priorities, not only because is a district with high level of poverty, but because it really needs to restore its national and rural road network. The majority of the roads have become a path and social dislocation is becoming a real issue all over in the region. He added that he is ready to co-operate for the implementation of this Project together with other representatives of the Local Govemment because he thinks that this Project will bring work in the region and social benefits to everybody. The Consultants thanked all the participants for attending the meeting. Mr. Vata said that he is ready to meet in his office the consultants and all the concerned parties very soon in order to discuss in more detail issues related to this Project. Conclusions: 1- All participants expressed that they do not envisage any environmental and social negative impact on their region related to the implementation of this Project. Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. 2- The staff of IPOS had a lot of difficulties to organize this meeting because of the clear difficulty to keep sat down at the same table representative of local authorities belonging to the majority and opposition parties. Finally the common interest for supporting a Project which will bring social benefit to Kukes region convinced them to participate and add value to this public consultation meeting. Participants: Qemal Elezi Prefect of Kukes Region Ylber Vata Chairman of County Council of Kukes Bukurosh Jonuzi Chief of the Services Dept. Prefecture of Kukes Nazif Onuzi Representative of Kukes Municipality Lumturi Baja Association "Women in Development" Arben Basha Regional Roads Directorate Bujar Selkosha Regional Road Directorate Besnik Hallaci Regional Environmental Agency Kadri Kataroshi Director of Rural Roads, Tropoj e Fasli Tota Department of Services, Prefecture Kukes Fadil Gjuta Representative of Prefecture Ylber Zeneli Mayor of Kukes Bardhyl Teka Krume Municipality Hajdar Thaci Krume Municipality One TV Channel having local diffusion (KUKES TV) attended to this meeting and reported about it the same day in their daily News. Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. ROAD MAINTENANCE PROJECT MINUTES OF THE MEETING AT THE PREFECTURE OF LEZHA Locality Lezhe Date of Meeting February 15, 2002 Time of Meeting 02.00 pm Duration of Meeting 02.00 pm - 03.10 pm (70 min.) Organizing staff of I.S.O.P. Head of the Focus - Group Stela Tanellari Assistant Albana Bregu Secretary Anxhela Aleksi Invited: Remus Ambrus Louis Berger Group Shpetim Ngje,i Louis Berger Group Nazmi Patozi S D C Sh.p.k. Elda Bajraktari Interpreter / LBG Area Description: The Prefecture of Lezha includes the following districts: Lezhe, Mirdite dhe Kurbin. The population of this area is 159.792 inhabitants consisting on 78.415 males and 81.377 females. The urban population is 49.410 inhabitants and the rural population is 110.382 inhabitants. The area surface is 479 km2 and the density is 142,3 inhab/ km2. Road Network: District Name Length in km Classification of the road network National Touristic Mining Forestry Military Lezhe District 81 56 25 Mirdite District 113 65 48 Kurbin District 37 26 11 Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. Introduction Mr. Armando Pezzoni, representative of the Louis Berger opens the meeting explaining that the World Bank has requested to the Louis Berger Group to implement the road maintenance project. The World Bank has allocated 30 million dollars. The maintenance of the roads is not the only problem of this phase but an important one is also the implementation of a new system on the maintenance of the roads. Chairman of the County Council First of all, he thanks the participants for their presence in the meeting. He continues his speech saying that the offer made by the World Bank is very necessary in this moment. I invite the respective structures to give any necessary data on the conditions of the roads. According to my opinion, 30 million dollars are not enough for all the prefectures. Armando Pezzoni Mr. Pezzoni stresses that this amount of money is not deemed to give solution to all the problems of this sector. We pretend to use this fund for establishment of a new system, which will be inherited by the Albanian Road Authorities. We have to create the same system both for the national roads and rural ones. Immediately after the system is created we think to address it from the public sector to the private one. The idea of the system is that the road authorities contact the private consultants and engineers in order to solve the problems occurring in the due time. The private sector is connected to the consultants and the engineers. A very important issue is the social and environmental aspect. Mayor of Lac Municipality I think that my municipality will not benefit from this project since the central and local authorities belong to the party in power meantime I am coming from opposition party. Armando Pezzoni We are not interested in the political interests. We are interested in finding technical solutions based on engineering practice. Our choices would not be influenced by any political priority. Director of the Rural Road Directorate, Mirdite Considering this as the first phase of the project, what kind of problems do we have to resolve? Answer: Firstly, the contractors to be awarded should meet the criteria of being resident in the area where the road section to be maintained is situated. Secondly, we would appreciate Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. ifyou can provide us a list of the priority of the roads considering you as the people who know better than anyone else your necessities. But on the other hand, this does not mean that the roads you will select will be included in the project. Anyway we have to do an adequate assessment of the road sections conditions. Head of Rubik Municipalitv Question: Does this project include only the maintenance of the roads or does it also include rehabilitation ? Answer: Maybe, we can do a partial rehabilitation of the rural roads. We will analyze this. Now we are still in the studying phase. Prefect He thanks the representatives of Louis Berger on its project and also for their initiative to meet the Local Authorities and to discuss these problems with them. He expresses his appreciation on the World Bank's Projects. The long lasting of these funds is highly appreciated. He stresses that on the road sector Lezhe - Shen Koll is allocated a big fund but within one year this road is damaged again. So, I suggest that a part of the fund to be invested on this road. Enzineer of the Environmental Agency According to my opinion, the interventions and the maintenance works of this project can be considered as the plastic operation that we are doing to the nature. We have not any possibility to make our assessment of the pollution level. The actual techniques used for the road activities are not corresponding to the destination of the roads. I think that the some of the road sections, such as Patoku, etc. that are located in the national parks, protected zones and therefore to be put at the bottom of the list. Armando Pezzoni We must think where we will dump the solid waste, for example: the waste coming from the road and ditches cleaning etc. Chairman of the County Council We promise to support with all our possibilities the implementation of this project. All our potential will be on your disposal. We are interested to know if our district will be or not a part of this project. Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. Answer: The duration of the identification of the roads will be completed by June and until then we will have the possibility to discuss and to ask for your assistance. CONCLUSIONS The Prefecture of Lezha assured its collaboration on this project. The participants agreed that this project is an additional positive factor on the development of this county and they do not consider it as a project that brings any negative social and environmental impacts. LIST OF PARTICIPANTS Agustin Marku Prefect of Lezha County Shpresa Gjonpali Lezha County Madi Gazi Head of Urbanity Sector of the County Pashk Biba Head of the Regional Services, Lezha County Gjok Jaku Mayor of Lezha Municipality Pjeter Doda Mayor of Rreshen Municipality Preng Nikolli Director of the Rural Roads, Mirdite Kujtim Lleshi Director of the Construction of the Rural Roads, Lezha Arben Dobrozi Director of the Roads Maintenance Directorate Fushe - Kruje Gjovalin Prenga Mayor of Rubik Municipality Jak Gjini Head of the Regional Environment Agency, Lezhe Bardh Rica Mayor of Lac Municipality Sherif Isufi Chairman of Lezha District Media Jak Rrozhani "Shekulli" Newspaper Engjell Gjolaj TV "Rozafa" Arban Kucaj TV "Lezha" Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. ROAD MAINTENANCE PROJECT MINUTES OF THE MEETING AT THE PREFECTURE OF SHKODRA Locality Shkodra Date of Meeting February 14, 2002 Time of Meeting 12.00 am Duration of Meeting 12.00 am - 13.00 pm (60min.) Oreanizine staff of I.S.O.P. Head of the Focus - Group Artan Xhaxhiu Assistant Aida Buba Takes Notes: Alketa Tabaku Invited: Razek Degheim Louis Berger Group Sokol Xhixho S D C Sh.p.k. Area Description: According to the demographical data of Shkodra Prefecture, the number of the unemployed people results to be 19360; 316 unemployed people profit assistance. Shkodra Prefecture registers 23973 families. The fund of the economical assistance on the families in need is 537481 Lek. Regarding to the road network, Shkodra Prefecture includes a road of 279 km, from which 142 km are National Roads and 102 km are Tourist ones. Description of the Meeting: The meeting is held in the office of Shkodra Prefecture. Head of the organizing staff, Mr. Artan Xhaxhiu, presented the participants present in the meeting and made a description of the aim of the project. Mr. Degheim made a general and brief description of the project. He stressed that the project is financed by the World Bank and includes the maintenance of the roads in a period of 3 years. The project will be concentrated on the National and Rural Roads. He Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. explained that the maintenance of the roads consists on the routine and periodical maintenance and some partly rehabilitations of the roads. The World Bank is interested to know your opinion regarding the social and environmental problems we can face during the implementation of the project. Mr. Gergii Ligejza. Prefect of Shkodra. was interested to know in which phase is this project and about the criteria on determining the funds and the kinds of maintaining works of the project. Mr. Degheim explained that this was the preliminary phase of the project. This phase includes some meetings with Local Authorities. Later on, we will have further meetings to discuss on the implementation of the project. The first funds of this project will be opened in June. One of the main aims of this project is to avoid as much as it is possible the social and environmental impacts. This is the aim of this preliminary meeting with you. A specialist will determine the priorities of your district. Mr. Ali Zjarri, Director of the Regional Directory of Shkodra, stressed that he totally support the project and do not consider it as a factor which will cause social or environmental problems. The only think I am interested on is how much priority will have Shkodra in this project. Mr. Degheim explained that this is only a preliminary meeting and further on we will have the possibility to organize other meetings with the specialists determining the priorities of your district. Mr. Zef Fistani, Chief of the Public Affairs was optimistic on the implementation of the project. On the other hand he suggested including in this project also some other road maintenance works such as: lighting of the roads, rehabilitation of the kerbs, etc. Mr. Degheim explained that the above - mentioned works are part of the maintenance of the urban Roads, which are not part of this project. Mr. Gege Nika, Director of the Rural Roads, stressed that he knew the project. Considering the very bad actual conditions of the roads, Mr. Nika valued the project as a very important one. Regarding to his opinion, this project will not cause any social or environmental impact. Mr. Agron Hakaj, Construction Expert, supported this project and asked if the Road Maintenance Sector will benefit with new machineries that actually are missing. Mr. Degheim explained that the World Bank in collaboration with Albanian Government aim the conversion of the public maintenance sector into the private one. Finally, the Prefect of Shkodra stressed that this project is very important and during the implementation of it, will not be any negative impacts on the social and environmental issues. Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. CONCLUSIONS: The meeting resulted to be successful. The local authorities gave their opinions and suggestions on the social and environmental influences of the project. They completely supported the project financed by the World Bank. The priorities of Shkodra District became more evident during this meeting. List of Participants: Gjergji Liqejza Perfect of Shkodra Ali Zjarri Director of the Regional Directory, Shkodra Gjergj Ndoka Engineer, Koplik Municipality Zef Fistani Chief of Public Affairs, Shkodra Prefecture Fendi Sterkaj Head of the District Council Gege Nika Director of the Rural Roads, Shkodra Agron Akaj Specialist Franc Hila Section of the District Service Local Media TV Rozafa TV1 Antena Nord Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. ROAD MAINTENANCE PROJECT MINUTES OF THE MEETING AT THE PREFECTURE OF TIRANA Locality Tirana Date of the Meeting February 15, 2002 Time of the Meeting 09.35 am Duration of the Meeting 09.35 am - 10.30 am (55 min.) Oreanizine staff of I.S.O.P. Head of the Focus - Group Stela Tanellari Assistant Albana Bregu Secretary Anxhela Aleksi Invited: Armando Pezzoni Louis Berger Group Robert Butler Louis Berger Group Shpetim Ngjeci Louis Berger Group Nazmi Patozi S D C Sh.p.k. Elda Bajraktari Interpreter / LBG Area Description: The population of Tirana District is 601.565 inhabitants consisting on 298.273 males and 303.292 females. The urban population is 382.573 inhabitants and the rural population is 218.992 inhabitants. The area surface is 1238 km2 and the density is 422,4-inhab/km2. Road Network: District Name Length in km Classification of the road network National Touristic Mining Forestry Military Tirana District 210 91 26 11 59 23 Kavaje - Peqin District 54 54 Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. Introduction Miss Stela Tanellari, representative of IS. O.P opens the meeting with a general and brief presentation of the Project on the Road Maintenance and a presentation of the participants in the meeting. Representative of Louis Berger Mr. Butler goes on the meeting explaining that in 1999 the Albanian Government has contacted the World Bank and has requested its collaboration in realizing a project on the road maintenance. The project will cover all 12 Prefectures of Albania. This is not a simply engineering project. Chairwoman of the County Council She thanks the participants for their presence in the meeting and invites them to discuss and give their opinion on this project. Prefect I do not see any reasons to discuss on the negative environmental impacts but in contrary we have to discuss on the positive effects of the project. The intervention of the World Bank will change significantly the social - economical aspect. The representatives of the Local Authorities should be the ones who will select the more emergent roads. Tirana District represents nearly 1/3 of the Albania, so I think that the most part of the funds should be financed in this District. Representative of Louis Berger There is not a problem only the amount of funds. In spite of the population, the necessities are the same for all the cities. Chairwoman of the County Council It is necessary to discuss this case also in relation with our other projects. Therefore, she invited the participants to introduce to the participants the status of the road network and projects already compiled or under implementation. Mayor of the Rro2ozhina Municivality Question: Is the project supposed to be implemented in relation with the other projects? Answer: Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. The selection of the national road sections will be based on engineering criteria, meanwhile the rural road sections would be chosen based on social criteria. Mayor of the Lekai Commune Ouestion: The project is concentrated on the new pavements of the roads or only on the maintenance of them? Answer: This is a problem often faced in this case. Often the trend for development of the roads is not seen in the same level with the maintenance of them. The assessment of the maintenance necessities is a part of our project. Ouestion: What is the prediction of the projects regarding the role of the existing enterprises? What does the project foresee for the safety of the roads in the future? Answer: Regarding the road safety, we will identify the black spots. - Awareness campaign - Nowhere in the world have the public sector enterprises expanded. After some years the public departments will decrease and the private sectors will fulfill some of these positions. Armando Pezzoni The private sector will demand people who have experiences in the public sectors. If everything passes into the private sector, the public sector will continue to plan. The Local Government authority will still be valid. Representative of Louis Berger In some countries of the world the privatization step is done phase by phase. In many cases the people who have w'orked in the public sector have managed to be the best in the private sector. The chief engineer of the rural roads We are the only sector, which are responsible on the maintenance of the roads. There are 380 km regional roads without mentioning here the rural ones. We are under the Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. administration of the County Council. But we do not manage to cover the maintenance of the roads with the fund allocate by the County. Working with the thirds, 40 % of the fund is for them, so the funds are not sufficient. Prefect Tirana will work to have these investments on the beneficiary for all. Chairwoman of the County Council We are conscious for the actual necessities of the roads and we offer our collaboration to the project. We are ready to accept this project regardless the amount of money allocated for our County. Armando Pezzoni Mr. Pezzoni thanks again the participants for their presence in the meeting and promises to go in all regions identifying the roads that this project will include. CONCLUSIONS The Prefecture of Tirana welcomed the presentation of the project financed by the World Bank and assured its collaboration in supporting this project. The Prefecture of Tirana also accepts that the implementation of this project will not bring any negative environmental and social impacts. LIST OF PARTICIPANTS Lili Nushi Prefect Elidiana Canaj Chairwoman of the County Council Nezir Ramazani Chairman of Peza Commune Fatine Goga Chairman of Ndroq Commune Jaho Rama Chairman of Commune Ilir Balla Chairman of the Construction Department of the Rural Roads, Tirana District Ollga Naumi Chairwoman of the Regional Services Department of Tirana District Anila Harxhi Head of the Development Program Sector, Tirana District Ferdinand Mimo Urbanity Department, District Council Artan Topjana Section of the Regional Services, District Council Perparim Basha Section of the Regional Services, District Council Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. Mihail Cico Head of the Roads Sector, Municipality of Tirana Eva Qali Public Affairs, Municipality of Tirana Muhamet Jaho Head of the Juridical Sector, Tirana District Buiham Ca,a Head of Synej Commune, Kavaja Lulj eta Derj aj Head of the District Office, Kavaje Mexhit Saliu Sinaballaj Commune, Kavaja Rustem Thartori Sinaballaj Commune, Kavaja Gjin Uka Municipality of Kamza Zija Mema Lekaj Cummune, Kavaja Pellumb Lezha Bexhet Pjeri Riza Saraci Gose Commune, Kavaja Xhavit Halili Rrogozhina Commune Hikmet Guzi Pergjegjes of the Financial Section Media TVSH Arjana Qatipi TVA TV Egnatia Vizion Plus Top Chanel Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. ROAD MAINTENANCE PROJECT MINUTES OF THE MEETING AT THE PREFECTURE OF VLORA Locality Vlore Date of Meeting February 12, 2002 Time of Meeting 10.30 am Duration of Meeting 10.30 am - 11.30 am (60min.) Oreanizin2 staff of I.S.O.P. Head of the Focus - Group Artan Xhaxhiu Assistant Aida Buba Secretary: Alketa Tabaku Invited: Armando Pezzoni Louis Berger Group Sokol Xhixho S D C Sh.p.k. Area Description: According to the demographical data of Vlora Prefecture, the number of the unemployed people results to be 8763; 665 unemployed people profit governmental social welfare. Vlora Prefecture registers 3576 families. The fund of the economical assistance on the families in need is 886.798 Lek. Regarding to the road network, Vlora Prefecture includes 379 km of roads, from which 223 km are National Roads and 153 km are Tourist ones. Description of the Meetin2: Head of the organizing staff, Mr. Artan Xhahiu, presented the participant present in the meeting and made a description of the aim of the meeting. Mr. Pezzoni made a general and brief description of the project. He stressed that the project is financed by the World Bank and is mentioned to use a fund of 30 million dollars in a period of 3 years. The main aim of this project is to consider with a high priority the maintenance of 1200 km of National Roads and 1500 km of Rural Roads. The project will be concentrated on the National and Rural Roads. This project will include all the prefectures of Albania and will be implemented in different phases. This is the Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. preliminary phase and the World Bank is interested to know your opinion regarding the social and environmental problems we can face during the implementation of the project. Mr. Fatos Hamiti, Head of Vlora Prefecture, asked if the Urban Roads would be included in this project. Mr. Pezzoni stressed that the Urban Roads are not mentioned to be included in this project, except of some bypass roads that are in very bad conditions and consequently the interventions on them are inevitable. Mr. Hamiti is interested to know that what kinds of works are included in this Maintenance Project. Mr. Pezzoni explained that both the routine and periodical maintenances are included in this project. He stressed that the final aim of this project is the privatization of the Roads' Maintenance Sector, but on the other hand, Mr. Pezzoni explained that the public offices of this Sector would exist regardless of this intervention. Mr. Gentian Sherifi, Regional Director of the Roads, explained that his department includes the roads of Fier, Vlore, Lushnje and Skrapar Districts. He stressed that the project was not unknown for him. Taking into consideration the very bad actual conditions of the roads, Mr. Sherifi considered the project as a very important one. Regarding to his opinion, this project will not cause any social or environmental impacts. Mr. Fatos Hamiti, Head of Vlora Prefecture, was interested to know who will be responsible for the administration of the World Bank funds. Mr. Pezzoni explained that these funds would be managed by an administrative office in Tirana, which would be responsible on the tenders and then will deliver them to the local private companies who will directly be responsible on the maintenance works. Mr. Spiro Gjidede, Chief of the Development Coordination, asked if it is included in the funds of this project purchasing of new machineries for the Road Authorities. Mr. Pezzoni stressed that purchasing the new machineries is not included in this fund. These are considered as technical problems and the Private Contractors awarded after the tender will be responsible for resolving these problems. Mrs. Luiza Zanaj, representative of the Regional Agency of the Environment, stressed that the Company which will win the tender has to prepare a report directed to the Regional Environment Agency to see if there will be any impact on the environment. Some of the problems she mentioned in her discussion were: the pollution of the environment during the reconstruction of the roads, the solid waste stocking, etc. Anyway she expressed herself optimistic on this project and furthermore the project would include the road maintenance, not the reconstruction of them. Mr. Resmi Cenaj, Director of Communal, expressed his opinion saying that the implementation of this project will not have any negative social and environmental impacts. He agreed to begin the project as soon as possible and assured the representatives of the Louis Berger for their full support in the implementation of the project. Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. Mr. Petrit Dervishi, Director of the Environmental Project financed by UNDP, said that the project would not have any environmental impact. Regarding to his opinion the project would have social impact as a result of the privatization of the public maintenance sector. Mr. Dule Harrizaj, Mayor of Vlora Municipality, objected this opinion explaining that the privatization of the public maintenance sector would not have any social impact because the privatization of this sector and the improvement of the technology will influence into the improvement of the roads conditions which means a growth of the social welfare. The representative of Saranda Municipality fully supported the project. He stressed that the implementation of the project will not cause any negative impacts on the social and environmental factor. Finally, the Prefect of Vlora stressed that this project is very important and during the implementation of it, it will not cause any negative influence on the social and environmental impacts. He suggested to the representatives of the Louis Berger to give priority to Vlora District explaining that the roads of this District are in very bad conditions. At the end, Mr. Xhaxhiu thanked the participants for their opinions and their presence in the meeting. CONCLUSION: The meeting resulted to be successful. The local authorities gave their opinions and suggestions on the social and environmental impacts of the project. They fully supported the project financed by the World Bank. The priorities of Vlora District became more evident during this meeting. Another problem considered, as an important one was also the effective managing of the funds of the project. List of Participants: Fatos Hamiti Prefect of Vlora District Dule Harrizaj Vice Mayor of Vlora Municipality Ibrahim Porazi Director of the Rural Roads Spiro Gjidede Chief of Development Coordination Luiza Zanaj Regional Agency of the Environment Vladimir Haxhiu Chief of Services of Vlora District Petrit Dervishi Director of the UNDP Environmental Project Sabaudin Abazi Chief of Services of Vlora Municipality Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002 Louis Berger Group, Inc. Gentian Sherifi Regional Director of the Roads Resmi Canaj Director of regional Public Works Local Media TV Amantia TV 6+1 Albania - Emergency Road Repair Project. Preparation of Road Maintenance Project Environmental Management Plan February 2002