The objective of the proposed project is to reduce congestion and improve mobility and connectivity by addressing the cross-river bottleneck between Mymensingh and Shambhugonj on the Dhaka-Mymensingh-India corridor.
The project seeks to ease traffic congestion in the Mymensingh City by diverting traffic away from the city’s central area via the construction of the Kewatkhali Bridge over the Brahmaputra River at Mymensingh with the overpasses and approach road. The proposed project consists of three components as described below.
Component 1. Bridge and Approach Roads with road and rail overpasses construction works. The project will support the construction of the Kewatkhali Bridge, about 1100 meters in length and an approach road of about six kilometers in length. Other ancillary works to make the project bridge fully functional will include the installation of traffic management equipment and traffic surveillance, installation of state-of-the-art Bridge Health Monitoring System (BHMS) over the main bridge, street lighting and landscaping, construction of Operation and Maintenance (O&M) facilities, and communication systems.
Component 2. Consulting services. This component will comprise the financing of bridge and approach roads construction supervision.
Component 3: Project management support and capacity building. This component is comprised of project management costs of the project implementation unit. The project will also support the training, capacity building and institutional development of RHD for operating, managing and maintaining the RHD roads and bridges of the project division areas. This is of particular importance given this will be the first arch steel bridge in the country and the RHD has no previous experience on the O&M of this type of bridge.
For more information about project financing, please review the project summary.
Applicable Policy and Categorization. The Bank’s Environmental and Social Policy (ESP), including the Environment and Social Standards (ESSs) and the Environmental and Social Exclusion List, applies to this Project. ESS 1 (Environmental and Social Assessment and Management) and ESS 2 (Involuntary Resettlement) are applicable for this Project. The Project has been classified as Category A given that the alignment of the road passes through built-up areas in the city at the southwest side of the Brahmaputra River, which will require a considerable amount of resettlement and relocation of residential and business entities.
Environmental and Social Instruments. RHD has prepared an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for clearance by the Government. The EIA has been updated to meet the requirements of AIIB’s ESP, including an Environmental Management Plan (EMP). A Social Impact Assessment (SIA) was also conducted and resulted in the preparation of a Resettlement Framework (RF) and a Resettlement Plan (SIA/RP). The RP is continuously being validated and reviewed and cleared by the Bank during Project implementation.
Environmental Aspects. The proposed bridge will be built over the Brahmaputra River with approach roads across urban and rural areas. Construction related environmental impacts are the key environmental risks that are being addressed through appropriate mitigation measures enumerated in the EMP. There are also anticipated impacts on wetland and aquatic life along the road alignment. Biodiversity Management Plan and Noise Assessment Report have been prepared to mitigate the impacts in accordance with the EIA. Construction of the bridge is scheduled during the dry months, hence minimizing significant impact on the river or on the aquatic life in the river. The management, mitigation, and monitoring measures to address environmental risks and impacts of the bridge and its approach roads have been included in the EMP. The EMP also includes provisions related to occupational health and safety, air and water pollution control, noise control, protection of flora and fauna, the management of construction camps and construction sites, and traffic management.
Social and Gender Aspects. A total of 81.59 acres of land will be acquired to carry out project activities. The SIA survey has determined that about 650 households (HH) located in the project area have structures within the Right of Way of the alignment. Therefore, loss of income from business earnings and rented structures among title and non-titleholders is likely to occur because of the interventions. Employees working in potentially displaced businesses, daily laborers, farmers, and service holders are also expected to suffer from short- and long-term loss of livelihoods. The negative impacts will be mitigated in line with the provisions of the entitlement matrix, which has been developed in accordance with GoB regulations and ESS2. In addition, the Project has prepared a Gender Action Plan (GAP) to ensure that women are informed and provide feedback in selection, design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation of the subproject activities including land acquisition and resettlement.
Occupational Health and Safety (OHS), Labor and Working Conditions (LWC). The EMP contains provisions related to OHS and guidance to address Gender Based Violence (GBV). There are some migrant labor influx for bridge construction, therefore, the contractors’ EMPs include Construction Camp Management Plans to address the potential impacts of labor influx. Continuous monitoring on this issue has been conducted during construction. In addition, a Code of Conduct for workers has been incorporated into the bidding documents and the contracts with the contractors. Appropriate measures to mitigate the potential risk of GBV and sexual exploitation were prepared and incorporated in the contracts.
Stakeholder Engagement, Consultation and Information Disclosure. Stakeholder consultations, including consultations with Project-Affected People (PAPs), were undertaken in the project area during the preparation of the EIA, RP and SIA through focus group discussions and interviews, and are documented in the Environmental and Social (ES) instruments. Stakeholder engagement continues throughout project implementation which involves information disclosure, consultation and addressing issues raised by affected people and other stakeholders. The SIA and EIA in English have been disclosed in 2020 on the websites of MoRTB and AIIB. The RHD disclosed the updated RP in November 2023.The Executive Summaries of the EIA and SIA in Bengali have also been disclosed on the same websites and made available in hard copy in the Project area.
Project Grievance Redress Mechanism (GRM). The project-level GRM has been established and is operational. Grievance redress committees are in place at the PIU, contractor, INGO, and local RHD levels, receiving and addressing grievances raised by PAPs and other stakeholders. To strengthen accessibility and grievance tracking, a mobile application has been developed, and stakeholder workshops have been conducted on its use. A separate GRM for project workers has also been established to address labor and workplace-related grievances according to CESMP and EIA. The public consultation and disclosure process has been used to disseminate information about the GRM for PAPs.
Monitoring and Supervision Arrangements. ES monitoring is being carried out by the Supervision Consultant and the PIU, who are in charge to prepare semi-annual ES Monitoring Reports based on agreed format. AIIB ES staff, with assistance from local consultants, conduct periodic field supervision missions at least twice a year to assess the Project's ES implementation performance.
People’s Republic of Bangladesh
Md. Shahriar Kader Siddiky
Secretary, Economic Relations Division, Ministry of Finance
