DESCRIPTION
The Project, jointly financed by the World Bank's International Development Association, aims to address critical accessibility challenges caused by rapid population growth and economic dynamism in the Grand Nokoué region, the main urban area of Benin. The Project will provide climate-resilient, safe, reliable and less-polluting transport infrastructure and services. The Project will also support the development of the e-mobility sector. Finally, it will build institutional capacity to foster the sustainability of the transport sector in Grand Nokoué, in areas such as governance, planning, financing and safety.
The Project comprises five components:
1) Improvement of the transport sector governance in Grand Nokoué,
2) Professionalization of paratransit operators and strengthening of road and waterway safety oversight and management,
3) Improvement of transport conditions in Grand Nokoué, including a) Operationalization of multimodal public transport services, b) Provision of infrastructure supporting sustainable, multimodal transport.
4) Electrification of motorcycle taxi, including a) Supporting a pilot program, b) Deploying a large-scale fleet renewal program, and c) Developing a local e-mobility industry on electric motorcycles
5) Capacity building and project management
ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL INFORMATION
Applicable Policy and Categorization: The Project is co-financed with the World Bank (WB) as a lead co-financier and the environmental and social (E&S) risks and impacts of the Project are assessed in accordance with the WB’s Environment and Social Framework (ESF). To ensure a harmonized approach to addressing the E&S risks and impacts of the Project, and as permitted under AIIB’s ESF, AIIB agrees that the WB ESF will be applicable to the Project in lieu of AIIB’s ESF. AIIB has reviewed the WB ESF and is satisfied that: (a) it is consistent with AIIB’s Articles of Agreement and materially consistent with the provisions of AIIB’s ESF and the relevant E&S Standards; and (b) the monitoring procedures that are in place are appropriate for the Project. The WB has categorized both environmental and social (E&S) risks of the Project as “High” and is rated as Category A per AIIB’s Environment and Social Policy (ESP). This categorization was due to the high E&S risks attendant to infrastructure investments and operations of activities within a sensitive coastal lagoon ecosystem, which includes several protected areas, notably the 652,760-hectare declared Ramsar site 1018 (which encompasses Lower Valley of the Ouémé, Porto-Novo Lagoon, and Lake Nokoué), as well as other transport investments that cause some resettlement impacts in urban areas.
Environmental and Social Instruments: To manage E&S risks and impacts, the following instruments have been prepared: (1) an Environmental and Social Commitment Plan (ESCP); (2) a Stakeholder Engagement Plan (SEP); (3) an Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF); (4) a Resettlement Policy Framework (RPF); (5) Labor Management Procedures (LMP); (6) a Strategic Environmental and Social Assessment (SESA), covering proposed activities related to lake transport infrastructure in and around Lake Nokoué and Porto-Novo Lagoon; (7) a preliminary site-specific Environmental and Social Assessment (ESA) for lake transport; (8) a site-specific Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) for Lot 1; (9) a site-specific Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) for the Development of Access Roads and Crossings for Cotonou (ATC) for Lot 1; and (10) Road Safety Management Plan. The ESMF has provided clear roles, responsibilities, and budget allocations for preparing a second Strategic Environmental and Social Assessment (SESA), site-specific Environmental and Social Impact Assessments (ESIAs) and Environmental and Social Management Plans (ESMPs). Contractors will be required to prepare and implement a Construction-ESMP (C-ESMP), a Dredging Management Plan and an Integrated Waste Management Plan (IWMP) in line with these guidelines. During implementation, additional E&S instruments and site-specific ESIAs and ESMPs will be prepared, implemented, monitored and reported to address the projected risks and impacts.
Environment Aspects: The Project will address the following environmental risk factors in the E&S instruments: i) resource efficiency and pollution prevention and management including raw materials sourcing for civil works such as quarrying, water and energy use, GHG emissions, dust, noise, potential contamination of water sources from spills and run-off of petroleum products, infiltration into storage areas and improper disposal of fuels; (ii) land degradation, loss of vegetation, poor soil conditions, unstable slopes, soil erosion during land clearing, civil works and quarrying; (iii) potential impact on cultural heritage from civil works and excavations; (iv) the introduction of electric 2-wheeler (e2w) mototaxis equipped with batteries presents risks associated with battery storage, recycling and disposal; (v) during boat operation: oil spills, hazardous and non-hazardous wastes, as well as boats capsizing and sinking; (vi) threats to biodiversity due to habitat destruction, dredging, land reclamation, disturbance of sensitive ecosystems, erosion, sedimentation, alteration of water flow, mortality of aquatic species, including removal of wetlands around Lake Nokoué, (vii) road safety and traffic management to address road congestion, road mishaps, and involving vehicle drivers, passengers, pedestrians, roadside users, and local communities. Lake Nokoué, a nationally legislated protected wetland under the RAMSAR Convention, has been selected as the most suitable body of water for lake transport. The RAMSAR Convention (through the ABE- Agence Béninoise pour l’Environnement / Beninese Agency for the Environment, being the administrative authority for the RAMSAR Convention in Benin) has approved the Project, confirming ABE, as mandated by law, to be responsible for managing the RAMSAR sites in Benin (including Lake Nokoué). In compliance with the requirements of the RAMSAR Convention, ABE has reviewed and agreed on the ESMF, as well as reviewed, approved and published in their website the lake transport SESA and the preliminary site-specific ESA to ensure the conservation and sustainable use of Lake Nokoué. As prescribed in the ESCP, the Project will sign an agreement with the ABE to support the management of the E&S risks and impacts of the Project on the Ramsar 1018 site, in accordance with the WB ESS6 policy for the preservation of biodiversity. The ESMF details the roles and responsibilities of ABE, in collaboration with concerned agencies and stakeholders, to review, validate and approve all ESIAs, E&S instruments, E&S monitoring, audit, quarterly and annual progress reports.
Social Aspects: The Project will provide positive impacts to local communities through enhanced access to the mobility sector. Social risks and impacts related to the Project include potential land acquisition and economic displacement of residents/street vendors living along roads, due to its activities related to construction/rehabilitation of roads located in densely populated urban areas. A Resettlement Policy Framework (RPF) alongside a site-specific RAP has been prepared to address the resettlement related impacts, and a Livelihood Restoration Plan (LRP) will be prepared to restore livelihood of the affected motor taxi drivers. The RAP, for the ATC road sections, identifies 746 project-affected persons (PAPs) and 1,918 dependents. Among the affected individuals, 271 are property owners, 312 are tenants. In line with the WB’s ESF, the RAP includes measures to avoid, minimize resettlement in a manner that is technically and financially feasible in close consultation with affected people and relevant stakeholders. Where resettlement cannot be avoided or minimized, compensation measures at full replacement. In addition, there are potential livelihood impacts on informal/formal motor taxi drivers/transport operators, as the Project seeks replace petrol-powered "Zémidjan" motorcycle taxis with electric motorcycles. To mitigate this risk, the Project design includes a program to provide transition support to affected motor taxi drivers/operators to access electric motorcycles, and to support their capacity for alternative livelihoods.
Gender Aspects. Gender has been integrated into the Project design through key interventions and various Project components, providing direct benefit for women in their access to socio-economic activities, and elevating women’s safety. Specific engineering designs of roads will consider gender aspects (i.e. separate secure place for women at public transport stations, more lighting and awareness raising about SEA/SH), which will contribute to increasing equitable mobility for female pedestrians. In addition, addressing gender equality issues will be mainstreamed to E&S risk management at site-specific level, through the requirements for contractors to take action to address SEA/SH. In particular, the WB assessed SEA/SH risks as low taking into consideration the existing legislation, national action plan to address gender-based violence, national referral system for GBV service provision, and the Project contexts where construction takes place in urban areas, not in a conflict zone.
Occupational Health and Safety (OHS), Labor and Employment Conditions: The construction and rehabilitation activities will pose risks and impacts associated with labor and working conditions and OHS for direct, contracted workers and in the supply chains during both construction and operations and maintenance phases. LMPs have been prepared to manage these risks. Aspects of LMPs alongside mitigation measures have been included in the ESIAs and ESMPs. Project Management Office (PMO) and/or Project Implementation Unit (PIU) will ensure that these measures are specified in tender documents for civil work contracts. The contractors as part of C-ESMP will prepare traffic management plans, community health and safety measures and emergency response preparedness plan to mitigate all the health and safety risks during construction of the Project.
Stakeholder Engagement, Consultation and Information Disclosure: A SEP has been prepared to create a system for effective and inclusive engagement with defined stakeholders including vulnerable groups and the Project-affected people (PAPs). Furthermore, all E&S instruments were disclosed by the PIU and WB on their websites. The same documents were disclosed on AIIB website.
Project Grievance Redress Mechanism (GRM): Built on the existing system and as the Project GRM, a GRM includes a four-tier mechanism, at the neighborhood, district, municipal, and national levels. This aims to ensure that GRM will be functional and address, in a timely manner, concerns related to E&S risk and impact management of the project, such as issues related land acquisition and resettlement, community health and safety. Complaints related to SEA/SH and other sensitive issues will be handled at the national level through specialized national systems, which were assessed as appropriate, given the level of SEA/SH risks at Project level. The information of Project GRM and WB’s independent accountability mechanism (IAM) will be timely disclosed in an appropriate manner.
Monitoring and Reporting Arrangements: The PIU will be responsible for the monitoring and reporting during Project implementation. This will include collecting and maintaining data, managing the flow of information between government actors and the Banks, and producing periodic reports based on agreed format. While the WB, as the lead co-financier, will take the lead in monitoring and supervising the Project in accordance with WB’s applicable policies and procedures, and regular field visits will be jointly conducted by WB and AIIB at least twice a year to monitor progress, with additional field visits as and when required. To complement SIRAT’s monitoring and reporting of the project’s E&S performance, a third-party monitoring group composed of the responsible agencies, local government and Civil Society Organization (CSO) representatives will be organized during project implementation, guided by the ESMF, the respective ESIAs and ESMPs for the various components. All aspects related to the RAMSAR site will be reviewed, approved and even monitored by the RAMSAR authority itself, as detailed in the existing ES safeguards documents (SESA, ESCP, ESMF), as negotiated and agreed by the WB and AIIB with the Government of Benin.
