DE LA LÓGICA VERTICAL DE LA MATRIZ DE INDICADORES PARA RESULTADOS

200. The formulation and analysis of engineering alternatives have been undertaken in terms of alternative cross-sections of road, highway-design principles (such as embankments for soil erosion and slope protections, hill cuttings, minimum width of road ride drainage, adequacy of roadway width at cross drainage structures, minimum gradient, etc.), comparison between flexible and rigid pavements (cement-concrete built rigid pavement as being environmentally superior then traditional flexible pavement), and selection of environmental friendly road construction methods.

VI. ANTICIPATED ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS AND MITIGATION MEASURES

A. Introduction

201. This chapter presents key environmental issues associated with various aspects of the proposed project. The environmental impacts caused due to the development of the project road section were assessed on the basis of nature, extent and magnitude of likely changes due to project activities during all stages of the project cycle, i.e. preconstruction, construction and operation. Potential cumulative and induced impacts were also considered. Beneficial impacts are mostly long-term and permanent whereas adverse impacts are localized and temporary in nature and are likely to occur mostly during construction stage.

202. The methodology of assessing environmental impacts from the project entailed clearly identifying the environmental components that will impacted, type of impacts, assessment area where the impacts will be felt and defining the criteria for assessing the significance of each type of impact. After defining these aspects, a screening of project impacts during design and preconstruction, construction and operation stages of the project was carried out to identify the minor, moderate and major impacts to guide development of mitigation measures and ensure that there are no or minimal residual impacts.

203. Identification of Impacts: This includes identifying the valued environmental components (VEC) of the physical, biological, and human environments that are at risk of being impacted by the project. The VECs for this project which are based on the environmental baseline are:

a. Physical environment: air quality and greenhouse gas emissions, land and soil, and groundwater quality and quantity.

b. Biological environment: terrestrial and aquatic vegetation, mammals, avifauna, and ecologically important areas.

c. Human environment: private land and buildings, public infrastructure including utility structures, noise and vibration levels, cultural/heritage buildings, and occupational health and safety for the construction workers and local community living within the vicinity of the project area.

204. Type of impact on the VECs: The type of impact can be described as:

a. Positive: Improvement in the quality of the VECs because of the project.

b. Negative: Degradation or reduction in the quality of the VECs because of the project.

c. Neutral: No noticeable change in VECs.

205. Area of impact assessment: The area covered for assessing direct impacts include:

a. The right of way of project road section is taken as 16m for urban areas, 23m for rural areas, and 30m for bypass stretches. This includes 10m on either side studied for direct impacts (corridor of impact).

b. Project area of influence is defined as ROW plus 500m on either side.

c. In addition, a 10 km buffer was studied for indirect impacts. Other indirect impact area covers location of quarries; borrow areas, storage area of construction material etc.

206. Significance of impacts: The assessment of the significance of the impacts on the VECs requires understanding the duration of impact, area of impact and severity of impact as follow

(i) Duration of the impact: Duration means the time dimension of the impact on the VECs. The terms permanent, temporary and short-loved are used to describe the duration of impact:

a. Short-lived: The impact is limited to particular activity/ies or phase/s of the project lifecycle.

b. Temporary: The impact is felt during one project activity or, at most, during the construction period of the project.

c. Permanent: The impacts are felt throughout the life of the infrastructure.

207. Area of impact: The area of impact entails the spatial scale of impact on one or more of the VECs. The terms regional, local and limited are used to describe the area of impact:

a. Limited: The impact is felt within the corridor of impact b. Local: The impact is felt within the project area of influence

c. Regional: The impact is felt beyond the project area of influence but within the 10km buffer

(ii) Sensitivity of VEC: The sensitivity of a VEC can be determined by the existing conditions of the VEC within the project area and existence of important VECs within the project areas. Sensitivity of each VEC is described as high, medium or low as described below.

a. Low: No environmentally important areas (such as protected areas, natural or critical habitat areas, heritage sites, places of worship etc.) are located within the direct and indirect impact zone. The quality of existing conditions of VECs is good or fair;

b. Medium: There are one or more environmentally important areas within the indirect impact zone of the project area. The quality of existing conditions of VECs is good or fair;

c. High: There are one or more environmentally important areas within the direct impact zone of the project area. The quality of existing conditions of the VECs is poor or degraded (such as poor air quality, high noise levels, poor water quality) which makes the VEC highly susceptible to further deterioration..

208. Based on baseline conditions in the project area and sensitivity criteria, the level of sensitivity of each VEC is provided in Table 33.

Table 33: Sensitivity of VECs in the Project Area

VEC Sensitivity

Level Remarks

Physical environment

Air quality Medium The overall the air quality in the project area is average and within national permissible levels for the monitored parameters. However, the monitored values exceeds the World Bank group standards for ambient air quality.

GHG emissions Medium Firewood burning is the major contributor in the ambient pollution load. Vehicular pollution is a secondary source of pollution in the state as the traffic density is average.

Surface water quality Medium Overall, the surface water quality in the project area is good, permissible levels are not exceeded for the monitored parameters. Natural river streams, many village ponds and lake, Irrigation Canal are main water bodies in CoI of the project.

Surface water quantity

Low The state has good water resources in the form of lakes, ponds, rivers and streams. The project area has sources of water potential both ground as well as surface water.

Ground water quality Low Overall, the ground water quality in the project area is good, permissible levels are not exceeded for the monitored parameters.

Ground water quantity

Low Since the project area has good surface water resources the project will have sufficient sources of water for construction and groundwater abstraction will be negligible if needed at all.

The major ground water resources along the project road are overhead tanks, water tank with tap and ponds. The quality of ground water in project area is within the permissible limits.

Land degradation and pollution

Low There is no forest along the project road section, land use mainly agriculture and built-up. Land degradation and pollution is low.

Biological environment Trees, terrestrial and aquatic vegetation

Low The project road does not passes through core /buffer zone of any notified protected areas..

Fauna (mammals, birds, fishes, reptiles, amphibians)

Low There are no vulnerable/ endangered or rare species fauna around the project site.

Ecologically important areas

Low The project is not located in core/ buffer zone of ecologically sensitive areas.

Social environment

VEC Sensitivity

Level Remarks

Private land and buildings

Medium The proposed project road will involve the acquisition of 28.8894 ha land for widening of project road.

The Impact of Private structures totally 1371 nos, out of 328 residential, 237 commercial 43 residential cum commercial, 763 others type of buildings Public property/

infrastructure/ utility structures

Medium The ROW is available for widening or even minimum improvement of road geometry, except at few locations. Impact on utility structures is expected due to shifting from current location.

Noise Medium Existing noise levels are higher than the permissible limits for residential area in both daytime and night time.

Vibration Low The structures are located away from CoI. Since road is existing one the vibration impacts are not expected to be high.

Occupational health and safety

Medium Road construction and increased traffic will lead to occupational health and safety risks.

Public health and safety

Medium Influx of workers during construction and the construction activities may pose risks to communities along the project road and ancillary sites. The expected increase in traffic during operation stage potentially leads to an increase in unsafe situations.

Physical cultural resources (PCR)

Low There are no adverse impacts anticipated on historical places/monuments. However, there are small shrines along the road.

(iii) Severity of impact: The severity or seriousness of an impact entails understanding the repercussion or risks posed by the impact. This is a subjective criterion, which is defined as high, medium or low as below:

a. High: The severity of impact is high if grave repercussions are expected as a result of the impact due to any of the following or similar situations: the impact will be felt by a large number of people or receptors; the receptors are highly sensitive; the impacts will cause serious health issues; there is already a history of complaints from the project area and people have raised significant concerns during public consultation; some of the VEC in the project area already severely degraded and maybe further worsened by the project; there will be a significant change in one or more VEC because of the project

b. Medium: The severity of impact is medium due to any of the following or similar situations: the impact will be felt by a small number of people; some receptors are affected but they are not sensitive; the impact will not cause serious health issues; some concerns were raised during public consultations, but they were not significant; there will be minor changes in one or more VEC because of the project

c. Low: The severity of impact is low due to any of the following or similar situations: the impact will not be felt by anyone; no or limited receptors are affected; no concerns were raised during public consultations; there will be no noticeable changes in one or more VEC because of the project.

209. Based on the rating of duration, area and severity of impact as described above the overall significance of each impact as major, moderate or minor was determined as demonstrated in Table 34 below.

Table 34: Criteria for Rating the Significance of Impacts

Significance Sensitivity Duration Area Severity

Minor Medium or Low Short lived or temporary

Limited or local or regional

Low

Low Permanent Limited low

Moderate High or Medium Temporary Limited or local or regional

Medium

Medium permanent Limited Medium

Major High Permanent or

temporary

Limited or local or regional

High High or Medium Permanent Local or

regional

Medium