Prepared by the Department of Roads for the Ministry of Finance and the Asian Development Bank.

Transcription

1 Social Monitoring Report Semiannual Report December 2016 NEP: SASEC Road Connectivity Prepared by the Department of Roads for the Ministry of Finance and the Asian Development Bank. This social monitoring report is a document of the borrower. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of ADB's Board of Directors, Management, or staff, and may be preliminary in nature. In preparing any country program or strategy, financing any project, or by making any designation of or reference to a particular territory or geographic area in this document, the Asian Development Bank does not intend to make any judgments as to the legal or other status of any territory or area.

2 CURRENCY EQUIVALENTS (As of 31 December 2016) Currency unit - Nepalese (NPR) NPR 1.00 = $ $ 1.00 = NPR This social monitoring report is a document of the borrower. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of ADB's Board of Directors, Management, or staff, and may be preliminary in nature. In preparing any country program or strategy, financing any project, or by making any designation of or reference to a particular territory or geographic area in this document, the Asian Development Bank does not intend to make any judgments as to the legal or other status of any territory or area.

3 Acronyms ADB AP CBO CDC CDO CIPRP DAO DDC DDR DLRO DLSO DoR DP EA EWH GRC HD HH HIV/AIDS IA IR IP LB LEST MB MHH MR NGO PAF PM/PIC RoW RP CSC SASEC SLC SPAF TOR VDC Asian Development Bank Affected Person Community Based Organization Compensation Determination Committee Chief District Officer Combined Indigenous Peoples and Resettlement Plan District Administration Office District Development Committee Due-Diligence Report District Land Revenue Office District Land Survey Office Department of Roads Displaced Persons Executive Agency East West Highway Grievance Redress Committee Halesi - Diktel Household Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome Implementing Agency Involuntary Resettlement Indigenous People Leguwaghat- Bhojpur Livelihood Enhancement Skill Development Training Mechipul- Birtamod Mid Hill Highway Manthali- Ramechhap Non-Governmental Organization Project Affected Families Project Manager/Project In-Charge Right of Way Resettlement Plan Construction Supervision Consultant South Asia Sub-regional Economic Cooperation SASEC Road Connectivity Project Subproject Level Committee for grievance redress Seriously Project Affected Family Terms of Reference Village Development Committee Semiannual Social Safeguard Monitoring Report of SRCP, July- Dec 2016 ii

4 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION PROJECT BACKGROUND PHYSICAL PROGRESS OF SUBPROJECT ROADS OBJECTIVE, APPROACH AND SCOPE OF SEMI-ANNUAL MONITORING Objective Approach Scope of Semi -annual Monitoring CHANGES IN SOCIAL SAFEGUARD SCOPE SOCIAL SAFEGUARD MONITORING PARAMETERS IMPLEMENTATION ARRANGEMENT PROJECT IMPACT STATUS OF THE SOCIAL SAFEGUARD PLAN IMPLEMENTATION Compensation Payment Efforts made to expedite the compensation payment Redressal of Grievances Public Consultation Status of Indigenous and Vulnerable Affected People Livelihood Activities Perception of Project Affected people and utilization of compensation amount Budget allocation for compensation payment Status of Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) and other social activities ISSUES CORRECTIVE ACTIONS FOR MAJOR GAPS MAJOR ITEM OF FOCUS FOR NEXT REPORT Annexes 1. Compensation Payment Status as of 31 December A copy of consultative meeting minutes with Aps 3. Compliance with Social Safeguard Covenants of Loan Agreement Semiannual Social Safeguard Monitoring Report of SRCP, July- Dec 2016 iii

5 DEFINITION Acquisition: Acquisition of land and other assets for the purpose of development projects in accordance to prevailing Land Acquisition Act 1977 (2034 BS). Displaced Persons: Affected persons are those who are physically displaced (relocation, loss of residential land, or loss of shelter) and economically displaced (loss of land assets, income sources, or means of livelihood) as a result of involuntary resettlement of land, involuntary restrictions on land use or on access to legally designated parks and protected areas. Indigenous People: Nepal indigenous/nationalities/tribal Act 2001defines Ethnic/ Indigenous Peoples as; people having their own mother tongue, distinct traditional values, and cultural identities, including social structure and written/non written history are indigenous and nationalities population. The National Foundation of Indigenous Nationalities (NFIN) has declared 59 groups as ethnic nationalities. Rehabilitation: The measures taken to mitigate social impacts, including compensation, resettlement and rehabilitation allowances where required. Replacement Cost: The market value of a project affected assets. For agriculture land, this includes reference to land of equal size, type and productive potentiality in the vicinity of the affected land and land preparation costs where required. For houses and other structures, this includes reference to the market price of materials and labor, and the cost of transporting materials to the building site. The replacement cost further includes the cost of any registration and transfer taxes for land and buildings. Resettlement: Resettlement denotes the consequence that occurs due to acquisition of land and other assets as well as the entire process and activities related to acquisition and implementation of resettlement plan in accordance to prevailing Acts. Right of Way: Right of way means the land acquired for the project purposes. Generally, government declares 50 meter for National highway and 30 meter for feeder roads. Sub project Level Grievance Redress Committee: Village Development Committee or municipality level committee established to assist the affected people, legally constituted committees for land acquisition and project authorities, monitoring of implementation issues and community reactions and grievance resolution. Severely Project Affected Family: Family having more than 10 percent loss of total landholding or income is considered as severely affected family. Titleholder: The person in whose name the project-affected land, structure, business is registered and who is authorized to receive the compensation granted for the loss of business or acquisition of the land and assets. Semiannual Social Safeguard Monitoring Report of SRCP, July- Dec 2016 iv

6 Vulnerable Persons: The disadvantaged persons such as disabled, women headed households, handicapped, independent elderly persons (70 years and above age), and households with disable persons, ethnic occupational cast and below poverty level households. Semiannual Social Safeguard Monitoring Report of SRCP, July- Dec 2016 v

7 1. INTRODUCTION 1. This report describes the implementation of social safeguards activities, covering the period from July to December, The Social Monitoring Report (SMR) covers in particular the progress of the implementation of the Updated Combined Indigenous People s Plan and Resettlement Plans (CIPRP) 2016 approved for the project. It also describes the implementation of other social activities, such as the Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) Plan, activities related to HIV/AIDS prevention, and Livelihood restoration and support activities. 2. PROJECT BACKGROUND 2. The South Asia Sub-regional Economic Corporation(SASEC) Road Connectivity Project (SRCP) is upgrading about 187 km of existing five roads namely Alternate East-West Highway (EWH)- Koshi Bridge-East West Highway (EWH) in Sunsari, Udayapur and Saptari districts, Leguwaghat-Bhojpur (LB) in Bhojpur District, Halesi-Diktel (HD) in Khotang District, Manthali- Ramechhap (MR) in Ramechhap District and Mechipul-Birtamod (MB) in Jhapa District. The Project is implemented by Project Directorate (ADB), Department of Road (DOR) and assisted by Construction Supervision Consultant (CSC). Asian Development Bank (ADB) has provided the loan for financing the SRCP. During the Detail Design Phase, the project road has prepared combined indigenous peoples and resettlement plans for three project roads namely: EWE-Koshi Bridge- EWH, HD and MR, and two resettlement due-diligence reports for LB and MB roads. These Social Safeguards documents have been prepared to mitigate and address the private and public losses due to project intervention. The Social Safeguards reports were developed based on ADB s Safeguard Policy Statement (2009), Land Acquisition Act 1977 and applicable national laws and regulations. The Summary of Sub-projects under SRCP is presented the table below: Table 1: Summary of Subprojects under SRCP S.N. Name of Road Length of Road (km) Category of the Subproject IR and IP Prepared Social Safeguard Document Total Project Affected Households Male Headed Female Headed 1 EWH-Koshi Bridge- EWH A Combined Indigenous Peoples and Resettlement Semiannual Social Safeguard Monitoring Report of SRCP, July- Dec

8 S.N. Name of Road Length of Road (km) Category of the Subproject IR and IP Prepared Social Safeguard Document Total Project Affected Households Male Headed Female Headed Plan 2 Halesi- Diktel A Combined Indigenous Peoples and Resettlement Plan Manthali - Ramechhap 4 Leguwaghat - Bhojpur 5 Mechipul- Birtamod A Combined Indigenous Peoples and Resettlement Plan C Due Diligence Report C Due Diligence Report Total ,292 2, Above table shows, there are 5 subproject under SRCP where 3 subprojects (EWH- Koshi Bridge- EWH, HD & MR roads) have significant resettlement impacts, so Combined Indigenous Peoples and Resettlement Plans have been prepared for these road and Due Diligence Reports have been prepared for remaining two subprojects (LB & MB) which have insignificant resettlement impact. 3. PHYSICAL PROGRESS OF SUBPROJECT ROADS 4. Two international competitive bidding (ICB) contractors has been mobilized for civil works construction for EWH- Koshi Bridge- EWH Road and LB Road on 2o November Likewise, 5 national competitive bidding contractors have been mobilized for HD Road (3 packages), MR Road (1 package) and MB Road (1 package) on 14 June The table below presents the physical progress of subprojects roads as of 31 December Semiannual Social Safeguard Monitoring Report of SRCP, July- Dec

9 Table 2: Physical Progress of Subproject Roads as of 31 December 2016 S.N. Name of Roads Length(K.M.) Progress (%) 1 EWH-Koshi Bridge- EWH Halesi- Diktel package-01 Halesi- Diktel package-02 Halesi- Diktel package Manthali - Ramechhap Leguwaghat -Bhojpur Mechipul- Birtamod Contract terminated 4. OBJECTIVE, APPROACH AND SCOPE OF SEMI-ANNUAL MONITORING 4.1 Objective 5. The objective of the semiannual monitoring report is to assess progress on safeguard plan implementation of the subproject roads including compensation payment, grievance redress procedure, public consultation and disclosure process, evaluation of income restoration program of affected households including indigenous people and vulnerable people. 4.2 Approach 6. The following tasks were undertaken for preparing this report: Review the, fortnightly, monthly, quarterly progress report of the project Conducted consultative meeting with project affected persons. Review of the grievance submitted by subprojects and action taken against those complaints; Interviewed with project affected persons regarding land acquisition and compensation activities and their satisfaction Semiannual Social Safeguard Monitoring Report of SRCP, July- Dec

10 4.3 Scope of Semi -annual Monitoring 7. The social safeguard monitoring is guided by the ADB Safeguard Policy Statement 2009, Land Acquisition Act of Nepal 1977 (2034 BS) and other relevant policies and guidelines. This monitoring report is focusing on the social safeguard implementation including appropriate measures to minimize the resettlement impact during project implementation. Compensation payment to the affected land and assets, measures to redress the grievance appeared during project implementation and income restoration measures to the vulnerable and indigenous project affected people are included in safeguard monitoring. 8. It has been agreed to prepare and submit social safeguard monitoring semi-annual report to provide the status of social safeguard plan implementation of SASEC Road Connectivity project. The reporting period covers 6 months from July to December During this period, resettlement plan implementation status, safeguard monitoring activities and mitigation measures applied to achieve the goals of resettlement plan has been reported. 5. CHANGES IN SOCIAL SAFEGUARD SCOPE 9. The SASEC Road Connectivity Project (SRCP) implementation was started from June During the project implementation, land acquisition data prepared in detail design phase were updated due to missing many land parcels and other private assets. Missing land parcels and other assets were incorporated in the project implementation. Accordingly, the number of project affected people including indigenous and vulnerable people is required to be updated. Hence, Combined Indigenous People and Resettlement Plan of EWH, HD and MR Road Subprojects has been updated. 6. SOCIAL SAFEGUARD MONITORING PARAMETERS 10. The following parameters have been applied during social safeguard monitoring: Progress on land acquisition and compensation Payment Procedure of compensation rate determination and compensation payment delivery system (easiness, transparency etc.) Grievances by type and resolution status, effectiveness of GRC in local level, Rehabilitation of public utilities, Public consultation and disclosure activities, Status of vulnerable and Indigenous APs after project intervention, Status of income restoration program (skill training, employment opportunity etc.) Resettlement Budget Use of compensation and other rehabilitation allowances by vulnerable and indigenous people, Semiannual Social Safeguard Monitoring Report of SRCP, July- Dec

11 APs satisfaction &perception regarding compensation amount decided by CDC, Implementation of social awareness program (gender/hiv/human trafficking), Compliance status of social issues such as campsite management, health and safety, wage rate, child labor etc. 7. IMPLEMENTATION ARRANGEMENT 11. The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport (MOPIT) is the project s Executing Agency (EA), and Department of Roads (DoR) is the implementing agency (IA). A Project Implementation Unit (PIU) has been established as Project Directorate (PD/ADB) under DoR to supervise the overall implementation of all the Subprojects. At the subproject level, the Subproject PIUs are headed by the Project Managers (PMs)/Project In-charge (PICs) in the rank of Senior Divisional Engineer, are responsible for monitoring/supervise resettlement and other social activities. 12. The Construction Supervision Consultant (CSC), MSV International Inc. in association with Soil Test, Welink, and Beam Pvt. Ltd, is responsible to support the Project Directorate in the implementation of the Resettlement Plans (RPs), the Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) Plan and the HIV/AIDS & human trafficking activities. For this purpose, 3 social experts and supporting staffs have been deputed from November The CSC s social and resettlement team of experts is supported by four field staff. Out of four supporting social staffs currently one each are working in East-West Highway Road, Halesi-Diktel Road and Manthali- Ramechhap Road and one in the MSV Office Kathmandu. Key activities under the CSC s responsibility include supporting the Project Directorate(ADB) in: (i) facilitating the completion of the Detailed Measurement Survey (DMS); (ii) conducting consultations and disseminating the resettlement matrix and other relevant information; (iii) supporting the formation of Subproject Level Committees (SLCs) and Grievance Redress Committees (GRCs), (iv) collecting and recording regularly issues raised by project affected people and (v) motivating Project Affected Persons (PAPs) to find solutions at the local level, and if required bridge them with concerned stakeholders. Moreover, the CSC has the responsibility of monitoring health and occupational safety, environmental management and road safety activities. 13. The Department of Roads, Project Directorate Office through the External Monitor has been monitoring independently the progress of social safeguard plan implementation as outlined in the Combined Indigenous People and Resettlement Plans. 14. For the project, recruitment of a supporting NGO has been provisioned to facilitate gender mainstreaming and promoting social inclusion, carry out community based preventative awareness campaign in the project area especially in EWH subproject road corridor. And the NGO will provide considerable support and capacitate community in Bio-diversity and Livelihood protection, promotion and restoration activities. In this respect, PD/ADB has Semiannual Social Safeguard Monitoring Report of SRCP, July- Dec

12 shortlisted half a dozen of NGOs. Selection process is in final stage and the selected NGO will be engaged tentatively for 20 months period. 8. PROJECT IMPACT 15. The 3 subproject roads (EWH- Koshi Bridge- EWH, HD & MR) have been prepared Combined Indigenous Peoples and Resettlement Plans and 2 subproject roads (LB & MB) have prepared Resettlement Due Diligence Reports during the detail design phase. During the project implementation, Construction Supervision Consult (CSC) conducted detail measure survey (DMS) of EWH- Koshi Bridge- EWH, HD and MR roads which revealed that there was missing many project affected household in the original CIPRP which need to be updated. Therefore, CIPRP of above mention 3 roads subprojects has been updated to mitigate and address the resettlement impact which is found during the project implementation based on ADB s Safeguard Policy Statement (2009), Land Acquisition Act 1977 and applicable national laws and regulations. The table below presents the differences between Updated CIPRP (2016) and Original CIPRP (2013): Table 3: Summary of Project Impacts between Updated CIPRP and Original CIPRP Description Updated CIPRP (2016) Original CIPRP (2013) EWH HD MR EWH HD MR Total Households (No.) 2, , Affected Private Land Area (ha.) No. of Land Parcels 1, , No. of House/Structures 1, , Private trees 1,621 1, , No of Indigenous Households No of Vulnerable households Semiannual Social Safeguard Monitoring Report of SRCP, July- Dec

13 9. STATUS OF THE SOCIAL SAFEGUARD PLAN IMPLEMENTATION 9.1 Compensation Payment 16. The SASEC Road Connectivity Project (SRCP) has been undertaking compensation and resettlement/ rehabilitation activities since January These activities were carried out within the framework of Combined Indigenous People and Resettlement plan (CIPRP) and Due Diligence Report. As of 31 December 2016, more than 90 % compensation payment of acquired land has been completed. The compensation payment of project affected property is still continued and subprojects has set target to complete the remaining compensation payment by end of January The table below presents the details of compensation payment of acquired private land parcels: Table 4: Progress of Compensation Payment as of 31 December 2016 Subproject Road Compensation Payment Progress Target Achieved Progress Parcel Nos. Parcel Nos. (A) % Absentees & Legal Dispute Land Parcels No of land Parcel (B) Compensation Payment Progress (including absentees & legal disputes parcels) Total (A+B) Progress % Parcel Nos. % EWH HD MR LB Total The deed transfer progress of compensated land parcels is going on parallel way with compensation payment. During the reporting period more than 75 % deed transfer process of acquired land has been completed by concern District Land Revenue Offices. 18. The compensation payment of project affected house/structures of MR road is completed and almost completed of EWH- Koshi Bridge- EWH Road. Similarly in LB road about 60 % affected house/structures owner collected their compensation and demolished the affected Semiannual Social Safeguard Monitoring Report of SRCP, July- Dec

14 structures. In HD Road, the compensation amount of affected house/structures has been submitted by Division Office of Urban Development and Building Construction, Udayapur. The Compensation Determination Committee (CDC) will finalize the compensation amount as earliest as possible. The table below presents the status of compensation payment of project affected house /structures: Table 5: Compensation Payment Status of house/structures Sub-project Road No of affected House /structures No of Compensated House/Structures Progress in Percentage EWH HD MR LB Total The compensation payment of affected private trees of EWH- Koshi Bridge- EWH road is almost completed and MR and HD road, the CDC has just decided the compensation amount and these 2 subproject is preparing to distribute the compensation amount. Both subproject has set target to complete the compensation payment of affected trees within 31 January The subproject wise details of compensation payment is presented in Annex Efforts made to expedite the compensation payment 20. All subprojects are carried out continuously all possible efforts for timely disbursement of remaining compensation amount to the affected people such as publish public notice in local newspaper and local FM Radio, affixed the public notice in different location of project area etc.: In EWH Road Subproject, the public notice was published in Janata Times Saptahik local newspaper on 23 July 2016 to inform project affected people who were not collected their respective compensation amount of land, house/structures and trees. Similarly, the public notice regarding collection of compensation amount of land, house/structures and trees were broadcast by Saptakoshi FM (local FM Radio) from19-25 July 2016 and by Jaya Madesh FM from July The notice were broadcast Nepali as well as Maithili language 3 times daily before prime time news of the FM Radio. Semiannual Social Safeguard Monitoring Report of SRCP, July- Dec

15 In HD Road Subproject, the public notice were published for notifying the affected people to collect the compensation amount in national daily newspaper Annapurna Post on 19 July 2016 In MR Road subproject, the project office published the public notice on 30 July 2016 at local newspaper Aajako Ramechhap Dainik to inform the affected people for collecting the compensation amount. Likewise, LB road subproject were also published same type of notice at local newspaper Silchung Weekly on 29 July The public notice for compensation payment were affixed in different public places of the Subprojects road project alignment area by Social Mobilizers such as VDC/ Municipality Offices, Schools and public resting place (Chautara). 21. The consultative meeting were conducted on October and November 2016 in all 4 subproject roads with affected landowner who were not collected their compensation amount. During the meeting, the affected landowner were requested to collect their compensation amount as soon as possible and they were informed that the project would provide transportation facility for those land owners who have low compensation amount (Less than NRs 5,000.00).The affected people who were presented in the meeting committed that they would not disrupt the construction work due to compensation. The copy of meeting minutes is attached in Annex Redressal of Grievances 22. A Grievance Redress Committee (GRC) at district level and project affected VDC/Municipality wise sub project level committees (SLC) have been formed in all subprojects. In EWH Road 3 district wise (Sunsari, Udayapur and Saptari) GRC and 8 VDC wise Sub project level committees (SLC) is formed. Likewise, one GRC and 4 SLC were formed in Leguwaghat- Bhojpur Road. Similarly, one GRC and 3 SLCs and one GRC and 2 SLC were formed in Halesi Diktel and Manthali Ramechhap Road subprojects. Its main objectives include receiving complaints of affected persons (AP) and facilitate resolution of those complaints and grievances with the aim of ensuring safeguard performance. The SLCs also facilitates the GRC and DPs on redressing the grievances and timely distribution of compensation of affected assets. Projectaffected persons including DPs of the respective VDC/Municipality, local representatives of political parties, religious leaders, vulnerable groups, and local CBOs, and other stakeholders as applicable represent the SLC. The SLC is playing coordinating role between project affected people and the GRC to minimize and address the grievances. The SLC assist the Subproject Office/PM, and Social/Resettlement Specialist of the Construction Supervision Consultant (CSC) on informing people about the likely resettlement impacts, provision of compensation and other assistance to the affected persons, RP implementation and grievances redressing methods as well as to solicit their view on the RP implementation. 23. In the last six months a number of grievances are received from project affected people and SLCs mostly on the low valuation, missing assets out, measurement defaults, technical defects Semiannual Social Safeguard Monitoring Report of SRCP, July- Dec

16 in Cadastral Map and field situation, and restoration of structures. The status of grievances of subproject roads and measures taken to redress is presented in the table below: Table 6: List of Grievances and Measures Taken to Redress Sub-project Road 1. EWH Road Grievance Received Measure taken Saptari Udayapur 100 grievances regarding missing out land, structures etc. Owner of 39 structures complained of low valuation of their structure 98 HHs complained of missing out their fruit trees in the list. Verification was conducted-60 cases found to be beyond scope and 40 cases were eligible and given justifiable compensation amount Re-verification is ongoing in coordination of PIC, consultant and DUDBC. Seven structures are found beyond scope and the rest are being verified. Verification is going on in presence of representative of District Agriculture development Office Sunsari PAPs complained of 45 new structures not covered for compensation due to alignment change at Bhandaritar in Barahachhetra Verified and details have been sent for valuation 2. HD Road Package- 1 Package- 2 2 structures are miss out in the list of structure to be compensated Himganga Primary school, Arkhaule demanded to heighten gabion wall. Jalpa Secondary School, Nunthala demanded masonry wall at its border. Verification is under process Gabion wall erected to the appropriate height Masonry wall constructed Semiannual Social Safeguard Monitoring Report of SRCP, July- Dec

17 Sub-project Road Grievance Received 3 AP complain about re-measurement of acquired land Measure taken Application has been forwarded to District Land Surveyor Office Package- 3 2 application regarding remeasurement of land Application has been forwarded to District Land Surveyor Office 3. MR Road One application for re- measurement of acquired land Demand compensation for house which was damaged by big stone fall at the time of construction works. Application submitted to District Survey Office. Contractor has committed to repair the damage house. One application claimed compensation for damage of cowshed. Inspection team verified that cowshed was not damaged by the project and beyond scope. Some people demanded protection of (resting place) Chautaro Required conservation measures taken and people satisfied 24. The grievances/ complain recording register have been maintained by all subproject offices. However, number of verbal grievances/complains are recorded highly than written grievances. The Social Mobilizers receives verbal complains directly from affected persons and by phone. Likewise, the affected people register their written complaint in project offices or submits through Social Mobilizer. The subproject offices are addressing the people s grievance/complain timely as far as possible. Most of the grievances are settled through consultation and discussion with affected people but some grievances which is related to legal cases or required to help of District Survey Office/Land Revenue Office are taken some more time to settle. 9.3 Public Consultation 25. As the part of principal activities numbers of consultations were held with the project affected people and adjacent communities by the social team. Some of the consultations are cited here: Semiannual Social Safeguard Monitoring Report of SRCP, July- Dec

18 The public consultation meetings in EWH- Koshi Bridge- EWH Road for preparing Supplementary Environment Impact Assessment (SEIA) are held in three different locations from July 25 th to 27 th along the road alignment in presence of 159 participants representing project affected people, consultant and clients. Further, the consultation meetings made a subtle discussion on issues raised by affected people like delay in road construction and slow pace of land acquisition activities restoration of cross-sections, water supply pipeline, and quality assurance, acceleration of compensation were major in the civil activities. The consultation meeting was conducted on 21 October 2016 with affected land owner of Manthali -2, MR Road, who did not collect their compensation amount due to remeasurement problem of their acquired land. During the meeting, it was discussed that notice publication of re-verified land parcels was delaying, so Project Office would settle this problem in close coordination with District Administration Office and Land Revenue Office. Likewise, a consultation meeting was held on 24 October 2016, at LB Road in presence of 16 affected people. During the consultation meeting, the affected people said that most of the affected people have already collected their compensation amount. The landowners who were not collecting the compensation amount till date, either they were absentees or legal disputes at their acquired land parcels. The project team informed that the project would provide transportation facility for those landowner who have low compensation amount. The local people who were presented in the meeting expressed that the road construction would not be disrupt due to compensation. Two consultative meeting held at HD road on 9 October During the meeting, Social Mobilizer and Assistant Resident Engineer requested the affected people to collect the compensation amount of their acquired land and support to expedite the road construction work. Most of the participants said that they would only collect the compensation amount of land after getting compensation of their affected house/structures. They also requested to decide the compensation amount of affected house/ structures as soon as possible. Further, the affected people expressed that they would provide positive support to the road construction activities. Similarly, two Consultative meetings were conducted with land owner of EWH- Koshi Bridge- EWH road. During the meeting the affected people said that most of the land owners who have all complete document have already collected their compensation amount and rest of the land parcel owners do not have complete document or legal problems to collect the compensation. The project social team informed the affected people that project would provide transportation facility for those landowners who have very low compensation amount. The landowners who presented in the meeting expressed that they do not want to obstruct the development activities, so the road construction work would not be disturbed due to compensation. Semiannual Social Safeguard Monitoring Report of SRCP, July- Dec

19 9.3.1 Awareness Campaigns 26. In the month of November, various awareness campaigns have been organized among school students along the road corridors, project affected community members, transport and construction workers within the undergoing project sites MR, EWH, LB and HD Roads. The focus of the programs was: Road safety awareness to School students, Community Members and Transport Workers/entrepreneurs Use of Child labor : School students, Contractor's Camp and community members Compensation/ Resettlement issues : PAPs and Community Members 27. A total of 9 awareness programs were conducted for school students in 9 different schools in all subproject road sites having a total of 893 participants in the programs. The participation of girls is found significant in all of the programs in which number of girl students is 523 whereas the number of boy students is Seven community awareness campaigns were conducted at different places in all the subproject roads sites having a total of 436 participants, where the participation of male population is higher compared to female participation. However, the participation of female population is significant. Besides, the programs emphasized the participation of Dalit community people and indigenous people 29. All together 3 programs were conducted for Transport Workers/Entrepreneurs in all the project sites excluding MR Roads, in participation of 92 persons including 7 persons from disadvantaged group and 48 persons from indigenous groups; where participation of female transport worker is insignificant. 9.4 Status of Indigenous and Vulnerable Affected People 30. This indigenous people in subprojects area mostly belong to Rai, Tharu, Tamang, Magar and Newar ethnicity. They have been living in these areas from years. The improvements of these roads are not only important for the people living in the locality but also for Indigenous Peoples (IP) living in the same locality. A large number of IP people of the area would be using this road to augment their income generating activities. The social team of each subprojects has been contacting regularly with indigenous and vulnerable people. During consultation, observation and discussion it is noted that the ongoing project and land acquisition process does not adversely affect to indigenous peoples' knowledge management system, community resources, customary practices and cultural heritage. Furthermore, the project is upgrading the existing road hence; there is no significant impact on assets, income and livelihood of indigenous people. As of 31 December 2016, more than 80 % indigenous affected people have Semiannual Social Safeguard Monitoring Report of SRCP, July- Dec

20 collected their compensation amount and mostly they used their received compensation amount to construct new houses and buying land in nearby area. 31. Significant progress has been noted in relation to the progress in compensation distribution to the households of vulnerable groups in the project. The summary includes progress record of EWH, HD and MR in which EWH covers per cent (158 out of 173hhs), followed by HD per cent (58 out of 68 HHs), and MR per cent (36 out of 54HHs) respectively. 100 percent progress has been achieved in paying compensation for households with disable member and endangered ethnic group in MR and Dalits in HD are also compensated completely. 9.5 Livelihood Activities 32. Training needs are assessed based on the types of skill development trainings required and its duration, possible training institutes, market potentialities, unit cost etc. and also being based on the notion of fair gender balance and social inclusion, availability of local resources and skills, selection criteria of the training participants and market opportunities for employment- for which six types of trainings are determined as in the table below. 33. A total of 65 vulnerable people are selected for skill development trainings and trainings on income generation activities to help them recover the loss caused by the project or enhance livelihood. Following list of trainings and participants are finalized according to needs of PAPs in the project districts. Table 7: List of Trainings and Number of Participant S.N. Training EWH LB HD MR Total 1 Carpentry Training House wiring Training Auto Mechanics Training Mobile/TV/Radio Repair High Value Crops (agro. based) Enhance Hospitality Business Total Semiannual Social Safeguard Monitoring Report of SRCP, July- Dec

21 34. The numbers for target people have been distributed based on remoteness of the area, poverty level, weight-age, and interest of the vulnerable people identified in the respective road corridors. The EWH Road and HD Road have larger number of target people in the livelihood training that is 31% each, followed by LB Road corridors 20% and MR Road 18%. 35. Training institute has been finalized; Training Center Nepal, Swoyambhu, Kathmandu has been selected for the purpose following the procurement procedure. The trainings are being held from January Perception of Project Affected people and utilization of compensation amount 36. During the consultative meeting/ discussion with project affected people, they were asked about the land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation activities of the subprojects and response of affected people were as follows: Most of the project affected people were satisfied with compensation amount decided by CDC, which was expressed during local level consultative meeting. Likewise, they have used received compensation amount at constructing new house, buying land in periphery area of the project. Similarly, some affected people have invested their compensation amount in business and some have paid the outstanding loan. The project have provided compensation amount of affected house/structures at replacement cost. The affected house owners who collected the compensation amount have use their compensation amount to construct new house, some of them have built RCC(Reinforced Cement Concrete) type modern house as they were receive compensation of their traditional house( Zink sheet roofing with mud plaster). In EWH Road demarcation of RoW is completed by pegging concrete pillar (15 m each side from centerline of the road). Many affected people have appreciated this work, as they clearly know about the acquired land area of the project and know about their remaining land area after land acquisition. In EWH Road, 13 project affected people of Kamalpur VDC ward no-6, who were land less and staying adjacent to the existing road in public land since many years. This road Project had acquired their house/structures which was constructed with in road ROW. At the same time the project provided compensation amount of their affected structures at the current market price. These 13 affected people have use their compensation amount for buying land (at least 169 square meter) in the nearby village and now had become a land owner. These people said that they would like to thank to the project, because they would never become a landowner if project not acquired their residential structures. Indigenous and vulnerable people, in HD road corridor, have started new business activities like hotels and restaurants business, shops, handicraft enterprise, and mineral water factory established. A random study of 16 project affected people has shown that four persons: Ram Bdr. Shrestha, Arkhaule-05; Durgamani Shrestha, Arkhaule-05; Khem Chandra Rai, Nunthala- Semiannual Social Safeguard Monitoring Report of SRCP, July- Dec

22 04; Agnima Sherpa, Nunthala-08 started business. Furuwa Sherpa has set up his own water distillation industry. Ram Bdr. Khatri, Diktel-02; Chitra Bdr. Tamang, Nunthala - 4; Bhageshwor/ Tila Rai, Nunthala-04; Tikaram Puri, Arkhaule -2 purchased land in urban areas. Kumar Puri, Arkhaule-02 built up a house. Raj Kumar Shrestha, Arkhaule-05 deposited money in saving account. Four persons out of 16, Prakash Shrestha, Arkhaule-05; Gangamaya/Krishna Bdr. Puri, Arkhaule-02; Dhan Bdr. Puri, Arkhaule-02 and Naresh Tamang, Nunthala-09 purchased vehicles. Only one of them, Kalpana Tamang, Nunthala-04 found to have spent the amount for education of her son. The study shows that the majority of people are spending on plot of land for house construction and vehicle. Although, the investment will be helpful in uplifting living standard of the people, investment in non-productive or non-farm sectors cannot recover the loss of agriculture production caused by land acquisition that was the land used for agriculture practice. At the same time, some of them are found to have invested in business and enterprises sector which would be helpful in employment generation and long term economic return. In MR Road, PAPs including indigenous and vulnerable people have invested the compensated amount in income generation activities like animal husbandry. Some of them gone for saving in bank and with the interest received helping themselves to maintain their daily expenses. Surya Bahadur Bhujel, one of the vulnerable, has purchased a house in Manthali Bazar and has planned to open up a business entity. 9.7 Budget allocation for compensation payment 37. According to the updated Combined Indigenous People and Resettlement Plan of EWH, HD and MR Roads and updated record LB Road, the total compensation amount required for 4 subprojects is 1, million NPR. The subproject road wise summary of compensation amount is presented in the table below: Table 8: Summary of Estimated Compensation Amount S.N. Amount in NPR/million Name of Road Land Structures Trees Total EWH- Koshi , Bridge- EWH HD MR LB Total 1, , Semiannual Social Safeguard Monitoring Report of SRCP, July- Dec

23 38. The compensation payment for land acquisition, structures/ trees are ongoing on all subproject roads. However compensation payment of affected structures in HD road and trees/fruit trees of MR and HD road is on the process of finalizing the compensation amount by Compensation Determination Committee. The summary of compensation payment as of 31 December 2016 is presented in table 9 below: Table 9: Summary of Compensation Disbursement S.N Amount in NPR/million Name of Road Land Structures Trees Total Paid Amount EWH (73%) HD (69%) MR (86%) LB NA 1.51 (66%) Total (73%) 39. The above table shows that as of 31 December 2016, about 73 % compensation amount has been completed by subproject roads. There are a total of 507 absentees and legal disputes land parcels in 3 subproject roads, NRs million has been allocated for these land parcels. 40. According to discussion with Project Manager of all subprojects, they are trying to complete the compensation payment except absentees and legal complication cases by 31 January Status of Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) and other social activities 41. The social activities related with construction activities including campsite management, health and safety measures, wage rate to construction workers, temporarily acquisition of assets and compensation, and issue of child labor have been monitored during project implementation. During the field visit of subproject roads, the contractors have been made aware about the social provision of the project. The contractors have been respecting social safeguard issues during road construction. 42. A total of 38 awareness trainings and campaigns participated by 2294 participants from community organizations, women groups, schools, transport workers and other stakeholder organizations and people in all 4 project sites. The campaign covered gender equality, social inclusion, HIV prevention, anti-trafficking, child labor control, environment management, resettlement social safeguard, livelihood, and road safety. 43. A total of 167 Contractors field staffs, petti-contractors; & labor leaders in all 6 contract packages have been provided re-orientation training on employing local labor with at least 10% women, and paying equal wages to male and female for same job. Consultations with locals Semiannual Social Safeguard Monitoring Report of SRCP, July- Dec

24 including women groups have been continued in all 4 project sites regarding the issues of employing locals & women, & paying equal wages. The collection & verification of monthly monitoring data has been continued. A total of 129,992 person days with 12.9% women employment has been recorded. Equal wages paid to male & female workers for same job are reported. Field verification has noted few cases of performance-based wage rate paid to male and female for the same job. 44. The vulnerable households have been made aware of importance & ways of proper & productive use of compensation amount. The families have been randomly interviewed and have been found doing new business activities like hotels, restaurants, grocery shops, handicrafts, purified water production, purchase of vehicle, animal husbandry. Some have reported of purchasing new land, building new house and others carried out saving and fixed deposits in the banks. 45. The child labor control issues have been included in the re-orientation training of contractors and community groups on HIV, anti-trafficking, and GESI. The contractors are enforced through the monitoring requiring reporting their employed labors with their age-group. The cross-verification in the field with the labors and local people on sites has been continued. 10. ISSUES 46. The issues identified during the field visit based on discussion with project staff and affected people were following: The compensation determination and payment activities are depending on various Government offices such as District Survey Office, District Land Revenue Office, Division Office of Urban Development and Building Construction, District Agriculture Development Office and District Forest Office. So it s difficult to coordinate the various government offices and timely finalization of compensation amount of structure and trees. Some affected house owners of HD road were not collecting the compensation amount of their affected land because they were waiting to collect the both compensation amount (land & house) together. It has also effect the progress of compensation payment. There is delaying to shift the electric poles in HD and MR Road. The projects have already deposited the estimated amount to Nepal Electricity Authority for shifting the electric poles. 11. CORRECTIVE ACTIONS FOR MAJOR GAPS 47. Following corrective actions will be followed by the project in order to further improvement on the social safeguard implementation activities: Semiannual Social Safeguard Monitoring Report of SRCP, July- Dec

25 The compensation amount of affected house/structures and private trees/fruits will be completed without absentees and legal disputes land parcels. Absentees land owner will be contacted or informed as far as possible to collect their compensation payment. Database of displaced households and their affected assets by type of project activities will be prepared, Disaggregate data of construction workers will be prepared, Income restoration program for vulnerable affected people will be initiated. Timely submission of monthly progress report 12. MAJOR ITEM OF FOCUS FOR NEXT REPORT 48. The next report will focus on following social safeguard monitoring activities: Regular field visit of subproject roads and review/compare the compliance based on CIPRP and earlier field visit Record keeping system of safeguard will be strengthen Timely submission of monthly, trimester and semiannual report. Semiannual Social Safeguard Monitoring Report of SRCP, July- Dec

26 Annexes

27 Annex 1: Compensation Payment Status as of 31 December 2016 Asset Description EWH HD MR LB Total Land No. of Total Parcels No of Paid Parcels (A) Absentees & Legal disputes parcels (B) Total (A+B) Progress (%) Total Area (ha.) Paid area (ha.) Paid Area Progress (%) Total Amount/million NRs Structures Trees/ Fruits Paid amount/million NRs ( C) Amount of absentees & legal Disputes parcels (D) Total (C+D) Paid Amount Progress (%) Total Number Paid number Progress of paid nos. % Total Amount/million NRs Paid amount/million NRs Progress (%) Total Nos Paid Nos Paid Nos. Progress (%) Total Amount/million NRs Paid amount/million NRs Paid Amount Progress (%) Semiannual Social Safeguard Monitoring Report of SRCP, July- Dec 2016 II

28 Annex 2: Copy of meeting minutes of consultative meeting with Affected Persons 1. ManthaliRamechhap Road (meeting held on 21 October 2016) Semiannual Social Safeguard Monitoring Report of SRCP, July- Dec 2016 III

29 Semiannual Social Safeguard Monitoring Report of SRCP, July- Dec 2016 IV

30 2. Leguwaghat- Bhojpur Road (meeting held on 24 October 2016) Semiannual Social Safeguard Monitoring Report of SRCP, July- Dec 2016 V

31 3. Halesi- Diktel Road (meeting held on 9 October 2016) Semiannual Social Safeguard Monitoring Report of SRCP, July- Dec 2016 VI

32 Semiannual Social Safeguard Monitoring Report of SRCP, July- Dec 2016 VII

33 Semiannual Social Safeguard Monitoring Report of SRCP, July- Dec 2016 VIII

34 Semiannual Social Safeguard Monitoring Report of SRCP, July- Dec 2016 IX

35 4. EWH- Koshi Bridge- EWH Road ( meeting held on 14 & 15 November 2016) Semiannual Social Safeguard Monitoring Report of SRCP, July- Dec 2016 X