ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT (EA)
AND
ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK
PUNJAB EDUCATION SECTOR REFORMS PROGRAM (PESRP)
FINAL REPORT
PROGRAM DIRECTOR
PUNJAB EDUCATION SECTOR REFORMS PROGRAM (PESRP)
SCHOOL EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
GOVERNMENT OF THE PUNJAB
Tel: +92 42 923 2289~95 / Fax: +92 42 923 2290url: http://pesrp.punjab.gov.pk / email:
(March 2009)
ENVIRONS
(Caring for the Environment)
Environmental Management Professionals & Consultants
Lahore – Pakistan
Tel: 042 – 7591302 / Fax: 042 – 7591302web: www.environs-pk.com / email:
Acknowledgment and Disclaimer
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTEnvirons are thankful to all those persons who directly and indirectly helped in accomplishing this environmental and social assessment study of the Punjab Education Sector Reforms Program in a professional manner. Environs wish to convey their special thanks to officers and staff of the Program Monitoring and Implementation Unit of the Punjab Education Sector Reforms Program, School Education Department, District Governments’ Education Departments, and the District Monitoring Officers, particularly of the district surveyed during the study for providing requisite information / data and general help and support. Environs Study Team owes special thanks to Mr. Nadeem Ashraf, Secretary, School Education Department; Dr. Javaid Afzal, Environment Specialist, World Bank; Mr. Muhammad Omar Khalid, Environmental Consultant, World Bank; Mr. Muhammad Asif, Program Director, PESRP; and Mr. Suhail Raza, Deputy Program Director, PESRP for their guidance, help, and support, for sparing their valuable time, and for providing an enabling environment for completing this study in.
DISCLAIMER
This environmental and social assessment report of the activities of the Punjab Education Sector Reforms Program of the Government of the Punjab likely to impact the environment has been prepared in compliance to the Environmental laws of Pakistan and in conformity to the Operational Policy Guidelines of the World Bank. The report is Program specific and of limited liability and applicability to the extent of the physical activities under the PESRP only. All rights are reserved with the Proponent (PMIU, PESRP) and the Environmental Consultant (Environs). No part of this report can be reproduced, copied, published, transcribed in any manner, or cited in a context different from the purpose for which it has been prepared, except with the prior permission of the Program Director, PESRP.
EA & ESMF of The Punjab Education Sector Reforms Program (PESRP) Page 29
Environs – Lahore, 2009
Executive Summary
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This document is the environmental assessment (EA) study, which also focuses on environment related social issues relating to various activities under the Punjab Education Sector Reforms Program (PESRP) – an initiative of Government of Punjab for introducing holistic reforms in the education sector aimed at improving overall condition of education and sector’s service delivery. The report discusses the potential adverse environmental and social impacts of the Program and suggests appropriate guidelines in the form of an environmental and social management framework (ESMF) for avoiding or mitigating the significant impacts. Screening and assessment of the environmental impacts of developmental, constructional, and or infrastructural activities is a binding requirement under environmental laws of Pakistan. Applicability of the World Bank Safeguard Policies also extends to the Program for its being a Bank funded initiative.
Program Description
The Punjab Education Sector Reform Program (PESRP) was launched in 2003 by the Government of Punjab (GoPb) for improving the plight of education in the province. The PESRP employs a holistic, sector-wide, and program mode approach of developing well coordinated synergistic activities in a symbiotic environment because the piecemeal project mode approach had not been successful in the past. Under the program mode framework, the Provincial Government enters into “Terms of Partnership” agreements with the District Governments for providing tied budgetary grants, each year. The PESRP is designed to address the issues of access, governance, and quality, primarily in the public sector education. The Program has been successful in achieving the majority of its objectives like increased enrollment rate, reduced dropouts, provision of missing facilities, gender balance, provision of free textbooks, and reduced teachers’ absenteeism.
Study Objectives
The primary objective of the EA study is to address the significantly adverse environmental and social impacts of the PESRP. Some of the Program activities, particularly those relating to civil work, school operation, and provision of free textbooks to schoolchildren carry a potential of affecting the ambient environment and to produce adverse impacts of varying magnitude and significance. Screening, scoping, and assessment of the significant impacts and formulation of a study-based comprehensive framework for avoiding or averting the negative impacts, in a wide variety of differing conditions across the province, is yet another objective of the study.
Scope of the Study
The scope of the study entails assessment of the environmental and social impacts of PESRP activities throughout the geographical extent of the province of Punjab. However, impacts have been assessed in only a few districts of representative regional character from different geographical regions of the province. The study also assesses impacts of the Program activities during various implementation stages from planning and designing to construction and the post construction usage of the buildings. Examination of the adverse impacts relating to printing and distribution of free textbooks also comes within the study’s purview. Formulation of an ESMF, which also caters for social issues, also forms part of study’s chartered scope.
Study Methodology
The study relies both on primary and secondary data sources. However, greater reliance has been placed on primary sources, which include site visits, soliciting information from the key persons like construction contractors, school councils, parents, teachers, and the district administration. Stakeholders’ consultations and focused group meetings have also been used as a primary source to solicit viewpoint and knowing concerns of the stakeholders. A specially developed checklist has been used for collecting first hand information and for ascertaining disturbances to environmental parameters from Program’s implementation. A simplified impact assessment matrix has been used for characterization of the adverse impacts on selected parameters of the physical, biological, and social environments in the study area. Photographs, taken during field visits and surveys, have been used for explaining adverse impacts and for highlighting areas of concern. The secondary sources include office archives of the Education Department, files and papers of the PESRP, websites of the World Bank and the PESRP, and other indirect sources of information.
Significant Adverse Impacts
The majority of the Program activities are isolated small-scale activities at the individual school sites. Being of low-level and of short duration, they would hardly produce any impacts of high significance. The majority of the impacts during construction would be localized. They would relate to water quality, air quality, noise and vibrations, debris / solid waste generation, wastewater production, consumption of raw materials, worksite safety, and inconvenience to public from improper stockpiling of the materials, mostly in the immediate radius of influence of the individual sites. The impacts pertaining to school operation phase would relate to educational and cleanliness activities at the schools. They would include impacts from inadequate disposal and management of the toilet wastewater, and to some extent, unhygienic disposal of the solid waste. The significant impacts the textbook printing would pertain to usage of chemicals, inks, and paper of non-farm origin during the process of printing. The distributional activities would relate to improper storage and road traffic hazards.
Mitigation Measures
The report provides mitigation measures for each stage of activity. The design stage measures include provision of septic tank for toilet wastewater, convenient spatial placing of various structures and facilities, and provision of gadgets for special children. These construction stage measures include pre-emptory actions by the construction contractor to avoid the adverse impacts, for example, sheeting the stockpiled materials, limiting construction activities after school hours, and ensuring worksite safety. The mitigation measures relating to school operation include proper disposal of the solid waste, avoiding failure of septic tanks, and the drinking water quality check. The textbook printing and distribution measures include selection of an environment friendly printing house, avoiding usage of toxic chemicals and inks, periodic fumigation of the warehouses, and educating the schoolchildren in avoiding related impacts e.g., not to place wet eatables on the printed papers.
The Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF)
The Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF) provides a mechanism for implementing the preventive and the mitigation measures in the form of environmental guidelines. Its objective is to prevent and attenuate the adverse impacts to an acceptable level by adopting suitable administrative and or technical options. The key components of the ESMF include environmental guidelines for the architect / design engineer, construction contractor, and the focal persons.
An institutional setup has been provided for implementing the guidelines by designating focal persons at provincial, district, and school level. The focal persons will ensure upward and downward coordination, removal of bottlenecks, and maintaining a consolidated database. The District Monitoring Officer will ensure compliance of the guidelines and internal monitoring through his team of Monitoring and Evaluation Assistants (MEAs). The ESMF also provides internal and external monitoring mechanism to ensure observance of the guidelines and ESMF at various tiers. The MEAs, during their visits to schools in their beats, will also observe for environmental compliances by the construction contractor and the school head on a checklist proforma, especially developed for the purpose. Similarly, the heads of schools will also report over compliances both during construction and operation phases.
External monitoring in the form of an annual environmental audit will be outsourced to an environmental consultancy. The external monitoring will review the ESMF process, identify any environmental issues on ground, and offer recommendations for keeping the Program compatible with changing conditions.
In order to ensure temporal sustainability and successful implementation, the ESMF will have a component of training and capacity building of the key personnel. One- to three-days training workshops will be held in each district and at the provincial level respectively all during the Program’s currency. These workshops will be directed towards enhancing implementers’ understanding of the environmental and social issues of the Program. These will focus on apprising and sensitizing the participants about environmental and social importance of the Program, managing the on-ground problems in a befitting manner, and understanding implementation requirements of the ESMF. Whereas, district level workshops will focus mainly on implementation, the provincial level will relate to policy issues and troubleshooting strategies. Development of a training manual and selection of an environmental consultancy and resource persons will precede the workshops. It is envisaged that implementation of the ESMF would ensure the desired environmental performance of the Program.
ESMF Costs
The ESMF costs will pertain mainly to trainings and external monitoring. Five one-day workshops, each costing Rs. 0.4 million, and one three-day workshop, costing Rs. 1.2 million, will be held every year at district and provincial level respectively. Assuming that the WB’s funding is for three years, the approximate cost for three years under this head would be Rs. 9.6 million. There will be three rounds of annual external monitoring and environmental audit, each costing Rs. 1 million. Thus three years’ combined cost under both heads will be Rs. 12.6 million, say Rs. 13 million. This will be reflected in Program’s budget.
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Abbreviations
ADB / Asian Development BankC&W / Communication and Works
dB / Decibel
Deptt. / Department
DMO / District Monitoring Officer
EA / Environmental Assessment
EC / Environmental Coordinator
ED / Executive Director
EDO / Executive District Officer
EFP / Environmental Focal Person
EIA / Environmental Impact Assessment
EIAR / Environmental Impact Assessment Report
EIAS / Environmental Impact Assessment Statement
EIS / Environmental Impact Statement
EM / Environmental Modulator
ESMF / Environmental Management Framework
EMIS / Education Management Information System
EPA / Environmental Protection Agency
EPD / Environment Protection Department
ES / Environmental Study / Environmental Statement
ESN / Environmental Screening Note
FGM / Focussed Group Meetings
FMR / Farm to Market Road
GES / Government Elementary School
GGHS / Government Girls High School
GGPS / Government Girls Primary School
GHS / Government High School
GHSS / Government Higher Secondary School
GPS / Government Primary School
HRD / Human Resource Development
HRM / Human Resource Management
IBRD / International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
IEE / Initial Environmental Examination
IEER / Initial Environmental Examination Report
IEES / Initial Environmental Examination Statement
IUCN / International Union for Conservation of Nature
IWT / Indus Water Treaty
JICA / Japan International Cooperation Agency
Km / Kilometre
MDGs / Millennium Development Goals
MEA / Monitoring and Evaluation Assistant
MoU / Memorandum of Understanding
MSW / Municipal Solid Waste
MTBF / Medium Term Budgetary Framework
NEQS / National Environmental Quality Standards
NLC / National Logistic Corporation
NOC / No Objection Certificate
NWFP / North Western Frontier Province
OP / Operational Policy
PCMA / Post Completion Monitoring and Audit
PCO / PROGRAM Coordination Office
PD / PROGRAM Director
PEPA / Pakistan Environmental Protection Act
PESRP / Punjab Education Sector Reforms PROGRAM
PMIU / Project Monitoring and Implementation Unit
PPA / Post Project Auditing
PSDP / Public Sector Development PROGRAM
SMIS / School Management Information System
SPM / Suspended Particulate Matter
SW / Solid Waste(s)
TDS / Total Dissolved Solids
TSS / Total Suspended Solids
VOC / Volatile Organic Compounds
WB / World Bank
WHO / World Health Organization
WWF / World Wildlife Fund
EA & ESMF of The Punjab Education Sector Reforms Program (PESRP) Page 29
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Contents
CONTENTS
Section / Contents / Page No.Acknowledgment ...... / i
Disclaimer ...... / i
Executive Summary ...... / ii – iv
Abbreviations ...... / v – vi
Report Contents ...... / vii – ix
1. / INTRODUCTION / 1
1.1 / Rationale and Objectives of the Study ...... / 1
1.2 / Study’s Extent and Scope ...... / 1
1.3 / Study Methodology ...... / 1
1.4 / The Punjab Education Sector Reforms Program ...... / 2
1.4.1 / PESRP’s Strategy and Approach ...... / 2
1.4.2 / Program’s Objectives ...... / 2
1.4.3 / Program’s Achievements ...... / 2
1.4.4 / Physical Activities under the Program ...... / 3
1.4.5 / Staging of Program’s Developmental Activities ...... / 4
1.5 / Provision of Free Textbooks ...... / 4
2. / LEGISLATIVE AND REGULATORY OVERVIEW / 5
2.1 / The Pakistan Environmental Protection Act, 1997 ...... / 5
2.2 / The IEE/EIA Regulations, 2000 ...... / 5
2.3 / The Punjab Wildlife Act, 1974 ...... / 5
2.4 / Legislation relating to Cultural and Archaeological Heritage ...... / 7
2.5 / The World Bank Safeguard Policies ...... / 7
3. / BASELINE ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIOECONOMIC PROFILE / 11
3.1 / Geography ...... / 11
3.2 / Topography ...... / 11
3.3 / Geology ...... / 11
3.4 / Soil Morphology ...... / 12
3.5 / Seismology ...... / 12
3.6 / Surface Hydrology ...... / 12
3.7 / Groundwater ...... / 12
3.8 / Meteorology, Climate and Air Quality ...... / 13
3.9 / Forests, Habitat, and Ecologically Sensitive Areas ...... / 13
3.10 / Demographic Profile ...... / 14
3.11 / Land Use / Agricultural Profile ...... / 14
3.12 / Healthcare Facilities ...... / 15
3.13 / Educational Facilities ...... / 15
3.14 / Infrastructure Profile ...... / 15
3.15 / Socioeconomic Profile ...... / 16
3.16 / Labour and Employment ...... / 16
3.17 / Culture, Religion, and Customs ...... / 16
3.18 / Gender Issues ...... / 17
3.19 / Poverty ...... / 17
4. / STAKEHOLDERS CONSULTATIONS AND FOCUSSED GROUP MEETINGS / 22
4.1 / Rationale of Public Consultations ...... / 22
4.2 / Identification of Stakeholders and Mode of Consultations ...... / 22
4.3 / Objectives of the Stakeholders Consultations ...... / 22
4.4 / Stakeholders Consulted ...... / 22
4.5 / Issues Discussed ...... / 23
4.6 / Gist of the Outcome of Public Consultations ...... / 23
5. / THE ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL ASSESSMENT / 25
5.1 / Impact Assessment Methodology and Mitigation Strategy ...... / 25
5.2 / Soils and Lands ...... / 25
5.2.1 / Impacts ...... / 25
5.2.2 / Mitigations ...... / 25
5.3 / Surface Water Quality ...... / 26
5.3.1 / Impacts ...... / 26
5.3.2 / Mitigations ...... / 26
5.4 / Groundwater Quality ...... / 26
5.4.1 / Impacts ...... / 26
5.4.2 / Mitigations ...... / 27
5.5 / Air Quality ...... / 27
5.5.1 / Impacts ...... / 27
5.5.2 / Mitigations ...... / 27
5.6 / Noise and Vibration ...... / 28
5.6.1 / Impacts ...... / 28
5.6.2 / Mitigations ...... / 28
5.7 / Access, Easement, and Safety ...... / 28
5.7.1 / Impacts ...... / 28
5.7.2 / Mitigations ...... / 29
6. / ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK / 31
6.1 / Institutional Setup for ESMF Implementation ...... / 31
6.2 / Roles and Responsibilities of the Focal Persons ...... / 31
6.3 / The Environmental and Social Guidelines ...... / 32
6.4 / Internal Compliance Monitoring ...... / 32
6.5 / External Compliance Monitoring ...... / 32
6.6. / Trainings and Capacity Building ...... / 33
6.7 / Development of Training Manual ...... / 33
6.8 / ESMF Costs ...... / 33
References ...... / 46
TABLES