PROJETO CAPIBARIBE MELHOR

CAPIBARIBE MELHOR PROJECT

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

INVOLUNTARY SETTLEMENT POLICY

DECEMBER 2005

Presentation

The Conceptual Framework of the Involuntary Resettlement Policy for the Capibaribe Melhor Projecthas been draftedby the MunicipalPrefecture of the City of Recife.The resettlement policy reflects the commitment of our policies overall to “care for people” and to “undertakeactions to provide for a better life”. Municipal policy regarding resettlement is in line with the Resettlement Policy of the World Bank (OP 4.12 of 22 June 1999) and mirrors experiences that the Prefecture has had with similar projects.

The interventions planned for the Capibaribe Melhor Project closely follow the fundamental principles of urban policy as set forth in the Recife Master Plan which determines that “the social function of the City of Recife is to ensure peoples’ right of access to urban land, housing, sanitation, transport, health, education, social assistance, leisure, employment and income as well as to public spaces, urban amenities and services, and to enjoy the environmental and cultural assets of our city”.

Regardless of the obvious benefits that the proposed interventions will bring to the population resident in the area covered by the Project, especially in those areas that will be upgraded, the possible negative effects inherent in involuntary population resettlement must be taken into account. These include loss of day-to-day contact with neighbors, relatives, support and solidarity networks.The people who are resettled are likely to have to face a different socio-cultural dynamic and perhaps even higher financial outgoings (eg: taxes and miscellaneous charges)than those previously experienced.

In order to abate the above-mentioned situation,actions are required to ensure, insofar as possible, that the right conditions exist for reconstructing people’s habitat and affording the resettled population an improved quality of life.

Based upon IBRD experiences with relocation and resettlement, initially with respect to large-scale water projects (dams)and more recently with the urban space, certain rules and guidelines involving relocation/involuntary resettlement need to be complied with as a condition for the granting of loans. The operational directive of the World Bank on resettlement sets out the three main instruments required for assessing funding requests for projects involving relocation. These are as follows:

  • A Resettlement Plan ;
  • A Summary Resettlement Plan;
  • A Resettlement Policy Conceptual Framework.

Any investment project to be financed by the World Bank involving relocation calls for a Conceptual Framework and a Resettlement Plan to be a part of the project preparation process.In the event of the investment project involving smaller-scale relocation, the Bank is prepared to accept Summary Resettlement Plans.

In the case of the Capibaribe Melhor Project, it was decided to draw up the Resettlement Policy Conceptual Framework because at this particular stage of the program - when documents are being prepared dealing with the concept of the Capibaribe Melhor Project - the basic and executive projects of the interventions are not yet available.These are keyelements of a Resettlement Plan and will only be developed after the IBRD has approved the Program.

The present text was therefore drafted with the above-mentioned observations and requirements in mind. The document will address, among other things, the following:

  • The process of elaboration and approval of resettlement plans;
  • A definition of the categories of people to be relocated;
  • Eligibility criteria for resettlement;
  • Criteria governing the different alternatives for resettlement compensation and the applicable procedures;
  • The referential compensatory credits and compensation options for resettlers ;
  • The mechanisms for dealing with complaints and grievances;
  • The institutional responsibilities for following-up the process of relocation and resettlement.

Following approval of the Capibaribe Melhor Project and the conclusion of the basic and executive projects in the intervention areas, the Prefecture of Recife will proceed during the first year to formulate the Involuntary Resettlement Plan.

Index

1.The Capibaribe Melhor Project:Principles and procedures to be adopted......

2.THE CAPIBARIBE MELHOR PROJECT – SYNTHESIS......

2.1.OBJECTIVES......

2.1.1.General Objective......

2.1.2.Specific Objectives

2.2.COMPONENTS OF THE PROGRAM......

3.Objectives of the relocation/resettlement measures of the Capibaribe MelhorProject

4.Elaboration and approval of the resettlement plans ......

5.Estimated number of people to be relocated and definition of the categories of resettlers

5.1.Estimated number of affected people ......

5.2.Profile of the resettlers

5.3.Definition of the categories of resettlers

6.Compensation for resettlers:eligibility criteria

7.Legislation, the Borrower’s rules and the Bank’s requirements

8.COMPENSATION POLICY

8.1.CONSIDERATIONS

8.1.1.Considerations - Losses

8.1.2.Considerations–Different situations

8.2.METHODOLOGY

8.2.1.Compensation Options

8.2.1.1.Option - Resettlement

8.2.1.2.Option - Indemnity

8.3.Compensation Policy (Chart)

9.Procedures for awarding compensation for losses

10.Action Plan

10.1.Institutional Matrix

10.2.Schedule of Activities

10.3.Budget

10.4.FUNDING SOURCE

11.MONITORING

1.THE Capibaribe Melhor PROJECT:PRINCIPLES AND PROCEDURES TO BE ADOPTED

The nature of the interventions flowing from implementation of the integrated urbanization works associated with the Capibaribe MelhorProject will require people to be relocated.The circumstances that make relocation under the aegis of the project necessary are as follows:

  • Areas of disorderly occupation (informal settlements, slums etc) without sufficient space for rational implementation of basic infrastructure or social amenities;
  • Invaded areas occupying spaces earmarked for public use (major local thoroughfares etc);
  • Invaded/occupied areas in the valley bottom considered by environmental law to be preservation zones;
  • Areas with unacceptable housing densities or with housing units at risk (ie: from landslides, flooding and unstable foundations);
  • Settlements located in areas directly obstructing a specific urban project (eg: roads/streets).

Actions that involve relocation and resettlement 1 of people involve the need for interventions in the social structure of the affected people (AP). The Resettlement Policy to be adopted by the Capibaribe MelhorProject will be based upon the following principles which take people’s wellbeing into account:

  • To reduce the number of relocationsto the absolute minimum;
  • To resettle people preferably in the area subject to urban intervention or in nearby areas, thereby enabling AP to retain their social and neighborhood links;
  • To ensure improvements in,or at least the maintenance of, living conditions as well as the incomes/productivity of families subject to relocation;
  • To compensate or to replace losses of assets etc;
  • To ensure the participation of those affected by relocation in the design, planning and execution of the resettlement arrangements;
  • To ensure that relocated families are provided with assistance.

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1. In the interests of uniformity the Capibaribe Melhor Projectwill adopt the terms “relocation” and “resettlement” in the following way: (i) relocation = the act or effect of removing people and their belongings from the place where they are currently living; and (ii) resettlement = the act or effect of installing displaced people in another locality.

2.CAPIBARIBE MELHOR PROJECT– SYNTHESIS

2. 1. OBJECTIVES

2.1.1.General Objective

The general objective of the Capibaribe MelhorProject is to establish conditions for the urban and socio-economic development of the inhabitants of the Capibaribe River Basin situated downstream of the BR-101 highway (as far as Agamenon Magalhães Avenue), through the elaboration and implementation of integrated land urbanization projects,social and economic development of the area – together with institutional development. The overall aim is to reduce local inequalities .

2.1.2. Specific Objectives

  • To encourage the collective public use of the banks of the CapibaribeRiver by forginglinks between the river, the city and its citizens;
  • To increase access by the population to urban infrastructure and essential services such as sanitation;
  • To reduce environmental degradation of the canals and of the CapibaribeRiver itself caused by inappropriate use (sewage and garbage disposal) and human occupation of the river banks;
  • To promote the physical integration of the left and right banks of the CapibaribeRiver on the widest stretch of its basin in the city of Recife, generally improving the accessibility and mobility of the population;
  • To improve social, economic and environmental conditions of the low-income population groups that live in the CapibaribeRiver Basin, with a view to ensuring the sustainability of their development ;
  • To reduce the shortcomings of the Prefecture in the management, monitoring and evaluation of public services, including those concerned with environmental questions;
  • To upgradethe performance of departments within the Prefecture with a view to enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of management, execution and monitoring functions related to Project interventions.

2.1.3. COMPONENTS of the PROGRAM

The Project comprises three macro-components:

  1. Integrated Urbanization: This macro-component aims to provide a better quality of urban space along the CapibaribeRiver by creating and recoveringthe physical infrastructure associated with leisure, sanitation, macro and micro drainage, access and mobility.
  2. Social and economic development: The aim of this macro-component is to foster the development of participatory and economically entrepreneurial communities, and at the same time to instill in these communities the need to preserve and conserve the natural and built environment in places where they live and, by extension, throughout the city of Recife.
  3. Institutional Development: This macro-component consists of a series of actions targeted on assisting the various departments within the Prefecture of Recife with direct responsibilities in the field of action of thisProjectto exercise their functions more efficiently and effectively. The component will include efforts to upgrade personnel training in a number of thematic areas of interest to the Project, the upgrading of working practices, the strengthening of environmental inspection capacities and the carrying out of specific studies. The basic aims are to reinforce municipal institutions by upgrading their modus operandi and enhancing the performance quality of the technical team and the Prefecture’s information systems.

The activities involved in each macro-component are described in the following chart:

3. objectives of the relocation/resettlement measures OF the Capibaribe melhor project

The interventions proposed by the Capibaribe Melhor Project aim to forgebetter integration between the two banks of the Capibaribe River and to improve the quality of life of people living in a substantial area along the river through improvement of their housing conditions, environmental sanitation, accessibility/mobility and access to leisure areas.

In order to achieve the aforementioned objectives,the Programaims to implement small and medium scale projects which will require new space - given the lack of availability of appropriate areas within the city of Recife, all of which are now occupied by the ‘formal’ and ‘informal’ city.

Interventions to provide integrated sanitation in poor areas (water, sewage and local streets/roads) are likely to lead to the highest number of relocations precisely because the interventions will be applied to extremely dense non-urbanized areas. However, the relocations are of vital importance if we are subsequently to take forward actions/activities essential for improving the quality of life of the poor areas concerned. The purpose of the interventions is not to demolish all the dwellings in a specific area and to reconstruct them in the same place according to conventional urbanistic standards. On the contrary, street surfacing, reducing population density, eliminating risk situations and opening up spaces for public amenities will take into account maximum preservation of the existing housing stock as well as the special characteristics of the locality.

In the area of macro-drainage, families subject to relocation are currently living in a permanent conservation area (APP), over watercourses or canals. For the canalsto be appropriately treated, these families will have to be moved. It is important to emphasize that the majority of the canals are within poor areas where public sanitation facilities will be established.

The implementation of the road/street system, on the other hand, will affect a far smaller number of families compared with those affected by integrated drainage and sanitation measures. The relocations will take place only in the areas where the geometric project is genuinely not able to adjust the plan to avoid affecting family homes.

A Resettlement Plan will be executed during the first year of the Project. This will establish for each individual area the number of families that are to be relocated and the type and location of the new housing to which they will be relocated, as well as a schedule and procedure for relocation and resettlement. Total or partial losses of assets and non-measurable losses such as kinshipand close ties with neighbors (relationships which often help to increase family income through child-minding etc) and the loss or reconstitution of the clientele of a particular commercial outlet, will be compensated for in line with the Compensation Policy established by the Capibaribe Melhor Project.The compensatory measures will aim to create living and production/income conditions that are either better than, or equal to, those experienced by AP before relocation.

Resettlement will be preferably carried out in the same urbanistic intervention area depending on availability of spare urban spaces and will aim to preserve social networks and enhance neighborhood relationships.

For economic and social reasons, and given the scarcity of vacant urban spaces that could be productively used by the Capibaribe Melhor Project, the relocation of families will be reduced to an absolute minimum. The RecifePrefecture has had experience of similar exercises: for example, of the 53,000 families benefited by PREZEIS, only 4,600 (around 8.6% of the total) needed to be relocated as the result of extreme situations (dwelling units on the edges of canals, invasions in the vicinity of main roads etc). In such cases it was necessary to resettle as many as 80% of the familiessurviving in these conditions.

4. ELABORATION AND APPROVAL OF RESETTLEMENT PLANS

The aim is to develop the ‘Capibaribe Melhor Project Resettlement Plan’ during the first year, taking account of specific interventions or the overall group of interventions. It has been suggested that plans should be executed on an intervention-by- intervention basis in order to avoid impeding the generalimplementation schedule of the Project. Whatever methodology is adopted must be participatory. The 3 steps established for drawing up these plans and the corresponding activities that will define the resettlement process of the affected population are as follows:

  • The preparation and application of socio-economic census registers together with property valuation and expropriation/compensation registers;
  • The elaboration of resettlement proposals;
  • Interaction with the affected families and social preparation at different stages of the planning process.

In the course of the elaboration of the socio-economic diagnosis of the intervention area, a census will be taken of the population residing there, containing two detailed sections:

  • A registerlisting all the residents/occupants and identifying all occupied buildings on the basis of a cadastral map.This list will contain the name and identification of the head of the family and record details of other family members.This part of the register aims to provide a snapshot of the occupation of the area while the Resettlement Plans are being drawn up.Official ‘Cadastral Notices’ will subsequently be affixed to the properties in question.
  • A complete ‘socio-economic register’confined to the people who will probably be affected by relocation. Bearing in mind that this register can be drawn up before drafting of the basic engineering projects,it is likely that it will be necessary to return to the area to finalize it once the basic engineering projects become available.

Immediately after the above registers arecompleted, the pending asset losses (based on property valuation) will be assessed and negotiations will proceed with the community both on a collective basis (through local community representatives)and with the AP (on an individual basis). These discussions will center on the options open to people before resettlement gets under way. People that are not affected by relocation but who are interested in moving to another neighborhood and/or municipality will also be identified. The local Capibaribe Melhor team will try to match people interested in moving with those people affected by relocation, which will effectively make property swaps or exchangesa further alternative for attending to the needs of the resettlers.

The Resettlement Plan can be completed after finalization of the basic engineering problems and could well undergo a number of adjustments during execution of the works. It is possible that fewer people may be affected than originally forecast.

Adjustments in the course of the execution of the works calls for the appropriate registers to be thoroughly up-to-date and the property valuations made available.Negotiations with the AP regarding compensation alternatives will also need to be taken into account.These adjustments will nothowever affect the essence of the Resettlement Plan.

Chart 1:Elaboration and Approval of Resettlement Plans

Steps in the basic schedule for the elaboration and implementation of the Resettlement Plan / Activities regarding the planning and implementation of the Resettlement Plan
Step 1- Assembling Information /
  • Analysis of cartography, aerial photographs and other relevant information identifying buildings in risk areas, invasions in spaces earmarked for infrastructural work and other situations calling for relocation;
  • Identification of spaces that could be used for resettlement.

Step 2 -Contact with the community to prepare the Participatory Planning Process /
  • Information provided to the population regarding the resettlement policy adopted by the Capibaribe MelhorProject;
  • Information given to the community regarding the situations that have been identified and that call for relocation.

Step 3 -Workshops /
  • Negotiation of a consensus regarding the relocation decisions.

Step 4 -Finalization of the diagnosis of the intervention area /
  • Socio-economic survey and assembling a property registry of the properties and their occupants who will probably be affected by relocation (preliminary register);
  • Consulting the population about their preferences with relation to relocation alternatives, in order to obtain an idea of their requirements and the measures that need to be adopted. The residents identified in the preliminary register will be interviewed. At the same time, the residents interested in moving home (swaps) will also be identified;
  • Notarial searches and valuations of the properties affected and of the land that could be utilized for resettlement to be undertaken;
  • Drafting of the expropriation instruments;
  • Survey of the property market.

Step 5 -General Planning Workshop
(proposals) /
  • Presentation of urbanistic solutions for resettlement;
  • Discussion of the different types of compensation alternatives with the community, including clarification of the criteria adopted;
  • negotiation and operationalizationof adjustments agreed with the community

Step 6 - Elaboration of Preliminary Plans (Pre-plans) /
  • Elaboration of a preliminary Resettlement Plan

Step 7 - Discussion of the preliminary plans with the community /
  • Discussion of the preliminary resettlement plan with representatives from the community and likely AP.

Step 8 - Completion of the Intervention Plan /
  • Finalization of the register of resettlers (definitive register) and an evaluation/assessment of losses; finalization of the consultationexercise with AP regarding their compensation preferences;
  • Finalizing the Resettlement Plan;
  • Presentation and approval of the resettlement plan ( UGP Capibaribe Melhor Project, leaders/interlocutors from the community);
  • Acquisition/expropriation of areas earmarked for resettlement.

Step 9 - Implementation of the Intervention Plan /
  • All residents to be affected by the Plan to be invited to sign individual Terms of Acceptance regarding relocation compensation;
  • Contracts let out for building housing units;
  • Formation of self-build groups (Operação Trabalho) and the definition of the follow-up procedures to be undertaken during execution of the works;
  • Follow-up of the process of property acquisition /swapping/ renting;
  • Indemnity payment process;
  • Assistance for families during the resettlement process.

Evaluation /
  • Follow-up of the resettled families over one-year;
  • Final evaluation of the resettlement process.

ESTIMATED POPULATION TO BE RELOCATED AND DEFINITION OF THE CATEGORIES OF RESETTLERS