ESMF - Electricity Network Reinforcement and Expansion Project

ESMF - Electricity Network Reinforcement and Expansion project.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Introduction

The purpose of this Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF) is to clarify the policies, principles and procedures that will govern the mitigation of adverse environmental and social impacts induced by the Electricity Network Reinforcement and Expansion project (ENREP).

It is found useful to have a policy document establishing principles and procedures that will govern the mitigation of adverse environmental and social impacts induced by the Electricity Network Reinforcement and Expansion projectoperations, to share with various stakeholders in the power sector.

The project components under the Electricity Network Reinforcement and Expansion project are:

1. Upgrading Power Transmission Line project,

1. New Expansion Power Transmission Projects, and

1. Rural Electrification Access Project.

The Upgrading Power Transmission Line is not expected to induce significant environmental and social impacts because the upgrading and reinforcement of high voltage transmission lines and substations will take place on existing power system facilities and no major construction work is intended in this project component.

The purpose of the second component, New Expansion of Power Transmission Project, is to provide electric services to different towns and cities by construction of transmission lines and substations in different parts of the country. Electric power transmission lines are linear facilities in nature that may have some effect on biophysical and socio economic environment including cultural resources. As a linear facility, the impacts of transmission line are mostly localized to the Right-of-Way (ROW). The impact can be minimized through careful route selection. The project will be implemented in different parts of the country and the exact project location is not known at this stage therefore, EEPCo will be able to produce generic environmental and social management framework at this stage.

The main purpose of the third component, Rural Electrification Access Project, is to provide electric power to rural towns and villages by low and medium voltage distribution lines. Since distribution line follows the existing road structure no major adverse impact is expected.

The rationale for preparing this ESMF is that:

a) Most of the Project components are not expected to have significant environmental and social impacts. However, since one cannot be sure whether environmental impacts will or will not occur in all the project components, it is proposed that precautionary measures be taken to ensure that planned activities do not impose environmental impacts or negatively affect livelihoods of the surrounding population.

b)EEPCo found it useful to have a policy document establishing principles and procedures that will govern the mitigation of adverse environmental and social impacts induced by the Project operation to share with various stakeholders in the power sector, and

c)Ensure that investments are carried out in an environmentally and socially friendly and sustainable manner.

Thus, this ESMF will be used for the Project components under the Electricity Network Reinforcement and Expansion project.

The safeguard category of the project is B since there are no significant and/or irreversible adverse environmental and social issues in components financed under the project. The project upgrades the existing transmission line network in selected cities and rehabilitates existing substations which have saturated their capacity to supply additional load.

The Implementing Agency

Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) is the implementing agency under the Ministry of Water and Energy (MoWE).

Legal and Institutional Framework

There is sufficient legal and administrative ground considered, in this Framework document, for environmental and social management in the process of implementation of development projects.

The Framework considers both the Ethiopian and the World Bank (WB) legal documents and guidelines.

The Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) has adequate provisions on environmental and compensation aspects. Based on the Constitution, the Environmental Policy of Ethiopia, Proclamations on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Pollution Control, Land Expropriation and Compensation and others have been issued to strengthen the sporadic efforts of environmental protection in a coordinated and standardized manner. In addition, Sectoral Environmental Guidelines and Manuals have started to be produced in different sectors and the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) is part of this endeavor.

The WB’s Policies, specifically the Safeguard Policies and the updates have been made use of for the preparation of this Framework document. The Policies include those on Environmental Assessment (EA), Involuntary Resettlement, and Physical Cultural Resources.

Concerning the institutional arrangement, the Government of the FDRE has established the Federal Environmental Protection Authority (FEPA) along with Regional Environmental Bureaus and it is under process to realize the establishment of Environmental Units within sectoral ministries and organizations. Ministry of Water and Energy has established Environmental Monitoring Unit and EEPCo’s Power System Planning comprises Environmental and Social Experts to address Environmental and Social issues in its activities.

Project Description

The Electricity Network Reinforcement and Expansion project would have four major Components:

1. Upgrading Power Transmission projects,

1. New Expansion Power Transmission Project, and

1. Rural Electrification Access Project.

1. The Upgrading Power Transmission Line projects focuses on upgrading the high voltage Transmission line and substations in the northern, eastern, western, southern and central part of the country with the following major interventions:

• Line Stringing on existing steel towers.

• Erection of substation equipments.

Substations upgrading and rehabilitation aims at rehabilitating and upgrading of existing substations to enhance reliability of the transmission system and the capacity of the substations to new connections.

2New Expansion Power Transmission Project: Under this project component transmission lines with different capacities (400 kV, 230 kV, 132 kV and 66 kV) intended to be constructed. The project will be implemented in different parts of the country.

The major works in this project component are:

• Transmission Line stringing,

• Erection of transmission steel towers, and

• Erection of substations

Under this project component there are substations construction works. Substations with different capacity are intended to be constructed in different parts of the country. The main works in this project component will be civil works and installation of substation equipments.

3. Rural Electrification Access Project: is a project under the Universal Electrification Access program (UEAP) is designed to enable towns and villages to have access to electric supply through low and medium voltage distribution lines.

The key components of rural electrification include the following:

• Erection of concrete poles,

• Stringing of overhead medium and low voltage distribution lines, and

• Installation of pole mounted distribution transformers at the towns/villages/load centers

Baseline Environment

Ethiopia is sub-divided into nine Regional Administrations and two Metropolitan City Administrations under the Federal Government. However, the Regions do not have the same environment. The country has topographic and altitudinal diversity, different climate, vegetation, wildlife, geology, human settlement and occupation.

The target sites where the project components are planned to take place have different topography and climate.

Analysis of Alternatives

Do Nothing Option

Under the “do nothing” option, overloading and increasing unreliability of the transmission system will lead to consumers opting for additional or alternative energy sources. For businesses, this would lead to the installation of diesel generators at a direct cost to the economy and increasing the reliance on fossil fuels.

At the household level, many of the smaller households still rely on fuel wood for cooking and heating. Any further degradation in services will escalate this demand, putting ever greater pressure on the woodlots and natural forest supplying in the major urban centers.

Alternative Energy Sources

The New expansion, upgrading and rehabilitation of the existing system does not preclude the introduction of alternative or supplementary energy sources or energy saving technology. However, at present there are no widely or economically available systems that can entirely replace the existing system at household level or industrial level.

Rural Electrification Project

Do Nothing Option

The present pattern of rural energy consumption system will continue with increasing environmental and social costs, as wood fuel becomes rare and therefore more difficult to obtain. This is not considered to be the best option.

Diesel Generation

Another alternative would be to install diesel generators in rural centers. This has been done in some villages/towns with specific requirements, and will continue to be an option considered for more remote areas where the cost of installing distribution lines would be too expensive.

However, the economic (operating or long-run) costs of diesel generation would be higher than the proposed ICS.

In addition, diesel generation relies largely on the continued importation of fossil fuels, contributes to increasing road traffic through fuel deliveries and has other negative impacts including air pollution through emission of toxic substances (with long life) into the atmosphere.

Diesel generation is also not that friendly due to its noise pollution.

Strategic Environmental Impact

The project components are formulated to provide to the communities in the country with reliable electric supply at low cost.

Positive Impacts

The Access Expansion and Reinforcement of Electricity Network project

The Access Expansion and Reinforcement of Electricity Network projectis a development project designed for the benefit of the population of the country, and is likely to have the following overall positive impacts:

• Relieve pressure on biomass resource of the country and thereby reduce the loss of the biodiversity by providing alternative and reliable source of energy.

• Improve access to social services (education, health, water supply, etc).

• Stimulate economic development, and

• Provide job opportunities thereby creating income generation means for the respective communities in the project areas.

Negative Impacts

Electricity Network Reinforcement and Expansion project

As a result of the planned new construction activities, potential negative environmental impacts are likely to occur and the impacts may include initiation and aggravation of soil erosion, loss of vegetation, air, and water and soil pollution.

These are however preventable, manageable and reversible.

During the construction works, dust emission may be produced. Similarly, noise pollution arising from construction works may disturb the neighboring communities and local fauna temporarily.

The major negative impacts anticipated in this regard include expropriation of land along the transmission, distribution route lines and power substations. That is, the farmers and urban dwellers may lose their crops, houses, and other properties temporarily or permanently.

Although it is proposed that it would follow as much as possible, the existing road network, the transmission lines and distribution lines (in the case of rural electrification) may traverse, in some cases, looking for shorter distances, which affect culturally sensitive sites like graveyards, archaeological sites, etc.

The existence of PCB chemicals in transformers and capacitors, as one of the environmental impacts is also anticipated during the project life. Disposal of old transformers containing PCB will be handled in accordance with national and international guidelines.

Proposed Mitigation Measures

Upgrading and Rehabilitating the Power Transmission System

To mitigate impacts arising as a result of the project and sub-projects, the Project will take the following measures:

• Influence the adaptation of a transmission and distribution line route with minimum effect on the bio-physical as well as the socio economic and cultural environment;

• Ensure the safe disposal of chemically treated poles at its storage facilities;

• Safe disposal of transformers that may contain PCBs;

• Employ and deploy manual labor to maintain the access roads and right-of-ways, as appropriate;

• Regularly monitor the process of upgrading and rehabilitation works of substations to avoid any oil or waste water leakages;

• Include Environmental Clauses for Contractors (Annex) in the contract documents and monitor their implementation;

• The compensation for land and properties will be implemented as per Proclamation No. 455/2005;

• Project affected people will be consulted and be involved in decision-making at different stages of the Project;

• PCB-free transformers and capacitors will be ordered and the import process be followed strictly prior to project implementation; and

• Route alignment should avoid cultural sensitive areas during surveying and inform the Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural heritage (ARRCH) upon discovery of ancient heritage, relics or anything that might or believed to be of archeological or historical importance during the execution of works.

Environmental Cost Estimate

The total budget cost for environmental and social monitoring, compensation payment, consultancy service for the preparation of RAP and ESIA (where it is required) for project components, and cost for capacity building/training for the environmental and social experts of EEPCO is about USD 1,849,937.00

(Birr 32,338,193.72). The cost estimates are based on the past experience of EEPCo’S transmission line and rural electrification projects.

The estimated cost for environmental monitoring, escalating and updating from 2010 cost, is about USD 25,000.00 (Birr 437,017.50) and this is assumed to enable the Environmental and Social Experts of EEPCo to conduct periodic monitoring works on project sites.

The training cost is derived from the Energy Access Project financed by the WB and adding inflation rate.

The cost breakdown for the project presented below.

No. / Compensation Items / Cost in USD / Cost in Birr
1 / Monitoring cost / 25,000.00 / 437,017.50
2 / Consultant Fee / 400,441.63 / 7,000,000.00
3 / Training cost / 239,960.01 / 4,194,668.95
4 / Compensation payment / 986,327.82 / 17,241,700.31
Sub Total / 1,651,729,.46 / 28,873,387.17
5 / Administration cost/2% of total cost/ / 33,034.59 / 577,467.76
6 / Contingency cost/10% of the total cost/ / 165,172.95 / 2,887,338.79
Sub Total / 198,207.54 / 3,464,806.54
Total / 1,849,937.00 / 32,338,193.72

EEPCo, Power System Planning /PSP/ December 2011Page 1