ADB Nepal, North South Fast Track Road Project

The Government of Nepal (GON) received Technical Assistance (TA4842-NEP) from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to investigate the feasibility of improving road links from Kathmandu to the East-West Highway (EWH, Mahendra Highway). The improvements to the North-South corridor strengthen the road network to and from major economic activity centres in Nepal and neighbouring countries and provide faster travel connecting Kathmandu to the East-West Highway further south near Nijgadh. The Project, known as the North-South Fast Track Road project (or KTFT project) required EIA because KTFT is new and required more than 5ha of forest to be felled in the alignment and it has project costs of more than NRs250 million. The Feasibility Study was divided into two Phases. Phase 1 included the study of various alignments and set out the advantages and disadvantages of each alignment based on multiple criteria to allow GON to select the most suitable design and alignment. Phase 1 included analysis of the financial implications, standards, social and environmental impacts and the operational and maintenance requirements for each alignment. Phase 1 also addressed design standards, toll systems, access control and organizational structure to manage and operate the KTFT as a first-class road. The environmental work stream commenced in 2007 with assessment of alignment options. A preferred alignment was chosen by GON in October 2007 and environmental work stream continued in parallel with the engineering feasibility study during 2008. The environmental assessment criteria for option evaluation included: (i) number of settlements and households near the alignment; (ii) Km of road running in the Parsa Wildlife Reserve Buffer Zone; (iii) geological faults, water bearing rocks and water management impacts; (iv) need for blasting in hard rock and ends of tunnels; (v) earthworks and total m3 materials to be shifted; (vi) volume [m3] of rock based materials for disposal; (vii) km of alignment in forest disturbing habitats; (viii) impacts on rivers number and km of bridges constructed; (ix) minimizing surface disruption – tunnels and km of road constructed and (x) emissions during operation (NOISE & AIR QUALITY based on likely traffic. The environmental regulations of the GON required an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) under the requirements of the Environmental Protection Regulations (EPR 1997, as amended) and the assessment also met the safeguard requirements of ADB. Dr Green was the Environmental Team Leader advising the Bank’s South Asia Department SATC and providing EIA and broad brush identification of resettlement issues and other due diligence for the technical assistance. The overall objective of the Project provides faster travel along the challenging north south route. The project covers 100km of new highway. Tasks- leading the environmental work stream, key environmental multi criteria analysis for selection of route options. Key issue was avoidance of Biodiversity Protected Areas. Compiling EIA and IEE in line with ADB environmental guidelines and Nepal’s Environmental Protection Rules. EIA and EMP for monitoring the construction and operation of the facilities will also be completed to provide guidance to the Bank based on the inclusion of internationally recognized criteria and ADB standards.