ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL INFORMATION
Applicable Policy. AIIB's Environmental and Social Policy (ESP), including the Environmental and Social Standards (ESSs) and the Environmental and Social Exclusion List (ESEL), applies to this Project. ESS 1 (Environmental and Social Assessment and Management), ESS 2 (Involuntary Resettlement), and ESS 3 (Indigenous People) are applicable, as land acquisition, civil works linked to the project activities and community health and safety issues related to noise, shadow flickering and blade throw during the operational phase is likely to cause permanent and temporary economic and physical displacement along with adverse environmental impacts. Along with being situated in a commune where Ethnic Minorities are present, the Project has also adversely impacted Ethnic Minorities in local project area. Therefore, the Project has been assigned Category "A," according to the ESP, because of physical and economic displacement and impact on vulnerable groups, including Ethnic Minorities.
Instruments. The Client has prepared an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA), and a Stakeholder Engagement Plan (SEP) however, as the documents were not in line with the requirements of AIIB's ESP and ESSs, a Corrective Environmental and Social Action Plan (CESAP) was prepared to address the major gaps following AIIB's ESP and ESSs. The CESAP describes the environmental and social (E&S) mitigation, monitoring, and organizational measures to be implemented by the Client. In addition, the CESAP will support addressing outstanding issues at the time of the approval of the financing in a timely and appropriate manner and implementation of AIIB’s ESP, ESSs, and ESEL, as well as relevant applicable local laws and regulations and good industry practice. CESAP comprises of a number of E&S related issues and includes corresponding actions, deliverables, and timeframe. Specifically, the CESAP requires the Client to prepare a tailored Stakeholder Engagement Plan (SEP), Land Acquisition Audit and Socioeconomic Census Report, Resettlement and Livelihood Restoration Plan and Community Development Plan (RLR-CDP), Biodiversity Management Plan and Birds Adaptive Management Plan, Noise Management Plan, Environmental and Social Management Plan (ESMP), Operational Manual, Shadow Flickering Management Plan, Third Party GRM review report and regular Quarterly Monitoring report. The timing of the implementation of the mitigation is also outlined in the CESAP.
Environment. The Project is expected to generate direct and indirect adverse impacts on biodiversity during construction, operation, maintenance, and decommissioning, manifested through dust emissions, habitat fragmentation, noise, solid waste, wastewater, etc. The major impacts include bird and bat collision-related fatalities, noise, and shadow flickering during the operational phase. In addition, the location of operational turbines may represent a barrier to migratory species. Adverse impacts can also result from associated facilities, particularly overhead transmission lines and access roads. This Project is part of the wind energy development that involves other wind power plants in the same region, and it can cause cumulative impacts. These impacts are assessed in the ESIA, and appropriate mitigation measures are included in the ESMP and the CESAP.
Social. This is a refinancing project and all civil works have been completed, and out of the thirty turbines five are currently in operation. However, the land use rights certificate (LURC) transfer for the acquired land and the associated payments to the affected parties are incomplete. The Project is likely to have generated various adverse social impacts from land acquisition, and construction of WTGs and associated infrastructure such as transmission lines, access, and internal roads. The Project has already caused (potentially) physical and economic displacement of households, community property resources and businesses with and without title. Disproportionate effects on vulnerable groups, including women, the elderly, PWDs, economically vulnerable, and Ethnic Minorities are likely. Negative impacts linked with Community health and safety will potentially include physical and economic displacement of residential structures falling within the designated setback zone from the turbine. To mitigate the Project’s adverse impacts including solving potential legacy issues, the CESAP requires the Client to carry out a Land Acquisition Audit and Socioeconomic Census and prepare and implement a Resettlement, Livelihood Restoration, and Community Development Plan (RLRCDP). Meaningful and culturally appropriate consultation will be carried out to design the mitigation measures.
Consultations, information disclosure, and monitoring. The Client prepared a SEP; however, it was limited in its coverage, and COVID-19 related restrictions stunted the ability of the client to carry out culturally appropriate meaningful consultations with various stakeholders. The CESAP requires the Client to prepare and implement an updated Stakeholder Engagement Plan (SEP) inclusive of a communication plan – to manage the E&S information disclosure to relevant stakeholders, including ethnic minorities and local CSOs/NGOs, on time. Preparing the draft SEP will involve meaningful consultation and communication with ethnic minorities and vulnerable groups, carried out in the language(s) used by the ethnic minorities. The SEP aims to provide an avenue through which various stakeholders can obtain information regarding project design and implementation, risks, impacts, mitigation measures, and culturally appropriate development benefits, as well as a project-level grievance redress mechanism (GRM) to raise their concerns and aspirations. E&S instruments in English will be disclosed timely on AIIB’s website and Project company’s website by the Client at least 60 calendar days prior to approval of project financing. Translations of executive summaries of E&S instruments, in particular ESIA including ESMP, SEP, RLRCDP, and CESAP, will be promptly disclosed in English and Vietnamese by the client and AIIB. The Client will be required to prepare and submit quarterly monitoring E&S reports to AIIB during the first two years for review. After that, a new submission Frequency will be decided depending on the nature of pending E&S issues and the overall ES performance status of the Project. AIIB will conduct onsite supervision missions bi-annually.
Grievance Redress Mechanism (GRM). Currently no community or workers GRM at the project-level in line with AIIB’s ESF is in place. The CESAP includes provisions to establish and operationalize community and workers GRM, provide dedicated personnel to manage the GRM process and to make the GRM more accessible to the project-affected peoples (PAPs), many of whom are Ethnic Minorities. Moreover, a third-party review of the existing GRM process will be carried out focusing on accessibility, responsiveness, adequacy and management and closing of outstanding issues. The third party review will be completed and the enhancement to the GRM process will be made prior to AIIB’s board’s consideration of the project. The information of established GRMs and the PPM of AIIB in local understandable language(s) will be timely disclosed to related local stakeholders in particular identified vulnerable group and the ethnic minorities. The Project quarterly monitoring reports will include performance assessment of the GRM.
