Moldova Road Rehabilitation Project

complete

The proposed project consists of a sovereign loan of up to EUR 30 million to the Government of Moldova to co-finance the rehabilitation of approximately 200 km of main road sections located on Moldova’s north-south and east-west road axes. The Project will also support reform of road sector financing and institutional strengthening aimed at improving the capacity of the State Road Administration (“SRA”) to manage and maintain the road network under its responsibility effectively and efficiently. The transition impact of the Project will be linked to the preparation and implementation of a Transport Sector Strategy. The Project will focus specifically on two reform areas: reform of road sector financing and institutional strengthening, particularly to improve the SRA’s capacity to manage the road network and execute works in a transparent and efficient manner. The establishment of a reliable and stable financing mechanism for the road sector will be a key transition objective of the project. The loan will be made to the Government of Moldova. The Ministry of Transport and Road Industry (“MTRI”) will implement the Project on behalf of the Government, through the State Road Administration (“SRA”), the agency responsible for executing road investment, maintenance and safety measures. Sovereign loan of up to EUR 30 million to be provided in two tranches. The Project will be co-financed by the World Bank and the European Investment Bank. EUR 90 million. The Project has been screened as B/1. As the project will consist of several relatively similar road improvement sub-projects, the exact location of which had not been identified with precision before project appraisal, a phased approach was applied for the EDD. At the first stage, a Sector Environmental Assessment (SEA) was carried out. At the second stage, after the road sub projects are identified, the EA will include: (i) screening of proposed subprojects and identification of those that need partial or full EIA study; and (ii) carrying out specific environmental impact assessments for selected roads. The SEA shows that no major environmental impacts of the project are expected. The proposed road works will consist of the rehabilitation and maintenance of already existing road sections and there will be no new road construction and/or widening undertaken. The possible addition of a short climbing lane at steep road sections would not require any land acquisition. Most potential environmental impacts will be temporary, during the construction phase, and will cause only minor and localized negative effects. Most of them will be limited to the effects associated with rehabilitation works, such as dust and noise, smell due to the use of bitumen, disposal of solid materials removed from the roads during construction, erosion control, and labour camp management. These impacts are common in road rehabilitation works and can be mitigated with existing management techniques. In order to minimize potential off-site impacts, materials (e.g. asphalt, stone, etc.) would be supplied only from sources with approved licenses, permits, and/or approvals for environment and worker safety. Furthermore, any equipment used during construction would meet internationally recognized standards for environment and worker health and safety. After completion, the project will have positive indirect impacts on human health and safety through decreased number of accidents, reduced air pollution resulting from more constant rates of travel speeds on rehabilitated road sections, cleaning up of solid waste from roadside drains, and reduced water pollution resulting from rehabilitated drainage systems. In addition, the residents in the area of influence of the road subprojects will benefit from: (i) a reduction in travel times and in transport costs, (ii) improvements in the quality of road passenger and cargo transport; and, (iii) employment generation. The SEA includes an EMP that identifies measures to mitigate any potential impacts, and also provides monitoring plans, budgets, responsibilities, and schedules of execution. A detailed monitoring plan designed to confirm the effectiveness of the mitigating measures is included in the EMP. It contains detailed environmental compliance-monitoring requirements, including parameters and indicators for the recommended mitigation measures. None.