NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY... I 1 INTRODUCTION... 1 1.1 BACKGROUND... 1 1.2 PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION SCHEDULE... 2 1.3 COST ESTIMATE... 2 1.4 KEY LEGISLATIVE, REGULATORY AND INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK... 2 1.4.1 Introduction... 2 1.4.2 Requirement for undertaking an EIA... 2 1.4.3 Exemption from EIA... 3 1.4.4 Other environmental and other relevant legislation, regulations and guidelines... 3 1.4.5 Occupational Health & Safety... 3 1.5 INSTITUTIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES... 4 2 THE PROJECT... 5 2.1 PROJECT LOCATION... 5 2.2 PROPOSED ALIGNMENT... 5 2.2.1 General... 5 2.2.2 Description of the proposed alignment... 6 2.3 GEOMETRIC DESIGN... 6 2.4 PROPOSED DRAINAGE DESIGN CONCEPT... 7 2.5 MAJOR STRUCTURES... 7 2.6 JUNCTIONS... 9 2.7 TRAFFIC FORECAST... 9 2.8 CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS... 14 2.9 LAND ACQUISITION... 14 2.10 CONSTRUCTION ORGANISATION... 14 3 METHODOLOGY... 30 3.1 STUDY CORRIDOR... 30 3.2 INITIAL SCREENING OF POTENTIAL IMPACTS... 30 3.3 STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATIONS... 30 3.4 BASELINE DATA... 31 3.4.1 Desk Studies... 31 3.4.2 Field surveys... 31 4 ALTERNATIVES... 32 4.1 RDA ALIGNMENT... 32 4.2 ALTERNATIVE ALIGNMENTS AND PREFERRED SOLUTION... 32 4.3 NO-PROJECT ALTERNATIVE... 32 5 ENVIRONMENTAL BASELINE... 33 5.1 PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT... 33 5.1.1 Topography and Land Use... 33 5.1.2 Geology and Hydrogeology... 34 5.1.3 Soils... 38 5.1.4 Climate and Climate Change... 39 i
P a g e ii 5.1.5 Hydrology, drainage & Surface water resources... 43 5.1.6 Groundwater resources... 45 5.1.7 Ambient Air Quality... 48 5.1.8 Ambient Noise... 48 5.2 BIOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT... 50 5.2.1 General... 50 5.2.2 Flora... 50 5.2.3 Fauna... 51 5.3 PROTECTED AREAS... 52 5.4 UNPROTECTED SENSITIVE AREAS... 53 6 SOCIO-ECONOMIC BASELINE... 54 6.1 INTRODUCTION... 54 6.2 BENEFICIARIES... 54 6.3 DEMOGRAPHY... 54 6.4 SETTLEMENTS... 54 6.5 SECTORS OF ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES AND OCCUPATION OF THE POPULATION... 58 6.6 LAND USE... 59 6.7 RECREATIONAL VALUES AND CULTURAL ASSETS... 59 6.8 PLANNED DEVELOPMENTS... 60 7 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS AND THEIR MITIGATION... 62 7.1 INTRODUCTION... 62 7.2 DESIGN... 62 7.3 IMPACTS ON CLIMATE AND AMBIENT AIR QUALITY AND THEIR MITIGATION... 62 7.4 IMPACTS ON SOILS AND THEIR MITIGATION... 65 7.5 IMPACTS ON WATER RESOURCES AND THEIR MITIGATION... 66 7.6 IMPACTS ON FLORA AND FAUNA AND THEIR MITIGATION... 67 7.7 IMPACTS ON SENSITIVE AREAS AND THEIR MITIGATION... 67 7.8 NOISE IMPACTS AND THEIR MITIGATION... 68 7.9 VISUAL IMPACTS AND THEIR MITIGATION... 74 7.10 IMPACTS ON ROAD / TRAFFIC SAFETY AND THEIR MITIGATION... 74 7.11 INDUCED IMPACTS... 74 7.12 BENEFICIAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS... 74 7.13 BENEFICIAL SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACTS... 75 7.14 POTENTIAL CUMULATIVE IMPACTS WITH OTHER PROJECTS... 75 7.15 RESIDUAL IMPACTS... 75 8 SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACTS AND THEIR MITIGATION... 77 8.1 GENERAL... 77 8.2 ECONOMIC IMPACTS... 77 8.2.1 Beneficial socio-economic impacts... 77 8.2.2 Adverse socio-economic impacts... 77 8.3 SOCIAL IMPACTS... 77 8.4 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS... 77 9 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT PLAN... 78 9.1 INTRODUCTION... 78 9.2 INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS AND REPORTING... 78 9.3 COST ESTIMATE... 81 9.3.1 Cost of Environmental Mitigation Measures during Construction Phase... 81
P a g e iii 9.3.2 Monitoring Cost... 81 9.4 IMPLEMENTATION SCHEDULE... 81 10 REFERENCES... 82 APPENDIX A GEOTECHNICAL INVESTIGATIONS... 83 APPENDIX B BIODIVERSITY REPORT... 124 APPENDIX I ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT PLAN (EMP)... 152 APPENDIX II ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING PLAN... 162 ANNEX 1 NOTE OF MEETING AT FORESTRY SERVICE... 165 ANNEX 2 NOTE OF MEETING AT WATER RESOURCES UNIT... 168 ANNEX 3 LIST OF PEOPLE MET... 171
P a g e iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1-1: Geographical location of proposed link road... 1 Figure 2-1: Proposed Main axis of road alignment (A1 drawing provided at end of this report)... 15 Figure 2-2: Overall alignment of proposed road (Google Image Sheet 1/5 )... 16 Figure 2-3 : Typical Cross Section of road in FILL & CUT sections... 21 Figure 2-4 : Typical Cross Section of road in CUT sections with RETAINING WALLS... 22 Figure 2-5: Locations of stations for manual traffic counts... 23 Figure 2-6 (a) : Locations of Automatic Count Stations (Figures (b) (d) hereunder)... 24 Figure 2-7 : Locations of stations for O D surveys... 28 Figure 2-8 : Sub-division of road alignment into 6 sections... 29 Figure 5-1 : Office of Médine Sugar Estate (left) and prayer site on Rivière du Rempart (right)... 33 Figure 5-2 : Surficial Geology along project road alignment... 35 Figure 5-3 : Location of trial pits... 37 Figure 5-4 : Map of the Aquifers of Mauritius, extract... 38 Figure 5-5 : Soil Map of Mauritius, extract... 39 Figure 5-6: Isohyetal Map of Mauritius, Period 1971 2000... 41 Figure 5-7 : IDF Curves... 42 Figure 5-8: CWA abstraction points for domestic water supply from streams and rivers... 44 Figure 5-9 : Location of existing DWS boreholes in vicinity of road alignment... 46 Figure 5-10 : Groundwater Protection: Overview of Sensitive Zones and Catchment Boundaries... 47 Figure 5-11 : Aspects of forest belts in the reserves of River Cogliano (a) and Papayes (b)... 52 Figure 5-12 : Monvert Protected Forest... 53 Figure 6-1 : Residential morcellements at Beaux Songes Roundabout... 56 Figure 6-2 : Henrietta Village, Morcellement Pousson, La Marie Village... 57 Figure 6-3 : Cultural Site on Riviere du Rempart at the Beaux Songes Roundabout... 60 Figure 6-4 : Planned morcellement development at Beard... 61 Figure 7-1 : Variation of emission factor with vehicle speed for various air pollutants... 63 Figure 7-2 : Filtering Role of Roadside Vegetation... 65 Figure 7-3 : Decibel Scale of Commonly Encountered Sounds... 68 Figure 7-4 : Effect of Increasing Distance on Road Noise Levels... 69 Figure 7-5 : Logarithmic Decrease of Noise Levels Over Growing Distance from the Source... 70 Figure 7-6 : Effects of Noise Barrier Height on Noise Levels at Receptor... 72 Figure 7-7 : Wall, Berm and Combination Noise Barriers... 73
P a g e v LIST OF TABLES Table 2-1 : Proposed Geometric Standards... 6 Table 2-2 : List of hydraulic structures... 8 Table 2-3 : Description of Project Road Sections... 9 Table 2-4 : ANNUAL Traffic (PCUs) Forecast 2015 2036 Eastbound... 10 Table 2-5: ANNUAL Traffic (PCUs) Forecast 2015 2036 Westbound... 12 Table 5-1 : Annual Rainfall Projections 2020-2050... 40 Table 5-2: Intensity Duration Frequency Values... 42 Table 5-3 : List of boreholes along / in vicinity of proposed road alignment... 45 Table 5-4 : Overview of observed ranges of ambient air pollutants... 48 Table 5-5 : Prescribed levels for neighbourhood noise (Mauritius)... 49 Table 5-6 : Overview of traffic noise measurements along different roads in Mauritius... 49 Table 5-7 : Noise Level Patterns at Increasing Distance from Source... 49 Table 6-1 : Estimated Resident Population as at 1 st July 2011... 54 Table 6-2 : Distance between the proposed alignment and settlements along the said alignment... 55 Table 6-3 : Distribution of the Mauritian labour force per Activity... 58 Table 6-4 : Major occupational group... 59 Table 7-1 : Summary of Observed Ranges of Ambient Air Pollutants at Selected Sites... 64 Table 7-2 : Summary of other socio-economic benefits... 76 Table 9-1 : Responsibilities for implementing the Environmental Management Plan... 79 Table 9-2 : Environmental Mitigation and Monitoring Cost (Construction Phase)... 81 Table 9-3 : Implementation Schedule for Environmental Measures... 81
P a g e vi ACRONYMS ADT Average Daily Traffic am ante meridies (before noon) amsl above mean sea level BoQ Bill of Quantities CH chainage CSO Central Statistics Office, Mauritius CWA Central Water Authority db decibel DoE Department of Environment EIA Environmental Impact Assessment EHS Environment Health and Safety Manager EMP Environmental Management Plan EPA Environmental Protection Act 2002 FS Feasibility Study GHG Greenhouse gas GN Government Notice GoM Government of Mauritius h hour HGV heavy goods vehicle km/h kilometer per hour M Million mg/l milligram per litre MoE Ministry of Environment, Sustainable Development, and Disaster and Beach Management MoHL Ministry of Housing and Lands MMS Mauritius Meteorological Services MRU Mauritian Rupees NA not available N.T.S. not to scale O/D survey origin/destination survey p.a. per annum p.m. post meridies (after noon) PCU Passenger Car Unit RDA Road Development Authority RoW Right of Way SE Supervising Engineer s second TDS Total Dissolved Solids TMRSU Traffic Management Road Safety Unit UNFCCC United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change VOC vehicle operation cost WHO World Health Organisation WRU Water Resources Unit
P a g e vii This report was prepared by POERSCHMANN Melanie MOWLABUCUS Mohammad Farook LUXCONSULT (Mtius) Ltd., Environment Specialist LUXCONSULT (Mtius) Ltd., Environment Specialist With contributions from The Design Team; & Yousouf Mungroo, Biodiversity Expert