Environmental Monitoring Report

Bi-Annual Report No. 1

Loan/Grant Number: L2808 NEP/G0270 NEP/G0271 NEP January - June, 2016

Nepal: Electricity Transmission Expansion & Supply Improvement Project

Prepared by the Government of Nepal for the Asian Development Bank.

This environmental Monitoring Report is a document of the borrower. The views expressed herein do not

necessarily represent those of ADB's Board of Directors, Management, or staff, and may be preliminary in

nature. Your attention is directed to the “terms of use” section of this website.

In preparing any country program or strategy, financing any project, or by making any designation of or

reference to a particular territory or geographic area in this document, the Asian Development Bank does

not intend to make any judgments as to the legal or other status of any territory or area.

CURRENCY EQUIVALENTS

04 August 2016

Currency unit – Nepalese Rupees (NPR) NRs. 1.00 = $ 0.0093 US $ 1.00 = NPR 107.421

ABBREVIATIONS

ADB Asian Development Bank

CSR Corporate Social Responsibility

DDR Due Diligence Report

EIA Environmental Impact Assessment

EMP Environmental Management Plan

ESSD Environment and Social Studies Division

ETESIP Electricity Transmission Expansion and Supply Improvement Project

GIS Geographical Information System

GoN Government of Nepal

GWh Giga Watt Hour

IEE Initial Environmental Examination

km Kilometer

MOE Ministry of Energy

MOF Ministry of Finance

MoPE Ministry of Population and Environment

MVA Mega Volt Ampere

MW Mega Watt

NEA Nepal Electricity Authority

RoW Right of Way

SPS Safeguard Policy Statement 2009 (SPS)

SS Substation

TL Transmission Line

kV Kilo volt

1 http://www.nrb.org.np/

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Background ......................................................................................................................... 1

2. Project Location .................................................................................................................. 1

3. Environmental Safeguards .................................................................................................. 2

4. Construction Approach........................................................................................................ 2

5. Compliance Status with Environmental Covenants ............................................................. 2

6. Institutional Arrangement .................................................................................................... 2

7. Compliance with Environmental Safeguards Measures ....................................................... 2

7.1. Second Circuit Stringing of Kohalpur-Mahendranagar 132 kV line Project ................... 3

7.2. Khimti-Kathmandu 400kV Transmission Line Project ................................................... 3

7.3. Electricity Distribution System ...................................................................................... 5

7.4. Rehabilitation of Hydropower stations .......................................................................... 5

8. Issues and Way Forward .................................................................................................... 5

List of Table

Table 1: Environmental safeguard compliance matrix ................................................................ 2

Table 2: Total forest vegetation loss according to district and forest types ................................. 4

Table 3: Issues and Way Forward .............................................................................................. 6

List of Figure

Figure 1: Map of Nepal Showing Project Locations .................................................................... 1

Figure 2: Environmental Management Cost ............................................................................... 5

List of Annex

Annex 1: Project Data Sheet ...................................................................................................... 8

Annex 2: Status of Compliance with Loan and Grant Covenants for ETESIP ............................13

Annex 3: Environmental Safeguard Planning Status for ETESIP ..............................................16

Annex 4: Status of Environmental Compliance for ETESIP .......................................................17

Annex 5: Photographs ...............................................................................................................19