The Government of India, with the assistance of the World Bank, has embarked on a major programme to improve the country’s transport infrastructure. Under this programme, the Government of Andhra Pradesh sought loan assistance from the World Bank for improving the state’s roads. In early 1994, the Andhra Pradesh Roads and Buildings Department (APRBD), on behalf of the Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, engaged consultants to undertake a feasibility study of 3178km of roads to identify a priority 1400km that would be improved1 under the Andhra Pradesh State Highway Rehabilitation and Maintenance Project (referred to as the Project). The feasibility study was completed in 1997, identifying about 1400km of roads for upgrading.

In accordance with the Government of India’s requirements (EIA Notification, May 1994), the Environmental Assessment (entitled Environmental Analysis in the SMEC report) for these identified road sections was prepared, on behalf of the APRBD, by Snowy Mountain Engineering Corporation Pvt. Ltd., Australia (SMEC) and Consulting Engineering Service Pvt. Ltd., India (CES). Both the Environmental Assessment Report and draft of the engineering feasibility study were submitted in November 1996 to the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to seek environmental clearance. These documents were examined by the Ministry of Environment and Forest’s (MoEF) Expert Committee in December 1996.

In March 1997, the MoEF granted environmental clearance (letter no. J-21012/12/96-IA-III dated March 5, 1997 see Annexure I) to the project overall but imposed a set of strict conditions. Generally, the conditions in the March 1997 letter addressed the entire 1400 km of road under study in the SMEC-CES reports, but focused on the ecological and socio-economic impacts of the proposed widening of the project roads which pass through protected areas and reserve forests. One of the key conditions stipulated by the expert committee was to add the Nandyal-Giddalur-Thokapalli road and drop the Atmakur to Thokapalli section which fronts the Rajiv Gandhi Tiger Reserve to the north and the Gundla Brahmeswaram (GBM) Sanctuary to the south. This road was dropped from consideration.

An expert sub-committee constituted by the MoEF visited the project sites flagged in the MoEF’s letter (No. J-21012/12/96-IA-II dated March 5th 1997) from June 10 - 14 1997. Based on the observations and recommendations made by the sub-committee during the site visit, additional conditions (Annexure I) were placed on the project (vide MoEF letter no. J-21012/12/96-AIII) on Sept. 18, 1997. This second set of conditions was much more detailed and wide-ranging, and included requirements for the completion of a techno-feasibility study including an environmental analysis of the Nandyal–Giddalur-Thokapalli road section. The existing mapping showed this road as passing along the southern boundary of the GBM Sanctuary as well as the Pacherla Reserve Forest to the south. As a result, the sub-committee reemphasized the analysis of impacts on wildlife. The environmental analysis, as specified by the sub-committee, was undertaken by Kirloskar Consultants Ltd. and specifically addressed the Nandyal-Giddalur-Thokapalli road section. This study resulted in the Techno-Economic Feasibility Report (Kirloskar, 1997), which was submitted by the consultants to the APRBD in December 1997. The report has been retained by the APRBD for developing the Environmental Management Plan that is to be submitted to the MoEF in support of the environmental documentation already on file and as a requirement for project appraisal by the World Bank, prior to committing loan assistance.

In late March 1998, representatives of The World Bank and Canadian Environmental Collaborative Ltd. (CEC) asked the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) to examine the environmental and wildlife issues related to this project and to assist the APRBD in resolving the concerns raised by the MoEF (Annexure I). WII was contracted by CEC Ltd., to lead a joint effort to advise and assist the APRBD in addressing the project-wide generic issues and concerns raised by the MoEF, focusing primarily on the Nandyal-Giddalur-Thokapalli road.

Work Programme

The work consisted of the planning and execution of the field trip and preparation of the guideline document for the APRBD, which would help them to fully comply with all environmental and social requirements of the project. The field trip, undertaken jointly by WII and CEC, included meetings with the MoEF (Delhi), an intensive site visit, and preparation of this documentation. A detailed itinerary of the field visit is presented in Annexure II. Following the field trip, intensive analysis and writing was completed, making certain that all conditions set by the MoEF had been dealt with and that the APRBD was being provided with a clear ‘road map’ for implementation of all mitigative measures.