Internal Monitoring Report June 2017

AZE: Road Network Development Investment

Program, Project 1 and Project 3

Prepared by Azeravtoyol Open-Joint Stock Company for the Republic of Azerbaijan and the

Asian Development Bank.

This internal 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.

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.

REPUBLIC OF AZERBAIJAN AZERAVTOYOL OJSC

Road Network Development Program

Masalli–Astara Motorway Project

Tranche 1- L2354/2355 and Tranche3 - L2831

Sarcuvar-Girdani (Section A) Girdani- Penser (Section B) Penser -Astara (Section C)

LAND ACQUISITION AND RESETTLEMENT PLAN

INTERNAL MONITORING REPORT

January-June, 2017

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ACRONYMS

ADB Asian Development Bank

SPS Safeguards Policy Statement

AP Affected Person

AAY AzerAvtoYol

AZN Azerbaijani Manat

DSC Design and Supervision Consultant

IMR Internal Monitoring Report

LAD Land Acquisition Department

LARF Land Acquisition and Resettlement Framework

LARP Land Acquisition and Resettlement Plan

NDP Network Development Program

NRS National Resettlement Specialist

PIU Project Implementation Unit

ROW Right of Way

TOR Terms of Reference

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Table of Contents 1. Introduction ................................................................................................1

2. Objectives of the LARP Internal Monitoring ...............................................1

.

3. LARP Implementation Mechanism and Structure …………………………..1

4. Status of Land Acquisition and Compensation Payment...........................2

5. Temporary Impacts.....................................................................................3

6. Records of Grievances ..............................................................................3

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1. Introduction

1. The Masalli-Astara Motorway, which is the southern section of the highway between

Alat and Astara, is a project financed under the Road Network Investment Program through

the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) multi-tranche financing facility (MFF). The highway is

a 58.600 kilometer dual carriageway motorway section of the M3 highway corridor that links

the Baku City to the south of the country and the town of Astara, which straddles the Iranian

border. The construction of the Masalli-Astara Motorway Project, referred to below as the

‘sub-project’, is being financed through Loans 2354 and 2831. The sub-project starts at

Masalli (km 0.00) and ends at Astara (km 58.600) and is divided into three sections, A, B and

C (refer to Table 1).

Table 1: Sections of the Masalli-Astara Motorway Project

Section Section (from – to) Length

(Kms.) Km.Point

A (Project 1) Masalli–Girdani 22.15 0 – 22.15

B (Project 3) Girdani–Penser 19.35 22.15 – 41.50

C (Project 3) Penser–Astara 19.90 41.50 –58.6

2. Objectives of the LARP Internal Monitoring

2. The objectives of this internal monitoring assignment were to review, validate and

report on the status of the implementation during the reporting period, January-June 2017,of

the Land Acquisition and Resettlement Plans (LARPs) prepared for Sections A, B and C

within the Road Network Development Program (RNDP). The internal monitoring reports

(IMRs), which are submitted every 6 months to ADB, serve as updates on the implementation

of LARPs.

3. This IMR also includes an account of the grievances reported by project affected

people (APs) and addressed in line with policies and principles laid out in the resettlement

plans (RPs) and the ADB’s2009 Safeguards Policy Statement(SPS).

3. LARP Implementation Mechanism and Structure

4. AzerAvtoYol (AAY) of the Republic of Azerbaijan is the Executing Agency and has

overall responsibility for the sub-project including the preparation, implementation and

financing of all land acquisition and resettlement (LAR) related tasks as well ascross-agency

coordination. The Investment Unit of the AAYis carried out its function through its Project

Implementation Unit (PIU) which was established for the implementation of the Project. The

Project Implementation Unit (PIU), headed by a Director, is responsible for general project

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execution, and is tasked with overall responsibility for the day-to-day implementation

activities.

5. The land acquisition and resettlement tasks are being carried out by AzerAvtoYol’s

Land Acquisition Department (LAD), which has organized and is internally monitoring the

LARP preparation and implementation (including surveys, asset valuation and community

consultation) and related cross-agency coordination. The LAD designated two engineers

from its Department for implementation of LAR activities at Lankaran and Astara Rayons.

The National Resettlement Specialist, Mr. Arastun Quliyev (NRS), collects and keeps the

records of APs, type of impacts, compensation amounts, payment dates and resolutions of

LAR-related conflicts and issues. The LARPs prepared for Sections A, B and C are being

implemented with support from the Design and Supervision Consultant (DSC).

6. The LARPs are being implemented by AAY-LAD in accordance with the following

policy frameworks:

i) ADB Safeguard Policy Statement Appendix 2: Safeguard Requirements 2:

ii) Involuntary Resettlement (June 2009);

iii) Applicable laws of the Republic of Azerbaijan;

iv) The Land Acquisition and Resettlement Framework (LARF) prepared for the

Road Network Development Program (RNDP); and,

(v) The terms and conditions of the Loan Agreements Nos. 2354 and 2831.

4. Status of Land Acquisition and Compensation Payment

Section A

7. Section A of the Masalli-Astara Motorway Project comprises 22.15 kms between Km

0+00 (Serchuvar-Masalli) and Km 22+150 (Girdani- Lenkaran). As of the current monitoring

period, there were no pending land acquisition issues.

8. The final Land Acquisition and Resettlement Plan (LARP) for this section was

prepared in June 2011. There were 605 APs recorded in the LARP. All but 12 APs had

received due compensation by June 2013. The External Monitoring Report dated June 2013

confirmed that all entitlements in accordance with the LARP provisions had been awarded to

the APs, with the exception of 12 pending cases. By January 2015, there were only nine

unresolved pending LAR cases. However, by the end of 2015, all the pending LAR issues

were resolved through negotiations with APs.

9. There have been no new negative impacts to the communities within and near the

road section during the reporting period (January-June 2017). Major construction works are

complete as the end of June 2017 and the Contractor is currently working on the finalization

of the works.

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Section B

10. Road Section B of the Project covers km 22+150 at Girdani to km 41+500 at Penser,

with a total road length of 19.35 kilometers.

11. The final LARP for Section B was prepared in July 2011. Due to additional land

impacts, an Addendum to the LARP was prepared in November 2013. A total of 710 APs

were covered in the LARP and its addendum. By the end of 2013, all entitlements were

provided to APs, except for the acquisition of land plots owned by 11 APs, compensation for

affected municipality lands, compensation for severely affected APs, and those APs having

residual land parcels due to land acquisition. By the end of 2014, however, all compensation

for municipal lands and residual lands, as well as compensation for severely affected APs

were provided. Meanwhile, the number of pending land acquisition cases was only five by

the end of 2014. As of June 2016, there were only three LAR issues unresolved. Out of

these three cases, two were compensation issues, while one involved relocation of one

residential structure from the right-of-way (ROW). The two compensation issues were finally

resolved within the previous reporting period (January 2017).

12. With regards to the pending relocation issue, the Court has released its decision that

the residential structure shall be removed from the ROW, and relocated by its owner (Ayaz

Mammedov ) to a new site at his own expense. Since his house was constructed after the

LARP cut-off date, the owner has expressed his agreement with the Court’s decision with a request for partial assistance from AAY in the form of machinery and equipment to relocate

the said structure. Upon realizing that maintaining his house built within ROW is impossible,

Ayaz Mammedov purchased a new land plot about 200 meters away from his current house.

On 09 July 2017, he started the relocation of his house with the necessary assistance

provided by the Contractor (Figures 1 and 2). Further assistance was provided by the

Contractor in the construction of his new house. Figure 3 shows his new house’s foundation

being laid with concrete. All these works were carried out with Ayaz Mammedov’s consent.

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Figure 1. Roof Dismantling of Ayaz Mammedov’s House within the ROW

Figure 2. Total Demolition of Ayaz Mammedov’s House Within the ROW

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Figure 3. Concrete Foundation Laying of Ayaz Mammedov`s New House

Section C

13. Road Section C covers km 41+500 to km 58+600 with a total length of 17.1 kilometers.

14. The LARP for this section was prepared in July 2011. There were 433 APs covered

by the LARP. However, with the changes in the alignment of road sections according to

construction arrangements, additional APs were identified. Hence, an addendum to the

LARP was prepared in October 2013. The LARP and its addendum eventually covered a

total of 578 APs within Section C. By the end of January 2015, there were only nine pending

LAR issues remaining . As of June 2016, according to the previous LARP internal monitoring,

there were only six pending issues . All those pending LAR-cases were resolved as of the

previous reporting period (January 2017). These included a complaint regarding the

compensation amount awarded to Guliyev Imran & Kamran brothers, which was settled

during a final negotiation with AAY on 6 January 2017.

15. To conclude, all LAR-related activities on Road Section B &C have been completed.

4. Temporary impacts

16. During the reporting period, there were no temporary impacts on land plots.

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5. Records of Grievances

17. The status of the Grievance Redress Management (GRM) is indicated by the

documentation of the received grievances and complaints, and the corresponding actions

and measures done to address them. Grievance Log Book is used to document the received

grievances and complaints, so that corresponding actions and measures may be taken to

resolve them. In order to ensure transparency and facilitation of community residents’ applications, the contact details of the GRM committee representative tasked to register the

complaints were shared with the residents and the officials of concerned and affected

municipalities. Grievances registered in the Log Book for the period of July – December 2016

had been resolved and information was provided in the previous reporting period.

18. The grievances and complaints from the communities with regards to the construction

of Road Sections B and C recorded in the Log Book, with corresponding solutions

undertaken, are presented in the following Grievance Registers (Table 1 and 2). For the

period covering this report (January-June 2017), there were no grievances filed by the

community residents with regards to the construction of Road Section A. For road Section B,

one grievance (Dashdaligjar village) was lodged during the reporting period. The complaint

was related to deterioration of local roads, and the grievance was addressed by the

Contractor. Three complaints (1.Kolatan, Sahagaci and Kakalos villages, 2.Siyekeran village

3.Erchivan village,) recorded with regards to Road Section C construction during the same

reporting period involved blocking of access by the works. The arisen issues in that three

grievances were examined and now they are being solved. That access roads which provide

people to reach their ploughed field parallel with road alignments are under construction

process and are in the final stage of completion.

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Grievance Registers for Road Sections B and C

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Table 1: Grievance Register – Section B

No Tranch

e Location

Date Receive

d

How grieva

nce was

received

Complainant

Description of the issues/complaints

Contact details

Notes, undertaken actions

Status

1 Section B

Dasdaligjar village

02 March 2017

In meeting

Nazim Emenulla

yev

When will contractor repair the Dasdaligjar village road near the Bridge No 8?

050-343-00-

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The Dasdaligjar village road near the Bridge No was repaired.

Solved

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Table 6: Grievance Register – Section C

No Tranche Locatio

n

Date Receive

d

How grievance was receive

d

Complainant

Description of the

issues/complaints

Contact details

Notes, undertaken

actions Status

1 Section C

Kolatan, Sahagaci and Kakalos villages

10 June 2017

By local Municipality on behalf of local villages` people

Local people

People needs access road to reach their ploughed field parallel with road alignment

Local Municipality

The arisen issue in the grievance was reviewed and that access road is under construction process and is in the final stage of completion.

In the solution stage

2 Section C

Siyekeran village

10 June 2017

By local Municipality on behalf of local village people

Local people

People needs access road to reach their ploughed field parallel with road alignment

Local Municipality

The arisen issue in the grievance was reviewed and that access road is under construction process and is in the final stage of completion.

In the solution stage

3 Section C

Ercivan village

10 June 2017

By local people letter No 758

A group of village people

People needs access road to reach their ploughed field parallel with road alignment

Local Municipality

The arisen issue in the grievance was reviewed and that access road is under construction process and is in the final stage of completion.

In the solution stage