Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project

4.1.1.1 Harmonized Environmental Safeguard Requirements3. A harmonized framework for environmental safeguard is prepared to address theenvironmental safeguard requirements of the Government as well as that of the Co-financers,World Bank, ADB, IDB and JICA. The scoping procedure considers the requirements of thisharmonized framework.4.1.1.2 Project Information4. A detailed review of the proposed civil works and facilities during pre-construction,construction and O/M stages of the Project is made to identify relevant environmental issues.Induced regional development due to the Project and associated development works are alsoconsidered for scoping analysis.4.1.1.3 Other Studies and Past Experiences5. Environmental assessment reports prepared by earlier studies for the Padma Project (BBA2000 and 2005, JICA 2005, and ADB 2007) were the key input to this scoping study. Experiencesgained from similar other large bridge projects in Bangladesh, such as Jamuna Bridge, PakseyBridge and Bhairab Bridge also helped in identifying key environmental issues. Scoping frameworkalso considers the results of various other engineering studies such as hydrological modeling andriver morphological studies.4.1.1.4 Public and Stakeholder Consultation6. Views, suggestions and concerns expressed by affected people during 8 large publicconsultations and 13 focus group discussions held in the Project areas, and discussions with theexperts and various stakeholders (government and non-government organizations, and cofinancers)were the key input to the scoping study.4.1.1.5 Baseline Information7. The following social and environmental studies carried out under the Project are used forscoping analysis: Social and Resettlement Environmental quality (water, noise, air, riverbed material) Aquatic life and fish, Flora and fauna, Wildlife, Landuse, Char land Topography, geology and hydrological modeling, Climate change,4.1.2 Project Boundaries8. The scoping analysis considered both direct and indirect areas of Project’s influence asspatial boundaries of the Project.9. The direct influence area in north and south includes footprint of all the project components.The farthest component service area in Mawa side is located 4km from the Riverbank and inJanjira side the approach road is about 3km from the River bank. We added 1 km additional ineach side to this boundary to define the project influence area. The backwater effect based onhydrological modeling outcome is minimal (10cm) at a water surface slope of 0.000045, whichtranslates into an upstream distance of 1.5km. The influence area 15km in upstream (west) tocover the distances of RTW and approach road (which is about a distance of about 13km frombridge landing site), additional 2km is considered to cover the whole Char Janajat. On the otherhand, the influence area in downstream is 7km to cover the downstream Char Majirkandi.10. The indirect zone of influence will broadly cover the associated activities of the Project, viz.(a) the corridor of the Asian Highway 1 (Tamabil-Sylhet-Sorail-Kanchpur-Dhaka-Mawa-Bhatiapara-Norail-Jessore-Benapole), (b) the corridor of Trans-Asian railway network and the railway missinglink from Gendaria-Mawa through the bridge to Bhanga-Kashiani-Narail-Jessore and (c) the Char4-2