Loan project of the World Bank Anhui Road Maintenance Innovation and Demonstration Project Funded by the World Bank Updated Social Assessment Report Foreign Capital Utilization Office Anhui Provincial Transportation Department & Anhui Road Management and Service Center Supported by: Nanjing Haiyun Engineering Management Consulting Co., Ltd. November 2023 Contents Summary .......................................................................................................................... V 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Social assessment tasks ................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Objects/scope of social assessment ................................................................................................. 1 1.3 Main contents of social assessment ................................................................................................. 1 1.4 Social assessment methods.............................................................................................................. 2 2 Social and Economic Status of the Project Areas ........................................................ 4 2.1 Definition of project areas ............................................................................................................... 4 2.2 Social and economic overview ........................................................................................................ 4 2.2.1 Population .......................................................................................................................................... 4 2.2.2 Economic situation ............................................................................................................................. 5 2.2.3 Income................................................................................................................................................ 6 2.2.4 Education ........................................................................................................................................... 7 2.2.5 Health ................................................................................................................................................. 8 2.2.6 Tourism .............................................................................................................................................. 8 2.3 Road conditions ............................................................................................................................... 9 2.4 General situation of poverty in the project areas ........................................................................... 10 2.4.1 Poverty in rural areas ....................................................................................................................... 10 2.4.2 Subsistence allowance scheme (Dibao) ........................................................................................... 11 3 Identification of Ethnic Minorites in World Bank OP 4.10 .................................... 12 3.1 Identification and analysis of ethnic minorities ............................................................................. 12 3.1.1 Identifying ethnic minorities in the project areas ............................................................................. 12 3.1.2 Ethnic Minority Development Plan .................................................................................................. 13 3.2 Identification and analysis of involuntary resettlement impact ..................................................... 14 3.2.1 Identifying involuntary resettlement in the project areas ................................................................. 14 3.2.2 Resettlement Action Plan ................................................................................................................. 14 4 Stakeholder Analysis ................................................................................................ 15 4.1 Identifying stakeholders ................................................................................................................ 15 4.2 Stakeholders' demands for the project ........................................................................................... 15 5 Social Impact Analysis of the Project ........................................................................ 18 5.1 Positive impacts............................................................................................................................. 18 5.2 Negative impacts ........................................................................................................................... 22 5.3 Other impacts ................................................................................................................................ 23 I 5.3.1 HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention .............................................................................................. 23 5.3.2 Prevention and control of COVID-19 .............................................................................................. 24 5.3.3 Publicity and education of road traffic safety ................................................................................... 26 6 Gender Analysis ....................................................................................................... 29 6.1 Overview of women in the project area ........................................................................................ 29 6.2 Women’s awareness and attitude towards the project ................................................................... 32 6.3 Impact of the project on women .................................................................................................... 34 6.4 Women's needs for the project ...................................................................................................... 35 7 Information Disclosure and Public Engagement ...................................................... 37 7.1 Information disclosure in preparation period ................................................................................ 37 7.2 Public engagement methods .......................................................................................................... 38 7.3 Results of public engagement........................................................................................................ 46 7.4 Public engagement strategy during the implementation period .................................................... 48 7.5 Grievance redress mechanism ....................................................................................................... 51 8 Social Development Plan and its Implementation ..................................................... 53 8.1 Social Development Plan (including Gender Action Plan) ........................................................... 53 8.2 Institutional arrangement and implementation plan ...................................................................... 60 8.3 Monitoring and evaluation ............................................................................................................ 61 Annex I Field investigation pictures ................................................................................ 63 Annex II Interview minutes ............................................................................................ 66 Annex III Migration impact screening form for new project ............................................ 68 II Tables Table 2-1 Basic population situation in the project area (2021) .............................................................. 5 Table 2-2 Social and economic situation of the project area (2021) ....................................................... 6 Table 2-3 Income of residents in the project area (2021) ........................................................................ 6 Table 2-4 Education of population in the project area (2021) ................................................................. 7 Table 2-5 Health situation in the project area (2021) .............................................................................. 8 Table 2-6 Tourism situation in the project area (2021)............................................................................ 9 Table 2-7 Basic status of national and provincial highway network in Anhui Province in 2021 .......... 10 Table 2-8 Basic situation of poverty in the project area ........................................................................ 11 Table 2-9 Minimum living allowance in the project area ...................................................................... 11 Table 3-1 Identification of ethnic minorities in the project area (2021) ................................................ 13 Table 4-1 Analysis of main stakeholders involved in the project and their demands ............................ 17 Table 5-1 Do you think the highway maintenance project is necessary ................................................ 19 Table 5-2 Willingness of residents in the project area to obtain a temporary maintenance job opportunity ............................................................................................................................................................... 20 Table 5-3 Are you worried about the following problems during construction..................................... 22 Table 5-4 Traffic accidents in project area ............................................................................................ 26 Table 5-5 Top 10 dangerous road sections in Anhui Province .............................................................. 27 Table 6-1 Sex and age distribution of survey samples ...........................Error! Bookmark not defined. Table 6-2 Distribution of gender and education level of survey samplesError! Bookmark not defined. Table 6-3 Sex and occupation distribution of survey samples ...............Error! Bookmark not defined. Table 6-4 Distribution of gender and monthly income of survey samplesError! Bookmark not defined. Table 6-5 Awareness degree of residents in the investigated project area to the project ................ Error! Bookmark not defined. Table 6-6 Understanding degree of residents in the investigated project area to the project ......... Error! Bookmark not defined. Table 6-7 Support degree of residents in the investigated project area to the project construction Error! Bookmark not defined. Table 6-8 Cooperation degree of residents in the investigated project area to the project construction ................................................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Table 6-9 Importance of family to the surveyed residents .....................Error! Bookmark not defined. Table 6-10 Willingness of residents in the project area to obtain a temporary maintenance job opportunity .............................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Table 7-1 Information disclosure and public engagement methods .......Error! Bookmark not defined. Table 7-2 Awareness degree of project ...................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Table 7-3 Understanding of project ........................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Table 7-4 Supportive degree of project construction..............................Error! Bookmark not defined. Table 7-5 Cooperative degree of project construction............................Error! Bookmark not defined. Table 7-6 Importance of project to families ...........................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Table 7-7 Willingness to obtain temporary maintenance work opportunitiesError! Bookmark not defined. Table 7-8 Public adoption and action plan table.....................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Table 7-9 Contact information of appeals and complaints about new highway projects in Anhui Province ................................................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. III Table 8-1 Implementation time plan.......................................................Error! Bookmark not defined. IV Figures Figure 2-1 Location of this project area .................................................................................................. 4 Figure 5-1 How do you want to learn about the traffic safety ............................................................... 20 Figure 7-1 Disclosure of project information .........................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Figure 7-2 Pre-project group discussion and on-site inspection.............Error! Bookmark not defined. Figure 7-3 Complaint handling flow chart .............................................Error! Bookmark not defined. Figure 8-1 Mechanism arrangement diagram.........................................Error! Bookmark not defined. V Summary A. Project Background The Anhui Road Maintenance and Innovation Demonstration Project financed by the World Bank has five components, namely, component A: Road Asset Management System Upgrade, component B: Road Maintenance Commercialization, component C: Innovative and Preventive Maintenance Technologies, component D: Emergency Response Capacity, and component E: Institutional Capacity Building. The projects are distributed in Hefei City, Suzhou City, Anqing City, Chuzhou City, Xuancheng City and Guangde County. The project loans 150 million US dollars from the World Bank. According to the Aid Memoire of Implementation Support Mission for the Anhui Road Maintenance Innovation and Demonstration Project in 2021 and the Notice on Accelerating the Additional Maintenance Projects Identified in Mid-term Adjustment ([2022] No.6 issued by the Foreign Capital Utilization Office (PMO) of Transportation Department of Anhui Province, the Anhui Highway Management and Service Center decided to promote the preparation work for the new maintenance works added during the mid-term adjustment. According to the AM, those new works are mainly innovative and preventive maintenance activities. B. Main Contents and Methods of Social Assessment The scope of social assessment is the new works of “Component C: innovative and preventive maintenance technologies (hereafter referred to as "the Project"). According to the feasibility study report in May 2023, the total length of these roads to be maintained is about 84.5 km. See the table below for specific items. Table 1 Name and location of new items Planning route Road length Name of route/bridge Location coding Along the Chaohu Lake S601 Chaohu City, Hefei City 19.337km Avenue Yongqiao District, Suzhou S304 Shanbian Road 12.991km City Lai'an County, Chuzhou S210 Laihe Road 5.426km City Lai'an County, Chuzhou S209 Bowu Road 7.505km City Xuanzhou District, S104 Hexuan Road 9.801km Xuancheng City Xuanzhou District, S206 Shuiding Road 10.274km Xuancheng City Xuanzhou District, S341 Lujing Road 8.217km Xuancheng City VI G206 Yanshan Line, Ferry Yingjiang District of Bridge, Guangjiwei Bridge, Anqing City, Yixiu District G206/S233/S344 Guanpingdu New (Old) 1.186km of Anqing City and Daguan Bridge, Maoling Bridge and District of Anqing City Shizikou Bridge S338 Baixing Road Guangde City 9.763km The objects of social assessment are the community residents/villagers, vulnerable groups, and other stakeholders around the roads and bridges affected by the Project. The social assessment mainly includes the stakeholder analysis, information disclosure, public engagement, resettlement, and ethnic minority identification, as well as impact on gender, road safety, and HIV/AIDS and infectious diseases. With the strong support and cooperation of PIUs at all levels, the social assessment team successively carried out social surveys in Anqing City, Xuancheng City, Suzhou City, Chuzhou City, Guangde County and Hefei City. Qualitative studies, such as literature review, group discussion, in-depth interview, and key informant interview, were adopted, and supplemented by a quantitative method of sampling questionnaire survey. The information and data obtained by various methods can complement and verify each other to ensure the assessment reflect the reality. Socio-economic questionnaire surveys are carried out by random sampling in the proposed typical villages/communities, which are designed according to the scope of project activities, the characteristics of people affected by the Project and the content of social assessment. The questionnaire includes questions about: overall conditions of local roads, information disclosure and public engagement, road maintenance, basic social and economic information of affected people, etc. The samples are divided into affected community residents and villagers. Out of the 318 questionnaires handed out, 300 valid ones were recovered, with an effective rate of 94.3%, including 133 or 44.3% from males, and 167 or 55.7% from women. C. Influence Scope of Project The Project involves 6 cities and county in Anhui Province, namely, Hefei City, Chuzhou City, Anqing City, Xuancheng City, Suzhou City and Guangde County, benefiting 62,700 square kilometers and 25.846 million people, among which 29.9238 million are women, 25.4321 million are rural population and 432,500 are ethnic minorities. In 2021, the GDP of the project areas was CNY 3, 868.063 billion in total, the per capita disposable income of urban residents was CNY39,442.1, the per capita net income in rural areas was CNY18,377.6, and poverty-stricken population numbered 42,700. The Project will benefit low-income group as follows. By improving road conditions through maintenance, transport will become more convenient and less costly, which directly promotes the development of rural collective economy along the roads and entry of investor and therefore make good use of collective land resources and increase local income. At the same time, better roads will also facilitate village collectives to develop new industries; attract more dealers of high-quality agricultural products, drive up their purchase price, and increase the revenue of the low-income. Moreover, the low-income group can transport their agricultural products to the market for sale by road and get more economic income. D. Identifying Stakeholders and Their Needs The major stakeholders of the Project include the Highway Management Service Center and residents in the project areas, while the minor stakeholders include other relevant government departments related to road traffic. (1) Highway Management Service Center. The center hopes that all stakeholders will work together VII to successfully complete the Project. It is fully responsible for the organization, management, implementation, and supervision of the Project, and for contacting the World Bank, so as to improve the ability to safeguard highway services and contribute to regional economic and social development. (2) Residents in the project areas. They support the Project and hope that the road conditions can be continuously improved through the implementation of the Project. During the project implementation, it is necessary to release the information on maintenance operation in a timely manner, do a good job in traffic diversion, provide training to enhance traffic safety awareness in time, and avoid construction in night. (3) Other relevant government departments. They hope to improve the road conditions in the project areas, mitigate the risk of road traffic accidents, promote local economic and social development, achieve political stability, enhance the image of the government, and promote social inclusiveness. E. Findings from Social Assessment (1) Identification of ethnic minorities: there are 167,800 ethnic minorities in the project areas, accounting for 42.4% of the province's ethnic minority population and 0.58% of the total population of the project areas. There are no ethnic minority townships, ethnic minority administrative villages, ethnic minority villager groups, or ethnic minority concentrated communities along the roads. The ethnic minorities are distributed in a "mixed and scattered" manner, and most of them live here because of marriage or employment. There is no difference between ethnic minorities and Han people in economic structure, social organization structure, production and living habits, language and writing, social interaction, wedding and funeral practices, religious beliefs, etc. The ethnic minorities are treated equally in employment, salary, promotion opportunities and political elections. The ethnic minorities and Han people in the project areas enjoy the same development rights and can benefit from the Project equally. The Project does not trigger OP4.10 and will not bring any special risks to the ethnic minorities. (2) Identification and analysis of resettlement impact: the Project mainly includes corrective and preventive maintenance of existing pavements and bridges, which neither changes the current route nor requires new land. Therefore, the Project will not lead to resettlement or any economic loss due to land acquisition and housing requisition. The analysis to identify population potentially to be resettled in the project areas shows that the Project does not involve any involuntary resettlement activities, so there is no need to prepare resettlement action plan. (3) Gender analysis: the affected women in the project areas have heard of and supported this project. 96.4% affected women think they support the implementation of this project, and 97.7% express their willingness to be cooperative in the project implementation. As far as the impact of the project is concerned, the project can improve the road transport environment, increase women's economic income, provide non-agricultural employment opportunities to women, and improve their living standards. F. Social Impact of Highway Maintenance Works (1) The positive impacts of the Project are listed below: ① Improving overall road conditions and local people’s production and living environment. Good conditions will accelerate local logistic transport and development of other industries, promote the restructuring of urban economy, and stimulate local production and economic growth. 99% of the villagers/community residents in the project areas thought it was necessary to implement the Project. ② Enhancing road safety and raising people's safety awareness through training. 91.7% residents hoped to learn road safety knowledge through emerging media such as Internet, WeChat, blog and Tik-Tok. ③ Providing non-agricultural employment opportunities to local residents, 82.71% of male respondents and 77.84% female ones expressed their willingness to participate in maintenance works. VIII In general, the respondents were highly willing to participate. ④ Promoting the mobility of farmers for economic gains, driving rural economic growth and narrowing the gap between urban and rural areas. ⑤ Improving the road safety facilities simultaneously, for better road safety performance and lower incidence of traffic accidents. ⑥ Providing basic conditions for the economic development of the project areas. ⑦ Enhancing highway infrastructure for better responsiveness to social emergencies. (2) The negative impacts are listed below: ① No land acquisition and resettlement. ② Environmental impacts during construction, including waste asphalt, waste oil, other solid wastes, noise, dust and exhaust emissions caused by construction machineries and vehicles transporting materials during the implementation of the Project. ③ Social impact brought by migrant workers. Increased exchanges and contacts between migrant workers and local residents may bring health and hygiene risks. ④ Short-term traffic inconvenience and traffic jam caused by the construction. (3) HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention: the prevalence of HIV/AIDS is still low in the project areas. The villagers are neither concerned nor panic about it. The health institutions in the project areas carries out relevant awareness and prevention publicity campaign for migrant workers with good results. The main prevention and control interventions are: developing HIV/AIDS prevention and control plans, knowledge dissemination activities, regular physical examination of employees, ad hoc inspection on HIV/AIDS prevention and control, arranging a separate room for the employee living with spouse, and providing contraceptives, etc. (4) Road safety publicity and education. In 2020, there were 4,011 traffic accidents in the project areas, accounting for 37.5% of the total in the province. The death toll was 1,066, representing 44.92% of the province total; the number of injured people was 4,819, accounting for 39.33% in the province; and the loss was valued at CNY29.99 million, 54.26% of the province total. The project areas carry out various and informative publicity and education campaigns on road safety, mainly including publicity and education on media, regular promotion activities, activities targeting key enterprises and institutions, publicity and education targeting key groups, and community/village-based events. G. Social Development Plan and Its Implementation After identifying the possible major social risks related to the project design and implementation and possibly affecting the achievement of the PDO through field study and data analysis, the social assessment team proposes following recommendations and measures to mitigate or avoid those risks: (1) Strengthening the publicity of road traffic safety and reduce road safety risks; (2) health promotion and education on HIV/AIDS to prevent and control the disease; (3) strengthening the construction safety in the road maintenance works, to reduce or avoid construction risks of maintenance actions as much as possible; (4) prioritizing women in non-agricultural employment; (5) promoting the women’s engagement in all stages of the Project to improve their status; and (6) establishing a complaint mechanism. IX 1 Introduction 1.1 Social Assessment Tasks According to the Loan Agreement, the Anhui Road Maintenance Innovation and Demonstration Project supported by the World Bank is composed of five components, and implemented in Hefei, Suzhou, Anqing, Chuzhou, Xuancheng and Guangde. The project has been implemented since March 31, 2017. Its five components are: Component A-road asset management system upgrade; Component B- road maintenance commercialization; Component C-innovative and preventive maintenance technologies; Component D- emergency response capacity; and Component E-institutional capacity building. According to the monthly project report in July 2022, affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the World Bank procurement rules, the unprogramed loan was about USD 23.73 million. According to the Aid Memoire of Implementation Support Mission for the Anhui Road Maintenance Innovation and Demonstration Project in 2021 and the Notice on Accelerating the Additional Maintenance Works Identified in Mid-term Adjustment ([2022] No.6 issued by the Foreign Investment Office), the Anhui Highway Management and Service Center (Foreign Loan Project Management Office of Transportation Department of Anhui Province) decided to promote the preparation work for the new maintenance works added in the mid-term adjustment; entrusted the Supervisory and Advisory Office of Maintenance Commercialization for Anhui Road Maintenance Innovation and Demonstration Project to develop assessment reports on those works; and required project cities to commit the rest loan to the new works as soon as possible. According to the AM, those new works (hereafter referred as to “the Project�) are mainly maintenance actions adopting new innovative and preventive technologies. According to the rules of the World Bank, it is necessary to prepare a social assessment report and some social safeguard documents to reflect the possible social impact of the Project. The social assessment needs to: (1) identify the stakeholders of the Project and analyze their needs in the Project; (2) help improve the design and implementation of the Project so that the individuals and groups most directly affected by the Project will support and effectively participate in project activities; (3) avoid or alleviate the negative impact brought by the Project, to ensure the smooth realization of the PDO and the social benefits of the Project; (4) analyze the social risks of the Project and put forward a feasible social development plan as a foundation for project implementation and monitoring and evaluation. 1.2 Objects/Scope of Social Assessment The social assessment targets the new works covered by Component C of the Anhui Highway Maintenance Innovation and Demonstration Project and focuses on specific road sections where maintenance is needed and innovative technologies will be piloted. The Project is composed of 15 subprojects in the 6 project cities (namely, Hefei, Suzhou, Chuzhou, Xuancheng, Anqing and Guangde), including corrective maintenance of 8 roads, preventive maintenance of 1 road and 6 bridges. The objects of the social assessment are community residents/villagers and other vulnerable groups around roads affected by the maintenance subprojects. 1.3 Main Contents of Social Assessment This social impact assessment screens and analyzes the Project’s potential stakeholders and social impacts, according to the relevant national policies and the World Bank's environmental and social framework. The 1 social assessment includes the following contents, as listed in the TOR. (1) Stakeholder analysis is to identify the major stakeholders, carry out stakeholder engagement activities, consult and analyze their needs and opinions through discussions and interviews, assess potential positive and negative impacts of the Project, and analyze the social risks potentially arising from the Project and relevant mitigation measures. (2) Information disclosure and stakeholder engagement mainly focuses on the disclosure of project- related information during the project implementation; possible impacts of the Project; and grievance redress channels, etc. It also covers the content and approaches of the engagement of the affected people, as well as the channels for them to propose recommendations, especially the engagement and benefits of vulnerable groups such as women and poor people. (3) Identification of involuntary resettlement and ethnic minorities: All land use in the Project is identified and screened according to the World Bank's OP4.12. If land acquisition or resettlement is involved, it is necessary to make a resettlement action plan or due diligence report according to the relevant requirements of the World Bank. Ethnic minority groups in the project areas are identified and whether an ethnic minority development plan is required is decided, according to the World Bank OP4.10 . (4) Social impacts during the project implementation include both positive and negative impacts. The social assessment focuses on impacts of the new works on community residents/villagers and vulnerable groups around the affected roads. The major social factors are as follows: 1) Benefit analysis during the project implementation, such as improvements in transportation infrastructure, more convenient trips for residents, better road conditions for traffic, safer road, regional economic growth, and more local employment opportunities, etc. 2) Social risk analysis during the project implementation, negative impacts on natural and social environmental brought by the construction, such as soil erosion during the construction period, inhibition of vegetation growth, noise, dust and waste which affects the life and travel of population in surrounding villages, residential areas, and schools, and social risks brought by the increase of migrant workers. (5) Gender impact: The assessment is to understand the attitudes and opinions of the women in the project areas towards the Project and the possible impact on the women; women's attitudes, views, needs and suggestions on the Project; their demand for suitable job opportunities during construction; and their cognition on and demand for the road traffic safety. (6) HIV/AIDS impact is to assess the current situation of HIV/AIDS incidence in the project areas; awareness of migrant workers and local people on HIV/AIDS, relevant publicity and training, and prevention and control measures for the disease. 1.4 Social Assessment Methods With the strong support and cooperation of PIUs at all levels, the social assessment team carried out social surveys in Hefei, Suzhou, Chuzhou, Xuancheng, Anqing and Guangde. Qualitative research methods such as literature review, group discussion, in-depth interview and key informant interview, were adopted, supplemented by a quantitative method of sampling questionnaire survey, so that the information and data obtained by various methods complement and verify each other, and the social assessment reflect the reality to the maximum extent. (1) Literature review. It mainly relied on the following documents and materials: ① data on economic and social conditions of the project areas in Statistical yearbook, statistical bulletin and the seventh national 2 census, and the literature on the social studies on ethnic minorities; ② Literature on innovative and preventive maintenance projects, basic data of road construction and maintenance in Anhui Province and project areas, as well as practices, experience and lessons in road maintenance in other areas, etc.; and ③ other relevant materials, such as the work summaries, project proposals, and feasibility study from relevant departments, compensation standard for land acquisition and resettlement, HIV/AIDS incidence, traffic safety reports, etc. (2) Questionnaire survey. The socio-economic surveys were carried out by questionnaire with random sampling in the proposed typical villages/communities, which are designed according to the scope of project activities, the characteristics of people affected by the Project and the content of social assessment. The questionnaire included questions about overall conditions of local road, information disclosure and stakeholder engagement, innovative and preventive road maintenance, and basic social and economic information of affected people. The samples are divided into affected community residents and villagers. 318 questionnaires were handed out. Among them 300 valid questionnaires were recovered, with an effective rate of 94.3%, including 133 or 44.3% from males, and 167 or 55.7% from women. (3) group discussion: village-level focus group interviews, covering vulnerable groups such as women, the elderly and the poor, were conducted, to understand the possible impact of the Project on them, their attitudes and opinions on the innovative and preventive maintenance works, and their needs for the Project. (4) In-depth interview: the team carried out face-to-face semi-structured in-depth interviews with the affected people in project areas to deeply understand production and living conditions of the affected people, the positive and negative impacts and potential risks caused by the Project, and their attitudes, suggestions, and expectations on project design. (5) Key informant interview: the team interviewed key informants such as heads of competent government agencies and heads of community/village committees to understand their views and opinions on the Project and inform development of the social development plan. 3 2 Social and Economic Status of the Project Areas 2.1 Definition of Project Areas This project involves 6 cities or counties in Anhui Province, namely, Hefei, Chuzhou, Anqing, Xuancheng, Suzhou and Guangde, and benefits an area of 62,700 square kilometers with a population of 25.846 million. Figure2-1 Map of the project areas 2.2 Social and Economic Overview 2.2.1 Population Anhui Province covers an area of 140,100 square kilometers and has 16 prefecture-level cities, 59 counties (cities), 45 county-level districts and 1,501 townships/sub-districts in its jurisdiction. According to the Statistical Yearbook of Anhui Province 2021, as of the end of 2021, there were 22.8881 million households in the province. The total population was 61.0272 million, of which, 29.9238 million or 49% were female; 25.4321 million or 41.67% were non-urban; and 432,500 or 0.71% were ethnic minorities. 4 The project areas cover 62,700 square kilometers, with 9,762,800 households and 25,846,000 people, including 12.6287 million females, accounting for 48.86% of the provincial total; 9,192,900 non-urban population, accounting for 35.57% of the total; and 167,800 ethnic minorities, accounting for 0.58% of the total. In Hefei, Chuzhou, Anqing, Xuancheng, Suzhou and Guangde, the share of urban population is 82.2%, 61.8%, 55.5%, 60.8%, 43.8% and 63% respectively; and the population of ethnic minorities is 53,000, 45,000, 23,000, 14,000, 30,000 and 2,800 respectively. Table 2-1Basic population information in the project areas (2021) Total Total number of populatio Non- Ethnic households Urban n at the Male Female urban minority at the end populatio Region Area end of the (10,000 (10,000 populatio populatio of the year n (10,000 year people) people) n (10,000 n (10,000 (10,000 people) (10,000 people) people) households people) ) 14.0 3110.3 2992.3 Anhui 2288.81 6102.72 3559.51 2543.21 43.25 1 4 8 Project 1321.7 1262.8 6.27 976.28 2584.6 1665.26 919.29 16.78 areas 2 7 Hefei City 1.15 358.05 936.99 482.19 454.80 770.93 166.06 5.3 Chuzhou 1.34 145.61 398.71 205.23 193.47 246.57 152.14 4.5 City Anqing 1.35 159.40 416.53 210.32 206.21 231.25 185.28 2.3 City Xuanchen 1.23 102.75 250.01 128.47 121.54 152.05 97.96 1.4 g City Suzhou 0.98 191.28 532.45 269.53 262.92 233.00 299.45 3.0 City Guangde 0.22 19.19 49.91 25.98 23.93 31.46 18.4 0.28 City Data sources: Statistical yearbooks of Anhui Province, counties and cities, and data of Anhui Province in the seventh national population census. 2.2.2 Economic Situation In 2021, the GDP of Anhui Province was CNY3,868.063 billion. Primary, secondary and tertiary sectors registered output of CNY318.468 billion, CNY1,567.169 billion and CNY1,982.426 billion respectively, with a share of 8.23: 40.52: 51.52. The per capita GDP was CNY63,426. In the project areas, the GDP totaled CNY1,952.764 billion. Primary, secondary and tertiary sectors registered output of CNY134.297 billion, CNY775.892 billion and CNY1,042.574 billion respectively, with a share of 6.9: 39.7: 53.4. The per capita GDP was CNY75,553.8. 5 Table 2-2 Social and economic situation in the project areas (2021) Per capita Primary industry Secondary industry Tertiary Industry GDP Regional Output Output Output Region GDP value Proportion value Proportion value Proportion CNY (CNY100 (%) (CNY100 (%) (CNY100 (%) million) million) million) Anhui 38680.63 3184.68 8.23 15671.69 40.52 19824.26 51.25 63426 Project 19527.64 1342.97 6.9 7758.92 39.7 10425.74 53.4 75553.8 areas Hefei City 10045.72 332.32 3.3 3579.51 35.6 6133.89 61.1 108427 Chuzhou 3032.07 271.68 9 1477.82 48.7 1282.57 42.3 76087 City Anqing 2467.68 240.29 9.7 1066.53 43.2 1160.86 47.1 58684 City Xuancheng 1607.54 161.72 10.1 758.48 47.2 687.34 42.7 64301 City Suzhou 2044.99 310.42 15.2 719.61 35.2 1014.96 49.6 38368 City Guangde 329.64 26.54 8.1 156.97 47.6 146.12 44.3 66046 City Date source: Statistical yearbooks of Anhui Province, counties and cities, and statistical bulletin of the National Economic and Social Development. 2.2.3 Income According to statistics, in 2021, the per capita disposable income of urban permanent residents in Anhui Province was CNY39,442.1, and that of rural permanent residents was CNY16,620. In the project areas the former was CNY40,411.5 and the per capita net income of rural areas is CNY18,377.6, both of which were higher than the provincial average. Hefei’s per capita disposable income of urban residents was CNY48,282.8, the highest among the project areas; and Suzhou’s stood at CNY34,373.2, the lowest among the 6 cities. The per capita disposable income of rural residents in Guangde was the highest, which was CNY21,387.61; and that in Suzhou was the lowest, which was CNY14,369. Table: 2-3 Income of residents in the project areas (2021) Per capita disposable income of urban Per capita disposable income of rural Region permanent residents (CNY) permanent residents (CNY) Anhui 39442.1 16620 Project areas 40411.5 18377.6 Hefei City 48282.8 24282 Chuzhou City 36051.1 15732 Anqing City 35947.2 15567 Xuancheng 42133.7 18928 City Suzhou City 34373.2 14369 6 Per capita disposable income of urban Per capita disposable income of rural Region permanent residents (CNY) permanent residents (CNY) Guangde City 45680.86 21387.61 Date source: statistical yearbooks of Anhui Province, counties and cities, and statistical bulletin of the National Economic and Social Development. 2.2.4 Education By the end of 2021, for every 100,000 educated people in Anhui Province, 13,280 people (15.23%) had college education or above; 13,294 or 15.25% only received high school education or secondary TVET; 33,724 or 38.69% only had junior middle school education; and 26,875 or 30.83% only finished their primary school. In addition, the illiterate population aged 15 and above was 2.73 million, accounting for 5.56% of the total population of Anhui Province. Generally, the education level of the population in Anhui is low, and most of them only have junior high school or primary school education. The statistics show that the education level of the population in the project areas is consistent with that of the province, and the proportion of the population with different educational levels is almost the same as the province. In the project areas, population in Hefei is obviously better educated higher than their peers in the province and in other project areas. Generally, the education of the population in the project areas needs to be improved. Table 2-4Education of population in the project areas (2021) Educated population Illiteracy High school College degree or Junior middle and secondary Primary school above school TVET school Region Proportion Proportion Proportion Proportion Proportion thousand Number Number Number Number people Ten Anhui 13280 15.23 13294 15.25 33724 38.69 26875 30.83 273.00 5.56 Project 82232 15.47 88760 16.69 200163 37.65 160518 30.19 85.91 6.20 areas Hefei City 26390 29.97 14934 16.96 26931 30.59 19791 22.48 34.82 4.45 Chuzhou 12939 14.42 19128 21.32 33556 37.41 24084 26.85 10.58 3.17 City Anqing 12719 14.33 13421 15.12 31353 35.32 31264 35.22 11.27 3.25 City Xuancheng 11309 12.88 12140 13.82 34218 38.97 30145 34.33 13.00 6.02 City Suzhou 9194 10.40 16690 18.88 36824 41.65 25698 29.07 13.91 3.42 City Guangde 9681 10.88 12447 13.99 37281 41.91 29536 33.21 2.33 4.66 City Date source: statistical yearbooks of Anhui Province, counties and cities, and statistical bulletin of the National Economic and Social Development. Note: ① According to the statistical yearbook, the educated population refers to the population receiving education per 7 100,000 people in each city, including those who graduate from college or above, high school and secondary TVET school, junior middle school, and primary school. ② The illiterate population refers to illiterate population aged 15 and above, and illiteracy ratio refers to the ratio of illiterate population aged 15 and above to the total population. 2.2.5 Health At the end of 2021, there were 29,391 health institutions in Anhui Province, with 503,226 health workers and 407,679 beds. The bed occupancy rate was 36.3%. In the project areas, there were 11,519 health institutions with 217,320 health workers and 172,075 beds. Among the 6 cities, Suzhou had the highest bed occupancy rate which was 40.7%; while Anqing City has the lowest rate, which was 24.6%. Table 2-5 Health sector in the project areas (2021) Health Number of health Number of beds in health Bed occupancy Region institutions workers in health institutions rate (%) (unit) institutions (person) (each) Anhui 29391 503226 407679 36.3 Project 11519 217320 172075 / areas Hefei City 3498 90133 67871 29.8 Chuzhou 1868 31322 26295 27.6 City Anqing 2303 34317 26852 24.6 City Xuancheng 1453 20352 15759 27.1 City Suzhou 2149 37529 32130 40.7 City Guangde 248 3667 3168 / City Date source: statistical yearbooks of Anhui Province, counties and cities, and statistical bulletin of the National Economic and Social Development. 2.2.6 Tourism According to statistics, there were 692,700 international tourists and 470.46 million domestic tourists in Anhui Province in 2021. The tourism revenue was CNY422.15 billion, including USD 275 million from international tourists in foreign currency and CNY422.15 billion from domestic tourists. COVID-19 pandemic led to significant decline in Anhui's total tourism revenue, international tourists, domestic tourists, revenue from domestic tourists and that from international tourists in foreign currency, compared with the previous year. In 2021, 647,900 international tourists and 135.7345 million domestic tourists visited the project areas, generating tourism revenue of CNY112.351 billion, including USD 432.1728 million from international tourists in foreign currency and CNY109.719 billion from domestic tourists. At the municipal level, Hefei, the provincial capital, had the most developed tourism industry, ranking first in total tourism revenue, number of international tourists, number of domestic tourists, revenue from international tourists in foreign currency and that from domestic ones; while Suzhou, located in the north of Anhui Province, had the weakest tourism industry, ranking last in all the five indicators. 8 Table 2-6Tourism in the project areas (2021) Revenue from Revenue from Total tourism Number of Number of international domestic revenue intenational domestic tourists tourists in Region tourists (CNY100 tourists (10,000 (10,000 foreign currency (CNY100 million) person/time) person/time) (US dollars million) 10,000) Anhui 4221.5 69.27 47046 4221.5 27465.8 Project 1851.7 / 18833.4 1841.2 / areas Hefei City 976.0 1.64 8107.9 976 1200 Chuzhou 151.2 / 1838.2 151.2 / City Anqing 394.2 2.5 4267.9 384.2 797 City Xuancheng 198.9 0.37 2502.7 198.9 165.7 City Suzhou 118.1 0.35 1791.7 118.1 128.82 City Guangde 13.3 0.06 325 12.8 850 City Date source: statistical yearbooks of Anhui Province, counties and cities, and statistical bulletin of the National Economic and Social Development. 2.3 Road conditions Anhui Province, located in East China, plays an important role in the national transport network. It connects the east with the west and bridges the south with the north. It is located in the east-central area and the hinterland of the Yangtze River Delta, and close to rivers and the sea. After years of transport development, a large-scale comprehensive transport system extending in all directions has taken initial shape, with Beijing- Kowloon Railway, Hefei-Jiujiang Railway and Nanjing-Xi'an Railway as trunk railways, trunk waterway lines along Yangtze River and Huaihe River, Shanghai-Chengdu, Beijing–Taipei, Shanghai-Xi'an, and Nanjing-Luoyang national expressways and national and provincial highways as arteries, county-level and township-level roads as basic road transport network, and air transport hubs in Hefei, Huangshan, and Fuyang. At the end of 2021, the total mileage of roads in the province reached 237,410.86 km. By road administration level, 11,171.69 km is national highway, including 3,710.85 national expressway, accounting for 4.71% of the total mileage. 17,179.80 km is provincial highway, accounting for 7.24% of the total. 32,979.88 km was county-level road, accounting for 13.89% of the total. 42,747.25 km was township road, accounting for 18.01% of the total. 133,315.31 km is village road, accounting for 56.15% of the total. 16.93 km is special-purpose road, accounting for 0.01% of the total. Breakdown by technical level is as follows: 5,146.29 km is expressway, accounting for 2.17% of the total mileage; 6,171.41 km first-class highway, accounting for 2.60% of the total; 13,873.52 km second-class 9 highway, accounting for 5.84% of the total; 21,606.32 km third-class highway, accounting for 9.10% of the total; 190,590.00 km fourth-class highway, accounting for 80.28% of the total; and 23.32 km is other road, accounting for 0.01% of the total. Table 2-7 Basic conditions of national and provincial highway network in Anhui Province in 2021 Highway asset section (km) By administration level By technical level Region National Provincial Level II and Subtotal (km) Level I Level II highway highway below Anhui 19989.59 6376.75 13612.84 4272.13 8727.18 6988.08 Project areas 8290.91 2557.75 5733.18 1948.32 3668.71 2671.66 Hefei City 1502.65 410.89 1091.76 580.22 539.69 380.53 Chuzhou City 1706.67 550.67 1156.00 366.50 965.59 374.58 Anqing City 1859.01 603.76 1255.26 231.01 656.82 971.18 Xuancheng 1324.52 431.07 893.46 218.84 621.94 483.74 City Suzhou City 1544.74 441.78 1102.96 479.70 764.05 300.99 Guangde City 353.32 119.58 233.74 72.05 120.62 160.64 Data source: feasibility study report of the project. 2.4 General Situation of Poverty in Project Areas1 2.4.1 Poverty in rural areas According to the statistics of the project areas, there were 3,087,800 poverty-stricken people in Anhui Province in 2015, with a poverty incidence of 5.72%. In 2019, there were 87,000 rural poverty-stricken people, with a poverty incidence of 0.16%. Compared with 2015, the number of poverty-stricken people in the province decreased by 3,030,600, and the poverty incidence was down by 5.6 percentage points. In the project areas, the number of poverty-stricken people in the province declined from 1.101 million in 2015 to 42,700 in 2019, down by 1,058,300. Chuzhou City had the highest poverty incidence of 0.54% in the project areas, while Xuancheng had the lowest incidence of 0.02%. Group discussion and interviews shows that the low-income population got their income mainly from traditional agriculture. The Project can play a positive role in increasing the income of the low-income population and create opportunities for their income increase by promoting the overall economic and social development. By improving road conditions through maintenance, transport will become more convenient and less costly, which attracts more dealers of high-quality agricultural products, drives up their purchase price, and increase the revenue of low-income population. Meanwhile, the low-income group can transport their agricultural products to the market for sale by road and get more economic income. The vast majority of low-income group support the Project and think that road maintenance is conducive to maintaining road performance, extending road service life, increasing their job opportunities outside their hometown, saving the cost and time of transporting agricultural and sideline products, and facilitating the development of 1By the end of 2021, there were no poverty-stricken villages under the current standards in the project areas. However, poverty will still exist in many forms, such as relative poverty and low-income population. After 2019 when extreme poverty was eliminated, the low-income population is equivalent to poor population. It is hereby stated and follows the same definition below. 10 agritourism to increase income. Table 2-8 Overview of poverty-stricken population in the project areas In 2015 In 2019 Poverty-stricken Poverty-stricken Poverty incidence Region Poverty incidence population population (10,000 (%) (%) (10,000 people) people) Anhui 308.78 5.72 8.7 0.16 Project areas 110.1 / 4.27 / Hefei City 11.07 2.47 0 0.16 Chuzhou City 13.18 3.69 1.92 0.54 Anqing City 40.69 9.19 1.03 0.3 Xuancheng 4.72 2.0 0.06 0.02 City Suzhou City 40.44 7.67 1.26 0.23 Guangde City / / / / Date source: statistical yearbooks of Anhui Province, counties and cities, and statistical bulletin of the National Economic and Social Development. Note: As Guangde City did not set up poverty alleviation office, there were no poverty population statistics available. 2.4.2 Subsistence Allowance Scheme (Dibao) Another commonly used indicator for measuring low-income population is the number of people receiving social assistance, that is, the urban/rural subsistence allowance scheme. According to statistics in 2021, there were 366,838 beneficiaries of the scheme in urban areas in Anhui, and the benefits amounted to CNY2,228.38 million. Beneficiaries in rural areas totaled 1,783,789, and the benefits amounted to CNY7,783.733 million. In the project areas, 106,647 urban beneficiaries received benefits worth CNY661.737 million; and 739,019 rural beneficiaries got benefits of CNY3,379,641,200. Table 2-9 Subsistence allowance scheme in the project areas Urban Rural Number of Number of Region Allowance amount Allowance amount beneficiaries beneficiaries (CNY10,000) (CNY10,000) (person) (person) Anhui 366838 222838.0 1783789 778373.3 Project areas 106647 66173.7 739019 337964.12 Hefei City 26456 18046.4 154386 84144.2 Chuzhou City 28639 18155.6 108960 51332.2 Anqing City 23349 13449.4 136422 53544.8 Xuancheng City 10901 6780.7 63821 29958.4 Suzhou City 16214 9032.7 265118 113073.9 Guangde City 1088 708.9 10312 5910.62 Date source: statistical yearbooks of Anhui Province, counties and cities, and statistical bulletin of the National Economic and Social Development. 11 3 Identification of Ethnic Minorities in World Bank OP 4.10 3.1 Identification and Analysis of Ethnic Minorities 3.1.1 Identifying ethnic minorities in the project areas (1) Basis for identification According to the World Bank's OP4.10 the "ethnic minorities" is used in a general sense to refer to unique and vulnerable sociocultural groups, which have the following characteristics to varying degrees: 1) Member of a distinct indigenous social or cultural group which is self-identified and recognized by others; 2) Collective attachment2 to unique settlements, traditional territories or areas for seasonal use or residence in the project areas, as well as the natural resources in such areas; 3) Customary cultural, economic, social, or political institutions that are distinct from or separate from the mainstream society or culture; and 4) A distinct language or dialect, usually different from the official language or the language of the country or region where they live. (2) Identification methods 1) Field investigation. Field investigation is to understand the population structure, ethnic composition, economic structure, identify ethnic minority villages if there are any, and find out whether ethnic minorities live in a concentrated way. 2) Data collection and literature review. Collecting and reviewing relevant documents (such as statistical yearbooks, statistical reports, city annals, and county annals) that reflect the population, nationality, culture and customs in the project areas can help understand the characteristics of ethnic minorities in the project areas and whether they are different from the Han people in production and life. 3) Key informant interview. Interviews with officials from the Bureau of Religious Affairs are helpful to understand the types, population, ethnic characteristics, and distribution of ethnic minorities in the project areas, as well as the ongoing projects implemented in the project areas to promote the development of ethnic minorities. (3) Findings of the identification effort In Anhui, ethnic minorities live in scattered manner. According to the seventh national population census, there are 55 ethnic minority groups in the province, and the permanent ethnic minorities is 432,500, accounting for 0.71% of the total population of the province. Most of the ethnic minorities in Anhui migrated from other places because of employment and marriage. They are scattered widely in general with small- scale concentrated settlements. There are 167,800 ethnic minorities in the project areas, accounting for 0.65% of their total population. 2 "Collective dependency" refers to the actual residence and economic relationship with the lands and territories traditionally owned, habitually used or inhabited by the relevant groups for generations. The above-mentioned lands and territories are areas of special significance for these groups, such as holy places. 12 Estimated by urbanization rate, there are about 108,100 urban ethnic minorities in the areas, accounting for 0.42% of the population. After identifying ethnic minorities, with the support of all project institutions, the social assessment team screened distribution and settlement of ethnic minorities through field investigation, literature review and key informant interviews. The results show that there are no ethnic minority townships, administrative villages, villager groups, or concentration communities along the affected roads. Table 3-1 Identification of ethnic minorities in the project areas (2021) Whether Whether the there are Urban ethnic Han Ethnic Proportio any Populatio ethnic minorities live nationality minorities n of ethnic ethnic Region n (10,000 minorities in (10,000 (10,000 minorities minority people) (10,000 concentrated people) people) (%) villages people) communities along the along the roads roads Anhui 6102.72 6059.47 43.25 0.71 25.22 No No Project 2584.6 2567.82 16.78 0.65 10.81 No No areas Hefei City 936.99 931.69 5.3 0.57 4.36 No No Chuzhou 398.71 394.21 4.5 1.13 2.78 No No City Anqing 416.53 414.23 2.3 0.55 1.28 No No City Xuancheng 250.01 248.61 1.4 0.56 0.85 No No City Suzhou 532.45 529.45 3.0 0.56 1.31 No No City Guangde 49.91 49.63 0.28 0.56 0.18 No No City Data sources: 2021 Statistical Yearbook of Anhui Province, data of Anhui Province in the seventh national population census, and statistical data provided by PMOs of 5 cities and 1 county, and the Bureau of Religious Affairs. Note: since China does not have breakdown of ethnic minorities population by urban and rural areas, we estimated urban ethnic minorities according to the proportion of urban population in each project city/county. 3.1.2 Ethnic Minority Development Plan The identification and screening efforts find that: 1) the project areas are not ethnic minorities areas though there are very few ethnic minorities living there, and they are not collectively attached to the project areas; 2) the ethnic minorities are distributed in a "mixed and scattered" manner, and most of them immigrates because of marriage and job; 3) there is no difference between ethnic minorities and Han people in economic structure, social organization structure, production and living habits, language, social communication, wedding and funeral practices, religious beliefs, etc., and the minorities are treated equally in employment, salary, promotion and political elections; and 4) the ethnic minorities and Han people enjoy the same development rights and can benefit from the project equally in the project areas, and the implementation of the project will not bring any special risks to them. The situation of ethnic minorities in the project areas does not trigger the relevant provisions of the World Bank's OP 4.10 so there is no need to prepare Ethnic Minority Development Plan for this project. 13 3.2 Identification and analysis of involuntary resettlement impact 3.2.1 Identifying Involuntary Resettlement in The Project Areas (1) Identification basis According to the Bank's OP4.12, project-related land acquisition and restrictions on land use may adversely affect communities and individuals. Such land acquisition or land use restrictions may lead to relocating resettlement (relocation, loss of homestead or residence), economic resettlement (loss of land, assets or access to assets, resulting in loss of income sources or other means of livelihood), or both. The "involuntary resettlement" refers to these impacts. If the affected individuals or communities have no right to refuse to land acquisition or land use restrictions, the resultant resettlement is deemed as involuntary resettlement. (2) Identification methods 1) On-site investigation. The on-site investigation is to understand whether the project site involves land acquisition and involuntary resettlement, whether there are ground appendants on the affected land, and whether the land is flat. 2) Data collection and literature review. Documents such as the relevant land use approval certification (for example land pre-review documents, and land use right certificates), compensation standard for land acquisition and property demolition, and feasibility study relevant to the project construction, is collected and reviewed to understand land acquisition and resettlement related to the project construction and identify the possible resettlement impacts. 3) Key informant interview. Interviews with key informants from relevant institutions such as the Natural Resources Bureau, Land Acquisition and Resettlement Office and PMO are helpful to understand project- related land acquisition and resettlement, compensation standard, and resettlement population. 3) Findings of the identification effort The proposed project focuses on wide application of innovative and preventive maintenance technologies to existing transport facilities. The implementation of the project does not involve new land occupation or land acquisition. Nor does it require demolition of ground appendants or resettlement. See Annex III for resettlement impact screening of the project. 3.2.2 Resettlement Action Plan The identification efforts in project areas find that the project does not involve involuntary resettlement, so there is no need to prepare resettlement action plan. 14 4 Stakeholder Analysis 4.1 Identifying Stakeholders The stakeholders of the project are individuals or groups who can affect or be affected by the realization of the project goals. The stakeholders can be divided into major stakeholders and minor stakeholders. Based on the nature of the project itself, field investigations and interviews with relevant institutions, the major stakeholders of this project are identified as: • Highway Management Service Center • Residents of the project areas • Vulnerable groups • The minor stakeholders of this project include: • project owner, design institute, construction entity, supervision entity, competent government agencies and to other departments related to road traffic, such as the traffic police agency. 4.2 Stakeholders' Demands for the Project (1) Highway Management Service Center The Highway Management and Service Center is mainly responsible for the planning, construction, maintenance, and management of national and provincial highways as well as important county highways. Its mandate also includes collection and inspection of road tolls of motor vehicles, collection of highway tolls, and guiding development of its affiliated enterprises. As a PIU, it shall exercise rights and obligations agreed in the contracts, and coordinate and address technical, economic, financial, environmental and social problems related to the project. The Maintenance Section of the Highway Management and Service Center in each project city is responsible for implementing innovative and preventive road maintenance in the project. Therefore, the highway management service centers are the closest stakeholders in the project and very supportive to the project. The responsibilities of the center in the project include: 1) accomplishing the objectives and tasks of the project throughout all stages by cooperation with all stakeholders, and enhancing the ability and image of its staff; 2) organization, management, supervision and guidance of project implementation, and contacting the World Bank; 3) improving the highway service capacity to promote regional economic and social development; 4) reducing maintenance costs so that the savings can be used in additional road construction and maintenance actions or other public service projects. (2) Residents in the project areas The residents in the project areas are the ultimate beneficiaries of the project. The project will improve the road maintenance by applying innovative and preventive maintenance technologies, so as to enhance road conditions, promote regional economic development, improve the regional environment, drive the coordinated development of sectors such as tourism and service industries, and create job opportunities which benefit local residents. The residents in the project areas are very supportive to the project. Their support and the engagement is an important condition for successful project implementation and effective achievement of the project goals. The needs of local residents for the project are as follows: 1) The road conditions are effectively and continuously improved to facilitate traffic. 2) Competent agencies 15 disclose information on road maintenance actions in a timely manner and provide proper traffic guidance. 3) Traffic safety risks are mitigated through road maintenance actions, and trainings are delivered to enhance awareness of road safety. 4) After the implementation of the project, road maintenance companies actively improve sanitation, flatness and especially safety of the roads for better user experience. 5) Construction at night should be avoided as much as possible, and dust prevention and noise reduction measures should be taken during road maintenance operations. 6) Local residents have related job opportunities. 7) The constructor ensures the quality of roads; 8) Construction is as fast as possible, and construction period is shortened as much as possible, to avoid long-term inconvenience for the travel of the residents. 9) If conditions permit, roads are broadened to accommodate to the passage of large-scale agricultural machinery and transport of products. 10) If the affected road is near to villages, construction operation should avoid harvest season of shrimp, crab, and crop, or complete before the harvest season of next year, to avoid inconvenience to harvest of crops and transport of aquaculture products. 11) In the case of trunk roads, the constructor should try its best to work on only one-half of the road at a time, to allow the other half available for traffic flow.  Villager Group Discussion in Zhamen Village, Xuancheng City: 1) Safety precautions shall be taken during the construction. Many villagers ride electric bicycles, and there is big traffic of trucks and private cars on the road, therefore safety precautions are of great importance! 2) It is necessary to report the upcoming construction operations to townships and villages, so that villages can inform the villagers in advance. 3) It is hoped to ensure the quality of roads. 4) It is hoped to widen the roads properly. The existing roads are too narrow, and it is inconvenient for trucks to transport bamboo resources and agricultural products out of the village. It is hoped to widen the roads based on the original roadbed. (3) Vulnerable groups The vulnerable groups refer to beneficiary households of Five Guarantees Scheme and Subsistence Allowances Scheme, the disabled, female-headed households, and low-income population in the project areas. They are relatively vulnerable, and their interests and needs should be taken seriously. With development of the society and continuous improvement of infrastructure and public welfare facilities, the vulnerable groups will get more attention and their interests will be better protected. 1) More job opportunities. Hopefully, the project can directly generate job opportunities when it is completed and put into operation. 2) Higher non-agricultural employment rate among women. 3) Positive impact on local health conditions, culture, and education. (4) Other relevant government agencies Foreign Loan Project Management Office of the Transport Department of Anhui Province and highway management service centers at all levels are the major entities responsible for implementation, organization and management of the project. They also cooperate with other relevant agencies, including the traffic police, the Women's Federation, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security, in the organization, management and supervision of the project implementation. On the one hand, those government agencies provide guidance, support and service to project implementation; on the other hand, the outcome of the project is directly linked to the performance of the government and relevant departments, and also related to full commercialization of highway maintenance. Those government agencies are very supportive to the project. Therefore, they hope that the project will: 16 1) improve road conditions in the project areas and reduce risks of road traffic accidents to strengthen social stability and harmonious development; 2) promote the transformation of economic structure and the economic growth in project areas; 3) drive economic and social development and enhance the image of government; and 4) enhance social inclusiveness. Table 4- 1 Analysis of major stakeholders of the project and their demands Stakeholders Interest and demand (1) Accomplishing the objectives and tasks of the project throughout all stages by cooperation with all stakeholders and enhancing the ability and image of its staff. (2) Full responsibility for organization, management, supervision, and guidance of project Highway implementation, and contacting the World Bank. Management (3) Improving the highway service capacity to promote regional economic and social Service Center development. (4) Reducing maintenance costs so that the savings can be used in additional road construction and maintenance actions or other public service projects. (1) The road conditions are effectively and continuously improved to facilitate traffic. (2) Competent agencies disclose information on road maintenance actions in a timely manner and provide proper traffic guidance. (3) Traffic safety risks are mitigated through road maintenance actions, and trainings are delivered to enhance awareness of road safety. (4) After the implementation of the project, road maintenance companies actively improve sanitation, flatness and especially safety of the roads for better user experience. (5) Construction at night should be avoided as much as possible, and dust prevention and noise reduction measures should be taken during road maintenance operations. Residents of the (6) Local residents have related job opportunities. project areas (7) The constructor ensures the quality of roads. (8) Construction is as fast as possible, and construction period is shortened as much as possible, to avoid long-term inconvenience for travel of the residents. (9) If conditions permit, roads are broadened to accommodate to the passage of large-scale agricultural machinery and transport of products. (10) If the affected road is near to villages, construction operation should avoid harvest season of shrimp, crab and crop, or complete before the harvest season of next year, to avoid inconvenience to harvest of crops and transport of aquaculture products. (11) In the case of trunk roads, the constructor should try its best to work on only one-half of the road at a time, to allow the other half available for traffic flow. (1) More job opportunities. Hopefully, the project can directly generate job opportunities Vulnerable when it is completed and put into operation. groups (2) Higher non-agricultural employment rate among women. (3) Positive impact on local health conditions, culture, and education. (1) Improving road conditions in the project areas and reducing risks of road traffic accidents to strengthen social stability and harmonious development. Other relevant (2) Promoting the transformation of economic structure and the economic growth in project government areas. agencies (3) Driving economic and social development and enhancing the image of government (4) Enhancing social inclusiveness. 17 5 Social Impact Analysis of the Project 5.1 Positive Impacts (1) Improving overall road conditions as well as production and living environment of local residents Through field investigation, the social assessment team found that road conditions vary among and within counties/cities. For example, S104 in Xuancheng and S601 in Hefei are in such a good shape that only preventive maintenance is needed. However, the Guanpingdu Bridge on G206 in Anqing has some cracks on the bridge floor and longitudinal or transverse ones on sidewalk slab. The drainpipes of the whole bridge are blocked. In addition, there is obvious vibration when large trucks pass through, and steel bars of the piers are exposed. The bridge needs overhaul and renovation. The implementation of this project will improve maintenance quality and overall road maintenance practices by applying innovative and preventive maintenance technologies. The residents in the project areas, as direct users of the roads, will directly benefit from the project. Smooth and beautiful roads will improve their production and living conditions, and the surrounding natural environment. At the same time, convenient and good traffic conditions will accelerate local logistic transportation and development of other industries, promote the structural adjustment of different industries in the project areas, and ultimately boost local production and economic development. The questionnaire survey shows that 99% of the villagers/residents surveyed think it is necessary to carry out road maintenance. The villagers/community residents in the project areas think that the implementation of this project can continuously improve road conditions, facilitate trips, reduce travel time and increase job opportunities.  Feedback of residents in Anqing and Xuancheng to the roads/bridges covered by the project: 1) Anqing: The Guanpingdu Bridge is used frequently with large traffic volume of big trucks and small vehicles. Its piers and bridge body are in bad condition with potential risks. The piers are also damaged by water erosion so seriously, that vibration can be easily felt when big trucks pass through. 2) Xuancheng City: The road surface is uneven, and there are few protective measures on the road. 104 is featured by many turns and big traffic volume of large trucks. We are afraid of going cross the road. 18 Table: 5-1 Do you think the highway maintenance project is necessary Yes No Not clear Project areas Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage Hefei City 48 96.00% 1 2.00% 1 2.00% Chuzhou City 50 100.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% Anqing City 50 100.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% Xuancheng 50 100.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% City Suzhou City 50 100.00% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% Guangde City 49 98.00% 0 0.00% 1 2.00% Total 297 99.00% 1 0.33% 2 0.67% Date source: questionnaire survey. (2) Enhancing road traffic safety and raising people's safety awareness through training The road traffic safety is correlated to the road conditions. The probability of traffic accidents is lower in the sections in better road conditions. In the project areas, many sections of national and provincial highways run through villages, towns and urban areas. So greater attention should be paid to road safety. In the past, some roads and bridges were congested and there were many traffic accidents. Taking the old Guanpingdu Bridge in Anqing as an example, the bridge and the road it links are the only access for Huashan Village to the urban area and Tongling, and also the main road of the village. The section is seriously congested. During holidays the congestion even lasts at least 4 hours. The incidence of traffic accidents is extremely high. Two or three people in the village died in car accidents. Application of innovative and preventive maintenance technologies can improve road conditions, quality, and safety measures to enhance the road traffic safety. In addition to narrow roads, poor road conditions, and inadequate management, road safety is also related to people's safety awareness. After the implementation of the project, it is necessary to carry out safety education and training on compliance with traffic rules. For example, traffic safety education is introduced to campus, and schools provide traffic safety classes to students every semester. and distribute relevant materials. Multiple measures are to be taken through multiple channels to improve people's safety awareness. The questionnaire survey shows that 91.7% residents hope to learn traffic safety knowledge through emerging media such as the Internet, WeChat, Microblog, and Tik-Tok. The progress of science and technology makes it easier for residents to learn relevant road traffic safety knowledge. Secondly, mass media has a wide range of audience. Television, radio and news are very popular in people’s daily life. 89.3% residents hope to learn relevant knowledge through mass media. Thirdly, the residents are very much in favor of traditional promotion methods such as banners and display boards. In addition, some residents hope to learn relevant knowledge through schools, driving schools, books, and newspapers. 19 Ways to learn about the traffic safety knowledge 100.0 89.3 91.7 90.0 学校 80.0 62.0 School 70.0 55.6 60.0 44.5 44.0 50.0 驾校 40.0 Driving school 30.0 20.0 5.4 10.0 0.0 电视�广播�新闻 Television, radio, and news 互�网�微��微信等新媒 New media such as the Internet, 体 Microblog and WeChat 图书报刊 Books, newspapers and magzines 社区宣传�幅�信�� Community-based publicity banners and information boards Figure 5-1 How do you want to learn traffic safety knowledge? (3) Creating non-agricultural employment opportunities for local residents 1) During the construction, the project will equip local labor force with some skills or provide employment opportunities for skillful workers, which can temporarily increase non-agricultural employment in the project areas and economic income of some local residents. 2) The implementation of the project will create some jobs opportunities. First, the construction and operation of the project will directly create some job opportunities. Second, the development of road transport will inevitably stimulate growth of various industrial activities, which provides more jobs and helps transfer rural population from the farming to the secondary and tertiary industries. 3) Jobs in service sector increase women’s employment opportunities. 4) The implementation of the project also has a positive impact on regional health conditions, as well as culture and education sector. The statistical results of the questionnaire show that 82.71% of the surveyed men and 77.84% of the surveyed women are willing to take temporary maintenance jobs in the project if there are any. Generally, they are quite willing to participate. Table 5-2 Willingness of residents in the project areas to take temporary maintenance jobs Willing Unwilling It depends Gender Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage Male 110 82.71% 10 7.52% 13 9.77% Female 130 77.84% 17 10.18% 20 11.98% Total 240 80.00% 27 9.00% 33 11.00% Date source: questionnaire survey. (4) Promoting farmers' mobility for economic gains, driving rural economic growth, and narrowing the gap between urban and rural areas. After the implementation of the project, with the improvement in road conditions, the traffic is more convenient, which will expand the employment scope of residents and facilitate farmers to work in urban areas. Road maintenance can enhance the road conditions, shorten the commuting time, and expand the employment radius, which will boost the economy growth of the county and the industries along the roads. 1) It is conducive to the development of agriculture. Better roads facilitate mechanized agricultural 20 production and distribution of agricultural and sideline products and extend the industrial chain from primary processing to deep processing of agricultural products. Taking agricultural and sideline products as an example. With better road conditions, it is more convenient for brokers to purchase agricultural and sideline products in villages, and for farmers to transport their products to the market for sale. Better connectivity will increase farmers' income thanks to lower transport costs and higher prices, and mitigates the sales risks caused by inefficient transport. 2) It will promote the development of tourism, as the roads are connected to tourist attractions. Local farmers can get considerable income from rural tourism. Thriving catering, hospitality and retail sectors can create jobs for villagers, to increase their income and narrow the gap between urban and rural areas. 3) It will benefit bamboo processing industry. Better roads will facilitate the transportation of forest resources in the project areas, and extend to new forest processing industries, such as bamboo processing, bamboo-charcoal processing and furniture industry. 4) Village collective economy along the roads will also benefit from the project. Introduction of external enterprises will make good use of the land resources of village collectives and increase income. At the same time, better roads will also help village collectives with development of new industries. For example, Zhamen Village plans to introduce and invest in oil mills and grain processing factories.  Villager group discussion in Zhamen Village, Xuanzhou District, Xuancheng City: 1) These villages along Provincial Road 341, including our village, are particularly rich in bamboo resource. The bamboo raw materials produced here are sold to Shandong, Jiangsu, Inner Mongolia and other places across the country. There are 5 enterprises, 3 bamboo processing enterprises and 2 bamboo charcoal processing enterprises nearby. Once the roads are improved, it will be convenient for large vehicles to transport bamboo resource and related processed products. Moreover, some enterprises have heard of the project, and consider making investment here after the roads are repaired. 2) There are also abundant tourism resources along Provincial Road 341. It reaches the Moon Bay directly. The reparation of the road will boost tourism in the surrounding areas. Better road will attract more tourists from surrounding cities such as Nanjing and Ma'anshan. 3) Land in our village is contracted to big family farms, who use machineries in their production. Once the road is repaired, it will be more convenient to use large-scale agricultural machineries and to transport and sell grain and agricultural products. 4) It will directly promote the development of our village. The village plans to introduce oil mills, and grain processing factories after the roads are improved, which will create jobs for villagers. (5) Enhancing road safety facilities for better road safety performance and lower incidence of traffic accidents The project implementation unit plans to increase road safety facilities while maintaining the roads, which will directly improve road safety and reduce traffic accidents. Taking the project roads in Xuancheng as an example. Road 104 and Road 206 are connected. The former connects Xuancheng with Ma'anshan, and the latter connects Xuancheng with Nanjing. Both are the trunk roads in villages along them. On the two roads run the trucks to Ma'anshan or Nanjing and the buses. The roads are intensively used with high traffic volume of both motorized and non-motorized vehicles. At present, the roads are curved and uneven with few safety signs, and mixed traffic of motorized and non-motorized vehicles. In general, the potential safety hazards are noticeable, and the safety factor is low. In this project, the roads are subject to structural repair. Their road surface will be upgraded, and safety facilities will be installed. After the maintenance, the roads will be smoother and wider, and well-equipped with safety facilities. For the residents, they are much safer and for the enterprises they are more convenient for large cargo vehicles. 21 (6) Promoting regional development and providing basic conditions for the economic development of the project areas The project can enhance resource supply capacity within the region, accelerate regional integration, and strengthen connectivity between the project areas and surrounding areas, and improve the structure of the highway network. In addition, the project can improve the regional traffic environment, alleviate the traffic congestion caused by unreasonable layout of the road network. It will meet the needs of increasing traffic volume driven by economic growth and serve as driving force to accelerate urbanization in the project areas. (7) Improving road infrastructure for stronger responsiveness to social emergencies. While promoting regional economic development, the project is conducive to the rapid implementation of disaster relief actions, such as disaster assessment, relief supplies distribution and comforting victims, and enhances the resilience to natural disasters. In addition, well-functioning road infrastructure facilitates the transport of supplies and people. Thus, it is of significance for stronger responsiveness to emergencies. 5.2 Negative Impacts (1) Identifying the impact of land acquisition and resettlement Through field investigation, the social assessment team finds that the project neither involves changes in route nor requires additional land, as it is mainly about pavement repair maintenance and preventive maintenance on existing roads. Since it does not involve involuntary resettlement or property losses caused by land acquisition and housing demolition and has little negative impact on the vital interests of the population along the roads, it is easier to get the understanding and the support from local residents. (2) Environmental impacts during construction During construction period, a large number of construction vehicles will enter and leave the maintenance section frequently, which brings potential safety hazards to the residents for a period of time, especially children and the elderly with walking difficulties who are not agile to keep off vehicles and are prone to safety accidents. In addition, the road sections in maintenance need to be closed, which affects the traffic temporarily and brings inconvenience to the residents nearby and vehicles passing by. During the implementation, environmental problems, such as waste asphalt, waste oil, other solid wastes, noise, dust, and exhaust emissions caused by construction machineries and vehicles transporting materials, may affect the growth of surrounding vegetation, and daily life and production of residents around the construction sites. According to the questionnaire survey, 98% residents are worried about piling up waste asphalt and waste oil on the surrounding pavement. 97% residents think that great attention should be paid to the road dust during construction. In addition, 96.5% and 88% residents think that it is necessary to have a good traffic diversion plan due to the negative impact of the construction on traffic, and traffic police and road administration department should jointly command and guide the traffic at important intersections under construction during peak hours when people are commuting, and students are going to or leaving school. Table 5-3Are you worried about the following problems during construction? (%) Problems Yes No Waste asphalt and waste oil is piled up on the surrounding pavement 98% 2% Road closure affects traffic 96.5% 3.5% 22 Traffic congestion during peak hours when people are commuting and 88% 12% students are going to or leaving school Serious road dust 97% 3% Very loud construction noise 85% 15% Night construction 80% 20% There are no guidance and signs on the road section under maintenance 77% 23% operation Date source: questionnaire survey. (3) Social impact brought by migrant workers The increased exchanges and contacts between migrant workers and local residents may bring health and hygiene risks, such as HIV/AIDS, COVID-19 and other diseases. The flow of migrant workers brings greater pressure on COVID prevention. It is necessary to carry out publicity and education on prevention and control of HIV/AIDS and COVID-19, disseminate relevant knowledge among the public, and develop contingency plans for COVID-19 outbreak. Constructor should stick to temperature measurement and disinfection at construction site, and distribute epidemic prevention supplies free of charge. (4) Short-term traffic inconvenience and traffic jam caused by construction Some project-affected roads are one-way roads, and also serve as the main roads in the residential areas along the route. There is much traffic on the roads, including buses, private cars, large trucks, tricycles, and electric bicycles. Construction in all lanes at a time will directly block the traffic for short term. Even works in half of the lanes at a time will lead to short-term traffic jam due to the convergence of vehicles from two directions. In addition, buses may sometimes stop service temporarily during the construction, which will directly affect residents' travel. Residents along the route may have to bypass due to road construction, which will temporarily increase residents' travel time and cost. 5.3 Other impacts 5.3.1 HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention HIV/AIDS, as a global concern, has also received great attention in this project. It is learned that Anhui’s prevalence of HIV/AIDS is low. From the end of 1994 when the first case was detected in Anhui Province, to October 31, 2022, there were 19,604 surviving cases of people living with HIV/AIDS who reported themselves living in Anhui (including 10,255 surviving cases of AIDS patients), and 4,911 deaths. All cities and counties (districts) in the province have reported cases, but the prevalence is still low and lower than the national average. From January to October 2022, 2,511 new cases of people living with HIV/AIDS (including 744 AIDS patients) were reported in the province. Currently, most surviving cases are young adults. 65.8% cases are aged 20−49. Among newly reported cases, 61.7% are aged 20−49. In recent years, the Anhui provincial government has attached great importance to HIV/AIDS prevention and control. Provincial and local governments have set up HIV/AIDS prevention and control committees, and formulated and issued a series of documents such as Opinions of the General Office of Anhui Provincial Government on Implementing HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Regulations, Medium-and Long-Term Plan for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control in Anhui Province, Implementation Plan for Containment and Prevention of HIV/AIDS in Anhui Province (2019-2022), and Opinions on Further Strengthening HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control. Under the leadership of the Provincial Party Committee and the provincial 23 government, the province implements the policy of "four free and one care", adheres to science-based prevention and control according to law, follows the principle of “prevention first, combination of prevention and control, and integrated management�, and establishes the prevention and control mechanism led by the government with multi-sectoral cooperation and participation of the whole society. Basically, the prevention and control objectives, policies and measures are put in place, and responsibilities and tasks are defined clearly. Anhui Province has steadily prevented and controlled the disease, and effectively curbed its spread. The health authorities of the project areas carried out HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention campaign for migrant workers and achieved good results. For example, according to the local inflow and outflow of migrant workers, Suzhou City takes migrant workers as the key target group of the promotion campaigns. News media, entertainment performances, movies and other popular forms are used to disseminate knowledge of HIV/AIDS prevention and control among migrant workers, so as to increase their knowledge on HIV/AIDS and advocate healthy lifestyle. Since innovative and preventive maintenance of roads requires a certain amount of construction time, attention should be paid to HIV/AIDS prevention of workers dispatched by contractors during the construction period. At present, the major prevention and control measures by construction contractors are: 1) formulating HIV/AIDS prevention and control programs; 2) AIDS knowledge publicity; 3) regular physical examination of employees; 4) HIV/AIDS check-up; 5) arranging a separate room for the employee living with spouse and providing contraceptives. Although the prevalence in the project areas is low, it is still necessary to do a good job in the prevention and control among workers dispatched by contractors. It is recommended that the CDCs in the project areas, together with the contractors, organize relevant health education and promotion activities in forms of lectures, leaflets, movies, performances, and regular physical examinations during the implementation of the project, so that all dispatched workers know the preventive measures, better protect themselves against the disease, and reduce or avoid the risk of infection. The CDCs and social organizations in the project areas can actively organize and implement HIV/AIDS prevention and control activities, and carry out regular knowledge dissemination activities through television, newspapers, internet and other news media and consultation hotlines. In the discussion and interviews, it was found that because the prevalence in the project areas was generally low, the villagers were not concerned or panic about the disease. Most villagers said that they had heard of HIV/AIDS. Some also said that they had seen some relevant slogans and activities. However, the villagers have insufficient knowledge about the disease and its prevention and control measures and have no clear understanding on the harm of HIV/AIDS. It is necessary to disseminate relevant knowledge among villagers, improve their understanding on the disease and strengthen their awareness of HIV/AIDS prevention. Therefore, it is suggested that the publicity of HIV/AIDS prevention and control in the project areas shall be strengthened, especially in rural areas. In addition to posters and slogans, leaflets and lectures, traditional media such as newspapers, radio and television shall be fully utilized, and new media such as Weibo, WeChat and SMS shall also be used. Various popular forms should be used to disseminate relevant knowledge and warn of infection risks and popularize prevention and control knowledge in an all-round way, so that villagers/community residents in the project areas understand HIV/AIDS hazards, know prevention knowledge, and create a good social environment for HIV/AIDS prevention and control. 5.3.2 Prevention and Control Of COVID-19 The project areas shall carry out regular Covid-19 prevention and control practices, improve the accountability system, formulate emergency response plans, and ensure the physical and mental health of residents and workers at construction sites. 24 (1) Personnel management at construction sites • The relevant provisions of the Regulation on Real-name-based Personnel Management at Construction Sites should be strictly implemented, and everyone entering the site shall be registered in the real-name system. Workers and on-site management personnel shall get booster shot. All the people entering the sites should provide authentic information including names, ID numbers, types of job, teams and groups, native places, contact number and entry and exit information, for record. • The sites should be staffed by full-time health workers. Those health workers are responsible for monitoring body temperature, ventilation, and disinfection of workers on site, and are equipped those workers with epidemic prevention package (including thermometer, body temperature monitor, medical mask, shoe cover, gloves, disinfectant, etc.), distributing and supervising the use of personal protective equipment, conduct health promotion and education activities. They also supervise various prevention and control measures, equip the sites with body temperature detection equipment, and measure and record on-site workers' body temperature twice a day. Their other responsibilities include reminding the workers of wearing masks and taking personal protective measures. When they find on-site workers with fever, fatigue, dry cough and other symptoms, they should immediately report to the fever clinics in the nearest health institution and help those workers go to the clinics, and then inform the community/village and the District Housing and Urban and Rural Development Committee. • Personnel entering and leaving the site must wear protective masks, shoe covers and gloves, and be disinfected by spraying alcohol all over the body. (2) Closed management of construction sites • Closed management shall be adopted on the construction site as much as possible. • Entrances or exits of the sites shall be promptly closed and locked when they are not being used. Effective closure measures shall be taken. • The enclosure of the construction site must be secure. During entrances or exits are open for use, full-time health workers must measure and record the temperature of those who pass through, and verify their identity. The entrance of the construction site is equipped with body temperature monitor, alcohol for disinfection, rinse-free hand sanitizer and other supplies. • Environmental sanitation of the operation area, living area and office area should be strengthened. Windows should be opened for ventilation regularly to keep indoor air circulation. Such ventilation should be not less than 5 times a day, and last not less than 30 minutes every time. Indoor places shall be disinfected and sterilized at least twice a day. Garbage should be managed in centralized way and cleaned and transported in a timely manner. Used masks should also be collected and pooled together. • Materials, equipment, and vehicles should be strictly controlled. The surfaces of objects that are frequently contacted (including but not limited to the console, steering wheel, car door handle, etc.) should be disinfected and sterilized every day. • The disinfection method: chlorine-based disinfectant solution with a concentration of 500 mg/L is used. The solution is prepared by adding 99 shares of water into 1 share of disinfectant with an effective chlorine content of 5% and used by wiping or spraying. The sequence of disinfection is from the inside to outside. (3) Training system for epidemic prevention The emergency leading group for epidemic prevention and control in the project areas is responsible for organizing the daily training on epidemic prevention knowledge and psychological counseling for the 25 construction workers, explaining policies and refuting rumors in time to ensure that the workers do not believe or spread rumors, and do not use social software to spread misinformation. • Various forms of health education on epidemic prevention and control are carried out through bulletin boards, bulletin boards, and WeChat groups, so that the workers can fully understand health knowledge, master key points of protection, and achieve early detection, early reporting, early isolation and early treatment. • Covid-19 epidemic prevention education is included in the pre-employment training and daily education before work. Innovative education and disclosure activities reduce centralized education and gatherings. • All personnel on the construction site are instructed to pay attention to personal hygiene, wash hands frequently, drink plenty of water, keep clothes clean and tidy, and keep dormitories clean. • All personnel on the construction site are required to wear protective masks properly. In order to avoid containment, used masks are strictly prohibited from littering at will. Specific personnel are assigned to collect them in closed garbage bins. • Disinfectant, disinfection equipment, alcohol and other epidemic prevention supplies are properly used and stored, to prevent poisoning by accidental intake or fire accidents. 5.3.3 Publicity and education of road traffic safety According to statistics, there were 10,706 traffic accidents in Anhui Province in 2021, causing 2,373 deaths, 12,252 injuries, and economic losses of 55.27 million yuan. Among them, there were 19 accidents in which more than three people died at one time, with 68 deaths, 17 injuries and a loss of 1.02 million yuan. In the project areas, there were 4,011 traffic accidents, accounting for 37.46% of the total in the province. The death toll was 1,066, accounting for 44.92% of the province; injured people totaled 4,819, accounting for 39.33% of the province; and the loss amounted to CNY 29.99 million, accounting for 54.26% of the province. Table 5-4 Traffic accidents in project areas Number of accidents Number of Deaths Number of Region Loss (10,000 yuan) (Incidents) (Persons) Injured (Persons) Anhui 10706 2373 12252 5527 Project 4011 1066 4819 2999 areas Hefei City 1696 455 2021 1640 Chuzhou 284 167 232 379 City Anqing City 1284 190 1626 426 Xuancheng 335 154 467 339 City Suzhou City 367 85 420 140 Guangde 45 15 53 75 City Data sources: Statistical Yearbook of Anhui Province, counties and cities, Statistical Bulletin of National Economic and Social Development, Work Summary Account of Traffic Management Department, etc. According to the list of accident-prone road sections released by the Emergency Management Department, some sections of Provincial Highway 101, Provincial Highway 224, Provincial Highway 306, Provincial 26 Highway 256, Provincial Highway 202, Provincial Highway 204, Provincial Highway 328, Provincial Highway 102, and National Highway Jingzhu Line under the jurisdiction of Hefei, Bozhou, Bengbu, Fuyang, Huainan, and Lu'an cities are prone to accidents. In the first half of 2019, there were a total of 22 accidents claiming lives of 10 people in the 997 km−1,007 km section on the Chinese Highway Jingzhu Line. Table 5-5 Top 10 dangerous road sections in Anhui Province S/N Region Occurrence Section Casualties in Recent Three Years 10 km−20 km of Provincial 1 Hefei City 3 accidents and 7 deaths Highway 101 Bozhou City and 10 km−20 km of Provincial 2 6 accidents and 6 deaths Fuyang City Highway 224 30 km−40 km of Provincial 3 Bengbu City 18 accidents and 7 deaths Highway 306 40 km−50 km of National 4 Fuyang City 11 accidents and 9 deaths Highway 256 220 km−230 km of Provincial 5 Fuyang City 11 accidents and 7 deaths Highway 202 30 km−40 km of Provincial 6 Fuyang City 14 accidents and 6 deaths Highway 204 10 km−20 km of Provincial 7 Fuyang City 6 accidents and 6 deaths Highway 328 Fuyang city and 967 km−977 km of Beijing- 8 14 accidents and 7 deaths Lu'an city Zhuhai National Highway 150 km−160 km of Provincial 9 Huainan City 11 accidents and 10 deaths Highway 102 997 km−1,007 km of National 10 Lu'an City 22 accidents and 10 deaths highway The project areas have carried out informative publicity and education activities on road traffic safety in various forms, to further enhance residents' awareness and the rule of law and reduce road traffic casualties. Based on the Six Enters Campaign3, we can further promote the publicity and education of road traffic safety: (1) Using the media for publicity and education Newspapers, radio and television broadcast, internet and other media are used for the publicity. Anhui Daily Newspaper Group, Anhui Radio and Television Station and other provincial major media (including new media) have intensified publicity and education on road traffic safety. They organize one or two publicity events a month. Around important holidays such as New Year's Day, Spring Festival, Qingming Festival, Labor Day and National Day, the relevant channels of Anhui Radio and Television Station broadcast publicity videos and subtitles on traffic safety. The videos are played for not less than 5 times a day, including at least 2 times in prime time, and subtitles are broadcasted repeatedly for about 20 times a day. Portals of Anhui provincial government and public security, road transport, eduation, and tourism authorities, Zhongan online, etc. have road traffic safety columns displayed on the homepage. All telecom operators perform their social responsibilities for publicity on road safety. In important periods, according to the Regulations on the management of Telecom Text Message Service, they cooperate with relevant departments to send at least one safety precaution or reminder message to local users every two months. 3 The Six Enters Campaign: Traffic safety publicity should carried out in employers, communities, schools, rural areas, enterprises and families, using “traffic safety caravans", push of mobile phone messages, bann ers, exhibition boards,audio and video materials, leaflets and pamphlets, etc., to ensure full coverage of traffic safety publicity. 27 (2) Carrying out regular publicity and education activities Road traffic safety information platform has established to release the province's road traffic safety information, safety tips in the case of bad weather, warning, and typical accident cases to all sectors of society, to advocate safe and civilized travel behaviors. Volunteers are organized to carry out various publicity activities such as persuasion, distributing leaflets and lectures in the community. Road traffic safety is covered by publicity campaigns for law popularization. In programs of "Hundred Day Action for Road Traffic Safety� and the Road Safety Promotion Month, many agencies cooperate in promoting road safety in government agencies, schools, transport enterprises, and rural areas. Anhui Law Popularization Website, Weibo, WeChat, mobile newspaper, etc. are used for law popularization. Townships, neighborhoods, communities, village committees and other grassroots organizations are assisted to set up traffic safety publicity bulletin boards. Township judicial offices and grass-roots law popularization staff can help set up a station for traffic safety publicity and consultation. (3) Carrying out publicity and education to key enterprises and units Relevant entities are supervised and urged to hang up road safety posters and banners, set up bulletin boards and broadcast videos at depot, highway entrances and exits, and service areas. Passenger transport enterprises are supervised and urged to play road safety tips and videos repeatedly on on-board LED screens and TV sets on buses, taxis, and long-distance coaches. Passenger and freight transport enterprises shall carry out traffic safety education activities regularly and ensure all employees are covered. Road safety knowledge is incorporated into students' education on citizenship and social practice. Primary and secondary schools have Traffic Safety Education Week once every school year, and carry out targeted education on Safety Education Day, at the beginning and the end of each semester, and around holidays. (4) Doing a good job in publicity and education targeting key groups Driving training institutions must include road traffic safety regulations, professional ethics, civilized driving, and highway driving rules in their training in accordance with regulations. Efforts are made to strengthen the education targeting key groups such as drivers in passenger and freight transport sector; and establish platforms to expose misbehaviors. Local media expose institutions and individuals who drive under the influence of alcohol, drive without a license, exceed the speed limit, cause serious road traffic accidents, and severely violate transport laws and regulations in the forms of press conferences, broadcasts, etc. (5) Promoting community (rural) publicity and education Efforts are made to promote rural traffic safety publicity and education activities. Township should organize and carry out publicity activities in various forms popular among the public. Village should set up specialized or fixed traffic safety bulletin boards and display windows in villager gathering areas and write traffic safety slogans on both sides of the roads within or towards the village. Cable broadcasting, loudspeakers, movies, television, display boards can be used to promote road safety knowledge. Each county chooses a township as a demonstration site which actively explores effective publicity methods and promotes experiences and good practices. Efforts are made to promote traffic safety publicity in urban communities. Communities can organize relevant activities, including posting posters, slogans, traffic safety tips, warning signs, etc. at the gates (of community), in the square, and even at the entrance of corridors or in the elevator hall where condition allows. Each district chooses a community as a publicity demonstration site which actively explores effective publicity methods and promotes experiences. According to interviews with key informants, traffic accidents on national and provincial highways occur 28 frequently, which are mainly related to road conditions. Many sections of the highways pass through villages, towns and urban areas, with many people and complicated road conditions. Many intersections do not have traffic lights or speed check cameras, and speeding is much likely to cause traffic accidents. At the group discussions, villagers/community residents generally reported that traffic accidents were most likely at intersections of village roads and national and provincial highways, entrances and exits of expressways, downhill roads, etc. They thought that the main causes of the accidents were: ① poor road conditions in some sections, such as many damaged potholes on the road surface, and cement pavements with poor safety and durability performance and small road friction coefficient; ② mixed traffic with large trucks, electric bicycles and other vehicles; ③ a lot of large trucks running very fast, which works for many mines, cement plants, building materials plants, and mixing plants near the highways; ④ absence of buffer isolation belt or fence at the intersection of village roads and national, provincial and county highways with 90-degree geometry, and lack of traffic concave-convex mirror; ⑤ absence of street lamps in some road sections, especially those near villages, leading to poor lighting at night; ⑥ weak awareness of traffic safety among some villagers and drivers and their incompliance with traffic rules; ⑦ lack of traffic safety signs (such as speed bumps, zebra crossings, cameras, etc.) at some critical sections, or failure to replace seriously worn signs in time; and ⑧ piling up grain, fish and shrimp on the road for dry. Characteristics of traffic accidents. ① Most accidents occur at the intersections of village roads and national, provincial and county highways. ② Most involves local vehicles. ③ Most are collision between motor vehicles and non-motor vehicles such as battery cars and motorcycles. ④ Victims are mainly elderly people and women with difficulties in movement and slow response. The needs of villagers/community residents in the project areas for road safety are mainly as follows: ① repairing the roads in poor conditions as soon as possible, and maintaining the roads frequently; ② strengthening road safety publicity and education to improve the awareness of villagers, students, truck drivers and other important groups; ③ setting up shock absorption belts and deceleration warning signs, zebra crossings, etc. in villages, schools, markets and other gathering areas; ④ setting up traffic safety facilities in accident-prone sections, such as installing cameras, concave-convex mirrors, and fences, etc.; ⑤ installing traffic safety signs on critical sections and replacing worn signs with new ones in time; ⑥ finding a place suitable for drying grain, fish and shrimp, and banning such behaviors on road. 6 Gender Analysis 6.1 Overview Of Women in The Project Area (1) Overview of women in Anhui Province 1) Population profile of women According to the statistical yearbook of Anhui Province, the total population of Anhui Province in 2021 was 71,193,700, of which 34,250,400 were women, accounting for 48.11% of the total population, and the sex ratio between men and women was 107.86: 100. The average age of first marriage for women was 30.73 years old. The gender ratio of outgoing population was 127.01: 100; the fertility rate of women of childbearing age (aged 15−49) was 38.6%. 29 2) Education status of women In 2021, the average number of years of education for women in Anhui Province was 8.8 years, which was lower than 9.9 years for men; the enrollment rate of primary school-age girls was 100%, which was consistent with the ratio of boys; among the illiterate population aged 15 and above, the proportion of women was 8.45%, which was higher than that of men (2.7%); there were 4,609,100 female students in school, accounting for 46.15% of the total number of students; there were 317,300 female teachers, accounting for 52.79% of the total number of teachers. 3) Women's employment and security In 2021, female employed persons in urban non-private units in Anhui Province accounted for 36.2% of all employed persons; at the end of the year, the number of registered unemployed women was 89,400, accounting for 29.8% of the unemployed; there were 19,226 women's federations; there were 100,236 grass- roots trade union organizations, and the number of female employees in grass-roots units that have established trade unions was 3,585,200, accounting for 37.6%. Among them, 3,404,100 female members had joined trade union organizations, accounting for 94.95% of female employees. 4) Women's participation in politics In 2021, there were 224 women among the NPC deputies in Anhui Province (autonomous regions and municipalities), accounting for 31.68% of the total number; there were 173 women among CPPCC members in Anhui Province (autonomous regions and municipalities), accounting for 23.44% of the total number; the allocation rate of female cadres in the leading bodies of provincial government was 100.0%; the allocation rate of female cadres in the leading bodies of prefecture-level governments was 100%; and the allocation rate of female cadres in the leading bodies of county-level governments was 91.3%. 5) Women's health care status In 2021, there were 5,179 doctors and 4,421 beds in Anhui Maternal and Child Health Hospital. The maternal mortality rate (1/100,000) was 8.0%, the hospital delivery rate was 100.0%, the contraceptive rate of married women was 0.0%, and the premarital medical examination rate was 96.2%. (2) Overview of women in the project area 1) Age composition The statistical results of questionnaire survey show that among the respondents in the project area, the number of people aged 31−59 is the largest, accounting for 74.4%, among which women and men account for 79.9% and 69.9% respectively. Among the female population samples, the number of people aged 31−59 is the largest, followed by those aged 30 and below, and the number of people aged 60 and above is the least; in the distribution of male population samples, the number of people aged 31−59 is the largest, followed by those aged 60 and above, and the number of people aged 30 and below is the least. Table6-1: Gender and age distribution of survey samples Male Female Total Age Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage Aged 30 and 16 12.03% 23 13.77% 39 13% below Aged 31−59 93 69.9% 133 79.9% 226 74.4% 30 Aged 60 and 24 18.05% 11 6.59% 35 11.67% above Total 133 100% 167 100% 300 100% 2) Educational level According to the distribution of educational level of the survey samples, the education of the respondents is mainly at junior high school level, accounting for 50.4%, and women and men account for 49.4% and 51.2% respectively. The number of illiterate women surveyed is the least, accounting for 2.9%. The overall educational level of people in the project area is not high, and there are no obvious gender differences between women and men in educational level. Table: 6-2 Distribution of gender and educational level of survey samples Educational Male Female Total Level Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage College or above 17 12.78% 21 12.57% 38 12.67% High school/secondary 21 15.79% 39 23.35% 60 20% TVET school Junior middle 68 51.2% 82 49.4% 300 50.4% school Primary school 18 13.53% 20 11.98% 38 12.67% Illiteracy 9 6.77% 5 2.9% 14 4.67% Total 133 100.0% 167 100% 300 100% 3) Occupational composition According to the survey results, 63.1% of the surveyed women are farmers, which is higher than 60.2% of men; followed by self-employment, accounting for 12.1% of the total number of women. In the field interview, it was found that most of the respondents indicated that women mainly do farm work at home, take care of the elderly and children, even if they go out to work, they usually work in nearby enterprises or go out to work during the slack season to subsidize their families. Table 6-3: Gender and occupational distribution of survey samples Male Female Total Occupation Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage Government officials 1 0.75% 0 0% 1 0.3% Personnel of public 2 1.5% 4 2.4% 6 2% institutions Enterprise staff 11 8.3% 8 4.8% 19 6.3% Self-employed 14 10.5% 20 12.1% 34 11.3% Freelance work 4 3% 13 7.8% 17 5.7% 31 Unemployed/job-waiting 1 0.75% 0 0% 1 0.3% Retirement 7 5.3% 3 1.8% 10 3.3% Farmer 80 60.2% 105 63.1% 185 61.7% Student 10 7.5% 8 4.8% 18 6% Others 3 1.5% 6 3.6% 9 3% Total 133 100% 167 100% 300 100% 4) Income state According to the economic income distribution of the survey samples, the proportion of people with average monthly income below 2,000 yuan is the largest, accounting for 46.7%. The largest monthly income range of women is below 2,000 yuans, accounting for 55.7%; the largest monthly income range of men is between 2,001 to 4,000 yuans, accounting for 44.7%, which is obviously higher than that of women. In terms of the average monthly income, the average monthly income of women is lower than that of men, and there are obvious gender differences. Table: 6-4 Distribution of gender and monthly income of survey samples Male Female Total Monthly Income Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage Less than 2,000 yuan 47 35.3% 93 55.7% 140 46.7% 2,001−4,000 yuan 59 44.7% 63 37.7% 122 40.7% 4,001−8,000 yuan 21 15.8% 11 6.6% 32 10.7% 8,001−20,000 yuan 4 3% 0 0% 4 1.3% More than 20,000 yuan 2 1.5% 0 0% 2 0.67% Total 133 100% 167 100% 300 100% 6.2 Women’s Awareness and Attitude Towards the Project (1) Project awareness The statistical results of questionnaire survey show that 155 women in the project area have heard of this project, accounting for 93.1%, slightly higher than 88.3% among men; 0.9%, 10.2% and 82.3% of women expressed they " know well ", " know" and "know a little" about the project respectively. Generally, women in the project area have a slightly higher awareness of the project than men. Table: 6-5Awareness degree of residents to the project in the surveyed project area Heard No Gender Number Percentage Number Percentage Male 117 88.3% 16 12% Female 155 93.1% 12 7.2% Total 272 90.7% 28 9.3% Data source: Questionnaire survey 32 Table: 6-6 Understanding degree of residents to the project in the surveyed project area Gender Know well Know Know a little No Male 1.5% 6.8% 84.2% 5.3% Female 0.6% 12.6% 74.9% 7.8% Total 0.9% 10.2% 82.3% 6.6% Data source: Questionnaire survey (2) Degree of support and cooperation in project construction The statistical results of questionnaire survey show that 96.4% of women in the project area support the project construction, which is slightly lower than 98.2% of men. At the same time, the proportion of women willing to cooperate with the project construction is 97.7%, slightly lower than that of men (98.6%). Generally, women in the project area are slightly lower than men in terms of project construction and cooperation. Table: 6-7 Support degree of residents to the project construction in the surveyed project area Very Doesn’t Very Gender Supportive Objective supportive matter objective Male 37.6% 60.6% 1.3% 0.5% 0% Female 36.5% 59.9% 2.7% 0.9% 0% Total 37% 60% 2% 0.6% 0% Data source: Questionnaire survey Table: 6-8 Cooperation degree of residents to the project construction in the surveyed project area Very Gender Very willing Willing Don't know Unwilling reluctant Male 40.3% 58.3% 2% 0.3% 0% Female 40.8% 56.7% 1.2% 0.2% 0% Total 40.3% 57% 2.5% 0.2% 0% Data source: Questionnaire survey (3) Awareness of the importance of the project to families According to the statistical results of the questionnaire survey, the proportion of women thinking that the project is "very important� and "important" to families is 86.3%, which is slightly lower than that of men (91%). Table 6-9 Importance of the project to the families of the surveyed residents Very Not Very Gender Important Normal important important unimportant Male 33.5% 57.5% 7.2% 1.6% 0% Female 35.1% 51.2% 9.4% 4.3% 0% Total 34% 54.4% 8.3% 2.9% 0% Data source: Questionnaire survey 33 (4) Willingness to participate in temporary maintenance work The statistical results of the questionnaire show that if there are temporary maintenance work opportunities in this project, 37.4% of the surveyed women are willing to participate, which is slightly lower than 39.2% of men. Table 6-10 Willingness of residents in the project area to obtain temporary maintenance job opportunities Willing Unwilling It depends Gender Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage Male 52 39.2% 11 8.3% 70 52.6% Female 62 37.4% 22 13.2% 83 49.7% Total 114 38% 33 11% 153 51% Data source: Questionnaire survey 6.3 Impact of the Project on Women (1) Increase women's economic income Road maintenance can improve the road traffic environment in the project area, thus increasing the flow of people and goods, and increasing the employment opportunities of women in the project area. The change of road traffic environment will widen the communication channels between the project area and the outside world. First, traffic changes will contribute to the introduction of enterprises. Many women in the project area can't go out to work because they do farm work at home or take care of the elderly and children, and their economic incomes are low. With the introduction of enterprises, more jobs will be provided, thus increasing women's economic incomes. Second, the sceneries in and around the project area are good, and there are original ecological bamboo forests, minor Sichuan-Tibet line and other tourism resources. After the improvement of the road traffic conditions, farmhouse enjoyment can be carried out nearby, and the economic income can be increased by staying close to home. Third, develop the economy along the route. In interviews, many women along the nearby roads are willing to develop small restaurants and small hotels along the project and start their own service industry to increase their incomes. At home, women can get all kinds of wealth opportunities brought by the project close to home and improve their family economic status. (2) Provide non-agricultural employment opportunities for women During the construction of the project, the local labor force will be provided with certain unskilled employment opportunities, thus increasing the non-agricultural employment of the population in the project area in the short term. According to the field investigation, the employment demand of women in the process of project construction are as follows: during the road maintenance operations, the project contractor may recruit local labor to meet the labor demand, and women around the project area can get employment opportunities. In addition, women in the project area can get certain economic incomes by setting up stalls to retail food, drinks and fruits to construction workers. (3) Improve women's living standards After the improvement of the road traffic environment, the road transportation in the project area will be continuously improved, and the circulation speed of resources will be faster. Women expand their own life 34 circle and can contact the outside society quickly. Learning new things and mastering new information can improve the quality and level of women's lives to a great extent. Women are more willing to go out and accept new things and apply new things to their lives. (4) Improve the traffic safety level of women According to the field investigation, the main means of transportation for women in the project area are storage-battery motor cars and electric tricycles, which have poor performance, and women have poor awareness of traffic safety awareness and are prone to traffic accidents. The implementation of this project can improve the current situation of road traffic in the project area. Women traveling in the existing way can reduce the probability of traffic accidents, improve the safety level of women’s travel, and facilitate the expansion of women's living areas. In addition, during the implementation of the project, women's awareness of traffic safety can be effectively improved through the publicity and training of road traffic safety by traffic police brigade, road administration brigade and other departments. 6.4 Women's Needs for the Project Field investigations have found that the main needs of women in the project area for the project are: (1) Improve road conditions and enhance road traffic safety The quality of the road conditions directly affects road traffic safety. For women who use battery cars and electric tricycles as their main means of transportation, they are eager to improve the poor road sections and bridges. On the basis of the existing roads, pavement repair and preventive maintenance are carried out to improve the condition of existing roads and road traffic safety. In field discussions and interviews, it was found that women in the project area hoped to improve the road conditions, improve the safety and comfort of roads, and thus improve their travel safety. (2) Enhance the awareness of road traffic safety through publicity and training In the field investigation, it was found that road traffic safety was a major concern for most women. Women are prone to traffic accidents in the project area, and the main reason is that their awareness of traffic safety is weak. There is a great need for women to be trained in traffic safety and to promote traffic safety as a family-friendly matter; they also hope to give children more training in this area at school to improve their road traffic safety awareness. Through the traffic police brigade, highway traffic department and other relevant institutions, it is known that the publicity and training of road traffic safety awareness in the form of broadcasting publicity videos, distributing brochures, pulling banners and putting up slogans, and traffic safety lectures can effectively enhance the road traffic safety awareness of women and improve the travel safety level of women and other family members. (3) Access to non-agricultural employment In the field survey, it was found that the majority of women in the project area expressed their willingness to participate in the project if there was an opportunity for temporary work. According to the statistical results of the questionnaire survey, 37.4% of the surveyed women expressed their willingness to participate in temporary road maintenance work. They think that the road maintenance section is close to their home, and on the one hand, they can work while doing farm work to increase family incomes; on the other hand, they can take care of their families. For women with elderly people and children attending schools, the nearby employment opportunities have improved the family's economic situation to a certain extent. 35  Ms. Zhang, Tuqiao Village, Suzhou City: Most of the housework is done by women, and they have to take care of children. Most of the people who go out to work and earn money are men. But we women also want to go out and make money. If this project will generate job opportunities that are suitable for us to do, we are very willing to do it. 36 7 Information Disclosure and Public Engagement 7.1 Information Disclosure in Preparation Period Since August 2022, during the preparation period of the new project, relevant information of the project from the feasibility study preparation unit, the social assessment compilation unit, and the environmental impact assessment preparation unit have been publicized and informed, and the preliminary, sufficient and informed consultation and public engagement have been conducted. In December 2022, the draft social assessment report was publicized in towns and villages in the project area, and the opinions of stakeholder groups were solicited. (1) Preparation for the project Since May 2021, six cities have carried out preparatory work for the new works of Anhui Road Maintenance Innovation and Demonstration Project loaned by the World Bank and held several work plan arrangements and project promotion meetings. (2) Notification and publicity of project-related information 1) According to statistics, as of July 2022, the final balance of Anhui Road Maintenance Innovation and Demonstration Project loaned by the World Bank is about 23.73 million US dollars. Among them, Hefei has 4.31 million US dollars, Suzhou has 2.15 million US dollars, Chuzhou has 5.05 million US dollars, Anqing has 2.44 million US dollars, Xuancheng has 7.83 million US dollars and Guangde has 1.95 million US dollars. 2) Afterwards, Anhui Highway Management and Service Center (Foreign Investment Project Management Office of Anhui Provincial Department of Transportation) promptly promoted the preliminary work of new maintenance project in mid-term adjustment ; and entrusted the maintenance market supervision and consultation management office of Anhui Road Maintenance Innovation and Demonstration Project loaned by the World Bank to prepare the assessment report of the new project with innovative and preventive maintenance technology restructuring ; All cities are required to declare new projects as soon as possible with the full use of the surplus funds of World Bank loans.; According to the annual memorandum, new maintenance projects are mainly innovative and preventive maintenance projects, , which must adopt innovative and preventive new technologies. 3) In August 2022, the Foreign Investment Project Management Office of Anhui Provincial Department of Transportation and Anhui Provincial Highway Management and Service Center conducted a public bidding for the technical pre-stage consulting service institutions for the innovative and preventive maintenance (newly added) project of Anhui Road Maintenance Innovation and Demonstration Project loaned by the World Bank by means of post-qualification review. 4) In September 2022, when the feasibility study preparation unit conducted field investigation on the project in various cities, the local project offices began to communicate with the residents on the project construction contents in the project area, inform the people about the project and listen to their attitudes and opinions on the project construction. 5) From October to November, 2022, the social assessment preparation unit conducted field investigation on the project area, visited the communities/villages involved in the project, and publicly informed the affected households along the project of the basic information about the project by means of discussion and interview, carefully understood their production and living conditions, consulted their opinions and suggestions on the implementation of the project in detail, and made truthful records. 37 6) In October 2022, Anhui Highway Center held a network conference to announce the procurement of the project contract package and made the next work arrangement. 7) In December 2022, the feasibility study report of this project was publicized on the website of the competent department of the municipal government where the project is located. Announcement on the Results of Winning the Bid (Transaction) for the Preparation of Engineering Feasibility Study Report of Innovative and Preventive Maintenance Technology (New) Project of Anhui Highway Maintenance Innovation Demonstration Project Loaned by the World Bank Figure 7-1 Disclosure of project information (3) Field visit From October to November 2022, with the coordination and cooperation of the Foreign Investment Office of Anhui Provincial Department of Transportation and Anhui Highway Management and Service Center, the social assessment team carried out field investigations in Xuancheng City, Anqing City, Suzhou City, Chuzhou City and Guangde City, and discussed the preparation and impact of the project, so as to understand the progress, impact, public engagement and complaints of the project. Figure 7-2 Pre-project symposium and on-site visit 7.2 Public engagement methods The compilation of social assessment report (including the formulation of public engagement plan and social management plan) is based on public engagement activities such as questionnaire survey, focus group 38 discussion, in-depth interview, interview of key information people and stakeholder seminar, etc. The opinions of residents in the project area are fully solicited, and full discussions and exchanges are conducted with feasibility study preparation units and environmental assessment preparation units. (1) Questionnaire survey From October to November 2022, the social assessment preparation unit conducted a questionnaire survey on 5 cities and 1 county in the project area. A total of 318 questionnaires were distributed to the affected residents/villagers, and 300 valid questionnaires were collected, with an effective rate of 94.3%; among them: 133 males, accounting for 44.3%; 167 women, accounting for 55.7%. (2) Interview with key informants From October to November, 2022, the social assessment team mainly interviewed 20 key informants who are leaders from highway management service centers, Department of Transportation, traffic police brigades, the Women's Federations, Natural Resources Bureaus, relocation offices, Rural Revitalization Bureaus, Home Affairs Bureau, Human Resources and Social Security Bureaus, Ethnic Affairs Bureaus, and community/village Committee, to understand their opinions and suggestions on the project, focusing on how to optimize the project through the social management framework. (3) In-depth interview From October to November 2022, the social assessment compilation unit conducted in-depth interviews with 30 people in affected villages/communities in the project area, including 17 women, accounting for 56.7%. The main purpose of the interviews is to understand the production and living conditions of the affected people, the impact of the project on them and the potential risks, as well as their views and suggestions on the design and implementation of the project. 39 Table 7-1 Information disclosure and public engagement methods Type of S/N Time Location Participants Notes Participation All staff of Anqing Road Maintenance Marketization Project Office and Site Anqing Highway Office, representatives of the Report on the specific construction organization and plan arrangement in May 18, 2021 Management and Supervision, Consultation the first year; Service Center and Management Office of the World Bank Maintenance Innovation Demonstration Project, and Design Unit (1) Evaluate the overall implementation progress of the project; (2) Review the implementation state and completion of each sub-project; (3) Review the entrusted management of the project and the progress of Hefei, Suzhou, Xuancheng, procurement and payment; 528 Tunxi Road, October Anqing, Chuzhou and (4) Review the management of social security and environmental security Baohe District, Hefei 1 Preparation 25−29, 2021 Guangde highway of the project; City, Anhui Province management organizations (5) Follow up on the implementation of actions agreed during the last mission; (6) Discuss the key problems and main measures to speed up the implementation of the project. Project leader of the World (1) Evaluate the overall implementation progress of the project; Bank of the Provincial (2) Review the implementation state and completion of each sub-project; Highway Center (Foreign (3) Review the entrusted management of the project and the progress of Investment Office), procurement and payment; March 3, maintenance leaders in (4) Review the management of social security and environmental security Online 2022 charge of Hefei, Anqing, of the project; Xuancheng, Chuzhou, (5) Follow up on the implementation of actions agreed during the last Suzhou and Guangde, mission; maintenance section chiefs, (6) Discuss the key problems and main measures to speed up the supervision and consultation implementation of the project. 40 offices and other third-party service organizations Representatives of the World Bank team, relevant leaders of the Provincial Development and Reform Commission and the Provincial Department of (1) Evaluate the overall implementation progress of the project; Finance, leaders in charge of (2) Review the implementation and completion of each sub-project; the Provincial Highway (3) Review the entrusted management of the project and the progress of Center (Foreign Investment procurement and payment; May 17−18, Office), heads of Online (4) Review the management of social security and environmental security 2022 Maintenance Department and of the project; Financial Department and (5) Follow up the actions reached during the last mission; related personnel; leaders in (6) Discuss important issues related to project implementation and charge of highway reorganization. management institutions in relevant cities of the project and relevant responsible staff ; responsible staff of relevant third-party technical support units Conference Room on the Third Floor of Staff of project office and The 2022 project promotion meeting discussed the progress of the project May 22, 2022 Xuancheng Highway township and the implementation of the management plan Bureau Xuancheng Highway Persons in charge of project Internal coordination meeting of the project to report the current progress June 2022 Bureau Conference office and each project of the project and discuss the next work plan Room Responsible persons of Chuzhou Highway The 2022 project promotion meeting discussed the progress of the project June 27, 2022 project office, traffic police Bureau Office and the implementation of the management plan brigade and construction unit 41 Chuzhou Person in charge and Joint review of internal construction drawings of the project and discuss July 12, 2022 Construction Site evaluation experts of project the next work arrangement Office office and each project (1) As of July 2022, the final balance of World Bank loans is about 23.73 million US dollars. Among them, Hefei has 4.31 million US dollars, Suzhou has 2.15 million US dollars, Chuzhou has 5.05 million US dollars, Provincial Highway Center Anqing has 2.44 million US dollars, Xuancheng has 7.83 million US (Foreign Investment Office), dollars and Guangde has 1.95 million US dollars. Provincial Development and (2) The Provincial Highway Management and Service Center (Foreign Reform Commission, Investment Project Management Office of the Provincial Department) August 2022 Anhui Provincial Finance decided to promptly promote the mid-term adjustment of the World Bank Department, National maintenance innovation demonstration project and the preliminary work of Development and Reform the new maintenance project; And entrusted the World Bank-loaned Anhui Commission and Ministry of Road Maintenance Innovation and Demonstration Project Maintenance Finance Marketization Supervision and Consulting Management Office was commissioned to prepare the evaluation report of innovative and preventive maintenance technology restructuring new projects. Notification and publicity Provincial Highway Center A public bidding process was conducted through post qualification review 2 of project- August 2022 (Foreign Investment Office) for the pre-technical consulting service agency for the innovative and Network related and Feasibility Study preventive maintenance (new) project of Anhui Road Maintenance information Compilation Unit Innovation Demonstration Project loaned by the World Bank. Feasibility study compilation units, project offices of various cities, heads of When the feasibility study compilation unit conducted field investigation relevant government September − on the project in various cities, the project offices of various cities have agencies, heads of November Project area begun to communicate with the residents on the project construction townships/communities, 2022 contents in the project area, inform the people about the project, and listen heads of to their attitudes and opinions on the project construction. villages/neighborhood committees, and affected villagers/residents October − Social Assessment The social assessment preparation unit conducted field investigation on the November, Project area Compilation Units, project project area, visited the communities/villages involved in the project, 2022 offices of various cities, publicly informed the affected households along the project area of the 42 heads of relevant government basic information about the project by means of discussion and interview, institutions, heads of carefully understood their production and living conditions, consulted their townships/communities, opinions and suggestions on the implementation of the project in detail, heads of and made truthful records. villages/neighborhood committees, and affected villagers/residents October 12, Provincial Highway Center Announce the procurement of the project contract package and the next Network 2022 (Foreign Investment Office) work arrangement Feburary Publicize the social assessment report and project feasibility study report of Network Government website 2023 this project. Conference room of Anqing Project Office and October 24, Anqing Highway Understand the progress of the project, project impact, public engagement, Social Assessment 2022 Management and appeals and complaints, etc. Compilation Unit Service Center Huashan Village, Anqing Project Office and October 24, Understand the project village's willingness, progress, public engagement, Yixiu District, Social Assessment 2022 complaints and local impact of the project Anqing City Compilation Unit Conference room of Suzhou Project Office and October 24, Suzhou Highway Understand the progress of the project, project impact, public engagement, Social Assessment 2022 Management Service appeals and complaints, etc. Compilation Unit 3 Field visit Center Suzhou Project Office and October 24, S304 new project Understand the situation along the project area, willingness of surrounding Social Assessment 2022 site residents, and the impact of the project on the local area Compilation Unit Xuancheng Project Office October 25, Xuancheng Highway Understand the project progress, project impact, new project site selection, and Social Assessment 2022 Management Center public engagement, appeals and complaints, etc. Compilation Unit Zhamen Village, Project Office, Social Understand the willingness, progress, public engagement, appeals and October 25, Zhouwang Town, Assessment Compilation complaints of the project towns and villages, and the impact of the project 2022 Xuanzhou District, Unit, head of Zhouwang on the local area Xuancheng City 43 Town, leaders and villagers of Zhamen Village Chuzhou Quanjiao Chuzhou Project Office and October 25, Report the progress of the project, project impact, site selection of new County Highway Social Assessment 2022 project, public engagement, appeals and complaints, etc. Bureau Compilation Unit Chuzhou Project Office and October 26, S210 and S209 new Understand the situation along the project area, willingness of surrounding Social Assessment 2022 project sites residents, and the impact of the project on the local area Compilation Unit Guangde Project Office and October 27, Guangde Highway Report the progress of the project, project impact, site selection of new Social Assessment 2022 Management Bureau project, public engagement, appeals and complaints, etc. Compilation Unit Guangde Project Office and October 27, S338 new project Understand the situation along the project area, willingness of surrounding Social Assessment 2022 site residents, and the impact of the project on the local area Compilation Unit Social Assessment A questionnaire survey was conducted on the affected October Compilation Unit, project villages/communities. A total of 318 questionnaires were distributed to the Questionnaire Affected villages in 4 24−November office, affected affected residents/villagers, and 300 valid questionnaires were collected, survey the project area 2, 2022 villagers/community with an effective rate of 94.3%; among them: 133 males, accounting for residents 44.3%; 167 women, accounting for 55.7%. Social Assessment Compilation Unit, heads of local project offices, traffic police brigades, the Women's Federations, Natural Interview Resources Bureaus, October Interview 20 key informants to understand their opinions and suggestions with key relocation offices, Rural 5 24−November Project area on the project, focusing on how to optimize the project through the social information Revitalization Bureaus, 2, 2022 management framework. person Home Affairs Bureaus, Human Resources and Social Security Bureaus, Ethnic Affairs Bureaus, and communities/village committees 44 The Social Assessment Compilation Unit conducted in-depth interviews Social Assessment with 30 people in affected villages/communities in the project area, of October Affected Compilation Unit, project which 17 were women, accounting for 56.7%. The main purpose of the In-depth 6 24−November villages/communities offices, affected interview is to understand the production and living conditions of the interview 2, 2022 in the project area villagers/community affected people, the impact of the project on them and the potential risks, residents as well as their views and suggestions on the design and implementation of the project. 45 7.3 Results of Public Engagement (1) Project awareness and cognition The statistical results of questionnaire survey show that 91.2% of the respondents in the project area have a high degree of awareness of the project. Through discussion and interview, it is known that the villagers/residents in the project area hear about this project mainly through friends and relatives, village committee publicity and mass media. Table 7-2Awareness degree of the project Surveyed villagers/community residents Region Heard No Number Percentage Number Percentage Hefei City 87 90.6% 9 9.4% Chuzhou City 69 89.6% 8 10.4% Anqing City 41 93.2% 3 6.8% Xuancheng City 35 89.7% 4 10.3% Suzhou City 23 95.8% 1 4.3% Guangde City 18 90% 2 10% Total 273 91.2% 27 8.8% In terms of the awareness of the project, 93.1% of the 273 villagers/community residents who have heard of the project think that they "Know well", "Know" and "Know a little". Table 7-3 Understanding of the project Surveyed villagers/community residents (%) Region Know well Know Know a little No Hefei City 1.4% 6.4% 86.9% 5.3% Chuzhou City 1.5% 17.2% 75.4% 4.9% Anqing City 2.5% 11.3% 79.1% 7.7% Xuancheng City 0.9% 8.4% 84.5% 6.2% Suzhou City 2.1% 11.1% 76.9% 9.9% Guangde City 0.4% 4.3% 93.4% 1.9% Total 1.5% 8.9% 82.7% 6.9% (2) Support and cooperation of the project construction The statistical results of questionnaire survey show that 97.6% of the villagers/community residents surveyed expressed "Very support" or "Support" for the construction of this project. Villagers/community residents in the project area think that the implementation of this project can continuously improve road conditions, facilitate traveland children's schooling, increase work opportunities and facilitate some farmers to carry out farmhouse enjoyment. 46 Table 7-4 Supportive degree of the project construction Surveyed villagers/community residents (%) Region Very supportive Supportive Doesn’t matter Opposed Very opposed Hefei City 35.4% 62.1% 1.6% 0.9% 0% Chuzhou City 45% 52.2% 2.1% 0.7% 0% Anqing City 47.6% 48.7% 3.1% 0.6% 0% Xuancheng City 42.6% 55.4% 1.2% 0.8% 0% Suzhou City 48% 50.1% 1.4% 0.5% 0% Guangde City 47.9% 50.7% 1.4% 0% 0% Total 44.4% 53.2% 1.8% 0.6% 0% The affected people in the project area are willing to cooperate with the government to implement the project while supporting the project construction, and 98.5% of the respondents are willing to cooperate with the implementation of the project. Table 7-5 Cooperative degree of the project construction Surveyed villagers/community residents (%) Region Very willing Willing Don't know Unwilling Very reluctant Hefei City 30% 67.9% 1.9% 0.2% 0% Chuzhou City 28.7% 70.1% 1.2% 0% 0% Anqing City 38.8% 60.5% 0.7% 0% 0% Xuancheng City 38.1% 59.8% 2.1% 0% 0% Suzhou City 35.3% 63.2% 1.5% 0% 0% Guangde City 29.3% 70.3% 0.4% 0% 0% Total 33.2% 65.3% 1.3% 0.2% 0% (3) Cognition of the importance of the project to families The statistical results of questionnaire survey show that 24.1% of the surveyed villagers/community residents think that the project is "Very important" to their families, 65.4% think that it is "Important", 9.6% think that it is "Normal" and 0.9% think that it is "Not important". Table7- 6 Importance of the project to families Surveyed villagers/community residents (%) Region Very Very important Important Normal Not important unimportant Hefei City 27% 61.8% 10.5% 0.7% 0% Chuzhou City 19.3% 69% 11.2% 0.5% 0% Anqing City 25.6% 63.9% 9.6% 0.9% 0% Xuancheng 14.5% 68.8% 14.5% 2.2% 0% City Suzhou City 23.6% 68.2% 7.1% 1.1% 0% 47 Guangde City 34.5% 60.8% 4.7% 0% 0% Total 24.1% 65.4% 9.6% 0.9% 0% (4) Willingness to invest in labor The statistical results of the questionnaire show that if there are temporary maintenance job opportunities in this project, 40.2% of the surveyed villagers/community residents are willing to participate, 23.1% are unwilling to participate, and another 36.7% say it depends on the situation. According to the discussion and interview, some respondents indicated that they shall consider various factors such as the location and content of the temporary maintenance work, as well as selfconditions before making decisions. Table 7-7Willingness to obtain temporary maintenance job opportunities Willing Unwilling It depends Region Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage Hefei City 32 40% 19 23.8% 29 36.2% Chuzhou City 29 46.8% 12 19.3% 21 33.9% Anqing City 21 38.2% 16 29.1% 18 32.7% Xuancheng 13 33.3% 10 25.6% 16 41% City Suzhou City 19 44.2% 7 16.3% 17 39.5% Guangde City 6 28.6% 5 23.8% 10 47.6% Total 120 40.2% 69 23.1% 111 36.7% 7.4 Public Engagement Strategy during the Implementation Period In order to ensure the smooth progress of the project construction and give full play to its benefits, minimize or avoid potential negative impacts, and realize the sustainability of the project, it is necessary to establish and improve the public engagement mechanism in the implementation and operation stages of the project. The public engagement of this project is mainly through the existing organizations and activities of villages/communities, such as villagers' congresses and villagers' group meetings, so that villagers/community residents can participate in the information disclosure, project construction and other activities of the project as much as possible, so as to improve villagers/community residents' awareness and participation in the project and enhance their awareness of participating in public affairs. The public engagement plan during the implementation and operation period of the project is shown in Table 7-8. 48 Table 7-8Public adoption and action plan table Responsible Project Cycle Activity Activity Contents Activity Mode Participants Notes agency 1. Plenary meeting of villagers/community Local municipal project •Project posters posting residents offices Project offices 2. Representatives meeting of Construction •Villagers/community residents' Center for Disease and Relevant units, villagers/community residents information meeting Control construction (township/street) 3. Villagers/community residents disclosure Construction units units in assistance •Timely disclosure of participate in project implementation Villagers/community various cities construction-related information 4. Internal meetings of the construction residents units •Willing villagers/community Project Office Road residents to participate in Project Office, Relevant units, Participate in the construction of this Construction units maintenance temporary employment Construction (township/street) project Villagers/community participation opportunities for road Units assistance residents maintenance Project Office Project 1. Post posters/slogans, etc. Project Office, Department of implementation 2. Distribute leaflets/brochures Department of •Carry out publicity and Transportation stage 3. Play relevant audio-visual materials Transportation, education on road traffic safety to 4. Television, Internet, Newspapers, etc Highway Bureau Relevant units, Road traffic Highway villagers/community residents, Traffic Police Brigade (township/street) safety training 5. Publicize in schools, Management migrant workers and other groups villages/communities Villagers/community assistance Center and in the project area residents, migrant 6. Publicize at migrant workers' Traffic Police workers and other accommodation Brigade groups Center for Disease 1. Post posters/slogans, etc. Control Publicize AIDS related 2. Distribute leaflets/brochures Communities, knowledge and prevention and 3.Play related audio-visual materials enterprises, schools, Relevant units, Prevention and control measures to 4.Hold AIDS prevention symposiums and Project Office, contractors, etc. (township/street) control of AIDS villagers/community residents and trainings etc. CDC Community assistance migrant workers in the project 5.Publicize in schools, residents/villagers, area villages/communities, migrant workers' migrant workers and accommodation other groups 49 Highway Establish a Project Office Management participatory 1.Internal monitoring mechanism Monitoring and Assistance from Interview, symposium, questionnaire Center, monitoring and 2.External independent evaluation institution relevant units, survey monitoring and evaluation monitoring and evaluation Villagers/community townships/streets) evaluation mechanism residents institution 1. Print the "Project Complaint Proposal Form" and distribute it to the affected project villages to facilitate villagers/community residents to put forward their opinions in time Project 2. Project offices at all levels have operation stage designated special personnel to act as Project Office complaint receivers Monitoring and Highway Assistance from Opinion Establish a grievance redress 3. Before the implementation of the evaluation institution Management relevant units, complaint mechanism project, announce the mailing address, Villagers/community Center townships/streets) telephone number, fax and email address of residents the project office and the complaint recipient to the affected villagers/community residents of the project 4. Project villages/communities and project offices at all levels collect opinions and suggestions at any time 50 7.5 Grievance Redress Mechanism During the preparation, implementation and operation of the project, villagers/community residents in the project area can complain if they encounter problems or are dissatisfied with the project. The mechanism is as follows: Stage 1: Project offices at all levels shall designate special personnel to act as complaint receivers to deal with complaints from villagers/residents in the project area; before the implementation of the project, the villagers/residents in the project area shall be informed of the complaint recipients of the project offices at the provincial, city and county levels and their mailing addresses, telephone numbers, faxes and e-mail addresses; after the change of the complaint recipients of the project offices at all levels, the complaint information shall be updated in various ways and the relevant parties shall be informed in time. Stage 2: The villagers/residents in the project area shall report to the village committee orally, by letter, telephone, or mail, etc., and the village committee/neighborhood committee shall make a written record, and the village committee/neighborhood committee shall give a reply and solve the problem within 15 working days. Stage 3: If the villagers/residents in the project area are not satisfied with the processing results of Stage 2, they can lodge complaints with the complaint offices of township government, county project office, municipal project office and provincial project office step by step after receiving the processing results, and each management organization shall make a processing decision within 15 working days. The organizations will receive complaints and appeals from villagers/community residents free of charge, and the reasonable expenses incurred will be paid from the unforeseen expenses of the project. The telephone number and office address of the staff who receive complaints shall be made public through websites, posters, radio and other forms. Stage 4: If residents are not satisfied with the results of Stage 3, they can bring a lawsuit to the local people's court according to the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China, and the court shall make a judgment to settle the case. Complaint acceptance implements a step-by-step responsibility system. After receiving complaints, project offices at all levels shall immediately carry out detailed and complete registrations, and fully record the complaint acceptance process, processing results and related materials; in principle, the project office shall complete the handling of complaints within 15 working days, feed back the handling results to the complainants, and publicize them in relevant villages. The recipients of complaints shall keep them strictly confidential, and it is forbidden to inform the respondent of the complainants' information. 51 Complainant Feedback the complaint handling results to the complainant and publicize them in the Complain orally, by letter, telephone, e-mail, etc. County Project Municipal Project Provincial Project Office Office Office community if necessary According to the content of the complaint Direct handling Report to the Instruct subordinates superior project Judicial handling to handle office for handling Handling opinions and handling results Complaint Handling Feedback procedure procedure procedure Figure 7-3 Complaint handling flow chart Table: 7-9Contact information of appeals and complaints about new highway projects in Anhui Province Complaint body Contact Contact number Foreign Investment Office of Anhui Provincial Guo Dongling 18656550805 Department of Transportation Anhui Highway Management and Service Center Yang Yanfeng 18656967353 Hefei Highway Bureau Maintenance Office Ma Wenping 13956942258 Suzhou Highway Bureau Maintenance Office Wang Zhiqiang 18005571927 Chuzhou Highway Management Bureau Wang Xiang 13721007098 Maintenance Office Xuancheng Highway Bureau Maintenance Hong Xuegang 18956301578 Office Xuancheng Jingxian Branch Bureau Wang Xingmao 18156351169 Maintenance Office Anqing Highway Bureau Maintenance Office Wu Penglai 13505565820 Guangde County Highway Bureau Maintenance Li Shiquan 13956563057 Office 52 8 Social Development Plan and its Implementation 8.1 Social Development Plan (including Gender Action Plan) In order to promote the realization of project benefits and formulate social development plans, the social assessment survey team fully discussed and negotiated with stakeholders such as highway management service center, relevant institutions, residents in the project area and maintenance companies, as well as consulting units such as feasibility study units and environmental assessment units by means of questionnaire survey, in-depth interviews, interviews with key information persons and symposiums. On the basis of the above-mentioned actions, the social assessment survey team has drawn up a social development plan based on the identification of the major social risks related to the design and implementation of the project, which may affect the achievement of the project development objectives, according to the field investigation and data analysis. The social development plan will mainly include the following aspects: (1) Strengthen the publicity of road traffic safety and reduce road safety risks. Most of the areas where this project covers are suburban towns and rural areas. The main means of transportation for villagers in these areas are motorcycles, tricycles, bicycles and private cars. Compared with other vehicles such as trucks and buses, these vehicles have low safety factors, and once traffic accidents occur, the probability of death and injury is higher. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the prevention of traffic safety problems along the road. The villagers' awareness of traffic safety in the project area is not high and needs to be improved. In addition, traffic signs are required for some sections in the project area. And villagers in the project area have piled up sundries, dried grain, fish and shrimp, etc. on the roads, which affect road safety. Therefore, it is urgent to strengthen the surrounding villagers' awareness of road traffic safety, especially the students who go to school, the women and children who live along the road, and it is even more necessary to strengthen the training of traffic safety awareness. Suggestions: 1) Carry out publicity and training on traffic safety knowledge in various ways in the project area, focusing on the publicity and training of women, children and the elderly, and establishing a long-term mechanism for traffic safety publicity ; 2) Combine the road conditions and actual needs, consider to build facilities such as zebra crossings, speed bumps, signal lights, signs, etc. as far as possible to guide vehicles to pass in traffic accident-prone areas, bends s, villages, schools, intersections that rural vehicles and pedestrians frequently enter and exit, and crossing places, to ensure that the supporting facilities such as street lamps and road signs are in good condition, and regularly maintain and replace the damaged traffic signs in time; 3) Monitor accident-prone sections and important intersections, strictly limit the speed and lanes of social vehicles, and impose penalties such as fines and demerit points on vehicles that exceed relevant regulations; 4) Strengthen the order maintenance work of traffic police and traffic assistants in areas with heavy traffic flow and frequent traffic accidents; 5) The road administration departments should strengthen inspection and law enforcement management; 6) Actively seek ways to help villagers solve the problem of drying grain , fish and shrimps; 7) Strictly punish those who violate laws and regulations on traffic roads . (2) Do a good job in AIDS publicity and education to prevent and control the spread of AIDS. At present, the AIDS epidemic situation in the project area is still low on the whole, and the health supervision is relatively strong. However, in view of the short-term influx of people and logistics during the construction process, the population density of local villages/communities is increasing, the living facilities are mostly temporarily settings, and the health conditions are relatively poor. In addition, because workers leave their families for a long time and are away all the year round, the risk of AIDS infection is higher. If AIDS spreads to the surrounding residents, it will affect the normal life and health of residents. 53 Suggestions: 1) Incorporate HIV disease risk and control into environmental management plan, construction shed management plan, workers’ health management plan and other relevant documents; 2) The project contractor shall set up temporary infirmary in the construction camp; 3) Include health clauses in the civil engineering bidding documents, and the contractor shall submit the disease prevention plan to the CDC; 4) The CDC shall carry out AIDS prevention publicity and education on the construction site, and carry out AIDS prevention publicity for road maintenance personnel in the construction camp and residents in the surrounding communities; 5) Distribute publicity materials and condoms to the road maintenance personnel of the project, and provide free AIDS and STD tests for high-risk groups. (3) Strengthen the safety of road maintenance and construction operations and reduce or avoid the risks of maintenance operations as much as possible. Safety risks include the safety of maintenance workers during road maintenance and the impact of road maintenance operations on the safety of surrounding residents. If the safety precautions are insufficient during road maintenance, road workers will be injured or killed, especially in some road sections prone to traffic accidents. During road maintenance, problems such as the passage of maintenance vehicles, waste soil, waste residue and wastewater on the construction pavement and its surrounding pavement may pose a threat to the personal safety of local residents, especially the elderly, children and pregnant women. Originally, some road sections have a large traffic volume and fast speed. Once the road maintenance work starts, the traffic safety problems of students going to and from school, the access problems of crowded areas, etc. will be affected, and the roads may be congested. Suggestions: 1) The management departments and the implementing units publicize the general situation of road maintenance operations and traffic relief plans to the public through media platforms such as newspapers, networks, short messages, radio and television to guide drivers to detour intentionally and purposefully; 2) Inform the surrounding residents of road maintenance information in advance, and take safety precautions; 3) Road maintenance operations shall try to avoid nighttime construction, abide by noise, dust and vibration standards, take dustproof and noise reduction measures, and regularly clean up domestic garbage and feces on construction sites and sheds, and do not pile up and discharge at will; 4) Construction by sections, stages and sections shall be adopted to reduce the impact on residents' travel; 5) During the peak hours of commuting and school, increase the guidance and maintenance of traffic order along road maintenance operations ; 6) Incorporate road maintenance safety management into construction contract management, and strengthen publicity and education of the safety awareness for road maintenance personnel; 7) set up guiding and indicating signs at the entrance of road maintenance sections and adjacent roads to guide residents to drive.(4) Give priority to providing non-agricultural employment opportunities for women. According to the field survey, most of the women in the project area do farm work at home, and some women say that if the project can provide job opportunities, they are willing to work within their capabilities, such as getting job opportunities for daily road cleaning. Women obtain non-agricultural employment opportunities through the project, which can promote their own development, obtain certain income to subsidize their families and enhance their family economic status. Suggestions: 1) If there are temporary employment opportunities or daily cleaning work in the project, priority shall be given to women who are willing to work in the project area; 2) When women and men perform equal work, they shall be guaranteed equal pay for equal work. (5) Promote women's participation in all stages of the project and improve women's status. The implementation of this project provides an opportunity to improve women's abilities to participate in public affairs. In order to promote women's development and benefit equitably in the project, it is necessary to strengthen women's participation in all stages of the project. Suggestions: 1) Relevant public engagement meetings at all stages of the project to ensure that the proportion 54 of women participating is not less than 30%; 2) When carrying out project information disclosure, the time, place and form of publicity shall take full account of the needs of women and the characteristics of their activities. (6) Establish a grievance redress mechanism. During the preparation, implementation and operation of the project, a complaint channel shall be established, so that villagers/community residents in the project area can get the opportunity to complain when they encounter problems or are dissatisfied with the project. See "7.5 Grievance Redress Mechanism" for specific complaints and complaints mechanisms. Suggestions: 1) The project organization shall establish an open and transparent complaint mechanism during the project preparation period, and publish the mailing address, contact telephone number, fax and e-mail address of the complaint recipients of the project offices at all levels; 2) The project organization shall have a special person responsible for handling complaints and keeping complaint records and remedial measures; 3) All institutions shall accept appeals and complaints from residents in the project area free of charge. 55 Table 8-1 Social development plan Proposals for Target Action Action Funds and Specific Measures or Actions Monitoring Index Action Population Organizations Time Sources 1) Carry out publicity and training on traffic safety 1) The number, content, form and knowledge in various ways in the project area, time of traffic safety training focusing on the publicity and training of women, conducted in the project area, children and the elderly, and establishing a long- especially the proportion of women, term mechanism for traffic safety publicity; 2) the elderly and children among the Combined the road conditions and actual needs, training participants; consider to build facilities such as zebra crossings, 2) Setting and maintenance of speed bumps, signal lights and signs etc. as far as Main traffic signs and facilities; possible to guide vehicles to pass in traffic organizations: Provincial 3) Setting of safety precautions and accident-prone areas, bends, villages, schools, residents' evaluation of them; intersections that rural vehicles and pedestrians Department of Transportation, 4) Violation of record statistics; frequently enter and exit, and crossing places, to Highway Center 5) Measures to maintain traffic ensure that the supporting facilities such as street 1. Strengthen the and Traffic Police order in key areas; lamps and road signs are in good condition, and publicity of road All regularly maintain and replace the damaged traffic Brigade 300,000 6) Inspection records of road traffic safety and villagers/residents signs in time; 3) Monitor accident-prone road 2023-2024 (50,000 per administration departments, reduce road safety in the project area sections and important intersections, strictly limit Cooperating city) including inspection times, time risks the speed and lanes of social vehicles, and impose institutions: periods, number of participants, law penalties such as fines and demerit points on construction units, enforcement, etc.; vehicles that exceed relevant regulations; township 7) The site where villagers dry grain 4) Strengthen the order maintenance work of traffic governments/sub- and fish and shrimps; police and traffic assistants in areas with heavy district offices, 8) The investigation and traffic flow and frequent traffic accidents;5) The village punishment regulations and road administration department should strengthen committees, etc. implementation of personnel who inspections and law enforcement management; violate traffic laws and regulations 6) Actively seek ways to help villagers solve the and the evaluation from residents. problems of drying grain, fish and shrimps; 7) Strictly punish those who violate laws and regulations on traffic roads 2.Do a good job Road 1) Incorporate HIV disease risk and control into Main institutions: Environmental 1) AIDS prevention and control 2023-2024 in HIV/AIDS maintenance environmental management plan, construction shed CDC and management contents in environmental 56 publicity and personnel management plan, workers’ health management construction units plan cost; management plan, construction education to dispatched by the plan and other relevant documents; shed management plan and prevent and contractor, all 2) The project contractor shall set up a temporary Cooperating Local workers’ health management plan; control the spread villagers/residents infirmary in the construction camp; institutions: government 2) Setting of temporary infirmaries; of AIDS. in the project area 3) Include health clauses in the civil engineering township funds 3) The relevant health clauses in the bidding documents, and the contractor shall submit government/sub- civil engineering bidding the disease prevention plan to the CDC; district offices, documents and their 4) The CDC shall carry out AIDS prevention village implementation; publicity and education on the construction site, committees, etc. 4) The form and frequency of HIV and carry out AIDS prevention publicity for road prevention and control publicity in maintenance personnel in the construction camp the construction site and and residents in the surrounding communities; surrounding communities; the 5) Distribute publicity materials and condoms to the inclusion of HIV-related content in road maintenance personnel of the project, and various trainings; provide free AIDS and STD tests for high-risk 5) Distribution of publicity groups. materials on HIV and sexually transmitted diseases and condoms. 6) Provide free person-times and records of AIDS and STD tests for high-risk groups. 1) The management departments and the 160,000 yuan 1) The road maintenance unit implementation unit publicize the general situation (20,000 yuan coordinates with the traffic control Main of road maintenance operations and traffic relief per place for 5 department to publicize the road organizations: plans to the public through media platforms such as years); maintenance information of the Highway 3.Strengthen the newspapers, networks, short messages, radio and project and the traffic diversion plan television to guide the drivers to detour Management safety of road Project funds during the road maintenance period; Road intentionally and purposefully; Center and maintenance and maintenance (construction 2) Way and time of publishing road construction units construction 2) Inform the surrounding residents of road contract); maintenance operation information; personnel, all Cooperating operations, and maintenance information in advance, and take 2023-2024 3) Measures taken during road villagers/residents institutions: reduce or avoid safety precautions; Local maintenance to reduce the impact of in the project Traffic Police the risks of 3) Road maintenance operations shall try to avoid government residents' travel; Low-noise area, Brigade, township maintenance nighttime construction, abide by noise, dust and funds processes and technologies adopted government/sub- operations as vibration standards, take dustproof and noise during road maintenance; district offices, much as possible. reduction measures, and regularly clean up 4) Complaints and handling records village domestic garbage and feces on construction sites committees, etc. received by the Ecological and sheds, and do not pile up and discharge at Environment Bureau from residents will;4) Construction by sections, stages and on the night construction of the 57 sections shall be adopted to reduce the impact on project; residents' travel; 5) During peak hours, the traffic 5) During the peak hours of commuting and school, order around the construction site is increase the guidance and maintenance of traffic diverted, and residents evaluate it; order along road maintenance operations;6) 6) The clauses and implementation Incorporate road maintenance safety management of the construction contract related into the construction contract management, and to construction safety; strengthen the publicity and education of safety 7) The establishment of No Horn awareness for road maintenance personnel; signs and signs, and the evaluation 7) Set up guiding and indicating signs at the from surrounding residents. entrance of road maintenance sections and adjacent roads to guide residents to drive. Unskilled workers: Main organization: 1) If there are temporary employment opportunities 60−100 construction units or daily cleaning work in the project, priority shall yuan/day; 4. Give priority to 1) The number and proportion of be given to women who are willing to work in the Technical women employed in temporary providing non- Cooperating project area; workers: employment opportunities or daily agricultural Women in the institutions: local 2) When women and men perform equal work, they 2023-2024 1,500−3,000 cleaning works provided by project employment project area municipal project shall be guaranteed equal pay for equal work. yuan/month; construction; opportunities for offices, township women Project funds governments, 2) Women's pay levels. (wages of village construction committees, etc. contract personnel) Main 60,000 yuan organizations: (10,000 yuan 1) The number of symposiums for 1) Relevant public engagement meetings at all 5. Promote stages of the project to ensure that the proportion of design units and per place) public engagement held at each women's women participating is not less than 30%; project offices of Local stage of the project, the number and participation in various cities government proportion of women participating, Women in the 2) When carrying out project information all stages of the 2023-2024 funds (5 cities and the minutes of the meetings; 2) project area disclosure, the time, place and form of publicity project and Cooperating and 1 county) Project information disclosure and shall take full account of the needs of women and improve women's institutions: The training are carried out at a time, the characteristics of their activities. status. Women's place and manner acceptable to Federations, women. project towns, 58 village committees, etc. Road 1) The project organization shall establish an open 60,000 yuan maintenance and transparent complaint mechanism during the Main institutions: (10,000 yuan personnel, all project preparation period, and publish the mailing local and per place) 1) Establishment time of the villagers/residents address, contact telephone number, fax and e-mail municipal project Local complaint mechanism; in the project area address of the complaint recipients of the project offices government 6. Establish a offices at all levels; 2) Way of complaining; Cooperating funds (5 cities grievance redress 2023-2024 3) Person in charge of the complaint 2) The project organization shall have a special institutions: and 1 county) mechanism and the contact information; person responsible for handling complaints and construction units, keeping complaint records and remedial measures; project towns, 4) Number of complaints received 3) All institutions shall accept complaints and village and their handling. appeals from residents in the project area free of committees, etc. charge. 59 8.2 Institutional Arrangement and Implementation Plan (1) Institutional arrangements This project is one part of a package project. In terms of project implementation units, the Foreign Investment Office of Anhui Provincial Department of Transportation and Anhui Provincial Highway Management and Service Center are the provincial implementation office of the project; the transportation and highway management service departments of each project city are the specific implementation offices of the project, which are responsible for the implementation of the sub-projects respectively; the Foreign Investment Office of Anhui Provincial Department of Transportation and Anhui Provincial Highway Management and Service Center are responsible for monitoring the implementation of the project. The highway management and service centers of the sub-projects in each city are the project implementation units, the leading group or working group for the World Bank-loaned Road maintenance innovation demonstration project has been established by each project city highway management center or the people's government to coordinate the preliminary work of the project and implement the functions of management, supervision and coordination during the project implementation. Foreign Investment Office of Anhui Provincial Department of Transportation, Anhui Provincial Highway Provincial Implementing Management and Service Center Entity Supervisory body Anhui Provincial Department of Transport Highway Management and Service Center of Specific implementing units project city Figure 8-1 Mechanism arrangement diagram (2) Implementation plan According to the progress of the preparation and implementation activities of the project, the implementation plan of the social development plan of the project was drawn up. The specific implementation time may be adjusted appropriately due to the deviation of the overall progress of the project. The main working stages of the project are divided into preparation period, implementation period and within six months after the end of the implementation period. 1) Preparation period: The work related to social assessment includes project publicity, identification of project stakeholders, social impact analysis, preparation of social assessment report, etc. 2) Implementation period: The work related to social assessment includes internal monitoring and external independent monitoring. Internal monitoring is the responsibility of the Project Office, which prepares an internal monitoring report (included in the semi-annual report of project progress) every six months and submits it to the 60 World Bank; external monitoring is conducted by the third-party independent monitoring organization hired by the project owner, which is responsible for monitoring and assessing the social impact of the project. Before the project starts to be implemented, work outline, investigation outline and form shall be prepared, monitoring system shall be established, tasks shall be clarified, and participatory social impact assessment method shall be used for investigation. During the project implementation period, an external independent monitoring and evaluation report shall be submitted to the World Bank every year. 3) After implementation: within six months after the end of the implementation period, a completion report of on social security monitoring shall be submitted to the World Bank. Table 8-1Schedule of Project Implementation Project Stage Description Time Plan Notification and publicity of project-related 2022.5-2022.8 information Identify stakeholders of the project and conduct 2022.10 social impact analysis Preparation period Public engagement of stakeholders Whole process Prepare social assessment report 2022.10-2022.11 Publicity of social assessment report 2023.2 Approval of social assessment report 2023.3 The first monitoring and evaluation report from September to October 2023. During the implementation period (2023−2024), an Monitoring and evaluation according to the Implementation internal monitoring report (included in the approved social development plan period semi-annual report of project progress) shall (2023−2024) be submitted semi-annually and an external monitoring report shall be submitted every year Within six months after A completion report of social security Summarize and evaluate social development the end of the monitoring shall be submitted within six plan and resettlement activities (if any) implementation months after the completion of the project period 8.3 Monitoring and evaluation Monitoring and evaluation is an important mitigation to ensure that the project is implemented in accordance with the project objectives, and that the project information disclosure, public engagement, and the social development plan designed in this report can be valued and implemented. It is also an important error correction mechanism and engagement mechanism of the project. To this end, this project has established a monitoring and evaluation mechanism, including internal monitoring and external monitoring and evaluation. The project Office shall monitor and evaluate the implementation progress of the project, the use of project funds, the implementation of the social development plan, the progress of the information disclosure and public engagement plan, and the implementation of rules and regulations (it can be included in the semi-annual report of the project progress). External monitoring shall be carried out by the external monitoring and evaluation agency for social assessment hired by the project office. Every year, the external monitoring and evaluation unit tracks, monitors and evaluates the implementation activities of the social development plan and the public engagement 61 action plan in the social assessment report, provides advice, and submits the monitoring and evaluation report to the World Bank. 62 Annex I Field investigation pictures Interview with Xuancheng Project Office Discussion in Zhamen Village, Xuancheng City Site investigation of Zhamen Village Along the Road 341 Current situation of Road 206 Current situation of Road 104 63 Interview with Anqing Project Office Interview with affected villages in Anqing City Site investigation of Guangji Wei Bridge Site Investigation of Guandu Old Bridge Road site survey Schools near the road 64 Interview with Guangde Project Office Group discussion in affected villages in Guangde City Site investigation Site investigation Discussion in Chuzhou Project Office Site investigation in Chuzhou city Discussion in Suzhou Project Office Interview with Suzhou Maintenance Company 65 Annex II Interview minutes Time October 25, 2022 Location Huashan Village Committee Organizer Anqing Municipal Project Office Participants 2 villagers, Anqing Project Office and Social Assessment Compilation Team Participation theme Social impact assessment 1. Basic situation: Huashan Village, Yangqiao Town, Yixiu District, is located on Anzong Highway in the northern suburb of Anqing, with a natural distribution of γ type along the 228 and 426 Provincial Highways. Huashan Village is adjacent to Zongyang County, it now has jurisdiction over 21 natural villages with 630 households, with registered population of 2,220 and permanent population of 2.430. The village covers an area of nearly 12 km2. Among them, the mountain farm covers an area of nearly 10,000 mu (6.67 km2), the water surface area of lakes and ponds exceeds 2,500 mu (1.67 km2), and more than 2,500 mu (1.67 km2) of fertile land. The ratio of men to women is balanced, with 7 people in 7 guaranteed households, 60 people in 43 subsistence households, 194 people in 59 poverty-relieved households and 2 people from ethnic minorities, who are married outside the provinces to the village. At present, most of the villagers are migrant workers outside to other the provinces, and people stay in the village are mostly elderly people and left-behind women, with about 50 left-behind women. 2. Support for the construction of the project: We are all very supportive of repairing the bridge. After repairing, the bridge will be safer. Otherwise, when large heavy trucks pass by, the bridge will have vibration, and we will be safe to travel after Main contents and repairing it! There will be no vibration! results 3. The needs of residents: 1) Take safety precautions during the construction process. There are more electric motor cars ridden by surrounding residents, and the traffic volume of large trucks and private cars on the bridge is also relatively large, so take safety precautions! 2) Report to towns and villages in advance to facilitate the village to inform the villagers in advance; 3) Hope to widen the roads and bridges. The roads and bridges passing through the villages are the roads connecting Tongling and Anqing, and they are also the only way for villagers to go to Anqing City. Usually, there are many vehicles on the roads, which will be particularly congested every holiday. This year, from the Spring Festival’s Eve to the 15th day of the Spring Festival, it is very inconvenient for villagers to cross the road. The most exaggerated traffic jam is the block for 24 hours! It is inconvenient to travel on holidays, and there must be traffic police to command the passage; 4) If we don't take this road and the bridge, it will take us more than 20 minutes to bypass. The road around is a ring mountain road, which is very narrow and curved, and it is not very safe. Everyone is unwilling to go that way! 5) There are many traffic accidents on our road. There are a lot of large trucks on the road, and they come and go constantly. People in our village ride electric motor cars and tricycles when traveling. Trucks are fast and have blind spots, so traffic accidents often occur. After accidents, they are either dead or half- 66 alive!6) Also, the curves of this road can be properly straightened, and the trees on the roadside shall be repaired in time. The trees grow too fast and too dense, and sometimes they block the line of sight, which is unsafe! Site photos 67 Annex III Migration impact screening form for new project Impact Are There Identification Demolition Identificatio Planning Project Engineering Main Maintenance Scope of Any of Land Impact n of route Name of route/bridge Site Category Contents Stakeholders Remaining Expropriatio Identificatio Temporary coding Problems n Impact n Land Occupation Along the Chaohu Preventive maintenance Lake Avenue scheme: maintenance (K31+321−K31+870 scheme of + 1cm cold- full amplitude, mixed cold-laid ultra-thin K34+420−K35+100 wear layer after local Anhui Provincial full amplitude, repair and treatment of Department of K35+100−K35+307 old road diseases; Transportation, ascending, Structural repair ①: Highway K40+390−K40+600 disease treatment + Management and ascending, Structural milling the middle and Service Center, local K40+600−K42+940 restoration/prev upper layer of the old traffic management Hefei City S601 No None None None full width, entive road + 10cm in-situ bureaus, highway K49+673−K50+955 maintenance emulsified asphalt management full width, recycled asphalt concrete departments, project K61+281−K65+337 + 6emAC-20C medium- contractors and full amplitude, grained asphalt concrete construction units, K104+194−K104+270 (SBS modified) + surrounding descending, 4cmAC-13 fine-grained villagers, etc. K104+270 asphalt concrete (SBS −K104+819 full modified); amplitude, Structural repair ②: K105+064− disease treatment + 68 K107+300 full milling the upper layer of amplitude, the old road + 8 cm in- K107+300−K107+850 situ emulsified asphalt ascending K107+850 recycled asphalt concrete full amplitude) + 4cmAC-13 fine-grained asphalt concrete (SBS modified); Anhui Provincial Structural repair ① Department of (very little): old cement Transportation, concrete panel repair + Highway (6+4) cm asphalt Management and pavement. Service Center, local Structural repair ②: Suzhou Shanbian Road traffic management S304 Structural repair Excavation of old cement No None None None City (K75+679−K88+670) bureaus, highway concrete panel + local 18 management cm cold recycled subbase departments, project + 20 cm. contractors and Lime-flyash macadam + construction units, (6+4) cm asphalt surrounding pavement. villagers, etc. Functionality ①: Disease Anhui Provincial treatment + milling 4 cm Department of + 4 cm thick AC-13 Transportation, Structural Powu Road rubber modified asphalt Highway Chuzhou restoration/prev S209 (K99+405−K106+910 concrete Management and No None None None City entive ) Structure ②: Disease Service Center, local maintenance treatment + 10 cm in-situ traffic management cold recycling (foamed bureaus, highway asphalt) + 5 cmAC-16 management 69 rubber modified asphalt departments, project concrete contractors and construction units, surrounding villagers, etc. Anhui Provincial Department of Functionality ①: Disease Transportation, treatment + milling 4 cm Highway + 4 cm thick AC-13 Management and Structural rubber modified asphalt Service Center, local Laihe Road (K5+673- restoration/prev concrete Structure ②): traffic management S210 No None None None K11+099) entive Disease treatment + 10 bureaus, highway maintenance cm in-situ cold recycling management (foamed asphalt) + 5 departments, project cmAC-16 rubber contractors and modified asphalt concrete construction units, surrounding villagers, etc. Anhui Provincial Department of Transportation, Highway Hop Xuan Road Structural repair: disease Management and Xuancheng S104 (K153+223−K163+02 Structural repair treatment + 5 cmAC-20 + Service Center, local No None None None City 4) 4 cmARAC-13 traffic management bureaus, highway management departments, project contractors and 70 construction units, surrounding villagers, etc. Anhui Provincial Department of Transportation, Highway Management and Structural repair scheme: Service Center, local Shuiding Road disease treatment + 5 traffic management S206 Structural repair No None None None (K3+372−K13+646) cmAC-20 + 4 cmARAC- bureaus, highway 13 or disease treatment management departments, project contractors and construction units, surrounding villagers, etc. Anhui Provincial Department of Transportation, Structural repair scheme: Highway disease treatment + 5 Management and Lujing Road cmAC-20 + 4 cmARAC- Service Center, local S341 (K125+953- Structural repair 13 or disease treatment + traffic management No None None None K134+170) 18 cm water stabilized bureaus, highway macadam + 5 cmAC-20 + management 4 cmARAC-13 departments, project contractors and construction units, surrounding 71 villagers, etc. Anhui Provincial Department of Transportation, Old road milling + 18 cm Highway in-situ cold recycling + 18 Management and cm water stabilization + Service Center, local Guangde Bai Xinglu (K14+337- 1.0 cmSAMI rubber stress traffic management S338 Structural repair No None None None City K24+100) absorption layer + 6 bureaus, highway cmAC-20C + 4 management cmARAC-13C rubber departments, project asphalt pavements contractors and construction units, surrounding villagers, etc. Anhui Provincial Department of Transportation, Preventive maintenance Highway scheme: after local repair Management and and treatment of old road Service Center, local Weishan Line diseases + ultra-thin and Preventive traffic management Anqing G206 (K1286+156−K1290+ ultra-viscous overlay; No None None None maintenance bureaus, highway City 061) NRP non-rutting management pavement is adopted in departments, project areas with severe rutting contractors and at intersections construction units, surrounding villagers, etc. S233 Guan Ping Du Old Preventive Bridge beam disease Anhui Provincial No None None None 72 Bridge (K111+897) maintenance treatment + preventive Department of maintenance Transportation, Highway Management and Service Center, local traffic management bureaus, highway management departments, project contractors and construction units, surrounding villagers, etc. Anhui Provincial Department of Transportation, Highway Management and Service Center, local Right Arch Bridge of Bridge beam disease Preventive traffic management G206 Ferry Bridge treatment + preventive No None None None maintenance bureaus, highway (K1307+818) maintenance management departments, project contractors and construction units, surrounding villagers, etc. Bridge beam disease Anhui Provincial Guangji Wei Bridge Preventive S233 treatment + preventive Department of No None None None (K109+285) maintenance maintenance Transportation, 73 Highway Management and Service Center, local traffic management bureaus, highway management departments, project contractors and construction units, surrounding villagers, etc. Anhui Provincial Department of Transportation, Highway Management and Service Center, local Bridge beam disease Guan Ping Du New Preventive traffic management S233 treatment + preventive No None None None Bridge (K111+897) maintenance bureaus, highway maintenance management departments, project contractors and construction units, surrounding villagers, etc. Anhui Provincial Bridge beam disease Department of Maoling Bridge Preventive S344 treatment + preventive Transportation, No None None None (K3+612) maintenance maintenance Highway Management and 74 Service Center, local traffic management bureaus, highway management departments, project contractors and construction units, surrounding villagers, etc. Anhui Provincial Department of Transportation, Highway Management and Service Center, local Bridge beam disease Shizikou Bridge Preventive traffic management S344 treatment + preventive No None None None (K9+202) maintenance bureaus, highway maintenance management departments, project contractors and construction units, surrounding villagers, etc. 75