45445 Using Involuntary Resettlement on Highway Projects to Alleviate Poverty: A Case Study from the Hubei Shiman Highway Project in China Zhefu Liu and Christopher R. Bennett East Asia and Pacific Region Transport, Energy and Mining Sector ­ September 2008 When properly designed and implemented, In accordance with the World Bank's safeguard involuntary resettlement on highway projects can policies, a Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) was be used to improve overall living conditions and prepared and disclosed prior to the start of alleviate poverty for those affected by the project. construction. The RAP described the extent of resettlement, identified affected persons and This technical note describes how this was resources, defined how resettlement would be achieved on the Shiyan-Manchuangan Expressway addressed, and explained institutional arrangements. project in Hubei China. By focusing on sustainable land development, better housing standards and About 780 ha of land infrastructure access, and centralized resettlement in four counties was communities, the project has improved living requisitioned for the standards and raised incomes for most affected project, including 363 residents. Public participation and continuous ha of cultivated land. dialogue with affected parties throughout the An area of 249,646 project helped address residents' concerns and m2 was cleared of contributed to the positive outcome. These buildings, including practices can be applied elsewhere to help achieve 69,554 m2 of brick- Shiman Alignment satisfactory resettlement outcomes. concrete buildings, 32,470 m2 of brick-wood buildings, 114,621 m2 of earth-wood buildings and 33,001 m2 of simple Involuntary Resettlement in China buildings. Some 1,480 households relocated, involving 5,007 persons. The extent of the resettlement activities was typical in China for an expressway project. Resettlement can be a challenge in any transport project, particularly in China with its high population Resettlement Organization densities and limited available unused land. However, when a project's resettlement activities are properly There are no detailed national requirements for designed and have the full support of the client, it is resettlement in China. A comprehensive resettlement possible to overcome the challenges and achieve a program was designed and implemented by the successful outcome for those affected by the project. provincial resettlement group. The group was led by a vice governor and comprised officials from the Hubei This note highlights the factors that contributed to the Provincial Communications Department (HPCD). successful resettlement activities under the Hubei Shiyan-Manchuangan Expressway (Shiman) project, In China, land acquisition/resettlement work is the with particular emphasis on how they contributed to responsibility of the Provincial Land Bureau, rather poverty alleviation for most affected persons. These than the project owner (here, the HPCD). However, practices can be applied in other projects to have the HPCD appreciated from the beginning that the similar successful resettlement outcomes. resettlement work needed to be treated as a project component and that it would be key to the project's The Shiman Highway Project success. Through their experience on two previous Bank-financed projects, the HPCD had learned that The Shiman highway project is located in the ensuring effective resettlement would reduce mountainous northwest area of Hubei Province in complaints and lower the potential for legal action that central China. It consists of a 107 km expressway that might otherwise slow down project implementation. travels from near Shiyan City to the border with Shaanxi province. The importance of effective resettlement was further strengthened by the province's commitment to reducing poverty and supporting the national 1 government's New Socialist Countryside Plan, which "... the resettlement under the expressway makes us emphasizes poverty reduction, centralized village sites walk out ... from a mountainous area to a roadside, and land development favorable to local farmers. from earth house to brick house, from single story building to multi-storied house, from inside of the The HPCD established the Hubei Expressway mountain to the outside, and from village to township, Resettlement Office (HERO) to manage operations and it also provides our offspring with a hope." and ensure compliance with the RAP. HERO Villager supported a multilevel organizational framework to plan and implement resettlement, with resettlement offices at the project level and several levels of Management and Distribution of Resettlement Funds government, including city, county, and township. All local offices were staffed by qualified resettlement Since in China land is collectively owned, the local specialists who received additional training. villages played an important role in the resettlement activities. They were directly responsible for the HERO was involved in all stages of resettlement, from distribution of resettlement funds, a process that pre-construction through implementation to followed these steps: completion. Retaining the same experienced and capable team throughout the project ensured the · The affected villages submitted detailed quality of resettlement activities. explanations of how they were affected by the project to the appropriate resettlement Key Institutional Factors Contributing To organization. Successful Resettlement · The resettlement organizations at all levels and · Recognition by the HPCD of the importance the local governments carried out training for of resettlement village-level administrative departments and · Establishing the organizational framework in directed them to formulate appropriate the project area during RAP preparation development plans and resettlement fund use · HERO staff continuity throughout the project plans in a transparent manner. · Appointment of an experienced consultant to · The village-level administrative departments guide RAP preparation and implementation negotiated with the affected persons, establishing · Staff learning by participating in RAP the final resettlement fund use plans. These plans preparation were submitted to the county/district level re- One of the project's objectives was to ensure that settlement offices for review. replacement houses were available prior to the · The county/district level resettlement organizations demolition of existing houses. To achieve this, field reviewed the resettlement fund use plans and surveys were begun over 18 months before helped the villages to finalize them. No construction commenced in November 2004, in order resettlement funds would be disbursed to a village to identify those without a feasible resettlement funds use plan. who would be affec- · Once the county/district level resettlement ted. Particular em- organizations approved village-level resettlement phasis was placed fund use plans, they then disbursed the on the poor, who resettlement funds gradually according to the have limited income approved plans. resources to re- construct their new Compensation for houses and structures was paid houses, and on pre- directly to the affected persons. The county/district or paring village-based township resettlement offices opened special accounts land development New homes for 15 resettled in local banking institutions for affected units, plans. Teams com- families in Wuyuping collectives and individuals and deposited funds directly posed of local gov- into the accounts. ernment officials and representatives of the villages, the Hubei Land Resources Administration Department The resettlement offices at all levels made copies of and the HPCD participated in these surveys. the compensation rates documents issued by HERO, sent them to each relocated household, and publicized An independent consultant was used to monitor them in public places. resettlement effectiveness, prepare bi-annual reports, and summarize the final outcomes. 2 In some locations the relocated households received The project adopted the following communications their compensation passbooks directly from township measures to help ensure transparency of resettlement. resettlement offices, while in others the resettlement offices gave cash passbooks to relocated households. · Before land acquisition and relocation began, One county resettlement office insisted on paying announcements were made in public places in all compensation in such a way that the compensation townships and villages along the expressway, rates and amount of giving an overview of the Shiman project and the money were publicized main policies and measures for resettlement. and the passbooks · The RAP was publicized at all areas along the were filled in by banks. expressway so the affected residents would have These passbook ap- access to its content. proaches reduced the · The HERO printed and issued a Resettlement number of intermediate Information Booklet to each affected household. steps in receiving com- · The booklet contained the overview of the project, pensation, avoiding po- national and local policies and laws, compensation Xujiapeng Resettlement tential deductions and rates for structures and other affected pos- Site misappropriations. The sessions, and the number of affected family relocated households members in the household entitled to took all their compensation as soon as possible to compensation. cover the costs of new house construction. · When the implementation of land acquisition and Public Participation relocation began, the resettlement organizations at all levels issued resettlement information to affected persons by television, radio, leaflets, wall- The project carried out an extensive public newspapers and village conferences. consultation program throughout the entire project. Sixty-six village committees and 40 community neigh- Addressing Grievances borhood committees were involved in resettlement land development plans. Members of the 46 villages affected by the project had the opportunity to The project put in place procedures for receiving and participate in the planning and decision-making addressing complaints, establishing grievance process for land acquisition and resettlement. channels at all levels of resettlement offices. Villagers could complain directly to HERO or the resettlement The consultation office at each county, or to their village leaders. Village process proved to leaders would report complaints to the resettlement be of great value in office. Independent monitoring also played a role in improving not only monitoring complaints. Complaints were dealt with in a the effectiveness of timely manner, for example, by authorizing county resettlement active- level officials to immediately deal with issues costing ties, but also the less than RMB50,000 (about US$7,000) and then quality of project report to HERO, rather than wait for HERO's design. The public authorization. Consultation with villagers made useful sug- The principal complaints were: gestions on the expressway alignment, the selection of centralized · inconvenient or delayed provision of sewers, resettlement sites prior to relocation, the allocation of roads, electricity and water to resettlement sites; housing lots at these sites, land reclamation, the · landslides around resettlement sites; allocation and use of collective compensation, and the · inadequate funding for basic facilities at location and design of culverts and underpasses. centralized resettlement sites; Where appropriate, these suggestions were · damage to irrigation systems; incorporated into the project design. For example, an underpass was provided for school children to travel · using land compensation fees to pay debts; from their school to the village; additional underpasses · dissatisfaction with village assignment of housing were provided to give farmers access to their land or lots; villages. · blasting damaging to near-by structures and windows; and · insufficient land allocated to residents. 3 When grievances were identified, specific actions were communities for cultivation at no charge (no reduction taken to ensure that they were addressed to the in resettlement funds). satisfaction of all parties. For example, a complaint made to a World Bank supervision mission concerning Relocate to More Productive Land: Poverty, defined a housing site was immediately investigated by HERO by national standards as less than the average GDP and a satisfactory solution found. The independent per capita (8,319 Yuan in Hubei Province in 2002), is monitor confirmed the affected person was satisfied widespread in the project area. Indeed, some areas with the outcome, and this was verified by a sub- that the Shiman expressway passes through have sequent Bank mission. extremely limited land resources that constrain the production and earning capacity of area residents. Resettlement Strategy Some 16 families were relocated to areas with better farming and commercial opportunities, and given additional funding to help them become established. From the very start, the project adopted a number of This program was fully supported by those involved, specific objectives with regard to resettlement. who saw no future in their previous locations. Minimize Resettlement Impact: The road alignment Centralize Resettlement Sites: The terrain did not was optimized at the design stage, and when possible always make it practical for new building sites to be during construction, to minimize the resettlement found near the original locations. Where scattered impact. This approach served to reduce the total resettlement was not practical, centralized reset- amount of land required by the project by over 26% tlement sites were established to make efficient use of from preliminary estimates, and the number of affected village infrastructure and services, with the support of persons by over 25%. affected villagers. Preparing these sites required the leveling of terrain and provision of water, power and Save Cultivated Land: On this mountainous terrain, road infrastructure, all of which were arranged by the cultivable land is scarce. As villagers in the area rely project. Over 20 centralized sites were established and on farming for survival, the project sought to limit the over 95% of residents were satisfied with the new road's impact on cultivated land. In some areas the arrangements and considered that they had improved alignment was modified during the design stage to their living conditions. protect farmland. At the same time, many of the houses had little value, especially the earth-wood Restore Roads and Irrigation Systems: The houses, and many farmers dreamed of building new construction of an expressway always impacts village houses. After broad public consultation, the HPCD roads and irrigation systems, especially during the decided to acquire more built land and less cultivated early stages when there are major earthwork activities. land. Compensation rates for house demolition were During this per- increased by the HPCD for this purpose. These efforts iod, the project resulted in savings in cultivatable land acquired from either temporarily 11% to 57% depending on the type of land. protected existing structures or built Create New Arable new ones that Land: Over 113 ha of allowed residents arable land was created to move freely in one of three ways. and maintain pro- The most common ductive activities. method (over 93 ha) was by using waste New aqueduct built by project earth from the con- struction activities to fill Monitoring and Evaluation Crops planted on new ravines. After leveling, arable land they were covered with Resettlement monitoring was crucial to ensuring the topsoil. Waste earth was also used to fill unused land success of the program. Several methods were used and cold spring paddy fields, which changed them for monitoring and evaluation of resettlement activities from no/low yield to high-yield farmland. Finally, in including (i) standard reporting systems; (ii) regular conjunction with the contractors, construction machi- liaison meetings with city, county and district nery was used to convert unused slopes into terraces. resettlement offices; (iii) regular reporting on local These newly created lands were returned to rural progress and emerging problems, and exchange of experience and solutions adopted; (iv) regular field 4 inspections; and (v) ongoing public participation and was on identifying any oversights or leftover continual dialogue with those affected to hear their problems to ensure that livelihoods were restored. suggestions and views about the resettlement process. In late 2007, on behalf of the World Bank, the independent resettlement consultant assessed the Nine monitoring indicators were adopted by the overall performance of the resettlement program. The independent consultant to monitor resettlement assessment randomly sampled 20% of the affected effectiveness. households. Some 79% of those sampled were · familiarity of affected persons with the reset- affected by land acquisition and relocation; 16% by relocation only, and 5% by land acquisition only. A tlement process; · regular submission and availability of monitoring total of 1,295 persons were involved in this survey, including 775 laborers (above 16 years old, no reports to the resettlement organizations at all students) and 406 persons doing farm work where levels; they lived. · regular visits to resettlement organizations to gauge work progress; The effectiveness of the resettlement program was · collection of comments on resettlement work from assessed in terms of improvement of physical affected persons; infrastructure, satisfaction with resettlement, and · collection of resettlement information from local livelihood rehabilitation. residents via surveys; · community meetings held in public areas Physical Infrastructure Improvements convenient to affected residents in order to collect Improvement in Housing Standards: Two measures information and feedback; of housing quality were used: building materials and · regular visits to resettlement sites; number of floors. Prior to the project, the majority of · examination of activities from similar projects to houses were single-story, earth-wood houses over 15 benefit from lessons learned; and, years old. After the project, there were no earth-wood · staying in touch with affected residents through houses, and most were two-story houses. The size of distribution of booklets, or by telephone, letter, or homes also increased. Prior to the project some 28% email, to disseminate information and increase had floor areas below 100 m2, and only 18% had more transparency. than 180 m2. Afterwards, only 9% were below 100 m2 and 80% were over 180 m2. Finally, at the completion of the project, the World Bank arranged for a detailed survey to assess the effectiveness of the resettlement effort. Effectiveness of the Resettlement Program "Even if now I have a rough time for moving, I am pleased because this benefits our own Earth-wood house New brick-concrete house offspring." Villager Table 1: Change in housing materials Brick-concrete Brick-wood Earth-wood The resettlement activities can be divided into three before after before after before after stages: 26% 97% 16% 3% 59% 0% · Housing: Starting in 2004, the first activities Table 2: Change in House Type and Size focused on replacing houses. · Infrastructure: After new housing was in place, One-floor Two or More Floors from mid-2005 the emphasis was on land before after before after reclamation, restoring farming production, and 84% 12% 16% 89% farm support activities such as irrigation and rural road reinstatement. · Wrap-up: After the first two stages of resettlement Isolation: Owing to the mountainous terrain, many of were essentially completed in late 2006, the focus the original houses were isolated with limited access to 5 roads. Before the project, 21% were within 10 m of a road, and 16% were over 500 m from a road. After the Table 3: Assessment of Resettled Conditions project, 33% were within 10 m of a road, and only 3% Better Unchanged Worse were over 500 m from a road. The average distance to Standard of Living 71% 16% 13% a road was reduced by 55%. Quality of Living 51% 32% 17% Environment Access Improvements: Before the project, there were three types of access to houses: (i) informal When asked for their views on their overall satisfaction roads (open land), (ii) simple walkways, and, (iii) with the resettlement process, 42% were very formal roads. Only 5% had informal roads before the satisfied; 32% were satisfied and 26% were project and this was reduced to 0% after the project. dissatisfied. Those who were dissatisfied gave these The number with formal road access was increased reasons: (i) an unsatisfactory compensation rate from 41% to 75%. Many new settlement areas also because the actual cost of brick houses was more now have access to the Shiman expressway via than the replacement cost for earth-wood houses connecting roadways. This improved road access (46%); (ii) inadequate transparency of the supports better living standards through improved compensation process (7%) since the old houses were access to market, education, and social services. compensated equally to the new; (iii) difficulties in relocation and resettlement (22%); and (iv) no place Drinking Water Improvements: Three different for those resettled to raise livestock at the centralized sources of water were available prior to the project: (i) resettlement areas (25%). The importance of the river and pond water, (ii) well water, and (iii) tap water. different reasons varied depending on the location. Whereas at the start of the project some 64% of the households had access to tap water, 100% had tap It was suggested that the levels of satisfaction would water after the project. have been increased by (i) raising the compensation rates to better reflect the costs of new construction Access to Electricity: Electricity access at the start of (48%); (ii) paying more attention to disruptions during the project was very high, and by the end of the project infrastructure construction (26%); (iii) carefully all households had access to electricity. considering the working needs and daily lives of peasants when planning new housing sites (22%); and The resettlement program was therefore successful in (iv) paying more attention to the participation of physical terms because (i) most relocated households displaced persons during rehabilitation (4%). However, lived in better quality, larger houses; (ii) there was in spite of compensation rates forming such a better access to better quality roads; and (iii) all dominant role in dissatisfaction, 80% surveyed thought households had access to electricity and better quality it was reasonable to adopt the compensation rate water than before. provided for in national land compensation legislation. Satisfaction with Resettlement Satisfaction with Livelihood Rehabilitation The post-resettlement survey asked whether people By both income and subjective measures used in the were satisfied with the resettlement process, and survey, livelihoods have been improved. Comparison whether their standard of living had increased and the of income levels of affected families before and after quality of their living environment had improved. resettlement shows a 60% increase in average income from RMB6,148 in 2004 to RMB9,850 Yuan in 2007. When considering satisfaction, it needs to be The increases occur for all activities, with a doubling of appreciated that some 42% of those resettled would income from industrial and commercial sources. have been pleased to be resettled even in the absence of the project. This percentage varied by location, Table 4: Income levels of affected families before reflecting the fact that some areas were particularly and after resettlement (RMB Yuan) isolated or more mountainous, or had less arable land Planting Fishing & Industry &Transport, Gross than others. poultry construc-commerce income tion & service Living standards increased for some 71% of those Before (2004) 2,640 466 1,953 1,089 6,148 resettled, and a majority also experienced an After (2007) 3,425 687 3,399 2,339 9,850 improvement in the quality of their environment. The owners of brick and concrete households were less In the subjective evaluation, the survey found that 75% satisfied than others since the quality of the relocated of affected families felt their livelihood has obviously houses were not improved. improved, 16% that it has improved somewhat, and 6 4% that it had stayed the same. Among the 4% who Poverty Alleviation Strategy felt that livelihood had fallen, most had experienced illness or accidents unrelated to resettlement. View resettlement as an opportunity to alleviate poverty and improve living standards. The survey results also showed the high priority assigned by affected households to creating better opportunities for long-term livelihoods by maintaining · Minimize resettlement impacts through land for cultivation and providing suitable proper infrastructure alignment and design. infrastructure, compared to the importance of · Use a social assessment survey to identify increasing compensation. the key needs in the area. · Provide sufficient compensation to replace Land Acquisition Priorities assets at prevailing market prices. · Implement income restoration activities as 100% quickly as possible. 90% · Do not demolish houses unless alternative 80% housing is available--especially in winter. 70% Provide additional food, cooking oil, and 60% · 50% money to comfort displaced poor families. 40% Increase Compensation · Preserve cultivated lands. 30% Create Long-Term Livelihoods · Create new arable land. 20% · Preserve and restore existing roads and 10% irrigation systems. 0% Maojian Yunxi Yun County Zhangwan District County District Conclusions For Further Information Despite many challenges, including the limited supply Liu Zhefu, Senior Social Development Specialist of arable land, the resettlement efforts associated with (zliu1@worldbank.org) the Shiman project are considered to be a success both in terms of physical infrastructure provision and Christopher R. Bennett, Senior Transport Specialist overall satisfaction with the resettlement outcome. (cbennett2@worldbank.org) Some 71% of affected households have a better standard of living, 51% have a better quality of living Reports and other information on the project can be environment, and 75% have a better livelihood, with downloaded from: average incomes having increased by 60%. This was achieved by adopting a strategy of using resettlement http://tinyurl.com/255rny to alleviate poverty at the onset of the project. Please visit www.worldbank.org/eaptransport to The success of the resettlement program can largely learn about other projects in the East Asia and the be attributed to (i) effective leadership by the HPCD; Pacific region. (ii) efficient management and distribution of reset- tlement funds; (iii) public participation throughout the entire project and responsiveness to village issues and concerns; (iv) effective procedures for receiving and addressing complaints; and (v) dealing with com- plaints in a timely manner. September 2008 The focus of resettlement activities should be on assisting those affected to establish long-term livelihoods. Some issues still continue to be resolved, including providing even better access to higher quality water. Despite the remaining issues, most residents feel their quality of life has increased as a result of this project. 7