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Handbook on Resettlement: A Guide to Good Practice :
6. Relocation
6.3. Choice of Relocation Sites
Location and quality of the new relocation site(s) are critical factors in relocation planning because they ultimately determine access to land, social support networks, employment, business, credit, and market opportunities. Each site has its own constraints and opportunities. Selecting sites that match closely the previous site in terms of environmental, social, cultural, and economic characteristics will make it more likely that relocation and income restoration will be successful. Site selection should therefore be considered part of the Feasibility Study.
Site selection should be assessed from the point of view of the impacts on host communities. Issues like land quality, carrying capacity of the site, common property resources, social infrastructure, and population composition (e.g., caste, tribe, gender, ethnic minorities) should be considered during the feasibility study.
Ideally, the new relocation site(s) will be geographically close to the original homes to preserve existing social networks and community ties. In cases of urban development projects, which often require large numbers of people to be relocated, the impact of disruption can be minimized by relocating to several small but nearby sites. In both cases, site selection and relocation plans must be based on, and tested through, community consultation. The APs and their hosts should be allowed to participate in decisions concerning site selection, layout and design, and site development (see box below). In cases where site development may not be necessary due to either the small number of households requiring relocation, or the scattered distribution of affected families, there should still be plans for relocation of APs with their due entitlements, and assistance for self-relocation.
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Four Phases of Site Selection
I. Site selection and alternatives: Choosing a good location is the most critical element. Start with alternative options; involve the potential resettlers and hosts in the process.
II. Feasibility studies: Conduct feasibility studies of alternative sites and consider the potential of the sites from the point of view of ecological similarity, land price, employment, access to credit, marketing, and other economic opportunities for viable livelihoods of the APs and host communities.
III. Layout and design: The layout and design of the relocation site should conform to cultural practices and specifications. Identify the present location of various physical and social facilities in the affected communities; how people households, neighbors, relatives are linked to each other at the present sites; and how often and who (e.g., gender/age specific) use the various facilities and social infrastructure. Understanding the existing settlement patterns and layout is important to assess the needs in the new resettlement sites. Community inputs should be an integral part of the design process.
IV. Resettlement site development: Plot size for house construction should be based both on earlier homestead size and needs at the new sites. The resettlers should be allowed the option to build their own houses rather than be supplied with pre-built shelters. All civic and social infrastructure and services should be ready before the resettlers are asked to move to the sites. APs organizations and community associations should be consulted in resettlement site development.
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Source : F. Davidson et al. Relocation and Resettlement Manual: A Guide to Managing and Planning Relocation. IHUD: Rotterdam (The Netherlands), 1993.
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Compensation Without Relocation
The North Java Road Improvement Project (NJRIP) funded by ADB1 involves improvements from a two-lane carriageway with narrow unpaved shoulders to four-lane standards of nine links on about 210 km of national roads between Jakarta and Surabaya. The improvements range from minor action, such as resurfacing existing road sections, to road widening, including construction of bypasses. The rights-of-way for road improvements will affect 6,795 households and 6,516 structures of various types; the nature of impact is largely limited to loss of frontage for road widening purposes. Only 666 households will be totally displaced from their homes; of these, 165 households will require assistance for relocation, the rest have expressed their choices in favor of "self-relocation."
NJRIP management have approved a resettlement policy without relocation.2 The APs will receive compensation for all kinds of losses at market price and in accordance with principles outlined in Presidential Decree 55 (1993). Since the 165 households are distributed over nine links in three provinces and eight districts, land acquisition and relocation will be implemented by different subproject managers with assistance from local government agencies. The principle of "compensation without relocation" appears appropriate in this case due to the nature of limited impact and variation of impact by individual links, which deserve local solutions. Compensation and relocation plans by link will facilitate and enhance community involvement and participation. Knowledge of their problems and priorities will be the best guide for designing and implementing income restoration plans.
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1 Loan No. 1428-INO:North Java Road Improvement Project, for $150,000, approved on 23 January 1996.
2 A Recommended Framework for Land Acquisition and Resettlement in NJRIP-DGH/Bina Marga, December 1995.
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