Indigenous Peoples

Yichang-Wanzhou Railway Project
Peoples Republic of China (2003)

The Summary Poverty Reduction and Social Strategy reports that ethnic minority communities in the project area will benefit from the project. The in-depth impact analysis found that land acquisition affects some of the ethnic minority households. The project prepared a Resettlement Plan that provides measures to ensure that affected ethnic minority households are resettled with due consideration for their traditional culture.

Specific measures to support the affected ethnic minorities and other vulnerable groups (the elderly, children, and disabled), include:

• housing constructed in traditional styles
• setting up of shops along the streets near the railway station
• terracing of sloping land in order to increase agricultural output, and decrease soil erosion
• employment in project construction and operations
• access to micro-credit
• skills training
• improved social services and infrastructure

Ethnic minorities affected:
The railway line will traverse through an area where a large minority population lives. Minorities, largely Tujia, Miao, and Dong, comprise almost 36% of the total population of the catchment area of the project.

Location:
The railway project roughly parallels the Yangtze River. The 387-kilometer (km) railway links two railways, traversing eight counties and districts of three prefectures in Hubei Province and Chongqing Municipality.

Learn more about the project:

• Project Profile
• Yichang-Wanzhou Railways Resettlement Plan [ PDF ]
• Yichang-Wanzhou Railway(SEIA) [ PDF ]
• Preparing the Yichang-Wanzhou Railway Project [ PDF ]