India : JBM Odisha Electric Bus Financing Project

Project Name

JBM Odisha Electric Bus Financing Project

Project Number

58099-001

Country / Economy

• India

Location

Odisha

Type or Modality of Assistance

Operational Priorities

• OP1: Addressing remaining poverty and reducing inequalities
• OP2: Accelerating progress in gender equality
• OP3: Tackling climate change, building climate and disaster resilience, and enhancing environmental sustainability
• OP4: Making cities more livable

Sector / Subsector

• Transport / Urban public transport

Gender

Gender equity theme

Project Sponsor(s)

Objectives and Scope

Linkage to Country/Regional Strategy

Safeguard Categories

Environment

B

Involuntary Resettlement

B

Indigenous Peoples

C

Summary of Environmental and Social Aspects

Environmental Aspects

The potential environmental impacts from the use of ADB loan proceeds, particularly on the operation and maintenance of the e-buses, are related to hazardous waste generation from e-bus parts for replacement, wastewater from cleaning and maintenance, and occupational and community health and safety. No part of the proceeds will be used for any construction activities at the existing depots except for minor civil works for the installation of charging infrastructure and construction of new depots that are likely to cause no significant adverse potential environmental impacts. While the locations of the depots are known, these have not been subjected to due diligence because these are yet to be formally allocated and turned over to the project. As such, Borrower has developed an environmental assessment and review framework (EARF) to cover identified and future depots.

Involuntary Resettlement

The project will have two depots per the concession signed by the Borrower with Captial Region Urban Transport (CRUT), Odisha's State Transport Undertakings (STU) partner: Pokhariput in Bhubaneswar and Naraj in Cuttack. Pokhariput depot is an existing bus depot that will be demolished to give way to the construction of a new depot on the same land. Naraj is vacant land owned by the transport authority where a new bus depot will be constructed. The bus Operator License with the STU partner includes the parking space license agreement which provides the operator the right to use and the right of way to the bus parking space. While the agreements have been signed, the government is yet to allocate the depots to the project, thus, the site-level due diligence is yet to commence. In compliance with SR2 on Involuntary Resettlement, a resettlement framework was developed to anticipate potential involuntary resettlement (IR) impacts of the depot land allocation for the project which may include informal land users and structures, temporary access restrictions and economic displacement of informal businesses around the depot area during construction/renovation. Once allotted, a site visit and audit of the depots will be done by a consultant to assess site conditions, ascertain impacts, and consult with project-affected people, if any. A detailed resettlement plan will be required if IR impacts are identified on site.

Indigenous Peoples

The locations of the two proposed bus depots in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack are not notified scheduled areas for Odisha per the Indian government's Fifth Schedule. Further, the proposed bus depots are in urban areas where there are no distinct habitats, ancestral territories or communal resources being inhabited or used by ethnic minorities or schedule tribes.

Stakeholder Communication, Participation, and Consultation

The borrower has adopted the corporate stakeholder engagement policy of the Sponsor. At present, the stakeholder engagement activities are mainly catered to investors, business partners, regulators, shareholders and customers. Further improvement of the stakeholder engagement policy is needed to include other stakeholders such as drivers, passengers and civil society. Moreover, procedures and processes from stakeholder needs assessment, mapping, programming, disclosure, documentation and monitoring and review will be developed.

On grievance management, an internal grievance system for employees is in place but does not extend to contractors and non-regular employees. The anonymity of the complainant is not captured in the policy. For external grievances, there is no defined system. However, per the concession agreement with the STU partner, the Borrower must establish and operate a central control to register complaints and public grievances in relation to the bus services undertaken by the operator. Passengers can also file a complaint through a complaint register on the buses. The system for this is yet to be developed by the borrower.

Contact

Responsible ADB Officer

Kaur, Japnit

Responsible ADB Division

Infrastructure Finance Division 1

Responsible ADB Department

Private Sector Operations Department

Timetable for assistance design, processing, and implementation

Concept Clearance

13 Jun 2024

Credit Committee Meeting

13 Jun 2024

Approval

-

Last PDS Update

28 Jun 2024