Consultation Process

A series of comprehensive consultations were carried out with the project stakeholders at various locations during the preparation of the scoping document and ESA. The consultation and scoping sessions were designed specifically to provide project information to the public. These sessions were informal to encourage a friendly social environment in which participants were comfortable in raising questions, expressing their opinions and concerns about the project besides seeking clarification regarding their concerns. The participatory “consultative” approach was employed for data collection.

The focus group discussions were instrumental in the process, whereas one-to-one meetings were held with the institutional stakeholders. These discussions were held with project beneficiaries and other local communities at Tarbela, Ghazi, Topi, Hattian and Haripur. The consultation process provided a meaningful understanding of local social issues for the social impact analyses and preparation of a SIMF for the Project area. The main activities are summarized in Table 5.1 below (details of the participants are provided in Annex A).

Table 5.1: Main Activities during Consultation Process

Activity Date Accomplishment

Initial awareness campaign (Scoping stage)

10 August 2010 Meeting with 25 stakeholder (female) in girls high school Right Bank WAPDA Colony

Activity Date Accomplishment Initial awareness

campaign (Scoping stage)

10 August 2010 Meeting with 29 Stakeholders (male) in the conference hall at Tarbela Power House

Meeting with officials of 25 different government departments and NGOs including GBTI, Sungi and community based local organizations at village level

Meetings with 137 Stakeholders (male) at fourteen (14) different places in Project area

Consultation

Consultation workshops were held at Ghazi. Topi, Islamabad and Peshawar.

About 40 to 50 persons including former affectees of Tarbela/Ghazi, NGOs, Press, local representatives government officials, teachers, physicians and WAPDA officers participated in each of these workshops Gender consultation January 10 to 15, 2011

February 18 to 22, 2011

Meetings with 96 Stakeholders (female) at ten (10) different places in Project area

5.4.1 Stakeholder Consultation during the Scoping Phase

At the beginning of the scoping phase, stakeholder identification commenced. Two brochures (English and Urdu) were prepared containing relevant preliminary information about the project. These brochures were distributed to different stakeholders as information disclosure instruments and to get feedback on environmental and social issues of the project.

During the scoping stage, four public consultation sessions were conducted in the Project area: one with male WAPDA employees working at the Tarbela Dam site second, a second with female teaching staff and family members of WAPDA Girls High School, Left Bank Colony, a third with the Community of Pehur Hamlet and fourth with community of Ghazi Hamlet.

During scoping, a Project office was established in the Right Bank Colony by the feasibility consulting team. A person responsible for community liaison was nominated.

5.4.2 Stakeholder Consultation during Detailed Assessment

The second stage of the consultation process included conducting social and environmental focused group discussions with local community members for establishing baseline situations, identification of positive and negative impacts, and needs assessment for social enhancement. In addition to consultative workshops, in depth discussions / consultative meetings were held with WAPDA officials, NGOs, government departments and line agencies to get their response on the project interventions. The non-technical summary of the project scoping document prepared in local language was distributed among the stakeholders during consultation workshops.

A variety of scientific techniques were administered including an interview guide, focused group discussion, informal discussion and consultative workshops to collect relevant and reliable facts (empirically verifiable observations) on the subject of ESA study.

5.4.3 Consultation with Institutional Stakeholders

Meetings with institutional stakeholders like government departments, NGOs and line agencies were organized to discuss project interventions and their potential impacts on the local communities and environment. In these meetings, stakeholders were informed about the salient features of the project, its location and activities. Institutional stakeholders showed their concerns and gave suggestions / recommendations for the implementation of the project. These are listed below:

WAPDA should fulfill the regulatory requirements of conducting ESA of proposed project.

The project proponents should develop organizational structure for implementation of SIMF to handle the environmental and social issues during the project implementation.

Possible damage to flora and fauna particularly at proposed site for power house should be addressed.

Construction related issues like excavated material, soil erosion and hazards for local communities and labor force should be appropriately addressed during the construction activities.

WAPDA will ensure free mobility of women and children, especially students of girls and boys schools at WAPDA Right Bank Colony

Safe transportation of construction material

Health and safety measures for labor force

Rights of employment in Tarbela Project for local community

Settlements of pending issues of old affected persons of Tarbela project

5.4.4 Consultation with Community Representatives

Consultations at the following ten villages with members of the community and representatives of communities were carried out to establish a baseline conditions in the Project area.

Khabbal;

Pehur Hamlet;

Mohalla Zakoo (Topi);

Pontian;

Darra Mohat;

Kukar Chawa;

Ghari Mera;

Ghazi Hamlet;

Qazi Pur; and

WAPDA Right and Left Bank Colonies.

5.4.5 Grass Roots Consultation

Grass roots consultation with primary stakeholders and local communities was carried out at 14 different locations in study area. Communities’ main concerns were:

Pending issues of compensation on Tarbela and Ghazi Barotha HydroPower Project (GBHPP).

Lack of health and education facilities in Ghazi and Pehur Hamlets.

Rights of employments in Tarbela project

Problems in sewage and solid waste collection system

Seepage problem due to Ghazi Barrage pond

Polluted drinking water in the hamlets

5.4.6 Consultation Workshops

In addition to the above consultation, four workshops involving local and international NGOs, concerned government officials, representatives of media, local leadership, educationists, doctors and senior community representatives of Tarbela and Ghazi Barotha projects were organized at Ghazi, Topi, Islamabad and Peshawar. The main objective of these workshops was to get feedback on the Project from a wider range of institutional stakeholders. Participants were briefed about the salient features of the projects. The suggestions put forward by the participants of these workshops were instrumental for designing of ESA and SIMF. The topics and issues discussed in these workshops and suggestions and recommendations are given below:

Topics for Discussions

Expected impacts of project on natural environment;

Expected impacts of project on social environment;

Health and educational issues in the area;

Other social and economic issues in the area;

Social enhancement in Project area; and

SIMF for this project.

Issues Highlighted by the Participants

Settlement of compensation issues of old affectees of Tarbela and Ghazi Barotha;

Lack of health and educational facilities in the area, especially in the villages where old affectees of Tarbela and Ghazi Barotha are residing;

Unemployment in the area;

Recruitment in Tarbela and GBHPP projects from other parts of the country;

Restoration of the source of livelihood of fishermen;

Polluted drinking water;

Solid waste and sewerage disposal problems;

Seepage and high water table at Right Bank in Topi area;

Shortage of water and low water table in the areas downstream Ghazi barrage;

Provision of electricity at subsides rates in the Project area;

Fear of road accidents during construction phase of the project; and

Tree management plan.

Suggestions and Recommendations

WAPDA should fix a quota in employment for local peoples in TDP and GBHPP;

Establishment of emergency unit with ambulance for local communities;

WAPDA should arrange clean drinking water in Project area;

Establishment of vocational training centre for women;

WAPDA should help in the up gradation of educational and health facilities in the Ghazi and Topi area;

Establishment of a heavy machinery training centre at Topi;

Civil department of WAPDA should work on proposal for the rehabilitation of drainage system at Right Bank and replacement of old water supply pipelines;

WAPDA may rehabilitate the old road near Ghazi and use during construction phase to avoid traffic hazards to local community;

WAPDA may establish recreational parks at Ghazi and Topi for local peoples; and

WAPDA may engage a NGO like GBTI to work with local communities for the implementation of the project in environmentally and socially safe way.