2.1 Resettlement Screening and Categorization
14. During this reporting period, 35 subprojects were implemented. Before the commencement of project construction, the PIUs (county/city branch companies of YTNE) carried out the resettlement impacts survey in terms of the construction drawings, and then filled in the resettlement screening tables, and completed resettlement classification forms, which were submitted to the PMO of YTNE for clearance.
15. According to results of resettlement screening, all works inside villages did not involve any land occupation since the works were implemented by the overhead methods by using power poles, on the walls and eaves, among others. Therefore, the works inside villages were categorized as C in terms of criteria set in the document of the Social Safeguard Technical Guideline (SSTG) that was prepared during the preparation of the Program.
16. Since the non-excavating horizontal and directional drilling technologies were applied to pipeline installation, the resettlement impacts were avoided as much as possible. The works outside villages in six out of 35 subprojects involved compensation of Temporary Land Occupation to farmers, which were categorized as resettlement B. See details in Table 1-1. The other 29 subprojects were categorized as resettlement C.
17. YTNE has documented the resettlement screening tables, and categorization forms which can be reviewed and checked, if needed.
2.2 Preparation of Resettlement Documents
18. A total of 48 Subproject Safeguard Report for Category C and 7 Subproject Safeguard Due Diligence Reports for Category B were prepared and submitted to ADB as of December 2021. See details in Table 2-1.
Table 2-1 Preparation of Resettlement Documents
As of December 2021
Total No. of Documents required for the Program in terms of results of resettlement screening and categorization
No. of resettlement document prepared during the reporting
period 35 One DDR for
subprojects 6
29 0
Total No. of Documents Prepared as of this monitoring
period 58a
a A total of 17 Subprojects’ Safeguard Reports for Category C were prepared for the 17 Subprojects implemented within the villages in 2019. And a total of 6 Subprojects’ Safeguard Due Diligence Reports for Category B were prepared respectively for the 6 Subprojects implemented in 2019. For details, please see the first RMR dated January 2021.
2.3 Resettlement Implementation for 6 Category B Subprojects
2.3.1 Land Use Process19. According to Article 57 of the Land Administration Law of the People's Republic of China (2004 version and 2020 version), land users should sign contracts for temporary use of land with related land administrative departments or rural collective organizations or farmers committees depending on the ownership of the land and pay land compensation fees for the temporary use of the land according to the standard specified in the contracts. Users who use the land temporarily should use the land according to the purposes agreed upon in the contract for the temporary use of land and should not build permanent structures. The term for the temporary use of land shall not usually exceed two years.
20. According to this regulation, the PIUs has conducted the meaningful consultations with affected villages and farmers and signed relevant compensation agreements before the land use. Given the nature and scale of the project, the construction period is very short, generally within 48 hours. After the completion of the construction, the pipeline was tested, cleaned, then backfilled soil, cleaned up the work site, restored the geomorphology, and reclaimed the land within two months.
During the land temporary occupation, the mature soil layer had been kept as much as possible to facilitate soil recovery. If the pipe network passed through the farmland, vertical excavation was adopted to reduce the impacts of temporary land occupation, and the buried depth was more than one meter to ensure that the affected land can be cultivated after reclamation.
2.3.2 Resettlement Impacts
21. As of December 2021, the subprojects only involved temporary land occupation (TLA) and did not involve permanent land acquisition and house demolition. The construction works temporarily occupied 607.36 mu land that were used to cultivated crops (corn, and wheat, soybean, etc.) in six project counties/cities. The Temporary Land Occupation that was caused by works outside villages affected about 541 households temporarily in 127 villages. See details in Table 2-2. In general, the resettlement impacts were minor taking into account the length of pipelines installed.
Table 2-2 Resettlement Impacts of the 6 Category B Subprojects Implemented County/cit
Villages No. of Affected Households
2.3.3 Compensation Policy of Temporary Land Occupation
22. According to the "Notice on Strengthening the Administration of Compensation for Ground Attachment for State Construction and Land acquisition in Henan Province
"(No .152 Yuzheng Office (2009) and relevant policies on temporary land occupation in pertinent counties/cities, the compensation rates of the temporary land occupation were determined based on crops value, recent local practice, and friendly negations with affected persons. The compensation rates ranged from CNY 800/mu to CNY 14299/mu which were compliance with local regulations and acceptable to APs. See details in Table 2-3.
Table 2-3 Compensation Rates for Temporary Land Occupation County/city Compensation Rates (CNY/mu)
Lankao 800~1210
Yexian 900~1000
Wugang 1300
Xinye 1000~1200
Luoning 14299
Lushan 800
2.3.4 Compensation Payment
23. The compensation for temporary land occupation was jointly confirmed by the branch companies of YTNE together with the township governments, the village committees and affected farmers. A compensation agreement was signed in accordance with the compensation policies and rates agreed, and then, the branch companies of YTNE paid the compensation to the APs. All compensation of land temporary occupation was also publicized in the affected villages, which made the whole compensation process transparent.
24. As of December 2021, the compensation for Temporary Land Occupation was about CNY 670,905, which have been paid to APs fully in a timely manner.
Table 2-4 Compensation of Temporary Land Occupation
County/city Compensation of Temporary Land Occupation (CNY)
Lankao 56,520.50
Yexian 118,317.00
Wugang 240,262.40
Xinye 203,458.72
Luoning 3,200.00
Lushan 49,146.50
Total 670,905.12
25. All Temporary Land Occupation compensation agreements, payment receipts and rosters of APs were copied and documented by the PMO of YTNE.
2.3.5 Land Reclamation and Acceptance
26. For the temporarily occupied cultivated land, the land will be restored as follows: the ground will be first leveled by bulldozers according to the requirements, and then land reclamation will be carried out by means of tractors. Construction and domestic waste will be all collected. The mature soil layer will be backfilled to ensure the quality of restored land. The land will be returned to the farmers after they or the representatives of the affected villages have checked and accepted the quality of restored land.
27. After all temporary land have been restored, the PIUs reported the temporary land occupation process and temporary land restoration situation to the PMO of YTNE for clearance and record. Its contents have been summarized in Table 2-5.
28. By the end of December 2021, all land occupied temporarily had been reclaimed and handed over to APs who agreed and accepted the quality of restored land.
Table 2-5 Example of Representation on Temporary Land Use Process and Restoration
Due to the project construction and after consultation with the project affected village,
a total of XXXX hectares farming land in XXXX village in XXX County has been temporarily occupied from (date) to (date).
1) Before temporary land occupation, the duration and location of temporary land occupation, and the GRM have been published to the farmers in advance.
2) The compensation fee, CNYXXX in total which was calculated according to the relevant policies of the state, province and the city, has been fully paid to XXXX Village for the compensation fee of temporary land occupation.
3) During the temporary land use process, the land use purpose has been strictly followed; no permanent buildings was built on temporary land, and the temporary land occupation does not affect the roads and water system.
4) The temporary occupied land has been reclaimed by (date). After reclamation, the soil quality has been restored as previous level before land use which has met the requirements of affected villages and can be cultivated normally.
5) Since the land occupation and after the land restoration, no complaints were received.
6) After land restoration, if the restored land cannot be used normally due to pipe network maintenance or repair, XXX branches of the YTNE will contact YTNE and compensate the loss at replacement principle and restore the land after the temporary occupation to ensure that the interests of farmers are not adversely affected by the project.