GAZETTE NOTICE NO. 7271

PURSUANT to regulation 21 of Environmental (Impact Assessment and Audit) Regulations, the National Environment Management Authority, (NEMA) has received an environmental impact assessment study report for the implementation of the proposed Loruk – Tot – Marich Pass (B4) 150 k.m. Road. The proposed project will involve upgrading of the Loruk – Tot – Marich Pass (B4) 150km Road to bitumen standards. The intake of the project is to cover from Loruk – Tot – Marich Pass (B4) Road transversing the districts of Baringo, Marakwet and West Pokot. The project anticipates the following impacts and mitigation measures: Possible Impacts Mitigation Measures Camp health, safety and security concerns Employ a Health & Safety Officer that deals with the health, water and sanitation and waste disposal in the camp sites. An NGO specialized in HIV/AIDS work should be appointed to run awareness courses for workers in all camps in coordination with each district‘s agencies on the HIV/AIDS. Arrangements must be made in advance with the Exhauster Services of the nearest Local Authority that has sewerage to clean out lined septic tanks. Install a well stocked First Aid facility. The contractor to attach an Operator safety Code against likely environmental hazards of the equipment brought to the site and must obtain a permit to purchase and handle chemicals that are hazardous. Proper security system that protects the camps on a 24 hours basis. Major and minor drainage structures The head-works of the road construction must keep a pump for removing pools of water with every rainfall. Maintain uncovered drain on either side of the road to prevent foreign soils from the road surface from eroding into adjacent land through run-off. Keep workers that de-silt and flush drainage channels so as to maintain their functional integrity. Implement contour drainages to control drainage of roadside water into the catchments. A perimeter fence to protect humans and livestock from falling into such holes/excavations. Quarry sites and borrow pits Notice of intended blasting must be known to all human traffic in the neighbourhood of blasting through the media. Though blasting should be restricted to a specified area, the minimum radius for human movement prior to blasting must be observed by the blaster. Provide blasters and borrow pit workers (excavators and haulers) with ear, nose and eye gauzes. Access roads and service lines inside the blasting areas shall be kept operational and shall be repaired or restored throughout the works. The public shall be notified of haulage routes and turning of heavy trucks. Soil erosion Along the shoulders throughout the road corridor, improvise erosion abatement channels emptying into gully-pots on both sides of the road. They should be built at intervals of 50 meters and similar built at intervals of 70-meter intervals in low gradient terrain. Once excavated earth material has been brought to the road, it should be used as soon as possible and the treated road surface left in a compacted condition. Heavy construction equipment should not be allowed to park on the road side of areas with very loose soils or where the works have scarified the soils. Gully-pots and channels that are filled up should be cleared periodically and the silt hauled to borrow pits that are not any longer productively used. In the Kisumu-Bypass, water channels should be made to run into existing drainage and sewerage especially between Kondele and the railway and between Kondele and Manyatta. This will help to abate over-flow of run-off from construction channels. Contamination of water courses Fuels and lubricants must be handled with care to avoid spillage along the road corridor. Construction vehicles that are stalled on the road-side must be towed to the contractor‘s site immediately. Ensure that bituminous emulsions are applied only during dry spells and should not be allowed to flow into adjoining channels, tunnels and surface water. At the start of the road construction, take samples of river water for full laboratory testing for water courses that are within 500 metres of the road corridor. Dust pollution and uncontrolled traffic The surface of the diversion road should be kept murramed and smooth. Abate dust by sprinkling water continually- 3 times in the morning and in the afternoons. Properly written and clear signs must be posted at appropriate points to direct both construction and public traffic. Crusher and asphalt plant operations At the Asphalt plant, build a perimeter fence for keeping punctured drums of asphalt; which should stand on heavy duty polythene paper To prevent dust from spewing from the crusher plant into the neighbourhoods and catchments, a scaffold or iron poles can be built to a height above the crusher vibrators. Workers should shower at the end of their shifts and given a half-pint of milk per shift. Displacement and compensation Identify, list and compensate persons to be displaced according to the Project Affected Persons of Resettlement Action Plan. The full report of the proposed project is available for inspection during working hours at: (a) Director-General, the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), Popo Road, off Mombasa Road, P.O. Box 67839–00200, Nairobi. (b) Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources, N.H.I.F. Building, Community, P.O. Box 30521, Nairobi (c) Provincial Director of Environment, Rift Valley Province. The National Environment Management Authority invites members of the public to submit oral or written comments within thirty (30) days from the date of publication of this notice to the Director-General, NEMA, to assist the Authority in the approval process of the project. A. M. KARIUKI, for Director-General, MR1944092 National Environment Management Authority.