Azura-Edo Independent Power Plant Environmental Impact ... - IFC

the house. Almost a quarter of households rely on river water as their primary
water source (Nigerian Census, 2006).
Although private boreholes are found in each of the communities in the study
area, the proportion of residents having access to this source of water is very
small. Some residents have private boreholes and they may allow other
residents to collect water from their compounds, though often for a fee. Most
residents rely on private wells and/or the river or stream located offsite.
According to feedback from stakeholders and first hand observations, there
are no public wells available to the people. It is accepted within the
community that all land users have rights of access over water resources on
their land.
5.7.3 Telecommunications and Transportation
In 2010, Nigeria reported 54 airports, 38 of which have paved runways. The
country’s major port terminal is located in Lagos (World Bank, 2010). There
are a total of 3,505 km of rail networks in the country, and 193,200 km of
roadways, approximately 28,980 km of which are paved (CIA World
Factbook, 2011). Data from 2007 reports that there are approximately 31
motor vehicles per 1,000 people in the country (World Bank, 2010).
The WB estimates that there were roughly 1.4 million telephone lines in
Nigeria in 2009, which constituted approximately one telephone line per 1,000
people. Mobile telephone coverage is relatively well-developed in Nigeria,
with 73.1 million mobile users recorded in 2009. Internet use has also grown
considerably, increasing from approximately 10.0 million users in 2007 to 44.0
million users by 2009 (World Bank, 2010).
Within the study area, the communities of Ihovbor-Evboeka, Orior-
Osemwende and Idunmwowina-Urho-Nisen are served by a mix of paved
and unpaved roads that link them to the Lagos and Benin highway. The
condition of the paved roads is good but the condition of the unpaved roads is
generally considered to be ‘poor’. Since commercial buses do not service the
local area, transport of goods and people out of the communities is either by
private car, motorcycle or bicycle.
Motorcycles are mostly used by residents to get to the main express road to
Benin City, particularly when the unpaved sections of the roads become
impassable for cars during the rainy season. For community roads, using
bicycles and walking are also common ways of getting from one place to
another.
Residents in the three communities have access to mobile phones and all
national networks are available in the communities. Stakeholders reported
that mobile communication is affordable to most residents.
AZURA EDO IPP
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DRAFT EIA REPORT