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

allowing early recognition of these issues in the design and evolution of the
Project. Scoping helps to define the extent of the EIA, which will examine and
report the full suite of impacts associated with the Project. The main
objectives of the scoping phase were as follows.
• Provide an overview description of the Project.
• Describe the existing environmental and socio-economic baseline, using
secondary data obtained from EIAs both conducted on the power plant
adjacent to the proposed site as well as EIAs for other power plant
projects.
• Undertake a preliminary assessment of the potential environmental and
social impacts associated with the Project.
• Identify key data gaps.
• Obtain early input from key stakeholders in the identification of potential
impacts and mitigation measures.
• Define a proposed Terms of Reference (ToR) for an EIA study and define
an appropriate program for consultation with stakeholders. This was
included in the Scoping Report and has been approved by FMEnv.
A scoping report, including ToR for the EIA and an application form, was
submitted to FMEnv on 20 December 2010. The scoping report was approved
on 21 February 2011 and the Project classified as a ‘Category I’ project,
requiring a mandatory EIA Study and a panel review exercise.
Baseline Data Collection
The EIA report provides a description of the existing environmental and
socio-economic conditions as a basis against which the impacts of the Project
can be assessed. The main objective of the baseline description is to identify
the key environmental and socio-economic resources and conditions in areas
potentially affected by the Project (such as air quality, geology and soil,
groundwater, surface water, fauna and flora) and key receptors.
Baseline data collection involved desktop studies of existing reports that
contain information relevant to the Project. Sources have included EIAs and
other publicly available technical reports associated with the neighbouring
NIPP Ihovbor-Evboeka Power Plant and other relevant projects in the area.
Project engineering studies have also been reviewed for quantitative
information on environmental elements.
Primary data were collected during field investigations carried out by
biophysical specialists (geology and hydrogeology, soil, air quality and
ecology) as well as socio-economic specialists as indicated in Table 1.2. For the
AZURA EDO IPP
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DRAFT EIA REPORT