Temperature - European Investment Bank

WEST AFRICAN POWER POOL (WAPP) PÖYRY ENERGY LTD.
Mount Coffee HPP ESIA and RAP 2012-09-18
ESIA Report Page 166
8. Indigenous people, ethnic minorities, pastoralists, and other groups that may have
informal customary rights to the land or other resources taken for the project, must
be provided with adequate land, infrastructure, and other compensation. The
absence of legal title to land should not be grounds for denying such groups
compensation and rehabilitation.
These basic rules have then been integrated into the presently applicable WB guidelines,
the World Bank Operational Policy on Involuntary Resettlement (OP 4.12), which will
apply for the involuntary resettlement of owners and users of the project lands. OP 4.12
requires that planning for resettlement be an integral part of the project design, and
should be initiated as early in the project planning as possible. The policy sets out the
following policy statement for consideration during resettlement planning:
1. Involuntary resettlement should be avoided or minimized where feasible, exploring
all viable alternative project designs.
2. Where displacement is unavoidable, resettlement plans should be developed. All
involuntary resettlement should be conceived and executed as development progress
with re-settlers provided sufficient investment resources and opportunities to share
in project benefits. Displaced persons should be (i) compensated for their losses at
full replacement cost prior to the actual move; (ii) assisted with the move and
supported during the transition period in the resettlement site; (iii) assisted in their
efforts to improve their former living standards, income earning capacity, and
production levels, or at least to restore them. Particular attention should be paid to
the needs of the poorest groups to be resettled.
3. Community participation in planning and implementing resettlement should be
encouraged. Appropriate patterns of social organisation should be established, and
existing social and cultural institutions of re-settlers and their hosts should be
supported and used to the greatest extent possible.
4. Re-settlers should be integrated socially and economically into host communities so
that adverse impacts on host communities are minimised. The best way of achieving
this integration is for resettlement to be planned in areas benefiting from the project
and through consultation with future hosts.
5. Land, housing infrastructure, and other compensation should be provided to the
adversely affected population, indigenous groups, ethnic minorities, and pastoralists
who may have usufruct or customary rights to the land or other resources taken for
the project. The absence of legal title to land by such groups should not be a bar to
compensation.
The World Bank Group’s OP 4.12 on Involuntary Resettlement provides that land-forland
resettlement is generally the preferred option. This fits into the Liberia’s set up
where all land belongs to the Government and resettled persons are given land for land
acquired by the project. Therefore, land based resettlement will be carried out where
possible, but a major emphasis of the RAP will be to develop a Livelihood
Augmentation and Income Restoration (LAIR) Plan to ensure that affected households
are able to restore and sustain incomes previously gained from agriculture (to at least
equivalent levels). Interim compensation payments for loss of assets and general
disturbance will also be made to assist with the transitional period.
22.2 What Needs to be Done
Contrary to what was assumed that no settlements would be affected, the few
settlements found so far though they were squatters on LEC land, will still have to be