Safeguard Diagnostic Review

for

Piloting the Use of Tunisian Systems to Address
Environmental Safeguard Issues in the

Proposed World Bank-Assisted

Tunisia

Sustainable Management of Municipal Waste Project

Equivalence and Acceptability Report

March 2006

1

CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

BACKGROUND

Project Description

Methodology and Process Followed in Determining Equivalence and Acceptability

PART I. EQUIVALENCE Analysis

A. Applicable World Bank Safeguards

B. Tunisian Legal System for EA

C. ANPE ToR for EIA in the Solid Waste Management Sector

D. Land Use Planning Legislation

E. Municipal Solid Waste Legislation

F. Applicable Environmental Norms

G. Public Disclosure and Consultation

H. Equivalence to Operational Principles of OP 4.00, Table A1: Discussion

Conclusion

PART II. ACCEPTABILITY Assessment

A. Institutional Capacity

B. Borrower Implementation Practices and Track Record

Conclusion

PART III. GAP FILLING SUSTAINABILITY MEASURES

PART IV. ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF ANPE, ANGED AND THE BANK

Part v. Public Consultation and Disclosure

Annexes

Annex A. Equivalence Table for Environmental Assessment

Annex B. Acceptability Assessment of EA conducted by ANPE for
Management of Solid Wastes for the Gouvernorat of Kairouan

Annex C. Programmatic Achievements: Solid Waste Sector

List of Documents Consulted

ACRONYMS

AMTVDAgence Municipale pour le Traitement et la Valorisation des Déchets (Municipal Agency for the Treatment and Valorization of Waste)

AfDBAfrican Development Bank

AMSEAgence Municipale des Services Environnementaux (Municipal Agency for Environmental Services)

ANGEDAgence Nationale de Déchets (National Agency for the Management of Waste)

ANPE Agence Nationale de Protection de l’Environnement (National Environmental Protection Agency)

CDM Clean Development Mechanism (Kyoto Protocol)

CEA Country Environmental Analysis

CITET Centre Internationale des Technologies de l’Environnement de Tunis (Tunis International Center for Environmental Technology)

E&AEquivalence and Acceptability

EA Environmental Assessment

EIA Environmental Impact Assessment

EIB European Investment Bank

EMP Environmental Management Plan

GTZ Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit

INOPRI Institut National de la Normalisation de la Propriété Industrielle (National Institute of Normalization and Industrial Property)

JICAJapan International Cooperation Agency

JORTJournal Officiel de la République Tunisienne

KfW Kreditanstalt für Wideraufbau Bankengruppe

MEDD Ministère de l’Environnement et du Développement Durable (Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development)

METAP Mediterranean Environmental Technical Assistance Program

MNA Middle East and North Africa Region (World Bank)

MSWMunicipal Solid Waste

NGO Nongovernmental Organization

NTNormes Techniques

ONAS Office National d’Assainissement (National Sanitation Office)

OP Operational Policy

PCRPhysical Cultural Resources

PPAH Pollution Prevention and Abatement Handbook (PPAH)

PRONAGDES Programme National de Gestion des Déchets Solides (National Program for the Management of Solid Waste)

SEAStrategic Environmental Assessment

SMMWP Sustainable Management of Municipal Waste Project

SPMSWSupport Program for the Management of Solid Waste

SOMAGED Société Maghrébine de Gestion et d’Elimination des Déchets (Maghreb Company for Waste Management and Disposal)

SWPSpecialized Wastes Project

ToR Terms of Reference

UCSUse of Country Systems

CURRENCY EQUIVALENTS

(Exchange Rate Effective March 24, 2006

Currency Unit / = / Tunisian Dinar (TD)
TD 1.3575 / = / US $1
Vice President:
Country Manager/Director:
Sector Director:
Sector Manager:
Team Leader: / Christiaan J. Poortman
Theodore O. Ahlers
Inger Andersen
Vijay Jagannathan
Dahlia Loyatef

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

  1. This report is an Equivalence and Acceptability (E&A) Report of Tunisia’s environmental assessment (EA) system in relation to the World Bank Operational Policy, OP/BP 4.00, “Piloting the Use of Borrower Systems to Address Environmental and Social Safeguard Issues in Bank-Supported Projects,” and in particular, the Objectives and Operational Principles set forth in Table A1 of OP 4.00.
  2. Tunisia is one of the initial countries being considered for piloting the use of country systems (UCS), due to the relatively advanced state of its environmental regulatory framework, institutional capacity and performance as indicated by previous World Bank diagnostic studies. This review is applied to a prospective project to be funded by the World Bank in Tunisia, the Sustainable Management of Municipal Waste Project (SMMWP) that is scheduled for appraisal during the second quarter of 2006. This analysis is supported by independent comparative studies of Tunisian and other EA systems in the Middle East and North Africa (MNA) Region.
  3. The municipal solid waste management (MSW) sector was selected for piloting because Tunisia is the first MNA region country to invest in the integrated management of MSW, from collection to final disposal. The project consists of several inter-related components involving the degasification of newly constructed controlled landfills and the closure and reclamation of corresponding uncontrolled landfill sites, along with technical assistance to Tunisian agencies responsible for the management of the MSW sector. Major project components include: (a) investments for the development of containment infrastructure for municipal waste; (b) collection and treatment of biogas at ten sanitary municipal waste landfills; (c) rehabilitation of five priority uncontrolled regional landfills; and (d) associated institutional support and capacity enhancement at the national and regional levels and to the public at large.

Equivalence Analysis

  1. Environmental Assessment is the only World Bank safeguard policy that is applicable to the proposed project. This Equivalence Analysis is based on a detailed review of Tunisia’s EA system as reflected in applicable Tunisian legislation and administrative orders as compared to the eleven Objectives and Operational Principles for EA contained in Table A1 of OP 4.00. The legislation and administrative orders analyzed include the totality of Tunisian laws and regulations that affect EA, including but not limited to the July 2005 Decree on Environmental Assessment (2005 EA Decree); Terms of Reference (ToR) for Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the MSW sector; substantive legislation pertaining to the MSW sector; and other legislation applicable to sensitive industries in general, land management and norms for discharges to air, water and soil.
  2. Pursuant to this Equivalence Analysis it is concluded that the totality of Tunisian laws and regulations applicable to the MSW sector are in nearly complete harmony with the Objectives and Operational Principles of OP 4.00, Table A1 and that any remaining gaps can be addressed through project-based measures without recourse to changes in Tunisian legislation or regulations. These gaps result from the fact that Tunisian legal requirements applicable to the MSW sector tend to be distributed in diverse legislative frameworks such as codes relating to land use and “dangerous, unsanitary and disagreeable facilities” (classified facilities or “établissements classés” in French) that are incorporated into the EA process by reference in the EA legislation rather than directly into the body of the EA legislation itself.
  3. Key issues relating to these gaps include:
  4. The need for sufficient detail in prescribed content for Environmental Management Plans (EMPs), in particular, with respect to monitoring, institutional capacity development and training measures; and
  5. The need for explicit cross references between public consultation and disclosure requirements contained in legislation on land use and on classified facilities on the one hand, and EA legislation on the other hand.

The above-cited equivalence gaps can be remedied within the scope and term of the SMMWP by updating the ToR for the MSW sector. Beyond the scope and term of the SMMWP the sustainability of the Tunisian EA system can be enhanced by consolidating Tunisian environmental legislation into a more coherent and integrated structure. The Government of Tunisia has begun to undertake both of these tasks with technical assistance from the World Bank provided by the Mediterranean Environmental Technical Assistance Programme (METAP).

Acceptability Assessment

  1. The Acceptability Assessment is based on a detailed review of the EA process and documentation in Tunisia, as applied to activities undertaken by the Government of Tunisia in the MSW sector over a period of time from the 1990s to the present. These activities include EA, EMP and environmental monitoring and compliance processes implemented in connection with:
  2. The design, construction and operation of the first large-scale municipal sanitary landfill at Djebel Chekir, serving the Tunis metropolitan area; and
  3. The design and construction of nine new sanitary landfills, located in regional centers (gouvernorates).
  4. It is important to note in this connection that the more recent July 2005 EA Decree that was the basis of the Equivalence Analysis was not in effect during the period when the landfills were designed and constructed, and that some of the MSW sector legislation and regulations referenced in the Equivalence Analysis were enacted subsequent to these activities. Therefore, with respect to EA and EMP, the EA Decree issued in March 1991 (1991 EA Decree) is the appropriate basis on which to conduct the Acceptability Assessment of Tunisia’s implementation of its own laws and procedures.
  5. Based on this Acceptability Assessment, the main gaps between Tunisia’s applicable system requirements and its implementation of those requirements include:
  6. Sequencing of alternatives assessment in early stages of Master Planning process for MSW management, thereby narrowing the scope of the siting and technology assessment in the EIA process;
  7. Limited scope and depth of EMPs for sanitary landfills;
  8. Limited capacity to monitor EMP implementation on site; and
  9. Inconsistent approach to information disclosure and public participation, including that of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the EA process.

Gap Filling and Sustainability Measures

  1. To address these equivalence and acceptability gaps during the term of the project and beyond, the Government of Tunisia has agreed to the following gap filling measures:

Equivalence

  • August 1, 2006: Update, with assistance from the World Bank, the ToR for the MSW sector to incorporate all of the elements of an EMP that are stipulated in OP 4.00, Table A1. The specifications will take into consideration the conclusions of the EIA and the EMP and translate them into precise legal obligations from all pertinent diverse legislative instruments that are binding on the operator, including the obligation to undertake a periodic independent audit to ensure that the EMP is implemented in a satisfactory manner and fulfills ANPE and ANGED regulatory requirements. It is important in this regard that the register cited in the legislation on referenced establishments be put in place and approved by ANPE to permit regular monitoring.

Acceptability

  • January 15, 2006: Update the EIA and EMP previously prepared for the Djebel Chekir landfill (all five containments) consistent with the requirements of Tunisian legislation and regulations (Status: Draft update completed);
  • February 1, 2006: Prepare an EMP for each of the new landfills conforming to Tunisian requirements per the 2005 EA Decree, the 1996 Law on MSW and the Administrative Order of February 28, 2001. In particular, as required by the Administrative Order, the EMP should ensure that “the operator of a waste storage, treatment or disposal facility must undertake an environmental control and monitoring program during the entire period of operation and after closure.” The content and format of this program should be elaborated based on the results of the EIAs for each separate landfill in conformity with the 2005 EA Decree, which requires that the operator spell out “a detailed [EMP] comprising proposed measures to eliminate, or minimize and compensate for adverse environmental consequences and an estimate of corresponding costs” (Status: Draft EIA/EMP Updates completed);
  • February 15, 2006: Organize consultation with and participation of interested parties and local organizations on the components of the SMMWP through a seminar (“journée(s) d’études et de réflexion”) (Status: Consultation completed, see Part V);
  • April 1, 2006: For the five uncontrolled landfills to be rehabilitated with World Bank financing, prepare technical studies in conformity with all applicable Tunisian legislation and regulations (Status: Work-in-progress);
  • April 15, 2006: Publish a summary of the revised EIA, EMPs and technical studies on the websites of ANPE and/or the National Agency for the Management of Waste (ANGED) to ensure the visibility of the project and that affected parties are informed. Notify the public of the availability of this information through Tunisian news media (Status: Work-in-progress); and
  • September 2007: Incremental deployment of newly trained ANGED staff resources to regional offices and/or municipalities in order to provide sufficient resources for monitoring and compliance in the operation of the new landfills as the landfills reach full operational capacity.

Equivalence and Acceptability Sustainability Measures

  • Throughout SMMWP: World Bank provision of institutional and technical capacity building support to ANGED and ANPE; and
  • As part of a future World Bank-supported operation: Consolidate applicable elements of EA currently distributed through diverse legislative instruments into a fully coherent and integrated Environmental Code.

Public Consultation

  1. A public consultation, in the form of a “Journée d’études et de réflexion” took place at the Abu Nawas hotel in Tunis on February 14, 2006 to discuss the content of the report. There were approximately 130 people in attendance, including representatives of public and private sector entities, NGOs, the media, and international donors. This consultation was widely reported in the Tunisian media and the press.
  2. Participants raised relevant issues related to the application of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), the need to address the entire chain of solid waste management, clarifications on the roles of local government and the private sector and the participation of the international donors and the NGOs. After the participants received responses on the issues raised, they endorsed the report.

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BACKGROUND

  1. Beginning in March 2005, and for the next two years, the World Bank will be supporting a limited number of pilot projects in which lending operations will be prepared using the borrowing country’s systems[1] for environmental assessment (EA) and other environmental and social safeguards, rather than the World Bank’s operational policies and procedures on safeguards. The rationale for using country systems is to scale up development impact, increase country ownership, build institutional capacity, facilitate harmonization and increase cost effectiveness. These pilot operations are governed by a new operational policy[2] (OP/BP 4.00) on “Piloting the Use of Borrower Systems to Address Environmental and Social Safeguard Issues in Bank-Supported Projects.” OP/BP 4.00 elaborates on the approach, enumerates the criteria for assessing country systems, and specifies documentation and disclosure requirements and respective roles of the Borrower and the World Bank.
  1. The World Bank considers a borrower’s environmental and social safeguard system to be equivalent to the World Bank’s if the borrower’s system, as determined by the World Bank, is designed to achieve the objectives and adhere to the applicable operational principles set out in Table A1 of OP 4.00. Since equivalence is determined on a policy-by-policy basis in accordance with Table A1, the World Bank may conclude that the borrower’s system is equivalent to the World Bank’s in specific environmental or social safeguard areas in particular pilot projects, and not in other areas.[3] Before deciding on the use of country systems (UCS), the World Bank also assesses the acceptability of the borrower’s implementation practices, track record, and institutional capacity. The above approach and criteria for assessment were developed with inputs from external stakeholders such as representatives of governments, bilateral and multilateral development institutions, civil society organizations, and the private sector and is consistent with commitments made by the development community in the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness of March 2005.

Rationale for Project Selection

  1. Tunisia is one of the initial countries being considered for piloting UCS, specifically the proposed World Bank-assisted Sustainable Management of Municipal Waste Project (SMMWP). The World Bank has a long track record of environmental assistance in Tunisia, beginning with the preparation of the first National Environmental Action Plan in 1989. The World Bank was instrumental in helping to establish Tunisia’s National Environmental Protection Agency (ANPE) and has continued to provide assistance to Tunisia through the Mediterranean Environmental Technical Assistance Program (METAP) and establishing the first regional EA unit in ANPE’s TunisInternationalCenter for Environmental Technology (CITET).
  2. On the basis on this experience, Tunisia was selected from among the countries of the Middle East and North Africa Region (MNA) due to the relatively advanced state of its environmental regulatory framework, institutional capacity and performance as indicated by previous World Bank diagnostic studies.[4] With respect to World Bank safeguards, and to Environmental Assessment in particular, preliminary reviews of Tunisia’s conformity with the Operational Principles of OP 4.00 and independent comparative studies of Tunisian and other EA systems in the MNA region[5] demonstrate that Tunisia is an appropriate candidate for a UCS pilot project for EA.
  3. The sector selected for piloting in Tunisia is the municipal solid waste management (MSW) sector. Tunisia is the first MNA country to have invested in the entire chain of integrated solid waste management activities. A National Program for the Management of Solid Waste (PRONAGDES) was initiated in 1993 and comprehensive legislation to guide this sector was enacted in 1996. Public expenditures for this sector increased from US$20 million in 1992-1996 to US$45 million for 2000-2005, as solid waste collection services reached 95 percent of the urban population and 90 percent in rural areas. However, waste transfer and disposal practices still require major improvements as a substantial proportion (60 percent) of MSW continues to be dumped into designated areas without a proper sanitary landfill system.
  4. Part I of this report comprises the Equivalence Analysis carried out by World Bank legal and policy staff in collaboration with ANPE counterparts, while Part II comprises the Acceptability Assessment carried out by World Bank policy, legal and technical staff in collaboration with ANPE and the newly created Tunisian Agency for the Management of Waste (ANGED). Annex A to this report contains a matrix summarizing the major equivalence findings relative to the project-applicable safeguards of OP 4.00, the remaining gaps and proposed gap-filling measures.

Project Description

  1. To support Tunisia in this sector, the World Bank and the Government of Tunisia have jointly initiated a Support Program for the Management of Solid Waste (SPMSW). The general objective of the SPMSW is to treat and dispose of all solid wastes in a sustainable manner so as to improve the quality of life of Tunisian citizens. The SPMSW consists of two complementary projects:
  2. The SMMWP will treat ordinary household and other non-hazardous wastes generated from diverse sources in municipal areas; and
  3. The Specialized Wastes Project (SWP) will address treatment of medical waste and polychlorinated biphenyls.
  4. The SMMWP and its institutional support mechanisms are the only components of the SPMSW that will be piloted under UCS. The SWP will not be included under the UCS pilot, but will be subject to standard World Bank safeguards.
  5. The SMMWP consists of several inter-related components involving the operation of new controlled landfills, gas collection and flaring (in the context of a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) operation, one of the flexible tools of the Kyoto Protocol), and the closure and rehabilitation of corresponding uncontrolled landfill sites, along with technical assistance to Tunisian agencies responsible for the management of the municipal waste sector. The project will be implemented by ANGED with support from the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MEDD) and ANPE. Specific activities to be financed by the World Bank and to be subject to the UCS provisions include:
  6. Construction of a fifth containment cell at the Djebel Chekir landfill site in metropolitan Tunis along with the implementation of a contractual management system for the entire Djebel Chekir landfill, and the implementation of an Environmental Management Plan (EMP);
  7. Installation of methane collection and flaring systems at nine newly constructed controlled landfills (in the regions of Bizerte, Djerba, Gabes, Kairouan, Medenine, Monastir, Nabeul, Sfax, Sousse) and at Djebel Chekir within the context of the CDM component;
  8. Rehabilitation of five priority uncontrolled landfills in various municipalities within the regions of Bizerte, Sousse, Monastir, Sfax and Nabeul, including stabilization, cover, methane removal for safety purposes, leachate treatment and revegetation;
  9. Technical assistance for strengthening ANGED and the capacities of regional institutions responsible for waste management, principally at the local and inter-communal levels; and
  10. Development and implementation of a strategy of public communication and consciousness raising regarding waste management issues through the development of an ANGED website, TV spots, brochures and other media with the participation of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and other institutions.
  11. Some components of the SMMWP have been or are currently benefiting from external funding (loans and technical assistance) from other donors, including the European Investment Bank (EIB), with respect to six of the new landfills; the German Kreditanstalt für Wideraufbau Bankengruppe (KfW), with respect to three new landfills; and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) for technical assistance.

Methodology and Process Followed in
Determining Equivalence and Acceptability