The sponsor has presented plans to address these impacts to ensure that the proposed project will upon implementation of the specific agreed measures, comply with the environmental and social requirements - the host country laws and regulations and the World Bank/IFC environment and social policies and the environmental, health and safety guidelines. The information about how these potential impacts will be addressed by the project is summarized in the paragraphs that follow.
The plant site is located midway between two national roads, RN 45 (Bourdj Bourerdj – M''sila) and RN 60 (El Mheir – M''sila) and situated about 25 kilometers north of M''sila, 7 kilometers south east of Hamman Dalaa. Wilaya of M''sila is in central Algeria some 240 kilometers from Algiers. The site is located on arid (rock dominated) land and the surrounding land is extremely marginal and is not used for agriculture or cultivation. The location was originally chosen based on technical evaluations and the result of a public consultation, including a focus on avoiding sensitive habitats and avoiding land otherwise used by the local population (hereby avoiding any resettlement), while being as near as possible to high quality raw materials.
The sponsor has built a bridge over Oued Debil, and a newly constructed road from the RN 60 main road, to avoid heavy traffic in the nearby settlement (Debil). Private landowners provided right-of-way access for this purpose and were consulted and provided compensation based on a willing-buyer willing-seller basis. There has been no further physical resettlement or economic displacement caused by the initial project or its infrastructure connections and the expansion will be kept within the existing plant area.
The limestone quarry, which is in operation, is located adjacent to the plant, while the clay quarry is located 17 kilometers from the plant site. High quality gypsum is currently bought from domestic commodity suppliers (there are several supply options), but might later be supplied from deposit located 180 kilometers from the plant site. The project includes progressive quarry reclamation plans for gradual implementation during the lifetime of the quarries. As an example the limestone quarry has till date had 3,000 m2 of overburden removed and stored for later application in connection with reclamation to create a landscape (profile) in harmony with the existing and surrounding landscape.
The technology used is a state-of-the-art low energy dry process with pre-calciners and is fired by natural gas, which is readily available from the local distribution networks. The use of natural gas combined with pre-calciners and dry technology allow the plant to be among the most energy efficient plants in the world. The use of natural gas also has the advantage of resulting in lower NOx generation than similar operations fired with oil, coal or alternative fuels and the plant has no problems in keeping below the World Bank guideline limit of 600 mg NOx/Ncm.
Dust emissions from the upstream lime quarry operations are limited by the use of covered conveyor belts. At the cement plant a combination of electrostatic and bag filters ensure full compliance with the World Bank guidelines (maximum 50 mg dust/Ncm) and local requirements.
The low sulfur content in the fuel and the feedstock ensure compliance with the World Bank guidelines and local requirements for sulfur dioxide emissions (maximum of 400 mg SO2/Ncm).
The good raw material quality allow the plant to produce high quality cement without the need for a "by pass"/"bleed". Hereby the generation of solid waste from the process is eliminated.
Taking into account the local water situation, the sponsor has prepared the plant for minimal water consumption, due to the use of dry technology. Further, the industrial water needed at the plant is circulated in a closed loop, while approximately 200 m2/day of sewage water will be cleaned and used for irrigation of green belts. The site had a few trees located in a small depression on the site. These trees were protected during the construction and will now, together with the upcoming greenery, benefit from the irrigation water.
Both ACC and the local community leadership have been mindful of the potential influx of people from outside of the area and has managed this aspect of induced development with success, hereby avoiding a change in nature of the small rural settlement of Debil, by ensuring that new residential workers developments take place in the existing village of Hamman Dalaa and in M’Sila, the regional center. To support this development planning, ACC provide transport by bus from key local centers such as M''Sila.
ACC has developed an internal human resource and labor code, which was approved by the Algerian government ministry responsible for labor regulations. Local laborers have been recruited to the extent possible with special attention given to both experienced and non-experienced members of surrounding communities. A health clinic and a canteen for workers have also been established on site.
For the operation of the plant locally hired personnel currently count for around 62% and this percentage is expected to increase as more locally hired people are trained to take over specialist functions. During the peak construction period for the initial ACC plant a total of 2974 construction workers were employed. Of these 72% were locally hired and ACC expect the same or potentially even a higher percentage of local hires during the construction of the expansion project. Besides the direct employees of ACC, which with the expanded project is expected to stabilize around 650, the indirect employment generated by the ACC project was, in early 2004, conservatively estimated to more than 4,000, with a significant number of these jobs created in the transport sector.
A comprehensive Environmental Management System (EMS) to monitor environmental and safety compliance is under implementation with the help and supervision of experts from the Egyptian Cement Company in Egypt.
Consistent with IFC''s requirements on public consultation and disclosure for Category B projects, this ERS will be distributed locally in a culturally appropriate manner (translated in both Arabic and French) in order to facilitate further awareness of the project by local stakeholders.
