This is a Category B project according to IFC's Policy on Environment and Social Sustainability (2012). Existing and future telecommunications towers are considered to have limited adverse E&S impacts that are few, site specific, largely reversible and readily addressed through existing mitigation measures and good international industry practices (GIIP). ATK’s medium-term growth strategy is focused on the development of additional telecommunications towers throughout Kenya.

Key areas of E&S focus include: i) the development and implementation of a corporate E&S management system (ESMS) and relevant procedures and plans to screen, assess and manage the limited adverse E&S risks and impacts in line with IFC PSs during both construction and operations, including land access and land acquisition, indigenous peoples and biodiversity; ii) managing the social, environmental, health and safety performance of the company’s contractors in accordance with GIIP; iii) ensure fair, safe and healthy working conditions during construction and operations for direct employees, as well as for the contract workers; iv) ensure proper handling of hazardous materials, and the disposal of solid and hazardous waste during construction and operations and the measurement and management of electro-magnetic fields (EMF); v) community health and safety including site access and motor vehicle safety; (vi) security management; and (vii) stakeholder engagement and grievance mechanism.                                                  

 ATK is a newly formed company, commencing telecommunication towers construction operations in early 2021. As part of the company’s development ATK has drafted E&S policies, including i) health and safety, ii) environment, and iii) fire safety, which shall be finalized per ESAP #1a. Supporting these policy commitments, ATK has established a Health, Safety, and Environment (HSE) framework organized to meet key elements of ISO 45001. Supporting this framework, procedures have been developed to address workplace safety risks relating specifically toward the telecommunication towers sector.

As part of IFC’s financing, ATK will augment the existing HSE framework to develop and implement an environmental and social management system (ESMS), specific to and suitably scaled for its business activities, in accordance with the requirements of PS1 per ESAP #1b. The ESMS will address ATK’s direct operations and indirect operations by passive infrastructure service providers (telecommunication tower and fiber optic service providers) in accordance with Performance Standards, screen and manage new telecommunication tower sites against IFC PS 5 through to PS8 for risks associated with land acquisition, land use rights, and physical/economical displacement, including land-legacy issues; sites located in places with significant biodiversity value, natural, or critical habitat; sites identified as in communal use or within territory of indigenous people, and sites within or proximity to cultural heritage features such as sacred groves, structures of historical, religious, or cultural values.

The ESMS [ESAP #1a] will include the finalized and ATK board approved overarching E&S policy/ies defining the company’s E&S objectives and principles, and include the following management programs i) E&S risk screening for ATK telecommunication tower locations, ii) due diligence and assessment procedures to identity, assess and manage relevant E&S risks and impacts of future tower acquisitions and assets, iii) occupational health and safety, iv) waste management requirements, v) land access and acquisition policy and procedures, vi) community health and safety, vii) contractor E&S management, viii) environmental monitoring, ix) emergency response, and x) security management, consistent with IFC’s PS.

ATK will also develop an ‘Owner’s E&S Standards’ document, defining E&S requirements for all service providers. The document will reflect the requirements set out in the ATK’s ESMS, and will have specific focus toward engineering, procurement and construction (“EPC”) contractors along with operations and maintenance (“O&M”) contractors engaged by ATK to develop its telecommunication tower portfolio. The Owner’s E&S Standards will contain auditable criteria and will be included in all future service provider contracts per ESAP #1d.

The ESMS will also define E&S elements required for inclusion within the corporate risk register, covering elements such as health and safety of direct, contracted and supply chain workers, E&S risks associated with the company’s activities, including physical, chemical, electrical hazards, and gender-differentiated risks. The risk register will also include risks associated with security and road traffic incident (RTI) injury. For each risk identified, the company will define and implement appropriate mitigation measures, which will be auditable elements and shall be communicated to senior management and periodically to the ATK board per ESAP #3.

The installation of all ATK’s telecommunication towers is undertaken on a willing lessor, willing lessee basis in a manner consistent with Kenyan legislative requirements and aligned with the principles of PS1.  As part the ESMS [ESAP #1b], the Company will develop and adopt a Land Acquisition, Access and Compensation Policy [ESAP #1a] and develop processes to be included within the revised ESMS, including implementation of the mitigation hierarchy and management of encroachment, consistent with PS requirements. The procedure will include details on the Company’s roles and responsibilities, including collaboration with the authority, planning, implementation, monitoring, and measures to address potential gaps in the local authority process and compliment the local authority actions.  The procedure will also articulate the provisions for the engagement of indigenous communities. This policy and procedure will also apply to all service providers and be included in the Owner’s E&S Standards document per ESAP #1d. Grievance management pertaining to any land acquisition or land access activities during construction or operations will be managed through the external grievance management mechanism per ESAP #5b.

The ATK ESMS [ESAP #1b] will implement a permitting register to track the ongoing permitting requirements of any given site. Each site will be included within the register throughout the life of the site, namely site acquisition and construction through to asset disposal.

ATK operates in a diverse number of locations throughout Kenya and retains a range of contractors and sub-contractors who rely on short term labor to deliver ATK’s construction portfolio. Overseeing OHS performance is the company COO. Reporting to the CEO, ATK has retained an experienced construction manager supported by three site supervisors who oversee and are responsible for OHS performance across ATK’s construction sites. ATK has also retained the services of an engineering consultancy whose role, amongst others, is to augment ATK’s oversight and monitoring capacity on an as needed basis. ATK’s asset and capacity growth strategy recognizes the need for additional capacity, budgeting for two additional construction supervisors at certain milestones to support the implementation of the augmented ESMS management system at the contracted and subcontracted levels. As part of the ESMS development, company and contractor OHS roles and responsibilities will be clearly articulated to ensure contractors deployed by each project will meet relevant provisions of ATK’s Owner’s E&S Requirements document as applicable to their respective activities.

Tower site identification and leasing is shared between i) the legal department, ensuring consistency with host nation requirements, and ii) operations who ensure site selection and community consultation obligations are met per host nation requirements. The operations department has a site acquisition specialist, supported by a site acquisition administrator.  As part of the ESMS development [ESAP #1b], the client will ensure these roles and their responsibilities are clearly articulated and the provisions of PS1 are formalized.  The company shall also ensure training is provided, as required, to those specialists and will ensure site selection and leasing is undertaken in a manner consistent with PS requirements, per ESAP #2b.                                                  

 ATK currently employs ten direct employees. ATK’s staff is comprised of two female and eight male employees. Oversight of direct employment relationships to date has been assisted by specialist HR legal counsel. ATK employs staff based on merit, with recruitment based on a role profile for each position. There have been no instances of retrenchment in the past and there are no plans by ATK to do so in future.

As part of IFC’s financing, ATK will develop its own HR policies [ESAP #1a] and procedures, to be articulated to employees by an employee handbook provided at the time of induction per ESAP #4a. The HR policy will contain non-discrimination and equal opportunity conditions to avoid bias towards gender, health, disability, race or religion. Requirements against sexual harassment and harassment-free workplace will be explicitly addressed in the corporate HR policy. ATK will also develop a worker grievance mechanism consistent with the requirements of IFC PS2, including the provision of an anonymous channel to register grievances. The worker grievance mechanism will extend to contracted workers, namely EPC and O&M contracted employees per ESAP #4b. ATK shall retain an HR consultant to ensure ATK’s HR policies are maintained per host nation labor regulations and in a manner consistent with PS2 requirements, per ESAP #4c.

As part of ATK’s ESMS [ESAP #1b], the company will develop and implement the following OHS elements: i) a detailed OHS training and incentive program for ATK staff, contractors and primary supply chain service providers and their workers with training content consistent with local requirements and GIIP; ii) a detailed monitoring and reporting program consisting of the collection of key OHS statistics including near misses, root cause and trend analysis, verification of implementation of corrective actions, and other relevant components covering ATK staff, contractors and primary supply chain workers; iii) the development and implementation of a worker EMF safety program per the guidance provided in World Bank Group (WBG) Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) Guidelines for Telecommunications, iv) an audit program for ATK towers sites, v) incorporation of OHS related clauses, including performance-dependent payment clauses, into contractor/ supplier agreements, and vi) formalize COVID-19 safety protocols, tailored to their operations, in compliance with relevant requirements by Kenyan health authorities per ESAP #1c. While capacity is being built within ATK, the company will engage an OHS specialist consultant to develop the above elements and review performance of the contractors during installation and for operations and maintenance [ESAP 2c].                                                  

 Electricity is sourced from the public grid for the majority of ATK’s tower locations. Grid reliability can be variable and so backup battery storage and power generation is in place at the majority of ATK’s tower locations. The GHG emissions from the project will be primarily due to electricity consumption. The GHG emissions from the financed portfolio of ~456 towers are estimated to be approximately 2,700 tons CO2eq per annum.

The ESMS [ESAP #1b] will include an environmental monitoring plan (e.g., water consumption, energy consumption, and noise), a hazardous materials management plan (e.g., hydrocarbon storage requirements and having secondary containments for fuel tanks greater than 1,000 l capacity and generators) and a waste management plan, to be extended to ATK’s contractors and primary supply chain providers contracts, as articulated in the Owner’s E&S Standards [ESAP #1d] to ensure compliance with local legal requirements, PS3, and alignment with GIIP as per WBG EHS Guidelines for Telecommunications. The waste management plan will include procedures to identify, separate, reuse/recycle where possible, and ultimately safely disposal of waste, especially e-waste and will include a waste tracking system.                                                  

 Community health and safety risks primarily relate to i) construction work and ii) RTI involving ATK staff or its contractors and third parties. As part of the ESMS [ESAP #1b], ATK will develop contractor E&S management procedures to ensure that contractors meet company’s policies and procedures on community health and safety, including but not limited to: i) identification and enclosure of working areas to ensure public access is appropriately controlled; ii) installation of signal light and use of flagman for traffic control, in case of open cut and in road crossing areas; iii) maintaining sufficient distance from the road traffic; and iv) cleaning up of work areas, and collection and disposal of waste. These will also be captured and reflected in ATK’s ‘Owner’s E&S Standards’ document to be provided to suppliers and included within primary supplier contracts per ESAP#1d.

As described in PS2 with reference to workers, ATK’s ESMS [ESAP #1b] will also define EMF monitoring requirements for public exposure. ATK will ensure the implementation of those monitoring requirements by electronic equipment suppliers and maintenance contractors are consistent with the WBG EHS Guidelines for Telecommunications.

As part of the company’s ESMS [ESAP #1b] development, ATK will develop and implement a motor vehicle safety management plan for both direct staff and contractors including the installation of defensive driving training, vehicle telematics and others that may be needed in response to road safety risks in its countries of operation. Similarly, the company’s ESMS [ESAP #1b] will require ATK undertakes an appropriately scaled country level security risk assessment defining requirements for security service providers and security personnel. These will be articulated in site level security management plans to be developed by either ATK or its EPC contractors ahead of any towers build consistent with both national legislation and the requirements of PS4.                                                   

 To date, ATK has constructed 148 towers. Additional towers are planned as part of IFC investment. These towers occur across Kenya and overlap the following ecoregions: Northern Acacia-Commiphora bushlands and thickets; East African montane forests; Southern Acacia-Commiphora bushlands and thickets; Northern Swahili coastal forests.

Fourteen towers occur within known nationally protected or internationally recognized areas such as Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs): Tana River Delta KBA, Machakos Valleys KBA, Mukurweini Valleys KBA, Marsabit National Park, Namunyak Wildlife Conservation Trust, and Naibunga Conservancy Trust. Thirteen of these towers occur within Modified Habitats such as human settlements or adjacent agricultural lands. One tower (Ngilai Hill within Namunyak Wildlife Conservation Trust) appears to be in Natural Habitat. Four additional towers appear to occur within Natural Habitats. No significant residual impacts are expected for any of these due to the limited impact footprint associated with these structures. An additional two existing towers overlap the Taita Hills Forests Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) and Alliance for Zero Extinction (AZE) site and are discussed below. The avoidance of Natural Habitats is driven by the client’s preference for construction of towers in areas immediately adjacent to existing access points and power supplies to avoid construction of new access points.

Two towers are treated as Critical Habitat due to overlap with the Taita Hills AZE site. The AZE is characterized by patchwork of modified agricultural and community lands interspersed with remnant patches of natural habitat. These remnant patches are however considered critical for persistence of AZE trigger species (e.g. Taita Apalis, Taita Thrush). Both towers occur within the footprint of existing settlements and associated cleared lands (e.g. a high school) that predate construction of the tower. Consultations with the AZE Global Secretariat and AZE/KBA national partner (NatureKenya) have been documented with regards to the overlap with the AZE site for one tower. Consultation with regards the second tower is ongoing. No objections have been noted for the first tower but a recommendation for the client to support conservation of the AZE site have been made given that the continued operation of the tower within an existing school is considered to be inconsequential to the conservation objectives of the AZE / KBA site.

As part of IFC’s financing, ATK will (i) engage AZE partners and any other relevant protected area and KBA managers as part of their Stakeholder Engagement Plan (SEP) in order to identify and manage any biodiversity issues appropriately, including facilitation of a site visit by AZE partners to the Taita Hills Forests AZE; and (ii) develop a Biodiversity Action Plan that describes additional conservation actions designed in consultation with AZE partners to contribute to the conservation of the Taita Hills Forests AZE (ESAP #6a).

ATK's E&S policies [ESAP #1a] will include commitments to the protection and conservation of biodiversity as per IFC PS6. As part of ATK’s ESMS development [ESAP #1b] biodiversity screening will be required to support implementation of PS6 requirements in the context of any towers under current pre-development and/ or planning, per ESAP #6b.