International School Development, Yangon, Myanmar
SLP Environmental consultants were awarded the contract to prepare the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) for an International School development located within the Star City Complex in Thanlyin Township, Yangon Division, Myanmar.
The Project consists of the development of an international school and college which will comprise of an early year’s school, a junior school and a senior school spread over a campus with a total area of 8.3 hectares. The school will feature sports facilities including rugby and football fields, gymnasium and aquatic centre with an Olympic-size swimming pool.
The EIA study was conducted in accordance with the requirements of the draft Environmental Impact Assessment Procedure prepared by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation (MONREC) and cognisant of guidance presented in:
• Asian Development Bank, Environmental Assessment Guidelines (2003) and
• IFC Environmental, Health and Safety General Guidelines (April 30, 2007)
The environmental baseline survey focused on the most sensitive environmental receptors and included; the erection of four air quality and noise monitoring stations, the collection of soil, surface water and groundwater samples for analysis at an ISO 17025 accredited laboratory, traffic baseline surveys at key ingress/egress points and a Phase 1 Ecological Appraisal of the project site area. The study also included the development of a socio-economic profile of the project site area which was further developed using data collected during the stakeholder engagement activities that were conducted at the outset and draft report phases of the project.
A Scoping Study was undertaken to identify the potential interactions between project activities and environmental and social receptors and to prioritise these in terms of their potential magnitude and significance. Significant impacts were taken forward for further detailed examination in the Impacts Evaluation Study.
Based on the findings of the impact assessment SLP prepared a detailed Environmental Management and Monitoring Plan (EMMP) to ensure that the potential significant adverse impacts to the natural environment and social receptors that could arise as a consequence of project activities were appropriately mitigated. A monitoring plan was also developed to monitor compliance with the Project’s EMMP requirements and statutory environmental quality standards.