PRC: Hubei-Yichang Sustainable Urban Transport Project

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1 Social Monitoring Report Semi-annual Report May 2015 PRC: Hubei-Yichang Sustainable Urban Transport Project Prepared by Yichang PMO and ADB Staff Consultant.

2 ADB-financed Yichang Sustainable Urban Transport Project Due Diligence Report Report on the Relocation of the Hui People s Cemetery and Muslim Slaughterhouse Yichang PMO April 2015

3 Contents 1 REASON FOR THE RELOCATION OF THE HUI PEOPLE S CEMETERY OVERVIEW OF HUI POPULATION IN THE PROJECT AREA HUI POPULATION KEY ETHNIC FEATURES RELOCATION OF THE HUI PEOPLE S CEMETERY AND MUSLIM SLAUGHTERHOUSE RELOCATION OF HUI CEMETERY AND MUSLIM SLAUGHTERHOUSE RESETTLEMENT OF HUI CEMETERY AND MUSLIM SLAUGHTERHOUSE CONSULTATION AND PARTICIPATION PUBLIC PARTICIPATION DURING RELOCATION PREPARATION GRIEVANCE REDRESS... 6 APPENDICES... 8 APPENDIX 1 MEMO OF ISSUES OF RELOCATION OF HUI CEMETERY ISSUED BY THE OFFICE OF YMG... 8 APPENDIX 2 AGREEMENT OF SLAUGHTERHOUSE DEMOLITION... 8 List of Tables TABLE 2-1 STATISTICS OF HUI POPULATION IN THE PROJECT AREA... 2 TABLE 4-1 SUMMARY OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION ACTIVITIES DURING RELOCATION PREPARATION... 6 TABLE 4-2 CONTACT INFORMATION OF GRIEVANCE REDRESS AGENCIES... 7 List of Figures FIGURE 3-1 HUI PEOPLE S CEMETERY... 4 FIGURE 3-2 MUSLIM SLAUGHTERHOUSE NEAR TO THE CEMETERY... 4 FIGURE 3-3 LAYOUT AND SKETCH MAP OF CEMETERY AND SLAUGHTERHOUSE... 5

4 1 Reason for the Relocation of the Hui People s Cemetery 1. According to the Reply of the Hubei Provincial Development and Reform Commission on the Feasibility Study Report of the Yichang Sustainable Urban Transport Project (HPDRC Approval [2013] No.208), a Hui people s cemetery and Muslim slaughterhouse in Dongyuan Administrative Zone will be demolished during the construction of Dongshan Fourth Road (Fazhan Avenue-Bolinhe Road). The cemetery is close to Zhoujiachong Village in Dongyuan Administrative Zone, and is a collective Hui people s cemetery with 213 tombs and a floor area of 8 mu collective land. The total building area of Muslim slaughter house is m2, of which, the office building is m2, slaughterhouse is m2 and administrative office is 160 m2. 2. Hui people have unique funeral customs that differ greatly from those of other ethnic groups. The Regulations on Urban Ethnic Affairs approved by the State Council in August 1993 stipulate that funeral customs of ethnic minorities shall be respected and protected. Article 25 states, Municipal governments shall arrange cemeteries for ethnic minorities with special funeral and interment customs, and take actions to strengthen funeral and interment services for ethnic minorities in light of the applicable state provisions. In June 1999, the State Ethnic Affairs Commission and the Ministry of Health made detailed explanations on the Regulations on Funeral and Interment Control, stating that in areas subject to cremation, interment customs of 10 ethnic minorities, including Hui and Uygur, shall be respected, and no forced cremation shall be applied. 3. In order to respect minority funeral and interment customs, it is necessary to plan and build an exclusive cemetery and Muslim slaughterhouse for Hui people, which should not be mixed up with interment sites of other ethnic groups. 1

5 2 Overview of Hui Population in the Project Area 2.1 Hui Population 4. Yichang is a sub-provincial central city, a central city in the middle and upper Yangtze River region, and the seat of the Three Gorges Project, located in southwestern Hubei Province. In 2013, Yichang had 1,496,500 households with 4,000,800 persons, including 2,175 resident Hui people, accounting for 0.05% of gross population and scattered in the urban area, and about 1,000 floating Hui People. In Zhoujiachong Village where the Hui people s cemetery is located and Qiaohe Village, Dianjun District where it is to be relocated, there is no Hui population. See Table 2-1. Table 2-1: Statistics of Hui population in the project area Division # of households Population Hui population Percent (%) Remarks Yichang City Dongyuan About additional Administrative Zone 1000 floating Hui Zhoujiachong People in Yichang Village Hui people are Dianjun District scattered in the Aijia Town urban area. Qiaohe Village Sources: bulletins 2013 on national economic and social development (Yichang City, Dongyuan Administrative Zone and Dianjun District), social and economic statistical reports 2013 (Zhoujiachong Village, Aijia Town and Qiaohe Village) 2.2 Key ethnic features (i) Cultural traditions 5. Hui people celebrate the three major Islamic festivals: Eid al-fitr (Feast of Breaking the Fast), Eid al-adha (Feast of the Sacrifice) and Mawlid (Birth of the Prophet), in which the most ceremonious one is Eid al-fitr. All Hui festivals are highly consistent with those of other Muslims. (ii) Religion 6. Hui people believe in Islam, and mosques are available in their centrally inhabited areas, where imams are in charge of religious activities. The main Islamic classic is the Quran and followers are called Muslims. They stick to traditional Hui customs and canons, such as paying attention to hygiene, and not eating pork, dog meat, animal blood, etc. Islam played an important role in the formation of Hui as an ethnic group. (iii) Funeral and interment 2

6 7. For Hui people believing in Islam, funeral is an activity of mourning, commemoration and prayer by relatives, neighbors and friends after the end of one s life, and the one most important part of Hui customs. The features are as follows: 1) Interment is the only form of interment for Hui people, where no coffin is used, but the dead body is placed directly on earth; 2) Quick interment is advocated, usually not more than three days. The common practice is burial in the afternoon if one dies in the morning or in the next morning if one dies in the evening; 3) Frugal funerals are advocated; 4) All people are treated equally regardless of wealth and age. All dead people are washed with water, wrapped in white cloth and buried in cemeteries under the direction of imams. 5) Hui people have their own interment sites, whether they live centrally or with Han people. 8. Yichang has a small and scattered resident Hui people of 2,175,(accounting for 0.05% of gross population) and about 1000 floating Hui people. The relocation and resettlement of the affected cemetery has progressed successfully through consultation with affected Hui people, and under the direction of the municipal government, municipal ethnic and religious affairs bureau, and municipal Hui people administration committee, so it is not necessary to prepare a separate ethnic minority development plan. 3

3 Relocation of the Hui People s Cemetery and Muslim Slaughterhouse 3.1 Relocation of Hui Cemetery and Muslim Slaughterhouse 9.

construction of Dongshan Development Zone. Today, it has 213 tombs and a floor area of 8 mu (collective land). 10.

Since it is small, it cannot be chosen as the resettlement site for the Hui people s cemetery in Dongyuan Administrative Zone.

In 2009, in order to solve the problems of supply of mutton and beef for Hui People, Yichang Municipal government decided to build a Muslim

7 3 Relocation of the Hui People s Cemetery and Muslim Slaughterhouse 3.1 Relocation of Hui Cemetery and Muslim Slaughterhouse 9. The Hui people s cemetery was founded in 1995, and was relocated to a farm near Zhoujiachong Village, Dongyuan Administrative Zone due to the construction of Dongshan Development Zone. Today, it has 213 tombs and a floor area of 8 mu (collective land). 10. According to the survey, there is another collective Hui people s cemetery in Yichang Economic Development Zone. Since it is small, it cannot be chosen as the resettlement site for the Hui people s cemetery in Dongyuan Administrative Zone. Figure 3-1: Hui people s cemetery 11. In 2009, in order to solve the problems of supply of mutton and beef for Hui People, Yichang Municipal government decided to build a Muslim slaughterhouse near to the Hui Cemetery. The Muslim slaughterhouse was complete in 2011, including m2 office building, m2 slaughterhouse and 160 m2 administrative office as well. According to the investigation, the slaughterhouse is not operated at present due to inconvenient access road. Figure 3-2 Muslim slaughterhouse near to the cemetery 4

The resettlement site is about 16 kilometers away from the existing Hui people s cemetery.

8 3.2 Resettlement of Hui Cemetery and Muslim Slaughterhouse 12. The Hui people s cemetery will be resettled on collective land in Qiaohe Village, Aijia Town, Dianjun District, and compensation for land acquisition has been completed. The resettlement site is about 16 kilometers away from the existing Hui people s cemetery. There are no Hui people in the town and village where the resettlement site is located, whether living centrally or in a scattered manner. All roads leading to Qiaohe Village have hardened pavements, and a bus route leading to the urban area is available, so that Hui people can manage and visit the new cemetery conveniently. 13. As of March 2015, the preparatory work for the resettlement site had been completed. Relocation is expected to begin in April 2015 and last for about one month. During relocation and resettlement, an Islamic interment ceremony will be organized by the municipal Hui people administration committee, and ceremony, relocation and resettlement costs will be included in resettlement costs for house demolition and borne by Yichang Urban Construction Investment & Development Co., Ltd. (YUCID). 14. According to the site selection opinion of the Project (YSGXZ [2014] No.083), the resettlement site will have a floor area of 50 mu, including 20 mu for Phase 1, and 30 mu for Phases 2 and 3. Phase 1 will accommodate 397 tombs except the administrative office and other infrastructure. The total building are is 900 m2, of which, the funeral parlour is 450 m In December 2014, the demolition agreement of Muslim slaughterhouse was signed between YUCID and Yichang Mosque Democratic Management Committee (See Appendix 2).In the land of Phase 1, 300 m2 of operational workshop of the slaughterhouse, 60 m2 gate house and 90 m2 water house will be built with road supply, water supply and electricity supply. all the investment cost will be undertaken by YUCID. In addition, YUCID granted a funeral car with cost of CNY 100,000 to Yichang Hui people management committee. For 12 Muslims who died from 1 May 2014 to preset, the resettlement compensation of CNY 4000/ person was paid. Figure 3-3: Layout and sketch map of cemetery and slaughterhouse 5

9 4 Consultation and Participation 4.1 Public participation during relocation preparation 16. During preparation for the relocation of the Hui people s cemetery and Muslim slaughterhouse, the municipal government, municipal ethnic and religious affairs bureau, YUCID, etc. organized a series of public participation activities, involving such topics as site selection and reconstruction in order to facilitate relocation and resettlement. Representatives of Hui people were invited to take part in each activity, thereby protecting Hui people s rights of information and participation. See Table 4-1. Table 4-1: Summary of public participation activities during relocation preparation Date Venue Topic Participants # Remarks YUCID, planning bureau, 10, incl. 2 To be located in Lingbao YUCID Cemetery site ethnic and religious affairs Hui people Village, Wujia District bureau, mosque (20%) Mosque PMO Municipal ethnic and religious affairs bureau Area to be compensated for Site selection and compensation program Reconstruction program Design 4.2 Grievance redress YUCID, ethnic and religious affairs bureau, mosque, Hui reps. Municipal and district governments, planning bureau, YUCID, ethnic and religious affairs bureau, mosque, Hui reps. Ethnic and religious affairs bureau, mosque, Hui reps. Ethnic and religious affairs bureau, YUCID, CSADI, mosque, Hui reps. 12, incl. 5 Hui people (41.67%) 23, incl. 7 Hui people (30.43%) 8, incl. 4 Hui people (50%) 9, incl. 3 Hui people (33.33%) Agreeing on area to be compensated for Changing the site to Qiaohe Village, Dianjun District, and agreeing on an area to be compensated for of 50 mu, where YUCID will fund reconstruction and offer a funeral van Agreeing on an area to be compensated for of 50 mu, where YUCID will fund reconstruction Agreeing on the design, where Phase 1 will have 397 tombs, with a total building area of m 2, including an administrative office of m 2 and a bathroom of 91.4 m During resettlement preparation and implementation, the affected Hui people may file appeals with YUCID, the municipal Hui people administration committee, municipal ethnic and religious affairs bureau, and municipal bureau for letters and visits if their rights or interests are infringed on or have other grievances. These agencies will make a disposition within two weeks of receipt of any appeal. 6

10 Table 4-2: Contact information of grievance redress agencies Agency Section/contact Tel Municipal bureau for letters and visits Office Municipal ethnic and religious affairs bureau Ethnic Section Municipal Hui people administration committee Ma Yunxiao YUCID Zhang Fa As of March 20, 2015, no oral or written grievance had been received. 7

11 Appendices Appendix 1 Memo of issues of relocation of Hui Cemetery issued by the Office of YMG Appendix 2 Agreement of Slaughterhouse Demolition 8

12 Loan 3014 PRC: Yichang Sustainable Urban Transport Project Due Diligence Report: Impact on Ethnic Minority Prepared by: Yifan Song, Staff Consultant, EATC April 2015

13 ABBREVIATIONS AP BERA DMCM GRM PMO YUCID Affected Person Bureau of Ethnic and Religious Affairs Democratic Management Committee of Mosques Grievance redress mechanisms Project Management Office Yichang Urban Construction Investment & Development Co. Ltd

14 I. Introduction 1. This due diligence report summarizes findings from a field visit made from March 16-20, 2015, assessing the project s impact on the Hui ethnic minority in Yichang. Due to tunnel work on Dongshan Fourth Road, a Hui cemetery will need to be relocated. During the field visit, it was learnt that an adjacent Hui ethnic minority slaughterhouse will also need to be relocated together with the cemetery. II. Hui Cemetery and the slaughterhouse 2. The Hui cemetery and the adjacent slaughterhouse are currently located in the Dongyuan Administrative Zone. According to Yichang Urban Construction Investment & Development Co. Ltd. (YUCID), the project owner, they were unaware of the Hui cemetery and the slaughterhouse during initial land survey. There were two reasons for this: 1) the two sites are built on collective land and thus not registered on file; 2) the cemetery made little change to the natural environment and was therefore not conspicuous. YUCID only later discovered the Hui cemetery once the construction measurement team started working on-site. 3. The Hui cemetery originally moved to the affected site in It spreads over 7 mu of land (4670 sq.) and holds 250 tombs at the time of visit, which are allocated on several cascaded levels. The cemetery holds a two-floor concrete-structure house (160 sq.) where funerals are performed. The cemetery is one of only two cemeteries dedicated to Hui ethnic minority in Yichang city. The other Hui cemetery can only hold a few dozen tombs and is no longer able to take new burials. As a result, funerals and burials continue to be carried out in the affected Hui cemetery despite the fact that its surroundings have broken ground for construction work and that the cemetery is being prepared to be relocated. 4. The affected Hui slaughterhouse is owned and managed by the Democratic Management Committee of Mosques of Yichang City (DMCM). In accordance with Islamic and Hui minority customs, meat should be prepared separately from those supplied to other ethnic groups. Therefore meat prepared for Hui ethnic minority requires a separate slaughtering facility. The affected slaughterhouse is the only such facility dedicated to Hui people in Yichang city. The slaughterhouse processes approximately 30 cows per day during high season and 20 cows per day during low season. At the time of the visit, the Hui slaughterhouse had already been demolished based on an agreement reached between YUCID and DMCM in December DMCM is renting another slaughterhouse to carry out meat preparation. 1

15 Figure 1: The foreground shows several recent burials Figure 2: Burial and tomb style in the cemetery III. The social profile and funeral customs of the Hui community 2

16 Figure 3: Two-story funeral house in the cemetery 5. The presence and migration of Hui minority in Yichang dates back to before the Qing dynasty. 1 According to the Sixth National Population Census carried out in 2010, there are 2,175 Hui ethnic minority people in Yichang city (Table 1). According to representatives from DMCM, this number has increased to over 3,000 in recent years and the people are scattered across the city rather than being concentrated in close communities. Presently, more recent and detailed data is not available to determine the latest demographic and economic profiles. Table 1 Area Households Population Total Ethnic Minority Yichang City 371,620 1,598, ,000 2,175 Hui Ethnicity Population 6. According to customs of Hui ethnic minority, Hui people must be buried separately from non-muslims. Burials take place within 3 days of an individual s decease. Bodies are wrapped in white clothes and are directly buried in the earth without use of coffins. In accordance with tradition, burials follow a very intricate set of procedures that takes into consideration of the exact positioning of the body. An Imam must be present to perform a religious ceremony during the process. For relocation, religious ceremonies will need to be performed twice, first at the original site and another at the new burial site. According to DMCM, moving one tomb would take anywhere from a few hours to a few days. Currently, people buried in the affected cemetery include not only local Yichang ethnic Hui people but also several migrants from other provinces. 1 Consultation with DMCM, 18 March

IV. Relocation 7. The Hui cemetery and slaughterhouse will be relocated together to a new site in Qiaohe Village, Aijia County, Dianjun District.

YUCID is in charge of site selection, planning and design, and construction of the new Hui cemetery and slaughterhouse, as well as management of relocation process

BERA represents the Government and will coordinate between the different parties. 8. The new site is within the surrounding area of a sanitary landfill facility.

The new site will expand to an area of 50 mu, broken down into 20 mu of phase 1 development, and 30 mu reserved for phase 2 and 3 development.

17 IV. Relocation 7. The Hui cemetery and slaughterhouse will be relocated together to a new site in Qiaohe Village, Aijia County, Dianjun District. Relocation is jointly tasked by YUCID, DMCM, and Bureau of Ethnic and Religious Affairs of Yichang (BERA). YUCID is in charge of site selection, planning and design, and construction of the new Hui cemetery and slaughterhouse, as well as management of relocation process and providing payments and compensation. DMCM represents affected Hui community and will perform the actual moving of the tombs to the new site. BERA represents the Government and will coordinate between the different parties. 8. The new site is within the surrounding area of a sanitary landfill facility. Site selection was carried out by YUCID in consultation with DMCM and BERA. Following selection, DMCM visited the site and gave final approval on selection. The new site will expand to an area of 50 mu, broken down into 20 mu of phase 1 development, and 30 mu reserved for phase 2 and 3 development. The new site is 16km away from the original site and is accessible by private and public transport (Bus 512 and Aijia Shuttle). The new site includes a tomb area, a management area, and a slaughterhouse. The management area consists of a funeral house, living facility, showering facility, and parking space. 4

Figure 4: Relocated site of Hui cemetery and slaughterhouse in Dianjun District Figure 5: New cemetery and

It pledges to work in consultation with DMCM, and has requested DMCM dispatch personnel on-site to provide

YUCID also agreed to compensate CNY 4,000 each to twelve families that had recent burials after 1 May 2014,

18 Figure 4: Relocated site of Hui cemetery and slaughterhouse in Dianjun District Figure 5: New cemetery and slaughterhouse construction plan 9. YUCID aims to commence construction in April. It pledges to work in consultation with DMCM, and has requested DMCM dispatch personnel on-site to provide guidance so that construction proceeds in accordance with Islamic and Hui customs. YUCID also agreed to compensate CNY 4,000 each to twelve families that had recent burials after 1 May 2014, and CNY 10,000 to three families that had to seek other burial sites due to relocation. The compensation rate was discussed and agreed upon during consultations. 5

19 V. Consultation and outstanding issues 10. DMCM is a government-affiliated social organization which maintains a close network with Hui people in the Yichang area and represents their interests in general. YUCID initiated consultation with DMCM in April 2014 and thus far carried out five consultations to date regarding relocation. 2 Officials from the Government of Yichang also attended some of the consultation sessions. Following the consultations, on 22 December 2014, YUCID and DMCM signed the agreement regarding the demolition of the Hui slaughterhouse. As of the time of the visit, a comprehensive relocation agreement is still being negotiated. 11. During this field visit, DMCM strongly urged YUCID to accelerate the relocation process due to concerns over the following issues: 1) as the rainy season has begun in Yichang, construction work around the current cemetery site may cause geological disturbances, such as landslides, which may damage or destroy the cemetery; and 2) the moving process will be adversely affected if tombs are to be moved and bodies reburied in the summer. DMCM also asked YUCID to make sure that the new site will be ready to use when it is turned over to DMCM, which includes adequate roads, electricity, water, and drainage system 12. At the time of the visit, DMCM and YUCID had not yet reached an agreement on moving cost and methods. Also as of the visit, DMCM had not officially announced the relocation of the cemetery to the Hui community. While representatives of DMCM do not anticipate the Hui community presenting substantial obstacles, it is yet to be seen whether affected families will have grievances once the plan is officially communicated. VI. Grievance redress mechanism (GRM) DMCM BERA YUCID PMO Government of Yichang Figure 6: Project-specific GRM 13. YUCID envisages two formal GRMs for the relocation: a project-specific GRM and a standard public voice and petition mechanism. The project-specific GRM is modeled similar to 2 According to YUCID s records, five consultations have been carried out so far, respectively on 2014/4/2, 4/23, 6/4, 8/21, and 12/1. 6

20 the resettlement GRM. An affected person (AP) can file a complaint with DMCM first; if he/she is not satisfied with the response/result, the AP can then complain to BERA, then to YUCID and the PMO, and eventually to the Government of Yichang (see Figure 6). In practice, this mechanism is not formalized; most concerns and grievances of APs would be dealt with by DMCM through informal consultations with APs, or through DMCM s collaboration with BERA and YUCID. As mentioned above, the relocation plan has not been officially announed to the Hui community and there hasn t been any complaint received to date. 14. An AP can also lodge a complaint directly to the district and city governments through the standard public voice and petitions system, where relevant government departments would be assembled to address such issues. This applies to all sugguestions, complaints, and grievances of the public, and is not specific to the project. 7

d. That based on considerations encapsulated in points a to c, we need to formulate a law on the protection of citizens religious rights.

d. That based on considerations encapsulated in points a to c, we need to formulate a law on the protection of citizens religious rights. UNOFFICIAL TRANSLATION Religious Rights Protection Bill Considering: a. that the state guarantees the freedom of its every citizen to adhere to his or her own religious faiths and to practice their religious