As part of the EU-funded AGEPI project (Support for Public Finance Management, Public Enterprises, PPPs and Financial Inclusion) in Angola, Expertise France is recruiting short-term environmental and social experts to conduct a feasibility study for the Chipindo transmission line project. 

Objectives of the services 

Overall objective:

The primary objective is to move the Chipindo transmission line PPP project forward by delivering a detailed feasibility study, building on the favourable conclusions reached in the pre-feasibility assessment.

Specific objectives:

Expertise France intends to hire an Environmental and Social Consultant at short notice to conduct comprehensive environmental and social impact assessment, stakeholder engagement, and environmental management planning at the feasibility study level.

The Consultant will collaborate closely with:

• the DNPPP's PPP Team lead and financial expert (already recruited for this assignment),
• and the Technical and the Legal Experts (currently under selection for recruitment). 

The project's Team leader is responsible for ensuring consistency and quality across all expert activities and deliverables. These terms of reference only specify the scope of work for the environmental and social component of the feasibility study.

Scope of services, tasks (components) and expected deliverables 

The Feasibility Study phase represents the comprehensive project preparation stage, building upon and completing the review of data obtained during the Pre-feasibility Study (2024, TaylorWessing, INESC Brasil & Infra Gestion).

At this stage, the consulting firm with other specialized experts must evaluate and determine the most appropriate technical, economic, financial, environmental, and social solutions for the transmission project.

TASK 1: collect data, information, maps etc.

The Consultant shall collect and review all data required to implement this assignment through comprehensive review of existing reports, studies, master plans, and acquisition of additional data where necessary to execute subsequent tasks. The DNPPP will facilitate engagements with other domestic stakeholders as required.

Given that no environmental and social assessment was conducted during the pre-feasibility phase, comprehensive environmental and social evaluation is now required.

In the absence of certain data, experts should use their assessment to find surrogate data, in accordance with internationally recognized practice and experience, and provide evidence to support their choice.

TASK 2: project description and environmental baseline assessment 

• Introduction : 

Overview of the Project and the objectives of the ESIA. 

• ESIA Methodology :

As a chapter of the ESIA report, the Consultant shall describe the methods used for conducting the ESIA (scoping, impact analysis and stakeholder engagement process, etc.). The approach to engagement and level of participation by stakeholders should be described. The process of identifying, and methods for determining significance, of impacts (positive and negative) shall also be included. The expert will base its work on the DNPPP's E&S-climate aspects guide.

• Environmental, social and climate change Baseline Data Collection : 

The expert must assess aspects of the environment, social and climate change likely to be significantly affected including population characteristics along the distribution corridor, fauna and flora surveys identifying species and habitats, soil conditions and stability assessment, water resources including surface and groundwater, air quality baseline conditions, climatic factors and meteorological conditions, material assets including existing infrastructure and archaeological heritage, and landscape characteristics and visual receptors.

A specific analysis for the use of clean energy will have to be proposed given that mines today use diesel generators.

The expert will analyze the social characteristics, including gender, of the population affected by the project (municipality of Chipindo and mining territories).

Initial technical assessments indicate that the proposed corridor is largely uninhabited, significantly reducing the risk of physical displacement. However, the Consultant must still conduct a thorough social baseline study to identify and assess other potential social impacts, including but not limited to, effects on land use and access, livelihood restoration for temporary impacts, and interactions with local communities and vulnerable groups.

• Project Description and Physical Characteristics

The Environmental and Social Expert, together with the Technical Expert, must provide comprehensive description of the Chipindo transmission project including physical characteristics of the distribution line and sectioning station, land-use requirements during construction and operational phases, description of main construction processes and materials required, and estimates of expected residues and emissions including construction waste, noise, vibration, and electromagnetic radiation during operation.

TASK 3: Environmental Impact Assessment and Alternatives Analysis

• Impact Assessment

The expert must describe likely significant environmental, social and climate-change effects resulting from the project's existence including permanent land use changes and visual impacts, use of natural resources including land occupation and material consumption, emission of pollutants and creation of nuisances including construction dust, noise, and electromagnetic fields, and waste elimination including construction debris and equipment disposal. The assessment must describe forecasting methods used to assess environmental effects.

The expert must describe all relevant social impact affecting the populations of the project's area of ​​influence (Chipindo municipality, mines territories, if any populations along the electricity corridor).

The social impact assessment must have a specific chapter concerning gender impacts.

• Alternatives Assessments

If applicable, the expert must outline main alternatives studied including route alternatives for distribution lines, technology alternatives for sectioning station design, and construction methodology alternatives, providing indication of main reasons for selected options taking into account environmental effects and technical feasibility considerations.

TASK 4: Mitigation Measures and Environmental, social and climate change Management

• E&S and climat change Mitigation Planning

The expert must describe measures envisaged to prevent, reduce, and offset significant adverse environmental effects including construction phase mitigation for noise, dust, and habitat disturbance, operational phase measures for electromagnetic field management and visual impact reduction, restoration measures for temporary construction impacts, and long-term environmental monitoring requirements including climate change risks.

The expert will have to identify risk mitigation measures for the main social impact (including gender).

The expert will present an assessment of the feasibility, costs and local suitability of the proposed measures.

• Environmental Compliance Monitoring

The expert must establish basic environmental monitoring procedures for construction and operational phases, define key environmental performance indicators, and prepare monitoring reporting templates for ongoing compliance verification.

• Regulatory Compliance

The Consultant shall: 

• • Describe the pertinent regulations and standards governing environmental quality, health and safety, protection of sensitive areas, protection of endangered species, land use control, socio-economic and socio-cultural aspects, land tenure, etc., at national and local levels.
  • Identify the project activities that should comply with, or are relevant to, the identified regulations. In addition, any permitting requirements that the construction contractor(s) are expected to obtain should be listed.
  • Describe the current national administrative arrangements for environmental regulation, enforcement and management.
  • Provide a general assessment of the relevant government agencies involved in environmental and social management issues, and those who will be involved in ESMP implementation. Any clear capacity building measures that are required, should be captured in the ESMP.

TASK 5 : Community Consultation and Reporting

• Community Consultation

The expert must conduct together with the support of the other experts community consultations including information disclosure about project activities and environmental, social and climate change impacts, consultation meetings with affected communities and local authorities, documentation of community concerns and feedback, and integration of relevant community input into environmental planning.

The consultant will have to ensure that the populations consulted understand the main objectives of the project, the benefits for the population and the main risks if there are any. For this purpose the consultant will have to work with a local translator who speaks the language of the populations (Umbundu, Nganguela).

• EIA Report Preparation

The expert must prepare E&S and climate change Impact Assessment report including all EU-required components with non-technical summary accessible to general public, technical difficulties section documenting any data limitations or methodological constraints, and executive summary highlighting key findings and mitigation measures for decision-makers.

In the EIA, the Consultant must analyze and identify E&S risks related to the development of the project, and propose concrete measures to eliminate or mitigate them. Risks and corresponding mitigation measures should be presented as a hierarchical matrix.

TASK 6: Elaboration of the Environmental and Social Management Plan (ESMP)

• ESMP

Based on the previous tasks, the consultant will establish the Environmental and Social Management Plan (ESMP).

• ESMP's budget 

The projected costs of the ESMP must also be presented.

TASK 7: Market Sounding 

The consultant shall provide list of output specifications and performance indicators to be integrated in the tender documents as per the results of the E&S analysis

TASK 8: Toolbox constitution and trainings 

The Environmental and Social Consultant shall develop an Environmental and Social study model based on the analysis conducted for the Chipindo project, putting into perspective the requirements regarding the ES studies at each phase of the instruction, and using Chipindo as an example. The expected output for this task is a report model, consisting in a detailed outline and expected regulatory requirements analyzed per phase. This study model will be incorporated into the guide on E&S aspects of the DNPPP.

Responsibilities of the E&S experts:

The main responsibilities of the E&S expert are highlighted, but not limited to, as follows:

Environmental Assessment:

• Lead the overall environmental, social and climate change impact assessment including coordination of baseline data collection for physical environment, biological environment, and landscape characteristics assessment and the climate change risks;
• Ensure regulatory compliance through analysis of national environmental legislation, identification of required permits and clearances, and coordination with environmental authorities;
• Conduct comprehensive impact assessment describing likely significant environmental and climate change effects including development of forecasting methodologies for E&S effects evaluation; propose a specific analysis regarding the use of clean energy;
• Perform alternatives assessment outlining route alternatives and quality of the energy used alternatives, providing environmental justification;
• Develop comprehensive environmental and climate change mitigation planning;
• Establish environmental compliance monitoring procedures defining key performance indicators, monitoring methodologies and reporting templates for ongoing compliance verification.
• Elaborate the Environmental and Social Management Plan (ESMP) along with its budget.

Social Assessment:

• Conduct social baseline assessment including population characteristics analysis along the distribution corridor (including gender aspects), land use patterns evaluation, identification of existing infrastructure and material assets, and assessment of archaeological and cultural heritage sites;
• Lead community consultation process including information disclosure about project activities and impacts, organization of consultation meetings with affected communities and local authorities, documentation of community concerns and feedback, and integration of community input into project planning;
• Assess social impacts and benefits including employment opportunities, economic development effects from improved electricity access to mining operations, changes in community services and infrastructure access, and identification of vulnerable groups;
• Support stakeholder engagement methodology development describing approaches to community participation, stakeholder identification processes, and methods for determining significance of social impacts both positive and negative;
• Develop social mitigation and enhancement measures including community benefit programs, local employment opportunities, and social monitoring frameworks;
• Assist procurement specialist in defining social compliance requirements for contractors including community engagement standards, local content requirements, and social performance evaluation criteria for RFP documentation;
• Elaborate the Environmental and Social Management Plan (ESMP) along with its budget.

Note: The consultant does not necessarily need to appoint a specialist for each field. One specialist can cover multiple fields.