Liberia Electricity Sector Strengthening and Access Project (LESSAP): Consultancy for Preparation of Resettlement Action Plan (RAP)

Project ID: P173416

Project Title: Liberia Electricity Sector Strengthening and Access Project (LESSAP)

Borrower Bid Reference: LEC/LESSAP/RAP/03/2021

Published Date: 24-Mar-2023

Details:

LIBERIA ELECTRICITY

CORPORATION

Project: Liberia Electricity Sector Strengthening and Access Project (LESSAP)

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

(CONSULTING SERVICES – FIRM SELECTION)

Assignment Title: Consultancy Services for Preparation of the Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) for Liberia Electricity Sector Strengthening and Access             

 Project (LESSAP - P173416)

Reference No.:            LEC/LESSAP/RAP/03/2023

The Liberia Electricity Corporation has received financing from the World Bank towards the cost of the Liberia Electricity Sector Strengthening and Access Project (LESSAP) and intends to apply part of the proceeds for Consultancy Services for the Preparation of the Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) for Liberia Electricity Sector Strengthening and Access Project (LESSAP). LEC is currently implementing two ongoing World Bank-financed projects as indicated in the TOR.

The LEC is seeking the services of a consultant for the Preparation of the Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) for the World Bank PIU.

The objective of the assignment is to engage the services of a qualified and experienced consultancy firm to prepare the Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) for the Liberia Electricity Sector Strengthening and Access Project (LESSAP) consistent in policy and context with the laws, regulations, and procedures adopted by the Government of Liberia and the World Bank’s Environment and Social Standard on Land Acquisition, Restriction on Land Use and Involuntary Resettlement (ESS 5) under Environmental and Social Framework (ESF) covering both physical and economic displacement, partial and fully resettlement, and livelihood restoration.

The duration of the assignment is initially twelve 12 weeks.

Detailed Term of Reference (ToR) for the assignment is attached below.

The Liberia Electricity Corporation now invites qualified and eligible Consultancy firms (“Consultants”) to indicate their interest in providing the Services. Interested Consultancy firms should provide information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform the Services. The shortlisting criteria are listed below.

1. Information about the firm’s capacity and number of years in offering services/business of RAP and ESIA Implementation.
2. The RAP consultant shall be a firm certified or licensed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of Liberia to conduct Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) and Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) studies for projects in Liberia.
3. The firm shall have at least 7 years of demonstrable knowledge and experience in the preparation/updating and or implementation of RAP for infrastructure projects in the republic of Liberia under the World Bank or other donor-funded infrastructure projects in developing countries.
4.  Experience working on RAP studies for Energy projects especially Transmission & Distribution (T&D) projects particularly in West Africa and preferably in Liberia will be considered an advantage.
5. Technical and managerial organization of the firm and the firm should have adequate relevant professional staff as detailed in the ToR. (Number of technical staff along with their education & experience level required, CVs are not required at this stage);

The attention of interested Consultants is drawn to Section III, paragraphs, 3.14, 3.16, and 3.17 of the World Bank’s “Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers” July 2016 and revised November 2017, August 2018, and November 2020 (“Procurement Regulations”), setting forth the World Bank’s policy on conflict of interest.

Consultants may associate with other firms in the form of a joint venture or a sub-consultancy to enhance their qualifications but should indicate clearly whether the association is in the form of a joint venture and/or a sub-consultancy. In the case of a joint venture, all the partners in the joint venture shall be jointly and severally liable for the entire contract, if selected.

A Consultant will be selected in accordance with the Consultant Qualification Selection (CQS) method set out in the World Bank Procurement Regulations.

Further information can be obtained at the address below during office hours, i.e., 0900 to 1600 hours GMT, Monday to Friday.

Expressions of interest must be delivered in written form to the address below via email on or before Tuesday, April 18, 2023, with the subject: “Consultancy Services for Preparation of the Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) under the Liberia Electricity Sector Strengthening and Access Project (LESSAP)”.

                                                           Executive Director for Projects

Liberia Electricity Corporation

P.O. Box 10-165 Waterside

Water Street,

1000 Monrovia, Liberia

Email: mfarley@lecliberia.com and copied to pmashingaidze@lecliberia.com, hkimber@lecliberia.com , dbeyan@lecliberia.com

Appendix 1: TERMS OF REFERENCE

Preparation of the Resettlement Action Plan (RAP)

 1.0 Introduction

Since the end of the 14-year civil war (1989-2003) in Liberia, the Government of Liberia (GOL) has been working towards energy sector development with reconstruction and rehabilitation at different levels. The country has been frantically striving in a bid to restore and to certain extent has revived energy services by planning and implementing with the assistance of many donors several energy projects including the rehabilitation and expansion of generation plants, and transmission and distribution (T&D) networks of LEC. As part of this effort to enhance and revive the country’s electricity sector, the Government of Liberia, through the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) developed a plan, known as the Energy Access Plan (EAP-2013-30) to expand the transmission and distribution networks in the country. In this plan, the Government announced an ambitious plan to provide energy services to at least 70% of the population of Monrovia and 35% of the country’s population by 2030.

 Further to the above, about 13 years ago, the Government of Liberia (GOL) demonstrated its commitment to the provision of energy services through the formulation, adoption and legislation of a National Energy Policy (NEP), which calls for universal and sustainable access to readily available, affordable and reliable energy supplies to foster the socio-economic development of Liberia. Moreover, LEC has expanded its customer base to more than 100,000 users, geared towards achieving the MME ambitious plan to provide energy services to at least 70% of the population of Monrovia and 35% of the country’s population by 2030.

Against this background, the World Bank’s engagement in the energy sector, as reflected in its Country Assistance Strategy (CAS, 2009), targets rural energy and urban energy as well as regional interconnections through WAPP. The World Bank has been working very closely with the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) and the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) to rehabilitate and extend the network and expand electricity services in the country. Projects funded in furtherance of this objective include LESEP, LESEP Additional Financing (LESEP AF), Liberia Accelerated Electricity Expansion Project (LACEEP), LACEEP Additional Financing (LACEEP-AF) and now the Liberia Electricity Sector Strengthening and Access Project (LESSAP).

LESSAP is a US$ 64.2 million equivalent project to increase access to electricity and improve the operational efficiency of Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC). The project comprises 3 components:

Component 1: Rehabilitation and Expansion of Electricity Infrastructure and Systems and Access Expansion (US$45.0 million equivalent IDA)[1];

Component 2: Electrification of Health Centers and Households in Off-grid Rural Areas (US$4.0 million equivalent IDA, US$2.7 million PHRD, US$2.5 million ESMAP). This component is implemented by the Rural and Renewal Energy Agency (RREA);

Component 3: Technical Assistance for Institutional reform, Capacity Building of Sector institutions, and Implementation Support to LEC (US$10.0 million equivalent).

Components 1 and 3 of LESSAP are implemented by the LEC.

To help prepare the activities to be supported under LESSAP, a comprehensive plan to ensure strict observance of or adherence to social safeguards in accordance with relevant Liberian laws as well as World Bank safeguard policies and standards and applicable environmental, health, and safety guidelines is required.

2.0 Objectives of the Assignmen

1. The objectives of the assignment are to engage the services of a qualified and experienced consultancy firm to prepare the Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) for the Liberia Electricity Sector Strengthening and Access Project (LESSAP) consistent in policy and context with the laws, regulations, and procedures adopted by the Government of Liberia and the World Bank’s Environment and Social Standard on Land Acquisition,  Restriction on Land Use and Involuntary Resettlement (ESS 5) under Environmental and Social Framework (ESF) covering both physical and economic displacement, partial and fully resettlement, and livelihood restoration. The Consultant shall also be required to:

• Identify the project’s impacts and risks on the people and community, affected person/community and engage with them;
• Conduct consultations with identified project-affected parties or persons (PAPs), based on a census of the affected sites/locations/properties;
• Conduct consultations with other interested parties and relevant stakeholders;
• Establish local decision-making bodies that will be part of RAP implementation, valuation, and compensation approaches;
• Develop the proposed grievance mechanism in a participatory manner to be covered in the RAP; and
• Complete a baseline socio-economic survey of PAPs and host communities and develop complete baseline information about affected people, communities, and resources with more than 90 percent accuracy.

Detailed provisions on the content of the RAP are provided in the Scope of the Consultancy Services below.

 3.0 Requirements

The consultant shall implement his/her internal quality control and assurance procedures during the execution of the contract and shall demonstrate that they are being applied.

The consultant shall prepare the required RAP in compliance with the Resettlement Policy Framework (RPF) and Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF) approved by LEC and World Bank for LESSAP, other applicable Liberian environmental and social legislations as well as relevant World Bank policies, standards and guidelines, including particularly World Bank E&S Standard on land acquisition, restriction and involuntary resettlement (ESS-5). The consultant will be required to provide services in accordance with internationally recognized best practices for consultancy services. The RAP is subject to approval by LEC and EPA and cleared by the World Bank.

The consultant shall be required to undertake consultations and engagements with a number of relevant agencies including environmental NGOs, affected people, communities, relevant CSOs, and the interested public during the preparation of the RAP.  The consultant shall be required to organize and carry out public consultations on the draft final RAP report for validation of the inputs used for the preparation of the report.

The consultant shall carry out information and sensitization campaigns to the populations, and to public and private entities. The campaigns shall be undertaken in the official language (English) of the country and in the local languages of the project area. 

The consultant shall prepare a detailed item-wise cost estimate of all the activities needed to implement the RAP. The consultant shall ensure that all EPA requirements are met, keeping the EPA informed and included in consultations at each stage of the project. The consultant shall follow all procedures and processes as well as prepare and submit all reports required for obtaining an environmental clearance and permit from the EPA. The consultant shall liaise directly with EPA on behalf of the client.

The consultant will be responsible for publishing public notices, including the announcement of the availability of the final document for public disclosure in local papers (dailies/newspapers) at his/her own cost. The consultant will be responsible for the delivery of all project deliverables to LEC, EPA, and MME at his/her own cost.

The consultant shall provide overall management of all aspects of the work/services. The Consultant shall nominate a Team Lead/Project Manager and Second Expert/Deputy Project Manager (during all times of the unavailability of the Project Manager) to liaise with LEC.

The consultant shall work closely with the designated staff of LEC.

The consultant shall participate in meetings with LEC and any other relevant parties/stakeholder (s).

0.4 Scope of Work

The scope of services of the Preparation of the Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) shall include, the following:

The technical scope of the RAP study for LESSAP will cover a total of 44 beneficiary communities captured under Lots 1 and 2 in Virginia and other parts of Montserrado County under the grid expansion and densification component. A preliminary description of the list of beneficiary communities and areas/footprints including maps for the MV and LV networks for the RAP can be found on pages 9 to 13 of this ToR.

The scope of work for the RAP for Liberia Electricity Sector Strengthening and Access Project (LESSAP) shall include, but not be limited to the following tasks or activities:

1. Review of existing Resettlement Policy Framework (RPF), Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF), and other relevant reports/documents;
2. Identify all the impacts and locations and measure the project’s footprints;
3. Conduct a census of all affected persons including  identification of vulnerable groups and other groups of people in need of special attention and support;
4. Develop eligibility criteria for compensation and support;
5. Establish a cut-off date and disclose it to the public prior to doing any activities in the project area or on the footprints;
6. Evaluate and prepare an inventory of the affected properties/resources;
7. Make arrangements and confirm for legally regularizing tenure and transferring titles to resettled PAPs;
8. Evaluate all other socio-economic costs associated with partial or complete resettlement and relocation of affected persons and assets;
9. Conduct public consultations/awareness creation of the relevant stakeholders, taking into consideration the gender concerns and vulnerable groups;
10. Identify alternative relocation sites in consultation with the relevant government agencies, stakeholders, host communities, and LEC, where the affected person/group might have to be resettled.
11. Present a cost-benefit analysis for the proposed alternate relocation site for resettlement, engagement output of host communities, and conclusions on the proposal for relocation;
12. Research and present institutional and technical arrangements for identifying and preparing relocation sites, and procedures for physical relocation, including timetables for site preparation and transfers;
13. Develop adequate livelihood restoration/enhancement mechanisms when and where required;
14. Develop a monitoring and evaluation methodology and plan for RAP and LRP;
15.  Consider the relevant legal provisions for land acquisition and resettlement including the gaps between national and World Bank requirements and prepare an appropriate resettlement action plan that meets the applicable requirement under the country system and WB’s E&S standards;
16. Prepare and submit a detailed schedule for implementation of the resettlement action plan;
17. Develop a grievance mechanism including structures for implementation in consultation with PAPs, interested stakeholders, CSOs, NGOs, and relevant communities;
18. Develop and present a comprehensive budget for implementation of the RAP, including compensation of project-affected persons for the taking and loss of their land and assets due to project implementation and RAP operational activities.

5.0 Duration of Consultancy

The preparation of the RAP for LESSAP shall not exceed twelve (12) weeks. The consultant shall propose in his offer a detailed implementation schedule or timeline for executing the consultancy in accordance within the 12-week duration provided herein.

6.0 Qualification of the Consultant

The RAP consultant shall be a firm certified or licensed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of Liberia to conduct Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) and Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) studies for projects in Liberia. The firm shall have at least 7 years of demonstrable knowledge and experience in the preparation/updating and or implementation of RAP for infrastructure projects in the republic of Liberia under the World Bank or other donor-funded infrastructure projects in developing countries. Experience working on RAP studies for Energy projects especially Transmission & Distribution (T&D) projects particularly in West Africa and preferably in Liberia will be considered an advantage.

6.1 Key Experts

The key personnel shall have the necessary qualifications as described below. The total number of experts required for this work is expected to be two individuals, including a team leader and a local consultant with experience in Liberia.

 (1) Team Leader - shall have a background in either the social sciences, law, or development studies with at least five (5) years of experience in preparing environmental and social impact assessments and RAP for power delivery facilities.

(2) Second Expert - shall be a local consultant or one with experience in Liberia and have at least 5 years of experience in ESIA and RAP preparation and implementation.

7.0 Consultant’s Responsibilities

The consultant shall be responsible for

• His/her own communications as Liberia have only GSM telecommunications systems;

• All related consumption charges;

• Arrangement for meetings with representatives of LEC, MME, EPA, RREA, and other stakeholders;

• His own offices and all other requirements GOL may impose on such consultant/firm for doing business in Liberia for the duration of the contract; and,

• Liaising with LEC in arranging all stakeholders’ consultations and meetings and conducting studies

8.0 Deliverables and Timeline

The consultant shall submit an Inception Report highlighting the state of mobilization, work plan, the methodology for implementation of the assignment, perception of the assignment, issues identified for the client's attention, review of existing reports, information gap, and any other foreseeable challenges. The consultant shall discuss the content of the assignment with the LEC. After the submission of the Inception Report, the consultant shall be required to submit monthly progress reports to give an update on activities and submit a draft and final RAP Report (s) to LEC that shall include the cost and the number of physical and economic relocations to be made, among other details required to complete the RAP reports.  The consultant shall discuss said report (s) with LEC and recommend the way forward if required. The consultant shall bear all costs associated with the organization of meetings and workshops at all stages.

The consultant shall make provision in his proposal for a kick-off meeting and seminars to present all draft versions of reports to facilitate the preparation of comments with particular reference to (i) kick-off meeting of the study, (ii) review of the Draft RAP report and iii.) finalization of the report with validation of the information and final disclosure for the public.  The consultant shall bear all costs associated with the organization of meetings and seminars. The final report shall incorporate comments made at workshops, comprising an executive summary and an appendix recording the deliberations of consultations with project-affected people (PAPs) and other stakeholders during the preparation, validation, and finalization of the report.

The Consultant shall also be required to hold informative meetings with the communities affected by the project after the Resettlement Action Plan Final Report has been adopted. 

9.0 Payment Schedule

10.0 Reporting

All reports including appendices, maps, drawings etc., shall be submitted both in paper copy and in electronic copy (editable version – Excel or Word files etc.).  All reports/documents shall be prepared in the English language. All reports (except the progress updates/reports) shall have executive summaries, with maps and some photographs.

The Draft and Final RAP Reports shall each be submitted as separate reports consisting of one Main Volume (A4 format) and with an appropriate number of volumes for appendices, drawings, photographs etc., in A4 or A3 format as appropriate.

Any changes to the reporting schedule and contents shall be raised and agreed in consultation between the Consultant and the Client/LEC.

The consultant shall submit the following numbers of copies:

1. Inception Report Submission Requirements

• Submit two (2) hard copies and one electronic copy to LEC (the client) 

2.Draft RAP Report Submission Requirements

• Submit five (5) hard copies and one electronic copy to LEC
• Submit ten (10) hard copies and two (2) soft (discs) copies to the EPA or as required by law

3.Final Report Submission Requirements

• Submit five (5) hardcopies, one electronic copy and one soft (disc) copy of final RAP report to LEC
• Submit ten (10) hard copies and two (2) soft (discs) copies to the EPA or as required by law

All reports/results obtained under this assignment shall be the property of the Government of the Republic of Liberia and shall not be published, copied, disseminated or given to third parties without a prior written consent of the client. The client shall use the results without preliminary mutual agreement.

11.0 Reporting Relationship

The Consultant shall report to the Executive Director for Donor Projects at LEC, through the National Social Safeguard Specialist who will supervise the day-to-day activities of the consultant.

12.0 Inputs to be provided by the Client/LEC

The client/LEC shall provide the following previously done reports to the consultant:

• Restructured Paper Document for LESSAP
• Approved line routes and locations (UTM coordinates) for the medium and low voltage grid densification and expansion network areas in Montserrado County and its environs.
• Resettlement Policy Framework (RPF) Report
• Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF) Report
• Stakeholder Engagement Plan (SEP

MV Lines Preliminary Project Locations/Routes for Grid Expansion

Lot 2 (Densification) Communities included in the BOQ under Tendering.

Organization/Department: Liberia Electricity Corporation

Name: Henry Kimber

Address: Water SideP.O. Box-1651000 Monrovia 10 Liberia

City:

Province/State:

Postal Code:

Country: Liberia

Phone: 00231880059072

Email: hkimber@lecliberia.com

Website: