EOI – ESIA for Ethiopia-Somalia Electricity Interconnectors

1. The Consultant shall ensure that all beneficial and adverse impacts associated with the construction and operation of the projects, including all associated/ancillary works and linked activities if any, are considered. Specific activities of the consultancy include:

• To undertake to screening and scoping of the proposed routes to identify any environmental or social risks or impacts that may affect the feasibility of the proposed alignments while taking into account the findings and recommendations of the feasibility study.
• To review the applicable national environmental and social legislation and policy frameworks that potentially relate to the project;
• To carry out site investigations to collect primary data and review all available relevant secondary literature to establish a comprehensive environmental and social baseline (including physical, biological, social, cultural, economic and security environments) for the project Area of Influence;
• To identify and assess potential beneficial and adverse environmental and social impacts and risks, including direct, indirect, induced environmental and social impacts associated with project activities including ancillary and associated facilities (if any);
• To carry out an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment for each transmission line, substations and ancillary and associated facilities (if any);
• Undertake an assessment of the potential cumulative impacts associated with the proposed project activities;
• To develop proposed measures to avoid, reduce, mitigate, and/or compensate for identified adverse environmental and social risks and impacts, including the institutional arrangements, timing, and required capacity building to implement all such measures and monitor their effectiveness;
• To identify potential opportunities and design appropriate measures to maximize complementary economic, financial, environmental, and social benefits of the project;
• To propose measures for ensuring that all adversely affected people, especially those who may be physically or economically displaced (regardless of whether or not they are required to relocate) receive assistance to enable them to improve or retain their pre-project living standards and be able to participate and share the benefits of the development;
• To propose measures for ensuring that impacts on indigenous peoples/ communities as defined by ESS7 are avoided, minimized, mitigated and/or compensated, and that mechanisms are designed to ensure their meaningful participation during project planning and implementation, and that they receive culturally appropriate benefits under the project;
• To affirm the presence (or not) of communities who meet the ESS7 criteria in the area of influence of each proposed transmission line. If such indigenous communities are found to be present in the project area, to apply the free, prior, and informed consent requirements as defined by ESS7 to confirm that the project enjoys their broad support and to recommend the culturally appropriate channels for consultations with them in the future; through;
• To assess the potential risks related to labor influx, Gender-Based Violence especially sexual exploitation and abuse, that could be exacerbated by the activities of the project;
• To conduct public consultation processes for each line that ensures that project-affected people and other interested stakeholders are informed about the projects and its activities along with possible impacts; and,
• Develop management plans and frameworks to address risks and impacts identified during the ESIA process in line with the requirements of ESS1-8 and 10.
• To document all of the above processes, mitigations, and interventions in suitable forms and formats so that it could be further discussed and agreed upon with the project implementing entities (Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy, Ethiopia and Ministry of Energy and Water Resources, Somalia in line with the requirements for an ESIA in ESS1.

1. The Consultant shall ensure that the outputs of this assignment will comply with and meet the legal and technical requirements of the Governments of Ethiopia and Somalia and the World Bank’s requirements under the ESF, ESS1 to 8 and ESS10, the Bank’s Directives and Guidance notes on GBV and on addressing impacts on disadvantaged and vulnerable groups and individuals and World Bank Group’s Environmental Health and Safety Guidelines, including EHS Guidelines for Electric Power Transmission and Distribution.
2. One Scoping Report and ESIA Report can be prepared for each route covering both countries but impacts and issues for each country should be presented in sufficient detail. This should include ensuring that the structure of the ESIAs includes separate sections /chapters for the different countries or alignments.
3. It is emphasized that under current procedures of the World Bank, the ESIAs shall be prepared by an independent consultant that has no conflict of interest resulting from having been the lead consultant and/or member of a consortium or joint venture responsible for undertaking the pre-feasibility/feasibility studies for the project.
4. The assignment will be considered complete only upon approval and clearance of the final versions of the required environmental and social assessments and planning documents by the Governments of Ethiopia and Somalia, with concurrence from the World Bank. The consultants’ draft and final deliverables will be also subjected to review and clearance by the World Bank.

The Eastern Africa Power Pool now invites eligible consulting firms (“Consultants”) to indicate their interest in providing the Services. Interested Consultants should provide information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform the Services. The shortlisting criteria are:

1. Core Business (Areas of Expertise);
2. Years in Business;
3. Experience similar Assignments For each project performed, the consultant shall provide the name and contact address of the client (office and e-mail address, and telephone number), date(s) of execution, name(s) of lead and associate firms, contract amount, and financing sources.; and
4. Technical and Managerial Capability.

Key Experts will not be evaluated at the short-listing 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 revised November 2017 and August 2018, and November 2020 (“Procurement Regulations”), setting forth the World Bank’s policy on conflict of interest. Consultants may associate with other firms 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 Quality and Cost-based Selection (QCBS) method set out in the Procurement Regulations.

Further information can be obtained from Eastern Africa Power Pool, E-mail:  eapp@eappool.org, and copy to ckilangi@eappool.org and jwahogo@eappool.org.