Social Monitoring Report
Semi-annual Report
May 2015
PRC: Hubei-Yichang Sustainable Urban Transport
Project
Prepared by Yichang PMO and ADB Staff Consultant.
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
Contents
1
REASON FOR THE RELOCATION OF THE HUI PEOPLE’S CEMETERY ........................................ 1
2
OVERVIEW OF HUI POPULATION IN THE PROJECT AREA ........................................................... 2
3
4
2.1
HUI POPULATION .............................................................................................................................. 2
2.2
KEY ETHNIC FEATURES ..................................................................................................................... 2
RELOCATION OF THE HUI PEOPLE’S CEMETERY AND MUSLIM SLAUGHTERHOUSE ............. 4
3.1
RELOCATION OF HUI CEMETERY AND MUSLIM SLAUGHTERHOUSE ...................................................... 4
3.2
RESETTLEMENT OF HUI CEMETERY AND MUSLIM SLAUGHTERHOUSE ................................................. 5
CONSULTATION AND PARTICIPATION .............................................................................................. 6
4.1
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION DURING RELOCATION PREPARATION ................................................................ 6
4.2
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
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 676.92 ㎡, of which,
the office building is 318.14 ㎡, slaughterhouse is 198.78 ㎡ and administrative office is 160 ㎡.
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
2
2.1
Overview of Hui Population in the Project Area
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
1496500
4000800
2175
0.05
Dongyuan
About additional
10045
38135
57
0.15
Administrative Zone
1000 floating Hui
Zhoujiachong
People in Yichang
410
1642
0
0.00
Village
Hui people are
scattered in the
Dianjun District
23790
104700
0
0.00
urban area.
Aijia Town
2910
12540
0
0.00
Qiaohe Village
310
1368
0
0.00
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
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.
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 318.14 ㎡ office building,
198.78 ㎡ slaughterhouse and 160 ㎡ 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
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 ㎡, of which, the funeral parlour is 450 ㎡.
15.
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 ㎡ of operational workshop of the slaughterhouse, 60 ㎡ gate
house and 90 ㎡ 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
4
4.1
Consultation and Participation
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
2014.4.30
YUCID
2014.5.26 Mosque
2014.6.4
PMO
Topic
Participants
YUCID, planning bureau,
Cemetery site ethnic and religious affairs
bureau, mosque
Area to be
YUCID, ethnic and
compensated religious affairs bureau,
for
mosque, Hui reps.
Site selection
and
compensation
program
Municipal and district
governments, planning
bureau, YUCID, ethnic
and religious affairs
bureau, mosque, Hui
reps.
#
10, incl. 2
Hui people
(20%)
12, incl. 5
Hui people
(41.67%)
23, incl. 7
Hui people
(30.43%)
Ethnic and religious affairs 8, incl. 4
Reconstruction
bureau, mosque, Hui
Hui people
program
Municipal
reps.
(50%)
ethnic
and
religious
Ethnic and religious affairs 9, incl. 3
affairs
2014.12.1
Design
bureau, YUCID, CSADI, Hui people
bureau
mosque, Hui reps.
(33.33%)
2014.8.7
4.2
Remarks
To be located in Lingbao
Village, Wujia District
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
2
area of 541.3 m , including an
administrative office of 449.9
2
2
m and a bathroom of 91.4 m
Grievance redress
17.
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
Table 4-2: Contact information of grievance redress agencies
Agency
Municipal bureau for letters and visits
Municipal ethnic and religious affairs bureau
Municipal Hui people administration committee
YUCID
18.
Section/contact
Office
Ethnic Section
Ma Yunxiao
Zhang Fa
As of March 20, 2015, no oral or written grievance had been received.
7
Tel
0717-6256935
0717-6220927
13117291911
13707207253
Appendices
Appendix 1 Memo of issues of relocation of Hui Cemetery issued by the
Office of YMG
Appendix 2 Agreement of Slaughterhouse Demolition
8
Loan 3014–PRC: Yichang Sustainable
Urban Transport Project
Due Diligence Report:
Impact on Ethnic Minority
Prepared by: Yifan Song, Staff Consultant, EATC
April 2015
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
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 1995. 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 2014.
DMCM is renting another slaughterhouse to carry out meat preparation.
1
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
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
Yichang City
Households
371,620
Population
1,598,000
Total Ethnic
Hui Ethnicity
Minority
Population
472,000
2,175
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 2015.
3
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 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
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
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