1 Tai Po study raises Green fears
Timothy Chui, The Standard 15 January 2008
A fivefold discrepancy in an environmental impact assessment for a controversial artificial beach planned for Tai Po has cast a shadow over how assessments are conducted.
A plan to construct a HK$130 million, 200-meter artificial beach at Lung Mei in Tai Po was given the green light by the Environmental Protection Department after an EIA conducted by a private contractor deemed the location of low ecological value.
But the assessment's finding of 21 marine species in the affected area was challenged after surveys by HKwildlife.net found Lung Mei to be home to 106 species of inter-tidal marine life.
"We are concerned with the quality of the environmental impact assessments. It is important that decisions be based on a sound scientific evidence and accurate EIA," senior conservation officer Alan Leung Sze-lun said, adding this was not the first time an EIA was found to be lacking.
Issuing a joint submission of its findings to the Advisory Council on the Environment, the Association for Geoconservation, the Conservancy Association, HKwildlife.net and the World Wide Fund for Nature hoped the decision to build the artificial beach will be overturned.
"This is an important test to see if the current EIA regime is good enough to protect our environment," Conservancy Association campaign manager Peter Li Siu-man said.
Since legislation requires that EIAs be carried out by a third party contracted by project proponents, Li said the arrangement would tempt consultants to create favorable assessments for their employers.
HKwildlife.net spokesman Yiu Vor described the arrangement as a conflict of interest and called on the government to play a role between EIA consultants and project proponents.
The proposed artificial beach has been blasted by green groups as environmentally destructive and hygienically irresponsible.
Citing EPD reports, HKwildlife.net said water quality during the swimming season was poor 43 percent of the time and extremely poor for 38 percent of the season.
After drainage and sewerage projects, water quality remains poor for 24 percent of the season and very poor for 14 percent.
Association for Geoconservation chairman Ng Chun-young said his group was interested in preserving Hong Kong's natural landscape and that an artificial beach was "completely frivolous."
2 Yes to man-made beach, but with conditions
Environmental body gives Lung Mei project the green light, but with strings attached
Cheung Chi-fai, SCMP 15 January 2008
The government's environment advisers yesterday tentatively endorsed plans for a man-made beach at Lung Mei in Tolo Harbour, but with conditions.
After a meeting lasting three hours, the Advisory Council on the Environment asked the proponent of the project, the Civil Engineering and Development Department, to submit further information to the environment chief to prove that Lung Mei had low ecological value.
It suggested that Director of Environmental Protection Anissa Wong Sean-yee issue a work permit only if the site was confirmed to be of low ecological value after taking into account the additional information.
The site of the proposed beach is a 200-metre muddy stretch of coastline near Lung Mei Village in Tai Po.
Speaking after the meeting, the council's chairman, Lam Kin-che, said the council had imposed conditions on the project, including not opening the beach until a sewerage network plan for the area was completed, minimising the impact of street lights and guaranteeing continuing monitoring of water quality.
He admitted that some of the members were not convinced fully about the ecological assessment, which had been disputed by environmentalists.
While the environmental impact assessment found about 30 species in the area during a three-month period, green groups found 106 species on two visits to the site.
Robin Kennish, a consultant from Environmental Resources Management, the company that conducted the assessment, explained that most of the extra species found were "common and typical" in Hong Kong and the shoreline affected by the project was just 2.2 per cent of the Plover Cove area.
He also defended the methodology adopted for the study which, he said, was aimed at identifying the structure of the habitats and the dominant and representative species rather than providing an exhaustive lists of species that was of little value for assessing impact.
Markus Shaw, chairman of environmental group WWF, disputed the claim, saying the beach plan would cut biodiversity and could have lasting and cumulative impacts.
Before the meeting, a group of 10 Tai Po district councillors and 40 residents demonstrated outside the Environmental Protection Department's Wan Chai headquarters, denouncing conservationists' attempts to halt the project.
The group, chanting "Return me, Lung Mei Beach", insisted Lung Mei used to be a natural beach and the project just aimed to restore it.
Green groups, meanwhile, held their own rally, with the Hong Kong Wildlife Forum holding a press conference to reiterate its stance.
The HK$130 million proposal will see about one hectare of land reclaimed at Lung Mei near the Plover Cove Reservoir to provide space for 100 car-parking spaces, and a building that could cater for the demand of about 4,000 visitors a day during the summer peak period.
Tens of thousands of cubic metres of sand will be dug up from the Pearl River Estuary and dropped on the natural rocky and sandy shoreline to turn it into a 200-metre-long and 30-metre-wide bathing beach.
3 Site selection plan for Tin Shui Wai hospital
May Chan, SCMP 15 January 2008
Site selection and project planning has started for a hospital in Tin Shui Wai, Secretary for Labour and Welfare Matthew Cheung Kin-chung revealed yesterday.
But he said no timeline for completion had been confirmed.
"The government is exploring the proposal of constructing a hospital in Tin Shui Wai," Mr Cheung said during a Legislative Council welfare panel meeting. "Meanwhile, we will work towards the goal of opening an outpatient clinic in the district by 2012."
Secretary for Food and Health York Chow Yat-ngok earlier said it would be at least 10 years before Tin Shui Wai had its own hospital.
Mr Cheung also spoke about proposals to bring jobs to the district, including constructing a through-train vocational training centre, and reviewing the transport allowance scheme for low-income workers or the unemployed.
Legislators doubted efforts to revitalise the district could be coordinated among the departments and bureaus involved.
Democrat Yeung Sum said: "The government must show more determination."
4 LCQ14: Removal of unauthorised building works
Hong Kong Government, 15 January 2008
Following is a question by the Hon Lee Wing-tat and a written reply by the Secretary for Development, Mrs Carrie Lam, in the Legislative Council today (January 16):
Question:
Regarding the removal of unauthorised building works ("UBWs"), will the Government inform this Council:
(a) among some 520,000 UBWs at present, of the respective numbers of new UBWs, UBWs constituting obvious danger to life or property, UBWs constituting a serious health hazard or environmental nuisance and UBWs which do not belong to the category of priority removal, and the districts in which the various types of UBWs are mainly located;
(b) whether it will consider allocating additional resources to remove more UBWs each year, with a view to removing within five years all UBWs with high priority for removal;
(c) given that the Government has already outsourced the inspection and administrative work of large-scale clearance operations, whether the Government has assessed the effectiveness of outsourcing the above work in enhancing the enforcement actions against UBWs, and whether it will consider outsourcing more of such work, so as to further expedite the progress of removing UBWs;
(d) whether, in the past five years, the authorities had assisted owners' corporations ("OCs") in exercising the powers conferred by law to remove by OCs UBWs found in their buildings, and then recover the costs so incurred as civil debts from the owners concerned; if so, of the number of such cases and the results of debt recovery; if not, the reasons for that; and
(e) whether the Buildings Department ("BD") will make a performance pledge that it will, within specified periods, categorise the UBWs cases reported to BD by OCs, issue removal orders in respect of UBWs with high priority for removal, and issue warning notices in respect of other UBWs as well as register such notices against the title of the subject premises in the Land Registry?
Reply:
Madam President,
The Buildings Department (BD) does not have the exact statistics of existing unauthorised building works (UBWs) in Hong Kong. Since the launch of the strengthened and systematic programme against UBWs in 2001, the BD has endeavoured to curb the emergence of new UBWs and removes about 40,000 UBWs every year. After several years of action, the BD estimates that at present there are still about 520,000 UBWs in Hong Kong.
The reply to the five-part question is as follows:
(a) The BD estimates that there are currently about 520,000 UBWs in Hong Kong, but does not have detailed breakdown figures. If the BD identifies any new UBWs, UBWs posing obvious danger to life or property, or UBWs constituting a serious health hazard or environmental nuisance, the Department will immediately take enforcement actions so as to safeguard public safety and health.
(b) Since the implementation of the current enforcement policy in 2001/02, the Government has further allocated more than $1.3 billion to the BD for taking enforcement actions against UBWs and enhancing building safety. In the light of its past enforcement experience, the BD will maintain the annual target of removing not less than 40,000 UBWs in the future. The BD will be allocated adequate resources to perform the task. The Department will continue with its multi-pronged approach in handling UBWs, including immediate removal of dangerous and new UBWs, identifying target buildings for the annual large-scale operations to remove UBWs on external walls, and enhancing public awareness on the problems of UBWs and owners' responsibilities to safeguard building safety through publicity and education programmes.
(c) Under the outsourcing arrangements adopted since 2001, the BD has hired consultants to assist in the inspection and administrative work related to the demolition of UBWs. Up to 2007, through the outsourcing arrangements, a total of about 9,000 target buildings of large-scale removal operations have been inspected and about 280,000 UBWs have been removed. The BD considers the progress appropriate. The BD will review from time to time the modus operandi and mode of outsourcing arrangement with a view to enhancing the efficiency of action. Nevertheless, the BD has no intention to increase the proportion of outsourcing work at present. As mentioned above, the BD will continue to adopt the annual target of removing not less than 40,000 UBWs in future and will make use of the outsourcing arrangement to assist in handling the problem.
(d) The Government has all along been encouraging and assisting owners' corporations (OCs) to properly maintain their own buildings, including the removal of UBWs. District Offices and the Property Management Advisory Centres of the Hong Kong Housing Society (HKHS) organise workshops, training courses and seminars on building management and maintenance. They help owners and OCs to understand the powers and responsibilities conferred under the Building Management Ordinance and advise on matters relating to building management. Also, the BD, the HKHS and the Urban Renewal Authority offer various loans and subsidy packages, and provide financial and technical support to help those OCs in need of assistance to maintain their buildings, including the removal of UBWs. Whether OCs would claim removal charges subsequently from the owners concerned by way of civil debt is up to the individual OCs. The Government does not have the number of such cases and information on the result of such claims.
(e) The BD has formulated the performance pledges in respect of monitoring building safety and tackling UBWs as shown in Annex.
After carrying out screening and inspections, the BD will, as soon as possible, in accordance with the existing policy against UBWs, issue removal orders against UBWs which belong to the category of priority demolition and Warning Notices (WNs) to UBWs which fall outside the category of priority demolition. There are numerous types of UBWs and the scale and number involved in various cases are different. The time required to handle them varies. As such, the BD has not made any performance pledges in respect of time required for issuing removal orders and WNs, and registering WNs with the Land Registry.
