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Content
> Seeing It Through To The End
> EIA Follow Up > Enforcing
the Ordinance on a Territory-wide Basis > Enforcement
Figures and Prosecution
Enforcement
Figures and Prosecution
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Construction
of West Rail at Yuen Long.
Construction
of West Rail at Kam Tin.
Cyberport
Site Formation at Telegraph Bay.
Reclamation
at Pak Skek Kok.
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When processing
applications, on-site details identified during initial screening
of a project are used to determine the boundary of the study area
and subjects to be laid down in the EIA study brief. As such, site
inspections have become an integral step taken during the processing
of each application.
Enforcement Figures
During the first
3-1/2 years of the Ordinance, over 70 designated projects with environmental
permits have commenced construction work. These have included large-scale
projects such as KCR West Rail, MTR Tseung Kwan O Extension, Pak
Shek Kok Development, the Cyberport Development and Kai Tak Airport
Decommissioning. Please refer to Appendix X for a complete list
of projects.
Total projects
representing an area of no less than 386 hectares of land and 75
km of railways required regular monitoring at close distance. Overall,
regular surveillance for illegal designated projects over the entire
1000km2 area of Hong Kong presented a large challenge
for the newly enacted Ordinance.
 In
meeting this challenge, a total of 1713 site trips were undertaken
to identify issues, investigate complaints and check compliance
with environmental monitoring and auditing requirements for
over 100 environmental permits to ensure certain requirements
such as baseline monitoring were carried out before the commencement
of work. For regular survey work, a helicopter was used for
more efficient coverage of remote areas. Total flights totaling
3429 km were carried out.
Follow-up Actions
Based on aerial
or land surveillance work and investigation reports, staff from
the Environmental Protection Department can identify if any potential
violation of the EIA Ordinance has occurred. If permit conditions
have been breached, a warning letter is issued and/or legal action
is taken, depending on the severity of the offence.
Prosecution of Offences
To achieve full
compliance with the EIA Ordinance, the threat of prosecution against
offences must serve as a strong incentive for project proponents
and permit holders to comply with EIA regulations.
A total of 43
warning letters were issued during the first 3-1/2 years of operation
of the Ordinance to warn permit holders of minor issues.
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