EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Highways Department (HyD) of the Hong Kong SAR Government has commissioned Ove Arup & Partners Hong Kong Limited (Arup) in association with specialist sub-consultants to undertake an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) as part of the Agreement No. CE109/98 - Deep Bay Link - Investigation and Preliminary Design. This document presents an Executive Summary of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) - Final Report.
Deep Bay Link (DBL) is a proposed expressway/trunk road providing a strategic link between the proposed Shenzhen Western Corridor (SWC) at its landing point at Ngau Hom Shek and a proposed interchange with the Yuen Long Highway (YLH) and the proposed Route 10-North Lantau to Yuen Long Highway (R10) at Lam Tei.
In January 1998, the Transport Department (TD) issued a Client Project Brief (CPB) requesting the Planning Department (PlanD), on behalf of the Highways Department (HyD) to conduct a Preliminary Project Feasibility Study (PPFS) on the feasibility of constructing the DBL. The CPB pointed out the following:
(a) The need for DBL has been established in the "Review of Hong Kong's Capacity to cope with Additional Traffic Movement associated with the Proposed New Cross-Border Transport Links (Crosslinks) Study" in 1996. As proposed in the Crosslinks Study, DBL would serve as the strategic link between the SWC and Hong Kong's highway network.
(b) According to the Crosslinks Further Study Stage 1, the expected traffic throughput and volume to capacity ratio (v/c) at DBL are as follows: 3100pcu/hr at 0.29v/c for year 2007, 6700pcu/hr at 0.62 v/c for year 2011 and 9400pcu/hr at 0.87v/c for year 2016.
(c) The DBL should be commissioned as soon as possible, in any case not later than 2005.
Subsequently, HyD submitted a project profile (No. PP-036/1998) and an application (No. ESB-025/1998) for an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study brief under section 5(1) of the EIAO on 11 December 1998. This has led to this EIA study.
Currently a target completion date of mid-2006 has been established using all reasonable endeavour. DBL is proposed to be a dual-3 lane trunk road linking Ngau Hom Shek to an interchange with the YLH and the proposed R10 at Lam Tei. The project is a designated project under the Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance (EIAO) by virtue of Section A.1 of Schedule 2 under the Ordinance.
DBL is a 5.4-km trunk road connecting R10 and the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Western Corridor across the boundary at Deep Bay near Ngau Hom Shek. Three major interchanges have been included in the project, the Lam Tei Interchange will connect DBL to R10 and YLH, the Hung Shui Kiu (HSK) Interchange will connect traffic to the southern part of the Hung Shui Kiu New Development Area (HSKNDA) (Former HSK Strategic Growth Area HSKSGA) while the Ha Tsuen Interchange will connect DBL to the northern part of HSK NDA as well as providing a turnaround facility. Figure 1.1 (A, B, C & D) shows the location and general layout of the proposed DBL which also gives the project scope of this EIA in relation to other projects. Figure 1.3 shows the aerial photo view to the proposed DBL.
The original proposed scope of the Project includes:
(a) A dual 3-lane expressway/trunk road with bridge structures linking the proposed SWC at Ngau Hom Shek to an interchange with the YLH and the proposed R10 -NLYH at Lam Tei.
(b) An interchange of the DBL with the YLH and the proposed R10-NLYLH at Lam Tei.
(c) An interchange south of the cross-boundary control facilities to connect with the possible Tuen Mun Western Bypass (not confirmed yet at this stage) and the road networks of the HSKNDA recommended under the Planning and Development Study on North West New Territories (NWNT Study);
(d) All cross boundary control facilities required by various departments;
(e) A northbound and a southbound vehicle holding area for goods vehicles with capacities to be determined;
(f) An option to provide a toll plaza for DBL, pending the decision on whether DBL should be tolled;
(g) Associated civil, structural, geotechnical, landscape and drainage works, street lighting, traffic aids (including sign gantries), noise barriers, fire hydrants, traffic control and surveillance system, security control system and E&M works; and
(h) Reprovisioning and modification works to San Wai Sewage Treatment Works, if affected, and any associated compensatory land.
At the 4th Plenary of the Hong Kong/Guangdong Cooperation Joint Conference on 25th July 2001, the two Governments agreed the principle of co-locating the boundary facilities for immigration and customs clearance procedures in the Shenzhen Territory. The scope of the DBL project was therefore modified, with the following items deleted from the original project scope:
(i) boundary control facilities as described in item (d) above;
(ii) vehicle holding areas as described in item (e) above;
(iii) toll plaza and associated facilities as described in item (f) above; and
(iv) facilities to allow for the change over of left-hand driving and right-hand driving
The assessment approach was based on the EIAO-TM which generally included:
The scope of this EIA study covered the items mentioned in Sections 1.2 and 1.3, and the project is collectively identified as a designated project under Part I A.1 of Schedule 2 of the EIAO. The Environmental Impact Assessment Study Brief No. is ESB-025/1998. There was no other designated project identified under the scope of this Project.