Table 14

Table 14.1 Summary of Key Environmental Outcomes / Benefits

Area/Issue	Environmental Outcomes / Benefits and Mitigation Measures
Purpose and Scope of the Project	The purpose of the Project is to upgrade and expand the existing Ocean Park to meet anticipated visitor demand and to position Ocean Park as a premium tourist attraction and a regional leader in themed recreational and educational park experience. The Project comprises various construction works for: civil infrastructure, utilities, primary life support systems, municipal facilities, area development, parkwide systems, hard/ soft landscape & area theming, attractions venues, installation of rides, merchandise/ retail facilities, food and beverage facilities and back of house facilities (refer to Section 2.4 for details).
Design options selection	The majority of the works comprise redevelopment works within the existing park footprint to minimise impacts on other areas. A funicular railway through a tunnel and operating by cables driven by electricity is proposed to minimize the construction and operation environmental impacts due to establishment of a new visitor transportation link between the Lowland area and the Headland area. The revised design is all in tunnel, resulting in less noise, ecological, and landscape and visual impacts than the previously proposed viaduct section. A new access road from Tai Shue Wan to the Headland area would no longer be implemented because of the likely ecological impacts arising from construction. The tall shrubland between Nam Long Shan Road and Tai Shue Wan is preserved in the current Park expansion scheme to reduce ecological impacts. Previous schemes to develop different levels at the hillside on Nam Long Shan would not be implemented, which would reduce long term long energy consumption arising from the operation of passenger lifting devices for transporting visitors between different levels. The service reservoir proposed near the summit of Nam Long Shan has been relocated to the Summit area and will now be concealed within the footprint of the redeveloped Park, resulting in reduced habitat loss and reduced visual impact.
Construction Method	An enclosed conveyor belt system is proposed for rapidly conveying the excavated material from the excavation site for the new Summit area down to the barging point at Tai Shue Wan. This would reduce impacts to the environment due to haulage. Barges are to be employed for transporting majority of the surplus C&D material from the site formation for the Summit off site by sea, so as to reduce impacts arising from land based transport. Blasting is proposed for rock excavation at the Summit, which would reduce the lengthy construction time and impacts associated with the conventional rock excavation method.
Noise	NSRs at Shouson Hill Road could be affected by noise arising from the construction of the Project. With the adoption of quieter plant, movable noise barrier and good site practices, all representative NSRs in the vicinity of the project site would comply with the noise criterion. No adverse residual construction noise impact would be expected. Traffic noise associated with the operation phase of the Project was assessed for both the “with redevelopment” and “without redevelopment” scenarios on weekday and Sunday. Modelling results indicated that the increase in overall traffic noise levels predicted at all representative NSRs except 1-2/F of NSR PTS1 and 1-4/F of PTS2 would be less than 1dB(A). However, the predicted noise levels at 1-2/F of NSR PTS1 and 1-4/F PTS2 would comply with the noise criteria of 65dB(A) and 70 dB(A) for school and residential dwelling respectively. Thus, no mitigation measure is required. The assessment results also indicated that predicted noise levels at all NSRs arising from the fixed plants of the Project would comply with the EIAO-TM criteria. No mitigation measures would be necessary. Noise impacts from loudspeakers for nightly lagoon shows would comply with the noise criterion as set out in the EIAO-TM with all the proposed mitigation measures in place. To ensure compliance with the EIAO-TM noise criteria, monitoring of entertainment noise is considered necessary during nighttime show. A noise review study will be conducted in detailed design stage to verify the EIA predictions.
Landscape and Visual	Excavation of “The Summit” at Nam Long Shan and construction of “The Waterfront” will affect existing landscape resources, landscape characters and visual sensitive receivers. The impacts would be acceptable with the implementation of recommended mitigation measures. Visual impacts from the funicular railway viaduct structure have been avoided by placing the entire railway in tunnel. Visual impacts from the proposed reservoir have been reduced by relocating the reservoir to an area within the footprint of the Summit. Impact of day-time glare would be avoided through the adoption of suitable building forms and materials. Night-time glare would be essentially “designed out” by carefully considering a reasonable level of functional and thematic lighting with due consideration of possible light pollution and night-time glare to the surroundings. With careful consideration in the design stage and adoption where necessary of suitable design features, there would be no residual day-time or night-time glare impact.
Ecology	Ecological impacts (including habitat loss, impact on plant species of conservation interest and disturbance impacts to habitats and associated communities arising from the excavation works at Nam Long Shan) would be minor and acceptable with the implementation of recommended mitigation measures. No adverse impact on coral and other marine communities would be expected during the construction and operation phase of the Project. Loss of tall shrubland habitat has been avoided by placing the funicular railway entirely in tunnel, rather than a section running on viaduct structure, and by relocating the reservoir to an area within the footprint of the Summit redevelopment. Loss of tall shrubland habitat would be compensated by a greater area of planting (using natural species) at an area within and adjacent to the Park. Loss of marine ecological resources is avoided as there would not be any marine-based construction works for this Porject.
Waste management implications	Construction waste arisings have been identified based on the proposed construction activities and would comprise C&D material, general refuse and chemical waste. Provided that the identified waste arisings are to be handled, transported and disposed of using approved methods and the recommended good site practices are to be strictly followed, adverse environmental impacts would not be expected during the construction phase. The handling, collection, transportation and disposal practices of waste generated during the operational phase would follow the existing arrangements currently in operation at the Park.
Land Contamination	Based on the desk-top study and the findings of site inspection, no sign of contamination is noted in the existing Ocean Park but potential for limited contamination is identified at the Hong Kong School of Motoring (HKSM) and City Bus Depot (CBD). Site investigation conducted at CBD in March 2006 indicated that elevated TPH concentrations were identified at 2 sampling locations near the underground storage tanks whereas elevated levels of arsenic/tin were also identified at five sampling locations. Excavation and landfill disposal is recommended for TPH contaminated soil, with quantity of ~150m³. For a conservative approach, cement solidification/stabilization treatment is recommended for the heavy metals contaminated soil (~150m³). It is proposed that site investigation works should be conducted at the HKSM site as soon as possible prior to the commencement of site clearance/ construction works. No adverse residual impact in respect of land contamination would be anticipated if necessary remediation works are carried out at the identified contaminated land in the HKSM and CBD sites.
Air quality	No adverse dust impacts would be expected on the ASRs within (e.g. visitors) or in the vicinity of the Park with the implementation of effective dust suppression measures. The operation of the proposed Project would not incur adverse air quality impacts to the nearby ASRs.
Water quality	Water quality impacts from construction activities would be controlled by implementing the recommended mitigation measures. Additional types of operation discharge from the future operations at the redeveloped Park is not expected. Operational improvements would be implemented to ensure control of discharges within statutory limits. Upgrading of the existing foul sewerage system within the Park will be required to prevent sewage overflow and/or emergency bypass as a result of capacity constraint of the sewerage system.
Sewerage and Sewage Treatment Implication	The performance of the existing sewerage infrastructure was assessed using approved methods and flow factors. The estimated peak flow was used in the hydraulic assessment of the existing Aberdeen PTW. The performance assessment results under the peak flow condition have identified 1520m of surcharged sewers with diameters ranging from 225mm to 375mm. Works to improve these surcharged sewers are needed. The Aberdeen PTW was assessed to be adequate to convey the total catchment flows both with and without the Project.
Cultural Heritage	The HKSM and the City Bus Depot sites were assessed to be of low archaeological potential. An archaeological Investigation will need to be undertaken prior to the construction phase to verify the absence or presence of archaeological deposits. The construction works would not affect a historical grave located in the Lowland section of Ocean Park. A one metre buffer zone will be provided if necessary, to prevent damage from construction works.
Hazard to Life	A Quantitative Risk Assessment study for the explosives related activities for the Project has been carried out. The risk level for the original Base Case was found to be unacceptable and therefore a new blasting strategy has been developed in consultation with Mines Division of CEDD. A number of additional risk control measures were identified and were included in this revised Base Case. For the revised Base Case, the level of offsite societal risk is within the acceptable limit, and since no area of individual risk greater than 10^-5per year could affect the public, therefore the risk level of the revised Base Case is considered acceptable.

Area/Issue

Environmental Outcomes / Benefits and Mitigation Measures

Purpose and Scope of the Project

The purpose of the Project is to upgrade and expand the existing Ocean Park to meet anticipated visitor demand and to position Ocean Park as a premium tourist attraction and a regional leader in themed recreational and educational park experience.

The Project comprises various construction works for: civil infrastructure, utilities, primary life support systems, municipal facilities, area development, parkwide systems, hard/ soft landscape & area theming, attractions venues, installation of rides, merchandise/ retail facilities, food and beverage facilities and back of house facilities (refer to Section 2.4 for details).

Design options selection

The majority of the works comprise redevelopment works within the existing park footprint to minimise impacts on other areas.

A funicular railway through a tunnel and operating by cables driven by electricity is proposed to minimize the construction and operation environmental impacts due to establishment of a new visitor transportation link between the Lowland area and the Headland area. The revised design is all in tunnel, resulting in less noise, ecological, and landscape and visual impacts than the previously proposed viaduct section.

A new access road from Tai Shue Wan to the Headland area would no longer be implemented because of the likely ecological impacts arising from construction.

The tall shrubland between Nam Long Shan Road and Tai Shue Wan is preserved in the current Park expansion scheme to reduce ecological impacts.

Previous schemes to develop different levels at the hillside on Nam Long Shan would not be implemented, which would reduce long term long energy consumption arising from the operation of passenger lifting devices for transporting visitors between different levels.

The service reservoir proposed near the summit of Nam Long Shan has been relocated to the Summit area and will now be concealed within the footprint of the redeveloped Park, resulting in reduced habitat loss and reduced visual impact.

Construction Method

An enclosed conveyor belt system is proposed for rapidly conveying the excavated material from the excavation site for the new Summit area down to the barging point at Tai Shue Wan. This would reduce impacts to the environment due to haulage.

Barges are to be employed for transporting majority of the surplus C&D material from the site formation for the Summit off site by sea, so as to reduce impacts arising from land based transport.

Blasting is proposed for rock excavation at the Summit, which would reduce the lengthy construction time and impacts associated with the conventional rock excavation method.

Noise

NSRs at Shouson Hill Road could be affected by noise arising from the construction of the Project. With the adoption of quieter plant, movable noise barrier and good site practices, all representative NSRs in the vicinity of the project site would comply with the noise criterion. No adverse residual construction noise impact would be expected.

Traffic noise associated with the operation phase of the Project was assessed for both the “with redevelopment” and “without redevelopment” scenarios on weekday and Sunday. Modelling results indicated that the increase in overall traffic noise levels predicted at all representative NSRs except 1-2/F of NSR PTS1 and 1-4/F of PTS2 would be less than 1dB(A). However, the predicted noise levels at 1-2/F of NSR PTS1 and 1-4/F PTS2 would comply with the noise criteria of 65dB(A) and 70 dB(A) for school and residential dwelling respectively. Thus, no mitigation measure is required.

The assessment results also indicated that predicted noise levels at all NSRs arising from the fixed plants of the Project would comply with the EIAO-TM criteria. No mitigation measures would be necessary.

Noise impacts from loudspeakers for nightly lagoon shows would comply with the noise criterion as set out in the EIAO-TM with all the proposed mitigation measures in place. To ensure compliance with the EIAO-TM noise criteria, monitoring of entertainment noise is considered necessary during nighttime show. A noise review study will be conducted in detailed design stage to verify the EIA predictions.

Landscape and Visual

Excavation of “The Summit” at Nam Long Shan and construction of “The Waterfront” will affect existing landscape resources, landscape characters and visual sensitive receivers. The impacts would be acceptable with the implementation of recommended mitigation measures.

Visual impacts from the funicular railway viaduct structure have been avoided by placing the entire railway in tunnel.

Visual impacts from the proposed reservoir have been reduced by relocating the reservoir to an area within the footprint of the Summit.

Impact of day-time glare would be avoided through the adoption of suitable building forms and materials. Night-time glare would be essentially “designed out” by carefully considering a reasonable level of functional and thematic lighting with due consideration of possible light pollution and night-time glare to the surroundings. With careful consideration in the design stage and adoption where necessary of suitable design features, there would be no residual day-time or night-time glare impact.

Ecology

Ecological impacts (including habitat loss, impact on plant species of conservation interest and disturbance impacts to habitats and associated communities arising from the excavation works at Nam Long Shan) would be minor and acceptable with the implementation of recommended mitigation measures. No adverse impact on coral and other marine communities would be expected during the construction and operation phase of the Project.

Loss of tall shrubland habitat has been avoided by placing the funicular railway entirely in tunnel, rather than a section running on viaduct structure, and by relocating the reservoir to an area within the footprint of the Summit redevelopment.

Loss of tall shrubland habitat would be compensated by a greater area of planting (using natural species) at an area within and adjacent to the Park.

Loss of marine ecological resources is avoided as there would not be any marine-based construction works for this Porject.

Waste management implications

Construction waste arisings have been identified based on the proposed construction activities and would comprise C&D material, general refuse and chemical waste. Provided that the identified waste arisings are to be handled, transported and disposed of using approved methods and the recommended good site practices are to be strictly followed, adverse environmental impacts would not be expected during the construction phase.

The handling, collection, transportation and disposal practices of waste generated during the operational phase would follow the existing arrangements currently in operation at the Park.

Land Contamination

Based on the desk-top study and the findings of site inspection, no sign of contamination is noted in the existing Ocean Park but potential for limited contamination is identified at the Hong Kong School of Motoring (HKSM) and City Bus Depot (CBD).

Site investigation conducted at CBD in March 2006 indicated that elevated TPH concentrations were identified at 2 sampling locations near the underground storage tanks whereas elevated levels of arsenic/tin were also identified at five sampling locations.

Excavation and landfill disposal is recommended for TPH contaminated soil, with quantity of ~150m³.

For a conservative approach, cement solidification/stabilization treatment is recommended for the heavy metals contaminated soil (~150m³).

It is proposed that site investigation works should be conducted at the HKSM site as soon as possible prior to the commencement of site clearance/ construction works.

No adverse residual impact in respect of land contamination would be anticipated if necessary remediation works are carried out at the identified contaminated land in the HKSM and CBD sites.

Air quality

No adverse dust impacts would be expected on the ASRs within (e.g. visitors) or in the vicinity of the Park with the implementation of effective dust suppression measures.

The operation of the proposed Project would not incur adverse air quality impacts to the nearby ASRs.

Water quality

Water quality impacts from construction activities would be controlled by implementing the recommended mitigation measures.

Additional types of operation discharge from the future operations at the redeveloped Park is not expected. Operational improvements would be implemented to ensure control of discharges within statutory limits.

Upgrading of the existing foul sewerage system within the Park will be required to prevent sewage overflow and/or emergency bypass as a result of capacity constraint of the sewerage system.

Sewerage and Sewage Treatment Implication

The performance of the existing sewerage infrastructure was assessed using approved methods and flow factors. The estimated peak flow was used in the hydraulic assessment of the existing Aberdeen PTW.

The performance assessment results under the peak flow condition have identified 1520m of surcharged sewers with diameters ranging from 225mm to 375mm. Works to improve these surcharged sewers are needed.

The Aberdeen PTW was assessed to be adequate to convey the total catchment flows both with and without the Project.

Cultural Heritage

The HKSM and the City Bus Depot sites were assessed to be of low archaeological potential. An archaeological Investigation will need to be undertaken prior to the construction phase to verify the absence or presence of archaeological deposits.

The construction works would not affect a historical grave located in the Lowland section of Ocean Park. A one metre buffer zone will be provided if necessary, to prevent damage from construction works.

Hazard to Life

A Quantitative Risk Assessment study for the explosives related activities for the Project has been carried out. The risk level for the original Base Case was found to be unacceptable and therefore a new blasting strategy has been developed in consultation with Mines Division of CEDD. A number of additional risk control measures were identified and were included in this revised Base Case. For the revised Base Case, the level of offsite societal risk is within the acceptable limit, and since no area of individual risk greater than 10^-5per year could affect the public, therefore the risk level of the revised Base Case is considered acceptable.