1.1.1
Project Background
At present, traffic queues are already observed
on the northern approach of Pok Oi Roundabout (POR) during the evening peak
period and the southern approach at both morning and evening peaks. The situation will likely deteriorate
further when the nearby developments are completed. The tailback of traffic onto the
southbound carriageway on the northern approach to POR may block the through
traffic from Tai Lam Tunnel / New Territories (NT) North to Tuen
Mun / Tin Shui Wai /
The Technical
Feasibility Statement (TFS) for the Improvement to Pok Oi Interchange was
completed in November 2005. In
September 2006, Highways Department (HyD)
commissioned Mott Connell Ltd (MCL) to undertake the Traffic Impact Assessment and Alignment
Design Study (Agreement No. WD 3/2006). The Study reviewed the
preliminary improvement layouts proposed in the TFS, presented recommendations
on preferred alignment, configuration and layout, and investigated the traffic
carrying capacities of the improvement scheme.
An application under the Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance
(EIAO) for an Environmental Impact
Assessment (EIA) Study Brief was submitted by HyD
in May 2007 with the EIA Study Brief
(No. ESB-166/2007) issued in July 2007.
ERM-Hong
Kong, Ltd (ERM), supported by Halcrow China
Ltd (Halcrow), has been commissioned by HyD to undertake the Improvement
to Pok Oi Interchange – Environmental Impact Assessment Study (hereafter
referred to as “the Assignment”) under Agreement No. WD 6/2007. As part of the Assignment, an EIA Study
has been undertaken in accordance with the EIA
Study Brief (No. ESB-166/2007) and the Environmental Monitoring and Audit
(EM&A) requirements are presented in this EM&A Manual.
1.1.2
Project Location and Scope
The Project is located at Pok Oi
Interchange (POI) in the Yuen Long region of the
The scope of the Project is as follows:
·
provision
of a single lane flyover (approximately 140m in length) adjacent to the northbound
carriageway of Pok Oi Flyover (POF) (denoted as Flyover A in Figure 1.1 and subsequent sections of this report);
·
construction
of a slip road (approximately 410m in length) connecting the northbound
carriageway of the ground level road of Yuen Long Highway (YLH) on the southern
arm of POR to the proposed flyover (denoted as Slip Road A in Figure
1.1 and subsequent sections of this report);
·
construction
of a slip road (approximately 100m in length) connecting the proposed flyover
to the northbound carriageway of the ground level section of YLH on the
northern arm of POR (denoted as Slip Road B in Figure 1.1 and
subsequent sections of this report);
·
construction
of a slip road (approximately 280m in length) connecting the southbound
carriageway of POF to the southbound carriageway of the ground level section of
YLH on the southern arm of POR (denoted as Slip Road C in Figure 1.1 and
subsequent sections of this report);
·
resurfacing
and re-marking of a stretch of the southbound carriageway (approximately 280m
in length) of the ground level section of YLH on the northern arm of POR to
increase the number of traffic lanes on the carriageway from three to four
(denoted as Road Resurfacing and Remarking A in Figure 1.1 and
subsequent sections of this report);
·
resurfacing
and re-marking of a stretch of the northbound carriageway (approximately 470m
in length) of the ground level section of YLH on the northern arm of POR
(denoted as Road Resurfacing and Remarking B in Figure 1.1 and
subsequent sections of this report);
·
construction
of a segregated left-turn lane (approximately 110m in length) at the northern
arm of POR (denoted as
·
associated ancillary works.
The proposed alignment of the Project is
presented in Figure 1.1.
The Project qualifies as a Designated
Project under Item A.1 of Part 1, Schedule 2 of the EIAO and the construction and operation of the Project will require
an Environmental Permit (EP).
The overall objectives of the EIA Study
are to provide information on the nature and extent of environmental impacts
arising from the Project and related activities that take place concurrently;
to recommend appropriate mitigation measures to control the potential
environmental impacts so that it complies with the requirements of the Technical Memorandum on Environmental Impact
Assessment Process of Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance (EIAO-TM), and to confirm the
environmental acceptability of the Project.
1.1.3
Construction Programme
The construction activities are scheduled
to commence in December 2009 and complete in December 2011. A preliminary outline construction
programme is provided in Annex A.
1.2
Purpose of the
EM&A Manual
The purpose of this EM&A Manual is to
guide the set up of an EM&A programme to ensure compliance with the EIA
Study recommendations, to assess the effectiveness of the recommended
mitigation measures and to identify any further need for additional mitigation
measures or remedial action. This
EM&A Manual outlines the environmental monitoring and auditing works for
both construction and operation phases of the Project. It provides systematic procedures for
the monitoring and auditing of potential environmental impacts that may arise
from the works.
This EM&A Manual contains the
following information:
·
Responsibilities
of the Contractor, the Engineer or Engineer’s Representative (ER),
Environmental Team (ET) and Independent Environmental Checker (IEC) with
respect to the environmental monitoring and audit requirements during
construction phase;
·
Project
organization for the Project;
·
Requirements
with respect to the construction programme schedule and the necessary
environmental monitoring and audit programme to track the varying environmental
impact;
·
Details
of the methodologies to be adopted, including all field laboratories and
analytical procedures, and details on quality assurance and quality control
programme;
·
Definition
of Action and Limit levels;
·
Establishment
of Event and Action plans;
·
Requirements
for reviewing pollution sources and working procedures required in the event of
non-compliance with the environmental criteria and complaints;
·
Requirements
for presentation of environmental monitoring and audit data and appropriate
reporting procedures; and
·
Requirements
for review of EIA predictions and the effectiveness of the mitigation
measures/environmental management systems and the EM&A programme.
This EM&A Manual is a dynamic document
that should be reviewed regularly and to be updated (as necessary) during the
implementation of the Project.
For the purpose of this EM&A Manual,
the “Engineer” refers to the Engineer as defined in the Contract and the ER, in
case where the Engineer’s power have been delegated to the ER, in accordance
with the Contract. The ET Leader,
who should be responsible for and in charge of the ET, refers to the person delegated the role of executing the EM&A
requirements. The IEC should
undertake the auditing role.
The roles and responsibilities of the
various parties involved in the construction phase EM&A programme are
outlined below. The organization and lines of communication with respect to
environmental management for the Project are shown in Figure 1.3.
The leader of the Environmental Team (ET)
should be an independent party from the Contractor and should possess at least
7 years experience of EM&A and have relevant professional qualifications,
which should include being an Accredited Monitoring Professional of HKIEIA,
subject to approval of the Environmental Protection Department (EPD). The Independent Environmental Checker
(IEC) should have the same experience and professional qualifications as
stipulated above for the ET Leader.
The duties and responsibilities of
respective parties are as follows:
Engineer or Engineer’s Representative (ER)
·
Supervise
the Contractor’s activities and ensure that the requirements in the EM&A
Manual are fully complied with;
·
Monitor
the Contractor’s compliance with Contract Specifications, including the
implementation and maintenance of environmental mitigation measures and other
aspects of the EM&A programme;
·
Monitor
the implementation of EM&A programme;
·
Inform
the Contractor when action is required to reduce impacts in accordance with the
EAPs or protocols or those in the Contract
Specifications in the event of exceedance or
complaint;
·
Participate
in joint site inspection undertaken by the ET; and
·
Adhere
to the procedures for carrying out complaint investigation in accordance with
Section 9 of this EM&A Manual.
Contractor
·
Appoint
an ET to undertake monitoring, laboratory analysis and reporting of the EM&A requirements outlined in this Manual;
·
Ensure
thorough implementation of mitigation measures as required;
·
Provide
assistance to the ET in carrying out monitoring and preparing reporting;
·
Accompany
joint site inspections undertaken by ET and implement the corrective /
follow-up actions / recommendations instructed by the Engineer;
·
Follow
the procedures stipulated in the agreed EAPs in the
event of exceedance or complaint;
·
Submit
proposals on mitigation measures in case of exceedances
of Action and Limit levels in accordance with the EAPs;
·
Implement
measures to educe impact whenever Action and Limit levels are exceeded;
·
Report
all findings of site inspections and corrective / follow-up actions taken to
the ER; and
·
Adhere
to the procedures for carrying out complaint investigation in accordance with
Section 9 of this EM&A Manual.
Environmental Team (ET)
·
Monitor the various environmental parameters as required by this
or subsequent revisions to the Manual;
·
Provide
advice on all environmental issues to the Contractor;
·
Analyse
the EM&A data and review the success of EM&A programme to
cost-effectively confirm the adequacy of mitigation measures implemented and
the validity of the EIA predictions and to identify any adverse environmental
impacts arising;
·
Carry
out site inspection to investigate and audit the Contractor’s site practice,
equipment and work methodologies with respect to pollution control and
environmental mitigation, and review the programme of works, in order to
anticipate environmental issues that may require mitigation before the problem
arises;
·
Audit
the environmental monitoring data and report the status of general site
environmental conditions and of the implementation of mitigation measures
resulting from site inspections;
·
Follow
the procedures stipulated in the agreed EAPs in the
event of exceedance or complaint;
·
Report
the EM&A results and wider environmental issues and conditions to the IEC,
Contractor, ER, and EPD;
·
Prepare
EM&A Reports as required in the EM&A Manual
·
Recommend
suitable mitigation measures to the Contractor in the case of exceedance of Action and Limit levels in accordance with
the EAPs; and
·
Adhere
to the procedures for carrying out complaint investigation in accordance with
Section 9 of this EM&A Manual.
Independent Environmental Checker (IEC)
·
Review the EM&A works performed by the ET (at not less than
monthly intervals);
·
Audit
the monitoring activities and results (at not less
than monthly intervals);
·
Report
the audit results to the ER and EPD in parallel;
·
Review
the EM&A Reports submitted by the ET;
·
Review
the proposal on mitigation measures submitted by the Contractor in accordance
with the EAPs; and
·
Adhere
to the procedures for carrying out complaint investigation in accordance with
Section 9 of this EM&A Manual.
Sufficient and suitably qualified
professional and technical staff should be appointed by the respective parties
to ensure full compliance with their duties and responsibilities, as required
under the EM&A programme for the duration of the Project.
1.4
Structure of the EM&A Manual
Following this introductory section, the
remainder of the Manual is set out as follows:
·
Section 2 – Sets out general requirements of EM&A
programme;
·
Section 3 – Details auditing requirements for air quality;
·
Section 4 – Details methodology and criteria, monitoring
equipment, locations for baseline and impact monitoring and mitigation measures
for noise, compliance assessment and EAP;
·
Section 5 – Details auditing requirements for water quality;
·
Section 6 – Detail auditing requirements for waste management;
·
Section 7 – Details baseline monitoring, auditing requirements
and mitigation measures for landscape and visual impact, compliance assessment
and EAP;
·
Section 8 – Describes scope and frequency of environmental
site audit;
·
Section 9 – Details protocols in handling environmental
enquires and complaints; and
·
Section 10 – Details the EM&A reporting requirements.