2                          Project Description

 

2.1                    Description of Site Location of the Project and History

 

2.1.1               The location of the proposed Roads D3A & D4A was previously used as the runway of the former Kai Tak Airport until the relocation of airport to Chek Lap Kok in 1998.  After that, some of the lands at the former runway were granted for stockpiling areas and barging points of civil works.

2.1.2               At present, a local access road comprising a single 2-lane carriageway with utilities is being constructed under Advance Works Stage 1 (Contract No. KL/2008/07) of Agreement No. CE35/2006(CE) to enable the commissioning of the Cruise Terminal in mid 2013.  In the original plan, this local access road will be upgraded to dual-2 carriageway under Advance Works Stage 2 as Road D3 along the former runway, and a landscaped deck will also be provided above the carriageway.  A Kai Tak Development Environmental Impact Assessment was subsequently approved in 2009.

2.1.3               In the consultation with the Harbour-front Enhancement Committee (HEC) in 2009, concerns were raised with regards to appearance at the proposed landscaped deck above Road D3 to be constructed under the Advance Works Stage 2 of Agreement No. CE35/2006 (CE).  Besides, in the process of seeking funding approval for Advance Works Stage 1 in mid 2009, there was strong request from Legislative Council (LegCo) members on considering relocating the carriageway network away from the promenade to enhance the space for public enjoyment along the waterfront.

2.1.4               With comments from the HEC and LegCo members, the original scheme of Road D3 was revisited and a new conceptual option was identified and evaluated for refinement of designs of Road D3 and the landscaped deck above.  Under the new conceptual option, the southern section of the original Road D3 is now replaced by Road D3A.  In view of the new alignment of Road D3A, Road D4A is also added as an extension to Road D4 connecting Road D4 with Road D3A.

2.2                    Size, Scale, Shape and Design of the Project

 

2.2.1               Both Road D3A and Road D4A are dual 2-lane district distributor roads running along the Runway Precinct of KTD, as shown in Figure 1.1. The length of Road D3A and Road D4A is about 1.4km and 0.1 km respectively. They will serve the Cruise Terminal, the Tourism Node and the development sites in the Runway Precinct.

2.2.2               The Runway Precinct is planned with a hotel belt facing harbours and waterfront residential development facing KTAC. A harbourfront shopping street and open space link is planned to sustain interest of exploration from Metro Park to the Tourism Node.  Waterfront promenade is planned at the two edge of the Runway Precinct.

2.3                    EIA Study Area

 

2.3.1               The following definitions of study area for assessing different potential environmental impacts have been adopted with reference to the EIA Study Brief No. ESB-222/2011 for the Project:

·            Noise Impact: the assessment area included the area within 300m from the boundary of the Project;

·            Air Quality Impact: the assessment area included the area within 500m from the boundary of the Project;

·            Water Quality Impact: the assessment area included all areas within 300m from the boundary of the Project plus the Victoria Harbour Water Control Zone (WCZ), the Eastern Buffer WCZ and the Western Buffer WCZ as declared under the Water Pollution Control Ordinance or the area likely to be impacted by the Project; and


·            Waste Management: the assessment focused on areas within the boundary of the Project; and

·            Landscape and Visual Impact: the area for landscape impact assessment included all areas within 100m from the boundary of the Project, while the assessment area for the visual impact assessment is defined by the visual envelope from the Project and associated works.

 

2.4                    Nature, Scope and Benefits of the Project

 

Nature of the Project

2.4.1               The Project is to redevelop the former Kai Tak Airport Runway Area.

Project Scope

2.4.2               The scope of the Project comprises:

a)             Construction of approximately 1.5km long dual 2-lane carriageway along the former runway;

b)             Construction of footpaths;

c)             Construction of approximately 1.4km long landscaped deck above the dual 2-lane carriageway along the former runway; and

d)             Ancillary works including drains, sewers, fresh and salt water supply mains, utilities, landscape softworks and hardworks;

 

Project Benefits

2.4.3               With the vision to create a distinguished, vibrant, attractive and people-oriented Kai Tak by Victoria Harbour, the Runway Precinct of KTD has adopted the principle to achieve economic, social and environmental sustainability in its preparation.

2.4.4               The Project is expected to improve the landscape and urban design quality of the area, provide numerous community facilities to meet the needs of a diversity of user groups, preserve and promote the cultural heritage and identity of the place, promote a vibrant and accessible harbour front, and promote cultural development in Hong Kong.

2.4.5               The Project will provide accessible waterfront promenade to the visitors with space for public enjoyment, while fulfilling its essential function as providing access to the developments.  In addition, the landscaped deck above the roads will serve multi-purposes, as a pedestrian connection across Road D3, as an open space for various landscaping and public enjoyment, and as a shield to the noise generated from the developments of the Runway Precinct.

2.5                    The Need of the Project and Scenario without the Project

2.5.1               The Project is the essential infrastructure to provide access to all development areas in the Runway Precinct from other area of Kai Tak Development. The developments include Cruise Terminal, Tourism Node, Metro Park, Runway Park, waterfront promenades, residential and commercial lots. The absence of the Project will inevitably undermine all the developments of the Runway Precinct.


2.6                    Consideration of Alternatives and Development of Preferred Option

2.6.1               In the Original Scheme as shown in Figure 2.2, Road D3 provided access to domestic lots at the northeast side of the former runway. It also enhanced the accessibility to the commercial lots at the southwest side of the runway via Roads L12 and L13. An elevated deck was proposed in the original design over Road D3 for pedestrian enjoyment and pedestrian linkage between the Metro Park, Runway Precinct and the Tourism & Leisure Hub at the Runway. It could maximize the greening opportunity by decking over the proposed dual two lanes carriageway (Road D3) and provides landscape amenity for the local residents at Runway Precinct and Kowloon Bay upon completion of the works.

2.6.2               The proposed landscaped deck in the original scheme was over 1km long and was about 21m wide providing flexible spaces for amenity and seating. Despite such provision and the provision of pedestrian promenade next to the Victoria Harbour side (South-west side), the layout receives criticism from members of Legislative Council concerning the necessity of provision of pedestrian promenade at ground level at both sides of the Former Runway.

2.6.3               The Environmental Impact Assessment approved in 2009 comprises of the Original Scheme of Road D3 shown in Figure 2.2.  Although the locations of the roads were reviewed and refined to be different from the approved EIA study, the environment including traffic volume and locations of sensitive receivers are similar.  Therefore, the environmental impacts including air quality, noise, water pollution, landscape and visual as well as waste management implications are considered to be similar to those of the previously approved EIA study.

2.6.4               Different schemes were scrutinized in determining the best response to the request on enhancing space for public enjoyment along the waterfront.  In view of the space provision and ease of access to waterfront promenade, schemes other than placing Road D3 at Central Boulevard poses major restrictions and are therefore not pursued.

2.6.5               The final scheme, as shown in Figures 1.1 and 2.1, will provide spacious waterfront promenades at both waterfronts facing Victoria Harbour and Kwun Tong District. This scheme will enhance the access of people to get closer to the seafront promenades with the elevated deck at around +13mPD at Central Boulevard with the addition of providing safe accesses to the seafront promenades.  As the result, placing Road D3 at Central Boulevard was adopted for further planning and design.  This scheme would address the request from public and in tone with the LegCo members’ aspiration on promenade setting.

2.6.6               Preliminary review on the traffic air quality and noise impact on placing the Road D3 at Central Boulevard was conducted to provide initial verification on the recommended scheme being acceptable with provision of proper mitigation measures.  Taking into account the walking comfort received by the pedestrians and the noise mitigation, the setback of the building blocks from their boundary is preliminarily set to be 15m for residential and 10m for commercial.  Larger open areas, provision of air ventilation and penetration of natural light would also be improved by setback of the building lots.  Also, the landscaped deck over the road together with the noise barrier will reduce the noise impact to the development sites.  It is considered that the proposed final scheme is avoid and minimize potential environmental impacts to sensitive uses.  With the more detailed environmental assessments as covered in this report, the scheme was refined and mitigation measures were proposed.


2.7                    Construction Methods and Engineering Requirements

 

2.7.1               The construction of the Project mainly involves earthworks excavation, laying / diversion of drainage and utilities, backfilling, road pavement and landscape works. Noise mitigation measures, where appropriate, will be provided and installed. No dredging or reclamation is required.

2.7.2               With regard to the construction sequence, temporary walling for excavation support and foundation for noise mitigation measures will first be installed from ground level. Traffic and underground utilities will be diverted where necessary. Excavation will then follow until the formation level is reached. The underground road structure such as underpass box structures, retaining walls, and substructure for noise mitigation measures will then be constructed. Where applicable, backfilling will be required to attain the designed ground level. Laying of utilities, construction of road pavement, streetscape and noise mitigation measures will then be carried out. The above construction sequence is the conventional approach for cut and cover method and there is no other feasible alternative construction sequence for this method.

2.7.3               As there is no other construction method or sequence of works found feasible for the Project, and therefore it is not possible to compare different construction methods and sequence of works for the selection of the preferred construction method and sequence of works

2.8                    Project Programme

 

2.8.1               The construction of the Project is tentatively scheduled to commence in 2014 and complete by 2016.

2.9                    Concurrent Projects

 

2.9.1               Concurrent projects with likely interaction with this Project are identified as below. The status of these concurrent projects is based on the available information at the time of the submission of this Report. It should be noted that the implementation of individual projects would be subject to the on-going review by relevant project proponents.

2.9.2               There are a number of concurrent projects as listed below which will be implemented within or in the vicinity of the proposed Roads D3A & D4A.

         Cruise Terminal Phase II Berth

         Runway Park Phase 1

         Trunk Road T2

         District Cooling System

 

Cruise Terminal Phase II Berth

2.9.3               The cruise terminal phase II berth is proposed at the Tourism and Leisure Hub, which will be the second phase of the major anchor project to attract local and overseas visitors. The phase II berth of the cruise terminal will be commissioned after 2015. Development of the phase II berth would require dredging the seabed fronting the berth structure to provide necessary manoeuvring basin.


Runway Park

2.9.4               Runway Park Phase 1 is proposed at the tip of the former runway as for early public enjoyment of the harbourfront upon commissioning of the Cruise Terminal Building in 2013. The Runway Park Phase 1 will include a waterfront promenade at the runway tip facing Lei Yue Mun and along the waterfront facing Kwun Tong with a continuous traffic-free pedestrian green walkway, a large lawn and extensive landscaped area with sitting-out facilities and extensive soft landscape plantings and provision of toilets and ancillary facilities.

Trunk Road T2

2.9.5               This is a strategic road linking Central Kowloon Route at Kowloon Bay to Tseung Kwan O – Lam Tin Tunnel at Cha Kwo Ling. The Trunk Road T2 is expected to start construction by end of 2015. The works for Trunk Road T2 in KTD includes construction of dual three lanes carriageway in form of immersed tunnel and associated dredging works in Kowloon Bay and depressed road at South Apron.

District Cooling System

2.9.6               EMSD is currently implementing a District Cooling System serving for KTD. A district cooling system plant and a seawater pump house are located at runway with tentative schedule of completion in 2013. The associated pipeworks serving runway and south apron in KTD are implemented to tie in the implementation programme of KTD.