Implementation of the Drainage Improvement Works for Ping Yuen River
(ACE-EIA Paper 10/2001)
For advice
1. The Advisory Council on the Environment (ACE) endorsed the Environmental Impact Assessment Report (FEIAR - Oct 96) on 16.12.1996 subject to a condition that the rehabilitation works at the River Ganges (Ping Yuen River) be further considered when the detailed design of that part of the works was available at a later stage. The Report details the environmental impacts and mitigation measures due to the implementation of drainage improvement works to 11 watercourses in the Northern and North-western New Territories under the Rural Drainage Rehabilitation Scheme.
2. The design for Ping Yuen River was held in abeyance as there was no definite programme for the implementation of the river training works under Shenzhen River Regulation Stage III, which is the discharging point of the Ping Yuen River. Until early 1999, the project for Ping Yuen River was re-activated with scheduled commencement in April 2003 in order to tie in with the scheduled completion of the Shenzhen River project.
3. The Drainage Services Department commissioned Mouchel Asia Ltd. (MAL) to review the scope of the drainage improvement works for Ping Yuen River taking due consideration to the environmental impacts, in particular the ecological impacts, and the required flood protection standard to the catchment area. MAL has completed the preliminary design and recommended to implement a trapezoidal drainage channel with grass slopes in lieu of the originally proposed solid concrete streambed with rock armor banks with an aim to maintaining the ecological value of area after completion of the drainage channel. MAL has also completed the attached Supplementary Report detailing the environmental impacts due to the implementation of the proposed works at Ping Yuen River.
Drainage Services Department
July 2001
