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Press
Releases - 2000
Web-based
environmental impact assessment system to increase transparency
The public
can have access to environmental performance of major designated
projects during the construction stage on the Internet, a
spokesman for the Environmental Protection Department (EPD)
said today (May 30).
"A new
requirement has been put in place in January this year in
the Environmental Permits for such projects to have their
environmental monitoring and audit results uploaded onto the
Internet.
"The
new initiative makes Hong Kong among the first few places
in the world to provide web-based information on environmental
performance and environmental impact assessment (EIA) of major
projects for access by the public," the spokesman said.
Different
parties can gain benefits from this web-based EIA system.
"The
system allows the public better and faster access to information
on environmental performance and enables the EIA process to
become more transparent and users-friendly.
"Project
proponents can use it as a tool to better manage their environmental
performance. It can help promote better public understanding
of the proponents' efforts.
"The
environment and the community can be better protected through
more focused management of environmental performance.
"It can
help promote the information technology industry in Hong Kong
and enhance Hong Kong's status as the leader in Asia Pacific
in the application of the information technology to project
development," the spokesman said.
A total
of eight Environmental Permits have been issued so far with
such a requirement.
These
include a permit for Kowloon Canton Railway Corporation's
Tsim Sha Tsui Extension. When the Advisory Council on the
Environment (ACE) examined the EIA report of the project in
April this year, it suggested an additional requirement for
the company to upload onto the Internet the data on the continuous
construction noise monitoring.
It is
expected that some of these EIA websites will be available
later this year after the projects concerned start their construction
works.
More
than 130 representatives of private companies, environmental
consultants, professional training institutes, the ACE and
government departments attended a seminar organised by the
EPD last Saturday (May 27) to share their experience of and
insight into the web-based EIA system.
The EPD
has also since 1998 placed all key documents and major decisions
made on all applications submitted under the EIA Ordinance
on its website (http://www.info.gov.hk/epd/eia).
"It will
continue to introduce a number of initiatives on the web-based
EIA process which include establishing a web-based EIA help
bench at its website to provide guidelines for applicants
to carry out environmental assessment.
"It will
also encourage project proponents of major projects to, apart
from the environmental monitoring and audit results, include
project background, construction progress and the most up-to-date
environmental data on their EIA websites," the spokesman added.
End/Tuesday,
May 30, 2000
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