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Press
Releases - 2000
Dumping
of mud by CT9 project in compliance with law
In response
to media enquiries, a spokesman for the Environmental Protection
Department (EPD) said today (September 4) that the contractor
of the Container Terminal 9 has obtained a dumping permit
from the State Oceanic Administration (SOA) for the disposal
of the dredged sediment of the project at the sea near Erzhou
Island.
The spokesman
said: "The EPD has provided the relevant sediment analysis
result to the Mainland authorities for their consideration
before they issued the dumping permit."
The Dumping
at Sea Ordinance (DASO) was introduced in 1995 for Hong Kong
to fulfill its international obligation under the London Convention
(the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping
of Wastes and Other Matters).
Under
the Convention, mud transfer between contracting parties for
dumping is not prohibited provided that there is previous
consent between parties.
In cases
where dredged spoil is to be dumped outside Hong Kong waters
a permit is required under the DASO for loading of the spoil
onto a barge or other vessel.
Before
such a permit is issued, the applicant is required to obtain
a permit issued by the appropriate authority outside Hong
Kong permitting the marine dumping.
In this
case, the appropriate authority outside Hong Kong is the SOA
and a permit is issued by the EPD to the contractor after
it has obtained a permit from the SOA.
The EPD
has stringent control on such mud transfer activities.
The spokesman
said: "It is always a permit condition that an automatic self-monitoring
device is required to be installed on a dumping barge.
"The
device can identify any illegal dumping activity within and
even beyond Hong Kong waters.
"In addition,
the EPD has regular and ad hoc inspections of the sea and
construction sites for these activities."
Illegal
dumping is an offence and may be subject to a maximum penalty
of $200,000 fine and six months' imprisonment on a first conviction
and a fine of $500,000 and two years' imprisonment on a subsequent
conviction.
End/Monday,
September 4, 2000
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