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Press
Release
EIA
report for Lok Ma Chau Spur Line approved with conditions
The Director
of Environmental Protection (DEP) today (March 11) approved
the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Report for the Sheung
Shui to Lok Ma Chau Spur Line - Tunnel/Viaduct Option with
conditions.
The EIA
report was publicly exhibited under the EIA Ordinance from
January 7 to February 5, 2002, and was thoroughly discussed
by the EIA Subcommittee of the Advisory Council on the Environment
(ACE) on January 28 and February 7 and by the main Council
on February 26.
At its
meeting on February 26, the ACE endorsed the EIA report and
recommended four conditions to be imposed.
The DEP
made the decision after considering the 86 sets of public
submissions received during the public inspection period of
the report, the comments of the ACE and the advice of the
Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department.
The project
proponent, the Kowloon Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC),
has to fully implement all the recommendations of the EIA
report. The project will be subject to a stringent environmental
monitoring and audit (EM&A) programme.
The KCRC
should set up an Environmental Committee before the commencement
of the works to advise on and monitor the environmental work
of the project. The committee should have wide representation
and be set up to the satisfaction of the DEP. It should be
proactive in monitoring the effectiveness of the proposed
management measures so as to ensure that the overall project
will result in no net loss in the ecological functions of
the habitats concerned.
The KCRC
should consult the ACE on the EM&A Manual to be compiled and
report regularly to the ACE on the progress of the monitoring
work and the findings. The monitoring plan should be based
on baseline data that are relevant to the project area and
updated in line with best practice.
The KCRC
is required to implement further measures to compensate for
any net loss of ecological functions, resulting from the loss
of the fishponds at Lok Ma Chau, if the proposed management
measures fail to deliver the specified results as stated in
the approved EIA report.
There
should be a high degree of transparency regarding the monitoring
data and results in view of the public concern about the project.
All EM&A data and results, all submissions and all performance
test data and results required under the EIA Ordinance should
be made available to the public through a website of the KCRC,
the EIA Ordinance website and the EIA Ordinance Register in
the shortest possible time after such information is available.
All the
recommendations in the EIA report and the conditions recommended
by the ACE will be incorporated into appropriate permit conditions
which the KCRC will be required to comply with and which will
be enforceable under the EIA Ordinance.
End/Monday,
March 11, 2002
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