Web-based environmental impact assessment system to increase transparency

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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