Chapter    Title                                                                                                                           Page

13.1            Introduction_______________________________________________________________ 13-1

13.2            Air Quality Impact___________________________________________________________ 13-1

13.3            Noise Impact______________________________________________________________ 13-1

13.4            Water Quality Impact________________________________________________________ 13-1

13.5            Sewerage and Sewage Treatment Implications____________________________________ 13-2

13.6            Waste Management Implications_______________________________________________ 13-2

13.7            Land Contamination________________________________________________________ 13-2

13.8            Ecological Impact__________________________________________________________ 13-3

13.9            Fisheries Impact___________________________________________________________ 13-3

13.10          Landscape, Visual and Glare Impact____________________________________________ 13-3

13.11          Impact on Cultural Heritage___________________________________________________ 13-4

 



13.1          Introduction

To ascertain and verify the assumptions implicit to and accuracy of EIA study predictions, an environmental and audit (EM&A) programme would be required.  This section presents the requirements of EM&A for the construction and operation of the Project, based on the assessment results of the various issues. 

The following sections summarize the recommended EM&A requirements. Details of the EM&A programme are presented in a stand-alone EM&A Manual released separately. 

13.2          Air Quality Impact

13.2.1       Construction Phase

Regular dust monitoring is considered necessary during the construction phase of the Project and regular site audits are also required to ensure that the dust control measures are properly implemented. Details of the environmental monitoring and audit (EM&A) programme will be presented in the stand-alone EM&A Manual.

13.2.2       Operational Phase

Since it has been assessed that there will be no adverse air quality impacts due to vehicular emissions or odour from the sewage treatment works during the operational phase, EM&A is considered not necessary.

13.3          Noise Impact

13.3.1       Construction Phase

With the recommended mitigation measures, no residual noise impacts are predicted at all representative NSRs during the construction phase. However, EM&A is recommended to ensure the mitigation measures and good site practice have been implemented properly, and to minimize the potential noise impact during the construction phase. 

13.3.2       Operational Phase

Prior to the operation phase of the Project, a commissioning test should be conducted for all major fixed noise sources to ensure compliance of the operational airborne noise levels with the EIAO-TM noise criteria. 

Road traffic noise levels should be monitored at representative NSRs, which are in the vicinity of the recommended direct noise mitigation measures, during the first year after road opening.

13.4          Water Quality Impact

Adverse water quality impact is not predicted during the construction and operation phase of the Project. Nevertheless, appropriate mitigation measures are recommended in Section 5.6 to minimize potential water quality impacts.

Water quality monitoring is recommended during the course of construction works near Kong Yiu Channel, River Ganges, River Indus, Ma Wat Channel and streams at Kau Lung Hang to obtain a robust, defensible database of baseline information of water quality before construction, and thereafter, to monitor any variation of water quality from the baseline conditions or exceedances of WQOs during construction phase and to ensure the recommended mitigation measures are properly implemented.

Regular audit of implementation of the recommended mitigation measures during the construction phase at the works areas should also be undertaken during the construction phase to ensure the recommended mitigation measures are properly implemented.

Groundwater monitoring on tunnel groundwater ingress is recommended from the engineering perspective during construction phase. Baseline data would be obtained prior to commencement of construction works.

With the full implementation of the recommended mitigation measures during operation phase, no adverse water quality impact is anticipated. Operation phase water quality monitoring is not considered necessary.

13.5          Sewerage and Sewage Treatment Implications

It is recommended to conduct regular monitoring of the quality of treated effluent discharged from the proposed sewage treatment work in order to ensure compliance with the no net increase in pollutant loading requirement as well as the relevant licence requirements under the Water Pollution Control Ordinance.

13.6          Waste Management Implications

Waste management would be the contractor’s responsibility to ensure that all wastes produced during the construction phase are handled, stored and disposed of in accordance with good waste management practices and EPD’s regulations and requirements. The recommended mitigation measures should form the basis of the site Waste Management Plan to be developed by the Contractor in the construction phase. The Waste Management Plan shall be prepared and implemented in accordance with ETWB TC(W) No. 19/2005 Environmental Management on Construction Site.

During construction phase, regular site inspection as part of the EM&A procedures should be carried out to determine if wastes are being managed in accordance with approved procedures and the Waste Management Plan. Different aspects of waste management including waste generation, storage, recycling, treatment, transport and disposal would be included in the programme.

13.7          Land Contamination

In view of the desktop review results and the site reconnaissance findings, bulk excavation of soil for land remediation is not expected at this stage. As such, any environmental monitoring in relation to land remediation is not required.

However, during construction phase, EM&A is to be carried out in the form of regular site inspection. All related procedures and facilities for handling or storage of chemicals and chemical wastes should be audited regularly to make sure they are in order and intact and reported in the EM&A reports as such.

13.8          Ecological Impact

The ecological impact assessment in the EIA study has evaluated the ecological impacts of the proposed Project and has concluded that the overall impacts would be of minor significance with the implementation of mitigation measures. The proposed mitigation measures to avoid, minimize and compensate the identified impacts arising from the proposed Project should be checked as part of the environmental monitoring and audit programme during the construction phase. Major ecological mitigation measures recommended to be implemented during the construction and operational phases are summarised below:

¡      Transplanting affected floral species of conservation interest Aquilaria sinensis and Euonymus kwangtungensis;

¡      Provision of Woodland Compensation Area as shown in Figure 9.26; and

¡      Provision of Wetland Compensation Area as shown in Figure 9.27.

The ecological monitoring and audit should be conducted as set out in the EM&A Manual. The implementation of the transplanting of floral species of conservation interest and the provision of Woodland/ Wetland Compensation Area shall be checked during the routine site inspection. The inspection, observation and recommendation shall be reported in the periodic EM&A reports.

The requirements for the ecological monitoring of Woodland Compensation are formulated in Appendix 9.4 Woodland Compensation Plan. The requirements for the ecological monitoring of Wetland Compensation Area will be formulated in a Habitat Creation and Management Plan during the detailed design stage.

13.9          Fisheries Impact

Pond fish culture resources and activities were not identified within the Study Area. With the effluent control measures recommended in section 5.6 in place, the Project is unlikely to have indirect impacts on the pond fish culture resources and activities in the NWNT area. Therefore, no EM&A programme for fisheries impact is considered necessary.

13.10    Landscape, Visual and Glare Impact

It is recommended that EM&A for landscape and visual resources is undertaken in accordance with the Technical Memorandum on EIA Process (EIAO TM), Annex 21 (Contents of an Environmental Monitoring and Audit [EM&A] Programme). The EM&A should be undertaken during the design, construction and operation stages of the Project. The design, implementation and maintenance of landscape and visual mitigation measures are key aspects of the Project and their implementation and maintenance should be checked to ensure that they are fully realised such that they mitigate landscape and visual impacts to their full potential. Possible conflicts between the proposed landscape and visual mitigation measures and any operational requirements should be resolved at the earliest possible date and without compromise to the intention of the mitigation measures. In addition to specific monitoring (e.g. of plants during establishment period), implementation of relevant mitigation measures recommended by the EIA should be monitored through the site audit programme throughout construction and operation phases.

13.11    Impact on Cultural Heritage

13.11.1  Archaeological Resources

The two known sites of archaeological interest are situated outside the works boundary of the Project, and therefore no environmental monitoring and audit (EM&A) for these two sites is required.

In Section between Ping Yeung and Wo Keng Shan, direct impact is anticipated on the archaeological resources in the area with low archaeological potential.  A survey-cum-rescue excavation should be conducted after land resumption and before the commencement of the construction works to confirm the findings of the EIA study and if necessary preserve the archaeological resources by record.

Beside the above mitigation measure, an archaeological survey should be carried out after land resumption before commencement of the construction works of the Project to complete the outstanding survey proposed for the EIA Study as listed in Table 12.28 in Section 12.6.1.8. 

The Survey-cum-Rescue Excavation and the outstanding archaeological survey should be conducted by a professional archaeologist who should obtain a licence to Excavate and Search for Antiquities from the Antiquities Authority under the AM Ordinance. An Archaeological Action Plan (AAP) following the Guideline for Cultural Heritage Impact Assessment should be submitted to Antiquities and Monuments Office (AMO). The project proponent should appoint qualified and experienced archaeologist(s) with sufficient funding, time and personnel arrangements to implement the AAP. Details of the proposal plan with specification for further archaeological survey and survey-cum-rescue excavation should be agreed with AMO. The AAP should include, but not limited to, the following information:

¡      a detailed plan for further archaeological survey at inaccessible areas in Section between Lin Ma Hang and Frontier Closed Area Boundary, Section between Ping Yeung and Wo Keng Shan, Sha Tau Kok Road Section (Between North and South Tunnel), Lau Shui Heung Tunnel Section (South Tunnel) and Fanling Section;

¡      a detailed plan for survey-cum-rescue excavation at the Section between Ping Yeung and Wo Keng Shan; and

¡      a contingency plan to address possible arrangement if significant archaeological findings are unearthed during the further archaeological survey and survey-cum-rescue excavation.

13.11.2  Built Heritage Sites

Prior to removal of impacted graves, built heritage and landscape feature (i.e. GR01, GR02, GR05, GR06, GR08, GR10, GR13, GR15, GR16, GR17, GR18, GR19, GR20, BS64, BS65, LF08), photographic and cartographic records are recommended to be conducted to preserve them by record. Although access of the grave GR03 will temporarily be affected by the proposed works during construction phase, temporary access division will be provided during the construction phase so that access to the grave will not be blocked as a result of the construction works. After completion of construction works, the affected access route is required to be re-provided.

During detail design stage of the Project, in case any potential vibration impact on any nearby built heritage features are identified due to the change of the Project design, it is recommended that prior to commencement of the construction works, a baseline condition survey and baseline vibration impact assessment should be conducted by a qualified building surveyor and a qualified structural engineer to define the vibration limit and to evaluate if construction vibration monitoring and structural strengthening measures are required during construction phase to ensure the construction performance meets with the vibration criteria to be agreed with the AMO.