| Agenda
Item 1 : South East Kowloon Development at Kai Tak Airport
Decontamination and Site Preparation - Final Soil Quality
Report of the Previously Contaminated Areas
(ACE-EIA Paper 9/2002)
The
Chairman briefed Members on the background of the final
soil quality report. He said that the Council endorsed the
EIA report on the "Kai Tak Airport North Apron Decommissioning"
project in 1998 with conditions. One of the conditions was
that on completion of the decontamination works and before
starting the proposed housing development at the project area,
the project proponent should submit the final soil quality
report of the previously contaminated areas to the EIA Subcommittee
for inspection.[The project proponent team joined the meeting
at this juncture.]
2. The
Chairman welcomed Mr. H I Kwong et. al. to the meeting.
Mr. Kwong explained the purpose of the meeting and
Mr. Keith Tsang briefed Members on the findings of
the soil quality report.
3. A
Member asked whether the project proponent had assessed
the risk to workers of the housing development project in
Areas 1A and 1B if there was a rebound of contamination in
the Hotspots. In response, Mr. Kwong said that the
chance of a rebound was very remote. Furthermore, the Hotspots
were far from Areas 1A and 1B, the workers in the latter area
would not be affected.
4. A
Member asked how detailed the site investigation carried
out by the Housing Department was. In response, Mr. Kwong
said that the surveys conducted by TDD were comparatively
much more substantial. The Housing Department advised TDD
they had conducted a site investigation and the findings indicated
that Areas 1A and 1B were free of land contamination.
5. In
response to the Chairman's query on heavy metals at Areas
1A and 1B, Mr. Kwong advised that the areas were already
free of land contamination.
6. A
Member asked if it was correct to say that the results
of the decontamination work in the Hotspots were successful
and that no rebound had been found so far. In response, Mr.
Kwong said that a post-remediation monitoring for a period
of two years was under way. The initial set of readings showed
no sign of a rebound. Monitoring would continue and appropriate
remediation action would be taken if any rebound was found.
7. In
reply to the Chairman's enquiry regarding work planned for
areas other than Areas 1A and 1B, Mr. Kwong said that
the demolition work of the terminal building was scheduled
for commencement in early 2004. In that regard, there would
still be adequate time to collect post-remediation monitoring
data before the work started.
8. In
response to the Chairman's question, Mr. Kwong said
that the final soil quality report would be completed in two
to three months' time and would be submitted to EPD for scrutiny.
9. The
Chairman relayed a Member's questions to the project proponent
as follows:
- whether
there were any discrepancies between the actual contamination
and that projected in the endorsed EIA report in terms of
the volume, toxicity and locations of the contaminated soil;
and
- whether
there were any residual impacts of heavy metals including
chromium 6, a toxic substance that could be transformed
from chromium 4 during the treatment process, upon human
and the environment and if so, the treatment to be adopted
to deal with the impacts.
10. In
response, Mr. Kwong said that whilst the volume of
contaminated soil was larger than the original estimate and
some new hotspots were identified, the level of toxicity of
the ground contamination was within expectation.
11. Regarding
residual impact of heavy metals, Mr. Matthew Ko said
that chromium was identified in the electroplating workshop
site. The level of chromium detected was lower than Dutch
B standard for total chromium and US Federal standard for
chromium 6. The heavy metals were treated by means of cement
solidification during which no toxic form was produced. The
treatment of heavy metals had already been completed.
12. The
Chairman proposed and Members agreed that the Subcommittee
had no objection to the construction works in Areas 1A and
1B. The Subcommittee reserved the right to consider the final
soil report when it was finalized and submitted to the Subcommittee.
EIA
Subcommittee Secretariat
June 2002
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