Content > Foreword - Mr. Elvis Au > Foreword - Professor K C Lam

Professor K C Lam Chairman, EIA Sub-committee, The Advisory Council on the Environment

Since the coming into force of the EIA Ordinance on 1 April 1998, the Advisory Council on Environment (ACE) has gained a statutory role in the Environmental Impact Assessment process in Hong Kong. During the first two years of the operation of the Ordinance, the ACE EIA Sub-committee reviewed some 39 EIA reports and submitted their deliberations, findings and recommendations to the Council and the administration.

The ACE-EIA Sub-committee is pleased to have a role in the EIA process. In discharging our duties, we have strived to be efficient, independent and to add value to the projects concerned. We shall continue to offer views on how environmental problems can be preempted, and alignments, designs and constructing methods modified to achieve the best environmental results.

To further enhance the effectiveness of the EIA system in Hong Kong, the Sub-committee has encouraged early focus on potential environmental problems, better transparency, and greater public participation in the EIA process. The Sub-committee also promotes the strengthening of post-decision environmental monitoring and auditing, believing that proponents should be recognized for their actions, both good and bad.

"To endorse, or not to endorse; that is the question!" At times, deliberations of the ACE EIA Sub-committee were almost like a marathon. No single view or report was taken lightly for we are answerable not only to the community of today, but also to the generation of tomorrow. As we step into the new millennium, we look forward to working with all parties concerned to further enhance the EIA process so that we can make Hong Kong a green and clean model city of the world.

(Lam Kin Che)
Chairman, ACE-EIA Sub-committee