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Content |
Chapter Title Page
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Figure 1.1:_ General Layout
Plan Figure 1.2:_ Location of
Secondary Boundary Fence and Noise Monitoring Station at Section 4 |
Tables
This is the 8th Monthly EM&A Report for
the works carried out during the reporting month from 1 to 31 January 2011, and
presents a summary of the environmental monitoring and audit works, list of
activities, and mitigation measures implemented during the abovementioned
reporting month.
Site Activities
The following major construction activities took place
during the reporting month:
Works Order No. 1 (ASD 010962):
¡
No
major works. (Substantial completion was certified on 12 October 2010.)
Works Order No. 2 (ASD 010969):
¡
Tree
pruning work;
¡
Installation
of transparent panel for the new boundary fence;
¡
Construction
of footing for the new boundary fence;
¡
Construction
of steel frame and mesh for the new boundary fence;
¡
Excavation
works for footing of steel fence;
¡
Reinstatement
of pavement and carriageway; and
¡
Construction
of footing for the new pedestrian gate.
Works Order No. 3 (ASD 010974):
¡
Erection
of hoarding for the new check point;
¡
Construction
of stud wall and retaining wall at the new check point site; and
¡
Construction
of footing and super-structural works at the new check point site.
Breach of Action and Level Limits
There was no breach of Action or Limit levels for
noise level (measured as Leq) in the reporting month.
Complaints
There was no record of complaints received in the reporting month.
Notification of Summons and Successful Prosecutions
There was no record of Notification of summons and
successful prosecution in the reporting month.
Reporting Changes
There are no reporting changes in the reporting month.
Future Key Issues
Future key issues to be considered in the forthcoming
month include:
Air
¡
Regular
maintenance of all plant and equipment;
¡
Handling
of any excavated dusty materials or stockpile of dusty materials;
¡
Spraying
of water prior to any loading, unloading or transfer of dusty materials; and
¡
Washing
of vehicles before leaving the construction sites.
Noise
¡
Location
of noisy equipment and noisy activities relative to the Noise Sensitive
Receivers (NSRs);
¡
Avoiding
the operation of unused equipment, and minimising the use of Powered Mechanical
Equipment (PME) and parallel use of noisy equipment / machinery;
¡
Adoption
of Level 1 site-specific direction mitigation measures (use of quiet plant and
movable noise barrier) for construction/demolition work undertaken at a
distance of 60m or less to the NSRs; and
¡
Regular
maintenance of all plant and equipment.
Water Quality
¡
No
discharge of silty water into the storm drain and drainage channel within and
the vicinity of the site;
¡
Removal
off-site of construction plant causing pollution to water system due to leakage
of oil or fuel; and
¡
Temporary
stockpiling of excavated soil in a specially designated area with provision of
tarpaulin cover.
Waste
¡
Control
measures at the stockpiling area to prevent the generation of dust and
pollution of stormwater channels, fish ponds or river channels;
¡
Segregation,
storage, transportation and disposal of different types of waste; and
¡
Keeping
of records of quantities of wastes generated, recycled and disposal (with
locations).
Ecology
¡
Good
site practices for controlling the dust and water quality; and
¡
Clear
definition of works limit to avoid impact on adjacent habitats.
Landscape and Visual
¡
Retain
tree with high amenity or ecology value and contributing most to landscape and
amenity of site;
¡
Precautionary
area around trees to be retained equal to half of the tree canopy diameter;
¡
Prohibition
of the storage of materials including fuel, the movement of construction
vehicles, and the refuelling and washing of equipment including concrete mixers
within the precautionary area;
¡
Pruning
of the branches of existing trees identified for transplantation and retention;
¡
Rectification
and repair of damaged vegetation following the construction phase to its
original condition;
¡
Careful
monitoring of all works affecting the trees identified for retention and
transplantation; and
¡
Enforcement
of construction site controls including storage of materials, location and
appearance of site accommodation and the careful design of site lighting to
prevent light spillage.
Environmental mitigation measures will be implemented
on site as recommended and weekly site audits will be carried out to ensure
that the environmental conditions are acceptable.
The Frontier Closed Area (FCA) is an
integral part of the package of measures aimed at maintaining the integrity of
the boundary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) with
mainland
The PBF and SBF (hereafter referred
to as ‘The Project’) will be erected along the northern and southern curbs of
the realigned BPR respectively to facilitate the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF)
in combating cross-boundary criminal activities. The reduced FCA will comprise a narrow strip
of land covering the realigned BPR and areas to its north, together with the
points of crossing the boundary (i.e. the Boundary Control Points and Sha Tau
Kok town). Areas south of the SBF will
generally be excised from the FCA.
An Environmental Impact Assessment
(EIA) for the proposed works was carried out under the Environmental Impact
Assessment Ordinance (EIAO, Cap 499). An EIA Report and an Environmental
Monitoring and Audit (EM&A) Manual were completed in January 2009 and
approved by the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) in April 2009
(Register No. AEIAR-136/2009). The entire length of the proposed works is about
21.7 km from west of Pak Hok Chau to east of Sha Tau Kok and is divided into four
sections. A general layout plan of the Project site is presented in Figure
1.1, while the location of the SBF at Section 4 in
Sha Tau Kok is presented in Figure
1.2.
An Environmental Permit (EP)
covering the overall proposed works was issued in June 2009 (Permit No.
EP-347/2009). An application for Variation of the Environmental Permit (VEP)
(Application No. VEP-314/2010) was subsequently submitted on 24 May 2010 and
the amended Environmental Permit (Permit No. EP-347/2009/A) was issued by EPD
on 9 June 2010.
With regard to Section 4, an
application for a Further Environmental Permit (FEP) covering the works under
Works Order No. ASD 010962 (also known as Works Order No. 1) was submitted to
EPD on 2 March 2010 (Application No. FEP-104/2010) and this was granted on 29
March 2010 (Permit No. FEP-03/347/2009). Furthermore, another application for
an FEP covering the works under Works Order Nos. ASD 010969 and ASD 010974
(also known as Works Order Nos. 2 and 3 respectively) – including a new section
of SBF consisting of transparent panel, a new checkpoint and kiosk – was
submitted to EPD on 13 August 2010 (Application No. FEP-112/2010) and was
granted on 7 September 2010 (Permit No. FEP-04/347/2009/A).
The Architectural Services
Department (ArchSD) has been entrusted with the management of the Project by
the Project Proponent – the Secretary for Security of the HKSAR Government.
Mott MacDonald Hong Kong Limited (MMHK) has in turn been commissioned by ArchSD
as the consulting engineer for the entire Project under Consultancy Agreement
No. 9SN005, and is the Engineer’s Representative (ER) for construction of the
Project.
For Section 4 of the Project, MMHK
and ENVIRON Hong Kong Limited (ENVIRON) have been commissioned as the
Environmental Team (ET) and Independent Environmental Checker (IEC)
respectively to undertake the Environmental Monitoring and Audit (EM&A)
programme as described in the approved EM&A Manual of the Project. Also,
the Contract to undertake and perform the construction works for Section 4 was
awarded to Chun Wo Construction & Engineering Company Limited (‘The
Contractor’) and is scheduled to last for approximately 18 months. It formally
commenced on 28 May 2010, and the construction works and EM&A programme
under the above-mentioned EP and FEP(s) also commenced on this date. The
construction works programme is presented in Appendix A.
This monthly EM&A report
summarises the environmental monitoring and audit works, list of activities and
mitigation measures implemented at Section 4 during the period of 1 to 31
January 2011 inclusive (‘reporting month’).
The scope of works for Section 4
consists of:
¡
Erection
of an SBF from the entrance of the Sha Tau Kok town (i.e. the location of ‘Gate
One’) to the Sha Tau Kok Control Point (approximately 0.5 km);
¡
Use
of transparent panel for a section of an SBF;
¡
Provision
of a two-storey high checkpoint at ‘Gate One’;
¡
Addition
of a kiosk/guard house on an existing footpath of
¡
Removal
of the existing checkpoint at Shek Chung Au.
The organisation chart and lines of
communication with respect to the on-site environmental management structure
together with the contact information of the key personnel are shown in Appendix
B.
1.3
Works
Undertaken in the Reporting Month
The following activities have taken
place during the reporting month:
Works Order No. 1 (ASD 010962):
¡
No
major works. (Substantial completion was certified on 12 October 2010.)
Works Order No. 2 (ASD 010969):
¡
Tree
pruning work;
¡
Installation
of transparent panel for the new boundary fence;
¡
Construction
of footing for the new boundary fence;
¡
Construction
of steel frame and mesh for the new boundary fence;
¡
Excavation
works for footing of steel fence;
¡
Reinstatement
of pavement and carriageway; and
¡
Construction
of footing for the new pedestrian gate.
Works Order No. 3 (ASD 010974):
¡
Erection
of hoarding for the new check point;
¡
Construction
of stud wall and retaining wall at the new check point site; and
¡
Construction
of footing and super-structural works at the new check point site.
Figure 1.1: General Layout Plan
Figure 1.2: Location of Secondary
Boundary Fence and Noise Monitoring Station at Section 4
1.1
Summary
of EM&A Requirements
The EM&A programme requires environmental
monitoring of construction noise as well as environmental site inspections for
air quality, noise, water quality, waste management, ecology, landscape and
visual, as specified in the approved EM&A Manual.
Originally,
the EM&A Manual designated two locations as noise monitoring stations
during the construction phase. However, currently noise levels at only one of
these monitoring stations (as shown in Figure 1.2) are monitored. The reasons for this arrangement
are detailed in Section 3.2.
A summary of impact EM&A
requirements is presented in Table
2.1. The Environmental Quality Performance Limits and
the Event and Action Plans (for construction noise only) are shown in Appendix
C and Appendix D respectively.
Table 2.1: Summary of EM&A Impact
Requirements
|
Parameters |
Description |
Location(s) |
Frequency |
Duration |
|
Air |
On-site
Inspection |
Active Works Sites |
Weekly |
During Construction |
|
Noise |
Leq,
30min |
STK-DBD |
Weekly |
During Construction |
|
Waste management |
On-site Waste Audit |
Active Works Sites |
Weekly |
During Construction |
|
On-site Waste Inspection |
||||
|
Wastewater |
On-site Wastewater Audit |
Active Works Sites |
Weekly |
During Construction |
|
Ecology |
On-site Audit of Recommended Ecological Mitigation Measures |
Active Works Sites |
Periodically (by Contractor) |
As specified in EM&A Manual (see Table E.5) |
|
Landscape and Visual |
On-site Audit of Recommended Landscape and Visual Mitigation Measures |
Active Works Areas |
Regular intervals (by Contractor/ Landscape Sub-Contractor) |
As specified in EM&A Manual (see Table E.6) |
|
General Site Conditions |
Environmental Site Inspection |
Works areas and areas affected by works |
Weekly |
During Construction |
1.2
Implementation
of Environmental Mitigation Measures
The Contractor is required to
implement mitigation measures listed in the latest valid EP and FEP(s) (where
applicable), EIA Report and EM&A Manual. During routine site inspections,
the Contractor's implementation of mitigation measures, if any, are to be inspected
and reviewed. A schedule of the implementation of mitigation measures
identified at the EIA stage is given in Appendix E.
2.1
Monitoring
Parameters, Frequency and Duration
Following the requirements in the
EM&A Manual for noise, noise monitoring has to be carried out during the
construction phase. Continuous noise monitoring for the A-weighted levels Leq,
L10 and L90 is undertaken once per every week during
daytime hours (between 07:00 and 19:00) on normal weekdays.
Table 3.1 summarizes the monitoring parameters, frequency
and duration of air quality monitoring. The noise monitoring schedule during
the reporting month is presented in Appendix F.
Table 3.1: Noise Monitoring Parameters,
Frequency and Duration
|
Monitoring Station |
Parameter |
Frequency |
Duration |
|
STK-DBD |
Leq, L90 & L10 |
Once every week |
30 min |
Originally, two construction noise
monitoring stations were proposed in the EM&A Manual, namely: STK03 (Block 1,
Sha Tau Kok Estate) and STK05 (Village House at Sha Tau Kok). STK03 was mainly
selected for the construction works related to the SBF and the new checkpoint
in Sha Tau Kok, while STK05 was mainly selected for the removal of the existing
checkpoint at Shek Chung Au.
However, access to STK03 to perform
noise monitoring was not granted, therefore an alternative nearby location –
STK-DBD (HKPF Operation Base, Sha Tau Kok Division, Border District) – was
proposed by ET and agreed to by IEC and EPD. Baseline noise monitoring was
subsequently conducted at STK-DBD from 16 to 29 March 2010.
Currently, there is no solid
timetable or programme for the demolition works of the existing checkpoint at
Shek Chung Au, although the end of 2011 has been proposed as a possible
commencement date. This is subject to future confirmation of the demolition
programme by the Security Bureau and HKPF. No noise monitoring at STK05 has
been carried out at this stage.
As a result, only one noise impact
monitoring station is included in the current EM&A programme for Section 4.
The location of the agreed noise quality monitoring station is listed in Table
3.2 and shown in Figure 1.2.
Table 3.2: Noise Impact Monitoring
Location
|
Monitoring Station |
Description of Location |
Type of measurement |
|
STK-DBD |
HKPF Operational Base, Sha Tau Kok Division, Border District |
Façade |
Integrating Sound Level Meter will
be used for noise monitoring. It is a Type 1 sound level meter capable of
giving a continuous readout of the noise level readings including equivalent
continuous sound pressure level (Leq) and percentile sound pressure
level (Lx). They comply with International Electrotechnical
Commission Publications 651:1979 (Type 1) and 804:1985 (Type 1). Table 3.3 summarizes the noise monitoring equipment
model(s) being used.
Table 3.3: Noise Monitoring Equipment
|
Equipment |
Model(s) |
|
Precision Integrating Sound Level Meter |
Rion NL-18 & NL-31 |
|
Acoustic Calibrator |
Castle GA607 |
The
calibration frequencies of the monitoring equipment are provided in Table
3.4.
Table 3.4: Noise Monitoring Equipment
Calibration Frequencies
|
Equipment, Model and Serial Number |
Calibration Frequency |
Calibration Due Date(s) |
|
Precision Integrating Sound Level Meter (NL7-SLM-02) Rion NL-18 (serial number 00570459) |
Every year |
12 Dec 2011 |
|
Precision Integrating Sound Level Meter Rion NL-31 (serial number 01262786) |
Every year |
10 May 2011 |
|
Acoustic Calibrator Castle GA607 (serial number 040162) |
Every year |
9 Dec 2011 |
The calibration certificates are
presented in Appendix
G.
¡
The
Sound Level Meter was set on a tripod at a height of at least 1.2 m above the
ground.
¡
Façade
measurements were made at the monitoring locations.
¡
The
battery condition was checked to ensure the correct functioning of the meter.
¡
Parameters
such as frequency weighting, the time weighting and the measurement time were
set as follows:
- frequency weighting: A
- time weighting: Fast
- time measurement: 5-minute intervals
(between 07:00 and 19:00); Leq (30 min) was determined by
calculating the logarithmic average of six Leq (5-min) data.
¡
Prior
to and after each noise measurement, the meter was calibrated using a
Calibrator for 94 dB at 1 kHz. If the
difference in the calibration level before and after measurement was more than
1 dB, the measurement would be considered invalid and have to be repeated after
re-calibration or repair of the equipment.
¡
During
the monitoring period, the Leq, L10 and L90
noise levels were recorded. In addition,
any site observations and noise sources were recorded on a standard record
sheet.
2.5.2
Maintenance
and Calibration
¡
The
microphone head of the sound level meter and calibrator is cleaned with soft
cloth at quarterly intervals.
¡
The
meter and calibrator are sent to the supplier or Hong Kong Laboratory
Accreditation Scheme (HOKLAS) laboratory to check and calibrate at yearly
intervals.
2.6
Results
of Impact Monitoring
The measured construction noise levels, in
terms of Leq (30-min), during the reporting month are summarised in Table
3.5. Detailed
results, including general weather conditions and graphical presentations are
presented in Appendix
H.
Table 3.5: Results of Noise Impact
Monitoring
|
Monitoring Station |
Measured Leq (30-min) Range, dB(A) |
Limit Level for Leq, dB(A) |
|
STK-DBD |
62 – 65 |
75 |
Note: All figures are rounded off to the
nearest whole number.
No exceedance of Action / Limit Levels for
construction noise was recorded.
No direct comparison between the measured noise
levels and the construction noise levels predicted in the EIA Report for this
Project was possible due to the minor nature of site works conducted during the
reporting month.
Wind data obtained from the nearest Hong Kong
Observatory monitoring station, at Ta Kwu Ling, covering all noise monitoring
days during the reporting month is included in Appendix
K.
Environmental site inspections were
carried out on a weekly basis to monitor the proper implementation of
environmental pollution control and mitigation measures for Section 4. In the
reporting month, one monthly site inspections were carried out jointly by the
ER, Contractor, ET and IEC on 31 January 2011, and additional weekly site
inspections were carried out by the ER, Contractor and ET on 8, 14, 19 and 25
January 2011. The EM&A schedule is presented in Appendix
F.
Major findings provided jointly by
the ET and IEC during the joint monthly site inspections, and provided by ET
during the additional weekly site inspections, are summarised in Table 4.1. In general, the works site areas were found to
be in compliance with the environmental mitigation requirements listed in the
EM&A Manual and no adverse impacts were found.
Table 4.1: Summary of Environmental
Site Inspections
|
Date of Inspection |
Major Observations |
Status |
|
8 Jan 2011 |
The Contractor is again reminded to provide and maintain all necessary tree protection works in the areas covered by Works Order No. 2. This includes placement of construction materials away from trees and proper fencing of precautionary areas. |
Tree protection measures, including fencing of precautionary areas and backfilling of excavated soil as early as possible as possible after completion of footing for the new boundary fence, were provided in the works areas covered by Works Order No. 2, as observed on 31 Jan 2011. (closed) |
|
|
Extra hoarding was provided at the site entrance. However, some construction dust was still observed in the public area and should be cleared as soon as possible. |
Construction dust was cleared from the public area, as observed on 14 Jan 2011. (closed) |
|
|
The EP and FEP were not observed at the new checkpoint site. The Contractor is asked to reinstate these as soon as possible. |
The EP and FEP were displayed at the new checkpoint site entrance, as observed on 25 Jan 2011. (closed) |
|
14 Jan 2011 |
Some material from site concrete works had spilt to the adjacent car park. The Contractor is reminded to prevent dusty construction materials from leaving the site area. Wheel wash facilities should be implemented if required. |
As observed during the follow-up site inspection on 19 Jan 2011, water hose was used to clean a cement truck during concrete works before its departure from the new checkpoint site. No silty run-off or dusty construction materials were discharged from the site. (closed) |
|
19 Jan 2011 |
Nil. |
N/A |
|
25 Jan 2011 |
Some discarded plastic bottles were observed within a site boundary. The Contractor is reminded to dispose of these properly. |
Discarded plastic bottles were removed from site and disposed of, as observed on 31 Jan 2011. (closed) |
|
31 Jan 2011 |
Nil. |
N/A |
During the reporting month, one
environmental meeting was held on 31 January 2011.
3.3
Status
of Environmental Submissions, Permits and Licences
A summary of status of all environmental submissions, valid permits/licences, and/or notifications to EPD for this Project during the reporting month is presented in Table 4.2. A summary of submissions made under the valid EP and FEP(s) for Section 4 during the same period is presented in