16.
ConclusionS
Introduction
16.1
Kau Sai
Chau has an area of about
16.2
Historically
Kau Sai Chau was used as a military firing range and within the Project site
there is still visible evidence of this former activity on the hillside where
the thin scrubland cover has been exposed and there has been extensive washout
of soil from the hillside during rainfall. There are also a number of
graves scattered around the north end of the island. Some of them scattered
around the proposed third golf course area.
16.3
A
public golf course consisting of 36-hole North and South courses as well as
associated supporting facilities (clubhouse, administration and maintenance
buildings, etc.) was proposed in the northern part of Kau Sai Chau. The first public golf course in
Proposed
project
16.4
The
location of the proposed 18-hole third Golf Course is on the east side of Kau
Sai Chau immediately south of the existing public golf course.
16.5
The proposed golf
course will be 7,000 yards in play length and players will use electric golf
carts to drive along dedicated cart paths along the fairways of the 18 holes. Unlike the first two courses the proposed course will
be turfed with Seashore Paspalum.
In order to provide supplementary irrigation to the course during
dry periods, a desalination plant will be incorporated into the scheme.
16.6
Certain
elements of infrastructure support are already available in the existing golf
course facilities (administration building, maintenance building, sewage
treatment works and water supply) and will be shared or extended to provide
additional capacity for the proposed third golf course.
Air
Quality
16.7
Construction
dust impact has been assessed and evaluated. With the implementation of the
appropriate dust suppression measures such as regular watering and covering the
exposed stockpiles with tarpaulin, construction dust impacts will be reduced to
acceptable levels. No significant
construction and operational dust impact is expected at any of the air
sensitive receivers in the vicinity of the study area.
Noise
16.8
Representative noise sensitive receivers have been identified. Noise impacts from construction
activities have been assessed and evaluated. During the construction phase, the
construction noise predicted at the representative noise sensitive receivers will
not exceed the standard due to natural topographic shielding and remoteness from
the construction site. No noise
impact is expected during the operational phase of Project.
Water
Quality
Construction Phase
16.9
During the construction phase, it has been determined that
minor water quality impacts to water bodies could arise from land-based
construction works. These works
relate to earthwork excavation of the proposed third golf course. No direct construction runoff is expected. Impacts can be controlled to comply with
WPCO standards by implementing the recommended mitigation measures, which should
provide good site management options to minimise the impact of stormwater
runoff. For the construction of intake
and discharge pipelines for the proposed desalination plant located near to the
existing pier at Kau Sai Chau, impacts on water quality are acceptable if
recommended mitigation measures are implemented.
Operational
Phase
16.10
The closed drainage system has been implemented. The water quality of the limited
discharge from the land drainage system has been assessed. With the closed low flow drainage system
collection runoff from the proposed third golf course, and the lower fertilizer
and pesticide requirements of Seashore
Paspalum, no operational water quality impact is expected. Predicted overflow water quality from new
lakes and the existing reservoir is shown to satisfy the Water Quality
Objectives of Port Shelter. Operation
of the desalination plant was modelled and assessed throughout the dry season. The modelling results indicate that the
predicted concentrations of salinity and suspended solids comply with the Water Quality Objectives
(WQOs) ambient water quality for all identified ecological sensitive sites
including seagrass and fish culture zones.
Waste
Management
16.11
The construction work
will involve site formation and earthwork excavation which will necessitate the
removal of spoil. There will be no net import or export of
material due earthworks operations and ground-shaping. All cut material will be used within the
works site as fill material.
16.12
A
small quantity of demolition waste, non-inert waste generated from site
formation, municipal waste generated by site staff and chemical waste will be generated
during the construction phase. Provided that
identified wastes are handled, transported and disposed of using approved
methods, and that recommended good site practices are adhered to, adverse
environmental impacts are not be expected during construction. The recommended mitigation measures should
form the basis of the site Waste Management Plan to be developed by the
Contractor at the commencement of the construction phase.
Terrestrial
Ecology
16.13
The proposed project will
cause a permanent loss of
16.14
The ecological importance
of the area of shrubland habitat to be lost is considered to be low. Fauna abundance and species richness in
the Project Area shrublands are very low.
Shrubland will be converted to golf course, which will provide
replacement habitat for wildlife as it has on the existing golf course over the
last 10 years. The golf course
extension would extend the fire-break effect over a larger area, providing
greater protection to more of the remaining natural areas on the island. This will encourage natural succession
of shrublands and other unaffected habitats.
16.15
Ravine habitats
of perennial streams in the Project Area will be preserved and protected by
buffer zones. Construction works at
the desalination plant and barging point will only affect small areas of
coastal habitats, which account for a small proportion of the daily home range
of fauna of conservation concern in the coastal areas. Bird abundance along the shoreline of
Kau Sai Chau was low. The
ecological importance of the coastal area around the ferry pier as habitat for
birds and other fauna is low. The
impact to fauna in coastal areas is considered minimal.
16.16
The operational impact to
habitat and flora is considered positive due to protection of habitats from
fire. This will accelerate natural
succession and will ultimately lead to a greater numbers of trees and more
complex habitats, and moreover, will to support wildlife species and population
numbers. Creation of additional
freshwater ponds will also benefit waterbirds and herpetofauna.
Marine
Ecology
16.17
The Project
has no insurmountable impacts on marine ecology during construction and
operational phases. The marine benthic communities in the waters around Kau Sai
Chau were not of special conservation concern, and the intertidal zone was
basically natural and typical. The construction of the desalination plant and
temporary barging point will result in minor losses of intertidal (40m2
temporary at the barging point, 130m2 permanently at the
desalination plant) and subtidal (1,500 m2 temporary at the dredging area) habitats. However, the sizes of these losses are small and the durations are short (about one year for barging point and about three months for dredging area). These losses are not expected to have a negative impact on marine
ecology. In the site for the desalination
plant, 79 small and common coral
colonies were found and would be transplanted. Water quality mitigation and precautionary
measures will be provided for the construction and operation phases. The
residual impacts are acceptable. A
well-planned programme of site practices and coral transplantation should be
able to contain the impacts within acceptable levels.
Fisheries
16.18
The
construction of the desalination plant and temporary barging point will result
in minor temporary losses of fishing grounds, but it is not expected to be a
significant negative impact on capture fisheries. A well-planned programme of site
practices and the water quality monitoring should be able to prevent construction
phase impacts on fisheries. Though operation phase impacts are not
anticipated, there are also water quality precautionary measures to further
protect the fisheries resources. No residual impacts on capture fisheries and fish culture operations are anticipated.
Land
Contamination
16.19
Due to
its former use as an artillery range, the site is considered as
having potential for contaminated hotspots of lead and sulfur. Further investigation for
land contamination will be required prior to
commencement of excavation works. If
the initial Contamination Assessment Report (
16.20
Potential
sources of contamination during the operation phase, monitoring
and mitigation measures have been identified
and proposed. The likelihood of uncontrolled
leakage of fertilizers and pesticides giving rise to land contamination is low
when mitigation measures are implemented.
Landscape
and Visual Assessment
16.21
In general, the Project will cause slight to moderate
adverse visual impact in the construction phase and negligible to slight
adverse visual impact in the operation phase before the implementation of
mitigation measures.
16.22
With the
proposed mitigation measures, the impact on landscape resources is considered to
be acceptable. Beneficial impacts
on landscape resources will result from the partial restoration of eroded
slopes. All affected areas will be covered with golf course turf or
hydroseeding. The hydroseeding areas will be managed to allow for the
reestablishment of tall shrubland and shrubland. A hydroseeding mix, which will
comprise native shrubs with grass seeds, will encourage this process.
16.23
Impacts
on visually sensitive receivers are acceptable. The majority of visual
sensitive receiver groups are located at distances greater than
Cultural
Heritage
16.24
The archaeological impact assessment for the extension
of the golf course identified that the bay at Wan Chai as an archaeological
site. The site was excavated and it
was determined that some potential for archaeological material remains. A watching brief is recommended to fully
record this site.
16.25
For built heritage impact assessment, an excellent
example of a Late Qing Dynasty grave which has high preservation value will be
kept in-situ by adjusting the golf course layout. By providing a three metres buffer zone
during construction, no impact is expected.
Environmental
Monitoring and Audit (EM&A)
16.26
During
construction and operation of the Project, environmental monitoring will be
necessary to assess the effectiveness of mitigation measures implemented to
mitigate air quality, water quality, terrestrial ecology, marine ecology,
cultural heritage and land contamination impacts. Regular environmental auditing is
recommended to ensure that potential impacts are adequately addressed through
the implementation of mitigation measures defined in this EIA report.
Overall
Conclusions
16.27
The
EIA has critically assessed the overall acceptability of any environmental
impacts likely to arise as a result of the construction and operation of the
proposed third golf course. Where
necessary and practicable, the EIA has specified the conditions and
requirements for the detailed design, construction and operation of the Project
in order to mitigate environmental impacts to acceptable levels.
16.28
With
the recommended mitigation measures applied, the Project should be
environmentally acceptable and no unacceptable residual impacts are
anticipated. The schedule of
implementation of the recommended mitigation measures has been provided in Appendix
A15 - Implementation Schedule.
Monitoring requirements have also been specified in a separate EM&A
Manual to ensure proper implementation of the recommended mitigation measures.