EIA-S14-Summary of Environmental Outcomes

Table 14.1: Summary of Key Environmental Outcomes

Area/Issue	Environmental Outcomes and Mitigation Measures
The KTE Project	The KTE project is an extension of the KTL and comprises a new railway extension, approximately 2.6km long, running from the end of the existing KTL twin overrun/ refuge siding tunnels south of YMT Station to the end of the overrun/ refuge siding beyond the new terminus station at Whampoa. A crossover is located immediately east of HOM Station with a turnback siding immediately beyond the crossover. This allows every second train to turnback through HOM Station to maintain the current peak headway. At WHA Station a single refuge siding will be provided immediately beyond the end of the platform. The existing terminus at YMT Station will revert to a through station. The distance between centrelines of YMT Station and HOM Station platforms is approximately 1,750m and between HOM Station and WHA Station platforms is approximately 830m. As the spacing between YMT Station and HOM Station is greater than the normal established principle of 1km, a mid-point Emergency Access Point (EAP) and ventilation building is proposed. The major components of the project will include the following: · Running tunnels from YMT Station (existing overrun tunnels) to HOM Station; · Running tunnels from HOM Station to WHA Station; · HOM Station with associated structures and provisions including station structures and provisions for interchange with the SCL; · WHA Station with associated structures and provisions; and · The WAB and ventilation structure at Club de Recreio; and · A purpose designed and built temporary explosives storage magazine at Tseung Kwan O Area 137.
Environmentally Friendly Design Recommended	There are no Declared Monuments within the KTE project area, and all areas with archaeological potential and graded historical buildings within the project boundary have been identified in an early stage of the preliminary design. The KTE project has been designed to avoid causing direct physical impacts on these heritage resources. Different types of ventilation buildings and shafts have been designed for provision in different areas. Low-height ventilation buildings and shafts have been assigned to the areas which are considered to be visually sensitive. Their locations have been carefully selected in order to minimise the impacts to the nearby environmental sensitive receivers. The entire KTE alignment will be operated underground and will avoid air-borne noise impacts. Suitable trackform have been provided in the design to minimise the ground-borne train noise impacts on the adjacent NSRs. The selection of a shortest practicable tunnel KTE alignment will minimise the generation of excessive excavated C&D materials and tunnel wastewater during the design stage, e.g. limited construction works sites in urban area approved for the project construction and related secondary air and visual impacts, reuse in other external projects etc. These C&D materials will be arranged to be re-used on-site and off-site at other concurrent projects in Hong Kong, e.g. the reclamation for the Hong Kong – Zhuhai – Macao Bridge Border Crossing Facility in north Lantau, etc., to minimise the potential impact to the existing public fills and landfills in Hong Kong. No modification of the existing seawall structures and marine works including piling are required for the construction and use of the barging point or the purpose designed and built temporary magazine site, hence avoiding possible water quality and marine ecological impacts. A fast-track construction programme has been designed to shorten the duration of construction works and hence minimise the possible environmental impacts posed on the nearby environmental sensitive receivers.
Population and Environmentally Sensitive Areas Protected	With the adoption of environmentally sensitive design, the major environmental sensitive receivers will be protected. Most of the site locations of ventilation shafts and buildings will be used as work sites and/or construction shafts/muck-out points during construction in order to minimise the works areas required as well as disturbance to the public and environment. As all of the railway running tracks of the project are underground, there would be no air-borne train noise impacts on the noise sensitive uses along the KTE alignment.
Cultural Heritage	As there are no Declared Monuments in the study area, no impacts to any Sites of Cultural Heritage covered by the EIAO are expected during the construction and operational phases and no specific mitigation measures will be required.
Landscape and Visual	Potentially Significant Adverse impacts to landscape resources during Construction Phase are anticipated at HOM Station (Slopes adjacent to Chatham Road North -LDR-3.2) and these cannot be suitably mitigated. Following introduction of mitigation measures at Day 1 of Operation Significant Adverse impacts will still prevail, however with the mitigation measures taking effect over time, including compensatory tree planting, slope greening with seedling tree planting, wall and roof planting these are reduced to Moderate Adverse by Year 10. Following introduction of the above mitigation measures only one Landscape Character Area demonstrates Impacts during Construction Phase. Moderate Adverse impacts to landscape character at Ho Man Tin - Valley Road Estate (LCA-06) are anticipated. At Day 1 of Operation Slight Adverse impacts prevail. By Year 10 of Operation Slight Beneficial landscape character impacts will be evidenced. Despite mitigation measures Significant Adverse Residual Visual Impacts are anticipated during Construction Phase to Residents on the south side of Chatham Road North (VSR-R4), Residents grouped at Wuhu Street and Gillies Avenue (VSR-R5), Residents at Ka Wai Chuen (VSR-R6), Residents at Shun Yung Street (VSR-R8), Future Residents of HK PolyU Planned Student Dormitory (VSR-R9), Residents at Valley Road (VSR-R10), Residents of Whampoa Estate and Garden (VSR-R13), Members and Visitors of Club de Recreio (VSR-L4), Visitors of Chinese Civil Servants Recreation Club and Philipino Club (VSR-L6) and Shoppers in Whampoa Garden (VSR-L14). Operation Phase impacts resulting from resulting above-ground structures and loss of visual amenity can be effectively mitigated and at Day 1 of Operation no Significant Impacts prevail. By Year 10 of Operation the most significant visual impacts envisaged are Moderate Adverse at Residents on the south side of Chatham Road North (VSR-R4), Future Residents of HK PolyU Planned Student Dormitory (VSR-R9), Residents at Valley Road (VSR-R10).
Air Quality	Potential dust impacts would be generated from excavation activities, material handling, wind erosion, spoil removal, material delivery, rock crushing facilities and operation of the barging point during the construction phase. Fugitive dust impacts would be controlled by the implementation of dust suppression measures as stipulated in the Air Pollution Control (Construction Dust) Regulation, good site practices and proposed mitigation measures. With the implementation of mitigation measures in the Air Pollution Control (Construction Dust) Regulation, proposed dust suppression measures, and good site practices, no 1-hour and 24 hour residual impacts would occur. However, some marginal annual average TSP exceedances would occur at locations around the HOM Station works sites and Finger Pier works area. The exceedances are marginal, short-term and in most cases transient and based upon worst case assumptions. Based upon these factors, the residual impacts associated with the annual dust exceedances for the KTE project within the study area would be considered minor and acceptable.
Air-borne Noise	Without mitigation, the air-borne noise levels would be anticipated to exceed the relevant criteria by up to about 22dB(A) at some NSRs. Mitigation measures are therefore recommended to reduce the noise levels to within the EIAO-TM noise criterion, including provision of quieter plants, silencers, noise barriers, enclosures and insulating fabric and temporary road deck covers. After these mitigation measures are adopted, the noise levels at 17 NSRs (5 schools, 12 residential) would subject to residual impacts of between 1-7dB(A) (or up to 12dB(A) if criterion during examination is considered); while 1 more school NSR would be subject to potential exceedances during examination periods only. As such, all practicable noise mitigation measures will be exhausted to minimise the residual impacts, e.g. good site practices such as orientating the noisy plant away from the nearby NSRs, intermittent use of plant, proper fitting of silencers and mufflers on the construction equipment, avoidance of noisy construction works during the examination period etc. Residual impacts have been assessed and concluded to be temporary, reversible and unlikely to induce public health concern and as such, are considered to be acceptable. Noise enclosures are also recommended to be installed at muckout points and rock crushing equipments. The predicted noise levels arising from the noisy fixed plant of the project such as ventilation building and shafts at the NSRs are carefully assessed to comply with the EIAO-TM criteria provided that the designed maximum allowable SWLs of the fixed plants are met. Good practices should be considered, such as orientating louvers away from adjacent NSRs whenever practicable, adopting silencers, acoustic louvers or enclosures where necessary, etc.
Ground-borne Noise	The proposed mitigation measures for operational ground-borne noise would be reviewed during the construction stage after the tunnel boring.
Water Quality	Water quality impacts from land-based construction activities would be controlled by implementing the recommended mitigation measures, such as control measures on site run-off and drainage from the works sites and barging points to minimise construction run-off, tunnelling wastewater, and particularly on-site treatment of any contaminated wastewater prior to discharge. During the operational phase, track run-off, tunnel seepage and effluent discharges from stations, ventilation buildings and maintenance activities would have no adverse water quality impact provided that mitigation measures are incorporated in the design.
Waste Management Implications	Construction waste arisings have been identified based on the proposed construction activities and would comprise C&D materials (including excavated materials, materials from demolition works and site formation), general refuse from workforce, chemical waste from maintenance of construction plant and equipment and sewage from on-site staff and workers. Provided that the identified waste arisings are to be handled, transported and disposed of using approved methods and the recommended good site practices are to be followed, adverse environmental impacts would not be expected during the construction phase. Methods to minimise the generation of waste have been investigated which focus on the construction methods of tunnels, ventilation building and shafts, and stations. Under the condition of limited works sites approved for construction use of the project, delivery of soft materials for reuse off-site would be considered and used. Off-site reuse at other projects has been explored, e.g. Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB) Hong Kong Boundary Crossing Facilities and Tuen Mun Chek Lap Kok Link, which would require a substantial amount of filling materials. With the implementation of the recommended mitigation measures in Section 10 of this EIA Report, no adverse environment impacts would be expected. The types of waste generated during the operation of the KTE project would be general refuse from the passengers, staff and any commercial operators at HOM Station and WHA Station, general refuse from the ventilation building and ventilation shafts, industrial waste from the maintenance activities and chemical waste from operational activities. The handling, collection, transportation and disposal practices of the identified waste generated should follow the current practices at other operating railway lines and hence would pose no impact.
Land Contamination	There was no exceedance of the RBRGs for all soil and groundwater samples tested and, therefore, no remedial action would be required. In accordance with Clause 3.4.5.6 of the EIA Study Brief, if there is potential contaminated site which is inaccessible for preparing sampling and analysis during the course of the EIA study, e.g. due to site access problem, the information summarised in Table 11.5 were provided.
Hazard to Life	A QRA has been carried out to assess the hazard to life issues arising from the storage and transport of explosives during construction of the KTE project. The assessment results show that the societal risk lies within the ALARP region when compared to the criteria stipulated in Annex 4 of the EIAO-TM. The criterion of the EIAO-TM for Individual Risk is met. An ALARP assessment has been carried out by identifying all practicable mitigation measures and assessing the cost effectiveness of each measure in terms of the risk reduction achieved and the cost of implementing the measures. The location of all relevant Potentially Hazardous Installations (PHIs) have been reviewed with regards to the KTE alignment, temporary explosives magazine and other works areas for both the construction phase and the operation phase of the project. As neither the overnight storage nor use of explosives for rock blasting is in close vicinity to a PHI, and no PHI lies within the “hazard zone” of the transport routes, no PHI requires assessment under the conditions of the EIA Study Brief.

Area/Issue

Environmental Outcomes and Mitigation Measures

The KTE Project

The KTE project is an extension of the KTL and comprises a new railway extension, approximately 2.6km long, running from the end of the existing KTL twin overrun/ refuge siding tunnels south of YMT Station to the end of the overrun/ refuge siding beyond the new terminus station at Whampoa. A crossover is located immediately east of HOM Station with a turnback siding immediately beyond the crossover. This allows every second train to turnback through HOM Station to maintain the current peak headway. At WHA Station a single refuge siding will be provided immediately beyond the end of the platform. The existing terminus at YMT Station will revert to a through station. The distance between centrelines of YMT Station and HOM Station platforms is approximately 1,750m and between HOM Station and WHA Station platforms is approximately 830m. As the spacing between YMT Station and HOM Station is greater than the normal established principle of 1km, a mid-point Emergency Access Point (EAP) and ventilation building is proposed.

The major components of the project will include the following:

· Running tunnels from YMT Station (existing overrun tunnels) to HOM Station;

· Running tunnels from HOM Station to WHA Station;

· HOM Station with associated structures and provisions including station structures and provisions for interchange with the SCL;

· WHA Station with associated structures and provisions; and

· The WAB and ventilation structure at Club de Recreio; and

· A purpose designed and built temporary explosives storage magazine at Tseung Kwan O Area 137.

Environmentally Friendly Design Recommended

There are no Declared Monuments within the KTE project area, and all areas with archaeological potential and graded historical buildings within the project boundary have been identified in an early stage of the preliminary design. The KTE project has been designed to avoid causing direct physical impacts on these heritage resources.

Different types of ventilation buildings and shafts have been designed for provision in different areas. Low-height ventilation buildings and shafts have been assigned to the areas which are considered to be visually sensitive. Their locations have been carefully selected in order to minimise the impacts to the nearby environmental sensitive receivers.

The entire KTE alignment will be operated underground and will avoid air-borne noise impacts. Suitable trackform have been provided in the design to minimise the ground-borne train noise impacts on the adjacent NSRs.

The selection of a shortest practicable tunnel KTE alignment will minimise the generation of excessive excavated C&D materials and tunnel wastewater during the design stage, e.g. limited construction works sites in urban area approved for the project construction and related secondary air and visual impacts, reuse in other external projects etc. These C&D materials will be arranged to be re-used on-site and off-site at other concurrent projects in Hong Kong, e.g. the reclamation for the Hong Kong – Zhuhai – Macao Bridge Border Crossing Facility in north Lantau, etc., to minimise the potential impact to the existing public fills and landfills in Hong Kong.

No modification of the existing seawall structures and marine works including piling are required for the construction and use of the barging point or the purpose designed and built temporary magazine site, hence avoiding possible water quality and marine ecological impacts.

A fast-track construction programme has been designed to shorten the duration of construction works and hence minimise the possible environmental impacts posed on the nearby environmental sensitive receivers.

Population and Environmentally Sensitive Areas Protected

With the adoption of environmentally sensitive design, the major environmental sensitive receivers will be protected. Most of the site locations of ventilation shafts and buildings will be used as work sites and/or construction shafts/muck-out points during construction in order to minimise the works areas required as well as disturbance to the public and environment.

As all of the railway running tracks of the project are underground, there would be no air-borne train noise impacts on the noise sensitive uses along the KTE alignment.

Cultural Heritage

As there are no Declared Monuments in the study area, no impacts to any Sites of Cultural Heritage covered by the EIAO are expected during the construction and operational phases and no specific mitigation measures will be required.

Landscape and Visual

Potentially Significant Adverse impacts to landscape resources during Construction Phase are anticipated at HOM Station (Slopes adjacent to Chatham Road North -LDR-3.2) and these cannot be suitably mitigated. Following introduction of mitigation measures at Day 1 of Operation Significant Adverse impacts will still prevail, however with the mitigation measures taking effect over time, including compensatory tree planting, slope greening with seedling tree planting, wall and roof planting these are reduced to Moderate Adverse by Year 10.

Following introduction of the above mitigation measures only one Landscape Character Area demonstrates Impacts during Construction Phase. Moderate Adverse impacts to landscape character at Ho Man Tin - Valley Road Estate (LCA-06) are anticipated. At Day 1 of Operation Slight Adverse impacts prevail. By Year 10 of Operation Slight Beneficial landscape character impacts will be evidenced.

Despite mitigation measures Significant Adverse Residual Visual Impacts are anticipated during Construction Phase to Residents on the south side of Chatham Road North (VSR-R4), Residents grouped at Wuhu Street and Gillies Avenue (VSR-R5), Residents at Ka Wai Chuen (VSR-R6), Residents at Shun Yung Street (VSR-R8), Future Residents of HK PolyU Planned Student Dormitory (VSR-R9), Residents at Valley Road (VSR-R10), Residents of Whampoa Estate and Garden (VSR-R13), Members and Visitors of Club de Recreio (VSR-L4), Visitors of Chinese Civil Servants Recreation Club and Philipino Club (VSR-L6) and Shoppers in Whampoa Garden (VSR-L14). Operation Phase impacts resulting from resulting above-ground structures and loss of visual amenity can be effectively mitigated and at Day 1 of Operation no Significant Impacts prevail. By Year 10 of Operation the most significant visual impacts envisaged are Moderate Adverse at Residents on the south side of Chatham Road North (VSR-R4), Future Residents of HK PolyU Planned Student Dormitory (VSR-R9), Residents at Valley Road (VSR-R10).

Air Quality

Potential dust impacts would be generated from excavation activities, material handling, wind erosion, spoil removal, material delivery, rock crushing facilities and operation of the barging point during the construction phase. Fugitive dust impacts would be controlled by the implementation of dust suppression measures as stipulated in the Air Pollution Control (Construction Dust) Regulation, good site practices and proposed mitigation measures. With the implementation of mitigation measures in the Air Pollution Control (Construction Dust) Regulation, proposed dust suppression measures, and good site practices, no 1-hour and 24 hour residual impacts would occur. However, some marginal annual average TSP exceedances would occur at locations around the HOM Station works sites and Finger Pier works area. The exceedances are marginal, short-term and in most cases transient and based upon worst case assumptions. Based upon these factors, the residual impacts associated with the annual dust exceedances for the KTE project within the study area would be considered minor and acceptable.

Air-borne Noise

Without mitigation, the air-borne noise levels would be anticipated to exceed the relevant criteria by up to about 22dB(A) at some NSRs. Mitigation measures are therefore recommended to reduce the noise levels to within the EIAO-TM noise criterion, including provision of quieter plants, silencers, noise barriers, enclosures and insulating fabric and temporary road deck covers. After these mitigation measures are adopted, the noise levels at 17 NSRs (5 schools, 12 residential) would subject to residual impacts of between 1-7dB(A) (or up to 12dB(A) if criterion during examination is considered); while 1 more school NSR would be subject to potential exceedances during examination periods only. As such, all practicable noise mitigation measures will be exhausted to minimise the residual impacts, e.g. good site practices such as orientating the noisy plant away from the nearby NSRs, intermittent use of plant, proper fitting of silencers and mufflers on the construction equipment, avoidance of noisy construction works during the examination period etc. Residual impacts have been assessed and concluded to be temporary, reversible and unlikely to induce public health concern and as such, are considered to be acceptable.

Noise enclosures are also recommended to be installed at muckout points and rock crushing equipments.

The predicted noise levels arising from the noisy fixed plant of the project such as ventilation building and shafts at the NSRs are carefully assessed to comply with the EIAO-TM criteria provided that the designed maximum allowable SWLs of the fixed plants are met. Good practices should be considered, such as orientating louvers away from adjacent NSRs whenever practicable, adopting silencers, acoustic louvers or enclosures where necessary, etc.

Ground-borne Noise

The proposed mitigation measures for operational ground-borne noise would be reviewed during the construction stage after the tunnel boring.

Water Quality

Water quality impacts from land-based construction activities would be controlled by implementing the recommended mitigation measures, such as control measures on site run-off and drainage from the works sites and barging points to minimise construction run-off, tunnelling wastewater, and particularly on-site treatment of any contaminated wastewater prior to discharge.

During the operational phase, track run-off, tunnel seepage and effluent discharges from stations, ventilation buildings and maintenance activities would have no adverse water quality impact provided that mitigation measures are incorporated in the design.

Waste Management Implications

Construction waste arisings have been identified based on the proposed construction activities and would comprise C&D materials (including excavated materials, materials from demolition works and site formation), general refuse from workforce, chemical waste from maintenance of construction plant and equipment and sewage from on-site staff and workers. Provided that the identified waste arisings are to be handled, transported and disposed of using approved methods and the recommended good site practices are to be followed, adverse environmental impacts would not be expected during the construction phase.

Methods to minimise the generation of waste have been investigated which focus on the construction methods of tunnels, ventilation building and shafts, and stations. Under the condition of limited works sites approved for construction use of the project, delivery of soft materials for reuse off-site would be considered and used. Off-site reuse at other projects has been explored, e.g. Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB) Hong Kong Boundary Crossing Facilities and Tuen Mun Chek Lap Kok Link, which would require a substantial amount of filling materials. With the implementation of the recommended mitigation measures in Section 10 of this EIA Report, no adverse environment impacts would be expected.

The types of waste generated during the operation of the KTE project would be general refuse from the passengers, staff and any commercial operators at HOM Station and WHA Station, general refuse from the ventilation building and ventilation shafts, industrial waste from the maintenance activities and chemical waste from operational activities. The handling, collection, transportation and disposal practices of the identified waste generated should follow the current practices at other operating railway lines and hence would pose no impact.

Land Contamination

There was no exceedance of the RBRGs for all soil and groundwater samples tested and, therefore, no remedial action would be required. In accordance with Clause 3.4.5.6 of the EIA Study Brief, if there is potential contaminated site which is inaccessible for preparing sampling and analysis during the course of the EIA study, e.g. due to site access problem, the information summarised in Table 11.5 were provided.

Hazard to Life

A QRA has been carried out to assess the hazard to life issues arising from the storage and transport of explosives during construction of the KTE project.

The assessment results show that the societal risk lies within the ALARP region when compared to the criteria stipulated in Annex 4 of the EIAO-TM. The criterion of the EIAO-TM for Individual Risk is met. An ALARP assessment has been carried out by identifying all practicable mitigation measures and assessing the cost effectiveness of each measure in terms of the risk reduction achieved and the cost of implementing the measures.

The location of all relevant Potentially Hazardous Installations (PHIs) have been reviewed with regards to the KTE alignment, temporary explosives magazine and other works areas for both the construction phase and the operation phase of the project. As neither the overnight storage nor use of explosives for rock blasting is in close vicinity to a PHI, and no PHI lies within the “hazard zone” of the transport routes, no PHI requires assessment under the conditions of the EIA Study Brief.

14. SUMMARY OF ENVIRONMENTAL OUTCOMES