1.1.1. This Project is to construct and operate a vehicle depot-cum-office building (hereinafter referred to as the “proposed Project”) for the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF), the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD), the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) and the Government Laboratory (GL), who are also responsible for the operation of the proposed Project upon completion of construction works. The Project Proponent for this project is the HKPF. Allied Environmental Consultants Limited (AEC) was appointed as the environmental consultant to undertake the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study for the proposed Project.
1.2.1. As mentioned in Section 1.1, the proposed Project is to construct and operate a new vehicle depot-cum-office building in Chai Wan at the junction of Sheung Tat Street, Sheung On Street and Sheung Mau Street (hereinafter referred to as the “Project site”). According to the approved Chai Wan Outline Zoning Plan (OZP) No. S/H20/21, the Project site is zoned “Government, Institution or Community”, whilst the surrounding areas are currently zoned “Industrial”, “Government, Institution or Community” and “Open Space”. The location of Project site is shown in Figure 1.1. The Project site is a reclaimed land which is currently occupied by the Drainage Services Department (DSD) as a works and staging area.
1.2.2. The proposed Project will involve the construction and operation of a 6-storey building (with a mezzanine floor above Level 3) comprising various facilities for vehicle parking, vehicle washing and repair operation as well as offices. The area of the Project site is approximately 7,000m2. A detailed description of the proposed Project is provided in Section 3 below.
1.2.3. In accordance with Item A.6, Part I, Schedule 2 of the Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance (EIAO), the proposed Project is a designated project under the category of “A transport depot located less than 200 m from the nearest boundary of an existing or planned (a) residential area and (b) educational institution”. An EIA is required and an Environmental Permit (EP) is to be obtained prior to construction commencement. An application for the EIA Study Brief under Section 5(1) of the EIAO was submitted by AEC on 23 January 2014 with a Project Profile (No. PP-499/2014). An EIA Study Brief (No. ESB-267/2014) was issued by the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) on 5 March 2014 to proceed with an EIA study for the proposed Project.
1.3.1. This EIA Report was prepared in accordance with the abovementioned EIA Study Brief (No. ESB-267/2014). The purpose of this EIA study is to provide information on the nature and extent of the potential environmental impacts arising from construction and operation of the proposed Project and associated works that will take place concurrently. This information will contribute to the decisions by EPD on:
· The overall acceptability of any adverse environmental consequences that are likely to arise as a result of the Project and associated works, and their staged implementation;
· The conditions and requirements for the detailed design, construction and operation of the proposed Project to mitigate against adverse environmental consequences; and
· The acceptability of residual impacts after the proposed mitigation measures are implemented.
1.3.2. According to the clause 2.1 of the EIA Study Brief, the specific objectives of this EIA study are as follows:
· To describe the proposed Project and associated works together with the requirements and environmental benefits for carrying out the proposed Project;
· To identify and describe the elements of the community and environment likely to be affected by the proposed Project, and/or likely to cause adverse impacts to the proposed Project, including both the natural and man-made environment and the associated environmental constraints;
· To identify and quantify emission sources and determine the significance of impacts on sensitive receivers and potential affected uses;
· To propose the provision of infrastructure or mitigation measures to minimize pollution, environmental disturbance and nuisance during construction, operation of the proposed Project;
· To investigate the feasibility, effectiveness and implications of the proposed mitigation measures;
· To identify, predict and evaluate the residual (i.e. after practicable mitigation) environmental impacts and the cumulative effects expected to arise during the construction, operation phases of the proposed Project in relation to the sensitive receivers and potential affected uses;
· To identify, assess and specify methods, measures and standards, to be included in the detailed design, construction, operation of the project which are necessary to mitigate these residual environmental impacts and cumulative effects and reduce them to acceptable levels;
· To design and specify the environmental monitoring and audit requirements; and
· To identify any additional studies necessary to implement the mitigation measures or monitoring and proposals recommended in the EIA Report.
1.4.1. The following general principles and approaches for evaluating the potential environmental impacts were adopted in this EIA study:
1.4.2. The characteristics of the existing environment were described for the identification and prediction of potential impacts which are likely to arise from implementing the proposed Project. Baseline environmental surveys were conducted where necessary and relevant reports / documents were reviewed to determine the existing environmental conditions on the Project site and in all surrounding areas likely to be affected by the Project.
1.4.3. Individual aspect assessments were undertaken in accordance with the relevant guidelines on assessment methodologies given in the Technical Memorandum on Environmental Impact Assessment Process (EIAO-TM) and the EIA Study Brief.
1.4.4. Similar methodologies applied in the assessment have previously been adopted in other EIA studies in Hong Kong, which have been generally accepted for predicting environmental impacts and for the comparison of assessment results with the EIAO-TM requirements. Limitations are however envisaged of these methodologies and the accuracy of the prediction will be affected by the degree of uncertainty in input data for quantitative assessments. For example, base data for future conditions such as weather conditions, which have to be considered during the formulation of assessment conclusions. These have been addressed by the adoption of realistic but worst case assumptions in order to provide a conservative assessment of environmental impacts.
1.4.5. The predicted changes and effects resulting from the proposed Project were evaluated with respect to the criteria given in the EIAO-TM and were in quantitative assessments as far as practicable.
1.4.6. Mitigation measures have been identified and evaluated to avoid, reduce and remedy the impacts. Priority was given to avoidance of impacts as a primary means of mitigation. The effectiveness of the proposed mitigation was assessed and the residual environmental impacts were identified and considered for their acceptability.
1.4.7. An implementation schedule for the mitigation measures was prepared to identify when and where each mitigation measure is required, and to identify which parties are responsible for its implementation and where necessary, for its maintenance.
1.5.1. The environmental issues covered in this EIA study, as addressed in the EIA Study Brief (No. ESB-267/2014), are as follows:
· Potential air quality impacts on sensitive receivers due to the construction and operation of the proposed Project, including the construction dust emissions, fixed plant engine emissions, vehicular emissions from road traffic induced by operation of the proposed Project, odour emission from FEHD refuse collection vehicles (RCVs), and vehicular and/or odour emission due to the arrangement of traffic route of RCVs and other project induced vehicles during operation of the proposed Project;
· The potential hazard to life due to the neighbouring dangerous goods (DGs) processing and storage facilities (including but not limited to Sinopec HK (Ex-CRC) Oil Terminal Chai Wan, two petrol-cum-LPG filling stations operated by ExxonMobil at Sheung Mau Road and Sinopec at Chong Fu Road respectively, LPG wagon parking site at junction of Sheung On Street and Sheung Ping Street, as well as nearby potentially hazardous sources) during construction and operation of the proposed Project.
· Potential noise impacts on sensitive receivers due to the construction and operation of the proposed Project, including the noise generated by construction activities and operational noise from fixed noise sources, addition traffic flow induced by operation of the Project; and traffic noise due to the arrangement of traffic route of RCVs and other project induced vehicles during operation of the proposed Project;
· Potential water quality impact and sewerage impact from the construction and operation of the proposed Project;
· Potential waste management and land contamination implications arising from the construction and operation of the proposed Project;
· Potential landscape and visual impacts during the construction and operation of the proposed Project; and
· Potential cumulative environmental impacts of the proposed Project, through interaction or in combination with other existing, committed and planned projects in the vicinity of the Project, and that those impacts may have a bearing on the environmental acceptability of the proposed Project.
1.6.1. This EIA study has made use of findings from the previously approved EIA Reports, including the following:
· Reprovisioning of FEHD Sai Yee Street Environmental Hygiene Offices-cum-vehicle Depot at Yen Ming Road, West Kowloon Reclamation Area (No. EIA-216/2013)
· EMSD Hong Kong Workshop at Sheung On Street, Chai Wan (No. EIA-202/2012)
· Proposed Headquarters and Bus Maintenance Depot in Chai Wan (No. EIA-060/2001)
· New World First Bus Permanent Depot at Chai Wan (No. EIA-034/1999)
·
Central Kowloon Route Environmental Impact Assessment, Highways
Department (No. EIA-208/2013)
· Kai Tak Development, Civil Engineering and Development Department (No. EIA-157/2008)
· South Island Line, MTR Corporation Limited (No. EIA-185/2010)
1.7.1. This EIA Report comprises 13 sections including this introductory section, which described the background, purpose, scope and approach of the EIA study. The other sections are outlined below:
· Section 2 describes the consideration of alternative schemes of the proposed Project and the reasons for selecting the preferred scheme and construction methods. It also summarises the Project’s anticipated environmental benefits;
· Section 3 presents the Project site and its surrounding environment, preliminary design of the proposed Project and the major activities in the Project;
· Section 4 identifies and assesses the potential air quality impacts arising during the construction and operation of the proposed Project;
· Section 5 identifies and assesses the potential construction and operational noise impacts arising from the proposed Project;
· Section 6 identifies and assesses the potential water quality and sewerage impacts during the construction and operation of the proposed Project;
· Section 7 identifies and assesses the potential landscape and visual impacts arising during the construction and operation of the proposed Project;
· Section 8 identifies and assesses the potential waste management implications during the construction and operation of the proposed Project;
· Section 9 identifies and assesses the potential land contamination issues during the construction and operation of the proposed Project;
· Section 10 identifies and assesses the potential risk arising during the construction and operation of the proposed Project;
· Section 11 summaries the overall conclusion of this EIA Report;
· Section 12 defines the scope of the environmental monitoring and audit (EM&A) requirements of the proposed Project; and
· Section 13 provides the implementation schedule of the mitigation measures.
1.7.2. Impacts on ecology, historical and cultural heritage, agricultural and fisheries are not of concern in relation to the proposed Project and have not been included in the EIA study.
1.7.3. All quoted appendices and figures in this EIA Report are presented under separate covers, which are Appendices and Figures respectively.