13. CONCLUSION

This EIA Report has been prepared for the Project in accordance with the requirements set out in the EIA Study Brief (ESB–310/2018) and the Technical Memorandum of Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance (EIAO-TM).

Assessments of the potential environmental impacts associated with the construction and operation phases of the Project in various technical aspects have been conducted. The environmental aspects covered in this EIA study include:

· Air Quality Impact

· Noise Impact

· Water Quality Impact

· Waste Management Implications

· Ecological Impact

· Land Contamination

· Landscape and Visual Impact

This section concludes the acceptability of the overall environmental performance of the Project.

The key assessment assumptions, limitation of assessment methodologies and all related prior agreements with EPD on assessment of different environmental aspects are given in Appendix 13.1.

A summary of environmental impacts identified in this EIA is provided in Appendix 13.2 and the conclusions of technical chapters are described in the following sections.

Air Quality

The air quality assessment studied the potential air quality impacts on ASRs due to construction and operation phases of the Project, including dust and gaseous emissions impacts. Consideration is given in the assessment of air quality impacts during construction and operation phases of the Project on the planned and existing ASRs in the vicinity.

Potential air quality impacts from the construction works would be mainly due to construction dust from excavation, materials handling and wind erosion. With the implementation of mitigation measures following the Air Pollution Control (Non-road Mobile Machinery) (Emission) Regulation, mitigation measures specified in the Air Pollution Control (Construction Dust) Regulation and EM&A programme, no exceedance of AQO is anticipated during construction phase.

Cumulative air quality impact arising from the vehicular emissions from the open roads within the assessment area has been assessed at the worst-case-year. The assessment results concluded that the predicted cumulative 19-th highest hourly average and annual average NO₂, 10-th highest daily average and annual average RSP / FSP concentrations at representative ASRs would comply with AQOs.

Noise

The noise assessment studies the potential noise impacts on NSRs due to the construction and operation phases of the Project, including construction noise impacts and traffic noise impacts.

Practical noise mitigation measures such as use of quieter PME and erection of temporary noise barriers are proposed to minimize the noise impact during the construction phase. It is recommended that more detailed construction work programme should be established by the contractor and applicable noise mitigation measures should be implemented according to the actual site condition and constraints, in order to minimize the residual construction noise impact. EM&A has been proposed to ensure the implementation and effectiveness of the mitigation measures.

Direct noise mitigation measures such as use of LNRS and noise barrier are evaluated to minimize the operation noise impact. LNRS with total length of approximate 2.1km would be applied on several road sections of Kam Tin Road. Total length of approximate 837m vertical noise barriers with maximum height of 5.0m along Kam Tin Road and maximum height of 3.0m along Lam Kam Road are recommended for the NSRs with exceedance in unmitigated scenario. After implementing direct noise mitigation measures, the predicted overall noise levels of some of the NSRs still exceed the noise criteria, which are not directly affected by the Project. Nevertheless, with the proposed direct mitigation measures, there will be 565 existing dwellings and 30 planned dwellings benefited, and 106 existing dwellings protected. As no representative existing NSRs would fall within all the three testing criteria mentioned in Section 4.6.4, no indirect mitigation measures would be required.

The increase in road traffic noise level due to the Project is considered not significant (less than 1.0dB(A) increase in all NSRs) after implementation of noise mitigation measures when comparing to the without Project scenario. In fact, the mitigated road traffic noise levels with the Project at many NSRs are less than that of the without project scenario.

Therefore, the residual road traffic noise impact of the Project is considered acceptable.

Water Quality

Given both magnitude and duration of works and with the implementation of the mitigation measures during the construction phase, no significant water quality impacts are anticipated for the Project. The implementation of the mitigation measures shall be included to the works contracts. Regular site inspections are recommended during construction phase to ensure the measures are implemented properly.

During the operation phase, the stormwater from the surface runoff is the key identified environmental impact and there will be no sewage generation during Project operation. Road drainage system along Kam Tin Road and Lam Kam Road will be properly planned and upgraded to cater for the road surface runoff from highway with increased capacity after road widening. With the mitigation measures mentioned in Section 5.7.2 of this Report in place, residual adverse water quality impacts are not anticipated.

Waste Management

With the implementation of the mitigation measures during the construction and operation phases of the Project, no significant waste management impacts are anticipated. The implementation of the mitigation measures shall be included to the works contracts. Regular site inspections are recommended during construction phase to ensure the measures are implemented properly.

Ecology

The proposed development would cause minor ecological impacts to habitats and species of conservation importance. Impact avoidance, minimization and mitigation measures were proposed. With implementation of the proposed mitigation measures, no adverse ecological impacts are anticipated.

Land Contamination

A total of 44 potentially contaminated sites were identified, of which over 90% of the potentially contaminated sites are currently used as vehicle repairing/dismantling workshops and open storage area.

Since the potentially contaminated sites are located in private land lots, site investigation is unlikely to be carried out at this stage. In addition, as the sites are still in operation, it is considered not suitable to carry out the site investigation at this stage as there may be change in land use prior to construction for both potentially contaminated sites and other areas within the Project Boundary. In view of this, further site visits to these potentially contaminated sites are proposed once site access is available in order to identify the need for site investigation for any additional hot spots as a result of the on-going land contaminating activities. In addition, site re-appraisal would be required for other remaining areas of the Project to address any change in land use that may give rise to potential land contamination issues.

Findings from the re-appraisal will be presented in a supplementary CAP. Upon approval of the supplementary CAP and completion of the site investigation works, a CAR would be prepared to present findings of the site investigation works. If contamination has been identified, a RAP would be prepared to recommend specific remediation measures. Upon completion of the remediation works, if any, a RR would also be prepared to demonstrate that the clean-up works are adequate. The CAR, RAP and RR would be submitted to EPD for approval prior to commencement of any construction / development works.

Upon remediation of the contaminated land, if any, the Project will have converted previously potentially contaminated soil and groundwater into safe, usable land fit for development, thus bringing benefits to the community at large.

Landscape and Visual

Based on the tree survey conducted and with respect the latest available engineering information, a total of 1250 trees of no direct conflict with the Project works would be retained. A further 43 trees would be transplanted and 756 trees would be felled. The design of the proposed engineering works has been carefully considered to retain as many of the existing trees as possible. Most of the trees found were planted ornamental plant and fast-growing exotic species and none of them were recorded as listed or qualified to be registered in the Register of Old and Valuable Trees. The tree loss will be compensated through the planting and growth to maturity of 756 heavy standard trees (with a DBH not less than 10cm) would be required for compensation in 1:1 ratio.

Overall, the EIA Study has predicted that the Project, with the implementation of the mitigation measures, would be environmentally acceptable with no adverse impacts on the population and environmentally sensitive resources.