|
Letter to the Editor of the Sunday Morning Post published on 12 August, 2003
The Sunday Morning Post on 27 July carried a news report on claiming that many construction companies are repeat offenders against the Noise Control Ordinance, and that legal and environmental experts were calling for tighter law enforcement.
The existence of repeat offenders against our environmental laws, whilst not desirable in itself, is at least an indication of a reasonably effective enforcement regime. However, effective pollution control is not just about prosecuting offenders. It is also about stopping pollution in the first place. Apart from regular enforcement actions against breaches of environmental legislation, the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) has been adopting a partnership approach to increase the green awareness of the construction trade, and facilitate compliance with environmental laws by sharing with the trade environmental protection skills and knowledge.
Since 2000. the EPD has organised several partnership programmes, which included nearly 100 workshops, many of which were jointly organised with the Hong Kong Construction Association (HKCA). These were aimed at assisting the construction industry to improve communication with the workforce, clarify requirements of environmental laws, advise on appropriate pollution prevention measures and provide training to the construction workforce on green work practices.
A number of websites have also been developed by the EPD together with HKCA, to provide an easy access for the trade to up-to-date information on green practices and green equipment.
Following the initiation of the partnership programmes, there have been substantial improvements in the environmental performance of the construction industry, and the enhanced green awareness on construction sites has resulted in a significant reduction in environmental problems associated with the construction industry.
This can be illustrated by the falling trend in the conviction figures of the construction industry from the historical high three years ago. This recent trend was not reflected in the news reports on 27 July. The number of convictions of the construction industry under all environmental ordinances decreased from 730 in 2000 to 443 in 2001 and 320 in 2002. The number of convictions under the Noise Control Ordinance (NCO) dropped from 364 in 2000 to 240 in 2001 and 195 in 2002.
On the aspect of tighter control, your readers may wish to know that a new provision under the NCO holding company directors liable when their companies has repeatedly convicted under the same construction sites will be implemented in the near future. In addition, the Environmental, Transport and Work Bureau has started a new practice in April this year to bar contractors having five or more environmental convictions within a rolling six-month period from bidding for tenders of public works.
Mike Stokoe
Acting Director of Environmental Protection
|
