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Following is the full text of the speech given by the Secretary for the Environment and Food, Mrs Lily Yam, on "Impact Assessment - A Hong Kong Perspective" at the International Association for Impact Assessment Conference 2000 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre today (June 20).
Dr Liao, Professor Bryan, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Thank you for giving me an opportunity to join the distinguished speakers during this first plenary session. May I add my warm welcome to the many guests from overseas. I am confident that this very well organised conference would provide an effective forum for us to share our experience and to learn from the strategies and practices adopted elsewhere for making informed decisions on how to preserve and improve our living environment.
Hong Kong has more than 15 years' experience in using environmental impact assessment on major development projects. So far we have completed over 500 EIAs. We started applying the procedure in the early 1980's for power plants and important urban developments. Conducting an EIA became a requirement for government projects in 1986. Then, legislation was introduced in 1996, enacted the following year, and came into full operation in April 1998. The EIA Ordinance requires all designated projects to go through an environmental impact assessment before works can proceed. The list of such designated projects runs into almost 100 categories. It includes roads and railways; airport and port facilities; reclamation, dredging and dumping; energy and water supply; waste disposal and sewage treatment; residential and recreational developments and various engineering and decommissioning projects.
Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance
The Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance provides for a highly transparent system. All EIA reports and project profiles, and decisions made by the Authority who is the Director of Environmental Protection at a later stage in the process, are placed on a dedicated web site for public inspection. For Hong Kong's increasingly computer literate society, masses of information are available only a few clicks away. A two-stage consultation process allows both the public and the Advisory Council on the Environment which is made up entirely of non-official members, to be involved in assessing and commenting on the EIA reports before the Director of Environmental Protection decides whether or not to issue a permit with or without conditions, for works on a designated project to commence.
This piece of legislation has real teeth. Heavy penalties up to a maximum of HK$5 million fines plus two years imprisonment may be imposed for carrying out a project without an EIA permit or for not complying with the Director's requirement. In addition, the Director may, with my agreement, issue a cessation order after works have commenced.
During the first two years' of the Ordinance's operation :
- we have processed over HK$170 billion worth of projects. These included 47 km of railways, 29 km of roads, 11 km of drainage channels and an 1800 Megawatt gas fired power station;
- we have placed 78 project profiles, 33 EIA reports and 250 documents or decisions on the dedicated web site for public inspection. The web site has been visited more than 43,000 times; and
- the Director has issued 77 permits.
Impressive statistics on their own, but has EIA made any difference in Hong Kong at all?
Impact of EIA Process
In the past 10 years, perhaps the single most important application of EIA in Hong Kong was in relation to our new Airport and related projects. Although it is rare for a project of this scale not to incur any adverse comments in its environmental score card, the EIA process in the programme has significantly minimised the environmental damage that would otherwise have been inflicted. For example, were it not for the process, a long stretch of valuable natural coastline would have been lost to reclamation for the airport island.
Another key success that we have had in applying EIA was the abandonment of a project which proposed the excavation of 400 million cubic metres of fill material from Mirs Bay to the east of Hong Kong: one of the most pristine, valuable marine ecosystems left in Hong Kong. EIA has saved it from destruction and preserved it for present and future generations to enjoy.
There are other examples of how EIA has helped to reduce damage to our living environment. The process has resulted in the adoption of a state-of-the-art noise design for the West Rail project, offering protection to over half a million residents. A 100 year old park was saved from destruction by changing the alignment for a railway extension in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon.
An encouraging start, but as always there is room for improvement. I believe we have to work harder to raise the generally low level of involvement by the local community in the process. To address this apathy, we worked out a strategy to promote better communication with stakeholders and to facilitate greater public involvement. Last year, the Environmental Protection Department approached all of our 18 District Councils, which are local consultative bodies, to brief and consult them on the operation of the EIA Ordinance. We obtained useful feedback from them. From January this year, we have published full project profiles, rather than just a summary, in both Chinese and English.
Another criticism we often face is that the community is consulted on the environmental impact of a particular project, only when a decision to proceed is made. We attempt to overcome this weakness in the system through strategic environmental assessment.
Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)
Since 1988 strategic environmental assessment has to be conducted for major new towns and development plans, such as Tseung Kwan O New Town, North Lantau New Town, and the West Kowloon development, all these with far reaching benefits.
A strategic environmental assessment report for the Territorial Development Strategy Review was completed in 1996 and widely disseminated and discussed. The process led to fuller recognition and endorsement of the need for urgent action on sustainable development, and for integrating sustainability into all policy making, planning and resource allocation process. It further contributed to a decision to establish a Council on Sustainable Development which we hope to see by the end of the year.
Similarly, the strategic environmental assessment report completed last year for the Third Comprehensive Transport Study in HK resulted in an informed and vigorous debate on the sustainability of our transport policies. This, in turn, led to community acceptance of the need to give greater emphasis to railway.
Contribution to Sustainable Development
The EIA and SEA processes in Hong Kong have become important planning and decision making tools for all large-scale developments. They help us to move towards sustainability impact assessment for policy formulation, through :
- firstly, instilling "ownership" of environmental responsibilities of project proponents both in the public and private sectors;
- secondly, promoting community involvement and encouraging informed public debate on the planning and development process;
- thirdly, helping to integrate environmental considerations into major decisions on social and economic development; and
- fourthly, providing reliable information and objective analysis for decision makers.
The Role of Hong Kong
Ladies and gentlemen, over the past two decades, we have accumulated considerable experience and expertise in impact assessment in many areas. A regional network, EIA Gateway, has been developed through the joint effort of the IAIA, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the South China Institute of Environmental Science and our Environmental Protection Department to provide a bridge to, and an important link amongst, professionals in the Mainland, Hong Kong and other parts of the world. We are proud to be at the forefront of this work, which is so vital to the continued well-being of the community and to our aspiration to be a world-class city. The fact that IAIA 2000 is being held in Hong Kong attests to the important role that we can and are determined to play in the international effort to protect and improve our natural assets and common heritage.
I wish you every success in your pursuit of a sustainable future for us all.
Thank you very much.
End/Tuesday, June 20, 2000
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