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Following is a question by the Hon Lau Wong-fat and a written reply by the Secretary for Development, Mrs Carrie Lam, in the Legislative Council today (February 27):
Question:
Will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the current number of open sewers, as well as the location and length of each open sewer, broken down by 18 District Council districts; and
(b) whether the Government has any plan for decking all the above sewers; if so, of the detailed timetable concerned, and what plans the Government has in place to make good use of the land obtained from decking such sewers?
Reply:
Madam President,
Hong Kong collects and discharges its sewage through a system of underground pipes. On the other hand, all open nullahs are used for discharging storm water, not sewage. Probably due to discharge of pollutants into the open nullahs, some of them are smelly and become the subject of public complaints. Our replies to the two legs of the question are as follows -
(a) The Drainage Services Department (DSD) has over the past few years received complaints about odours from open nullahs and was asked to improve the situation. The location and length of the open nullahs that have received public complaints are listed at Annex.
(b) The Government has planned to deck open nullahs to improve the environment. As indicated at Annex, the decking works for eight sections of the nullahs in Kwai Tsing, Tsuen Wan, Sham Shui Po, Wan Chai and Yau Tsim Mong districts have been completed. Decking works for five other sections of the nullahs are scheduled to start between 2008 and 2010. Separately, the DSD will consider improvement options for the remaining nullahs and study their technical feasibility. The relevant District Councils will be consulted in the process.
The land created by decking open nullahs will generally be for public use, such as greening of the environment, provision of amenity facilities and footpath widening.
Ends/Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Issued at HKT 16:59
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