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Following is a question by the Hon Audrey Eu and a written reply by the Secretary for Development, Mrs Carrie Lam, in the Legislative Council today (June 18):
Question:
At present, trees affected by working projects are being transplanted to certain sites designated by the Government ("government receptor sites"). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of its annual expenditure on tree transplantation in each of the past three financial years;
(b) of the number, broken down by tree type, of trees being transplanted to the government receptor sites each year between 2005 and 2007;
(c) over the past three years, whether the relevant works staff had pruned the trees being transported to government receptor sites for the purpose of complying with the vehicle volumetric loading provisions in the road traffic legislation; and
(d) of the respective five-year and 10-year survival rates of trees being transplanted to the government receptor sites after their transplantation?
Reply:
President,
(a) In the 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08 financial years, the expenditures for transplanting a total of some 3,700 trees under public works and public housing projects were around $4 million, $3.5 million and $4.8 million respectively.
Trees affected by works projects can be divided into two groups on the basis of the arrangements for handling them. The first group pertains to those trees which can be transplanted directly to their permanent planting locations. The other group pertains to those trees which have to be moved to a temporary storage site first before being transplanted to their permanent planting locations. For the former, we will select as far as possible another location in the same project site for transplanting. Failing this, trees will be transplanted to other project sites or suitable roadside amenity areas. As for the latter, works departments or their contractors will have to make their own arrangements for identifying suitable temporary storage locations. Generally speaking, these sites include suitable private land or land granted by the Lands Department through short term tenancy or temporary land allocation. Since 2004, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) has been providing space for works departments or their contractors for temporary storage of trees when space is available in LCSD's five holding nurseries and seven tree banks. However, as the space provided is limited, not all demands from works projects can be met. In such cases, the concerned works departments or their contractors will have to make their own arrangements for identifying suitable temporary storage locations.
(b) As the above temporary storage arrangement was just launched in the 2004-05 financial year, LCSD did not receive any request for temporary storage of trees in that year. Over the past three financial years of 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08, the number of trees temporarily transplanted to the holding nurseries or tree banks was 1, 217 and 75 respectively (293 trees in total), with details as follows:
Financial Year Tree Species Quantity
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2005-06 Royal Palm 1
2006-07 African Tulip Tree 27
Chinese Banyan 27
Colville's Glory Tree 24
Tipa Tree 23
Buddhist Pine 23
India-rubber Tree 22
Kassod Tree 20
Umbrella Tree 15
Frangipani 15
Pink Shower 5
Bald Cypress 5
Big-leaved Fig 5
Yellow Elder 3
Flame Tree 3
2007-08 Taiwan Acacia 39
Kassod Tree 12
Chinese Banyan 10
Ear-leaved Acacia 7
Chinese Hackberry 4
Tree Cotton 1
Big-leaved Fig 1
Common Red-stem Fig 1
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Total 293
(c) When trees are transported for transplanting, the concerned departments and their contractors, when necessary, will engage specialist landscaping contractors to execute appropriate pruning to the trees so as to comply with the provisions of the traffic regulations on the dimension of loads carried on vehicles. The positions for placing the trees on the trucks will also be carefully selected so as to preserve their length and breadth as far as possible and minimise the extent of pruning. Generally speaking, pruning is required only for larger trees.
Furthermore, to enhance the survival rates of transplanted trees, the Government has incorporated relevant specifications into works contracts to ensure that transplanted trees are properly handled. These specifications cover preparatory work before transplanting, restrictions on pruning of tree crowns and roots, protection measures to be adopted during transportation, and maintenance of trees after transplanting, etc.
(d) Trees stored in holding nurseries or trees banks are normally transplanted to their permanent planting locations (including areas within the original project site, other project sites or suitable roadside amenity areas etc) within a year. We do not have any record on the survival rates of the trees in 5 and 10 years after being transplanted to holding nurseries or tree banks.
Ends/Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Issued at HKT 15:00
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