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In response to media enquiries on the judgement handed down by the High Court on a judicial review case in respect of the environmental impact assessment of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB), a spokesman for the Transport and Housing Bureau said:
¡§The HZMB project is a cross-boundary transport infrastructure project that has been under planning for a long time. It has very important strategic value in terms of further enhancement of the economic integration and development between Hong Kong and the Mainland. The commissioning of the project will bring a new era for the transportation connections between Hong Kong and the Mainland. The HZMB will not only inject impetus to Hong Kong's long-term economic development, but also bring new opportunities to the various key sectors in Hong Kong, including tourism, financial, trade, commercial and logistics industries etc.
Among the seven contentions which the applicant raised in the judicial review application, we noted that the Court did not accept six of them which were related to environmental standards. The Court made its ruling on the ground that the Government had only provided the projected environmental conditions with the project in place and had failed to present separate data on the environmental conditions without the project in place.
We will study the judgement and its implications before deciding how to handle the aforesaid procedural issue, having regard to the requirements of the law, as soon as possible. Works of the Main Bridge have already commenced. We will continue to press ahead with the advance works of the local projects, and will look into ways on how to carry forward the works, such as to proceed or complete the works in phases, to endeavour to tie in with the target of completing and commissioning the Bridge in 2016.
Ends/Monday, April 18, 2011
Issued at HKT 21:55
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