Building giants are exposed as serial polluters
The worst offenders have been fined 30 times but still land multi-million-dollar contracts
Some of the biggest names in Hong Kong's construction industry have been convicted and fined for breaching anti-pollution laws more than 30 times in the past three years, an investigation by the Sunday Morning Post has revealed.
But despite their shoddy records, many of the worst offenders continue to be awarded multimillion-dollar government contracts, having paid fines as low as $10,000 each time they were caught.
As a result, environmental lawyers and noise-pollution experts yesterday called for tighter law enforcement, tougher penalties and spot checks on construction sites to deter repeat offenders.
Among the worst repeat offenders convicted of breaching anti-pollution laws, according to a list from the Environmental Protection Department (EPD), were Hong Kong Construction (Holdings) Limited and Chun Wo Construction and Engineering Company. The EPD list details convictions in the 12 months from last June and a history of convictions in the case of repeat offenders.
The list shows that Hong Kong Construction (Holdings) - one of the city's largest publicly listed construction companies - has amassed 31 convictions under the Noise Control Ordinance (NCO) since January 2000 and eight under the Air Pollution Ordinance.
The most recent breach, involving the use of powered mechanical equipment without a valid construction noise permit on May 26 last year, resulted in a fine of $100,000 - half of the maximum for a second or subsequent conviction.
The $100,000 fine was the highest meted out by the courts on anti-pollution laws since last June, but represented a drop in the ocean for a company which last year recorded a turnover of $1.32 billion.
Only two other companies, Kin Shing Construction and Shun Shing Construction and Engineering, were fined the same amount in the past year, also for breaches of the NCO.
In spite of its track record, Hong Kong Construction (Holdings) successfully tendered for the $3.9 billion joint-venture contract with the Civil Engineering Department for reclamation work at Penny's Bay, Lantau, to pave the way for the construction of Disneyland.
The company's website also details a $600 million contract with the government's Territory Development Department for the Tuen Mun improvement works and an $860 million contract with the Highways Department for the widening of Tolo Highway between Island House interchange and Ma Liu Shui Interchange.
But a spokesman for the company disputed the EPD's record of convictions, saying its own records showed that it had had 25 convictions since 2000 - mostly incurred in a joint-venture project for West Rail in Tuen Mun.
'Most of the convictions belong to the joint venture, not to Hong Kong Construction (Holdings),' he said, adding that the company had made a serious effort to reduce the nuisance to the public from noise in the past few years. 'Last year the number of convictions were reduced to just four and this year there have been none.'
The second-worst offender, Chun Wo Construction and Engineering, has had 37 convictions since January 2000, according to the EPD list, including 10 breaches of the Water Pollution Control Ordinance, for which it paid fines of between $5,000 to $60,000.
A company spokesman disputed the record, saying it had been convicted of nine breaches in 2001, five last year but none this year.
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Editorial - Page 10
