We are responding to your article on the proposed heliport ('Heliport noise will be as loud as jackhammer: study', July 23). This commented on the noise impact of the heliport, off Golden Bauhinia Square, on the nearest residential and commercial developments and the proposed waterfront promenade.
While you used information from our Working Group report, the fact is a heliport as proposed will make noise which is on a par with the ambient noise of a cosmopolitan city. Activities in the streets create noise, activities in business offices create noise, buses zooming past create noise. The spectrum of noise-impact comparison provided in our report is an attempt to be entirely transparent.
However, your comparison between a jackhammer 10 metres away and 'heliport noise' was slightly misleading. The latter refers to the noise generated at take-off and landing only - a few minutes for each movement and say four movements per hour while the heliport is in operation. In short, noise from the heliport will be hardly noticeable in our daily life.
The impact on the environment of a heliport development, which is essential and desirable for Hong Kong, must be considered with extreme sensitivity. We have done our best to innovate and integrate with the surrounding waterfront promenade, to infuse the vibrancy of our harbour and to provide open public access.
On the important issue of noise, we are organising, with the assistance of recognised experts, a test this month to compare helicopter takeoff and landing noise with ambient and different recurrent background noise at the site, as part of our public consultation. And we shall continue to listen carefully to different views put forward. The public debate on this must be fact-based, and we shall do our best to provide the facts.
Sir Michael Kadoorie, in his deputation to a Legislative Council joint panel on January 31, clearly articulated his reason for championing this cause - he saw this important piece of aviation infrastructure as missing for too long without any indication of the government giving it priority, at the risk of Hong Kong failing to maintain our position as an international and regional aviation centre. It is all for the good of the wider Hong Kong community.