The developers of a housing project at an ecologically sensitive Yuen Long wetland are broadening their environmental impact study, to assess the impacts of a vehicle bridge and verify the presence of a firefly species new to science.
The environmental study for the Nam Sang Wai wetland housing project began last year, after the developers - including Nam Sang Wai Development Company and Kleener Investment - submitted their project profile to the Environmental Protection Department. Following normal procedure, the department in August gave the developers a brief setting out the scope and requirements of the impact study.
On Wednesday, the developers went back to square one, submitting a new project profile to the department. The public will again have two weeks to comment on the profile.
'We just enriched the content of the profile with more ecological data we have obtained so far,' a spokeswoman for the developers said, adding that the environmental impact study was continuing uninterrupted.
She said the new submission would not affect their schedule for launching the project, which involved up to 1,500 homes in a 50-hectare area. Construction is scheduled to begin next year and continue until 2019. A 56-hectare nature reserve in Lut Chau will also be formed.
The new submission made several amendments to the old one, adding a new connecting-road bridge across the Shan Pui River and revising some initial ecological findings. In particular, it highlighted the likely existence of a firefly species new to science at the project site.