Hong Kong sewage plant to move into caverns in 11-year plan
Ambitious HK$30 billion project to vacate 28 hectares of land for housing or other community developments
Drainage officials will seek funding next year for the first phase of works to move a Sha Tin sewage treatment plant into a rock cavern in a massive project expected to last 11 years, according to Hong Kong authorities.
New details have also been revealed on the design of the facility, which is to be rehoused within Nui Po Shan of A Kung Kok, a hill across from the original site on the Shing Mun River.
The first phase is expected to cost about HK$1 billion out of a total of HK$30 billion, if not more, Drainage Services Department chief Edwin Tong Ka-hung said.
The 13 hectares of caverns will provide just half the space of its original footprint, but the project will be the largest sewage works relocated into a rock cavern in Asia.
“It will be like heart replacement surgery,” Tong said of the construction of various sewage networks. “We’re essentially building a new heart in a body and reconnecting the existing blood vessels, before disposing of the old heart.”