BARREN hillsides in the Yuen Long area will be reforested following construction of the Route 3 Country Park highway to the border.
About 34 hectares of forest will be planted to replace more than 11 hectares of trees chopped down during the construction of the project's Tai Lam tunnel and Yuen Long northern approach road.
Details of the replanting were confirmed in a detailed environmental impact assessment after demands from green groups.
'The exact area has still to be determined but it will have to be completed in 1998 when the country park section opens,' said Highways Department chief engineer David English.
The assessment said wetlands filled in to provide temporary access during construction would be cleaned out when work finished.
The World Wide Fund for Nature welcomed the move but said it did not go far enough to repair the ecological damage done by the project.
