WE, and our adjacent neighbours, are daily subjected to highly dangerous levels of noise pollution from construction related percussive piling works, at the adjacent comprehensive redevelopment at Wing Lok Street and Queens Road Central, also called LDC-H3. The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) has special regulations regarding percussive piling works that essentially allow it in all areas of Hong Kong, during restricted operating hours, currently in three one-hour periods per day (according to a letter to our company, from Dr H. Au, of the EPD). It is interesting to note that this type of piling work, on the basis of its noise pollution, is forbidden by law in the following Asian countries: Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Taiwan. We have recently been performing tests in our offices, using the same instruments that the EPD uses, to determine the noise impact from this adjacent piling work. The Technical Memorandum of the Noise Control Ordinance Section 2.4, says that the acceptable noise level for the worst case situation (that is, inner city) for day-time is 75 decibels - dB(A). We have been measuring noise levels inside the public areas of our building during the piling works, with levels recorded at 126.9B(A). The difference between these two levels, that is, the acceptable maximum, and the amount measured at our location, is over 50 decibels, which in arithmetic terms is 50,000 times the acceptable noise levels. Although apparently the EPD may issue a noise abatement notice for noise emanating from the Government Stadium, where such noise exceeds the maximum by about 15 decibels, it cannot or will not issue a Noise Abatement Notice to the contractor/developer community where the noise levels exceed the maximum by over 50 decibels. This is unfair to the average Hong Kong resident. This percussive piling must be outlawed now. WARD M. SELLARS Senior Associate Manager - Hong Kong Office Shen Milsom & Wilke, Ltd