I can definitely vouch for the accuracy of Jim Francis’ letter (“Noise pollution a nightmare at Wan Chai site”, May 28). It is like living in a war zone, with the jackhammers going.

I understand that the Building Authority controls the limited allowable times for pile-driving operations, but Hopewell has not even started building yet, despite the fact that the Building Covenant expires at the end of December 2019. The daily cacophony is due to the removal of thousands of cubic metres of hard granite rock for site formation, thereby creating a 50-metre high wall below Kennedy Road and behind Queen’s Road East. What is the Environmental Protection Department doing about this deafening excavation work?

Those I feel most sorry for are the students at St Francis’ Cannossian College (our Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s alma mater), as their classroom block overlooks the site, and they share the same hours.

The bad news for these girls is that Hopewell has just submitted a rezoning application to the Town Planning Board. The “shenanigans” continue, as Hopewell now tries to expand its “empire” westwards by proposing to convert land zoned as public “open space” at Nam Koo Terrace and Hill Side Terrace into another “comprehensive development area”.