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Ernest Kao

A green group claims the Highways Department violated the conditions of an environmental permit for a man-made island that forms part of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge project by failing to declare significant changes in reclamation work.
Green Sense says that the location plans it had inspected in the nine amended environmental impact assessment (EIA) reports clearly showed that cylindrical steel cells - sunk into the seabed in a circular form and filled with debris - were to be used along the entire length of the seawall structure.
But two years ago the department's contractor had begun using rubble mounds in some of the seawalls that may have caused more marine pollution, without noting the change in any of its nine amended assessments.
Green Sense chief executive Roy Tam Hoi-pong said this could amount to a breach of the EIA ordinance, which states that any variation to a report must prove "no material change to the environmental impact".
Tam added that the Highways Department should not have let the contractor do this just to speed up work.
He also said the Environmental Protection Department had failed in its job to check the Highways Department.
"It is clear that this was a major change and if the EPD had allowed this, then we believe it to be a serious mishap and a defeat in the ordinance's purpose."
Tam said he would write to the Department of Justice urging them to take legal action and called on the relevant departments to take responsibility.
Last week the Highways Department admitted that flaws in the reclamation process were the reason part of the artificial island had drifted up to seven metres, sparking concerns of safety and cost overruns.
It said the movements were due to the use of steel seawalls, which eliminate the need for dredging, being used in the city for the first time.
The Highways Department said it had consulted the EPD and both methods were "non-dredge methods" with less environmental impact. "The EPD considered that the concerned amendments on works details involved no change to the … EIA report and no variation to the [permit] would be required."
Environment minister Wong Kam-sing also said the project complied with permit requirements. He said silt curtains would help keep sludge from spewing into surrounding waters.


Bridge project on man-made island breached environmental permit, says Hong Kong green group

Reclamation works at the construction site of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge near Tung Chung

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Hong Kong

Health & Environment