Three companies working on Hong Kong’s Central-Wan Chai Bypass fined for making too much noise and pouring away dirty water
- Courts hands down HK$157,500 fine for 16 offences
- Samples show that two discharges of untreated waste water exceeded limits on solids by 172 times and 32 times
Three contractors building a major road link on Hong Kong Island were fined on Thursday for making too much noise and pouring their dirty waste water into drains during construction.
Chun Wo Construction and Engineering, China Railway Group and subcontractor Wah Keung Metal Engineering, along with the workers involved, were slapped with a HK$157,500 (US$20,100) fine by Eastern Court for a total of 16 offences under noise control and water pollution laws.
They were working on the Central-Wan Chai Bypass. Scheduled for completion in the next few months after years of delays, the road is being built across the island’s northern shore to ease congestion in Wan Chai, Admiralty and Central.
The defendants were found to have done work using unauthorised powered mechanical equipment, used more machines than were allowed, and illegally carried out work several times during restricted hours at night and on Sundays.
An investigation also found that workers discharged waste water without proper treatment into storm drains at least twice between June and August last year.
“The waste water samples showed that the concentrations of suspended solids exceeded the discharge standards stated in the [work] licence by 172 times and 32 times respectively,” the Environmental Protection Department (EPD), which issued the prosecutions, said in a statement on Thursday.