THE ENVIRONMENT
Environmental Pollution Control Programme
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The government's environmental protection programme covers air and water pollution, noise control and waste management. It includes the following main elements: planning and environmental impact assessment aimed at pre-empting future problems; legislation to provide a statutory framework for planning as well as for routine control of emissions; a programme for the provision and operation of public sector environmental control and waste disposal facilities such as sewage treatment works and incinerators; and monitoring of environmental quality to check the effectiveness of existing measures and the need for
new ones.
Another further important element in the programme is consultation with those likely to be affected by existing measures and new proposals. Representatives of various industrial and commercial associations and of conservancy groups take part in consultations, largely through advisory committees.
Planning and Environmental Impact Assessment
Consideration given to environmental requirements during the earliest planning stages of new developments provides both a challenge and an opportunity to avert future en- vironmental pollution problems. It has become routine that plans - including outline development and zoning plans, master development and regional strategic planning studies - receive detailed scrutiny by the EPA. Major individual development proposals are often subject to careful environmental impact assessment to assist in the decision-making process. New town developments underway at Junk Bay and planned at Tin Shui Wai, the coal-fired power stations at Tap Shek Kok and on Lamma Island, and various plants and installations on Tsing Yi Island have all been subject to this procedure.
Optical modelling techniques continue to be used to assist in determining optimum building orientations so as to minimise the impact of existing noise sources, such as roads, on new housing estates. These techniques have been used successfully for proposed housing estates at Junk Bay and are currently being developed further by the EPA, using acoustical physical scale modelling, to provide more quantitative advice for town planners.
A major development has been the inclusion of an 'Environment' chapter in the Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines - a government document used to guide the preparation of statutory and non-statutory land use plans, as well as the planning of major development projects. Planners now have available to them comprehensive guidelines on environmental matters which they can use in considering future planning and development activities.
Legislation and Control
The main legislative framework in environmental pollution control consists of the Waste Disposal and the Water Pollution Control Ordinances, which became law in 1980, and the Air Pollution Control Ordinance, which came into force in 1983. To complete this legislative framework, a Noise Control Bill is being drafted and has reached an advanced stage. It is hoped that the Noise Control Bill will be presented to the legislature in 1986. The control of other aspects of pollution is provided for under various ordinances and regulations, such as the Shipping and Port Control Ordinance, the Public Health and Urban Services Ordinance, and the Road Traffic Ordinance.
The Labour Department's Air Pollution Control Division administers the Air Pollution Control Ordinance and subsidiary regulations which provide for the control of aerial
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