(b)
· 37 -
While a final decision on the later stages of the SSDS can be taken after the public consultation, something must be done now to deal with our water pollution problem. Water quality in the harbour is poor and deteriorating. As a project of the type and scale of the full SSDS is best taken forward in stages in any case, the Government is getting on with Stage I of the SSDS, the High Priority Programme, which offers a speedy and cost effective first step remedy to our problem, as quickly as possible. Our first task therefore is to complete the High Priority Our Programme by 1997 to curtail harbour pollution by 70%. immediate aim is to prevent further deterioration in the water quality of the harbour and to protect public health. As I have said, the Stage I works will not pre-empt any workable Stage II option.
As I have explained before, the present form of the SSDS is the result of a 2-year intensive study of over 1,000 possible disposal arrangements, the feasibility and effectiveness of which was confirmed by an independent group of consultants in 1993. To be confirmed as part of the long term solution the original Stage II option must be environmentally viable and Environmental Impact Assessment studies to examine this aspect have been started. We made it clear, from the beginning, that it would not be possible to proceed with the Stage II option without the satisfactory completion of a thorough EIA. This needs to be done with the cooperation and assistance of the Chinese authorities; and, eventually, their formal agreement would be required for any oceanic outfall option. There has never been any doubt about this requirement.
However, in the light of more recent developments in sewage treatment technology, the latest Review began in mid 1994 to determine whether more environmentally acceptable and cost-effective alternatives to the original outfall proposal could be identified. The independent examination conducted by the International Panel of Experts has basically endorsed the collection system and centralised treatment at Stonecutters and suggested some adjustments to the treatment level by proposing chemically enhanced primary treatment. Such adjustments are only to be expected during the implementation of long term technical and engineering projects on such a vast scale. This is why the Administration accepts the need to review Stages II to IV of the SSDS and to consult the public, the Advisory Council on the Environment, the Environmental Affairs Panel of this Council and the Chinese side in the process. I must emphasise, however, once again that the present Stage I works will not pre-empt any Stage II options and are basic and essential components of any system involving higher levels of treatment that may be introduced.
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