46
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Land borrow activities on balance are environmentally much more stressful and visually intrusive to the community than marine borrow activities. Land borrow activities invariably involve blasting, and despite site controls the noise and dust pollution factors can be substantial. Marine transport by single vessels carrying 8,000 cubic metres of fill each trip, with minimal noise pollution, is much more preferable to transportation on land, which would require 1100 dump trucks impacting on our roads to transport the same volume.
Land sourcing of fill nevertheless is possible, with appropriate environmental pollution mitigation measures in place, as example by the success at Chek Lap Kok and elsewhere. We will continue to obtain land fill, subject to appropriate environmental controls and economic considerations.
(d)
ર
In summary Mr President, the controlled use of our sea-bed for mud- disposal and to provide filling material for reclamation, is on balance an appropriate means of minimising environmental impact on the community at large. Economically it is also justified. I agree that we must not rely only on local waters, and we actively allow the use of imported filling material for any of our reclamation contracts. Land sourced fill can be imported or obtained locally, subject of course to strict environmental and quality control.
End/Wednesday, July 12, 1995