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I wish to clarify, therefore, that the THEES is not designed "to transport industrial and farm waste" from Tolo Harbour to Victoria Harbour and no such information has ever been conveyed to the Advisory Council on the Environment. The purpose of the Scheme is to export fully treated effluent from the Shatin and Taipo sewage treatment plants to Victoria Harbour in order to reduce the risk of red tides in Tolo Harbour caused by excessive nutrients in the treated effluent.
The answers to the various parts of the question are as follows:
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
The two pumps (out of a total of four) of the new pumping station at Shatin were found during commissioning to be damaged due to installation defects.
The above problem arising from the defective pumps does not affect the sewage treatment function of the Shatin and Taipo treatment plants and it does not affect the residents in the neighbourhood of these two plants either. The problem with the two pumps and other technical difficulties encountered in the present commissioning phase do interrupt the operation of the pumping station such that not all treated effluent is pumped to Victoria Harbour. However, it should be emphasized that the Tolo Harbour Effluent Export Scheme is aimed at long term improvement to protect the waters of Tolo Harbour from excessive nutrients enrichment. The current problem with the newly installed pumps is of a short term nature which will be rectified in the near future, and therefore should have no long term effects.
The contractor who was responsible for the supply and installation of the two pumps in question is Jebsen & Company Limited.
Jebsen has been instructed to replace the damaged parts. At the moment, the replacement parts for the two pumps are being manufactured by the German manufacturer. Repair work will be carried out when these parts are delivered to Hong Kong. The contractor is contractually responsible for rectifying the problems of the two pumps in question and will bear the costs of the repair.
End