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Time
This leads me to reassure Members about the timing of the ELA process. While I am aware that Members are concerned that the statutory EIA arrangements may add to the length and complexity of the project planning and cause greater uncertainty to project implementation, we have assured Members that the EIA process has been significantly streamlined and that statutory time limits on that process have been imposed. The Bill therefore represents a balance between the need to protect our environment and the need to allow important development projects to proceed efficiently.
I can, moreover, assure Members that the Environmental Protection Department will process EIA studies and applications for environmental permits expeditiously. We are sufficiently confident of this and, as an additional safeguard, we have also accepted Members' suggestion to allow an applicant to treat his application as having been unconditionally approved if the Director fails to respond within the statutory deadline. These improvements, which I shall move at Committee Stage, will help make the EIA process more predictable.
Members will agree that by spelling out clearly the requirements and procedures for EIA, we will bring more certainty to project planning and costing. A project proponent will now be in no doubt about whether his proposed project requires an EIA, thus enabling the proponent to initiate the EIA early, to facilitate integration of environmental requirements into project design and layout, and to save the time and money subsequently required to remedy damage and muster community acceptance.
Residential Development
On the question of the EIA Bill's scope, we have heard concerns that the Bill, together with other development related controls and arrangements, may delay housing production at a time when the community's demand for a sufficient supply of flats is intense. This concern seems to arise from a misunderstanding. I would therefore like to clarify that residential developments, except those in ecologically sensitive areas and those exceeding 2,000 flats in unsewered areas, are not covered by the EIA Bill. The majority of housing sites are therefore outside its scope and there is no question of EIA arrangements delaying the overall housing production programme.