XN000022-1990-08-07 — Page 8

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TUESDAY, AUGU.

190

CONTROL

QUIETER

"SINCE THE IMPLEMENTATION LAST YEAR OF THE NOISE ORDIN SK, MORE AND MORE CONTRACTORS ARE SWITCHING ΤΟ CONSTLUCTION EQUIPMENT AS THEY DISCOVER THAT THE USE OF SILENCED EQUIPMENT CAN GREATLY ASSIST IN THEIR APPLICATIONS FOR CONSTRUCTION NOISE PERMITS.

"APPLICATIONS FOR THE USE OF QUIETER EQUIPMENT RESULT IN MORE PLANTS, OR LONGER WORKING HOURS, BEING PERMITTED," HE SAID.

MR PILLING BELIEVED THAT IT WOULD NOT BE TOO LONG BEFORE MOST CONTRACTORS REALISE IT IS AN BCONOMICAL PROPOSITION TO CARRY OUT THEIR WORK BY THE USE OF SILENCED EQUIPMENT INTRODUCED TO HONG KONG.

HE ALSO ENVISAGED THAT IN THE COMING DECADE, WITH THE BUILDING OF MAJOR EXTENSIONS TO THE INFRASTRUCTURE DESIGNED TO CARRY HONG KONG INTO THE 21ST CENTURY, THERE IS NO SIGN OF SLOWING IN THE CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITIES IN THE TERRITORY.

"DEAFENING NOISE HAS BEEN CONSIDERED AN INEVITABLE CONSEQUENCE. OF CONSTRUCTION WORKS AND THE PUBLIC IN HONG KONG HAS BEEN REMARKABLY TOLERANT OF IT IN THE PAST.

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"BUT PEOPLE ARE BECOMING MORE AND MORE AWARE OF ENVIRONMENT IN WHICH THEY LIVE, AND OF THEIR RIGHT TO REASONABLE STANDARDS OF PROTECTION FROM ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION, HE ADDED.

HE STRESSED THAT THE GOVERNMENT, AS THE MAJOR SPONSOR OF THESE WORKS, WOULD ENSURE THAT THEIR EFFECT ON ENVIRONMENT, BOTH IN THE LONG TERM AND DURING THE PERIOD OF CONSTRUCTION, WOULD BE KEPT то ACCEPTABle levels.

THE QUIET CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT EXHIBITION, FOR WHICH THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION DEPARTMENT IS ONE OF THE SPONSORS, IS BEING HELD TOGETHER WITH DEMONSTRATION SESSIONS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION ON QUIET CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGIES AND EQUIPMENT AVAILABLE TO LOCAL

CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY.

MR PILLING SAID BY TAKING PART IN THE EXHIBITION, THE GOVERNMENT DEMONSTRATED ITS CONCERNS OVER THE PROBLEM OF NOISE POLLUTION IN WHICH THE WORKS BRANCH AND ITS ROUP OF DEPARTMENTS ARE FREQUENTLY SEEN TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR MAKING A GOOD DEAL OF NOISE IN THEIR CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITIES.

HE NOTED THAT THE GOVERNMENT'S EFFORTS TO GET ITS CONTRACTORS TO USE QUIET CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT ARE OFTEN MET WITH CYNICISM.

THE PRACTICAL DEMONSTRATION SESSIONS OF THE EVENT WOULD ALSO BE OF DIRECT BENEFIT TO THOSE ATTENDING WHO CAN SEE, AND HEAR, FOR THEMSELVES HOW MODERN TECHNOLOGY CAN HELP IN THEIR OPERATIONS, HB ADDED.

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