XN000022-1995-05-17 — Page 77

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Reply:

(b)

Mr President,

whether the Government will consider requesting the British military authority in the territory to undertaken such task within the next 2 1/2 years as a pubic service so as to reduce public expenditure?

I believe the Honourable Member is referring to the former Post Shelter firing range which was established in 1936. Most of the range ceased to be used for firing in the mid-1970s.

(a)

(b)

In 1980, the Queen's Gurkha Engineers conducted a search of paths and some private lots on Kau Sai Chau, near the edge of the range. In 1983, they completed a search ten metres either side of the footpath across the Lung Ha Wan peninsula in the Clearwater Bay area. significance was found in either case; and

Nothing of

British Forces in Hong Kong no longer have the necessary manpower, equipment or expertise to conduct a clearance of the former range area.

Police and military experts have advised that a search and clearance exercise - particularly in a large expanse of rocky, scrub-covered terrain like the former range - could not guarantee that the areas in question are totally free of unexploded ordinance. That is why we maintain some 57 warning notices around the periphery of the former range. The presence of unexploded ordinance is by no means unique to former firing is ranges. Such ordinance mostly unexploded bombs from the second world war - also found on construction and other sites around the territory. The Explosives Ordinance Disposal Bureau of the Royal Hong Kong Police Force seeks to render them safe, with no injuries to any member of the public. The Bureau maintains a duty team on 24-hour stand-by to render safe all finds of this kind.

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End/Wednesday, May 17, 1995