XN000022-1997-01-29 — Page 25

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I will begin by reminding Members of the importance of this legislation, a point I emphasised by my colleague, Mr Bowen Leung, when introducing the Bill to this Council just one year ago. Members will recall that the Bill provides a statutory framework modelled on the existing administrative arrangements for the conduct of ELAs and serves two main purposes. The first purpose is to require the proper evaluation, at the earliest possible stage, of the environmental impacts of development projects. The second purpose is to ensure the satisfactory implementation of necessary prevention and mitigation measures to protect the environment.

Interface with Development Related and Pollution Control Legislation

While these purposes are generally accepted, some Members are concerned that the Bill may overlap the existing legislation for land use planning and pollution control. However, most of the projects covered by the Bill are infrastructure projects which do not require project specific planning approval, and the issues covered by EIA concern primarily site specific environmental requirements and monitoring which are outside the scope of planning control. The EIA Bill therefore complements the planning process by ensuring optimal environmental performance of agreed development projects during their design, construction and operation phases. As EIA deals with preventive rather than remedial controls, many of the matters addressed in the EIA are not covered by the existing pollution control legislation. We therefore feel that a dedicated legislation on EIA is an appropriate arrangement which allows maximum flexibility for different aspects of project planning to proceed concurrently or sequentially as circumstances may require.

Mechanism for Public Consultation

Turning to the issue of public consultation in the EIA arrangements, we have strengthened the consultation procedures and widened the scope of public participation at various stages of the EIA process. The Bill makes it obligatory to make the EIA report available for public inspection and comment for one month. It also provides for independent review of EIA reports by the Advisory Council on the Environment. To further enhance the transparency of the EIA decision making process, the Bill sets up a register which makes key documents of the ELA process accessible to the public.

Some professional organisations and environmental groups made submissions to the Bills Committee suggesting that arrangements should be made to allow the public to provide inputs for the preparation of an EIA study brief. Having regard to this aspiration, as well as the need to avoid lengthening the EIA process, we have devised a mechanism to require an applicant for a study brief to advertise the availability of the project profile, thereby inviting interested parties to raise environmental concerns which the EIA should address. Proceeding in parallel with consideration of the project profile by Government departments, this arrangement will allow earlier and wider public participation in the EIA process while keeping it as short and simple as practicable.