TNAG-1610-FCO40-22132-Minutes-and-Hansards-of-the-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-1987 — Page 236

Question No.

4

Reply by Hon. G. Barnes, JP, Secretary for Lands and Works, to question by Hon. Maria Tam, OBE, JP,

at Legislative Council on 8 April 1987

Question: Will Government inform this Council of its

policy on the provision of public dumping sites for the disposal of materials generated from construction processes, and whether adequate dumping sites at strategic points in the territory as available?

Sir,

The Government policy on public dumping has

never been formalised, so I can at best give only a

description of what we seek to achieve. Government cannot

bind itself to providing dumping sites which are

convenient for all, particularly bearing in mind that the

demand is not constant, and any way we don't want and

can't have reclamations everywhere. But we try to have

dumping capacity available in different places firstly

because it is an economic way to do the reclamations we

want to do and have completed legal formalities for,

secondly because it reduces indiscriminate illegal dumping

and thirdly because it helps the construction industry for

both public and private sector projects. Our ability to

provide public dumping in different areas clearly depends

on there being a going reclamation or project which needs

fill in the area. At present there is intermittent

reclamation at Telegraph Bay going on now, but there are

public dumps open at Ma On Shan and Tuen Mun. Later in

the year we will be able to reopen Hung Hom Bay for a

short period.