CONFIDENTIAL
4
A
project, and is therefore not a substitute for the EIA. separate EIA study is still required to look into the environmental impact of the project, for example on Mai Po which is a wetland of internationally recognised importance, and to devise necessary mitigation measures including possible alterations to the project design.
7.
The full EIA for both stages I and II of the project will take some 15 months to complete. This cannot be further reduced; otherwise the study will not be able to cover the possible changes in hydraulic situations in the four seasons and impacts on Mai Po ecology. However a provision has been built into the consultancy brief to require a preliminary report on the stage I works to be completed six months after commencement of the study. It is thus possible for the stage I works to commence ahead of the completion of the full EIA if the preliminary report can confirm the environmental acceptability of the project as a whole and the acceptability for the Stage I works to proceed. We cannot go beyond this without compromising Government's current environmental requirement and without being criticised by both local and international environmental and conservation groups.
8.
It would be
The experts of the Environmental Sub-group will meet on 18 November to decide on the EIA Consultant(s). It is expected that the study can start in December. useful to publicize the signing ceremony of the EIA consultancy and the possibility of commencing the stage I works when the preliminary report is ready around mid-1994. This, of course, has to be worked out in consultation with the
Shenzhen side.
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.