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THE ENVIRONMENT

It includes the following main elements: planning and environmental impact assessment aimed at pre-empting future problems; legislation to provide a statutory framework for planning as well as routine control of emissions; a programme for the provision and operation of public sector environmental control and waste disposal facilities such as sewage treatment works and incinerators; and monitoring of environmental quality to check the effectiveness of existing measures and the need for new ones. Another main element is consultation, both with representatives from industry and commerce likely to be affected by existing measures and new proposals and with the community through advisory committees.

Planning and Environmental Impact Assessment

Consideration given to environmental requirements during the earliest planning stages of Hong Kong's new developments provides both a challenge and an opportunity to avert future environmental pollution problems. It has become routine that plans – including outline development and zoning plans, master development and regional strategic planning studies - receive detailed scrutiny by the EPA and other departments with an interest in environmental pollution matters. Major individual development proposals are often subject to careful environmental impact assessment to assist in the decision-making process. The developments at Junk Bay and Tin Shui Wai, the coal-fired power stations at Tap Shek Kok and on Lamma Island, and various plants and installations on Tsing Yi Island have all been subject to this procedure.

A novel development in environmental planning has been the introduction by the EPA of optical modelling techniques to assist in determining optimum building orientations so as to minimise noise impact on new housing estates. These techniques have been used successfully for proposed housing estates at Junk Bay and are currently being developed further to provide more quantitative advice for town planners.

Legislation and Control

The main legislative framework in environmental pollution control consists of the Waste Disposal and the Water Pollution Control Ordinances which became law in 1980 and the Air Pollution Control Ordinance which came into force in 1983. To complete this legislative framework, a new Noise Control Bill is being drafted and has now reached an advanced stage. It is hoped that the Noise Control Bill will be presented to the Executive Council during 1985. The control of other aspects of pollution is provided for under various ordinances and regulations, such as the Shipping and Port Control Ordinance, the Public Health and Urban Services Ordinance, and the Road Traffic Ordinance.

The Labour Department's Air Pollution Control Division administers the Air Pollution Control Ordinance and subsidiary regulations which provide for the control of aerial emissions from furnaces, engines, ovens or industrial plants. During the year, the division inspected 7 959 premises and gave advice to industry on matters concerning statutory requirements, design and installation of air pollution control equipment and measures to prevent contravention of the ordinance. It compiled emissions inventories of air pollutants in selected districts for use in planning air control zones, and processed 400 sets of plans and specifications for chimneys and related combustion equipment and received and investigated 1760 complaints about air pollution. The majority of these complaints were satisfactorily resolved through advice to industry without the need to resort to enforcement action. Some 166 prosecutions were initiated under the Air Pollution Control Ordinance and Clean Air Ordinance: one for failure to comply