ENG-1993 — Page 313

THE AIRPORT CORE PROGRAMME

on time and within budget, and to report progress and co-ordinate their work through NAPCO.

NAPCO's job is to ensure compliance with ACP plans, programmes and budgets, and to act as a focal point for the management of project interfaces and resolution of problems. It is made up of staff from the government and the ACP project management consultant.

In addition to the cost control systems, its highly competitive tendering system has also enabled the government to obtain value for money on the ACP contracts.

Protecting the Environment

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) studies have been undertaken for each of the ACP projects, sometimes at both the feasibility and detailed design stages, as an integral part of project planning and design. These studies have generally shown that, with suitable mitigation measures in place, the projects will be environmentally acceptable when they are built and operating.

The island being formed at Chek Lap Kok for the airport platform has been designed to allow tidal water to flow between the airport and the North Lantau coastline, thereby flushing partially enclosed areas of water to the east. Most of the natural coastline to the west of Tung Chung will be retained. Several mitigation measures have been initiated for the loss of wildlife habitats along North Lantau and at Chek Lap Kok. These include ecological studies of local wetlands, seagrass beds and mangrove communities; relocation of a colony of Romer's Tree Frogs from Chek Lap Kok; and replanting of mangrove communities and woodlands.

Extensive environmental monitoring and audit programmes are being put in place by the respective project offices to ensure acceptable environmental performance of individual projects. To supplement the efforts of the project offices, an environmental project office for the West Kowloon project area was established by the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) in 1992. A similar office was set up for the Kwai Chung and Tsing Yi area in 1993. Both offices consist of EPD staff and specialist environmental consultancy teams. Their task is to monitor and audit the cumulative environmental effects of the construction works and to ensure that environmental issues are quickly identified and acted upon by the works agents. The offices also assist the government in dealing with local community concerns on environmental issues arising from the construction works.

Safety at Work

The government continues to promote safety at work and is making headway in the implementation of safety measures on the ACP construction sites.

The Airport Core Programme Construction Safety Manual was published in 1992, setting out the government's policy and objectives, and safety measures.

During 1993, a package of safety measures was implemented on the construction sites. Contractors were required to prepare safety plans, employ full-time safety personnel on site, provide training to their workers and management, and establish site safety committees. These measures, which were incorporated in each contract, were intended to ensure there was an effective safety management system on each site from the moment work commenced.

Safety standards on sites were closely monitored. A site safety management committee was established in each site to monitor each contractor's compliance with safety

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