246 Land, Public Works and Utilities
Island, foundation works at Sheung Wan stormwater pumping station and sewer pipe jacking and sewage pumping station foundation work at Kam Tin and Au Tau.
In addition, the department provides construction material testing and ground investigation services to support public works projects. The testing service is provided by the Public Works Laboratories. During the year, some 900 000 tests were carried out and 19 000 metres of soil and rock drilled.
Mining and Quarrying
The department enforces legislation relating to mining, quarrying and explosives, and administers quarrying contracts. It processes applications for the manufacture, storage, conveyance and use of explosives, and inspects stone quarries, blasting sites and explosives stores.
Hong Kong consumed about 12 million tonnes of aggregates and other rock products in 2005. About 50 per cent of its demand for the products was met locally, with the balance imported from the Mainland.
Three quarrying contracts were in force during the year. The quarrying contracts require the operators to rehabilitate the quarries within a specified period in return for the granting of rights to process and sell surplus rock excavated during the course of the works. The rehabilitation works involve recontouring and extensive planting to blend the quarries with the surrounding hillsides.
The department manages two government explosives depots at Kau Shat Wan on Lantau Island and Piper's Hill, Sha Tin, which provide bulk storage facilities for imported explosives for industrial use. It also undertakes the delivery of explosives from the depots to blasting sites and issues shot-firer certificates. About 2 700 tonnes of explosives were consumed in 2005, used for quarrying and site formation works.
The department also provides technical support to the Home Affairs Bureau and the Marine Department in assessing applications for fireworks displays.
Fill Supply and Mud Disposal
About 21 million tonnes of construction and demolition (C&D) materials generated by local construction activities were handled during the year. Of this, about 19 million tonnes of inert materials were re-used as fill material in projects such as Penny's Bay Reclamation and Central Reclamation Phase III developments, or stockpiled at the fill banks in Tuen Mun and Tseung Kwan O. The department, on behalf of the Public Fill Committee (PFC), manages construction and demolition materials and utilisation of land-based fill reserves. Public construction works are required to adopt waste-management plans that reduce the generation of such materials at source.
In 2005, about 2.2 million cubic metres of uncontaminated mud and 800 000 million cubic metres of contaminated mud were generated by various works projects and maintenance works on navigational channels in the harbour. Uncontaminated mud was disposed of at open sea floor disposal grounds or exhausted marine sand borrow pits. Contaminated mud was placed in specially selected and closely
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