I would encourage HKBWS members to look seriously into this EIA proposal, because it clearly affects those who visit Mai Po for birding, and is the largest development proposal ever inside the Ramsar Site, so is important for wetland conservation in Hong Kong.
For me, the most important issue in this development project is actually hidden away. In Section 2.3.1 of the proposal it mentions another project "Demolition and Re-construction of the Peter Scott Field Studies Centre (PSFSC) near MPNR". I believe that this is a major project causing major disruption to those using the reserve, and with potentially important conservation implications. However, it is impossible to judge the impacts because at the moment WWF have not revealed any details of the proposal publicly; they have not yet applied to the Town Planning Board for planning permission, but it is stated in the EIA application they expect to start work in April 2018 (less than a year from now).
Personally I believe that this project on its own should require an EIA, yet WWF have removed it from their EIA application. WWF actually treat this as a part of the same project (
http://www.hkbws.org.hk/BBS/viewthread.php?tid=26456&extra=page%3D1), an the exclusion from this proposal appears to be an attempt to exploit a legal loophole (based on land zoning) to avoid this EIA requirement. I find this shameful approach to be absolutely disgraceful for an environmental organisation with the credentials of WWF.
It is within the rights of the Director of EPD to request that an EIA should be carried out on this project, and
I recommend that HKBWS members with an interest should send in comments on the current proposal asking EPD to enforce the wetland protection of Deep Bay by requesting WWF to carry out an EIA on this PSFSC project.
