HKBWS BBS 香港觀鳥會新聞組


    
      
        HKBWS BBS 香 港 觀 鳥 會 新 聞 組
        (http://www.hkbws.org.hk/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl)
      

        Discussion Area 討論區 >> Conservation 自然保育 >>  Landfill in Country Park???　郊野公園變堆填區???
        
(Message started by: Andrew on Jan 10^th, 2006, 7:49am)

Title: Landfill in Country Park???　郊野公園變堆填區???
Post by Andrew on Jan 10^th, 2006, 7:49am

Environmental officials may use part of country park as rubbish dump

Environmental officials are considering turning part of the Clear Water Bay Country Park in Sai Kung into a landfill site.
The Environmental Protection Department wants to extend the Tseung Kwan O landfill site to cope with the city's growing rubbish problem. One option to expand the landfill involves slicing off 5.1 hectares of land in the country park.

 
A consultancy study commissioned by the department says the plan would have an impact on some rare and protected butterflies and birds.

But it says the ecological impact on the country park would be small.

The plan is now being examined by the Country and Marine Parks Board. Green activists called the plan ridiculous and said its approval would open a floodgate.

The Tseung Kwan O landfill currently receives an average of 8,100 tonnes of waste every day and it is the only landfill in Hong Kong designed to accept chemical waste.

The government estimates that all three landfills in Hong Kong will be exhausted in the next five to nine years. The Tseung Kwan O landfill will be used up by 2011.

The other two landfills, in Ta Kwu Ling and Tuen Mun, will also be expanded.

The consultancy report says the extension in the Tseung Kwan O landfill could be built much higher if it takes up the slope in the Clear Water Bay Country Park. But there are two other options which would not encroach on the park.

Choy So-yuk, chairwoman of the Legislative Council environmental affairs panel, said yesterday she would call a special meeting to investigate the issue.

"Country parks are supposed to be sacred and untouchable. The department seems to be treating it as its private land," she said.

"The EPD should protect the environment, not pollute it."

An Environmental Protection Department spokeswoman said the landfill extension was an immediate solution to the waste problem.

C SCMP 10/01/2006

Whatever next? Landfill in Mai Po?