40/F, Revenue Tower, 5 Gloucester Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong 香港灣仔告士打道 5號稅務大樓 40樓

ACE Paper 15/2007 For advice

Report of the

Environmental Impact Assessment Subcommittee INTRODUCTION The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Subcommittee considered the EIA report on Drainage Improvement in Sha Tin and Tai Po (ACE-EIA Paper 5/2007 refers) by circulation. All Members of the Subcommittee agreed that the EIA report could be considered by the Subcommittee without a presentation by the project proponent (Drainage Services Department) and could be endorsed without condition. 2. The public inspection period of the EIA report is from 17 May to 15 June 2007. Two sets of public comments were received by the Environmental Protection Department during the period which have been referred to Members for reference. ADVICE SOUGHT 3. Members are requested to advise whether the EIA report on Drainage Improvement in Sha Tin and Tai Po could be endorsed without condition. NEED FOR THE PROJECT 4. The project is to alleviate recurring flooding problems in Shuen Wan area by improving the drainage system in accordance with the recommendations of the Sha Tin and Tai Po Drainage Master Plan Study. DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT 5. Shuen Wan is a low-lying area and the cause of flooding is a combined effect of extensive rainwater conveyed into Wai Ha River during severe storm event and ingress of seawater from Tolo Harbour during high tide event. The original design of the stormwater

drainage improvement in Shuen Wan includes construction of a floodwall of 900 m long with a maximum height of 1.7 m along Tung Tsz Road to avoid stormwater entering village settlements. In view of the concerns from villagers on potential visual intrusion of the proposed floodwall, the project proponent has adopted an alternative design which comprises construction of a box culvert underneath Tung Tsz Road to divert excessive stormwater from the Wai Ha River to the Tolo Harbour, a flood gate system to avoid ingress of seawater from the Tolo Harbour and a pumping system to extract water from villages. 6. The project includes the following key items and their locations and general arrangement are shown in Figure 1 attached –

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

a 1000 m long twin cell box culvert (3 m x 2.5 m) along Tung Tsz Road;

a floodwater pumping station at Shuen Wan;

automatic mechanical flood gates to replace the existing manually operated gates at the mouth of Wai Ha River;

a drainage pipe of 280 m long and 1200 mm in diameter near Wai Ha Village; and

a flood relief of 260 m long and 2100 mm in diameter along Ting Kok Road.

7. The box culvert with the alignment located at the fringe of the “Conservation Area” in Shuen Wan constitutes a designated project under Item Q.1, Part I, Schedule 2 of the EIA Ordinance, i.e. “a project partly in an existing conservation area”. VIEWS AND CONCLUSION OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE 8. Having regard to the findings and recommendations of the EIA report, Members agreed by circulation that the EIA report could be endorsed without condition. The Subcommittee endorsed Members’ views and agreed to recommend the EIA report to the full Council for endorsement without condition. EIA Subcommittee Secretariat June 2007

2

Figure 1