A confidential consultant's report
assessing the risk of marine traffic accidents after a large area is -reclaimed
for the proposed third airport runway
has underestimated the number and scale of potential accidents, says a veteran
environmental scientist who has obtained the report.
The report estimated that the number of marine traffic accidents would increase by one per year after the reclamation - rising to 37 accidents per year by 2030.
Lam Chiu-ying, an adjunct professor at
Chinese University's department of geography and -resource management, said the
document had failed to take into account the number of vessels sailing through Hong Kong waters.
Lam, a former Observatory director, said
after the reclamation was completed, the width of Urmston Road, a major marine
passage between Lantau and Tuen Mun, would shrink by half, while the number of
vessels sailing through the area would grow, including ferries running -between
Hong Kong, Macau and
the Pearl River Delta, and heavy cargo ships.
This would make large-scale accidents such
as collisions -between passenger ferries and cargo ships highly likely, he
said.
Lam added that the report, in evaluating the
risk on society as a whole, used much smaller per capita risk figures which
indicated that they were acceptable.
He said his own calculations showed that
this was not the case by standards set in the Environmental Impact Assessment
Ordinance.
Furthermore, he said, an oil rig belonging
to the Shenzhen government was sited about 2km from the end of the third runway, which would
affect flight landings there. He said the report reflected the problem, but the
government was keeping this away from the public.
"I'm very disappointed," Lam
said. "I've raised the mistakes several times with the government, but
they brushed them aside as mere opinions instead of statements based on
scientific grounds.
"If large-scale accidents happen after
the reclamation, I wonder whether they can sleep well."
The Airport Authority has commissioned two studies on the
impact the reclamation may have on nearby waters.
Both reports, finished in March last year,
have been kept confidential.
Lam said he had seen only one of the two
documents.
Lam filed his opposition to the project in
July last year during a public consultation exercise. The Lands Department is
expected to submit all the opinions collected to the Executive Council later
this month.
The HK$141.5 billion runway project will be funded from three
sources: bank loans and issued bonds, the airport's operational surplus and an airport construction fee
imposed on departing passengers.
Reclamation work is expected to be
completed around 2023.
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