EPD issues HK$31b contract for Shek Kwu Chau incinerator

After years of delay and controversy, the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) has finally issued the tender for the construction and operation of the waste incinerator on Shek Kwu Chau.

A Singapore-China joint venture, Keppel Seghers-Zhen Hua, has won the main tender to build and operate what is officially known as an integrated waste management facility.

The EPD has not disclosed the size of the contract, but Singapore-based Keppel-Seghers says it will be worth HK$31 billion.

The incinerator, just off Chi Ma Wan, will be built on a 16ha site at the south end of the island.

It will burn approximately 3000 tonnes of municipal waste daily after it comes into service in 2024.

Just 200 tonnes of that amount will be recycled, while several hundred tonnes of ash will be shipped by barge to the Western New Territories (WENT) landfill site at Tuen Mun.

It will also generate up to 480 million kilowatt hours in electricity capacity per annum – equivalent to 1% of Hong Kong’s total electricity consumption – that can be exported to the grid.

Keppel-Seghers says the construction, to be carried out by Zhen Hua, will “involve the reclamation of an area of about 16 ha, design, engineering and construction of breakwaters, as well as of the IWMF, and its related port facilities on the reclaimed island.”

Keppel Seghers will provide its proprietary waste-to-energy (WTE) technology, which has been successfully deployed for over 100 WTE projects around the world, as well as WTE project implementation and execution of the mechanical treatment plant, power island and desalination facilities.

After the plant is commissioned Keppel has won the right to operate it for 15 years.

The government has argued that the incinerator, first proposed in 2008, is essential for the city to deal with its mountain of household solid waste, estimated to be 5.7 million tonnes in 2015, of which the EPD says just 35% was recycled.

But the project has been criticised for its location, cost, use of old technology and its impact on air quality and marine life.

The initial site of Tsang Tsui was vetoed by rural kingmaker Lau Wong-fat because it was located next to his home village of Lung Kwu Tan.

It sparked a series of protests and a judicial review from a Cheung Chau resident on health grounds. Former EPD deputy secretary Christine Lou even described it as “dioxin-spewing”.

But with construction about to begin, the incinerator, fumes and barges are to become a permanent feature of the South Lantau coast.

Police arrest Long Win bus driver over truck crash

The driver of the Long Win bus that ran into the back of a truck near the Lantau Link tollbooth yesterday has been charged with dangerous driving causing serious injury.

The 57 year-old man was released on bail and will appear in court next month, Commercial Radio reported.

Nineteen people were injured when the N31 bus en route to Tsuen Wan hit a stationary goods truck, crushing the top of the double-decker vehicle.

Two passengers were trapped on the upper deck and had to be freed by fire services officers.

A 41-year-old  man and 50-year-old man sustained serious injuries in the accident.

It was the the second serious accident on the North Lantau Highway in 11 days.

Tai O stars in new Christopher Doyle movie

The old-school charm of Tai O is the backdrop for the latest work from award-winning local film-maker Christopher Doyle.

Australian-born Doyle is famous for his stylish cinematography in Wong Ka-wai movies such as In the Mood for Love and 2046.

His new film, The White Girl (白色女孩),  is co-directed with Jenny Suen, his partner on the well-received Hong Kong Trilogy, a docu-movie in part about Occupy.

The plot is best described as arthouse. A young woman (Angela Yuen) in Hong Kong’s last fishing village is allergic to the sun. Because of this, or perhaps some other reason, she goes out at night in pants and vest.

She meets a Japanese man, like her an outsider. As IMDB explains:

This is a love story, but Sakamoto and The White Girl are not lovers. So what happens between them? They look at each other. He becomes her mirror. She becomes his. That’s what love is: through another they see themselves, reflected, as the imperfect mess that human beings often are.

OK, so not quite up to the standard we’ve come to expect from the Lantau cinema standard set by the likes of Andy Lau and Jean Claude Van Damme.

But there is a sub-plot about greedy mainland developers that may resonate with local viewers.

It premieres on December 14, The White Girl Facebook page advises, though it is not listed at any local cinema.

That may be due to the tepid reviews, like this one from Screen Daily:

The Doyle name, and the legacy of his work with Wong Kar-wai, should ensure further festival bookings and perhaps minor VOD interest. However, it is too willfully obtuse and self-conscious to travel theatrically far beyond its domestic market.

It hasn’t been rated on Rotten Tomatoes or mainland movie site Douban and has earned just 4.8 stars (out of 10) on IMDB.com.

An unpropitious start, but enough to win admission to the Lantau Movie Hall of Fame.

UPDATE December 22:  scmp.com ranked it 44th out of the 45 Hong Kong movies released in 2017.

Eighteen injured after bus hits truck on N. Lantau Highway

At least 18 people were injured when a bus collided with a stationary goods truck near the Lantau Link toll plaza this morning – the latest in a spate of accidents on the airport freeway.

Fire services officers freed two passengers trapped on the upper deck of the bus. One of them, a 40-year-old man, was found unconscious and taken to Princess Margaret Hospital.

Three other passengers suffered “relatively serious” injuries, according to Commercial Radio.

The accident took place at around 5am when a Long Win N31 bus travelling from the airport to Tsuen Wan ran into the back of a medium-sized truck that had stopped on the freeway shoulder, HK01 reported.

The impact of the collision pushed the truck 50 metres forward and severely damaged both vehicles.

The two trapped passengers had been sitting in the front five rows of the bus.

It wasn’t the only accident on the North Lantau Highway this morning.

At around 6am, a motorbike collided with a car in the airport-bound lane, also near the toll plaza. The rider was conscious but unable to speak and was taken to hospital, HK01 reported.

The 14-kilometre highway has come under scrutiny since a taxi driver died in a chain collision ten days ago.

Police are considering extra patrols but the Transport Department has no plans to reduce the speed limit.

 

Photo: HK01

Plan to build fence around Yi O ‘infinity pool’

The Water Supplies Department has proposed installing a fence and CCTV to prevent people bathing in the popular Shui Lo Cho ‘infinity pool’ near Yi O.

The scenic pool on Lantau’s west coast has become a popular tourist spot but, along with the Shek Pik Reservoir, it is the source of Tai O’s drinking water.

In a paper to the Islands District Council, the department noted that since 2014, the council, the Tai O Rural Committee and local residents had become “concerned about the problem of polluted water quality” brought about by illegal swimming.

Swimmer-proof fence (Source: WSD)

It proposed building a fence and installing CCTV to monitor visitors and to aid law enforcement and prosecution.

Under the Waterworks Ordinance any person who enters the water commits an offence, with penalties of up to HK$50,000 and two years’ prison

Since 2014, 15 people have been convicted.

Village chief falls to death near Lantau Peak

A 69-year-old Sha Tin village chief died in a cliff fall at Kau Nga Ling in South Lantau yesterday.

Lau Houming, the head of Sun Tin village, died of head injuries after falling 30 metres.

The Government Flying Service sent two helicopters but he was declared deceased at the scene, Apple Daily reported.

Lau was in a party of 16 that began climbing from Shek Pik. At about 1.30 pm, as they began descending toward Tong Fuk, Lau lost his footing and fell down the slope.

The GFS service said it had to despatch two helicopters to carry the large rescue team – four civil aid staff, a doctor, nurses and flight crew.

Because of the difficult location the rescue helicopter had to make several passes before paramedics could be winched down to the scene.

The hike up Kau Ngau Ling (literally ‘dog teeth ridge’), which lies roughly between Lantau Peak and Shek Pik, is rated as 5-star difficulty.

 

Photo ( top): Government Flying Service

Police weigh more N. Lantau Highway patrols, but no cut in speed limit

Police say they will consider more frequent and more aggressive patrols on North Lantau freeway, but there are no plans lower the speed limit.

Police and Transport Department officials appeared at the Islands District Council last week to respond to queries about the recent spate of accidents on the 14-kilometre highway.

In the latest fatality, a taxi driver died in a five-car chain collision at Sunny Bay – the fifth death on the freeway since the beginning of 2016.

District Councillor member Amy Yung told the meeting that three accidents had taken place on the freeway in just 41 minutes on October 16.

She said she had raised the issue on a number of occasions, but accidents continued to occur.

She was “willing to bet that speeding is the major cause” of the accidents, and urged officials to consider cutting the speed limit and to increase police patrols.

Police acting district operations officer, Lo Tim Fat, told the meeting the accidents were a result of “many factors,” including weather, driver behaviour and road construction.

He said unmarked patrols, radar and speed cameras were already in operation, but they would consider increasing the number of patrols.

But the Transport Department has no plans to reduce speeds limits on the highway.

Senior engineer Yuen Kit Fung said the accident rate on North Lantau Highway was lower than other parts of the city, with 0.17-0.31 accidents for every 80,000 vehicles over the past five years. That compared with 1.18-1.28 rate for the city as a whole.

 

Photo (top):  Mk2010 Wikimedia, Creative Commons

Holden Chow calls on MTR to speed up Tung Chung East station development

Islands District Councillor and DAB vice-chairman Holden Chow has called on the MTR Corp to bring forward the construction of the Tung Chung East station to align with the timetable for building new apartments.

Under the current timetable, the first residents will start moving into the Tung Chung East Development in 2023, but the new MTR station won’t be completed until 2026.

Chow said the construction of the third runway would bring many work opportunities, including for local residents, and the most effective way to ensure they could take advantage of these would be to connect airport island and TC directly.

He said the MTR was studying the idea of adding an extra Tung Chung Line station to connect to the airport and urged the government or the MTR to release their findings, RTHK reports.

Reclamation work on the Tung Chung East project is due to start by the end of the year.

The CEDD plans to build 40,800 apartments in Tung Chung East and another 8,600 in Tung Chung West. It has forecast that Tung Chung East will accommodate an 119,000 people.

Tung Chung development forecasts (Source: Legco Public Works Subcommittee)

Expanded marine park off South Lantau coast will aid dolphins, says WWF

The plan to create Hong Kong’s largest marine reserve around the Soko Islands has won the blessing of WWF.

But the proposal from the EPD and AFCD also raises questions about the future of the islands.

The two departments have suggested expanding the original proposed reserve around the Soko Islands to include a large area to the east.

The new 2067ha South Lantau Marine Park would be Hong Kong’s biggest.

The proposal to the Country and Marine Parks Authority describes the enlarged area as “compensation” for the controversial incinerator to be built on the southern edge of Shek Kwu Chau Island, HK01 reports.

Additionally, a small area around the two main Soko islands, Tai A Chau and Siu A Chau, would be excised from the park for fishing.

Samantha Lee Klaus, manager oceans conservation at WWF-Hong Kong, says scientific studies have shown a large marine protected area “is much more conservation-effective than the scattered, small ones.”

The proposed new marine park (Source: AFCD-EPD)She told Lantau News:

Sokos waters are known to be the only habitat which we can find both Chinese white dolphins and finless porpoises at the same time in HK… As such, the proposed marine park is going to play an important role in conserving the marine environment and species.

But more importantly, the government shall allocate much more resources to strengthen the enforcement in combating the illegal fishing – this marine park is right next to the HK-China border, and illegal fishing has been reported by many fishermen in this area.

Aside from the marine conservation aspect, the plan once again puts on the Sokos, a group of islands two kilometres off Fan Lau on Lantau’s southwest tip, into the spotlight.

According to Oriental Daily, the South Lantau Rural Committee had argued that the park would constrain “future development” on the islands. But it’s not clear what that future would entail.

The islands have a chequered recent history. They were occupied until the 1980s, when Tai A Chau, the biggest island, was used as a camp for Vietnamese refugees.

The smaller island, Siu A Chau, contains a low-level radiation waste site.

In the 2000s CLP came up with a plan to build an LNG terminal on Tai A Chau, but abandoned it after public complaints.

In 2014-15 LanDAC, the government-appointed Lantau development body, discussed building a holiday spa on the island, but rejected it after CEDD found it to be unviable.

(This is still the case, although the EPD was forced to released a statement last night affirming it after the EDP-AFCD paper erroneously claimed the spa would go ahead.)

A month ago, it was revealed Lantau rural leaders had planned to ship the island’s cattle and buffalo to Tai A Chau. That plan, too, has been rejected by the AFCD because of the difficulty in accessing the location.

Audit report attacks N. Lantau Hospital over waste

An auditor’s report has lambasted the North Lantau Hospital over its wasteful use of space and medical equipment.

Four years after being commissioned, a fifth of the hospital remains empty while tens of millions of dollars of equipment is under-used or has not been used at all, the report found.

In its October report to Legco, the Audit Commission revealed that of the hospital’s 13,729 sq m, 2,867 sq m remained empty or “had not been utilised for the intended functions,” including 2,204 sq m in space allocated for wards.

In one instance, the commission staff recorded an empty ward being used as a gym.

Hospital ward gym (Source: Audit Commission)

The report also found that of the ten major items of medical equipment, seven were being used at a rate below 60% of the forecast level.

These included a HK$7 million heart scanning unit being used at a 22% rate, and a prescription dispenser and an anaesthetics information system, each costing more than HK$3 million, being used at below 50%.

Many smaller items had never been used at all, including 42 electric beds and ten electric wheelchairs.

Unused beds and wheelchairs (Source: Audit Commission)

The report noted that some medical services had still not been commissioned, such as an out-patient gynaecology and paediatrics service that had been promised for 2014, and the provision of day-beds for day surgery patients, proposed for 2016.

It chastised Hospital Authority (HA) management for failing to keep the board informed about the status of these services and on when they were expected to be deployed.

The commission urged the HA to make more precise estimates of its requirements and to determine whether under-utilised spaces and equipment could be put to gainful use.