The High Court on Wednesday began a three-day hearing of a judicial review, challenging the government's plan to build a HK$1.5 billion waste incinerator on Shek Kwu Chau island, south of Lantau.

The case was filed by Leung Hon-wai, a resident on the island, despite the fact that the previous administration had put the proposal on hold after failing to obtain the necessary funding from the Legislative Council's Panel on Environmental Affairs in April.

Barrister Valentine Yim See-tai, appearing for Leung, challenged the government's Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report, published by the Environment Protection Department in 2011, concerning the construction of the burner on the island. Yim contended the report failed to provide solid evidence of the reason for choosing to build a burner instead of adopting alternative measures.

Yim argued that the current EIA report mentioned six technologies for alternatives to the incinerator. However, the report compared only three of the six with the incinerator. "Among the technologies which have been wielded out, they should be cited clearly in the EIA report so that the public knows they were discussed," said Yim.

Although, under the government's proposal, a marine park would be built to offset the incinerator, Yim said the government didn't conduct an EIA on the marine park, as required in the technical memorandum. In the government's proposal, there would be a further assessment of the marine park plan, before the project's commencement. However, Yim said the EIA on the designated marine park should be done in the current phase, and not left to some future date. Thus, Yim concluded, the plan is in breach of the technical memorandum.

Pointing to the risk of unforeseen mishaps cited in the report, Yim argued that the report lists only categories of commonly known mishaps, and therefore made no attempt to offer suggestions for minimizing such incidents.

The proposed incinerator, upon its completion, would handle 3,000 tonnes of waste per day on average. According to the government, the city's three landfills will be filled one by one in 2014, 2016 and 2018 respectively. Food waste comprises a major part of the content of the three landfills, amounting to 40 percent of the waste. One-third of waste comes from the commercial and industrial sector, while the rest is from the residential sector.

Shek Kwu Chau was chosen over Tsang Tsui in Tuen Mun as the incinerator site, because the site is nearer and would mean reduced travel time for garbage trucks, thus to create a lower impact on the local neighborhood, according to the government.

The current proposal would involve land reclamation on the south of the island. Four residents on the island filed applications for judicial reviews to challenge the government's decision. Justice Au Hing-cheung decided to choose Leung's case to proceed and the others will be bound to the decision.

stushadow@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 11/15/2012 page1)