Comprehensive plan set for decommissioning Cheoy Lee Shipyard

The Government today (February 21) announced detailed plans for the decommissioning of Cheoy Lee Shipyard at Penny's Bay, Lantau Island.

The plans are contained in an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report that is available for public inspection until March 22.

"The primary objective of the decommissioning exercise is to ensure that the Cheoy Lee site is in a condition suitable for use by the community," Director of Civil Engineering, Dr C K Lau, said today. "The EIA report released today recommends a very comprehensive and effective remediation and clean up plan for the site."

An independent environmental consultant of the Hong Kong International Theme Parks Limited agrees with the key findings and recommendations of the EIA report.

In early April 2001, the Cheoy Lee site reverted to the Government after some thirty-seven years in use as a shipyard. The site will be used for the construction of some of the transportation infrastructure for the Hong Kong Disneyland Theme Park.

The decommissioning involves demolition and removal of all buildings and structures and decontamination of site areas so that the site will be suitable for the future use.

It also includes the implementation of mitigation measures to avoid adverse environmental impacts arising from the decommissioning works.

All potentially harmful contaminants will be thoroughly removed, treated and disposed of in accordance with internationally accepted standards. After treatment, the decontaminated soil will be clean inert material suitable for use as public fill material.

"Contaminated materials at the site will be thoroughly excavated and cleaned up once and for all. The site will be made suitable for the future use." Dr. Lau added.

The EIA report has identified a number of substances which will require specialized forms of treatment to ensure their eradication from the site. Notable among these is dioxin contaminated soil which will be treated in a thermal desorption plant, to be put up at To Kau Wan in north Lantau.

"The decontamination methods and control measures recommended in the EIA report are technically advanced and internationally accepted. The proposed thermal desorption process in particular is the best practical means to treat the dioxin contaminated soil in this case and is in line with international practice." Dr Lau said.

To avoid exposure of workers to contaminants, comprehensive control measures including engineering controls, personal protection and air monitoring will be implemented during the entire decontamination process. The decontamination process will pose no adverse impact on the health of the workers and the general public with full implementation of the control measures recommended in the EIA report.

Dr Lau said that subject to the implementation of the control measures as recommended in the EIA report, the contaminants identified at the site will be properly handled and their removal will ensure that the area is returned to productive use.

End/Thursday, February 21,2002

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