Contents
1.1 Purpose of the Report
1.2 Structure of the
Report
2.1 Background
2.2 Works
Programme and Works Locations
2.3 Construction
Activities
2.4 Status of
Environmental Approval Documents
3.1 Cable Installation
Water Quality Monitoring
3.2 Marine Mammal
Observation
3.3 Coral Monitoring
3.4 Site Inspection and
Audit
5 Environmental
Non-Conformance
5.1 Summary of
Environmental Non-compliance
5.2 Summary of
Environmental Complaint
5.3 Summary of
Environmental Summon and successful prosecution
6.1 Key Issues for the
Next Reporting Period
6.2 Monitoring Schedule
for the Next Reporting Period
LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1 Summary
of Landing Point Construction Activities Undertaken during the Reporting Period
Table 2.2 Summary
of Current Environmental Licensing, Notification and Permit Status
Table 6.1 Construction
Works to Be Taken For the Next Reporting Week
LIST OF ANNEXES
Annex A Proposed ASE Submarine Cable System
(Layout Plan)
Annex B Location of ASE Landing Point and
Terrestrial Cable Route
Annex C Completed Site Inspection Log
Annex D Photographic Records on Site
EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
NTT Com Asia (NTTCA) proposes to install a
telecommunication cable (Asia Submarine-cable Express (ASE) cable) of
approximately 7,200 km in length, connecting Japan and Singapore with branches
to the Philippines, Hong Kong SAR (HKSAR) and Malaysia. A Project Profile (PP-452/2011) which
includes an assessment of the potential environmental impacts associated with
the installation of the submarine telecommunications cable system was prepared
and submitted to the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) under section 5.(1)(b) and 5.(11) of the Environmental Impact Assessment
Ordinance (EIAO) for the application for Permission to apply directly for
Environmental Permit (EP). The
Environmental Protection Department, subsequently issued an Environmental
Permit (EP-
433/2011).
This
is the First Weekly Site Inspection
Report that presents the findings of the site inspection and other EM&A activities undertaken during the period from 4 to 7 October 2012.
Environmental Site Inspection
A
weekly joint environmental site inspection was carried out by the
representatives of the Contractor, the Environmental Team (ET) and NTTCA. Environmental performance complied with
the environmental requirements and all necessary mitigation measures were
properly implemented.
Marine Mammal Observation
Daily
marine mammal exclusion zone monitoring was not carried out in the reporting
period as the cable installation works in Zone C and from C to the boundary of
HKSAR waters has not started.
Summary
of Breaches of Action/Limit Levels
Per
plan, no marine water quality monitoring was conducted in the reporting
period. Thus, no exceedances of Action and Limit Levels for water quality
were recorded during the reporting week.
Environmental Complaints,
Non-compliance & Summons
No
non-compliance with PP recommendations, EP conditions and other requirements
associated with the construction of the Project was recorded in this reporting
period.
No
environmental complaint was received in this reporting period.
No environmental summons
was received in this reporting period.
Upcoming Works for the Next
Reporting Period
Works
to be undertaken in the coming monitoring period include cable laying works in
Zone A, seawall duct work, land duct laying works and
beach manhole construction.
Potential
environmental impacts arising from the above construction activities are mainly
associated with marine water quality, dust, construction noise and waste
management.
ERM-Hong Kong, Limited
(ERM) was appointed by NTT Com Asia (NTTCA) as the Environmental Team to conduct
regular site inspections and audit the implementation of all environmental
monitoring and mitigation measures recommended in the Project Profile (PP) (Register
No. PP ¡V 452/2011) for the Proposed Asia Submarine-cable
Express (ASE) ¡V Tseung Kwan O (the Project).
This is the First Weekly Site Inspection Report (the
Report), which summarises the inspection findings for the period from 4 October 2012 to 7 October 2012 and the implementation status of the EM&A
recommendations on environmental protection and pollution control mitigation
measures and monitoring.
The structure of the Report
is as follows:
Section 1
: Introduction
Details the scope and structure of the
Report.
Section 2 : Project
Information
Summarises background and scope of the Project, site
description, construction programme, the construction works undertaken and the
status of Environmental Permits/Licenses during the reporting period.
Section 3 : Environmental
Monitoring
Summarises
the monitoring programmes as recommended in the PP and the monitoring undertaken
during the reporting period.
Section 4
: Site Inspection Results
Summarises the findings of the weekly
site inspection undertaken within the reporting period.
Section 5 : Environmental Non-conformance
Summarises any exceedances of
environmental performance standard, environmental complaints and environmental
summons received within the reporting period.
Section 6 : Upcoming
Works for the next Reporting Period
Summarises the impact
forecast and monitoring schedule for the next reporting week.
Section 7 : Conclusions
NTT
Com Asia (NTTCA) proposes to install a telecommunication cable (Asia
Submarine-cable Express (ASE) cable) of approximately 7,200 km in length,
connecting Japan and Singapore with branches to the Philippines, Hong Kong SAR
(HKSAR) and Malaysia. NTTCA is
responsible for securing the approval to land the ASE cable in Tseung Kwan O,
Hong Kong SAR (HKSAR). The proposed
landing site will be at a new Beach Manhole (BMH) and ultimately connect with a
Data Centre in Tseung Kwan O (TKO) Industrial Estate which is scheduled for
completion in 2012. It should be
noted that Tseung Kwan O is currently the landing site for a number of
submarine cables. From Tseung Kwan
O, the cable will extend eastward approaching the Tathong Channel. Near to Cape Collinson, the cable is
approximately parallel to the Tathong Channel until north of Waglan Island
where the cable travels eastward to the boundary of HKSAR waters where it
enters the South China Sea. The
total length of cable in Hong Kong SAR waters is approximately 33.5 km. A map of the proposed cable route is
presented in Annex A.
A
Project Profile (PP-452/2011) which includes an assessment of the potential
environmental impacts associated with the installation of the submarine
telecommunications cable system was prepared and submitted to the Environmental
Protection Department (EPD) under section 5.(1)(b) and
5.(11) of the Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance (EIAO) for the
application for Permission to apply directly for Environmental Permit
(EP). The Environmental Protection
Department, subsequently issued an Environmental Permit (EP-
433/2011).
Under the requirements of Condition
2.4 of the EP, an EM&A programme as set out in the revised Environmental
Monitoring and Audit Manual (EM&A Manual) is required to be
implemented. The EM&A programme
includes water quality monitoring, marine mammal observation, coral monitoring
and weekly site inspection.
The location of the cable
installation works within the boundary of Hong Kong SAR waters is shown in Annex A, while the location of the landing point (ie
new Beach Manhole (BMH) in TKO Industrial Estate) is shown in Annex B.
The preliminary construction programme of the Project is given in Figure 2.1.
Figure
2.1 Preliminary
Construction Programme
Submarine
Cable Installation
There
are no submarine-cable installation works during the reporting period.
Landing
Point Construction
The
construction works of the landing point commenced on 4 October 2012 and are
temporarily scheduled to be completed in early December of 2012. A summary of the major construction activities undertaken
on the landing point during the reporting period is shown in Table 2.1.
Table 2.1 Summary of Landing Point Construction
Activities Undertaken during the Reporting Period
Construction Activities Undertaken |
¡P
Install
fence at seawall side ¡P
Install Fence at Yi Feng ¡P
Mobilization of marine and
land equipment for seawall construction ¡P
Installation of silt
curtain at seaside ¡P
Removal of seawall rock
armor ¡P
Installation
of silt markers and settlement check points |
A summary of the relevant
permits, licences, and/or notifications on environmental protection for this
Project is presented in Table 2.2.
Table 2.2 Summary
of Current Environmental Licensing, Notification and Permit Status
Permit/ Licences/
Notification |
Reference |
Validity Period |
Remarks |
Environmental
Permit |
EP-433/2011 |
Throughout
the construction and operation of the Project |
Permit
granted on 20 December 2011 |
Construction
Noise Permit |
GW-RE0774-12 |
18 Sep 2012 ¡V 31 Jan 2013 |
Permits
granted on using of registered powered mechanical equipment for 07:00-23:00 hrs on general holidays (including Sundays) and 19:00-23:00
hrs on any day not being a general holiday for Sub-marine
cable laying works of the Project |
Baseline
water quality monitoring was completed by the end of September 2012. Baseline Water Quality Monitoring
Reports for Zone A, Zone B and Zone C were submitted on 19 September 2012, 25
September 2012 and 1 October 2012, respectively.
No
impact water quality monitoring was conducted during the reporting period as
the cable laying works has yet to commence. Mitigation measures to control water
quality pollution as recommended in the PP will be checked in due course and
summarised in the Weekly Water Quality Impact Monitoring Reports.
Daily
marine mammal exclusion zone monitoring is required to be conducted during the
cable installation works taking place in daylight hours along the section
outside Zone A to Zone B (ie Zone C and from C to the boundary of HKSAR
waters). This monitoring was not
carried out in the reporting period as the cable installation works in Zone C
and from C to the boundary of HKSAR waters has not started.
Baseline
coral monitoring was completed in September 2012. The Baseline Coral Monitoring Survey
Report was submitted on 28 September 2012.
Post-project coral monitoring will be conducted within one month after
completion of the jetting works, with the Post-project Coral Monitoring Survey
Report to be submitted within one month after completion of the marine
works. Impact monitoring for coral
during cable installation works is not required under the Project.
In
accordance with the revised EM&A Manual, a weekly site inspection should be
undertaken at the landing point (ie new Beach Manhole (BMH) in TKO Industrial
Estate) to ensure that the appropriate environmental protection and pollution
control mitigation measures are properly implemented in accordance with the
Project Profile (PP-452/2011). Results
of the site inspection in the reporting period are provided in Section 4.
The weekly site inspection is
required to be carried out by the representatives of the Contractor and the
Environmental Team (ET). A Site
Inspection Log is completed by the ET representative to record
whether the Contractor is compliant with environmental regulations such as
noise, water quality and housekeeping etc (Annex C).
During the reporting
period, the site inspection was conducted on 5 October 2012 by the
representatives of the Contractor, the ET and NTTCA. There was no non-compliance recorded
during the site audit. Major
findings and recommendations are summarised as follows:
(i)
A copy of EP was displayed conspicuously
at the vehicular site entrance in accordance with the requirement of Condition
1.5 of the EP.
(Annex D Photo No. 1)
(ii)
A
silt curtain was employed around the seawall area in order to reduce the
dispersion of sediments from the landing site (Annex D Photo No. 2).
(iii)
Spillage
containment such as dip tray was found to have been provided for the equipment
(eg generator), which potentially has oil leakage (Annex D Photo No. 3).
(iv) Housekeeping
of the construction site was observed to have been conducted in a proper
way. A portable toilet has been placed
on site (Annex D Photo No. 4),
and general refuse was not frequently found. The Contractor was nevertheless
recommended to provide enough rubbish bins within the construction site for
better rubbish disposal.
Following-up actions by the Contractor will be checked in next week¡¦s
site inspection.
(v) An
idling excavator was observed during the site inspection. The Contractor was reminded to turn off all
equipment/ vehicles when they are not actively in use. The excavator was turned off by the
Contractor immediately after the recommendation.
(vi) The
Contractor was suggested to display labels stating the sound power level in dB
on all major PME. The corrective
action was being undertaken as observed during the same audit and will be checked
in next week¡¦s site inspection.
No non-compliance
event was recorded during the reporting period. Since construction phase impact water
quality monitoring has not commenced, no
non-compliance of Action and Limit Levels for water quality was recorded during
the reporting week.
No complaint was received
during the reporting period.
No summons was received
during the reporting period.
Works to be taken for the next
reporting period are summarised in Table
6.1.
Table 6.1 Construction Works to Be
Taken For the Next Reporting Week
Work to be taken |
Submarine Cable Installation ¡P
Cable laying works in Zone
A Landing Point Construction
¡P
Seawall duct work ¡P
Land duct laying works ¡P
Beach manhole construction |
Potential environmental
impacts arising from the above construction activities are mainly associated
with marine water quality, dust, construction noise and waste management.
Daily
impact water quality monitoring will be conducted in next week and the results
will be summarised in the First Weekly Water Quality Impact Monitoring Report.
Next weekly site inspection
is temporarily scheduled on 12 October 2012.
This First Weekly Site Inspection Report presents the findings of the
site inspection and other EM&A activities
undertaken during the period from 4
to 7 October 2012, in accordance
with the PP (Register No. PP ¡V 452/2011), revised EM&A
Manual and the requirements of Environmental
Permit (EP- 433/2011).
Since there were no jetting
activities during the reporting period, no construction phase impact water
quality and marine mammal monitoring were deemed necessary and hence none was
conducted during the reporting period.
No exceedance of Action and Limit Levels of water quality was reported
during the reporting period.
A
weekly joint environmental site inspection was conducted in the reporting
period. It confirmed that the
environmental mitigation measures recommended in the PP were properly
implemented by the Contractor.
No
non-compliance event was recorded during the reporting period.
No complaint and
summons/prosecution was received during the reporting period.
The ET will keep track on
the construction works to confirm compliance of environmental requirements and
the proper implementation of all necessary mitigation measures.