The Development Bureau’s “Lantau Tomorrow” public consultation was completed at the end of last month. The construction cost and the risk of unfinished projects have attracted attention, and the potential impact on the environment cannot be ignored. As Saturday (April 22) is Earth Day, Chen Kechun, senior project director of Greenpeace, said in an exclusive interview with “Yahoo News” that the artificial island project is the infrastructure project that has the greatest impact on the regional environment, and the reclamation project is irreversible. Caused multiple problems such as water quality, coastal erosion, pollution, and habitat destruction, local governments have partially shelved plans due to setbacks in the development of artificial islands and opposition from the public.
Text reporter: Zeng Weilong
Photojournalist: CWL
Greenpeace and the Indigenous Research Institute published a study earlier and found that among the 13 artificial island projects with a scale similar to the Kau Yi Chau artificial island, totaling 1,000 hectares, 77% were delayed or unfinished, and only one was completed on schedule. And more than half had planning, financial, environmental, engineering or regulatory issues. Chen Kechun said that the regional environmental damage caused by the artificial island project is the largest among various infrastructure projects. Compared with general infrastructure, the scale of the island construction project is larger, and the project period often takes ten to twenty years. “It is a combo (combination), which will continue to be damaged for a long time. After the island is built, houses must be erected for people to live in.” Moreover, the reclamation project is irreversible and cannot be dismantled; compared with near-shore reclamation, it is also very difficult to adjust the scale of reclamation midway.
Greenpeace: There is no such thing as “environmental reclamation”
Many places around the world have experience in reclamation to build islands. Chen Kechun pointed out that according to their research on different examples, artificial islands involve many environmental problems. First of all, reclamation will inevitably damage the environment. Taking the reclamation of the artificial island of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge as an example, “the government’s own monitoring reports show that the suspended solids and turbidity (in the relevant waters) exceed the standard, but “environmental reclamation” does not exist.” Regarding the government’s description of the non-dredging reclamation as “environmentally friendly reclamation” and claiming that it will not dig up sea mud, Chen Kechun pointed out that there were photos at the time showing that the sea mud on the artificial island of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge had spread to the surrounding half a kilometer.
Polluted ocean noise interferes with dolphin navigation
She continued that reclamation will also bring chemical pollution. In addition to stirring up heavy metals in the seabed, the filler may also release pollutants, which may even change the pH of seawater. In addition, if the reclamation location closes the bay, the pollution cannot be dispersed. to further increase the concentration of pollutants in the water; the reclamation project will take a long time, and the ships transporting the filler will continue to shuttle back and forth, which will also cause sound pollution and affect the sonar navigation of dolphins; the above-mentioned pollution and changes in seawater salinity will directly Destroy the habitat of marine life.
Changing water flow triggers coastal erosion and sedimentation
Environmental problems arose during the reclamation, and after completion, there will be endless problems. Chen Kechun said that large-scale land reclamation will definitely affect the direction of water flow in the nearby sea area and change the flow speed. “Fast water flow will wash away the sediment on the coast and make the coast shrink back; slow water flow will increase the siltation on the seabed and accumulate foreign sediment. litter and litter” and even change the shape of the coast in the long run. Coastal erosion and siltation problems have occurred in artificial islands in Hainan, China, and Denmark. Among them, the Riyue Bay artificial island project in Hainan, China caused coastal erosion to occur on the 1.7-kilometer-long beach in the southwest, and silted up to a length of 340 meters near a connecting bridge. beach. Chen Kechun pointed out that the government must conduct a detailed water flow study in order to understand the water flow impact of Kau Yi Chau reclamation on nearby waters, but the EIA only covers the 500-meter range outside the boundary of the project site, and it is impossible to estimate the impact on the nearby coast.
In view of this, there are many voices against the artificial island plan from the people and political circles all over the country. The authorities shelved the plan after the plan was frustrated and affected by the opposition from the people. For example, Forest City in Malaysia did not grasp the impact on the environment during construction. Finally, due to civil opposition, the second phase of land reclamation originally scheduled to be carried out in 2018 was not started; the NCICD reclamation plan of 5,000 hectares in Jakarta, Indonesia was due to privatization issues and Controversy over the environmental impact has also resulted in a substantial reduction in the scale of reclamation.
Chen Kechun believes that the reclamation of artificial islands involves a long time, is expensive, and is irreversible. It is like a gamble with no chance of winning. Hong Kong now has better options such as brownfields, and there are lessons learned from other places, urging the Hong Kong government to stop the plan.
“Yahoo News” is making inquiries to the Development Bureau.
