The Airport Authority contends that a third runway at Hong Kong International Airport would create only minor environmental affect.

Environment groups, however, strongly disagree.

The Airport Authority set out two plans on Thursday for the people of Hong Kong to consider how to meet the demands for changes in air passenger and air cargo services in the years ahead.

One option is to spend HK$86 billion to build a third runway.

The other option is a HK$23 billion proposal to expand the current two-runway airport.

Airport Authority chairman Marvin Cheung admitted the third runway option will entail reclamation of 650 hectares of land - an area 34 times the size of Victoria Park.

He also agreed that the third runway option is fraught with more environmental issues than the expansion of existing facilities.

The authority proposed to spend an additional HK$9 billion to reclaim the land as 40 percent of the targeted land falls in an area of a contaminated mud.

The contents of the pit would be heavily mixed with cement to avoid potential release of polluted mud.

The authority also addressed public concerns that the addition of the third runway would affect the habitat of Chinese White Dolphins.

About 100-200 members of the species reside in Hong Kong waters.

The Airport Authority insisted that its expansion plans pertain to an area where the dolphin's activity is low.

Alan Leung, conservation manager of WWF Hong Kong branch, criticized the authority for putting too much emphasis on the economy of the airport at the expense of the environment.

He said reclamation of such a huge area will result in permanent habitat loss to the Chinese White Dolphins even though the site is not situated at so-called hot spots for the species.

In addition, busier marine traffic can be expected because of the consequent reduction of open water, raising the threat to the rare species even higher.

The authority also claimed that the new runway will not cause high levels of noise pollution because the contour designs do not differ significantly from the two-runway system.

The southernmost runway, which is closest to residences, will be assigned as a standby runway for late night to early morning period in normal conditions to avoid disturbance to nearby residents, the authority claimed.

At the media conference on the Hong Kong International Airport Master Plan 2030 on Thursday, Secretary for Transport Eva Cheng said she believes future infrastructure planning will be able to comply with the standard.

"I do not think we should necessarily take it that infrastructure and environmental protection cannot go hand in hand, posing one against the other," Cheng noted.

"It is important that we do a thorough environmental impact study and make sure that it will comply with the standard of the time," Cheng added.

(HK Edition 06/03/2011 page1)