Contaminated Land Management in Hong Kong

Synopsis

In the Chief Executive’s 2020 Policy Address, multi-pronged land supply strategy is being implemented including reclamation in Tung Chung, the agricultural land and brownfield sites in New Development Areas (NDAs) such as Kwu Tung North (KTN) / Fanling North (FLN) and Hung Shui Kiu (HSK) / Ha Tsuen (HT). Hence, there is a high potential of contaminated land being encountered during site formation in these areas. Potential contaminated land has to be assessed properly and remediated before redevelopment in order to prevent unacceptable risks encounter by future occupants or users. 

There are mainly three types of land contamination in Hong Kong, namely, 

1. Marine deposit from reclaimed land (e.g., reclamation in Tung Chung);

2. Contaminated soil from historical and present land uses (e.g., HSK / HT NDAs); and

3. Natural occurrence of Arsenic (e.g., KTN NDAs).