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Minutes of the 6th Meeting of the Traffic and Transport Committee of Kowloon City District Council Date: 29 September 2016 (Thursday) Time: 2:38 p.m. Venue: Conference Room, Kowloon City District Office Present: Chairman: Mr LUK King-kwong Vice-chairman: Ir Dr CHENG Lee-ming Members: Dr KWONG Po-yin (Left at 6:42 p.m.) Miss LEUNG Yuen-ting (Left at 5:35 p.m.) Dr the Hon LEUNG Mei-fun, Priscilla, (Left at 3:28 p.m.) SBS, JP Mr HO Hin-ming, MH Mr NG Fan-kam, Tony Mr LO Chiu-kit (Left at 4:22 p.m.) Mr TING Kin-wa (Left at 5:54 p.m.) Mr LAM Tak-shing Mr LAM Pok, Jimmy Mr YUE Chee-wing, Admond (Left at 6:50 p.m.) Mr YEUNG Chun-yu, Ronald (Left at 5:04 p.m.) Mr HE Huahan Mr YANG Wing-kit Mr KWAN Ho-yeung, Roger Ir CHEUNG Yan-hong, MH (Left at 4:22 p.m.) Mr LAI Kwong-wai The Hon LEE Wai-king, Starry, SBS, JP (Left at 4:00 p.m.) Mr SIU Tin-hung, Terence (Left at 6:42 p.m.) Mr NG Po-keung Mr PUN Kwok-wah Absent: Mr CHO Wui-hung Mr SIU Leong-sing Secretary: Miss YUEN Man-ki, Vicki Executive Officer (District Council) 1, Kowloon City District Office In Attendance: Miss LAM Yuk-ying, Alletta Senior Executive Officer (District Council), Kowloon City District Office Mr SZETO Chi-wah, Deacons Senior Transport Officer (Kowloon City), Transport Department Mr CHEUNG Chi-wa Engineer (Kowloon City), Transport Department Ms LEE Wing-chee, Joyce Engineer (Hung Hom), Transport Department Mr SUEN Wa-hing District Operations Officer (Kowloon City District), Hong Kong Police Force Mr LEE Yuk-wah OC Traffic Team (Kowloon City District), Hong Kong Police Force Mr HO Chi-kin OC Traffic Team (Sau Mau Ping District), Hong Kong Police Force Mr TAM Ho-chuen District Engineer/Hung Hom, Highways Department Mr CHUNG Siu-man District Engineer/Kowloon City and Kowloon Bay, Highways Department Attendance by Invitation: Items 2 and 3 Mr NG Wai-kwong, Isaac Senior Environmental Protection Officer, Environmental Protection Department Item 5 Mr LEE Sai-hang, Kenneth Engineer/Special Duties 1, Transport Department Mr TSANG Hin-man Senior Engineer/Covered Walkway 2, Highways Department Mr CHAU Lap-kong Project Coordinator/New Territories 3, Highways Department Item 6 Mr LEUNG Wang-cheong Principal Operations Officer, Lai Chi Kok Depot, The Kowloon Motor Bus Co. (1933) Ltd Items 8 and 9 Mr CHENG Chi-wai, Raymond Engineer/Kowloon/Land Supply 2, Transport Department Item 16 Miss SZE Suk-wai, Muriel Senior Transport Officer/Bus Adjustment and Planning, Transport Department Other Business Miss AYALA Yi-sum, Sammi Senior Transport Officer/Railway 5, Transport Department Mr KWOK Yue-fung, Samuel Transport Officer/Railway 5, Transport Department ✽ ✽ ✽ The Chairman of the Traffic and Transport Committee (TTC) welcomed Members, representatives of government departments and organization to the meeting. The Chairman reminded Members to declare interests in accordance with the Kowloon City District Council Standing Orders (Standing Orders). He also said that when the number of Members present at the meeting was less than 12, he would adjourn the meeting according to Order 36(2) of Standing Orders. Lastly, he reminded attendees to turn off the ringers on their mobile phones or to switch them to vibration mode, and to remain silent during the meeting to avoid disturbances. 2. The Chairman said that Miss Tanna CHENG, Assistant District Officer of the Kowloon City District Office (KCDO) was unable to attend the meeting due to other duty commitment, and Miss Alletta LAM, Senior Executive Officer (District Council) of KCDO was in attendance. Confirmation of Minutes of Last Meeting 3. The minutes of the 5th meeting were unanimously confirmed by TTC without amendment. Matters Arising Strong Call for Resolving the Noise Problem between Prince Edward Road and Kwun Tong Bypass (Shing Kai Road Section) (Paper Nos. 53/16, 64/16) 4. The Chairman said that as agenda items 2 and 3 were both related to the noise of flyovers, it was suitable for them to be discussed together for the meeting to be conducted smoothly. Members agreed to discuss the items together. Prior to the meeting, the Secretariat had distributed the joint reply of the Environmental Protection Department (EPD), the Highways Department (HyD) and the Housing Department (HD) to Members for perusal. 5. Ir Dr CHENG Lee-ming said that EPD was repeating the contents given in the written reply, and it did not deal with the issue squarely. He requested that the matter be further discussed at the following meeting and that EPD should attend the meeting to explain why the noise issue in the District could not be improved. 6. Mr HE Huahan was disappointed with the written reply of EPD. He requested that the matter be further discussed at the following meeting and that EPD should attend the meeting to discuss possible resolutions. 7. Mr Isaac NG, Senior Environmental Protection Officer (Assessment & Noise) 6 of EPD said that the noise problem at issue involved several departments. EPD had merged with the Environment Bureau (ENB) and was responsible for environmental policies. On principle, it supports all policies that could enhance the environment. However, the feasibility of installation of noise barriers within the area of works and should be carried out by HyD. 8. Mr TAM Ho-chuen, District Engineer (Hung Hom) of HyD said that East Kowloon Corridor, West Kowloon Corridor and Fat Kwong Street Flyover had been built for many years. Their existing flyover structures could not withstand the extra load brought about by noise barriers. There was not adequate space in their vicinity for the construction of independent structures for supporting noise barriers. As such, based on existing technology, the Department could not install noise barriers at the three flyovers mentioned above. 9. Ir Dr CHENG Lee-ming pointed out that the installation of noise barriers was not the only solution to the issue of noise on flyovers. He recommended that the departments concerned should make reference to the measures adopted in Taiwan and the United Kingdom in resolving traffic noise. They passed legislations to regulate noise, such as placing limitation on car speed and restricting heavy vehicles from using relevant road sections during late night hours. If the relevant departments coordinated their efforts in seeking solutions and were keen in resolving the issue, the noise problem of the District could be mitigated. 10. Mr Jimmy LAM proposed that the acoustic materials on motor roads be increased from 30 millimetres to 50 millimetres and reduction gearbox be used on heavy vehicles, so as to mitigate the noise issue on flyovers immediately. In addition, he had recently voiced out that when vehicles drove past Kowloon flyovers, pebbles would fly to nearby housing estates and break windows. He enquired the relevant departments of the progress of investigation and follow up situation. 11. Mr HE Huahan’s opinions and enquiries were consolidated as follows: (a) since the submission of paper to TTC on 18 March 2016, the matter had been discussed many times. Relevant departments kept repeating the contents of the written reply and shifted responsibilities among themselves. They had not dealt with the issue squarely and sought resolutions; (b) he enquired that there was noise barrier at the section of Richland Gardens of Prince Edward Road and Kwun Tong Bypass, but why there was no noise barrier for Shing Kai Road Section of Prince Edward Road and Kwun Tong Bypass of which there was no structural issue of flyover; and (c) the noise level of Kwun Tong Bypass provided by EPD as recorded on 28 November 2014 was 69.5 decibels, which did not exceed the planning requirement of 70 decibels. He requested EPD to provide the most recent noise data of Kwun Tong Bypass before the following meeting. 12. The Chairman said that it had been six months since the issue was first raised. He enquired the relevant departments their follow up situation and whether they had concrete proposal to resolve the issue of flyover noise. 13. Mr Isaac NG of EPD said that the expertise of each department varied. As such, there was no issue of departments shifting responsibilities among themselves. EPD supported HyD’s using surface materials that could better mitigate noise and restricting car speed to reduce flyovers’ noise as long as the traffic would not be affected. 14. Mr HO Chi-kin, OC Traffic Team (Sau Mau Ping District) of the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) said that Traffic Kowloon East of HKPF had stepped up law enforcement against illegal car-racing and speeding at Kwun Tong Bypass. However, based on past records, Kwun Tong Bypass was not a black spot of illegal car-racing. 15. Ms Joyce LEE, Engineer (Hung Hom) of the Transport Department (TD) said that there were two vehicular routes to East Kowloon. One was East Kowloon Corridor and the other was a lower access through Ma Tau Wai Road. At present works were being conducted for the Shatin to Central Link. Thus temporary traffic control was implemented at Ma Tau Wai Road and traffic was reduced to three lanes from the original six lanes, two of which were southbound and the other northbound. Restriction of vehicles going through East Kowloon Corridor would increase the burden of the lower access. Thus, TD did not recommend the resolution of noise issue through traffic restriction. 16. The Chairman said that the relevant departments did not propose any solution to the issue. He hoped that they would conduct an inter-departmental consultation to deal with the problem through their own expertise and arrive at a feasible resolution.

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