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Environmental Initiatives
Rail is an acknowledged preferred choice in public urban transport. Reductions in traffic congestion, fossil fuel emissions, and noise and air pollution are a few of the many significant benefits that the MTR network brings to Hong Kong. Our environmental strategy as well reaches beyond rail through the planning and development of green communities around our stations and routes, bringing quality of life to our city and, often in the process, reviving aged and environmentally-neglected regional community centres.
The following are selected case studies, both large and small scale that demonstrate the proactive approach we take at all levels of the company when managing our business in terms of environmental impact. Our focus is to initiate programmes geared for long-term and sustained results that can be applied and expanded across the Corporation and extend to our business partners, contractors and suppliers.
Maintaining the tranquillity and garden environment of Hong Kong's most famous religious centre dominates the planning and delivery of the Tung Chung cable-car project. Built to transport modern-day pilgrims to the giant Buddha statue and surrounding temples, the cable-car traverses over rugged country park hillsides dotted with religious retreat centres. The cable-car system proves the best option for the stringent environmental and community requirements. Even more challenging to the project however, is the delivery process for the construction phase, most specifically the logistics of supplies and equipment. Rather than paved roads, heavy vehicles and two years of related pollution, a team of six pack mules and , when required, helicopters provide the necessary transport mediums.
Utilising this intelligent and sustainable solution demonstrates our value systems in practice. The use of the mule team and the helicopter for larger heavier loads eliminated the need to cut a new transport road that would permanently damage the existing landscape and foliage, as well as prevent associated noise and dust issues.
The project also includes management and training components in biodiversity. This new, holistic approach includes a set of management procedures and monitoring systems to prevent unnecessary loss in the ecological habitat and to re-use vegetation cleared as a consequence of project delivery. The programme reaches beyond the strict borders of the cable-car project, encouraging the protection of adjacent areas in North Lantau and the prevention of damage to rare or protected species in the park area. It also provisions the training of project employees to implement daily work practices designed for minimal disturbance to the local eco-systems.
While our choice adds substantial amounts to project delivery costs, we deem it a small price to pay against the long-term costs of intrusion into the community's goodwill and the natural park environment that the cable-car vista showcases. The process to arrive at this decision not only creates a model for local environmental practices in future for us, but also has fostered a new process for community and stakeholder engagement, the Sustainability Advisory Board.
Waste recycling
The Corporation's property management department in collaboration with Hong Kong Recycling Company Ltd has initiated a pilot programme to collect recyclable waste from the Corporation's managed properties. Twenty-five of our 32 managed properties including residential premises and commercial buildings have joined the campaign since 2003 and as of April 2005 over 7,600 tonnes of recycle materials have been collected for processing.
This campaign is unique in that the participating properties have adopted a "best mode of collection" in order to maximise recycling potential. With such restraints as points of collection, building access and sorting, the management team of each property devised a scheme best suited to their building and the building users and residents.
This scheme is being expand ed to include the newly managed commercial and residential properties of the Corporation.