China Concrete Company Ltd today was today fined $212,000 after it carried out works at its two concrete batching plants in Yau Tong without a specified process licence and failed to comply with an air pollution abatement notice.
The two plants, located at 20 and 22 Tung Yuen Street, were found to have contravened the Air Pollution Control Ordinance. The company pleaded guilty to 28 summonses at Kwun Tong Magistrates’ Court and was fined a total of $212,000.
The Environmental Protection Department said it had made every effort to combat the plants’ illegal operations. To date, it has issued 39 summonses for criminal prosecution against the company.
Thirty of those charges have now resulted in conviction, while the remaining nine cases of non-compliance are still in progress.
Under new amendments to the Air Pollution Control Ordinance due to take effect on April 11, the Director of Environmental Protection will be empowered to issue closure notices to premises if the director has reasonable cause to believe that unlicensed SP operations are taking place.
Stressing that the legal amendments have proved decisive in addressing the Tung Yuen Street plants’ illegal operations, the department said China Concrete Company Ltd had given notice that it would cease all concrete batching and related operations early this month.
The department said that if the two plants are found to have continued conducting unlicensed operations after the legal amendments take effect, it will take stringent action in accordance with the law.
