1 introduction.. 3

1.1 SCOPE OF WORKS. 3

1.2 RESPONSIBILITY.. 4

2 COMPLAINT MANAGEMENT PROCESS. 5

2.1 STAGE 1- RECEIVING THE COMPLAINT. 5

2.2 STAGE 2- ASSESSING THE COMPLAINT. 6

2.3 STAGE 3- INVESTIGATING THE COMPLAINT. 7

2.4 STAGE 4- RESOLVING THE COMPLAINT. 8

3 INDEPENDENT/ EXTERNAL REVIEW.. 9

4 Closing the Case. 9

List of Figures and Tables
Figure 2.1	Investigation Stage Process Flow Chart
Table 1.1	Relevant Parties for Complaint Management
Table 2.1	Guideline for Referring Complaints and other Enquiries or Suggestions
List of Appendices
Appendix A	Environmental Complaint Handling Flow Chart
Appendix B	Complaint Hotline for the Project – Operation Flow Chart

1 introduction

The purpose of this plan prepared by China Railway Engineering Group Limited (known as CREC) is to timely response to complaints if any in accordance with the Condition 2.1 of the Environmental Permit No. EP-519/2016 dated 09/08/2016.

The Complaint Management Plan (CMP) shall include a dedicated complaint hotline and an email channel for timely response to complaints.

1.1 SCOPE OF WORKS

The works to be executed under the Contract No. NL/2020/06 involve site formation and infrastructure works at Tung Chung Valley under Tung Chung New Town Extension, as described below:

(a)     Site clearance (including, but not limited to, the demolition of the existing building structures);

(b)     Site formation works for Area 42 and Area 46 with associated geotechnical works;

(c)     Improvement works for Chung Mun Road and Shek Mun Kap Road with associated infrastructural and geotechnical works;

(d)     Provision of infrastructural works at Yu Tung Road;

(e)     Construction of Road L29 and Road L30 with associated infrastructural and geotechnical works;

(f)      Provision of attenuation & treatment ponds;

(g)     Provision of a Common Utility Trough and box culvert along Road L29;

(h)     Provision of Pumping Stations;

(i)      Construction of a proposed River Park with Visitor Centre, footbridge across river and other associated facilities;

(j)      Provision of roadside Sustainable Urban Drainage System (SUDS) features;

(k)     River de-channelization works;

(l)      Construction of noise barriers;

(m)    Woodland Compensation;

(n)     Associated landscaping works;

(o)     Tree felling, transplanting and compensatory planting works;

(p)     Ground investigation, geotechnical and building instrumentation monitoring works; and

(q)     Other works which are shown on the Drawings or specified in the Specifications.

1.2 RESPONSIBILITY

Roles and responsibilities of parties involved in this Plan is shown in Table 1.1 below.

Table 1.1        Relevant Parties for Complaint Management

Relevant Party	Roles and Responsibilities
CEDD / Project Manager (PM) ARUP	The CEDD, as the project proponent, bears the overall responsibility for the project, and has to assure that the CMP is issued and followed by all the relevant parties of the project.
Environmental Team (ET)	The ET is responsible for consulting and reviewing the proposed remedial measures, carrying out additional monitoring and audit, and recording the findings as part of the EM&A process.
Independent Environmental Checker (IEC)	The IEC is responsible for auditing the complaints handling, investigation, reporting process and the effectiveness of mitigation measures implemented by the Contractor.
CREC	CREC is responsible for setting up and managing the dedicated complaint hotline and email channel. CREC have the primary responsibility for implementing the required mitigation measures and ensuring their works comply with all environmental legislation and the EP requirements as well as any additional conditions specified in the works contract. The CREC is responsible for providing all necessary input / information to the ET as part of the complaint investigation process. CREC is also required to implement all mitigation measures, corrective actions or any additional measures required to address relative environmental complaints.

2 COMPLAINT MANAGEMENT PROCESS

Following is the process for complaint handling.

2.1 STAGE 1- RECEIVING THE COMPLAINT

2.1.1 Complaint Hotline

CREC to establish a complaint hotline for receiving public comments as shown below which is also available on the project website.

Hotline Number: 9326 1161

All calls will be received and recorded by CREC during operation hours. The operative hours of the hotline are from 08:30 to 17:30, Monday to Saturday except public holiday during the construction period. Any missed calls due to the line is busy or the call is received outside the operating hours will be directed to a voicemail system where callers can leave their contact details for CREC to return calls. The operation flow chart for the hotline is shown in Appendix B.

2.1.2     Email

CREC to set up an email channel for receiving comments raised by the public. The email address is provided below.

Email Address: general.enquiry@tcw.c5c6.hk

2.1.3     Environmental Complaint Received from EPD

Members of the public may choose to submit complaints on the project to EPD via EPD’s general environmental complaint channel. All complaints referred to the ET from EPD will be recorded by CREC and a reply will be issued to EPD to confirm receipt of the complaint.

2.1.4     Environmental Complaint Received from Other Channels

Environmental complaints may also be received from other communication channels such as via the Community Liaison Group (CLG) and Professional Liaison Group (PLG), or referred from other sources. For any queries or comments received from CLG / PLG members during CLG / PLG meetings, will be responded in the meetings or in subsequent CLG / PLG meetings. For any other non-written complaints, the complainant will be referred to the dedicated complaint hotline and / or email channel for registering their complaint.

2.1.5     Record Keeping

CREC maintains a register and records on all environmental complaints. The register shall be provided to ET and IEC. A unique reference number shall be created to help track the complaint. The reference number shall be created according to the date (yyyy/mm/dd), “06” for the last two digits of this contract number and the complaint case number.  An example of the complaint reference number is shown below:

Reference number for complaint received on 31 May 2021: 20210531/06/001

The register includes but is not limited to the following:

Ø       Details of the complaint received;

Ø       Details of the complainant (if known);

Ø       Description of the complaint;

Ø       The relevant parties for referring the complaint; and

Ø       Details of the responses and actions required/ taken.

2.2 STAGE 2- ASSESSING THE COMPLAINT

2.2.1     Screening and Referring the Complaint

Once a complaint is received, it must be logged, defined and categorised as soon as possible, before referring to the appropriate party. Table 2.1 lists the relevant parties for referring the complaints and other enquiries or suggestions.

Table 2.1        Guideline for Referring Complaints and other Enquiries or Suggestions

Type		Description	CREC to refer cases to
Environmental related	Complaints	Complaint about environmental issues/ compliance of the construction works or site activities (e.g. dust pollution, construction plant emissions, construction noise, effluent discharge, suspended solid, oil and chemical spillage)	CREC notify ET, IEC and PM
	Enquires and Suggestions	Enquiries / suggestions about environmental issues of the construction works or site activities	PM
Non-environmental related		Complaints, enquiries and suggestions about the project itself that is not environmental-related.	PM
Project unrelated		Complaint or enquiry not related to the project.	PM

2.2.2     Acknowledging Receipt of the Environmental Complaint

Where a return postal address, fax number and / or email address of the complainant is provided, CREC shall issue an interim reply within 3 working days to acknowledge receipt and notify the complainant of the referral of their complaint to other relevant parties where appropriate.

2.3 STAGE 3- INVESTIGATING THE COMPLAINT

As illustrated in Figure 5.1 below, the starting point for complaint investigation is to collect all relevant information. Based on the details of the complaint received, CREC should collect the required information from the relevant parties, including details related to the construction activities and site conditions that may have a bearing on the complaint, as well as the mitigation measures currently implemented on site. During the complaint investigation, CREC shall provide all necessary information for the completion of investigation report. The ET should also review the relevant environmental monitoring data of nearby monitoring stations to ascertain if there are any associated changes or environmental exceedances that may be linked to the complaint.

Based on the aforementioned information obtained, the ET shall assess whether the source of the problem is likely to be due to the construction activities of the project, and also ascertain which specific works sites and / or activities are the likely causes.

Figure 2.1: Investigation Stage Process Flow Chart

2.4 STAGE 4- RESOLVING THE COMPLAINT

2.4.1     Deciding on the Appropriate Action(s)

Based on the findings of the complaint investigation described in Section 2.3, appropriate action(s), if any, should be recommended by the ET. The relevant action(s) would depend on the findings of the complaint investigation and might include the followings:

Ø       Corrective actions on mitigation measures implemented by CREC;

Ø       Recommendations for additional mitigation measures in consultation with the ET, IEC and PM; and

Ø       Additional site visits and environmental monitoring to verify the updated situation and the effectiveness of the additional mitigation measures / corrective actions, if required.

If the mitigation measures are identified as required during in the investigation by the ET, CREC should promptly carry out the mitigations. PM should ensure that the measures have been carried out by CREC.

2.4.2     Preparing the Complaint Investigation Report

For every environmental complaint that is confirmed to be valid and due to the project’s activities, the ET shall compile an environmental complaint investigation report containing all the relevant information and responses from the relevant parties and the follow up actions taken.

The key areas to be covered in the environmental complaint investigation report includes but not limited to the followings:

Ø       Description of the complaint such as received channel, date, time, location, complaint circumstances etc.;

Ø       Details of the complainant such as name, contact number, email etc. (if known);

Ø       Details of the information from the CREC and the investigation findings;

Ø       Details of the mitigation measures, additional monitoring and follow up actions where applicable; and

Ø       Recommendations to prevent re-occurrence of similar complaint.

If the complaint is referred from EPD, an interim report on the status of the complaint investigation and follow up actions shall be submitted to EPD by the CREC as per EM&A Manual. The final complaint investigation report shall be certified by the ET and verified by the IEC and send to CEDD for information before submission to EPD. The ET will record the details of the complaint, results of the investigation, subsequent actions taken to address the complaint and updated situation including the effectiveness of the remedial measures, supported by regular and additional monitoring results in the monthly EM&A reports.

3 INDEPENDENT/ EXTERNAL REVIEW

Independent audit of the complaint investigation process and the report will be conducted by the IEC. The IEC will also audit and verify the effectiveness of the existing and any additional mitigation measures implemented to minimize re-occurrence of similar complaints.

4 Closing the Case

Upon final acceptance of the environmental complaint investigation report, the PM/CEDD shall provide a written response to the complainant (except in cases where the complaint is referred from EPD), and update the record with details of the complaint investigation, follow up actions and other relevant information of the complaint in the complaint log-book. The time that would take to investigate a complaint depends on the circumstances involved and would be different for each individual case. However, the complainant would be contacted within 3 weeks from the receipt of the complaint and will be provided with an update of the investigation. The complainant would also be given the investigation results when available. For cases where the complaint is referred from EPD, the ET shall provide the final complaint investigation report (certified by the ET and verified by the IEC) to EPD for their reply to the complainant.

The ET shall also summarizes the status of complaints received, including investigation findings and follow up actions taken, in the monthly EM&A reports, which are subject to review and verification by the IEC.

 (END)

Appendix A – Environmental Complaint Handling Flow Chart

Appendix B – Complaint Hotline for the Project – Operation Flow Chart