Environmental aesthetic: The Drainage Services Department has given special attention to the design of Ngong Ping Sewage Treatment Plant to ensure it is in harmony with the Lantau environment.

Hong Kong's first tertiary sewage treatment plant will be built in Ngong Ping, Lantau with the award of a $233-million contract to Kier-Leader-Kenworth Joint Venture.

When complete in two years, the plant will treat effluent for reuse under a pilot trial.

Director of Drainage Services Raymond Cheung said tertiary-level treatment was given to the sewage collected in Ngong Ping to protect the environmentally sensitive area and the quality of the water gathering ground for Shek Pik Reservoir.

The plant will adopt the technology of a Sequencing Batch Reactor, dual media filter and disinfection process to reduce organic pollutants, suspended solids, nutrients and pathogenic organisms from sewage to a very low level.

Mr Cheung said part of the treated effluent will be reused for flushing public toilets in Ngong Ping and at the cable car terminal.

The trial will provide information and useful experience for the Government to further review and assess the technical and operational feasibility of the wider use of treated effluent in Hong Kong.

To ensure the Ngong Ping Sewage Treatment Plant is in harmony with the environment, the department has given special attention to its aesthetic design.

Apart from its construction, the contract also covers the construction of a 200-metre-long trunk sewer for connection to the public toilets and cable car terminal and associated tourist developments in the area.

About 5.7km of twin effluent export pipeline will also be built from the plant to Tung Wan at the southern side of Lantau and an effluent reuse supply system.