A new proposal to build ‘housing units’ on top of terminal buildings at the Kwai Tsing Container Terminals could combat noise and light pollution.

Architect Rocco Yim Sen-kee said pollution could be dealt with by building "screen buildings”, including small-scale offices and studio-office units, which would block excessive light or noise from reaching residential areas of the container port town, according to The Standard.

Big potential

Speaking about his plan for container terminals six and seven at a meeting to discuss the proposal, Mr Sen-kee, co-founder of Rocco Design Architects Ltd. said: "I estimate that there will be a usable site area of 49.4 hectares on Container Terminal Six and Seven; if 70 percent of the land is used as domestic area, a housing area the size of two Tai Koo Shings could be developed on top of these two terminals.

"Let's say one housing unit takes up 45 square meters, Container Terminal Six and Seven alone could provide an additional 20,000 housing units,” reported The Standard.

At the meeting, Freeman Cheung Chun-ming, president of the Environmental Management Association of Hong Kong, proposed anti-pollution measures including reconfiguring existing diesel-powered rubber-tyred gantry cranes to run on electric or hybrid power; introducing hybrid buses and electric vehicles for internal shuttling; providing decking over the container yard; and developing the handling system for loading and unloading into a fully automated electric container handling system.