The area is home to 80 percent of the fuel depots in the territory.

Lawmaker Lau Wong-fat asked Secretary for Security Ambrose Lee about threats the depots pose to life, property and the environment in the event of explosions or leakage.

Lau was alarmed by the explosion at the Buncefield oil depot in west London last month, which forced the evacuation of 2,000 residents, and is worried it could happen here.

Lee said there are 11 large-scale oil storage facilities in Hong Kong - five in Tsing Yi, two in Tuen Mun, and one each in Tai Po, Hong Kong International Airport, To Kwa Wan in Kowloon and Chai Wan on Hong Kong Island.

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All 11 depots meet environmental protection requirements, he said. But he added they had started operating before the Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance came into effect on April 1, 1998, and as such "were exempted projects under the ordinance."

But eight of the facilities had carried out "administrative environmental studies to assess their environmental impact," Lee said. Fuel stored at depots is regulated by the Dangerous Goods Ordinance and operators are licensed by the Fire Services Department.

"In future, all construction proposals for large-scale oil depots will undergo statutory environmental impact assessments," he added.

The government imposes strict controls on siting to minimize the possibility of major incidents. Lee said the FSD has contingency plans to handle emergencies at each large-scale depot. The department also conducts regular exercises and drills at the facilities.

However, New Territories West lawmaker Albert Chan said eight of the oil depots were located within his constituency, making the area "the stronghold of dangerous goods."

Chan said: "The residents of New Territories West are unfairly suffering from the disproportional danger." He said the government should review where depots are located.

Lee said Chan's point should be referred to the Housing, Planning and Lands Bureau, but no representative was present to answer.

"Whether it is fair or not, I can't give my subjective judgment ... and we have to look at the people in Hong Kong as a whole," Lee said.

"Regarding the reasons for having many oil depots in New Territories West, the history of the area indicates there were not many people living there," he said.

Democrat and fellow New Territories West lawmaker Albert Ho was worried about the danger of locating the Airport Authority's new aviation-fuel depot next door to smelters at the Shiu Wing Steel Mill in Lung Kwu Tan. The furnaces at the steelworks operate at temperatures of more than 1,000 degrees Celsius, Ho said, adding the "potential danger exists."

Lau Wai-ping, village chief of Lung Kwu Tan, west of Tuen Mun, said: "We are afraid a depot explosion like the one in London will happen to us.

"There is only one main road, Lung Kwu Tan Road, linking the 2,000 people of Lung Kwu Tan village, so if there is a depot explosion this one road could be cut off.

"Fire service ambulances might not reach us. We have nowhere to turn to if there is a drastic accident at the fuel storage depot."