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Press
Releases - 1998
Busy
programme for EPD in 1998
The Government
will be carrying out a large number of programmes this year
to tackle Hong Kong's outstanding environmental problems,
Director of Environmental Protection, Mr Rob Law, said today
(Thursday).
Speaking
at the annual press briefing of the Environmental Protection
Department (EPD), Mr Law said 1997 was another busy year for
the department with significant success, but there was a lot
that needed to be done.
To tackle
our air pollution problem, Mr Law said the Government would
shortly be reviewing the pilot scheme to introduce liquefied
petroleum gas fuelled taxis into Hong Kong in the hope of
being able to replace the existing diesel fuelled taxis which
cause much of our air pollution problems.
"We will
also be introducing a new roadside air pollution index and
improving on the information we currently provide on our ambient
air pollution index," he said.
On waste
reduction, Mr Law said the Government hoped to publish the
final Waste Reduction Plan around the middle of the year,
which is aimed at achieving significant reduction in the amount
of waste needed to be disposed of at our landfills.
"One
of the most important elements of the plan will be to introduce
large, waste-to-energy incinerator into Hong Kong. We hope
to complete our detailed study on this by the end of the new
financial year," he said.
In addition,
he said, the EPD would also be working in other key areas,
such as the phasing out of noisy percussive piling hammers
in built-up areas, making proposals for retrofitting existing
roads with noise abatement measures, and the implementation
of the new Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance.
On enforcement
actions, EPD received nearly 14,000 complaints last year from
the public about environmental problems and staff in our six
local control offices carried out about 70,000 inspections,
Mr Law said.
"We had
nearly 1,200 successful prosecutions, about 20 per cent over
that of last year, and a 12 per cent increase overall in the
level of fines, with a total of about $21 million in fines
being imposed."
Although
the level of fines handed down by the courts were often disappointing,
Mr Law said it was encouraging that the level of fines seemed
to be going up. The maximum fine recorded in the year was
$180,000 for an offence under the Noise Control Ordinance.
"We also
encountered the first instances of prison sentence being handed
down for two cases under the Water Pollution Control Ordinance,"
he said.
End/Thursday,
March 12, 1998
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