Environmental Protection Department Environment Hong Kong 2004
Vision and Mission Foreword Contents Home English Traditional Chinese Simplified Chinese
1. Hong Kong's Environment 2. Community Awareness 3. Customer Service and Partnership 4. Environmental Assessment and Planning 5. Air 6. Noise 7. Waste 8. Water 9. Enforcement

 
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Foreword

 

   
Dr Sarah Liao, JP
Secretary for the Environment,
Transport and Works
Dr Sarah Liao, JP
Secretary for the Environment,
Transport and Works
In 2003, we continued to make good progress in our work to reduce motor vehicle emissions. The incentive scheme to encourage taxi owners to replace their diesel taxis with liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) ones ended in December 2003. 99.8% of our taxis are now LPG ones. We expect that the remaining ones will be replaced by LPG ones when they reach the end of their technical life, as first registration of diesel taxis is no longer allowed under the law. On the other front, nearly 80% of the newly registered public light buses are LPG ones since we introduced in 2002 a similar incentive scheme to encourage the early replacement of existing diesel light buses with ones that are run on cleaner fuels. Installation of emission reduction device on pre-Euro light diesel vehicles is now a statutory requirement. The same will happen to pre-Euro heavy diesel vehicles after the current catalyst retrofit programme for those vehicles has been completed in 2004. Our enhanced efforts to reduce motor vehicle emissions over the past few years are bearing fruits: compared with 1999, the concentrations of particulates and nitrogen oxides at the roadside had fallen by 13% and 23% respectively in 2003. The number of smoky vehicles has dropped by over 70%.

We have also made good progress in our joint programme with Guangdong to improve regional air pollution. A "Regional Air Quality Management Plan" has been drawn up, and it sets out the enhanced air pollution control measures that the two governments plan to implement to achieve the agreed emission reduction targets in respect of the four major regional air pollutants.

The Harbour Area Treatment Scheme Stage 1 has brought about significant improvement to the water quality of our harbour. Despite that, we have to move on with Stage 2 to provide adequate protection to our harbour in the light of the anticipated growth in population and economic activities in the HATS catchment. We have already completed the series of trials and studies relating to the way forward for HATS Stage 2. We will launch a full-scale public consultation on how to take the project forward.

In our waste reduction and recycling programme, we are moving forward towards the Government's waste reduction targets. The recycling rate of municipal solid waste registered a 5% increase from 36% in 2002 to 41% in 2003, which is the largest yearly increase ever observed. We have also succeeded in continuing to arrest the growth in municipal solid waste disposed of at landfills for four consecutive years since 2000, which compares favourably with the 3.5% annual growth rate previously. In 2003, we introduced a Bill into the Legislative Council for implementation of a construction waste disposal charging scheme in line with polluter pays principle and implemented a wet/dry waste sorting pilot programme.

The above is a summary of our major achievements in 2003. Protecting the environment is a long-term task, and a lot remains to be done. My colleagues in the Environmental Protection Department and the Environment, Transport and Works Bureau will continue to work for a better environment for Hong Kong.

Dr Sarah Liao, JP
Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works
Dr Sarah Liao, JP
Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works

   

 


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