HK hopes smog control scheme can begin in three years
Date: 03-Oct-02
Country: CHINA
"My target is three years," Sarah Liao, Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works said on Wednesday at a media luncheon.
The scheme, which will involve Hong Kong, Macau and the neighbouring Chinese province of Guangdong, will effectively make smog a commodity, relying on market forces to convince heavy polluters to clean up their act.
Strict pollution limits would be imposed on power plants and factories. Companies which meet or do better than these standards will earn credits which they can save for later use or sell to other polluters who fail to meet their emission target.
"The business sector here can do better, there is no doubt about that," she said.
China has also given approval for Hong Kong, Macau and Guangdong to join a pilot scheme which already covers several heavily polluted mainland cities such as Shanghai and four provinces. Liao was quoted earlier this week as saying it would take 10 years for a regional emission trading market to emerge.
Air pollution in Hong Kong soared to a record high last month, raising health concerns and adding a psychological blackspot for the city in the minds of investors.
Activists have blamed the pollution on the city's diesel-burning vehicles and on smog drifting south from Guangdong, one of China's fastest growing provincial economies.
A recent study on air quality in the delta area predicted dangerous pollutants would jump over the next few years. Sulphur dioxide levels were expected to climb 75 percent by 2015 from 1997 levels, and nitrogen oxide levels by 40 percent.
One of Hong Kong's most popular cabinet members, Liao said she does not want to interfere with free enterprise.
"But as far as the public transportation system is concerned, the government does have a responsibility," she said.
The government is looking into using compressed natural gas as an alternative fuel, she said.
