INTERVIEW – Hong Kong Environment Boss's Clean Air Plans Gain Momentum
Date: 12-Dec-05
Country: CHINA
Author: John Ruwitch
"I get very worried when I see a shroud of smog over the harbour," said Kwok, the head of Hong Kong's environmental protection department. "It's my job to get rid of it."
It's a sunny day, but air quality monitoring stations around the city rate the level of pollution as high, which is common. Haze obscures the view across one of the world's most picturesque harbours.
Residents say air quality has deteriorated in recent years in the former British colony, and the problem is starting to hurt the city's image. Some multinationals now say the poor air is deterring potential employees from moving here.
Automobiles, factories and, perhaps most crucially, power plants - not only in Hong Kong but also in the booming Pearl River Delta - are the main culprits. The government has been criticised for letting the problem get as bad as it has.
Kwok doesn't try to downplay the problem, but says the government is making progress.
"It's picking up momentum," he said in an interview on Friday. The number of days with air pollution index readings of 100 or more has dropped by half since last year, he said. Readings of 51-100 are considered "high".
Green groups have criticised the city's air quality standards as less stringent than many other areas, but Kowk said the monitoring system was modelled on that of the United States.
Emissions of three major pollutants - nitrogen oxides, respirable suspended particulates and volatile organic compounds - have actually dropped since 1997 when the city was returned to Chinese control, environmental department data shows.
But the levels of a fourth, sulphur dioxide, which comes mostly from power plants, has risen by 41 percent, Kwok said.
The city's dynamos contribute to the problem and those in the neghbouring Chinese mainland province of Guangdong do too, especially when the wind blows toward Hong Kong.
The department has worked closely with Guangdong, which Kwok said has shown a good deal of goodwill.
"It's not a situation of turning one's back against another, or accusing the other side ... It's a very close, positive, mutually beneficial working relationship," he said.
MONITORING AIR QUALITY
Last week Hong Kong and Guangdong launched an air quality monitoring system for the Pearl River Delta, a major engine of China's economic growth and a manufacturing hub. Some have criticised the system for being too vague to be of much use.
Kwok said the two areas had jointly studied the air quality problem and agreed to reduce the four major pollutants to levels well below those found in 1997.
To reach the target by 2010, Guangdong plans to retrofit 16 coal fired power plants to pollute less. Five have already been completed. Vehicle emission standards were improving in Guangdong, too, Kwok said.
"Maybe I am unduly optimistic, or maybe I am jumping to conclusions a bit sooner than I should be, but obviously what they are doing on their side has got something to do with the improvement that we have seen this year," he said.
Tackling Hong Kong's air pollution will also require the city's power companies, Hong Kong Electric Holdings Ltd. and CLP Holdings Ltd. to cut emissions.
Kwok said he is concerned because "they are the single most important source of emissions in Hong Kong".
