A package of new measures to tackle air pollution in Hong Kong has been announced today (Tuesday) by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), the Director of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office of the SAR, Mr. Donald Tong said. The package includes measures that will significantly reduce air pollution mainly caused by diesel vehicle emissions over the next two to three years, in particular vehicle particulate emissions in the main urban area by 70% and nitrogen oxide emissions by more than 19% in the main urban area.

The Government with the cooperation of oil companies will provide sufficient petroleum gas refuelling capacity to meet the demands of 18,000 taxis and 6,000 light buses by the end of 2001 and end-2002 respectively.

"Financial incentives will be offered to encourage the introduction of environmentally-friendly hybrid vehicles or those powered by natural gas or fuel cells", Mr. Tong said, adding that Canadian companies and expertise could play a role in helping Hong Kong to overcome the problem.

The Chief Executive, Mr. Tung Chee Hwa, announced a series of environmental initiatives in last year's Policy Address, one of which was to tackle urgently the problem of air pollution caused by too many diesel driven vehicles on the road. The Government has since then been implementing measures steadily and working on new measures.

Mr. Tong pointed out that a new Task Force on Air Pollution Control has also been established to monitor the implementation and success of the latest measures.

The Task Force will be chaired by the Secretary for Environment and Food, Mrs. Lily Yam, and include representatives from various bureaux and departments with a role in controlling air pollution. The Task Force will report to the Chief Executive on a quarterly basis.

The new package of measures introduced today include:

• All Government diesel vehicles to use ultra-low sulphur diesel (ULSD), which reduces particulate emissions by 10-30 per cent per vehicle. It is expected that ULSD will be readily available by the end of the year. Franchised bus companies will be asked to use ULSD
• Encourage the use of ULSD by all diesel vehicles through a competitive pump price
• Incentive for replacing older vehicles with more environmentally friendly vehicles, together with disincentive for older vehicles
• Incentive scheme for the introduction of hybrid, natural gas or fuel cell powered vehicles
• Require petrol stations to install fuel pump vapour recovery systems to prevent the escape of hydrocarbon vapours into the atmosphere and reinforce vapour recovery measures introduced last year for underground storage tanks
• Sanctions against repeat offenders for smoky vehicles
• Practicable ways for conversion of diesel light vans to petrol vehicles
• Examine the need for restraining vehicle growth and road use.