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Air quality in Hong Kong is typical of any large modern city. Diesel
emissions and fine dust in the urban areas are the most pressing problems.
As a result of various measures taken to reduce emissions from motor vehicles,
the roadside air quality is improving. Compared with 1999, the total number
of hours that the roadside Air Pollution Index exceeded 100 in 2003 declined
by 35 per cent. The concentrations of respirable suspended particulates
and nitrogen oxides, the two major air pollutants at the roadside, declined
by 13 per cent and 23 per cent, respectively.
Hong Kong's objectives for air quality, developed
in 1987, are comparable with standards adopted in developed countries
at that time. Hong Kong is closely monitoring the latest overseas developments
in air quality standards.
Many factories and commercial activities produce
air-borne emissions. The EPD operates a range of controls under the Air
Pollution Control Ordinance and its subsidiary regulations, including
licensing of some large industrial facilities and specific controls on
furnace and chimney installations, dark smoke emissions, fuel quality,
open burning, dust emissions from construction works, emissions from petrol
filling stations and perchloroethylene emissions from dry-cleaning facilities.
A regulation was being prepared to reduce vapour emissions from vehicle
refuelling. The Air Pollution Control Ordinance has banned the import
and sale of the more dangerous types of asbestos, namely amosite and crocidolite,
from May 1996. Moreover, anyone intending to remove asbestos must engage
registered professionals, and submit asbestos investigation reports and
plans to the department.
Air pollution arouses much public concern, especially
when factories are near homes. In 2003, the department handled complaints
of air pollution allegedly caused by factories and issued legal notices
instructing offenders to abate air pollution.
Joining a global effort, Hong Kong has taken up its
obligations under the Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the
ozone layer. Apart from prohibiting both local manufacture and import
of substances such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and halons for local
consumption under the Ozone Layer Protection Ordinance, the EPD also sets
a quota to control the import of hydrochlorofluorocarbons.
Vehicle emissions are the major source of the air pollution and nuisances
experienced at the roadside. The Government's policy is to apply the most
stringent motor vehicle fuel and emission standards whenever they are
practicable and available.
Hong Kong is moving ahead of the European Union in
raising its statutory standards for motor vehicle fuel. On this front,
in July 2000, Hong Kong became the first city in Asia to introduce ultra
low sulphur diesel, which has a sulphur content of less than 0.005 per
cent, for use in motor vehicles. From April 2002, it became the statutory
standard for motor diesel. Hong Kong is a few years ahead of the European
Union in this regard, as the European Union's plan is to adopt ultra-lead
sulphur diesel as a standard in 2005.
As regards emission standards, Hong Kong follows the
steps of the European Union and has adopted Euro III emission standards
since January 2001 for all newly registered vehicles except newly registered
diesel private cars which must meet emission standards more stringent
than the Euro III standards. Cleaner fuels and tighter emission standards
introduced in the past few years have significantly reduced the pollution
from motor vehicles.
To deal with the problem of in-use diesel vehicles,
grants were provided to encourage owners of the 18 000 diesel taxis to
replace their vehicles with ones that run on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
This incentive programme was completed at the end of 2003. Nearly all
of Hong Kong's taxis are now running on LPG. A similar scheme was launched
in August 2002 to encourage the early replacement of diesel light buses
with LPG or electric light buses. Nearly 80 per cent of the newly registered
public light buses are fuelled by LPG. A programme to retrofit pre-Euro
diesel light vehicles with particulate reduction devices was completed
in October 2001, with about 24 000 vehicles retrofitted. A similar retrofit
programme for pre-Euro diesel heavy vehicles began in December 2002. A
new regulation to mandate the installation for pre-Euro diesel light vehicles
of up to four tonnes was introduced on December 1, 2003.
Another motor vehicle emission control strategy is
to tighten the control against smoky vehicles. A Smoky Vehicle Control
Programme has been operating since 1988. All vehicles reported under the
scheme must be smoke tested by an advanced test method using a chassis
dynamometer at designated vehicle emission testing centres to confirm
that the vehicle owners have rectified the smoke defects. Under this scheme,
14 553 tests were conducted in 2003.
Apart from having cleaner vehicles and cleaner fuels,
it is essential to promote mass transit systems that are pollution-free
at street level. The Government has adopted a policy that gives priority
to rail over road, and encourages innovation wherever practical. |
