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Press Release
Charges for disposal of polluting waste from ships to be revised
The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) proposes to revise the existing charges under the Merchant Shipping (Prevention and Control of Pollution) (Charges for Discharge of Polluting Waste) Regulation.
An EPD spokesman said today (January 13) that the charges for the discharge of polluting waste were set out in Schedule 2 to the Regulation.
"Such charges are payable to the Government for the use of reception facilities provided by the Chemical Waste Treatment Centre for the purpose of collection and disposal of pollution waste, such as liquid oil waste and sludge, from sea-going ships," he said.
After gazettal today, the Amendment Regulation will be tabled at the Legislative Council next Wednesday (January 18). The proposed new rates are scheduled for implementation on March 31, 2006.
The spokesman said that the charge revision was to move towards the target of achieving full recovery of the variable operating cost and the departmental administration costs for providing the service. "The charges were last revised in 1997/98 financial year. A costing review at 2004/05 prices shows that the charges need to be increased." he added.
"The adjustment will be phased over a period of four years in order to avoid a large one-off increase," the spokesman said, noting that the Government would still have to bear the full fixed operating cost and the capital cost for providing this service.
"EPD will continue to undertake necessary measures to contain costs by continuing to implement productivity improvement measures," he said.
End/Friday, January 13, 2006
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