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More
rail transport needed to help solve air pollution problem
One of
the major causes of Hong Kong's air pollution problems was
the emissions from diesel vehicles, the Director of Environmental
Protection, Mr Rob Law, said today (Tuesday)
To effectively tackle this problem, Hong Kong should limit
the growth in diesel vehicles and greatly expand its rail
network, he said.
"Even
with the cleanest diesel vehicles available, the sheer numbers
of them on our roads will mean that we may never attain our
Air Quality Objectives. Therefore, it is crucial that we limit
the growth in diesel vehicles in Hong Kong.
"One
of the most effective ways to ensure this happens is to greatly
expand our rail network in Hong Kong, and we need to do this
urgently."
Speaking
at a press conference to review his department's work in 1998,
Mr Law said relying too heavily on building new roads to solve
traffic congestion problems very often simply shifted the
congestion problem to some new location.
"Paradoxically,
improving traffic flow also inevitably encourages more people
to use the roads, and the congestion problems eventually build
up again. This is the experience all over the world."
"I
am not saying that we do not need roads, or that building
new roads is necessarily bad from an environmental point of
view. We do need new roads, and Hong Kong can be proud of
its extensive road network. Many other Asian cities have appalling
traffic congestion as a result of inadequate road networks.
"But
faced with our present and projected air pollution problems,
we need to shift the balance more towards rail transport as
a means of satisfying the growing transport demand. We can
no longer deal with our traffic congestion problems by simply
building more roads.
Mr Law
said what Hong Kong needed was an extensive network of rail
services, at least as extensive as those in Tokyo and London.
"Without
such a rail system we will simply never catch up with our
air pollution problems, which will get steadily worse."
He said
the need for expanding our rail service had already been recognised
by the government and there was a commitment to this in the
Chief Executive's recent policy address.
The environmental
implications of our transport policies are also being studied
in the Third Comprehensive Transport Study being undertaken
by the Transport Department, he said.
As Hong
Kong has a unique air pollution problem at street level because
of the narrowness of our streets and pavements and the high-rise
nature of our buildings, which trap pollutants in our busiest
areas, Mr Law said pedestrianising the blackspot would be
a solution.
"I
believe we must look seriously at pedestrianising our worst
air pollution blackspots - that means closing some roads to
traffic, at least at certain times of the day, and turning
them over for the exclusive use of pedestrians," he said.
Mr Law
also outlined a basket of other transport related measures
to tackle the air pollution problem.
"We
should also dramatically increase the penalty for smoky vehicle
offences. Unless we hit people in their pockets they simply
don't care. We will shortly be putting forward a detailed
proposal on this and I hope we will see some action towards
the middle of the year.
"We
need to make the smoky vehicle test more stringent and enable
the police to step up their enforcement work. Again, we hope
to see some action on this very soon.
"We
need new legislation to control the problem of pollution from
idling vehicles. We have already formulated a proposal for
this which is currently being considered by other relevant
parts of the government. Again, I would hope to see some action
on this soon.
"We
should consider retrofitting as many of our large diesel vehicles
as possible with diesel catalytic converters. These can cut
particulate emissions by at least 25%. We have been conducting
a trial with a major bus company with considerable success
and are now working up a detailed proposal," he said.
He said
the government would continue to introduce the toughest international
emission standards for new petrol and diesel vehicles as soon
as they are available.
End/Tuesday,
February 23, 1999
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