Hong Kong to improve air quality: chief executive

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government will enhance cooperation with authorities and HK-owned factories in Guangdong province to improve air quality, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said Wednesday.

Leung said when delivering his policy address that air quality monitoring results from 2010 to 2014 reflect a continuous improvement in Hong Kong's overall air quality and expected it to further improve.

He said the government is working with the Guangdong authorities to explore the feasibility of requiring ocean-going vessels berthing at the ports in the Pearl River Delta to switch to cleaner fuel.

"We also plan to allocate 150 million HK dollars (about 19.35 million US dollars) to extend the Cleaner Production Partnership Program to encourage Hong Kong-owned factories in Guangdong to adopt cleaner production technologies," he said.

Besides, the government will soon introduce legislation to require non-road mobile machinery newly supplied for the local use, including generators and excavators, to comply with statutory emission standards, he added.

In regard of waste management, Leung said despite enhanced efforts to promote waste reduction, the three existing landfills will be full within the next five years. The extension of landfills and the development of waste-to-energy facilities are essential to deal with the problem.

He said a new organic waste treatment facility is expected to commence operation in early 2017 and will convert food waste into electricity as renewable energy.

As for energy saving, the chief executive announced that the government is setting a new target of achieving a 5 percent saving in electricity consumption for government buildings under comparable operating conditions in the coming five years.

The government will work with stakeholders and public and private organizations to further foster a low-carbon and livable built environment to reduce Hong Kong's overall electricity demand, he added. (1 US dollar = 7.75 HK dollars)