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The Government proposed today (November 22) an incentive scheme to encourage diesel light buses owners of existing diesel public and private light buses to replace their vehicles early with ones that are run on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) or electricity.
Speaking at a press conference, the Secretary for the Environment and Food, Mrs Lily Yam, said: "For public light buses (PLBs), we propose to offer a one-off grant of $60,000 if owners choose to replace their diesel light buses with LPG ones or a one-off grant of $80,000 if they choose to replace them with electric ones."
"To encourage early replacement, owners of PLBs aged 10 or above at the time of replacement would have until the end of 2003 to apply for the grant. The deadline of application for owners of PLBs below 10 years of age at the time of replacement would be the end of 2004," Mrs Yam added.
At present, electric vehicles, including electric light buses, are already exempt from the payment of First Registration Tax (FRT). Under the proposed incentive scheme announced today, owners of existing diesel private light buses who replace their vehicles with LPG ones will also be exempted from FRT payment for the new LPG light buses with the same deadlines for applications as for the PLB one-off grants. The FRT for a light bus is four per cent of its taxable value.
The one-off grant and the FRT exemption will be made available to owners of diesel light buses who have already made the switch to LPG or electric models before the Government starts accepting applications for the incentives.
Mrs Yam pointed out that currently there are 4 350 public light buses in Hong Kong and around 2 000 private light buses.
"It is envisaged that replacing the 6 000-odd diesel light buses with LPG ones will reduce the particulate and nitrogen oxide emissions from motor vehicles by four per cent and two per cent respectively."
She said that the proposed incentives had been drawn up balancing all relevant factors including the environmental benefits from replacing diesel light buses with cleaner alternatives and the impact of switching to LPG or electric vehicles on the operating environment of the light bus trade.
"Our detailed route-by-route analysis shows that 68 per cent of public light buses should find it attractive to replace their diesel models with LPG ones due to the lower LPG price and the one-off grant," she said.
She noted that the programme to replace existing diesel taxis with LPG ones has been a great success. Within a year or so, 75 per cent of the 18 000-strong taxi fleet have been replaced.
"The incentives we are now proposing to diesel light bus owners, together with lower fuel costs, should encourage the majority of these owners to replace their vehicles with LPG ones before the deadlines. Some may opt for replacement by electric light buses."
As the replacement programme is an incentive scheme to encourage early switch, those operators who do not wish to replace their vehicles with LPG or electric ones can continue to use diesel vehicles meeting the latest emission standards.
The Administration is arranging consultation meetings with the Legislative Council Panels on Environmental Affairs and Transport, the Advisory Council on the Environment, and the trade on the proposed incentives. Subject to approval by the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council, the incentive programme could be put in place about a month after funding approval has been given.
The above proposal is part of Government's comprehensive programme to improve the air quality in Hong Kong by reducing motor vehicle emissions.
"Our plan is to reduce 80 per cent of the particulate and 30 per cent of the nitrogen oxides emissions from motor vehicles by end-2005," Mrs Yam said.
With the various measures implemented so far, we have already achieved more than 60 per cent of the planned emission reductions.
"The Government expects further improvement with the on-going and new initiatives including the replacement of diesel light buses with LPG or electric ones," she added.
Good progress has also been made on a number of clean air initiatives through joint efforts of Government and the transport trades, for example:
* 75 per cent of the diesel taxi fleet have been replaced with LPG taxis;
* 80 per cent of the pre-Euro light diesel vehicles have been retrofitted with particulate reduction devices;
* Ultra Low Sulphur Diesel (ULSD) is sold at all petrol filling stations and the entire diesel fleet is using ULSD; and
* Euro III motor vehicle emission standards have been implemented.
End/Thursday, November 22, 2001
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