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Following is the transcript of the media session by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Donald Tsang and the Vice-Governor of Guangdong Province, Mr Xu Deli, following a meeting of the Hong Kong/Guangdong Joint Working Group on Sustainable Development and Environmental Protection this (April 29) morning:
Reporter: Mr Tsang, you said that there are now some joint measures to come up by both the SAR and Guangdong Governments. I wonder how would the Government secure enough resources to follow through all these types of measures when Hong Kong will not have a separate bureau to take care of environmental issues under the new government line-up?
Chief Secretary for Administration: Well, environmental protection is always a priority area for the HKSAR Government. We have invested quite a lot in environmental protection already. You can see the changing of our entire taxi fleet from diesel-driven to one of LPG-driven. That reflects the determination of the Hong Kong Government to work hard in this regard. I'm quite sure it will continue to be our priority item. The fact that it will combine with environmental protection which will become part and parcel of a new larger bureau, I think it will not in any way undermine our efforts in this regard. I'm quite sure the resources dedicated to environmental protection will increase every year.
Reporter: But how much will be invested in the coming years, for example, you have to reach a standard of cutting air pollutants by 2010?
Chief Secretary for Administration: Well, that's our target. What we need to do now is for the expert groups to work together, to work out a whole series of measures, against set timetables, to bring us to that target. We will then put in resources as much as necessary, as much as the legislature can approve and what we can afford in this regard.
Reporter: Given the rapid pace of economic growth up-stream along the Pearl River, is the best that people can hope for is continued water quality level as it is now, or do you actually see any improvement in it given this extra environmental resources?
Chief Secretary for Administration: We are not satisfied the way in which deterioration is taking place. We are certainly aiming at improvement. The measures we have proposed as regards protection of air quality, we are going to upgrade the quality of air. We are going to see clearer sky. We are going to have less smog in the area. And in that regard, I am sure we'll have less respiratory diseases and higher labour productivity. I am sure that is what we are going to get at. It's not what is being satisfied at what we have now, but we'll improve the present standard. Later on, after air pollution, we'll then work on water pollution as well. As Mr Xu has mentioned, we'll do it step by step. While at the same time, we are working on our individual programme. As far as the joint programme is concerned, we want to concentrate on protecting our own air, improving our air quality, and going beyond that, we are going to water and other resources.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript)
End/Monday, April 29, 2002
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