*********************************************************
Following is a question by the Hon Emily Lau and a written reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works, Dr Sarah Liao, at the Legislative Council meeting today (November 5):
Question:
In August last year, the Administration launched a scheme under which a grant was offered to encourage owners of diesel public light buses (PLBs) to replace their vehicles early with those which use liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) or electricity. Regarding the reduction of emissions from diesel vehicles, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:
(a) of the respective numbers of PLBs whose owners have applied for the grant to replace their vehicles with those which use LPG and electricity since the implementation of the scheme, as well as their percentages in the total number of PLBs in Hong Kong;
(b) whether they have conducted a survey on the difficulties and concerns of PLB owners in replacing their vehicles with those which use LPG or electricity; if so, of the results of the survey and the improvement proposals arising therefrom; if not, whether it will conduct such a survey;
(c) of the plans and supporting measures in place to attract more PLB owners to replace their vehicles with those which use LPG or electricity; and
(d) whether they will reconsider financing PLB owners in replacing their vehicles early with new diesel engine models that meet the Euro III emission standard; if so, of the preliminary thinking; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) As at 27 October 2003, there were 600 liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) PLBs in Hong Kong, accounting for 14 per cent of the entire PLB fleet. There was no electric PLB in Hong Kong.
The owners of 598 of the above 600 LPG PLBs have already applied for and received the one-off grant.
(b) Before implementing the LPG and electric light bus incentive scheme, the Government had carried out jointly with the light bus trade a trial of LPG and electric light buses. According to the report of the trial, both LPG and electric light buses are suitable for use in Hong Kong. However, electric light buses might have to be confined to shorter routes because of battery constraints. Because of public safety and geographical considerations, there is practical difficulty in providing LPG filling facilities close to every PLB route. Therefore, the report has also pointed out that the operating income of those PLB operators who run routes far away from LPG filling stations may be affected if they switch to LPG light buses. Having considered the above factors, the Government decided not to introduce a compulsory replacement programme but to implement a voluntary scheme to encourage owners to replace early their diesel light buses with the environmentally cleaner light buses that use LPG and electricity. The voluntary nature of the scheme allows owners to decide, on the basis of their operations, whether to join the incentive scheme, and to decide to opt for an LPG light bus, an electric light bus or a diesel light bus.
Under the incentive scheme, to be eligible for the one-off grant, owners of diesel PLBs of 10 years old or above have until end-2004 to replace their vehicles, and owners of diesel PLBs below 10 years old have until end-2005 to replace their vehicles. Since the deadlines for application for the grant are still some time away, some diesel PLB owners may choose to continue to use their existing diesel light buses and to replace their vehicles later. Moreover, some diesel PLB owners may be postponing their vehicle replacement plan given the current economic situation in Hong Kong. We expect that more owners will replace their diesel light buses with LPG or electric ones in the run-up to the deadlines.
(c) To encourage more owners to replace their diesel light buses with LPG ones, we have worked together with oil companies to expand the LPG filling network. From only four temporary LPG filling stations, the network has now grown to a total of 44 LPG filling stations including 12 large-scale dedicated stations. More LPG stations will come on stream in the coming years and the geographical coverage of the LPG filling network will be further improved.
Moreover, we will continue our close dialogue with the light bus trade and will follow up on the technical issues that they may encounter in the use of LPG light buses.
(d) The incentive scheme seeks to encourage owners of existing diesel light buses to switch to environmentally cleaner LPG or electric models. Even though a Euro III diesel light bus is more advanced than its predecessor that was manufactured before the introduction of the Euro emission standard, its nitrogen oxide emission is at least twice as much as that of an LPG light bus. Moreover, a Euro III diesel light bus is no comparison with an LPG light bus, as the latter emits almost zero particulate. Overall, an LPG light bus is environmentally cleaner than a Euro III diesel light bus.
At present, the Euro III standard is already the minimum statutory emission standard for all newly registered vehicles. A vehicle owner who wishes to purchase a new vehicle, including a new diesel PLB, to replace his existing vehicle can only choose one that meets at least the Euro III emission standard. Therefore, there is no justification for including in the incentive scheme Euro III diesel PLBs that can only meet the minimum statutory emission standard.
Ends/Wednesday, November 5, 2003
NNNN
