*****************************************

    Following is a question by the Dr Hon Kwok Ka-ki and a written reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works, Dr Sarah Liao, at the Legislative Council meeting today (May 11) :

Question:

    One of the measures under the Pearl River Delta Regional Air Quality Management Plan is to set up a regional air quality monitoring network, but details of the network have not been provided by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)  of the specific locations of and site selection criteria (such as the altitude, nature of land use and environment of the site) for the 16 monitoring stations of the regional air quality monitoring network in the Pearl River Delta;

(b)  whether it has drawn up any technical memorandum on the construction of the air quality monitoring stations; if so, whether the memorandum will be made public;

(c)  of the timeframe for releasing details of the monitoring network concerned; and

(d)  how the authorities will disseminate air quality information collected by the above monitoring network after it has been commissioned, and whether such information will include air pollution index and health tips?

Reply:

Madam President,

(a)  The Pearl River Delta Regional Air Quality Monitoring Network (the Monitoring Network) has been set up by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Guangdong Provincial Government in accordance with the Pearl River Delta Regional Air Quality Management Plan agreed in 2003. The Monitoring Network comprises 16 monitoring stations, 13 of which are modified from suitable existing stations to cater for the requirements of the Monitoring Network. These monitoring stations are located at Shenzhen, Dongguan, Guangzhou, Foshan, Shunde, Zhaoqing, Jiangmen, Zhongshan, Zhuhai and Huizhou as well as Tap Mun, Tsuen Wan and Tung Chung of Hong Kong. The other three new monitoring stations are located on suitable sites at Conghua, Panyu and Huiyang. In drawing up the Monitoring Network, the environmental monitoring departments of both sides have mainly made reference to the recommendations of the Study on Air Quality in the Pearl River Delta Region jointly completed by the Hong Kong Environmental Protection Department (HKEPD) and Guangdong Environmental Protection Bureau in 2002, for selecting sites in the urban and rural areas of the Pearl River Delta that can best reflect the characteristics of regional air pollution. The Report of the Study on Air Quality in the Pearl River Delta Region is available at HKEPD's website;

(b)  The environmental monitoring departments of the two sides have compiled a set of quality control and assurance manuals for the Monitoring Network with reference to international standards. The manuals contain technical and operational guidelines for setting up the monitoring stations. Subject to the examination and confirmation of experts from both sides, the manuals can be made available to the Legislative Council and the public in the latter half of the year for reference;

(c)  The Monitoring Network is now on trial. It is estimated that in the latter half of the year, when the technical performance of the Monitoring Network meets the relevant requirements of the experts of both sides, more details can be made available to the public; and

(d)  The Hong Kong-Guangdong Joint Working Group on Sustainable Development and Environmental Protection agreed at its meeting in December 2004 that monitoring results would be announced to the public as soon as possible according to the operating condition of the Monitoring Network. Both sides are now studying details such as the content, format and channels so that the agreed arrangement will be adopted for announcing the monitoring results.

Ends/Wednesday, May 11, 2005

NNNN