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A spokesman for the Environmental Protection Department stresseed today (March 21) that the Government was determined to combat the air pollution problem and had placed air quality improvement on top of its agenda.
The spokesman was commenting on a report on local air pollution. The Report entitled "Relative Significance of Local vs Regional Sources: Hong Kong's Air Pollution" noted that, in terms of mass concentration, regional sources from the Pearl River Delta Economic Zone accounted for approximately 60% of the pollution level in the HKSAR in annual average terms but that this percentage would rise to 70% in wintertime.
"Such a finding is consistent with the findings of the Study of Air Quality in the Pearl River Delta Region published by the Environmental Protection Department in 2002," the spokesman said.
"The findings of the report are also consistent with department's monitoring data which indicates that air pollution levels were much higher in winter than the summer time."
"For example, there were a total of 55 days in January and only nine days in June between 1999 and 2006 with roadside air pollution index exceeding 100. The average concentrations of respirable suspended particulates (RSP) measured by the general stations for the same period were 71 microgrammes per cubic metre in January and only 31 microgrammes per cubic metre in June."
"To effectively reduce the high air pollution days, we must also work in collaboration with Guangdong to reduce the regional emissions. We will continue to explore practicable and effective measures to improve our air quality. We will also work closely with Guangdong to effectively reduce emissions from the regional sources," he said.
The report called for action to target emission sources including power generation, land transportation and marine transportation.
"These recommendations are consistent with the comprehensive package of measures adopted by the Government to reduce air pollutant emissions from local sources," the spokesman said.
"This package of measures have yielded concrete results. The total amount of nitrogen oxides (NOx), respirable suspended particulates and volatile organic compounds (VOC) generated in Hong Kong in 2005 were reduced by 15%, 36% and 26% respectively compared to 1997."
"Only sulphur dioxide has seen an increase in the last few years owing to the increase in emissions from power plants. We have imposed emission caps on power companies since 2005 and will progressively tighten the caps."
"We welcome any research and studies which will help further our understanding of the challenges and solutions for improving air quality," he said.
Ends/Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Issued at HKT 16:48
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