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Following is a question by the Hon Lee Wing-tat and a reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Edward Yau, in the Legislative Council today (January 20):
Question:
Early this month, quite a number of taxi and public light bus drivers complained that the engines of their vehicles stalled frequently after refilling at dedicated liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) filling stations of Sinopec Hong Kong Limited (Sinopec). They suspected that the cause of such a situation was related to the quality of LPG, and they worried that this would pose serious threat to traffic safety. It was reported that some mechanics of garages providing repair services to taxis had pointed out that the auto LPG supplied by Sinopec had the problem of insufficient concentration. Moreover, I have received complaints from residents of public rental housing estates that the problem of unstable burning when using domestic LPG has occurred from time to time. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it has any standardised mechanism for monitoring the safety and quality of auto LPG, bottled LPG and central LPG, and whether such a mechanism includes conducting sample tests regularly; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(b) of the respective numbers of complaint cases about auto LPG and central LPG received by the authorities in each of the past three years, as well as what contents of complaints and their follow-up actions were; whether it knows the time generally taken by the LPG suppliers concerned to deal with and resolve the relevant problems?
Reply:
President,
The Government has been concerned about the engine stalling problem of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) taxis and minibuses. The Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) has, since the incident, liaised with the trade and LPG suppliers, and has commenced extensive and comprehensive investigation from various perspectives, including the supply of LPG, operation of filling stations, as well as operation and maintenance of vehicles etc., in order to identify the cause of the problem. EMSD has also implemented a series of measures to handle the issue, which include:
(i) providing contingency guidelines to the vehicle repair industry for strengthening the maintenance of vehicle fuel system during the period;
(ii) setting up a Task Force comprising experts, academics and trade representatives to identify the cause of the stalling problem of taxis and minibuses. The Task Force and its four subgroups have held a number of meetings and also met the trade to collect their views;
(iii) strengthening the monitoring on the operation of LPG suppliers. Random samples of LPG are taken from dispensing nozzles and LPG terminals regularly for testing. Standardised arrangement for clearing the residues in LPG storage tanks on a regular basis has also been established;
(iv) launching the LPG vehicle testing scheme on January 11. Vehicles under the scheme will be refueled free of charge at designated LPG filling stations in the coming three months. EMSD will collect the mileage and vehicle performance data of such vehicles, for analysis in order to identify the cause of the problem and solution; and
(v) setting up a hotline to receive complaints from drivers or owners regarding the stalling of LPG vehicles.
The Government is actively following up the issue and closely communicating with the trade. Our reply to the two questions raised by Member is as follows:
(a) To ensure that the quality of imported LPG complies with our requirements, EMSD scrutinises the independent third party test report submitted by LPG suppliers upon each importation of LPG. LPG is different from other petroleum products in the sense that it is stored and delivered under high pressure and enclosed conditions. Therefore, the possibility of contamination by external source is relatively low. As regards auto-LPG, a random sampling scheme on LPG quality has been launched, under which EMSD will collect random samples of LPG from dispensing nozzles of different filling stations every week for laboratory testing. It will also collect samples regularly from LPG terminals for testing.
(b) The number of complaints regarding auto-LPG in the past three years (i.e. 2007, 2008 and 2009) are 23, 29 and 35 respectively. The complaints are mainly related to nozzles out of service, long queuing time and LPG pricing etc.
The number of complaints regarding central LPG in the past three years (i.e. 2007, 2008 and 2009) are 1, 3 and 0 respectively. The complaint in 2007 was related to the setting up of a smoking area in the vicinity of an LPG store. The three complaints received in 2008 were related to gas quality, gas appliances and billing issue respectively. The complaint related to gas quality had been investigated by EMSD and no breach of statutory requirements had been identified.
EMSD received a number of reports on the failure of new-model LPG taxis in September last year. As these new-model LPG taxis were under the warranty period, the cases have been followed up by the relevant vehicle dealer and manufacturer. These new-model LPG taxis are now operating in normal conditions.
As regards the hotline set up recently by EMSD for the stalling problem of LPG taxis and minibuses, it received 62 reports of LPG taxi stalling cases on the first day of its operation since January 4. The daily number of reports received has dropped to single digit figures lately. No reported cases have been received on a number of days.
Ends/Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Issued at HKT 16:03
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