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Following is the transcript of remarks by the Chief Executive, Mr Donald Tsang, at a media session in Tokyo after visiting the Tamagawa Incineration Plant today (November 11):
Reporter: Mr Tsang, about the incinerator. Apart from technology and skill, is there anything we could learn on……
Chief Executive: This is precisely the point I came. In terms of technology I'm sure we are quite familiar with what's the most modern technology available both in Japan here, in continental Europe and the US. The important thing is how -they are able to integrate a facility of this kind into the community. In this particular one which I have just visited is in the middle of a high-class residential area, next to a river and also next to a major transit point, where there are annual throughput of two million people. But when you go into the facility, you don't see any smoke. No odour, no noise, and it's part of the community. So it's the sort of thing perhaps we should study and we should learn, and see in what way we are able to integrate Hong Kong solid waste disposal facility with the community and make sure it will be acceptable for the community at large. But there is no doubt about it, we in Hong Kong generate 18,000 tonnes of refuse a day, and we recycle half of it, and another half it should be disposed of some kind, and the option really is incineration and refuse tipping. So we need, perhaps in Hong Kong's case as in Japan here, we need to do both. The real challenge and real option for us to consider is how large it should be? Should we have more? Should we have one in a much larger area? Say, for instance, the sort of size we are talking about here. The experts here tell me, with a similar size, it looks as if we would need at least one on Hong Kong Island, two in Kowloon and two in the New Territories.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Thursday, November 11, 2010
Issued at HKT 21:24
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