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Transcript of remarks by SEN
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     Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Wong Kam-sing, on measures to improve air pollution after attending an event this afternoon (October 18):

Reporter: Mr Wong, the air pollution in the past few days was very bad. Is the roadside air pollution the main cause and does the Government have any long term plans to tackle the problem?

Secretary for the Environment: I think the Government is very concerned about the air quality, both the ambient and the roadside. So we have to tackle them at both ends. On the ambient air pollution, we have to collaborate with the Pearl River Delta, so that we can set the respective targets for emission control. But the key is about the roadside air pollution that is related to the diesel commercial vehicles and buses. So we have to understand the problem and find the appropriate solutions. We would like to step up the measures on how to phase out the diesel commercial vehicles, both through carrot and stick. In other areas like Mainland China, they set a kind of deadline for not continuing the license for old diesel commercial vehicles, say (those over) around 15 years. We can have carrot and stick to guarantee that we would achieve the air quality by a certain time, say we are setting a target for 2015, so that we have to have an effective measure to phase out those old diesel commercial vehicles.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)

Ends/Thursday, October 18, 2012
Issued at HKT 16:00

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