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Following is the transcript of remarks (English portion) by the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Wong Kam-sing, on proposed landfill extension after attending a public event today (June 21):
Reporter: How can you improve the garbage trucks, and how exactly are you going to deal with the smell in the Tseung Kwan O landfill?
Secretary for the Environment: The first question is about how to improve the existing condition of the refuse collection vehicles. We would like to have a very effective measure, which is, firstly, through regulation, to mandate all the concerned refuse collection vehicles to have a system so that they are closed to contain the smell and also any leakage. Besides the law, we would like to speed up the retrofit. The Government is willing to invest the money to help the trade to retrofit as soon as possible. So within a year or so, we can retrofit the whole fleet of garbage trucks so that we can fix the problem, benefiting the whole of Hong Kong including those living near the existing landfills. Regarding how to improve the conditions near the Tseung Kwan O landfill, I think the major concern of the nearby residents is about the smell from municipal solid waste. The concrete proposal is to divert the municipal solid waste away from that landfill, so that we can stop the smell from those in the vicinity. In future, only construction waste will be delivered there, so that the overall volume of waste will be reduced and the number of trucks to that landfill will be reduced by about half. Also we would work with the trade so that the operation hours will be reduced. For instance, the local residents would like to have a calmer Sunday. We will liaise with the trade that we would like to reduce the operation hours so that they may have a more peaceful Sunday.
Reporter: Are you confident that you will get your proposal approved next week, and if you don't, what will you do?
Secretary for the Environment: I think it is the responsibility of the Government to propose the best arrangement for the benefits of Hong Kong. We opine that the extension of the three landfills is the basic need for the whole of Hong Kong and we would like to respond to district concerns as well. So we would like to have a balanced proposal. We hope the Legislative Councillors could understand the situation and support the proposal. We would like to try our best endeavour to pass the message to the Councillors and get their support.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Friday, June 21, 2013
Issued at HKT 20:20
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