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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 zero emission buses, country parks and waste charging after attending a public event today (September 9):

Reporter: You mentioned that there is a long term goal for zero emission buses on the streets.  There are hundreds of buses running on the street every day and it is now providing 36 electric buses. When do you think Hong Kong will have zero emission?

Secretary for the Environment: Overall we would like to improve the air quality in Hong Kong, in particular the roadside air pollution issues. So that's why we launched our Clean Air Plan in March to set the target and also the timeline to meet the objective. That's the key. Our goal is to meet the new Air Quality Objective by 2020, so it is a very concrete plan for us to follow. While franchised buses are one of the major sources of roadside air pollutants in Hong Kong, and the long term goal is to use zero emission buses along the roadside. It is ambitious because around the world, not yet any city can achieve that now, but we have to do this step by step. Today is a very good milestone that we started the use of zero emission franchised buses for public use along the road, and the Government has a role to subsidise such a pilot scheme, so that we can get solid data and improve the bus technology, and also get feedback from the public. After some years, we can consider carefully how to expand the plan.

Reporter: Do you support the use of country parks for conditional long term housing?

Secretary for the Environment: In Hong Kong, we need to address various social issues, from air quality, ecological conservation, to housing and also other social needs. So that's why we have a term called sustainable development that we have to look after all these in a balanced way. Back to the question about country parks, currently we have robust laws and ordinances to protect the country parks that occupy about 40 per cent of our territory. It is a good basis but in Hong Kong we need to think about long term balance among all these issues. But from our viewpoint, certainly based on public opinion, there are large concerns about conservation of country park areas. I think it is a very good basis that we should consider when we are considering other issues.

Reporter: (On charging scheme for solid waste)

Secretary for the Environment: The question is about the quantity-based waste charging scheme. We have invited the Council for Sustainable Development (SDC) to launch the public engagement. The plan is to launch it this month if the document is ready. It is an important step following other cities' practices. For instance, in Korea or in Taipei, after their launch of the quantity-based waste charging scheme, waste reduction and also waste recycling increased substantially. We see these as a kind of major milestone for Hong Kong to follow.  And we look forward to the completion of the public engagement under the SDC, and then the Government can get the feedback and follow accordingly.

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

Ends/Monday, September 9, 2013
Issued at HKT 13:12

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