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The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) today (July 24) announced approval of the fourth batch of applications for the trial of green transport technologies under the Pilot Green Transport Fund, including the first batch of electric taxis.
The five newly approved applications include the trial of five electric taxis and two electric buses for non-franchised bus services. The total subsidy involved is about $11 million. The applications were from:
Discovery Bay Transit Services Limited
Kam Tsang Taxi Company
Lai Sun Motors Company Limited
Shu Sang Taxi Company
Sunny Engineering Company
The Steering Committee of the Pilot Green Transport Fund supported the above applications in its meeting in July.
This brings the total number of approved applications under the Fund to 35, amounting to a total subsidy of about $84 million. The approved trial projects comprise five electric taxis, 19 electric buses, 12 electric goods vehicles, 24 hybrid goods vehicles and eight hybrid light buses.
The Government set up the $300 million Fund in March 2011 to encourage the public transport sector to test green and low-carbon transport technologies. The Fund is open for applications from public transport operators including ferry, taxi and public light bus service operators; charitable and non-profit organisations providing services to their clients; franchised bus and non-franchised public bus service operators; and goods vehicle owners. The technologies for trial include new types of vehicle, equipment or machinery related to transport activities, or new retrofit systems resulting in a substantially better emissions performance compared with existing models. Transport operators may apply to the Fund to try out different green products, subject to a maximum subsidy of $9 million for each application and $12 million in total.
Motor vehicles are the main source of Hong Kong's roadside air pollution and contribute about 17 per cent of local greenhouse gas emissions. Promoting green transport will not only improve air quality but will also reduce carbon emissions, which in turn will help to avert global climate change. Furthermore, it opens up business opportunities for green transport technologies.
For more information on the Fund and the approved applications, please visit the EPD website (www.epd.gov.hk) or call the enquiry hotline on 2824 0022.
Ends/Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Issued at HKT 16:00
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