HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
19 July 1989
香港立法局
-一九八九年七月十九日
132
We will also need a further $5 billion for implementing our waste disposal plans. We have no option but to provide long-term solution for the disposal of our wastes, in the form of three very large landfills, and associated refuse transfer stations, which will also allow us to rid ourselves of smelly urban landfills and incinerators. And we have no option regardless of the extent to which we can encourage and foster recycling.
Sewerage and wastes are like time and tide; they wait for no man. So over the next 10 years funding our major environmental projects will certainly pose problems. It would be dishonest to suggest that expenditure on the environment will always be accorded an automatic top priority over other economic and social targets, but I can honestly assure Members that the saving and the protection of the Hong Kong environment can be ranked no higher in Government's overall priorities. And equally we will need sufficient staff to carry out these projects, and enforce the laws so staff planning is also critical and will be tackled. From what Members have said this afternoon, the Administration can expect support from this Council for these very necessary projects and the staff resources required to make this work.
Sir, I am greatly encouraged by the number of Members who have taken part in this debate, by their very thoughtful comments and for the very strong support and encouragement which they have offered. We will examine the speeches in greater depth, and I will respond to them individually giving greater consideration than I can now to the points made. The publication date of the present White Paper on pollution in Hong Kong was a beginning of the preparation of the next review which, as is made clear in the White Paper, will be completed every two years. Members' comments and public comments which we welcome and have solicited, and suggestions regarding the paper and the programme of action will be the most important part of this exercise. From Members' comments today, it is very clear that Members and the public will want more emphasis to be placed on recycling, assistance to small industralists, and general information and education. But finally, I must stress that we have a very large programme with some very tough problems to overcome. The solutions are therefore going to have to be very firm. We have not been firm enough in the past, either in the law we passed or in its enforcement, partly because perhaps we under-estimated the problem, and partly because we have never been confident of the community support for imposing tough decisions on the industrial and other sectors, and for diverting so substantial a proportion of our financial and other resources to the saving and preservation of the