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LAND, PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES
will be imported directly from the Yacheng 13-1 gas field off the south of Hainan Island, via a 780-kilometre, high-pressure, submarine pipeline.
SNG is distributed by HKCG under the Towngas trademark from a temporary plant located in Tuen Mun, specifically designed and operated to provide the gas requirements of the new town. The plant will be decommissioned in 1995, when construction of the last phase of the transmission pipeline has been completed and customer appliances have been converted to use the gas produced at the Tai Po plant.
LPG is imported to Hong Kong by sea. About 58 per cent of total sales is distributed to customers, via dealer networks, in portable cylinders. The remaining 42 per cent is distributed through piped gas systems from bulk LPG storage and vaporiser installations, which are located in, or adjacent to, the developments being supplied.
There are about 460 LPG distributors operating within the territory. Additionally, 23 LPG site operators manage 509 bulk storage installations under government-monitored arrangements. Altogether, there are about 877 000 LPG customers.
In 1982, the government introduced a piped gas policy to discourage the use of gas cylinders in domestic dwellings. At the same time, it began a programme of encouraging the upgrading of sub-standard gas water heaters. The percentage of domestic dwellings using cylinders fell to less than 26 per cent in 1994, and the number of upgraded gas water heaters increased to some 75 400. Apart from suicide cases, there were eight fatalities arising from fuel
gas incidents during the past year.
As a further means of safeguarding the general public and gas consumers, the Gas Safety Ordinance was introduced in 1991. The ordinance and its subsidiary regulations constitute a comprehensive package of gas safety legislation, covering all aspects of fuel gas importation, manufacture, storage, transport, supply and use of gas. The Director of Electrical and Mechanical Services was appointed the Gas Authority, and the Gas Safety Advisory Committee was established for the purpose of advising the authority on all relevant matters. Since April 1992, it has been necessary for all gas supply companies, gas-installers and contractors to be registered with the Gas Authority in order to carry out their operations. In 1994, seven gas supply companies, 3 088 gas-installers and 392 gas contractors were registered under the scheme. In addition, the administrative arrangements for controlling safety in the transportation of LPG in tankers and cylinder wagons were transferred from the Director of Fire Services to the Gas Authority.
The government and the fuel gas supply industry have adopted risk assessment techniques for the detailed examination of all appropriate potentially-hazardous gas installations. The risk assessments facilitate the taking of remedial measures where necessary, with the aim of ensuring that residents in the vicinity of these installations are not exposed to unacceptable risk levels.