LAND, PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES
areas within which the concerned legislation shall apply, including the registration. of electrical workers and contractors, the safety standards and requirements for electricity supply, electricity lines, electrical wiring and products.
Since 1990, regulations concerning registration of electrical workers and contractors, the safety of electrical wiring, and the supply of safe household electrical products have come into effect in stages. At December 1998, some 7 316 electrical contractors and 50 717 electrical workers held valid registration.
A new regulation will be introduced in 1999 to protect electricity supply lines from damage during works activities, in the interests of safety and of ensuring the continuity of electricity supply.
In 1998, in enforcing the Electricity Ordinance, the government conducted 9 068 site inspections to check the safety standards of electrical installations and electrical product supply outlets, and 229 prosecutions were instituted against violations.
Gas
Gas is widely used throughout Hong Kong for domestic, commercial and industrial purposes. Two main types of fuel gas are available for general use: Towngas and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
Hong Kong has about 2 million gas customers. In 1998, Towngas accounted for 76 per cent of the total fuel gas sold in energy terms, and LPG for 24 per cent.
Towngas is manufactured in plants at Tai Po and Ma Tau Kok, both using naphtha as a feedstock. They have output capacities of 8.4 and 2.2 million cubic metres per day respectively. The gas is supplied through an integrated distribution system to about 1.23 million customers.
The mains network extends throughout Hong Kong via a 108-kilometre high- pressure pipeline and some 2 209 kilometres of distribution mains.
LPG is imported into Hong Kong by sea and stored at five terminals on Tsing Yi before being distributed to approximately 770 000 customers. About 59 per cent of total sales is supplied in cylinders by 526 distributors operating 687 cylinder wagons. The government aims to provide designated overnight parking sites for these. cylinder wagons. The first two, at Tuen Mun and Kwai Tsing, have begun operation and a third site at Pok Fu Lam will open in 1999. LPG is also supplied by road tanker to 162 bulk storage installations providing centralised piped gas supplies.
Since 1982, the government has encouraged the installation of a piped gas supply in new buildings to discourage further growth in the use of LPG cylinders in domestic dwellings. It also began a programme of encouraging the upgrading of sub-standard gas water-heaters. Less than 28 per cent of domestic dwellings now use cylinders; and some 94 937 gas water heaters have been replaced and upgraded.
As a further means of safeguarding the general public and gas consumers, the Gas Safety Ordinance was introduced on April 1, 1991. This ordinance and its subsidiary regulations cover all aspects of fuel gas importation, manufacture, storage, transport, supply and use of gas. The legislation was amended in 1996 to encompass periodic examination of gasholders, deter damaging of underground gas pipes, improve safety requirements for the maintenance of gas installations and prohibit the importation and sale of certain types of disposable LPG containers.
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