Reply:
(c)
(d)
(a)
8
what is the sulphur content of marked diesel oil as compared with that of vehicle diesel oil, and to what extent the use of marked diesel oil has contributed to air pollution in the territory; and
whether the decrease in the amount of imported vehicle diesel oil is in any way related to the illegal use of marked diesel oil and the fact that container trucks and lorries have brought in diesel oil from China; whether it has assessed the amount of diesel oil imported in this manner and its impact on the quality of air in the territory; and whether it will consider adopting measures to reduce the amount of diesel oil brought in by container trucks and lorries from China?
Industrial diesel oil (marked oil) is not imported directly into Hong Kong but is blended in Hong Kong by adding marker and colouring substances (for revenue protection reasons) to diesel oil. The amount of marked oil blended in Hong Kong rose from 1.44 billion litres in 1990- 91 to 2.52 billion litres in 1994-95. The increase could be attributed to the following factors -
(i)
(ii)
there were a number of large-scale infrastructural projects which commenced during the period e.g. the Airport Core Programme projects. These resulted in an increase in the demand for marked oil; and
in 1992, Government granted full exemption of diesel fuel duty to franchised bus companies which have since been allowed to use marked oil for their buses. This has also increased the demand for marked oil.
Largely because of (ii) above, there has been a reduction in the This has not been offset amount of vehicle diesel oil used. sufficiently by the increase in the number of diesel-fuelled vehicles (mainly as a result of the increase in transportation business between Hong Kong and China) as drivers could fill their vehicles with vehicle diesel oil whilst in China.