XN000022-1978-05-30 — Page 6

TUESDAY, MAY 30, 1978

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ADVISER TALKS ON

CONSULTATION WITH INDUSTRY ON POLLUTION CONTROL

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THE GOVERNMENT'S ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ADVISER, DR. STUART REED, SAID TODAY HE SAW A DEFINITE NEED TO STRENGTHEN ARRANGEMENTS FOR CONSULTATION WITH INDUSTRY ON POLLUTION CONTROL.

DR. REED TOLD THE MONTHLY LUNCHEON MEETING OF THE FEDERATION OF HONG KONG INDUSTRIES THAT THE POSSIBILITY OF REPRESENTATION FROM THE MAIN INDUSTRIAL BODIES WAS BEING EXPLORED AS WELL AS RECONSTITUTING THE GOVERNMENT'S ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION ADVISORY COMMITTEE (EPCOM).

IN THE PAST EPCOM HAD INCLUDED PROMINENT PEOPLE FROM INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE AND HAD DONE A VERY VALUABLE JOB IN DEVELOPING THE GENERAL STRATEGY FOR PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT IN HONG KONG.

+BUT FOR THE NEXT STAGE OF WORK, WHICH WILL INVOLVE SETTING QUANTITATIVE REGULATIONS AND THE EARLY STAGES OF IMPLEMENTATION, WE ARE GOING TO NEED A RATHER DIFFERENT EPCOM. AMONG THE CHANGES WE ARE CURRENTLY EXPLORING IS THE POSSIBILITY OF INCLUDING IN THE RECONSTITUTED EPCOM FORMAL REPRESENTATION FROM THE MAIN

INDUSTRIAL BODIES SUCH AS YOUR FEDERATION, HE SAID.

DR. REED SPOKE OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF A LEGAL FRAMEWORK WITHIN WHICH OVERALL STRATEGY FOR POLLUTION CONTROL COULD BE WORKED OUT. EXTENSIVE DISCUSSIONS HAD BEEN HELD IN EPCOM OVER A THREE-YEAR PERIOD AND NOW DISCUSSIONS WERE TAKING PLACE WITH REPRESENTATIVE BODIES FROM HONG KONG INDUSTRY, INCLUDING AN AD HOC BODY SET UP BY THE FEDERATION OF HONG KONG INDUSTRIES, AND SIMILAR GROUPS FROM THE HONG KONG GENERAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND THE CHINESE MANUFACTURERS' ASSOCIATION.

+WE ARE TAKING DISCUSSIONS WITH INDUSTRY ON THE PROPOSED LEGISLATION ONE ORDINANCE AT A TIME, TO TRY TO AVOID CONFUSING THE ISSUE IN THE DIFFERENT AREAS, + DR. REED SAID.

+THERE IS CURRENTLY LITTLE IN THE WAY OF CONTROLS ON LIQUID EFFLUENTS IN HONG KONG AND THE POTENTIAL ADVERSE HEALTH EFFECTS IN THIS AREA CAN BE SERIOUS, SO WE HAVE TAKEN WATER POLLUTION AS A PRIORITY AREA.+

THE WATER POLLUTION CONTROL ORDINANCE WAS THEREFORE THE FIRST OF THE FIVE ORDINANCES BEING DISCUSSED WITH INDUSTRY.

DR. REED SAID THAT AT EACH MEETING WITH THE COMMITTEES SET UP BY THE REPRESENTATIVE BODIES OF INDUSTRY, HE HAD EMPHASIZED THAT, CONTRARY TO THE IMPRESSION SOME MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC SEEMED TO HAVE, GOVERNMENT DID NOT EQUATE INDUSTRY WITH POLLUTION.

+ INDUSTRY, AND ONLY SOME INDUSTRIES AT THAT, IS ONLY ONE OF THE CONTRIBUTORS TO POLLUTION. IN FACT, IT HAS BEEN ESTIMATED THAT ONLY 10 PERCENT OF THE TOTAL NUMBER OF INDUSTRIAL ESTABLISHMENTS PRODUCE A LIQUID EFFLUENT LIKELY TO GIVE RISE TO WATER POLLUTION. MANY OF THE CONTROLS IN ALL AREAS, AND MUCH OF THE INVESTMENT REQUIRED, PARTICULARLY FOR WATER POLLUTION CONTROL, CAN BE EXPECTED TO FALL ON THE PUBLIC AND DOMESTIC SECTOR RATHER THAN ON MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY.

/+I AM PLEASED