XN000022-1994-11-14 — Page 5

PROTECTING HK'S ENVIRONMENT

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1994

-

AN UPHILL TASK

ASIAN REGION IS WELL DEVELOPED

THE RAPID ECONOMIC AND URBAN GROWTH IN THE TAKING PLACE FOR THE MOST PART IN THE ABSENCE OF A FRAMEWORK FOR ENSURING THAT THE ADVERSE ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS OF SUCH THE RESULT IS DEVELOPMENT CAN BE KEPT WITHIN ACCEPTABLE LIMITS. WIDESPREAD ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION.

KONG'S

THIS WAS STATED BY THE DIRECTOR OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, DR

ON

HONG "PROTECTING STUART

WHEN PRESENTING A PAPER REED,

AT POLMET 194, A ENVIRONMENT:

JUST TO STAND STILL" RUNNING HARD

IN BEIJING CONFERENCE ON POLLUTION IN THE METROPOLITAN ENVIRONMENT TODAY (MONDAY).

AND FAR TO RECOVER THE SITUATION, HE SAID, WAS AN UPHILL TASK,

BEEN ACCORDED ΤΟ HAD MORE COSTLY THAN IF APPROPRIATE ATTENTION

OF BALANCED A PART THE FIRST PLACE AS ENVIRONMENTAL MATTERS IN DEVELOPMENT.

OF THE

CITING EAST ASIA AS AN EXAMPLE WHERE THE DEVELOPMENT IMPERATIVE ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS, HE HAS HISTORICALLY TAKEN PRECEDENCE OVER SAID: "AT A COUNTRY LEVEL, THE TIDE STARTS TO TURN IN FAVOUR ENVIRONMENT WHEN ECONOMIC GROWTH HAS PRODUCED A SIZEABLE MIDDLE WHICH HAS CONCERNS BEYOND FULL STOMACHS, TV AND A MOTOR CAR. THIS TIME MUCH OF A COUNTRY'S NATURAL HERITAGE CAN FOREVER."

CLASS BUT BY

HAVE BEEN LOST

PERCEPTIBLY IN HONG KONG, DR REED SAID THE TIDE BEGAN TO TURN

LATE 19808 WITH THE IN THE LATE 1970S, AND GATHERED PACE IN THE

SPELT PUBLICATION OF HONG KONG'S FIRST ENVIRONMENT WHITE PAPER, WHICH

SUMMARISED WHAT HAD BEEN OUT THE

OF THE SITUATION, SERIOUSNESS

FOR THE NEXT ACHIEVED IN THE PAST DECADE AND SET OUT A PROGRAMME DECADE.

15 YEARS SUBSTANTIAL PROGRESS THAT HAD BEEN MADE IN THE PAST INCLUDED THE ESTABLISHMENT OF ROBUST AND FOCUSED INSTITUTIONS, SUCH AS THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION DEPARTMENT (EPD), THAT ARE ABLE TO HANDLE THE TECHNICAL AND POLITICAL ASPECTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAMMES, THE INTRODUCTION OF COMPREHENSIVE ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION.

AND

FOR AND

REGARD

IT ALSO INCLUDED THE PROVISION OF THE NECESSARY RESOURCES

AND THE LEGISLATION

FORMULATION THE ENFORCEMENT OF THESE

FOR THE ENVIRONMENTAL SUBSEQUENT IMPLEMENTATION OF PROGRAMMES INFRASTRUCTURE NEEDED TO RECOVER PAST UNDER-PROVISION IN THIS AS WELL AS TO SUPPORT FUTURE DEVELOPMENT.

INFRASTRUCTURE WHEN THE

NOTING THAT ANNUAL INVESTMENT IN ENVIRONMENTAL IN

1986 WAS RUNNING AT AN INADEQUATE $250 MILLION PER YEAR

(THAT IS SEWAGE AND EPD TOOK OVER THE ENVIRONMENTAL INFRASTRUCTURE WASTE DISPOSAL) PROGRAMMES, DR REED SAID THIS INVESTMENT HAD RISEN

AT NEARLY $4,000 A MUCH MORE REALISTIC LEVEL AND COULD BE RUNNING MILLION IN 1994/95 AND RISING STILL FURTHER TO OVER $8,000 MILLION 1996/97.

TO

IN

/DESCRIBING AS