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Reply:
Mr President,
Our proposal for Electronic Road Pricing, as a measure to combat traffic congestion, received general public support during the consultation exercise. Indeed, during the debate in this Council last February, the consensus also was that ERP should be supported in principle. Honourable Members, quite understandably, asked that they be further consulted on details before implementation.
The Administration believes that ERP, which adopts the user-pays approach, offers a more efficient, equitable and flexible way of dealing with traffic congestion.
The brief for the feasibility study on ERP has just about been completed. We shall consult the LegCo Transport Panel on the broad approach regarding the study later this month prior to approaching Finance Committee in April for funds to both appoint consultants to carry out a feasibility study on ERP and for a pilot project. The study is expected to start later in the year and will take about two years to complete. The study will include the development of a transport model to evaluate various ERP strategies and to assess their impact, the evaluation of suitable technologies for an ERP system including field evaluation of the equipment, and the preparation of a conceptual design for the system.
Given existing and other commitments, it will not be possible for Transport Department to handle the extra workload arising from the ERP study without additional staff. To manage and supervise the study, funds have been sought in the 1996-97 estimates for the creation of a small, dedicated project team comprising professional engineering and technical staff.
It is too early to indicate the staffing requirements for the implementation of a full ERP system. One of the tasks of the consultants will be to look into the resources required.
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