HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
19 July 1989
香港立法局 ——————一九八九年七月十九日
124
MR. TIEN: Sir, in his speech to this Council in last October, His Excellency devoted a good proportion of his remarks to the problems of the environment. He stressed the seriousness of environmental pollution in Hong Kong. Moreover, he identified pollution generally as "one unfortunate by-product of our economic success". We are all coming to realize that with increasing prosperity, we have increasing pollution.
When the environment is contaminated and fouled, everyone is the loser. We all lose from littering, from excessive motor exhaust, from marine pollution and from the consequences of our own human waste. Unfortunately, there are still too many people in Hong Kong who fail to see this need for self-discipline. Indeed the key to solving the question of pollution essentially rests with self- discipline. This is not to deny the need for the discipline of the law. But the policing of the polluters is only likely to be successful if a policeman stands behind every would-be polluter. Such an idea is quite unrealistic.
The White Paper on Pollution states the nature of Hong Kong's pollution problem and explains the plans of Government in tackling the problem over the next 10 years. There are nine chapters covering a wide range of topics ranging from air, water, noise and solid waste pollution to planning, enforcement, compliance and environmental education.
On the whole, the White Paper is a comprehensive document on Government's pollution control policy. Good initiatives have been proposed, particularly in respect of improvement on environmental planning, expansion of environmental education and assistance to industry in pollution control. The White Paper proposals are grouped under two categories, namely, industry- related specifics and other specifics.
Industry has always been blamed for causing pollution affecting nearby residents. On Tsing Yi Island residents around Tsing Yi industrial centre and Mayfair Gardens complained the first day they moved in about pollution from nearby factories. However, the fact is the factories were there first. Industrialists paid for the land and paid for the building, then the residents moved in. They moved in knowing the factories were there. They moved in because those residential units were cheaper. It is bad town planning that allow residential units to be constructed around factories that created a problem on Tsing Yi Island, not industry.
Sir, I would like to comment on some industry-related specifics. Paragraph 3.7 states that one of Government's overall policy objectives for water pollution
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