HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
19 July 1989
香港立法局
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一九八九年七月十九日
126
The Government should also state the cost implications to Hong Kong, for example to industry such as the textile bleaching and dyeing industry and its downstream industries.
On enforcement and compliance policies, paragraph 7.5 states that "if the smaller factory operators are not to be squeezed out of business by the pollution controls that must be applied, they will have to get assistance and advice to help them to comply". However, the White Paper does not explain the assistance and advice which would be offered at prices which small factories can afford.
Farmers are getting much more than just technical assistance and advice from Government for controlling agricultural waste. Farmers actually receive a subsidy for the installation of treatment facilities.
Sir, if not all polluting factories can be subsidized, at least small factories which are financially not much stronger than farmers should be considered for such assistance.
Paragraph 7.9 states that "the private sector can also play a significant role in 'environmental auditing" ". It is very difficult for small and even medium-size factories to undertake "environmental auditing" without assistance. They do not have such expertise and, worst still, such expertise is not readily available in Hong Kong. The Government should formulate specific programme to assist industries in such environmental auditing. Otherwise, they would simply do nothing but pay a fine when caught. Certainly that is not our objective.
Paragraph 7.14 states that "Government therefore intends to review the current level and mechanism of support to industry". I feel the Government should be specific in stating the time frame for those reviews to match the pace of enacting pollution control legislation.
Sir, I would now turn to the second category, that is, other specifics. Paragraph 1.6 states that "at least $20 billion and at least 950 new staff would be required by Government over a period of 10 years" to implement the initiatives proposed in the White Paper. If law enforcement is to be strengthened as years go by, the provision of assistance should be expanded to match the increase. The Government should also state the duties of those officers and the number of officers to be deployed to control industrial pollution.
Paragraph 2.14 states that refuse transfer stations (RTS) are built to reduce the number of waste-carrying vehicles transporting municipal wastes to the landfills (since RTS is written under the sub-heading of Municipal Wastes).
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