resources required. We can make a big difference, and swiftly, if we choose. And then, when we have cleaned up Hong Kong, we will have a new product for export. Environmental technology is going to be a "growth area" for many years to come.
67. We have, of course, made significant progress in recent years. We are steadily moving ahead with implementation of the 1989 White Paper, which envisaged a ten-year programme to make Hong Kong more environmentally-friendly. I am happy to be able to say that already 73 of its 118 targets have been met. There have been some dramatic improvements; sulphur dioxide levels, for example, have been cut by 40% since 1990—and up to 80% in the areas worst affected.
68. But there is much more to be done. Between now and 1997, we shall be spending $7.3 billion on measures to handle properly the solid and toxic wastes which Hong Kong produces every day. These include: sanitary landfills in remote areas of the New Territories; strategically located refuse transfer stations for the bulk transfer of solid waste to the new landfills; and a chemical waste treatment facility for toxic wastes. All these facilities will come into operation within the next five years. They will enable us to close the older urban landfills and incinerators; to cope with our solid waste for the next 20 years; and to deal properly with the 100 000 tonnes of toxic waste industry produces every year.
69. We have, however, always recognised that our plans to control water pollution would take longer to implement, and that it would not be easy to pay for the many, costly sewage programmes that are necessary. The entire sewage strategy programme will require some $17.8 billion over the next 10 years. Of this, $7.3 billion is required between now and 1997. It will not be possible to fund this from the Capital Works Reserve Fund in the normal way. Even if budgetary guidelines were ignored and all other capital projects pre-empted, financing on this scale would not be available. But we cannot simply shrug our shoulders and accept defeat. The problem will not go away. So how do we find the resources we need?
70. One way forward is for the community to contribute to the cost of sewage services which everyone uses. Members will recall the statement by the Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands made to this Council last December on this point. The broad principle is that as we all contribute in one way or another to water pollution, it is right we
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