Fighting pollution a top priority for Tsang
Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen said yesterday tackling air pollution will be a priority for the rest of his term, which expires in less than 12 months.
'Let me assure you that this government is taking the subject very seriously,' Mr Tsang told a reception for about 150 foreign and mainland companies that have invested in Hong Kong over the past nine months.
'We are aware of the problem and we are taking active steps to deal with it.'
The chief executive said only a fifth of the city's air pollution was generated in Hong Kong, with vehicle and factory emissions elsewhere in southern China causing the rest.
The government expected its negotiations with the two local power firms on regulatory reform after 2008 to eliminate about half the domestic pollution. Most of the rest came from vehicle exhaust fumes, and the Environment, Transport and Works Bureau was considering ways to reduce these.
Mr Tsang said Hong Kong remained an attractive place for companies to do business. He also warned of the dangers of allowing Hong Kong to be marginalised by the development of mainland cities, although he stressed that both the public and the government were alert to this threat.
InvestHK director-general Mike Rowse said the number of projects completed with the help of the government's investment promotion office in the first half of the year was 156, which was 12 more than in the first half of last year. Mr Rowse said if the growth rate continued in the second half, InvestHK should exceed its target for the year of helping 240 investors.
Of the projects 21, or 13 per cent, involved mainland companies. Twenty-two per cent of the projects involved retail or product-sourcing businesses. The completed projects would create at least 4,285 jobs in the coming two years, Mr Rowse said, adding the agency had helped create 7,924 jobs for the whole of last year.
