Advertisement
Advertisement
Hong Kong air pollution
Get more with myNEWS
A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you
Learn more

US$800m for firms to clean up mainland

Loans offered to help factories pollute less

Hong Kong environmental technology companies will be able to borrow US$800 million from international banks to help devise ways to reduce pollution and energy consumption on the mainland.

The loans have been pulled together under the Pollution Prevention and Energy Efficiency (P2E2) programme, which was launched by the US consulate in Hong Kong in 2005.

They will enable Hong Kong firms to provide services - including installing pollution-reducing and energy-saving equipment - for mainland factories, and in return take a share of what the factories save in energy costs.

The projects will be monitored by an independent technical auditor.

Giving a speech yesterday at a conference organised by the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce, US consul-general James Cunningham said 30 projects had already been launched on the mainland under the programme.

Mr Cunningham said two-thirds of those projects were in the Pearl River Delta region.

He said the Asian Development Bank and other international lenders would make up to US$800 million available to commercial banks in Hong Kong by autumn to support the initiative.

At least nine commercial banks and 20 service companies in Hong Kong are presently involved in the programme.

But the consulate-general did not disclose the amount of investment in the existing projects.

They include a cement plant, a textile factory and a beer factory in Guangdong, along with coal-fired and gas-fired power plants in Jiangsu province.

The Jiangsu plants are already enjoying an annual reduction in operating costs of US$375,000 after upgrading pumps and fans.

They have also reduced their carbon dioxide emissions by 5,528 tonnes a year.

Mr Cunningham said that the Shenzhen factory of Qingdao-Asahi Brewery had achieved a 55 per cent reduction in energy consumption through heat and biogas recovery.

However, representatives from polluting industries in the delta region said few businesses had joined the programme because it was not beneficial to small- and medium-sized producers and the payoff was not enough to attract service providers.

Hong Kong Electronic Industries Association chairman Chan Kei-biu predicted that the cost savings for the polluting firms would not be attractive enough for the green companies providing the services.

Most mainland companies joining the programme were multinationals, and more incentives were needed to encourage small businesses to join and make their operations more environment-friendly.

Hong Kong Leather Traders Association chairman Wong King-hang said he did not know about the programme.

Mr Wong said more than 40 leather factories in the Pearl River Delta area had investors from Hong Kong but he suspected their cost savings would not be enough to entice the green technology companies to help them upgraded their facilities.

Savings scheme

Upgrading mainland businesses for a stake in their energy savings can mean big profits

Annual cost savings in US dollars of power plants in Jiangsu province: $375,000

Number of Hong Kong-funded enterprises in the Pearl River Delta: 55,200

Post