The government has got itself stuck in the same old rut; it can't decide between 'economic development' and public health. This is why there is a deafening silence on revising the air quality objectives.
This conundrum of 'development versus health' involves a range of infrastructure projects, including roads, a bridge and an air strip. Put simply, Hong Kong is already not meeting its current extremely lax air quality standards, which the government knows cannot protect public health. If these are tightened even slightly, the large construction projects will have to be revised because they will not pass the new environmental impact assessment processes.
The traditional thinking is that if Hong Kong does not push on with these projects, the city and its people will fall behind because others are racing ahead with all sorts of construction. Those who think this way prefer to revise the air standards only after the major projects have been approved.
The inconvenience is the regular public bleating about bad air. Moreover, the international media is rapping Hong Kong over air pollution because multinational companies are having difficulty retaining and relocating talent to work here. Worse, Singapore's better air quality is being touted as a reason for international talent to go there instead.
The government's own data attests to high pollution, particularly at roadsides. Doctors and health experts are so fed up with the slow response on what they see as a health crisis that they are getting organised to voice their complaints publicly. For example, the Hedley Environmental Index, created by public health experts at the University of Hong Kong and Civic Exchange, is a real-time online tool showing the health costs of air pollution. University experts have now worked out another way of looking at the daily health impact of air pollution: visibility. This means anyone can learn to do it.
Everyone can find a convenient spot to look out at the city each day, to read the visibility level and know what it means in terms of our health. This is great; it's so simple and gives an accurate assessment. Once people get the hang of it, the outcry for the government to act will become louder still.