Fuming drivers' fumes undermine electric vehicle drive
We don't like to seem churlish. But much as we approve of the government efforts to promote the use of electric vehicles in Hong Kong, the outcome of its event on Thursday was at best mixed. Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah officiated at a ceremony to announce the installation of 500 charging stations for electric vehicles by the end of June. The event was held in the Star Ferry car park in Central, which meant that most of the car park was closed off to the public. Unfortunately nobody thought to warn motorists early enough that access was limited. The upshot was a long queue of vehicles with fuming drivers waiting to get into the car park, all with their engines idling. So while the government was busy promoting the use of electric vehicles and clean air inside the car park, its efforts were being undermined outside by the increase in idling engines as a result of its haphazard organisation.
What's it all about, all fee?
There was some curiosity on the part of journalists at the AGM of the oil and gas producer CNOOC yesterday, as to why its executive directors weren't paid a salary for 2011, according to the company's annual report. They were only paid a fee of 788,000 yuan (HK$965,000). Last year executive salaries and benefits ranged from 2.6 million yuan to 807,000 yuan and they also received performance-related bonuses ranging from 2 million yuan to 576,000 yuan. One of CNOOC's significant low points last year was a huge oil spill in Bohai Bay, which reportedly contaminated some 5,500 square kilometres of water and affected the livelihoods of many fishermen. CNOOC, together with its partner ConocoPhillips, paid 1.68 billion yuan for ecological damage and environmental protection. When a journalist suggested this might be the reason for the non-payments to directors, executive director Wu Guangqi airily dismissed these notions, saying that if there was to be a penalty for the oil spill then it would have been in the form of a deduction. He added that it didn't indicate a change in company culture, as directors' remuneration was based on 'relevant company rules', and there had been occasions in the past when executive directors had not taken a salary. However, there is no indication of this in the company's reports, so far as we can see. You would have thought a company of this significance would give an explanation. If it's not the oil spill, then shareholders can only wonder if there is some other scandal that has yet to come to light.
Burning questions over rubbish trips
We have more news of freebie overseas trips to push the Hong Kong government's incinerator agenda. Yesterday we wrote that although government plans for the Shek Kwu Chau incinerator are on hold after being voted down by Legco's environment panel, the government is quietly trying to advance its agenda with a heavily subsidised trip to Singapore for island residents and environmental groups. The point of the visit is to learn about Singapore's approach to waste management, which, unsurprisingly, is heavily reliant on incineration. A group called the Hong Kong Islands District Association is organising the trip, which is for 50 people, who are being asked to pay HK$1,000 for four nights and three days. Now we hear that another trip is planned for Taiwan, along the same lines. This time the invitation comes from Professor Jonathan Wong, who is with Baptist University, has received a number of research grants from the Environmental Protection Department in recent years, and is an advocate of incineration for dealing with Hong Kong's waste. The trip to Taiwan is being funded by the Environment and Conservation Fund (ECF), and Wong sits on the ECF's funding committee. Should the government be spending money in this way to surreptitiously advance a project whose future is currently uncertain?
