A last-ditch plea was made yesterday for the Government to introduce polluter-pays charges and tax breaks on LPG fuel in today's Budget.
The chairman of the Advisory Council on the Environment, Peter Wong Hong-yuen, said the transport industry would have to co-operate to help find a solution to the air pollution problem, while the Government would have to find the political will to deal with it.
He called for a 'fair tax' to encourage bigger buses and minibuses to switch to LPG fuel from diesel.
'The Government must come up with decisive action. The air pollution problem is giving Hong Kong a very bad image - we can soon take over from Mexico City as smog city and I don't think anyone wants to see that happen,' he said.
'It depends how strong-minded the Government is.' Mr Wong also called for user-pays charges for waste disposal to be introduced in the Budget.
'No one would dare say they are against it, but no one wants to pay more than what they're paying now, which is nothing,' Mr Wong said.
