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Doubts cast on plan to replace commercial diesel vehicles

Grants from the government's HK$145 million incentive scheme to encourage minibus owners to switch from diesel to LPG were used to replace old vehicles that would normally have been scrapped already.

Transport Department figures show the 2,400 diesel buses replaced by vehicles that run on liquefied petroleum gas had an average age of 11.6 years.

Major minibus operators said the vehicles can normally be used for up to 10 years.

Lawmakers also cast strong doubts on whether a similar subsidy scheme worth HK$3.2 billion to replace 75,000 commercial diesel vehicles with the cleaner Euro IV standard, announced by Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen in his policy address, would be effective.

But Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works Sarah Liao Sau-tung said yesterday the figures showed it was the older and dirtier vehicles that had been replaced. The Transport Department said that as a result the average age of the minibus fleet dropped from 8.3 years in 2002 to 4.5 years now.

Under the old scheme, owners were offered one-off HK$60,000 grants to replace their diesel minibuses with LPG vehicles between 2002 and 2005.

Some 55 per cent of the 4,300-strong fleet switched to the more environmentally friendly fuel.

Phillip Lee Man-kai, general manager of Sai Kung Maxicab Company, said some of the firm's minibuses were changed to LPG because the fuel is cleaner and cheaper than diesel, but mostly because the fleet was due to be replaced.

'The scheme did encourage me to replace some buses a little earlier, maybe change them when they were eight years old or so, because HK$60,000 is better than scrapping it. I wouldn't change a new one,' Mr Lee said.

Chan Man-chun, general manager of Aberdeen Maxicab Service, said his firm exchanged just 40 of its oldest minibuses for LPG vehicles.

Mr Chan said the company had since stopped buying LPG vehicles for its 300-strong fleet, citing a lack of filling stations and mechanics.

Annelise Connell, chairwoman of Clear the Air, said the scheme was not an incentive but gave money to operators who were going to scrap their vehicles anyway.

'The government is throwing our money right down the drain,' she said.

Albert Lai Kwong-tak, a director of the Conservancy Association, even said the scheme had a 'negative impact' on air quality.

'The bus operators kept their old vehicles running while waiting for the subsidy to arrive. That is why the age of the vehicles that were scrapped was older than their expected lifespans,' he said.

DAB legislator Choy So-yuk said the government's approach was 'all carrot and no stick'.

'When the scheme was proposed I suggested the scheme should be backed up with legislation requiring all vehicles to be Euro III to encourage early replacement. But the government just allows owners to run their vehicles down and take advantage of the government with the subsidy.'

Ms Choy said the newly proposed scheme on trucks and vans had to be supported with tough action. She advocated a ban on diesel engines failing to meet basic European emission standards.

Civic Party legislator Audrey Eu Yuet-mee said the lacklustre results were due to an absence of forethought, and asked the government to conduct more research into the new scheme.

But the environment minister claimed the minibus scheme had been a success. She said there would be ongoing incentives and schemes such as cheaper fuel to encourage more drivers to convert.

However, she ruled out legislation to ban dirty engines on minibuses, buses or commercial vehicles beyond a set deadline.

'Private property is a complicated issue,' Dr Liao said.



Subsidies were used on scrap minibuses