14 streets in central Hong Kong to be covered by pilot electronic road pricing scheme, government paper says – but then document withdrawn for ‘technical reasons’

Fourteen streets in the heart of Hong Kong will be covered by a pilot electronic road pricing scheme as officials aim to reduce traffic in the area by 15 per cent, according to a government paper.

The Transport and Housing Bureau paper submitted to Central and Western District Council revealed for the first time the details of the scheme, which the government first started studying in the 1980s and re-examined in 2017.

The proposal was supposed to be discussed at the council’s meeting on Thursday. But the item was removed from the agenda and the paper retracted at the last minute, with the discussion expected to be rescheduled to May.

A government source said the retraction was down to a “technical reason”.