Roadside pollution soars
Hong Kong’s roadside pollution soared to record highs in the last two
quarters, official data showed on Tuesday.
Roadside pollution was ‘very high’ or ‘severe’ for 14 percent of the
time between January and March, and 24 per centof the time in the fourth
quarter of 2009, according to statistics from the Environmental
Protection Department.
The six-month period was the most polluted in the city since the
department started releasing quarterly findings in 1999. A survey of
people in more than 150 countries last month found Hong Kong residents
were the
Roadside pollution |
most dissatisfied with their air quality. The poll, by the
consultancy Gallup, revealed that 70 percent of the financial hub’s
inhabitants were unhappy with the city’s air.
In March, Hong Kong recorded its first ‘severe’ roadside pollution
warning in a decade, when a toxic soup of particulates fuelled by a
massive sandstorm in Beijing shrouded the city’s famed skyline for
several days. ‘Severe’ pollution means the concentration of pollutants
exceed 200 micrograms per cubic metre of air. The warning advises the
public to stay away from areas with heavy traffic.
Air pollution has become an increasing public health and economic
headache for the authorities in the city of seven million, as green
groups warned that the problem would force talented professionals to
leave. Last month, Hong Kong’s leading authority on air pollution,
Anthony Hedley, announced that he was leaving the city for the Isle of
Man in Britain to find clean air to try to keep his respiratory problems
under control.
Emissions from the factory belt in southern China over Hong Kong’s
northern border combined with local emissions from power plants and
transport have generated a thick blanket of haze over the city in recent
years. The government said it has stepped up efforts to cut vehicle
emissions, including tax breaks for users of environmentally-friendly
hybrid cars.
AFP |