Housing Estates Easy Charging Funding Scheme Receives 100,000 Parking Space Applications Involving 440 Housing Estates

The Environment Bureau earlier announced a new "Hong Kong Clean Air Blueprint", aiming to become a livable city with air quality comparable to major international cities by 2035.

The Secretary for the Environment, Huang Jinxing, stated in the Panel on Environmental Affairs today (19) that the government’s launch of the $2 billion "Easily Charged EV Housing Funding Scheme" has received positive responses. It was originally expected to cover about 60,000 private parking spaces in three years, but it has now been received. About 100,000 applications, involving about 440 housing estates, the first batch of applications has entered the tendering stage, and the cost can be better controlled through actual experience.

The new "Hong Kong Clean Air Blueprint" aims to achieve Hong Kong's air quality comparable to major international cities by 2035 and will be reviewed every five years.

(Information Picture / Photo by Zhang Haowei)

The Deputy Director of the Environmental Protection Department Fung Ho-yen said that last year, Hong Kong had reached the main targets set in the 2017 progress report, and the new blueprint targets are also forward-looking. The ultimate goal is to make Hong Kong’s air quality meet the World Health Organization’s Air Quality The final target of the Quality Guidelines.

Among the 12 air quality indicators covered by the guidelines, he said that half of the air quality indicators in Hong Kong have reached the final indicators and will be inspected every five years in accordance with the legal requirements. Where practicable, the Hong Kong indicators will be gradually tightened in accordance with the WHO guidelines.

In terms of improving roadside air quality, Feng Haoran said that in addition to planning to introduce hundreds of electric buses by 2025, some bus companies are also studying hydrogen-powered buses, but they must study safety regulations and laws such as manufacturing, handling, transportation, and hydrogen charging.

Huang Jinxing also revealed that last year's data showed that one out of every eight newly registered private cars was an electric car. In the first half of this year, it has increased to one out of every five private cars. The situation is encouraging.

Huang Jinxing: Natural gas is the mainstream transitional arrangement in the world

When asked how to avoid the cost of power generation being passed on to consumers, Huang Jinxing said that natural gas is the mainstream transitional arrangement in the world. The energy policy focuses on stable supply, safety and reliability, environmental protection, affordable and reasonable prices. He believes that the general electricity bill in Hong Kong is relatively cheaper than many major international cities. Appropriately, the updated version of the climate action blueprint to be announced later will further discuss how to balance the needs of all parties and diversify the energy mix.

He also pointed out that the local liquefied natural gas receiving stations have made natural gas prices relatively competitive. In addition to the introduction of Daya Bay nuclear power, the government also supports clean and renewable energy as much as possible, such as promoting feed-in tariffs and making good use of roof space.

Blueprint for Clean Air | How far is the goal to be compared with the current indicators of Tokyo and Paris by 2035?

Clean Air Blueprint｜Huang Jinxing: The goal is to catch up with Tokyo and Paris by 2035 and increase renewable energy. The government will update the air blueprint within this year. The group approves emission reduction work very slowly. Advocate for setting black spots of air pollution. No new investment in air quality is expected to take effect this year | The new target is gazetted today to tighten PM2.5, but the number of days that can exceed the standard is relaxed from 9th to 35th

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