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May, 2012:

Hong Kong Implements Euro V Emissions Standards

http://www.findadblue.com/news/2012/5/31/hong-kong-implements-euro-v-emissions-standards/

From 1 June 2012, Hong Kong will apply Euro V diesel emissions standards to newly registered vehicles. The ruling, part of the Air Pollution Control Regulation 2012, will apply to heavy-duty vehicles over 3.5 tonnes. Those vehicles already registered will have to meet the standards from 31 December 2012.

Previously, Hong Kong had applied Euro IV standards since January 2006. Heavy-duty Euro V vehicles with diesel engines emit about 40% less Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) than those produced to Euro IV standards.

Euro V regulations permit a maximum emission of 2 grams per kilowatt-hour of NOx. AdBlue is an essential part of reducing NOx emissions where SCR technology is used.

Announcing this legislation development on Wednesday 29th May, a spokesman for Hong Kong’s Environmental Protection Department also said that it is Government policy to introduce the most stringent diesel emissions standards as soon as it is practical to do so.

Hong Kong’s progression to Euro V stands in sharp contrast to mainland China, which has delayedimplementation of China IV (equivalent to Euro IV) until July 2013.

This entry was written by Lucy Terry and posted on 31 May 2012

EPD talks tough, but no fines

SCMP

Good to see that the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) has intensified its efforts in enforcing the idling engine law that took effect on December 15. We noted last month that as of March 30, the EPD had issued zero fines. The EPD said recently it had conducted 165 roadside publicity and joint enforcement actions in total, 58 more since the end of March. And traffic wardens have continued to crack down on drivers who violate the law. But despite the improved activity, no fines have been levied.

However, the EPD assures us that with summer approaching, it has stepped up the ongoing publicity activities to remind drivers to observe the law. They include staging outdoor roving exhibitions between May and June. “Meanwhile, environmental protection inspectors and traffic wardens will continue to strengthen roadside publicity and joint enforcement actions,” the EPD said.

As widely predicted, this law has been so watered down that it is meaningless and the enforcement has been pathetic, as the EPD’s figures indicate. It’s another feather in the cap for Environment Secretary Edward Yau Tang-wah, who, if nothing else over the past five years, has perfected that age-old art of “all talk and no action”.

Replacement of Franchised Bus

From: Pui Man PO [mailto:po_pui_man@td.gov.hk]
Sent: 31 May, 2012 11:41
To: James Middleton
Subject: Re: Fw: Alex Turnbull’s Blog
Dear Mr Middleton,

Thank you for your mail. We would like to provide our responses on your observations made at the end of your mail :

Replacement of Franchised Bus
All franchised bus companies required to operate their franchised bus services with buses under the age of 18, and have been replacing their serving buses accordingly.  This arrangement has taken account of the maintenance, operational and financial capability of the bus operators.

Franchised bus companies have to submit annually to the Transport Department (TD) their Forward Planning Programmes for the next five years, including programmes for purchasing new buses and retirement of old buses.  It is estimated that about 2,300 serving franchised buses of which about 700 belong to CTB, including all pre-Euro and Euro I and some Euro II buses, will retire by 2015.

Given that it would take time for all the Euro II and III buses will be replaced, the Government is looking into various cost-effective options to improve roadside emissions, such as retrofitting diesel particulate filters (to reduce particulate emissions) on Euro II and III buses and to commit a trial on retrofit of Selective Catalytic Reduction devices to reduce the emissions of Euro II and III buses to the emission level of Euro IV buses.  Further, in order to promote wider use of environment friendly buses, the Government has added a requirement in all franchises with the bus companies that when setting specifications for acquisition of new buses, they are required, as far as practicable, to adopt the latest commercially available and proven technologies to reduce exhaust and noise emissions.

Return on Average Net Fixed Assets (ANFA)
For franchised bus operation in Hong Kong, the 9.7% rate of return on ANFA is not a “mandatory” nor “guaranteed” rate of return that the bus operators could enjoy, but is only the triggering point for sharing of return between bus operators and passengers.  If the bus operator achieves a return on ANFA above 9.7%, half of the excess over 9.7% will be shared with passengers by providing fare concession or stabilising bus fare.  On the other hand, if the return of the bus operator falls below 9.7%, the shortfall cannot be offset against the fare concession/fare stabilisation obligation.

Disposal / scrapping of buses
The profits on disposal of buses if any, are included as part of the bus operators’ return.  Moreover, the purchase and disposal of buses, as well as the overall bus fleet size, are monitored by TD in various ways.  The franchised bus operators could not sell buses at artificially low book values and then buy back refurbished buses at prevailing market rates.
Please rest assured that the Government will continue to work with the franchised bus companies to implement appropriate measures with a view to further reducing roadside air pollution.

Regards,
Karen Po
Bus and Railway Branch
Transport Department

Pui Man PO/TD/HKSARG
BR/SBH1

04/05/2012 18:54

To “James Middleton” <dynamco@netvigator.com>
cc
Subject Fw: Alex Turnbull’s Blog

Dear Mr Middleton,

Your concern has been well received by Transport Department and we will provide a reply to you.

Thank you for your kind attention.

Regards,
Karen Po,
Bus and Railway Branch
Transport Department

—– Forwarded by Joseph Yee Tak LAI/TD/HKSARG on 04/05/2012 10:31 —–

“James Middleton” <dynamco@netvigator.com>

04/05/2012 10:27

To <josephlai@td.gov.hk>
cc
Subject FW: Alex Turnbull’s Blog

When can we expect your reply or must we approach the Ombudsman?
James Middleton

From: James Middleton [mailto:dynamco@netvigator.com
Sent:
10 March, 2012 22:11
To:
josephlai@td.gov.hk
Subject:
Alex Turnbull’s Blog

Office Tel Email
Mr. LAI Yee Tak, Joseph, JP Comr for Transp 2829 5200 josephlai@td.gov.hk

Commissioner for Transport

Dear Mr Lai,

please see the link to the attached banker’s blog with information regarding Citybus.
We would welcome your response to these interesting facts.

Yours sincerely,
James Middleton
Chairman
www.cleartheair.org.hk

http://alexbhturnbull.tumblr.com/
Text
March 10, 2012
Excess Rents Hong Kong Style: Citybus

As some of you know I am a bit of greenie and get pretty angried up about air pollution. HK’s air pollution is due to two things: regional air pollution, largely from Guangdong that Hong Kong can arguably do little about (the biodome idea was shot down) and roadside pollution principally caused by buses and trucks about which it could do a lot more. There is a great paper here from 2009 that outlines what HK could do about its air pollution, bus regulation is the best “bang for the buck” thing that HK could do with a 6.3 cost to benefit ratio. Paper here.

As buses are regulated utilities I thought I’d look into the financials of these businesses and the documents governing their concessions to see just what was causing them to be so slow to turn over their bus fleet – maybe fares are too low, or perhaps they face exceedingly high costs of some kind, leaving them limited extra cash to invest in newer, cleaner buses. Crazier things have happened though HK’s other utilities like Power Assets Holdings (formerly Hongkong Electric), CLP and Transport International Holdings (listed entity holding the Kowloon bus franchise) have pretty standard returns on equity that would not look out of place in most jurisdictions though Transport International seemed to be earning some fairly ridiculous returns from 98-03 and again in 04-05.

Well, as you can see here for the bus franchises owned by New World – Citybus in particular – that is most certainly not the case (numbers extracted from here). Citybus’ headline ROA numbers is way higher than their 9.7% mandated level and if you look into their depreciation accounting it is much higher.

You see, when you look at the concession agreement for Citybus (Transport Department link here) a few things jump out. Firstly, the depreciation of the buses is 15 years straight line to $1 – so the buses can be readily written down zero or close to it, which is funny because they are almost there – the bus fleet is about 12.5 years old now on average meaning there are a number of assets older than 15 years that are held at $1. Cute, though under ROA type regulation there is no free lunch: if you haven’t got any assets you aren’t entitled to any returns. That does not seem to be the case here – if you take their depreciation at face value Citybus is earning some major excess rents and the Transport Commissioner should explain why New World gets special treatment.

What is a much better representation of Citybus’ returns is when you ignore depreciation and look at cash capital expenditures net of proceeds from disposals. Net cash capex for these business is pretty close to zero – $4.5mm Hong Kong which is absurd when a new Euro V bus costs $3-4mm Hong Kong. So the cash return on book assets they making is close to 30-40% which is the sort of return you expect on a high risk mining venture, not a regulated utility in Hong Kong.

What is more, these disposals are a source of no doubt significant excess rents for New World. Here is how I would take advantage of the Transport Commissioner being asleep at the switch:

1) Get an ROA way above requirement due to aggressive depreciation accounting that is unassailable because its in the terms of your concession and thus protected by contract. Watch the Transport Commissioner do nothing. (we know this is happening from these accounts)

2) Sell older buses at artificially low book values as your regulated fares don’t take account of this in calculating your asset returns. Use proceeds to fund the bare basement capital expenditure you do. Net result: almost no cash capital expenditures.

3) When the concession comes up, buy back refurbished buses at prevailing market rates to ensure you have an asset base on which to earn fares. Claim that you are making a big investment when bidding for the concession.

4) At every available opportunity cry poor about oil prices.

Net-net: 20-30% cash returns for 10 years on government utility type risk.

What can I say? I’m clearly in the wrong game. The bigger question is why isn’t anyone doing anything about this, and why does Transport International not get to play at this game? Its numbers look pretty aggressive too (depreciation at ~900mm HKD, versus capex that looks lower) but Citybus is taking it to another level.

Tags: hong kong hk citybus new world air pollution

Official trips cost HK$24m

Figure for last five years emerges as decision on luxury hotel stays for chief executive is due today
Tony Cheung
May 31, 2012

Top government officials have run up bills of more than HK$24 million for business trips in the last five years.

The figure emerged as the Audit Commission prepares to release its verdict on whether the chief executive should be allowed to stay in luxury hotel suites.

The commission reviewed the mechanism for booking overseas travel by Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen after it was revealed he spent almost US$7,000 on a one-night stay in the presidential suite at a hotel in the Brazilian capital Brasilia. It is due to release its report today.

Figures revealed yesterday in response to questions from lawmakers show that Tsang ran up a travel bill of almost HK$10.7 million between the start of his second term in July 2007 and January this year.

The outgoing chief executive was not the government’s only frequent flyer. In response to another question from a lawmaker, the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau revealed bureau chiefs, their undersecretaries and political assistants spent HK$13.3 million on travel abroad.

The travel bills of the chief secretary, financial secretary and secretary for justice were not requested by lawmakers, but a spokeswoman for justice chief Wong Yan-lung said he had spent HK$717,536 on 23 trips.

Chief Secretary Stephen Lam Sui-lung’s spokesman said he had made four trips since taking office in September. A spokesman for the financial secretary would not comment.

The most frequent traveller was environment minister Edward Yau Tang-wah, who made 60 trips to 18 countries on five continents at a cost of HK$1.82 million, an average of HK$30,270 per trip.

His political assistant, Linda Choy Siu-min, spent HK$937,099 of taxpayers’ money on 21 trips, the most of any political assistant and more than eight of the 12 bureau chiefs.

A spokeswoman for Yau’s office said he had attended conferences and liaised with mainland authorities, while Choy attended conferences with him and travelled on her own to “represent the administration in international meetings”.

Secretary for Home Affairs Tsang Tak-sing also made 60 journeys, but as many of his visits were to the mainland, his bill came to just HK$702,913.

The biggest spender was Financial Services Secretary Professor Chan Ka-keung. His 43 visits ran up a bill of HK$1.95 million, an average of HK$45,233 per trip. A spokeswoman for his office said the trips promoted the city’s role as a financial centre.

“We have strictly followed the regulations for approval,” she said. “We have achieved good results through these trips to Indonesia and Russia to attract foreign investments.”

In a written response to lawmakers’ questions, the administration said overseas travel plans were discussed and approved by a committee chaired by the chief secretary.

The code of conduct for political appointees also sets out guidelines.

Tsang was criticised last month for spending 23 times the daily subsistence allowance for civil servants visiting Brazil – 557 Brazilian reals(HK$2,300) – on his stay at the Royal Tulip Brasilia Alvorada hotel.

tony.cheung@scmp.com

Figure for last five years emerges as decision on luxury hotel stays for chief executive is due today
Tony Cheung
May 31, 2012

Top government officials have run up bills of more than HK$24 million for business trips in the last five years.

The figure emerged as the Audit Commission prepares to release its verdict on whether the chief executive should be allowed to stay in luxury hotel suites.

The commission reviewed the mechanism for booking overseas travel by Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen after it was revealed he spent almost US$7,000 on a one-night stay in the presidential suite at a hotel in the Brazilian capital Brasilia. It is due to release its report today.

Figures revealed yesterday in response to questions from lawmakers show that Tsang ran up a travel bill of almost HK$10.7 million between the start of his second term in July 2007 and January this year.

The outgoing chief executive was not the government’s only frequent flyer. In response to another question from a lawmaker, the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau revealed bureau chiefs, their undersecretaries and political assistants spent HK$13.3 million on travel abroad.

The travel bills of the chief secretary, financial secretary and secretary for justice were not requested by lawmakers, but a spokeswoman for justice chief Wong Yan-lung said he had spent HK$717,536 on 23 trips.

Chief Secretary Stephen Lam Sui-lung’s spokesman said he had made four trips since taking office in September. A spokesman for the financial secretary would not comment.

The most frequent traveller was environment minister Edward Yau Tang-wah, who made 60 trips to 18 countries on five continents at a cost of HK$1.82 million, an average of HK$30,270 per trip.

His political assistant, Linda Choy Siu-min, spent HK$937,099 of taxpayers’ money on 21 trips, the most of any political assistant and more than eight of the 12 bureau chiefs.

A spokeswoman for Yau’s office said he had attended conferences and liaised with mainland authorities, while Choy attended conferences with him and travelled on her own to “represent the administration in international meetings”.

Secretary for Home Affairs Tsang Tak-sing also made 60 journeys, but as many of his visits were to the mainland, his bill came to just HK$702,913.

The biggest spender was Financial Services Secretary Professor Chan Ka-keung. His 43 visits ran up a bill of HK$1.95 million, an average of HK$45,233 per trip. A spokeswoman for his office said the trips promoted the city’s role as a financial centre.

“We have strictly followed the regulations for approval,” she said. “We have achieved good results through these trips to Indonesia and Russia to attract foreign investments.”

In a written response to lawmakers’ questions, the administration said overseas travel plans were discussed and approved by a committee chaired by the chief secretary.

The code of conduct for political appointees also sets out guidelines.

Tsang was criticised last month for spending 23 times the daily subsistence allowance for civil servants visiting Brazil – 557 Brazilian reals(HK$2,300) – on his stay at the Royal Tulip Brasilia Alvorada hotel.

tony.cheung@scmp.com

Figure for last five years emerges as decision on luxury hotel stays for chief executive is due today
Tony Cheung
May 31, 2012

Top government officials have run up bills of more than HK$24 million for business trips in the last five years.

The figure emerged as the Audit Commission prepares to release its verdict on whether the chief executive should be allowed to stay in luxury hotel suites.

The commission reviewed the mechanism for booking overseas travel by Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen after it was revealed he spent almost US$7,000 on a one-night stay in the presidential suite at a hotel in the Brazilian capital Brasilia. It is due to release its report today.

Figures revealed yesterday in response to questions from lawmakers show that Tsang ran up a travel bill of almost HK$10.7 million between the start of his second term in July 2007 and January this year.

The outgoing chief executive was not the government’s only frequent flyer. In response to another question from a lawmaker, the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau revealed bureau chiefs, their undersecretaries and political assistants spent HK$13.3 million on travel abroad.

The travel bills of the chief secretary, financial secretary and secretary for justice were not requested by lawmakers, but a spokeswoman for justice chief Wong Yan-lung said he had spent HK$717,536 on 23 trips.

Chief Secretary Stephen Lam Sui-lung’s spokesman said he had made four trips since taking office in September. A spokesman for the financial secretary would not comment.

The most frequent traveller was environment minister Edward Yau Tang-wah, who made 60 trips to 18 countries on five continents at a cost of HK$1.82 million, an average of HK$30,270 per trip.

His political assistant, Linda Choy Siu-min, spent HK$937,099 of taxpayers’ money on 21 trips, the most of any political assistant and more than eight of the 12 bureau chiefs.

A spokeswoman for Yau’s office said he had attended conferences and liaised with mainland authorities, while Choy attended conferences with him and travelled on her own to “represent the administration in international meetings”.

Secretary for Home Affairs Tsang Tak-sing also made 60 journeys, but as many of his visits were to the mainland, his bill came to just HK$702,913.

The biggest spender was Financial Services Secretary Professor Chan Ka-keung. His 43 visits ran up a bill of HK$1.95 million, an average of HK$45,233 per trip. A spokeswoman for his office said the trips promoted the city’s role as a financial centre.

“We have strictly followed the regulations for approval,” she said. “We have achieved good results through these trips to Indonesia and Russia to attract foreign investments.”

In a written response to lawmakers’ questions, the administration said overseas travel plans were discussed and approved by a committee chaired by the chief secretary.

The code of conduct for political appointees also sets out guidelines.

Tsang was criticised last month for spending 23 times the daily subsistence allowance for civil servants visiting Brazil – 557 Brazilian reals(HK$2,300) – on his stay at the Royal Tulip Brasilia Alvorada hotel.

tony.cheung@scmp.com

Description:

Greeners let fly after runway study calls fail

HK Standard

Kenneth Foo

Thursday, May 31, 2012

A green group has lodged a complaint with the Ombudsman accusing the Transport and Housing Bureau of repeatedly ignoring calls for a social cost- benefit study on the proposed third airport runway.

Greeners Action said the bureau is “neglecting its duties” by turning a blind eye to an earlier request by the Legislative Council panel on environmental affairs to conduct the study and a carbon audit, in addition to the statutory environmental impact assessment.

Activists insist that performing a Social Return on Investment study is crucial as it will reveal true environmental and social costs, the rise in aviation emissions and other associated costs.
“The bureau is colluding with the authority to speed up the entire process as they are aware that a more in-depth study might jeopardize the entire project,” Greeners Action senior project officer Yip Chui-man said.This comes after the Airport Authority officially began the impact assessment process on Tuesday by submitting a profile of the project to the Environmental Protection Department.

“A social cost-benefit study will analyze the possible effects on the community,” Yip added.

The authority claims the environmental assessment will cost HK$100 million, take a year to be approved and another two years to complete.

Meanwhile, Green Sense president Roy Tham Hoi-pong also criticized the authority for giving groups a mere 14 days to attend briefing sessions and submit their comments

Experts reveal bigger pollution problem

HK Standard

Kenneth Foo

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Coarse particulate pollutants, such as road dust and sea salt, send nearly 900 sufferers a year to emergency rooms.

That’s the claim of Chinese University of Hong Kong researchers who are calling for the particulates to be included in the latest reviews of air quality objectives.

In the largest single-city study of its kind, researchers examined a Hospital Authority database of more than 500,000 daily emergency hospital admissions from 1999 to 2005 and corresponding records of air pollution data.

Results showed that a slight increase of 10 micrograms per cubic meter in coarse particles will more than likely result in an additional 830 emergency admissions to hospitals due to lung problems annually.

Of these, 482 are likely to be due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a common lung ailment during which air passages are narrowed and asthma exacerbated.

According to the head of the university’s Occupational and Environmental Health Division, Ignatius Yu Tak-sun, many scientific studies have linked particulate air pollution to emergency admission rates but most have focused on fine particles.

“Our findings show that the health effects of these medium-sized particles are significant and can no longer be ignored,” Yu said yesterday.

He added that the government needs to start official monitoring of coarse particulate levels as current methods are still rudimentary and highly likely to be inaccurate.

Assistant professor Tian Linwei said it will be difficult to regulate natural sources of coarse particulates, such as dust and sea salt, but urged authorities to take the matter seriously by enacting new guidelines in a review of air quality objectives.

The results of the study have been published in a top international journal, Environmental Health Perspectives.

Clean Air Network campaign manager Erica Chan Fong-ying welcomed the findings but added: “Looking at the years the government took to set new standards and its unwillingness to set tougher ones, I don’t think we will see a guideline for a new pollutant any time soon.”

Just $1 more

Kelly Ip  HK Standard

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Catering sector lawmaker Tommy Cheung Yu-yan, who set off public anger in 2010 by suggesting a minimum wage of HK$20 an hour, is making waves again as pay is reviewed.

He’s saying the lowest legal wage should be raised by just HK$1 from the HK$28 an hour set last year despite his opposition.

Employers cannot afford more than HK$29 an hour, Cheung argues. But grassroots groups want a raise to between HK$33 and HK$35 an hour and also seek an annual review of the minimum wage.

Cheung said he sent questionnaires to 60 catering firms with 1,000 outlets, and 36 replied. Of those, 22 percent were willing to pay an extra dollar but others wanted the HK$28 minimum to stay.

There is a ripple effect with any increase, Cheung said. “The government expected the minimum wage would add 3 percent to operating costs, but the actual cost was 15 to 16 percent.”

With juniors’ wages raised, he said, people higher up the ladder wanted increases too. And there are many job levels in catering, he added.

According to Cheung, small and medium-scale restaurants were hit hard at HK$28. Half the operators he checked with had complained of an average 4 percent drop in revenue.

Fuk Yuen Group chairman Lo Ho- wan, with six restaurants and 500 employees, said he felt the squeeze.

One restaurant in Causeway Bay had to be closed when the rent doubled from around HK$200,000 a month, and 20 employees had to be laid off.

Related to that, Chinese General Chamber of Commerce vice chairman

David Fong Man-hung told a Legislative Council manpower panel that more restaurants will close because of costs. He also said that, despite offering HK$33, an hour some catering firms were unable to hire capable dishwashers.

And he doubted the situation would improve even if the minimum wage went to HK$40 as other sectors paid much more than jobs in catering.

But the chief executive of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, Mung Siu-tat, had another take on it.

“A company should improve the working environment and reduce working hours to attract job-seekers instead of blaming the minimum wage,” he said.

Based on current inflation, Mung said, the HK$28 of last year was comparable to HK$24 today.

Luk Kam-shing, 40, currently earning HK$28 an hour for taking charge of table linen at a clubhouse in Causeway Bay, earns HK$7,812 a month for working nine hours a day, six days a week.

Her husband, also in catering, makes HK$10,000 a month. “Everything is getting more expensive now,” Luk said. “The government always approves applications to raise transport fares. How about our wages?

“Imagine having to pay HK$40 for lunch in Causeway Bay when I only earn HK$28 an hour.”

The couple have sons aged 10 and five, and Luk said they can barely afford textbooks. “I also feel sorry for our older boy as I had to cut back on his ping- pong training.” She hopes a new minimum wage will be at least HK$33.

`Slip’ spins drama in the skies

Phila Siu  HK Standard

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

A “slip of the tongue” placed two passenger planes carrying about 600 people on a collision course in Hong Kong airspace two weeks ago, an investigation by The Standard reveals.

Instead of instructing an aircraft to descend to 36,000 feet, the controller ordered the pilot to drop to 26,000 feet, according to the Civil Aviation Department. But the error was rectified in time, just as the collision avoidance system of one of the planes was also activated.

A CAD spokeswoman said the May 14 incident involved a Hong Kong Airlines B737 bound for the SAR from Denpasar, Bali, and a Jeju Air B737 flying through Hong Kong to Bangkok from South Korea.

The controller, understood to be a non-local, intended to instruct the Hong Kong Airlines plane to drop to 36,000 feet but, due to a “slip of the tongue,” said 26,000 feet. The Jeju Air plane was at 34,000 feet at that time.

After noticing the Hong Kong Airlines plane was passing through 36,000 feet on its descent, the controller immediately corrected the situation. The plane then ascended to the correct level.

During the process, the traffic collision avoidance system on the Jeju Air plane was activated, moving it to a lower level.

The distance between the two aircraft was 4.6 kilometers horizontally and 700 feet vertically – against the standard safe horizontal distance of 9.25km and a vertical distance of 1,000 feet.

But the CAD spokeswoman stressed there was “no risk of collision.” She also ruled out fatigue as a reaso

n for the incident.

“The controller had been off duty for 14 hours and had just commenced duty when the minor incident occurred,” she said, adding the controller has been serving in the CAD for more than 13 years.

Former CAD chief Peter Lok Kung-nam said the two aircraft should have been within visual contact of each other.

“The danger was higher than usual but there wasn’t any immediate risk of collision as they were not flying toward each other,” Lok said.

This latest near-crash incident happened eight months after The Standard revealed that a Cathay Pacific plane and a Dragonair plane came within six seconds of a head-on collision, prompting the CAD to review its operation system.

A senior Dragonair pilot said yesterday the situation in the air traffic control tower “is only getting worse” since August, and that some of his fellow pilots are expecting an accident to happen soon.

The pilot said it is due to poor CAD management and the fact that many local controllers, instead of experienced foreign controllers, are hired.

However, Hong Kong Air Traffic Control Association chairman Ivan Chan Pui-kit said the situation has improved since August to what he calls a “satisfactory” level.

He also agreed the latest incident was merely a “slip of tongue.”

How is Shek Kwu Chau fairest pick?

SCMP letters

I refer to the report in Health Post (“Burning issue”, May 29).

Elvis Au, assistant director of the Environmental Protection Department, says that the Shek Kwu Chau site was chosen for the proposed incinerator after a “very objective, vigorous, systematic site search process” and “in an attempt to more fairly distribute unwanted facilities across Hong Kong”.

How come a “more fair” distribution of “unwanted facilities” was never a criterion of either of the department’s consultations?

It was first mentioned after a meeting with the Heung Yee Kuk concerning the site beyond Tuen Mun.

Following this line of thought would be like proposing a landfill for Hong Kong Island.

This would be ridiculous, just like the department’s justification of Shek Kwu Chau.

What Hong Kong first needs is more recycling at source.

Once that’s well in place, then let’s review all other means of waste disposal.

Patrick Wilson, Pok Fu Lam

Waste to Biofuels Set for Growth but Industry Must Remain Realistic

http://www.waste-management-world.com/index/display/article-display/7892763813/articles/waste-management-world/waste-to-energy/2012/05/Waste_to_Biofuels_Set_for_Growth_but_Industry_Must_Remain_Realistic.html?cmpid=EnlWMW_WeeklyJune12012

29 May 2012

Advanced biofuels that use waste feedstocks to deliver a low carbon footprint and do not compete with food crops are entering a critical stage of development as a number of new facilities prepare to enter service, according to a market analysis by Reuters.

According to the report, many of the companies are turning to wood waste, municipal solid waste, animal waste and cellulosic plant materials to deliver millions of gallons of biofuels.

Reuters said that U.S. government targets that call for fuel suppliers to blend billions of gallons of the new biofuels into U.S. transport fuel are the driving force behind the recent developments.

However, the report highlights that while the targets have helped biofuel companies develop and expand, they do not provide tax incentives or subsidies such as those that have helped the solar and wind industries.

Many of the companies have reportedly been working for years to develop technology that can economically process cellulosic sugars or waste materials into energy – with many securing investment from the world’s top oil companies.

Among the big oil companies to have made such investments are BP Plc (BP.L), Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L), Chevron Corp (CVX.N) and Total SA (TOTF.PA).

According to the analysis, one of the most anticipated new production plants is KiOR’s (KIOR.O) Columbus, Mississippi, facility that will process wood wastes into blendstocks that can be used in the production of both gasoline and diesel.

With a capacity of 11 million gallons per year, the analysts said that KiOR’s $222 million plant will be the largest of its kind in the U.S.

KiOR is reported to have already sold the planned output from the plant to Hunt Refining, FedEx Corp (FDX.N) and Catchlight Energy, a joint venture between Chevron and forest products company Weyerhaeuser Co (WY.N).

However, the Reuters report cautioned that even with the growth expected over the next few years, many industry executives are wary of promising an energy revolution that could lead to unrealistic expectations.

The analysis also noted that while KiOR and others such as Codexis Inc CDXS.N, Amyris Inc (AMRS.O), Solazyme Inc (SZYM.O) and Renewable Energy Group Inc (REGI.O) have all successfully tapped into the public markets, their shares have all fallen below their launch prices.

Read More

Technology Partner for Sundrop’s Waste to Gasoline Facility
Gasification based biofuel specialist, company Sundrop Fuels has entered a partnership with technology and ThyssenKrupp Uhde for a commercial scale ‘green gasoline’ production facility in the U.S.

Advanced Biofuel Research Project Backed by EU
The Biofuels Research Infrastructure for Sharing Knowledge (BRISK) project – a new European research project -has been funded to the tune of 10.84 million Euros by the European Commission Seventh Framework Programme (FP7).

Canadian Gasified Waste to Biofuels Firm Selects Construction Partner
Canadian wood waste to biofuel specialist, CORE BioFuel has selected French engineering and project management firm, Technip to complete the construction engineering of its first wood to gasoline biorefinery