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July 16th, 2012:

過檔龍躉懸浮粒子多十倍

東方日報
(2012年7月16日)【本報訊】巴士業內人士及巴士迷將龍運售予九巴的舊車稱為「過檔龍躉」,由於車齡十多年,巴士行車表現及排放廢氣甚受關注。環保團體健康空氣行動指出,這批「龍躉」是歐盟二期舊車,排放的懸浮粒子數目較歐四、歐五型多出十多倍,應盡快退役,如今竟由機場路線轉到市區污染環境,絕對是危害市民的健康。汽車業人士亦指,九巴是年年賺大錢,應盡力縮短車隊平均車齡,不應該為求盈利而將巴士「用到最後一分一秒」。健康空氣行動項目經理陳方盈表示,龍運對外宣稱會購置新巴士,令人誤以為巴士公司願意負起社會責任,淘汰已十多年的舊巴士,但實際上是轉售到另一巴士公司繼續營運,她批評這種手法「完全呃人」,「巴士公司咁樣做,係誤導市民同政府,唔係正當做法,希望九巴檢討。」她說歐二巴士排放標準在一氧化碳、氮氧化物等排放量,比歐五標準高出兩、三倍,即使加裝過濾器,懸浮粒子排放量仍是高量。

Rewarded for a woeful track record

SCMP Letters – 16 July 2012

I agree with Gerard Crawford who said Edward Yau Tang-wah was an “abject failure” when he was environment minister (“Dismissal of political opposition doesn’t look like government ‘for the people'”, July 6).

It is therefore outrageous that given his failings he has become director of the Chief Executive’s Office. His appointment represents one of the worst features of civil service culture – highly paid public servants going from one senior position to another regardless of their performance.

Under Yau’s watch from 2007 to 2012, Hong Kong’s environment has deteriorated.

His signal “achievement” on air quality was a ban on idling engines that was hedged to the point of being unenforceable. Despite the millions spent publicising the ban, idling engines are still everywhere and I am not aware of anyone being prosecuted.

Yau also failed to deal with the long-standing problem of municipal waste disposal. Recycling remains the rudimentary collection of paper, plastic and metal in coloured bins, with no monitoring of waste contractors or public education on sorting of waste. No credible evidence has substantiated Yau’s claim of a 52 per cent recycling rate.

Instead, he expended a huge effort and public money on pushing for construction of the world’s largest and costliest incinerator that would have used outdated technology and despoiled a pristine island.

He took the path of least resistance via the usual mega-infrastructure approach rather than the harder route of a programme covering all of Hong Kong to reduce waste at source and nurture a viable recycling industry.

To add insult to injury, he took the most foreign trips among all senior officials, many of those trips ostensibly to learn about how other countries treat municipal waste.

His performance would not have been tolerated had he been employed in the private sector. In government, however, it gets him another highly paid job as gatekeeper to the chief executive.

Tom Yam, Lantau