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March 9th, 2013:

Causeway Bay API soars above WHO safety guidelines

Saturday, 09 March, 2013, 12:00am

News›Hong Kong

ENVIRONMENT

Cheung Chi-fai chifai.cheung@scmp.com

Government urged to curb vehicle emissions as calm weather lets exhaust gases linger  Environment officials came under pressure to cut vehicle emissions after dangerous pollution levels were recorded in one of Hong Kong’s busiest shopping districts yesterday.

In Causeway Bay, the air pollution index (API) hit 198, the third-highest level since recording began 18 years ago. Central’s highest reading was 187.

Those levels are described as “very high” under the city’s pollution forecast and warning system. People with respiratory or heart disease were advised to stay indoors.

In Causeway Bay, the air pollution index (API) hit 198, the third-highest level since recording began 18 years ago

The dominant pollutant in yesterday’s air was nitrogen dioxide, which comes from vehicle exhausts or reactions among various pollutants.(CTA: AND SHIPS which contribute more than 30%)

Nitrogen dioxide reached 291 micrograms per cubic metre of air at 3pm in Causeway Bay – nearly 50 per cent more than the World Health Organisation safety guideline of 200.

The level of PM2.5 – tiny particles that can penetrate deep into the lungs – was 72.4 micrograms at 3pm. The WHO’s recommended safety level is 25 micrograms, on average, over 24 hours. The city’s worst recorded roadside pollution was a “severe” API reading of 212 in Central last August.

Dave Ho Tak-yin, principal environmental protection officer, blamed calm weather for the dangerous pollution. “We expect air dispersion will remain poor and the API readings will remain at very high levels in the next couple of days,” he said.

Kwong Sum-yin, chief executive officer of the Clean Air Network, called the pollution alarming and urged the government to take prompt action.

“I hope [new measures] can be rolled out at a much quicker pace, and that steps will be taken rather than just talked about,” she said.

Officials’ top priority, she said, should be retrofitting franchised buses and ageing LPG vehicles with pollution filters.

But a spokesman for the Environmental Protection Department said the government had no timetable for seeking funding from lawmakers to subsidise bus and taxi operators for such a retrofit. (CLEAR THE AIR SAYS : “why in hell do that ? make the regulations stricter and make them comply or get off the bloody roads !)

Topics:

Air Pollution

Air Pollution Index

Causeway Bay

Exhaust Gas

Environment

Public Health


Source URL (retrieved on Mar 9th 2013, 11:15pm): http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1186604/causeway-bay-api-soars-above-who-safety-guidelines

Vincent Lo backs chief executive on Chek Lap Kok mall

Saturday, 09 March, 2013, 4:59pm

News› Hong Kong

Tony Cheung in Beijing

A new Airport Authority (developer / property tycoon) board member says he will push the chief executive’s idea to build a shopping outlet at Chek Lap Kok.

Vincent Lo Hong-shui, a prominent supporter of Leung Chun-ying, said the government should accommodate the needs of both locals and tourists.(including imprisoning the heinous baby formula smugglers)

Lo is the chairman of Shui On Land and a local delegate to the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).(gee whiz so is Henry the illegal Basement)

He was appointed to the Airport Authority board in January (to vote what he was told to do in return for tit for tat ????).

Speaking on the sidelines of the CPPCC in Beijing on Saturday, Lo said that proposals to limit the number of times a mainland visitor could travel to Hong Kong were “strange”.

“We should think positively, about how we could build more facilities and better accommodate them,” Lo said.

(after all there is only 7 million people here and what’s an extra billion visitors hiding their ill-gotten black money in our property market and jewellery stores )

Asked about a new shopping outlet proposed for the airport, Lo said: “Yes, Leung Chun-ying also asked me to do something about this when he appointed me to the Airport Authority.” Lo said they were looking into the proposal and he hoped progress could be made soon. He also said that more tourists would visit Lantau Island once the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge was completed.     (which has no railwayline connection to HKG   hence the pollution will increase when their EUROstone age  vehicles and  high sulphur mainland fuel comes here –

t was built to enable air cargo from Zhuhai airport to reach Hong Kong airport – the HK Airport Auhthority is a major shareholder in the management of Zhuhai airport,  which has no international destinations)  – did you know that ? ……………

Leung said in his election manifesto the city needed to increase its business capacity and maximise areas near the airport. Lo said that while maintaining growth in tourism could help the economy, (like the hotel builders and the hotel chains and the thieving tour companies and how does it benefit the 99% rest of us ……….>? good question !)

– (gee so the Mainlanders and Mexican/ Colombian /Thai  drug cartels and Zimbabwe despots and Thai Interpol fugitives  hiding their black money forces our rents up with no protection, our property prices ridiculously up and that’s OK ?) our Leung’s priority was still solving the city’s housing woes.

He suggested Leung consider encouraging private sector participation in building subsidised homes so as to speed up the process. (QED: give the developers even more money and reduced land cost so they can then buy the rest of the world’s assets with their profits out of milking Hong Kong people)


Source URL (retrieved on Mar 9th 2013, 10:33pm): http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1187119/vincent-lo-backs-chief-executive-chek-lap-kok-mall