Updated on Jun 26, 2008 – SCMP
I cannot believe that our administration is scrapping duty on Euro V diesel just to please a minority of angry vehicle operators.
At the same time, the very same operators allow their drivers to keep thousands of engines idling and waste a vast amount of fuel while polluting our already deteriorating environment.
As long as drivers can afford to idle their engines for hours, the cost of fuel obviously is still too cheap – otherwise, they would start saving at their own end first.
What Hong Kong needs is a strategic environmental vision and policy put into practice now to achieve the kind of quality environment that you find in other countries.
A scrapping of fuel tax without a clear policy is shortsighted. We need laws forcing drivers and operators of heavy vehicles to reduce fuel consumption and switch to the most modern available engine technology to achieve immediate air quality improvements.
Saki A. Chatzichristidis, Kennedy Town