Importers, ecologists back emission caps on new cars

Importers believe prices of imported cars are likely to remain almost unchanged despite the introduction of limits to greenhouse gas emissions

The Executive Council has finished reviewing a new bylaw that will for the first time set limits to greenhouse gas emissions on imported cars. Both environmentalists and importers have praised the restrictions, set to come into effect late February or early March.
The new rules will force light vehicles, trucks and buses to abide by Euro 4 standards. European Union emission standards are measured on a scale from 1 (higher emissions) to 6 (lower emissions).
Even though the bylaw will cover a gap on imported cars, the new limits are still lower than in Hong Kong, where Euro 5 standards are already in place. And just last August the government allowed new operator Reolian to import new buses that only comply with Euro 3 standards.
Importers will have until September 2013 to conclude the import and sale of vehicles that don’t fulfill the standards, as long as the order has been made before the bylaw is published in the Official Gazette.
Despite this transition period, the Macau Ecological Society vice-president believes the measures will help improve the territory’s air quality. “Euro 4 and other emission standards cap the emission of many pollutants: nitrogen oxide and thiophene, for example,” Chan Zheng Meng told TDM News.

Business as usual

Exhaust emissions from cars “are one of the main sources of air pollution in Macau,” the Environmental Protection Bureau acknowledged, “and often contain carcinogenic substances that may directly affect inhabitants’ health”.
In the last few years, “five to 10 percent” of all complaints concerning air pollution were due to exhaust emissions from cars, the bureau revealed. The bylaw is aimed at “improving the air quality” in the territory, a statement stressed.
Yet Chan Zheng Meng called on the government for more measures to speed up the replacement of heavy-polluting cargo vehicles still circulating in Macau.
On the other hand, the head of the Macau Motor Traders Association is confident the new rules will not significantly increase the price of imported cars or hinder their business.
“In the private car market around 80 percent already complies with this standard. As for commercial vehicles like trucks and tour buses over 50 percent abide by it,” Patrick Tse Ka Ming told TDM News.
The cost of light cars is likely to remain almost unchanged but commercial vehicles could become 10 percent more expensive, the businessman conceded.
Importers were widely consulted by the government and they “understand the new requirements,” the Executive Council spokesperson Leong Heng Teng said on Friday. Patrick Tse confirmed that the sector was heard while the bylaw was being drafted.

Ao’s shadow

The new restrictions are included in the 2010/2020 Environmental Protection Plan, which is still being drafted, and in the 2012 Policy Address unveiled last November. Another measure that is also part of the latest Policy Address is “to establish a vehicle inspection system and methods”.
The new regulation will reduce the period in which new vehicles don’t have to undergo inspection from 10 to six years, the Transport Bureau announced, quoted by TDM News.
Also on Friday, the Executive Council finished discussing several changes to its own statute, for instance taking away lifetime free healthcare from ex-members that are sentenced to a jail term above 30 days.
This particular measure seems tailor made for former secretary for Transport and Public Works, Ao Man Long, who is also a former Executive Council member. The disgraced secretary is currently serving a jail term of 28-and-a-half years for corruption and money laundering.
The Executive Council also backed the government’s decision to double to 20 million the number of new MOP 10 bank notes issued. Hundreds of people have rushed to local banks in search of the notes featuring a dragon.
Yet many of those notes have been used for speculation in mainland China, Leong Heng Teng conceded. The spokesperson is hopeful the measure will help the market “self-regulate”.    V.Q.