Hong Kong will take vigorous measures to make sustained improvement in air quality and step up efforts to enhance food safety, Chief Executive Donald Tsang said in his policy address Wednesday.

The government will take the lead to reduce power consumption, Tsang said, citing that from January 2006, power consumption in all government office buildings will be reduced by 1.5 percent annually, and the government will take the lead in using ultra-lowsulfur diesel in all government projects.

The government will also consider using hybrid vehicles that have lower emissions on a wider scale, once more models become available on the market and are judged to be cost-effective, Tsang added.

Since 1999, Hong Kong has introduced measures progressively to control vehicle emissions, and they have started to produce results, Tsang said. The next step is to introduce in stages Euro IV emission standards for newly registered vehicles from January 2006.

On another problem that many Hong Kong residents concerned about - food safety, Tsang said the government has decided to reorganize the government departments and establish a new Food Safety, Inspection and Quarantine Department to pool resources for better food safety control.

\Tsang said the new department will consolidate functions now performed by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department and the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department in this regard, including the monitoring and controlling of imported and local live food and non-food animals, poultry and birds, and the safety of vegetables, meat, seafood and food products.

\Since the mainland supplies Hong Kong with poultry, livestock, marine products and other non-staple food on a daily basis, the SAR government has enhanced notification system with the central authorities and the Guangdong provincial authorities, Tsang said.

\He added that relevant SAR government departments will send officials to visit the facilities of mainland suppliers to inspect the safety measures taken during the growing or rearing process. The government will step up efforts in the sampling and testing of food being sold on the market.

Editor: Yan