It is not feasible to extend the use of liquefied petroleum gas to other vehicles as land availability and safety considerations constrained the development of LPG filling stations and storage facilities.

Secretary for the Environment, Transport & Works Dr Sarah Liao told the Legislative Council today emission levels of LPG vehicles and petrol vehicles meeting Euro III standards are similar and neither emit smoke, so the switch from petrol to LPG is not expected to bring a substantial improvement in air quality. Thus the Government's strategy is to first encourage the replacement of diesel vehicles with LPG ones.

The feasibility of introducing other types of LPG vehicles to Hong Kong has been studied and findings show the LPG infrastructure can only support taxis and minibuses.

There are 50 LPG filling stations and 19,500 LPG vehicles (18,000 taxis and 1,500 minibuses) in Hong Kong, giving a ratio of one filling station to 390 LPG vehicles. For diesel vehicles, there are 181 petrol filling stations catering for 127,000 vehicles - one filling station to 700 diesel vehicles.

Six LPG filling stations are being designed and constructed for completion by early next year. Provided safety requirements are met, the Government will also require all newly-constructed stations to provide LPG services through land lease conditions.