Pollution threatens Hong Kong's status as Asian trade hub

Hong Kong: In Cantonese, that rapid quick-fire machine-gun language of southern China, Hong Kong means "Fragrant Harbour".

Anyone living here would think it was literally, a sick joke, and that it was time for the authorities to clean up their act.

Smog shrouds this city like a guest who refuses to leave.

The government in Hong Kong lays the blame squarely at China's door where they claim that emissions from heavy factories fuelling China's economic surge, drift over the border. But that is turning a convenient blind eye.

The statistics are shocking. More than 1,600 people die annually from pollution-related diseases. Medical authorities believe that nearly seven million calls on doctors are made a year due to smog. That averages out to one for every man woman and child living in Hong Kong.

There are worse polluted cities in mainland China but Hong Kong is the filthiest city for air quality among developed cities. Concentrations of pollutants in the air are often more than 200 per cent above World Health Organisation regulations.

And a recent report by Hong Kong University and City Exchange, a local think tank, claims that the majority of pollution in Hong Kong comes from domestic sources, cars, coal-fired power stations and the thousands of ships and boats that ply these waters daily.

The report claims that domestic emissions were to blame for pollution for 192 days, while factories across the border were to blamed for pollution for 132 days. Pollution for the remaining 41 days was blown away by strong winds. There is an air pollution index but that seems to be less healthy to rely on than the environment. According to Anthony Hedley of the Hong Kong University when it gives a "moderate" reading the same figures would register as "very high" on the EU's measure.

In a city that unashamedly advocates the pursuit of money at every opportunity and is justly proud of its economic clout, pollution can come at a heavy price.

Foreigners are beginning to cite health concerns as a reason for reconsidering living in Hong Kong. This will hurt business, the very reason that Hong Kong exists for many of its residents. It may be time that the Fragrant Harbour kicked up a mighty stink about its air quality.