Govt to offer diesel subsidy starting Apr 30

Financial Secretary Paul Chan on Wednesday announced that the two-month subsidy for vessels and commercial vehicles running on diesel would start on Thursday. It will hand out the HK$3 per litre subsidy to designated oil companies and distributors. Environment minister Tse Chin-wan said the government would ensure that motorists would directly benefit and not pay more than they need to, as oil firms and distributors must submit reports to authorities every week on information such as the sources of the fuel they purchase, sales volume and prices. “After the scheme, they have to conduct an independent audit to verify all those information. Because the government, we know the price of the oil they buy from external sources, therefore [for] all the changes in the oil prices, we can monitor and we know what are the changes,” he said. “Therefore, with the reporting and the auditing system, we are very confident the oil companies will not be able to [counteract] the subsidy.” Meanwhile, the government is also considering a HK$0.50 per litre subsidy next month for taxis, minibuses and school buses which run on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). The financial secretary said this was due to the fact that the ceiling price per litre of auto-LPG at dedicated filling stations would rise by more than a dollar starting in May. Secretary for Transport and Logistics Mable Chan said the decision to offer an LPG subsidy is expected to benefit about 16,900 taxis, 3,440 minibuses and 170 school buses. “Public minibuses and taxis are two important components of our public transport system. On the other hand, we have also minibuses providing student service,” the official said. “In order to ensure that they will continue to maintain a steady service for the general members of the public, we will deploy internal resources within the government in order to provide the subsidy for petroleum suppliers companies.” The potential subsidy for LPG transport vehicles is expected to cost around HK$38 million, she added, and would run for about two months. The details would be announced in due course, she said. Edited by Tony Sabine