AFP - Hong Kong is set to record its worst-ever year for roadside air quality, the government said Thursday, amid more warnings over the public health hazard posed by pollution in the teeming metropolis.
Curbside air pollution was at "very high" or "severe" levels almost 14 percent of the time during 2010, according to official data calculated by AFP.
The figures are a marked increase from 2009 when roadside air was poor about 10.5 percent of the time, and well above the 1.8 percent figure recorded in 2000, the first full year of publicly available data.
The "severe" category generates a government health warning advising the public to stay away from areas with heavy traffic.
Air pollution has become a major public health and economic headache for authorities in the city of seven million.
Emissions from the factory belt in southern China over Hong Kong's northern border, combined with local emissions from power plants and transport, have generated a thick blanket of haze over the city in recent years.
Green groups say authorities' efforts to combat the problem -- including fitting old buses with emissions-busting devices -- fall woefully short.
"We are very disappointed by the government's foot-dragging," Vivian Ngan, campaign manager of the Hong Kong-based Clean Air Network.
"Air pollution should be made a top priority as it endangers the lives of Hong Kongers," she added.
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