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Work in HK? Not until the air is cleaner, say expats

Survey also finds many planning to leave territory

SMOKE gets in their eyes, and that's why many expatriates are staying away, says one of Hong Kong's biggest employers' association.

05 September 2007

SMOKE gets in their eyes, and that's why many expatriates are staying away, says one of Hong Kong's biggest employers' association.

So bad is the pollution in Hong Kong that the American Chamber of Commerce said half of the executives interviewed in its environment survey admitted they had trouble recruiting professionals to relocate to the territory, reported The Standard.

Almost three-quarters of them said they knew of someone who did not want to work in Hong Kong.

More alarmingly, 83 percent knew professionals who were thinking of leaving Hong Kong due to it's worsening environment.

AmCham's member companies employ some 250,000 people in Hong Kong and the survey interviewed 89 AmCham members between 15 Jun and 12 July.

'Our environment survey is an effort to get beyond the anecdotes about expatriate departures and those declining to come here, and to put objective numbers on the impact that Hong Kong's air quality is having and will continue to have on business,' AmCham chairman Gary Clinton said.

LESS ATTRACTIVE

Comparing this year's findings with last year's, MrClinton said that people continue to worry about the state of Hong Kong's natural environment, especially when it comes to air pollution and traffic.

Respondents saw Hong Kong's attractiveness to foreign investors as likely to gradually decline due to pollution (78 percent) and thought that their own companies are likely to invest more elsewhere (57 percent).

AmCham's president Jack Maisano, however, did not lay blame on the government.

He said: 'It's not that the Hong Kong government has been standing still.

'It's that international executives do not see a bold and clearly articulated prescription for progress. The pace of improvement seems slow in the context of the speed people in Hong Kong's business world are accustomed to.'

On a positive note, Mr Clinton said: 'We're seeing an increased awareness of the environmental issue... and are encouraged that it's one of the top priorities of the new administration.'

Unfortunately, goals, announced by the Environmental Protection Department in 1999 that fuel emissions from vehicles and nitrogen oxides would be reduced, have not been met, an AmCham spokesman said.

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