Whilst the concept has widespread support in principle, its implementation has been lacklustre and mired in controversy. Landfill charges, originally due to be introduced in 1994, have been stalled for 3 years due to opposition from vested interests. Confusing information, poor publicity and obscuring of the full long term costs, have all contributed to the Government's failure to sell PPP to the public. Instead, charges have been set by what Government consider people would be willing to pay. The decision to drop the trading fund and the likelihood that sewage charges will depart even further from the PPP, will make other charging schemes harder to implement.
Sewage treatment is indeed costly.
Part of the problem is that Hong Kong has never before had a comprehensive sewage treatment system, as the Government chose in 1989 to invest in the airport and port programme rather than the Strategic Sewage Disposal Scheme. No other country in the world with a GDP per capita comparable with Hong Kong's has such an appalling lack of basic sewerage infrastructure. Yet not having sewage treatment is also costly - in terms of the resulting pollution, loss of amenity and impacts on fisheries. Sewage operating costs will undoubtedly increase dramatically - particularly when the operational costs for Stage II works are factored in, a fact glossed over by the Government when the charging scheme was first announced. The Government has failed to get the message through to the public that they will be paying for sewage treatment regardless, but the fairest system is through sewage charging.