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  Straits Times Online 4 Dec 06
The road to a green environment
Reply from NEA and LTA

WE REFER to the letter, 'Six ways to make vehicles more fuel efficient' by Dr Apoorva Gogna (ST, Nov 17).

The objective of the Preferential Additional Registration Fee (Parf) is to encourage timely de-registration of older cars to ensure that the car population remains roadworthy.

It allows owners to replace their old cars with new ones at a discount, by offsetting the upfront taxes related to the registration of a new car. Parf rebates can be split into smaller values and used for two or more vehicles or sold to a third party at mutually agreed rates. The pegging of Parf to the Additional Registration Fee (ARF) paid takes into consideration the amount of ARF that car owners have paid upfront and is an equitable way to give owners incentives to encourage the timely de-registration of their cars.

As for having a separate certificate of entitlement (COE) category to promote the use of green or fuel- efficient vehicles, that may not be feasible at this moment as, first, it will be difficult to set a quota for such vehicles and, second, as with all vehicle categories, their annual growth will be capped as a result.

For now, it is preferable to allow the take-up rate of such vehicles to increase freely in response to demand for them.

Dr Gogna also suggested encouraging research into biofuels and energy-efficient technologies.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) welcomes research and development projects and test-bedding of innovative technologies that contribute to environmental sustainability.

We have an incentive scheme known as the Innovation for Environmental Sustainability Fund that provides financial support for suitable projects. Projects supported under this scheme include building an integrated photovoltaic system to produce solar energy and a tri-generation project to improve energy efficiency in a manufacturing plant.

We agree with Dr Gogna's suggestion on a fuel- conservation campaign. With the Singapore Environment Council (SEC), we launched a Climate Change Awareness Programme in April this year, targeting households and motorists. This programme explained what global warming and climate change are about, and what individuals may do to reduce carbon-dioxide emission.

As part of this programme, the SEC also launched Green Transport Week on Aug 20 to promote public transport, green vehicles and fuel conservation.

During the Clean and Green Week last month, the NEA and SEC continued with the campaign to educate the public to conserve and use energy efficiently.

Naleeza Ebrahim (Ms)
Deputy Director, Media Relations
Land Transport Authority

Ong Seng Eng
Director, Resource Conservation Department
National Environment Agency

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