HONG KONG: Air pollution across large swathes of Hong Kong last year reached its highest level since the taking of records began, despite government efforts to improve the environment, official figures showed yesterday.

The number of hours for which street-level pollution was at danger levels in some of the city's busiest districts rose by 14 per cent last year, according to Environmental Protection Department figures.

The department said air pollution levels in the three main shopping and business districts - Central, Causeway Bay and Mongkok - were dangerous for more than 2,000 hours last year - the highest figure since the taking of roadside recordings began in 2000.

An Air Pollution Index (API) of more than 100 is considered dangerous, indicating immediate health risks, especially for people with respiratory or heart problems.

The latest alarming API figures were taken during the Christmas period. Central's reading touched 127, Causeway Bay's figure was 141, which was exceedingly high for the city, and that in Mongkok shopping areas, 103.

A woman who distributes pamphlets at Causeway Bay told the newspaper Wen Wei Po that it had been especially difficult to breathe on Christmas Day when she did her eight-hour stint.

The roadside crowd was larger than normal, making the air stuffy, and this in turn caused the exhaust gas from vehicles to smell more foul than usual, she said.

Hong Kong suffers high air pollution, caused partly by huge numbers of factories across the border in southern China and there have been fears the problem could compromise its position as an international finance centre.

The latest figures were released as Hong Kong's acting environment secretary proposed a ban on running engines of parked vehicles, the latest in a series of measures to improve the city's air quality.

The city's Chief Executive Donald Tsang has called improving air quality 'a matter of life and death' for Hong Kong, and said he expects the full backing of the Chinese authorities.

A report released last year by the Hong Kong-based think-tank Civic Exchange said that at least 10,000 deaths every year in Hong Kong, Macau and southern China are caused by the area's worsening air pollution.

A spokesman for the Environmental Protection Department cautioned that the figures did not give a full picture of air quality because they reflected only the level of the pollutant that posed the greatest health risk.

However, Mr Edwin Lau, director of pressure group Friends of the Earth in Hong Kong, said this meant the true picture could be even worse than the figures indicated.

'You can look at the data from another perspective and say the problem could be even more worrying if the levels of the other pollutants were also taken into account,' he said.

Mr Lau said the government needed more effective policies to improve roadside air quality, such as banning heavy diesel vehicles from driving in busy districts during peak hours.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE