Ban on Petrol and Diesel-fuelled Vehicles

44 Mr Leon Perera asked the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources whether the Ministry will consider specifying the future date for banning all petrol and diesel-fuelled vehicles.

Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M: Vehicle emissions are a source of air pollution locally. Pollutants in vehicle emissions affect our living environment and can harm our health. Combating vehicular pollution is a high priority for my Ministry and our partners across the Government and industry.

We currently have no plans to specify a date to ban petrol and diesel fuelled vehicles. Countries like the United Kingdom and France have adopted this approach, and we are closely monitoring developments. Singapore's vehicular emission policies are technology-neutral and we seek to ensure that our air quality targets can be met in cost-effective ways.

Our air quality targets are benchmarked against standards set by the World Health Organisation. We have policy measures to achieve these targets, and these include incentives to encourage the purchase of newer and cleaner vehicles, investment in public transport, support for trials of electric and hybrid vehicles, as well as mandatory requirements, such as tightened vehicular emission standards. We will continue to strengthen our policies while ensuring the availability of feasible vehicle models to meet our transport needs.