Can X policy effectively solve the problem?

• It takes a long time for land reclamation to solve the housing problem

• The treaties agreed upon by nations in the Climate Summit are on a voluntary basis - this prevents nations and corporations from being sued to force them to take legal responsibility for harmful carbon emissions and policies.

• The Double Stamp Duty can deter speculators from ramping property prices up. (deterrence)

• Some people argue that by developing country parks for residential uses, the water supply in Hong Kong will be affected as many reservoirs are located in the parks. (side-effect)

• The Old Age Living Allowance, an allowance of about $2,500 for the single elderly with a total asset less than $225,100, cannot benefit most poor elderly people.

• Solving the kitchen waste problem can significantly help reduce the problem of our landfill getting full because the former accounts for 40% of the total volume.

• An increase in the number of university places may not solve the high unemployment problem among teenagers caused by job mismatch.

• Given the goal is to reduce drug-taking among teenagers, T.V. promotion may not get to its intended audience as teenagers nowadays do not watch T.V. often.

• Years of inaction by officials on illegal structures for small houses (村屋) means that sudden enforcement of the related law is likely to lead to conflict. (acceptability)

• Given the scandals of contaminated food from China, it would be wise to step up quality checks on imported food from the mainland. However, given the amount coming up every day, any increase in sample checks amounts to none. 

• TVB argued that the government should not issue a T.V. license to Ricky Wong’s HKTV for the reason that there is not enough advertisement revenue in the industry. (feasibility)

In terms of immediacy / timeliness, 

The ETC system is better because the toll will impose an immediate financial burden on those considering the area in their own vehicles. Those users who commute daily into the areas are the most heavily affected as the toll accumulates to a hefty sum over the month. This has an immediate effect on the decision of whether to continue to commute using their own vehicles. On the contrary, educating the car users in Hong Kong on their civic responsibility by not going to Central in their own vehicle takes time as most people tend to focus on their convenience. 

In terms of pertinence, 

The ETC system targets those road users entering Central who are just the cause of the congestion. On the basis of the ‘user-pays principle’, they are the ones who should bear the cost of delayed traffic. On the contrary, educating all general car users in Hong Kong may not be as good as many of them do not enter the CBD area, especially during peak hours. 

In terms of comprehensiveness / coverage,

Educating ALL car users in Hong Kong increases their awareness of their own roles in the traffic congestion in the CBD area. Anyone, including those who compute to or only go to Central occasionally, will then think twice before going to Central. On the contrary, the ETC system deters car users from entering the area by increasing the financial cost of car users. This may not be effective on rich car users 

In terms of getting to the root of the problem,

Educating car drivers, especially the non-commercial car drivers, makes them aware of their citizens' responsibility not to give themselves convenience at the expense of others by causing more traffic jam. The change in personal values is fundamental towards changing people's living patterns. On the contrary, an ETC system is effective only when it stays severe enough.