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The 1999 Policy Address has been accepted by a majority of the Hong Kong public, a Government spokesman said today (Tuesday).

A number of major policy initiatives under the Policy Address received significant support by respondents to a survey conducted last week by the Telephone Survey Research Laboratory of the Hong Kong Institute of Asia Pacific Studies, the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

According to the survey, the Policy Address was accepted by three-quarters (75.1 per cent) of those who responded.

The survey, conducted on October 15-17, showed that the five policy areas which the people supported the most included encouraging waste reduction/recycling (98.5 per cent), requiring language teachers to meet certain standards (97 per cent); requiring the new policies to be sustainable (96.1 per cent); speeding up urban renewal (93.6 per cent); and to have less polluting transportation (92.7 per cent).

The least supported policy was relaxing application rules for public housing for households with new arrivals (53.8 per cent).

The survey, commissioned by the Home Affairs Bureau, also found that 47 per cent of the respondents were very satisfied/satisfied with the Government's performance, while 53.1 per cent were very dissatisfied/dissatisfied.

A total of 1,004 respondents were successfully interviewed.

End/Tuesday, October 19, 1999

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