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Speech by the FS

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Following is the speech (English only) by the Financial Secretary, Mr Antony Leung, at the Prize Presentation Ceremony of the Innovation Awards for Construction Industry 2001/02 today (May 29):

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my great pleasure to join you in this Prize Presentation Ceremony of the Innovation Awards for Construction Industry.

Hong Kong used to be complimented as a myth of its metropolitan development. The reasons for our success are multi-folds, but no doubt our construction industry has played an important role in it. Throughout the years, our construction industry has been contributing impressively and consistently to Hong Kong's development and economy.

But as we move forward into the 21st Century, the industry has to equip itself not only for the further development of Hong Kong, but also for that of the Mainland and overseas construction markets.

Indeed, under the overwhelming globalisation trend, the local construction industry has to face fierce international competition ever in our local construction industry. We need to introduce sustainable improvement initiatives to our local construction services to promote their competitiveness in the domestic market and elsewhere.

As I see it, Government also has a role in helping the industry to improve its competitiveness. We should provide a business environment that is conducive to market development. To put it simply, our role is one of facilitation. This includes suitably relaxing government rules and regulations, raising the quality of our human capital and promoting the development of industry-wide infrastructure.

In the past year or so we have been working closely with the industry towards these goals. First of all, we streamlined the procedures and enhanced the efficiency for delivering public works projects. In particular, we have reduced the pre-construction lead-time by almost half, from an average of seven years to three and a half years, yet maintaining the quality of works and public involvement in the projects. We have formulated a robust scheme of e-tendering framework to enable electronic submission of bids. We will soon implement a standard marking scheme for tender evaluation to ensure quality of work that is value for money.

Of course we cannot have quality work without a quality workforce. We have been working with the various training institutes to equip our labour with adequate skills to meet the needs of the industry. To further upgrade the standard of our workforce, we are going to introduce a statutory registration scheme for construction personnel. Under the scheme, workers will need to pass relevant trade tests in order to be registered as skilled or semi-skilled workers. This would not only give due recognition to qualified workers but also help facilitate quality control in the industry. We aim to introduce a bill into the Legislative Council around late 2002 for the implementation of the scheme.

On the technology front, common platform and standard are key to wider use of computer applications. The Government will soon introduce a new unified Computer Aided Design standard to the industry to ensure data compatibility and interoperability. This will enable efficient exchange of engineering drawings and effective communication of project information among project participants. The critical mass so generated will help to drive technology adoption and development in the industry. This would in turn help lower operational costs and enhance the competitiveness of our businesses.

Obviously, innovation and application of new technology are the key to productivity and efficiency growth. This is no exception for the construction industry and the private sector in Hong Kong is very good and progressive in this particular area. At the same time our public sector is most pleased to play a part in the process. For example, the Hong Kong Science Park is testing the latest technological advance of Photovoltaic Panels in some of its building projects. We are in the lead to apply the latest environmental technology to deal with the water quality problem of the Shing Mun River in Sha Tin.

We have also encouraged the setting up of an inter-university task force to achieve better coordination in research efforts of local universities in the construction field. I am glad to see these collaborative efforts. I am confident would provide important impetus to further development of our construction industry.

Coming back to the award today, the winning entries have clearly demonstrated how our professionals use their creativity to balance conflicting requirements, overcome constraints, and develop appropriate engineering solutions to solve local problems. This is what Hong Kong has been good at, and should continue to focus on. You have set good examples for your peers to follow. I congratulate the winners on their achievements. Do keep up your good work. Thank you.

End/Wednesday, May 29, 2002

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