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Following is a question by the Dr Hon Kwok Ka-ki and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Ms Eva Cheng, at the Legislative Council meeting today (November 14):
Question:
At the meeting of the Panel on Planning, Lands and Works of this Council held on May 29 this year, an official of the Planning Department said that the proposed provision of a helipad north-east of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre was mainly for the use of the Government Flying Service to provide emergency and other government flying services. The helipad could also be used by commercial operators of domestic helicopter services provided that emergency services would not be affected. As the Administration has earmarked a site at the Kai Tak Development for the development of a cross-boundary heliport, the above-mentioned helipad is not supposed to provide cross-boundary helicopter services. However, it has been reported that after a businessman lobbied the Chief Executive directly, the Administration may change in the near future its policy of not providing cross-boundary helicopter services at the helipad. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether the Chief Executive has instructed the relevant bureau to review the aforesaid policy afresh;
(b) whether it will consult this Council, the Wan Chai District Council and the public before making the decision to permit cross-boundary helicopters to use the helipad;
(c) whether it has projected the respective numbers of helicopter movements in different intervals of a day and the numbers of such movements for the provision of domestic helicopter services, as well as whether it has assessed the impact of permitting cross-boundary helicopters to use the helipad on the surrounding environment and tourists; and
(d) whether it will limit the numbers of helicopter movements at the helipad in different intervals of a day?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) and (b)
The Government's original plan was to build a government helipad at the north-eastern corner of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre solely for the Government Flying Service (GFS) to provide emergency services and other government flying services. After taking into account the motion passed by the relevant Panels of the Legislative Council (LegCo) on February 28, 2005, the Administration agreed to allow commercial helicopter operators to share the use of the helipad with the Government for providing domestic helicopter services, on condition that the operations of the GFS would not be affected. The Administration has no plan to change this arrangement for the provision of cross-boundary helicopter services. The Chief Executive has not instructed the relevant Bureaux to review this arrangement.
The technical feasibility study on the shared-use of the helipad will be completed by the end of this year. Upon completion of the study, we will brief the relevant LegCo Panels, the Wan Chai District Council and the industry on the results of the study.
(c) Since the GFS must provide emergency and essential flying services at all times, the number of GFS flights using the helipad at different hours throughout the day will depend on actual operational needs. Based on past experience, we estimate the number of GFS flights using the helipad to be about 5,000 a year. Regarding commercial helicopter operations, which usually take place during daytime, we estimate that the helipad would cater for about 20,000 movements a year. The above-mentioned technical feasibility study will assess the impact of the operation of the helipad on the surrounding environment and tourists.
(d) To ensure that the GFS can use the helipad any time so as not to hamper the provision of casualty evacuation services to the public, we will not set a ceiling on the number of GFS flights at the helipad at different hours throughout the day.
As to commercial helicopters, we will formulate the relevant arrangements for their operations. As part of such formulation, we will consider if the number of helicopter movements in different intervals of a day would need to be limited.
Ends/Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Issued at HKT 16:35
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