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The Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mr Frederick Ma, together with the Tourism Commission and Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD), met with Ngong Ping 360 Limited (NP360) today (June 23) to review matters relating to the suspension of cable car service on June 22.
At the meeting, the Government expressed grave concern that NP360 did not inform the public and visitors in a timely manner of its service suspension, and considered that the notification arrangement should be improved. The Government has requested NP360 to review the notification system to prevent similar incidents and to minimise inconvenience to the public and visitors.
According to the existing arrangement, NP360 will notify the public of the suspension and resumption schedule when preparing for the annual examination of the cable car service. The Government has requested that in future NP360 should inform the public of any change before 5pm the day before the scheduled resumption of cable car service.
The Government was aware that NP360 might need to take immediate follow-up action in view of the outcome of the annual examination, and that the examination might not be completed on time which would delay the re-opening of the cable car service. Under such circumstances, NP360 must liaise with relevant Government departments immediately to work out necessary follow-up actions, and inform the public of service suspension as soon as possible. NP360 accepted this arrangement.
Moreover, as Mr Ma said at the Legislative Council meeting on May 14, NP360 would engage an independent cable car expert to conduct a comprehensive review of the cable car system with a view to enhancing its service reliability. According to NP360, the review has started and will be completed by the end of August. The EMSD is monitoring the progress of the review closely. The emphasis of this review will be placed on the maintenance arrangements of the cable car system.
Ends/Monday, June 23, 2008
Issued at HKT 20:49
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