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Following is the transcript of the Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Mr Stephen Lam's remarks during a media session today (May 25) held after a meeting with representatives of the Democratic Party on Hong Kong's participation in Sichuan's reconstruction:
Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs: Today we had a meeting with several representatives of the Democratic Party. On the part of the HKSAR Government, we value highly the cross-party support which we have received so far from the Legislative Council for Hong Kong's participation in Sichuan's reconstruction. In moving forward, we would certainly wish to retain that cross-party support.
So far as the current phase one and phase two reconstruction projects are concerned, for the 20 projects in phase one, for the vast majority we have already completed our assessments and we have entered into specific project agreements with the Sichuan Provincial Government. These projects are proceeding onto the tendering and project commencement stage.
As for the 102 (*Note) projects for phase two, we have already received over 90 project feasibility reports from the Sichuan Provincial Government. We wish to complete the study and assessment of these reports as soon as possible in the coming weeks and we hope to enter into specific project co-operation agreements for phase two projects as soon as possible, for the majority of these projects within June, so that these projects can proceed onto the tendering and work commencement stage during the summer.
As for the phase three projects, we will be having a meeting with the Sichuan Provincial Government on Wednesday. We hope that we will reach some consensus on the way forward and thereafter we will of course report to the public.
* Note: Following further discussions with Sichuan, two health-related facilities in Wolong have been combined as one project. Hence, the total number of phase two projects has been revised to 102.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Monday, May 25, 2009
Issued at HKT 18:53
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