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The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:
The delegation of the Legislative Council (LegCo) Members visiting Sichuan met with Mr Wei Hong, Executive Vice-Governor of the Sichuan Provincial Government on the last day of the visit to receive a briefing on the overall situation and the progress of post-quake restoration and reconstruction work in the province.
Mr Wei, who also met with LegCo Members in July last year, said the emphasis of the restoration and reconstruction had been put on the projects which were closely related to the daily life of the ordinary people in Sichuan, such as residential buildings, schools and hospitals, so that people would have homes to stay, children would have schools to attend and patients would receive adequate treatments.
The President of LegCo and the leader of the delegation, Mr Jasper Tsang Yok-sing, said through the visit, Members had gained a better understanding of the latest development of some of the reconstruction projects in Sichuan, especially those supported by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). He believed that what Members had seen and learned during the visit would facilitate their discussion and examination of future proposals put forward by the HKSAR Government in support of the post-quake restoration and reconstruction work in Sichuan.
Speaking after meeting with Vice-Governor Wei, Mr Tsang said Mr Wei also gave an account of the most up-to-date state of affairs of the reconstruction projects supported by HKSAR and assured Members that the Sichuan Provincial Government would carefully monitor the implementation of these projects to ensure that they would all be completed on schedule.
Ms Miriam Lau, Chairman of the House Committee, pointed out that much remains to be done for those children who became disabled during the earthquake. She believed that both Hong Kong and Sichuan Governments would need to continue to provide sufficient assistance and support to those disabled children. She also supported Hong Kongˇ¦s charity groups to join hands in offering help during the recovery process of the children.
Ms Lau concurred with Mr Chan Kam-lam, member of the Panel on Development, who suggested that the Sichuan Provincial Government would consider holding exhibitions or other functions in the territory to introduce directly to people of Hong Kong the progress of restoration and reconstruction work in Sichuan.
Before meeting with Mr Wei, the delegation went to visit Jinsha Site Museum. The delegation consists of the President, members of the Panel on Development, and Chairmen and Deputy Chairmen of other relevant committees. They began their three-day visit to Sichuan in connection with post-quake restoration and reconstruction on September 24 and completed the visit today (September 26).
During the three-day visit, Members had observed the reconstruction work of two schools, 303 Provincial Road, residential buildings in Dujiangyan and a rehabilitation centre. They also visited the site of Xuankou Middle School in Yingxiu and paid tribute to those who died during last yearˇ¦s earthquake in the front-yard of the school.
Ends/Saturday, September 26, 2009
Issued at HKT 21:02
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