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The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:
The Legislative Council will hold a meeting this Wednesday (November 4) at 11am in the Chamber of the Legislative Council Building. During the meeting, Members will debate a motion on increasing the supply of medium and small-sized residential flats.
The motion, to be moved by Mr Lee Wing-tat, states: "That this Council urges the Government to resume the sale of land by public auction, build Home Ownership Scheme flats and re-launch the 'Tenants Purchase Scheme', so as to increase the supply of medium and small-sized residential flats to stabilise the property market, help the public purchase flats which are affordable to them and address the demand for housing."
Mr Wong Kwok-hing, Mr Chan Kam-lam and Mr Vincent Fang will move separate amendments to Mr Lee Wing-tat's motion.
Members will also debate a motion on alleviating the burden of travelling expenses. The motion, to be moved by Mr Cheung Hok-ming, states: "That, as the people of Hong Kong are still under the impact of the financial tsunami, many of them face difficulties in life and bear a heavy burden of travelling expenses, this Council urges the Government to discuss with various public transport operators and adopt effective measures to alleviate the burden of travelling expenses on the public, which include:
(a) to provide subsidies to the MTR Corporation Limited, bus companies, green minibus and ferry operators so that they will offer half-fare concessions to passengers on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, thereby enabling the public to have more opportunities to get together with their families and friends on those days;
(b) to extend the deadline for submitting applications under the Transport Support Scheme, further relax the eligibility criteria and the subsidy period under the Scheme and expand it to cover all districts in the territory;
(c) to discuss with various public transport operators to offer the Free-ride Day for the elderly on public holidays and specified days of each week on a permanent basis, formulate an implementation timetable for the provision of half-fare concessions to people with disabilities, and study the feasibility of introducing daily, weekly and monthly travel passes that are valid among various public transport operators;
(d) to discuss with the MTR Corporation Limited to continue extending its fare-freeze period, re-launch the "Ride 10 Get One Free" Promotion, set up more MTR Fare Savers according to the requests of the residents and by using more consistent standards, and explore further extension of the existing monthly and daily ticket schemes, including introducing monthly tickets for short-haul trips and making it a permanent arrangement, etc;
(e) to rationalise the fare structure of the MTR Corporation Limited, including rectifying the unreasonable and chaotic situation of "fares for short-haul trips being more expensive than long-haul trips", adjusting downwards the fares of the Kowloon Southern Link to a reasonable level, and enabling the passengers to travel to Hung Hom Station using Tuen Mun-Nam Cheong Monthly Pass at the original price; as well as resuming the service of the free bus route number K16;
(f) to discuss with the franchised bus companies to re-launch same day return fare concessions, improve their existing fare structures, expeditiously revise the scale of fares under the Public Bus Services Ordinance as well as the route groupings under the scale, re-formulate the existing guidelines on the setting of fares to provide comprehensive sectional fares and bus-bus interchange concessions, including discounts for interchange among buses of different companies, provide half-fare concessions to all full-time students, as well as introduce daily and monthly ticket schemes for buses; and
(g) targetting the problem of high fares of outlying island ferry services, to actively study various suitable options, including substantially increasing the non-fare box revenue of ferry operators or the Government directly operating the services, etc; allocate resources to alleviate the burden of ferry service expenses on outlying island residents; and offer half-fare concessions on ferry services to students from outlying islands."
Mr Andrew Cheng and Mr Leung Kwok-hung will move separate amendments to Mr Cheung Hok-ming's motion.
Meanwhile, Mr Chan Kin-por will move a resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance to extend the period for amending the Building (Minor Works) (Fees) Regulation, laid on the table of the Legislative Council on October 14, 2009, to the meeting of December 2, 2009.
Ms Margaret Ng will also move a resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance to extend the period for amending the Rules of the High Court (Amendment) Rules 2009, laid on the table of the Legislative Council on October 14, 2009, to the meeting of December 2, 2009.
On the other hand, the Secretary for Labour and Welfare will move a resolution under the Disability Discrimination Ordinance to seek the Council's approval to the Disability Discrimination Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule 5) Notice 2009, made by the Chief Executive in Council on October 6, 2009.
During the meeting, Members will ask the Government twenty questions on various policy areas, six of which require oral replies. The agenda of the above meeting can be obtained via the Legislative Council InfoFax Service (Tel: 2869 9568) or the Legislative Council web site (http://www.legco.gov.hk).
Members of the public are welcome to observe the proceedings of the meeting from the public galleries of the Legislative Council Chamber. They may reserve seats by calling 2869 9399 during office hours. Seats will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis. Members of the public can also listen to the meeting via the audio webcast system on the Legislative Council homepage.
Ends/Monday, November 2, 2009
Issued at HKT 18:00
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