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Following is the transcript of remarks (English portion) at the media session by the Chief Executive, Mr Donald Tsang, at the Central Government Offices today (January 18):
Reporter: What kind of lesson do you think the Hong Kong Government learnt from this saga?
Chief Executive: I have said that, of course, in formulating policy and in any consultative process, there is always room for improvement. As Eva (Secretary for Transport and Housing Eva Cheng) has already said and explained to all, in future, in consulting the public on large infrastructure programmes, in addition to using our conventional method of committees, panels, open forums, we have to explore other ways as well, and this is what we will do.
Reporter: Do you think the protests have already undermined the government's authority?
Chief Executive: The most important thing is that it has demonstrated that the Legislative Council is able to decide on this matter and it has also reflected that we are determined to proceed with a project supported by the majority view of the public. This is a very important infrastructure project which has the majority support of the community, with the majority support in the Legislative Council. We are going to proceed with it as planned.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Monday, January 18, 2010
Issued at HKT 19:00
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