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The Transport and Housing Bureau will hold a forum entitled "The Way Forward for Public Engagement in Transport Infrastructure" from 10am to 11am this Saturday (February 6) to explore the way forward for enhancing public participation in the planning of transport infrastructural initiatives, on the basis of the existing consultation mechanism.
A spokesman for the Transport and Housing Bureau said, "We have attached great importance to public engagement and have been consulting the public when formulating transport infrastructure projects in accordance with the well-established channel.
"With the continued social and technological advancements, and diversification in the ways of public participation, we hope to listen to people's views on public engagement with the aim of refining the existing consultation mechanism."
The forum will be webcast live. Members of the public can watch the live broadcast on the Internet while expressing their views on the discussion topic via an Internet platform. It is hoped that such arrangements will enable the public to explore together the most convenient, effective and popular channel that will be worth adopting for enhancing public engagement.
Apart from the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Ms Eva Cheng, and the Under Secretary, Mr Yau Shing-mu, the forum will be attended by guest speakers from various sectors, including Chair Professor of Department of Social Work and Social Administration of the University of Hong Kong, Prof. Nelson Chow Wing-sun; Professor of Journalism and Communication of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prof Joseph Chan; Director of the Boys' & Girls' Clubs Association of Hong Kong, Ms Lilian Law Suk-kwan and young engineer, Ir Tse Kwok-chau. Current affairs programme host of Radio Television Hong Kong, Mr Leung Ka-wing, will be the guest host of the forum.
Members of the public are invited to view the live webcast of the forum at http://webcast.info.gov.hk/eng/home.htm from 10am this Saturday. An Facebook account, set up especially for this forum, will be activated from 9am to noon on Saturday for members of the public to post their comments. Relevant information on the Facebook account will be uploaded on the live webcast page of the forum at 9am that day.
The spokesman said the forum served as the first step in collecting public views on the way forward for public engagement in transport infrastructure. Those who have not put down their views on Facebook are welcome to send them to the Transport and Housing Bureau by post (15/F, Murray Building, Garden Road, Central), e-mail (enquiry@thb.gov.hk) or fax (2868 4643) before March 12, 2010.
Ends/Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Issued at HKT 22:25
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