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Following is the transcript of remarks (English portion) made by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, at a media session in Beijing this afternoon (November 3):
Reporter: (on regulation of private columbariums)
Secretary for Food and Health: We are very happy that the court has made the right decision and the right ruling. We have warned operators of these columbariums many times that they should comply with the planning and land lease conditions. We have also cautioned all the consumers that if they try to buy niches from those columbarium operators, they should know which type of columbarium they are buying. We have the List A and List B (information on private columbarium) that are clearly prepared by the Development Bureau so that consumers should know whether they are legal or not. For those that are in List B and are trying to being regularised, they need to go through the procedures and submit applications through the relevant departments. It is very important for the public to understand that the Government is trying to do everything to regularise this particular supply of columbariums. But at the same time, there are certain areas that we will never be able to accept, especially those in the residential areas. The Government is also supplying a further number of niches within the next 12 months or so. We plan to have at least 40,000 more niches next year in Wo Hop Shek.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Thursday, November 3, 2011
Issued at HKT 16:32
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