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Following is a question by the Hon Frederick Fung Kin-kee and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, in the Legislative Council today (October 23):
Question:
The Chief Executive promised in his election manifesto that his government would expeditiously conduct a feasibility study on the implementation and operational model of an arrangement to co-locate immigration and customs facilities for both the Mainland and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (co-location arrangements) at the Hong Kong Station of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link (XRL). The expected commissioning date of the Hong Kong Section of XRL is just over two years away, but the Government has not yet released any study findings so far. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) given that the authorities have indicated that a task force has been set up to study the implementation of the co-location arrangements at the West Kowloon Terminus of XRL, of the latest progress of the study undertaken by the task force as well as the timetable for the completion of the study and the announcement of proposals; of the details of the various feasible models being studied at present and the technical or legal problems involved; whether the scope of the study includes the granting of permission for the law enforcement agencies of the Mainland to take law enforcement actions within the territory of Hong Kong; if so, whether it has gauged if Hong Kong people have great concerns about that arrangement and whether the proposals concerned involve amendments to the Basic Law; whether it has considered the proposal to perform immigration clearance for passengers on XRL trains; if it has, of the details; and
(b) whether it has assessed the impacts on XRL's operation, its number of permitted routes and passenger load, etc. in the event that co-location arrangements cannot be implemented, and of the difference between the actual economic benefits and those in the original projection; whether the authorities have formulated contingency and remedial measures to reduce the losses to be incurred due to the erroneous estimation of the passenger flow and the scale of operation; if they have, of the details; if they have not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
My consolidated reply to the two parts of the Hon Frederick Fung Kin-kee's questions is as follows:
Upon completion, the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link (XRL) will provide express rail service between Hong Kong and Guangzhou, and connect to the wider urban metro, regional and national railway lines in the Mainland. Enhancing Hong Kong's connectivity with various parts of the Mainland, the XRL has significant strategic importance and transport functions.
On the national level, the Hong Kong section of the XRL will become part of the national high-speed rail network now being developed at full steam. The train journey time between Hong Kong and the Southern, Central and Northern parts of the Mainland will be greatly shortened, facilitating region-wide and nation-wide travel and promoting the exchange between Hong Kong and the Mainland.
Implementing the ˇ§co-locationˇ¨ arrangement at the West Kowloon Terminus of the XRL is very important to the realisation of the aforementioned functions. However, as the Government explained to the Legislative Council in the past, the detailed operation of ˇ§co-locationˇ¨ involves complex legal and constitutional issues. The Government has been negotiating with the Mainland authorities, and the enforcement issues mentioned by the Hon Frederick Fung also fall within the scope of our examination. The related work is still underway. Once specific agreement has been reached with the Mainland authorities on the customs, immigration and quarantine arrangements for the commissioning of the XRL, we will report to the Legislative Council in a timely manner.
Ends/Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Issued at HKT 12:01
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