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Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Education, Mr Eddie Ng Hak-kim, at a media session after attending a radio programme in the morning today (January 25):
Reporter: Can I have your opening statement in English as well?
Secretary for Education: With reference to the decision made on Queen's Hill and the concern whether the Government will continue its commitment in the provision of quality post-secondary and university education, particularly the one provided by the private sector, let me just repeat: Back in 2010, when we started the invitation of expression of interest from the school sponsoring bodies, our idea was to invite interested parties to come forward and then together to look into details the viability of this proposal. Over the years, a couple of things happened. First, last year when we released the result of the interim study of the population trend for the Form 6 graduates, we noticed that the population trend is downward-looking... Last year, 71,000, and then by year 2021/22, it would go down to 45,000. So there is a major consideration in terms of the downtrend of the population in this particular cluster. Second one relates to the realistic estimation of cost required just in building the infrastructure of the land. After expression of interest, interested parties actually did spend time with consultants to look into details, and the findings showed that in terms of the cost required in just fixing the infrastructure of this piece of land, we are talking about between three to four billion dollars. So there is quite a large, and a very huge, sort of investment required up front. Thirdly, the Government has been expressing our commitment in various forms, including in the just-announced Policy Address, that we are going to provide additionally 2,100 more university places through the four different schemes. Again, this demonstrated our commitment continuously in providing quality post-secondary and university education. Last but not least, for those interested parties originally on Queen's Hill, when they are rescaling their projects, we will still be in close touch with them in providing the support and advice necessary in order to pursue further their alternate plans. Thank you.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Saturday, January 25, 2014
Issued at HKT 14:55
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