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The Chief Executive, Mr C Y Leung, met the media at the ground floor lobby of the Office of the Chief Executive at Tamar today (July 17). Also present were the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mrs Carrie Lam; the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung; and the Secretary for Development, Mr Paul Chan. Following are the opening remarks by Mr Leung:
In view of the concern over lead content in the water supply in public housing estates, the Government has decided to appoint a commission of inquiry under the Commissions of Inquiry Ordinance, Chapter 86, to conduct an independent and comprehensive investigation. The tasks of the commission of inquiry are in three areas: one, determine the causes of the incident; two, examine and evaluate the adequacy of the present system of control for drinking water supply system including the technology, standards and monitoring of the design, construction, repairs and maintenance, installation and the use of materials, etc, in public and private buildings; and three, make recommendations to ensure the safety of drinking water supply in Hong Kong. We are in the process of identifying a judge to be the chairman of the commission and will decide the membership of the commission as soon as possible.
Due to the extensive scope of investigation, we will discuss with the chairman and determine the exact terms of reference of the inquiry, and the deadline for the commission to submit its investigation report. The work of the commission will not affect the task force chaired by the Deputy Director of Water Supplies by the Government earlier as well as the review committee to be set up by the Housing Authority as announced yesterday. The study results of the task force and review committee will provide reference to the commission.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the opening remarks.)
Ends/Friday, July 17, 2015
Issued at HKT 17:13
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