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The Sham Shui Po District Council (SSPDC), the Po Leung Kuk (PLK) and the Sham Shui Po District Office (SSPDO) held a ground breaking ceremony for the Sham Shui Po District Council Po Leung Kuk Shek Kip Mei Community Services Centre today (September 14) at the construction site of Shek Kip Mei Estate Phase 3. With the commencement of construction, the ground breaking ceremony signified an important milestone for this project, which is expected to bring visible and long-lasting benefits to the community.
In his 2013 Policy Address, the Chief Executive announced that funding would be earmarked for each of the 18 District Councils to take forward their Signature Project Schemes. After an extensive district consultation and in-depth deliberations, the SSPDC endorsed two Signature Projects, one of which is the establishment of the Community Services Centre in Shek Kip Mei to mainly provide childcare and after-school student support, short-term food assistance, and comprehensive medical services to residents in Sham Shui Po. An open and fair selection process was later held in mid-2014 through which the SSPDC selected the PLK as its partner organisation to operate and manage the proposed centre upon its completion on a self-financing basis.
Addressing the ground breaking ceremony, the Under Secretary for Home Affairs, Ms Florence Hui, said she was very pleased to see this meaningful project get off the ground with the unfailing support of the SSPDC. She also expressed her appreciation and best wishes for the PLK as the partner organisation of the project. Upon completion, the centre will provide services for more than 120,000 persons in Sham Shui Po every year, and Ms Hui said she believed that the project would benefit the entire community.
The Chairman of the SSPDC, Mr Jimmy Kwok, said at the ceremony that the SSPDC has worked together in taking forward the project in partnership with the SSPDO. Apart from thanking the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) for accepting the entrustment to construct the centre and the PLK for partnering with the SSPDC, he also emphasised the importance of comments and support from local residents during the district consultation.
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the PLK, Dr Pollyanna Chu, thanked the SSPDC for its support and trust. Dr Chu said the PLK would dedicate its best efforts to providing people-oriented services at the Community Services Centre and uphold the "locals helping the locals" belief to gather local resources and meet the needs of the district.
Other officiating guests at the ground breaking ceremony were the Deputy Director of Housing (Development and Construction), Ms Ada Fung; the Vice Chairman of the SSPDC, Mr Wong Tat-tung; the former Chairman of the Board of Directors of the PLK, Dr Eric Cheng; the District Officer (Sham Shui Po), Mr Benjamin Mok; and the Chief Executive Officer of the PLK, Mr James Chan.
The proposed Community Services Centre, with a construction floor area of about 706 square metres, will be located at the junction of Berwick Street and Pak Tin Street. The HA will construct the centre as part of Shek Kip Mei Estate Phase 3. With funding approved by the Legislative Council's Finance Committee (FC) in April this year, construction has just begun for target completion in 2018. The SSPDC will monitor the effectiveness of the proposed centre through a service agreement to be signed with the PLK.
Meanwhile, the SSPDC will continue to press ahead with the implementation of the other Signature Project of the district - the Mei Foo Neighbourhood Activity Centre to be operated by another partner organisation, Yan Oi Tong. Funding approval was obtained from the FC in July this year and preparations are being made for tendering the construction contract.
Ends/Monday, September 14, 2015
Issued at HKT 18:29
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