Transcript of remarks by STH
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Reporter: Professor Cheung, how has the property market been bearing after the extra spicy measure has been implemented? What about the air traffic control system? Now that it is going to go online, how is the government going to closely monitor it?
Secretary for Transport and Housing: Over the last week, since the announcement of the 15 per cent stamp duty, we think the market has calmed down, and the number of transactions has come down as well. But, of course, in terms of price, we have to watch more carefully because the pricing level depends on a number of factors. For first-hand properties, it depends on the marketing, the sales strategies of developers. For second-hand properties, of course, whether the landlords are ready to sell at the present moment, and how the landlords will view the market in the longer term. Pricing is also affected by what is happening in the external environment. The recent US (United States) presidential election result may be a factor. So, I would not speculate on prices. But, what we have tried to do is through this new stamp duty measure to cool down the market, so that people could be more careful in terms of entering the market, and we maintain the policy of giving priority to first-time Hong Kong permanent resident buyers. That's what we are achieving.
The Air Traffic Management System (ATMS) will be fully commissioned next Monday. I have read the reports. There are two reports from the independent consultant. One, the overall assessment of the readiness of the new ATMS from the point of view of system readiness as well as staff readiness. The consultant basically says, "Yes, the system is ready." Secondly, the incident that happened on the 27th of last month involving three (work) stations being affected because of the input of unusual data relating to a plane that did not actually enter the Hong Kong flight information zone. The consultant has confirmed that the incident did not cause any system crash. It was purely because of the self-protection mechanism being triggered under the new system that was being tested at the time to any data input that was unusual. The system was fixed. Staff was briefed of the implications. In fact, the NATS (National Air Traffic Services) consultant has assessed the readiness of staff in the Civil Aviation Department. The consultant is of the view that despite that incident, actually the problem was solved, new measures were introduced to prevent any recurrence. So, the system is ready to go. Therefore, I have given formal approval for the Civil Aviation Department to fully commission the new system on Monday.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Saturday, November 12, 2016
Issued at HKT 13:16
Issued at HKT 13:16
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