Health

The aim of the Government's health care policy is that no one should be denied adequate medical treatment through lack of means. To this end, it provides a range of services and facilities to complement those available in the private sector and to meet the needs of less-affluent patients.

At the end of 2005, the number of hospital beds was about 34 119. The bed-population ratio was about 4.9 beds per thousand population. There were 11 505 registered doctors, equivalent to about 1.7 doctors per thousand population.

Public Services
There are 39 public hospitals in Hong Kong. Fees in public hospitals and clinics are heavily subsidised. The general wards of public hospitals charge $100 a day (for eligible persons). This covers accommodation, food, tests, medicine and surgery. [ Hospital Authority ]

Private Services
There are 12 private hospitals, with charges ranging from about $320 a day for a bed in a general ward to $900 or more for a first class ward. Patients have to pay for all services, such as medicine and dressings, besides the daily attendance fees for doctors.

Community Health Services
Hong Kong people have continued to enjoy good health, due to extensive preventive measures implemented by the Government through its Family Health Service, the Port Health Service, the Student Health Service, the School Dental Care Service and many other community health services. These preventive services have contributed to Hong Kong's remarkably low infant and maternal mortality rates, which are comparable to the best in the world. [ Department of Health ]

Housing

Government spending on housing accounted for 6.3 per cent of total public expenditure in 2005/06. [ Housing, Planning & Lands Bureau ] [ Hong Kong Housing Authority and Housing Department ]

Public Rental Housing
It is the Government's policy to provide public rental housing to families in genuine need who cannot afford private rental accommodation. The public rental housing programme is a major social achievement. At the end of 2005, about 2.13 million people lived in public rental housing estates managed by the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HKHA) and the Hong Kong Housing Society (HKHS). The stock at that time was 720 300 flats. Public housing tenants pay, on average, 53 per cent of the assessed market rent for the flats in which they live.

Subsidised Home Ownership
As at end-2005, 433 000 subsidised sale flats had been sold to households of eligible families/persons at discounted prices under the Government's various subsidised home ownership schemes. Among these were the Home Ownership Scheme (HOS), the Private Sector Participation Scheme (PSPS) and the Tenants Purchase Scheme (TPS) under the HKHA. In support of the Government's efforts to consolidate its housing policies and to minimise intervention in the property market, the HKHA has ceased the production and sale of HOS and PSPS flats, terminated the Home Assistance Loan Scheme and identified means of disposal for the surplus subsidised sale flats. The sale of public rental housing units under the TPS will also be halted after Phase 6.

Private Housing Market
The Government recognises the importance of the property sector to the economy and the community. Its policy is to allow the private housing market to operate as freely as possible. The Government believes that the amount of private housing production should be a matter for the market to decide. The best way to stabilise property prices is to maintain a free and stable environment for the market to operate and minimise government intervention.

Transport

Hong Kong is a highly mobile city, with about 11 million passenger trips made daily on an efficient and multi-modal public transport system that includes railways, trams, buses, public light buses, taxis and ferries. Public transport offers commuters a good choice of transport modes at reasonable fares, with different levels of comfort, speed and convenience. Public transport services are provided by private operators or public corporations without direct subsidy from the Government.

Railways
Railways form an important part of the public transport system. They account for some 36 per cent of the total daily public transport volume. The Kowloon-Canton Railway's (KCR) East Rail connects the Ma On Shan Rail, Tsim Sha Tsui East in Kowloon, the new towns in New Territories East and the Mainland boundary at Lo Wu. There are 23 stations along the 46.5-kilometre route and the railway carries an average of 925 000 passengers daily. The nine- station West Rail, connecting West Kowloon and the northwest New Territories, serves 194 000 passengers daily.

The Mass Transit Railway System is an underground railway network, consisting of five lines and the dedicated Airport Express. The route length is 123.3 kilometres, with a total of 52 stations.
The number of passengers averages over 2.4 million per weekday.

The Light Rail System serves the new towns in the northwest New Territories. The system comprises 36 kilometres of double track and 68 stops. About 372 000 passengers travel daily on the system.

Electric trams have been running on Hong Kong Island since 1904. More than 160 trams make up the only all double-decker tram fleet in the world and handle about 231 000 passenger trips daily.

A cable-hauled funicular tramway runs between Central and the Peak. The 1.4-kilometre line began operation in 1889, climbing 373 metres on a gradient as steep as one-in-two. The line carries about 10 700 passengers a day, mainly tourists and local sightseers.

Buses
Franchised buses are the largest road-based carriers and account for about 37 per cent of the total daily public transport volume. There are about 630 bus routes operated by five franchised bus companies. The total licensed fleet of some 6 000 buses, mostly air-conditioned double-deckers, carries an average of more than 4 million passengers daily. There are more than 4 350 public light buses, which are minibuses with not more than 16 seats. They carry about 1.7 million passengers daily, while some 18 100 taxis carry a daily average of 1 million passengers.

Ferries
Ferries provide an essential mode of transport for the outlying islands. In the inner harbour and the new towns, ferries offer a supplementary mode of transport to the buses and railways. About 154 000 passengers use ferries daily.

Road Network
At the end of 2005, Hong Kong had 1 955 kilometres of roads and 1 129 road structures, three immersed-tube cross-harbour tunnels, nine road tunnels through hills and three bridges built high above sea level. These facilities provide a comprehensive road network.

There were 544 089 licensed vehicles, including 352 341 private cars. Hong Kong's traffic density of 276 vehicles per kilometre of road was among the highest in the world. Despite this, traffic usually flows smoothly even in peak hours. [ Transport Department ]

Environmental Protection

The Government has stepped up efforts in the battle against pollution in Hong Kong since the late 1980s. Some achievements have been made to provide safe and environmentally sound systems for handling waste and to reduce street-level air and noise pollution. [ Environmental Protection Department ]

Pollution Control
To control air pollution, Hong Kong is now leading in Asia in terms of vehicle emission control and fuel quality standards. Diesel vehicles are responsible for most of the roadside pollution in the urban areas, and the Government's strategies include tighter control on vehicle emissions and introducing cleaner fuel vehicles where practicable. Almost all taxis are running on liquefied petroleum gas.

The Harbour Area Treatment Scheme (HATS) was adopted by the Government to combat water pollution caused by urban development around Victoria Harbour. A major deep tunnel collector system and treatment works were designed to handle sewage generated from all districts around the harbour. So far, 24 kilometres of large tunnels under the central urban area and a sewage treatment works at Stonecutters Island, providing chemically enhanced primary treatment for an average design flow of 1.7 million cubic metres of sewage per day, have been commissioned. Preparatory work for the first of two phases of the second stage of HATS started in 2005. Expansion and upgrading of the sewerage network and sewage treatment facilities in other parts of Hong Kong continue, in order to handle the needs of existing and future developments.

To tackle regional environmental issues, Hong Kong has been cooperating with its Mainland partners through the Joint Working Group on Sustainable Development and Environmental Protection. The HKSAR and Guangdong governments have drawn up a regional air quality management plan that aims to jointly reduce by 2010, on a best endeavour basis, the regional emission of four major pollutants by 20 per cent to 55 per cent, taking 1997 as the base year. Under the management plan, a regional air quality monitoring network has been set up and started reporting the Regional Air Quality Index for the Pearl River Delta from November 2005.top