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Following is a question by the Hon Kenneth Ting and a reply by the Acting Secretary for Trade and Industry, Miss Yvonne Choi, in the Legislative Council today (June 7):

Question:

Regarding the facilitation of the development of industrial estates and the Hong Kong Industrial Estates Corporation, will the Government inform this Council:

(a) whether it has plans to improve the roads in various industrial estates and build such additional facilities as hotels, conference centres, leisure centres and research centres within these estates, in order to attract more manufacturers to move in; and

(b) of the current progress of the plan announced in last September to merge the Hong Kong Industrial Estates Corporation, the Hong Kong Industrial Technology Centre Corporation and the Hong Kong Science Park?

Reply:

(a) The Hong Kong Industrial Estates Corporation (HKIEC) is committed to providing good environment and facilities for its grantees. The roads in various industrial estates are wide and the traffic is smooth. There is no congestion problem and the HKIEC has received no complaint from grantees. Besides, the Government has been working actively to improve the outward traffic of the industrial estates. For example, the congestion problem of the route linking the Tseung Kwan O industrial estate has been lessened after the implementation of a series of road improvement works programmes. It is expected that the situation will be further improved when a road-widening project completes in October this year. The outward traffic of the Tai Po Industrial Estate would also be improved after the Tolo Highway and the Fanling Highway have been broadened to dual 4-lanes carriageway.

The current land use zoning does not permit the establishment of hotels inside industrial estates. There is also no such demand for the time being. However, the HKIEC will continue to improve other facilities of the industrial estates. For example, in the Estate Centre building of the Tai Po industrial estate, there is a multi-function room where grantees can hold seminars or conferences. The land of the Tai Po industrial estate has been granted in full and that of the Yuen Long industrial estate is almost fully committed as well. Hence, there is limitation to setting up new facilities inside these two industrial estates. The HKIEC is now considering the re-development of the area surrounding the Estate Centre building of the Tai Po industrial estate, including the feasibility to setting up other new facilities.

Moreover, the Science Park will provide a comprehensive set of supporting facilities, such as conference rooms, exhibition halls, shopping malls and restaurants. After the merger of the Science Park, industrial estates and the Technology Centre, grantees of the industrial estates can make use of these facilities.

(b) The merger of the HKIEC, Hong Kong Industrial Technology Centre Corporation and the Provisional Hong Kong Science Park Company Limited will be effected by enactment of new legislation. We plan to submit the relevant bill to the Legislative Council in end 2000. Besides, the Government is actively formulating various arrangements for the merger exercise. We have set up a high-level steering committee comprising the chairmen of the three organisations concerned and the Director-General of Industry, giving policy steer on the merger exercise. The boards of directors of the three organisations have also agreed to appoint the Chief Executive of the HKIEC, with effect from June 1, concurrently as the acting Chief Executive Officer of the other two organisations to carry out the planning and implementation work of the merger exercise. We have also commissioned a management consultancy study on the organisational framework and the pay structure and conditions of the merged body. The consultants have recently submitted their report. We will quickly consider the recommendations set out in the report and consult the steering committee accordingly.

End/Wednesday, June 7, 2000

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