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Following is a question by the Hon Sin Chung-kai and a written reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Ambrose S K Lee, in the Legislative Council today (March 16):
Question:
Since December 16 last year, the Immigration Department (ImmD) has implemented the Automated Passenger Clearance (APC) System by phases for Hong Kong permanent residents aged 11 or above holding smart identity cards to use the APC auto-gates for self-service immigration clearance. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the utilization and effectiveness of the new system;
(b) whether there has been any failure of the new system since its operation; if so, of the counts and causes of such failures;
(c) of the updated findings of the Automated Passenger Clearance Questionnaire being conducted by the ImmD on its web-site and how it will follow up the public opinions collected; and
(d) whether it will strengthen its publicity and teach the public, especially the elderly people, how to use the new system; if it will, of the details of such efforts?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) The Automated Passenger Clearance (APC) System was introduced on December 16, 2004. Up to March 9, 2005, more than 500 000 passengers have used the APC Channels (e-Channels) for departure clearance. According to an assessment conducted by the Immigration Department (ImmD) in mid-February 2005, it takes an average of around 12 seconds for passengers who are familiar with e-Channels to complete the clearance process. We expect that as passengers become more and more familiar with e-Channels, the System will be able to operate more smoothly. So far, ImmD has installed nine e-Channels at the departure hall of the Lo Wu Control Point and plans to provide another nine e-Channels at the arrival hall of the Lo Wu Control Point before Easter. ImmD plans to install about 270 e-Channels at our control points by mid-2006.
(b) The APC System has been operating smoothly since its introduction apart from a few hitches involving certain component parts, such as failure of gate doors to close and temporary malfunction of stand-alone computers at e-Channels. These cases were infrequent. In all these cases, the e-Channels concerned were able to resume operation promptly after urgent repairs had been carried out by staff on site. There was no major adverse impact on users.
(c) Between April to December 2004, ImmD conducted an on-line questionnaire survey on APC and received about 140 completed questionnaires. Major comments from the respondents and follow-up actions taken by ImmD are summarized as follows:
Respondents' comments (1)
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Some respondents opined that as auto-gates were fitted with glass panes, they might pose safety hazard to users if the glass panes were broken. However, others commented that the glass-pane design made it easy to monitor the operation of auto-gates.
Follow-up actions taken by ImmD
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The stainless steel construction in the lower part of the auto-gates and the tempered glass in the upper part are designed to ensure safety for users.
Respondents' comments (2)
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Some respondents were concerned about the hygiene conditions of fingerprint scanners since they were touched by many users.
Follow-up actions taken by ImmD
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ImmD has installed air blowers and ultra-violet lights above fingerprint scanners for cleansing and disinfection purposes. Liquid soap is also provided near auto-gates for public use.
Respondents' comments (3)
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Some respondents were of the view that auto-gates should be designed to allow two-way traffic to enhance flexibility.
Follow-up actions taken by ImmD
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ImmD will explore the feasibility of installing two-way auto-gates taking into account the operational needs of individual control points.
(d) ImmD will continue its publicity campaign targeting at persons of different age groups through the media. Announcement in Public Interest about e-Channels is broadcast on television (TV), radio and trains running on the East Rail, the West Rail and the Ma On Shan Rail. ImmD also puts up display boards and plays a short video on LCD TVs above the auto-gates at the Lo Wu Control Point to demonstrate the proper use of e-Channels. We believe that Hong Kong residents, including the elderly, will be able to grasp the message in the short video, which is presented in a simple and easy to understand manner.
Ends/Wednesday, March 16, 2005
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