The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, today (August 24) visited Kowloon City District to keep abreast of developments in the Kai Tak Development (KTD) area.
 
     Mr Cheung toured the facilities of the Hong Kong Children's Hospital in the company of the District Officer (Kowloon City), Mr Franco Kwok; the Chairman of the Kowloon City District Council (KCDC), Mr Pun Kwok-wah; the Cluster Chief Executive of Kowloon Central Cluster of the Hospital Authority, Dr Albert Lo; and the Hospital Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Children’s Hospital, Dr Lee Tsz-leung. He was pleased to learn that the hospital planned to open in stages from the fourth quarter of this year.
 
     Housed in two 11-storey buildings, the Hong Kong Children's Hospital will provide 468 beds, operating theatres, an ambulatory care centre and a specialist out-patient clinic. It aims to provide diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation services to children from newborns to 18-year-olds with relevant clinical needs, and will focus mainly on uncommon, complex and serious paediatric cases requiring multidisciplinary management.

     Mr Cheung then went to the hospital podium to have a bird's eye view of the KTD area. Officers from the Civil Engineering and Development Department gave a briefing on the latest developments of the area.
 
     Mr Cheung said that to facilitate the furtherance of the KTD plan, the Government has taken forward the planning, design and construction of various public works and infrastructure projects in stages in light of the growing population and various developments in the area.
 
     He also visited the Co-Sharing Services Centre under the Lok Sin Tong Social Housing Scheme. He was given a tour of summer activities being held at the Centre and talked to participating children.
 
     He then visited a beneficiary family under the Lok Sin Tong Social Housing Scheme to understand the difficulties they faced in their daily lives. Mr Cheung stressed that the current-term Government strives to develop Hong Kong into a caring and compassionate society and will continue to introduce appropriate measures for the underprivileged.
 
     The Lok Sin Tong Community-based Housing Movement Scheme provides rental units to grass-roots families at affordable rent, with an aim to help improve living conditions of families waiting for public housing. The Scheme also provides community support to the tenants such as after-school child care service to ease their pressure and reduce intergenerational poverty.

     Mr Cheung then visited a number of streets in the To Kwa Wan area to observe the problems of illegal parking and pedestrian congestion caused by tourists in the vicinity.
 
     He pointed out that the District Officer has set up an inter-departmental group with a view to stepping up co-ordination and enforcement actions against the problems concerned at the district level. The relevant government policy bureau will continue to pay close attention to the use of tourism supporting facilities in all districts and maintain close contact with the tourism industry and relevant stakeholders, with a view to introducing practical measures to address the issue.
 
     Before concluding the visit, Mr Cheung met with KCDC members and exchanged views with them on various issues of concern to the district and the wider community.

Ends/Friday, August 24, 2018
Issued at HKT 18:27

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