Issued by Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government Information Services
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Friday, January 2, 1998 CONTENTS ======== 1. CE's transcript 2. Update on avian flu 3. Joint effort to dispose of chicken carcasses 4. Dates of General Election and EC Subsector Election 5. Eligible electors reminded of registration deadline 6. Membership of the Basic Law Promotion Steering Committee 7. Decision to graduate Hong Kong from the EU GSP regretted 8. Upgrading works for 40 slopes 9. Construction Output for 3rd quarter of 1997 10. Open space for Sheung Wan residents 11. Tenders for rural improvement works invited 1. CE's transcript *************** Following is the transcript of remarks by the Chief Executive, Mr Tung Chee Hwa, to the media outside the Government Secretariat this morning (Friday): Mr Tung: I was saying earlier on that there has been some concern expressed all over the community about the effort in the last few days over the killing of the chickens. I was saying that it is right to be very concerned and that the colleagues in the government at all levels work day and night on this. Of course it takes a lot of hard work. But nevertheless, there are areas where improvement needs to be made and we are going to make these improvements. And all these areas, all these loose ends will be tied up today and we are working very hard at it. And as these happened the first time, so in terms of manpower resources and in terms of available machineries and facilities, there has been inadequacies. We are looking at these things very urgently. We hope these will be all sorted out some time today. End 2. Update on avian flu ******************* The Department of Health (DH) announces one more new confirmed influenza A (H5N1) case today (Friday). The case involved a three-year-old boy. Follow-up of the patient is being made and details of his condition will be made public when available. This brings the total number of cases to 15 confirmed cases and six suspected cases. Moreover, Case No.4 in the suspected case list, involving a three-year-old boy, has recovered and been discharged. Following is a list of the cases and their latest conditions: Confirmed cases *************** Case 1 Sex / Age: Male / 3 yr Condition: Died Case 2 Sex / Age: Male / 2 yr Condition: Recovered and discharged Case 3 Sex / Age: Female / 13 yr Condition: Died Case 4 Sex / Age: Male / 54 yr Condition: Died Case 5 Sex / Age: Female / 5 yr Condition: Recovered and discharged Case 6 Sex / Age: Male / 37 yr Condition: Recovered and discharged Case 7 Sex / Age: Female / 24 yr Condition: Under treatment, condition critical Case 8 Sex / Age: Male / 2 yr Condition: Recovered and discharged Case 9 Sex / Age: Male / 4 yr Condition: Recovered and discharged Case 10 Sex / Age: Male / 1 yr Condition: Recovered and discharged Case 11 Sex / Age: Female / 3 yr Condition: Recovered and discharged Case 12 Sex / Age: Female / 60 yr Condition: Died Case 13 Sex / Age: Female / 25 yr Condition: Under treatment, condition critical Case 14 Sex / Age: Female / 14 yr Condition: Under treatment, condition satisfactory Case 15 Sex / Age: Boy / 3 yr Condition: not yet known, patient being followed up Suspected cases *************** Case 1 Sex / Age: Female / 3 yr Condition: Recovered and discharged Case 2 Sex / Age: Male / 6 yr Condition: Recovered and discharged Case 3 Sex / Age: Female / 19 yr Condition: Under treatment, condition critical Case 4 Sex / Age: Male / 3 yr Condition: Recovered and discharged Case 5 Sex / Age: Male / 7 yr Condition: Recovered and discharged Case 6 Sex / Age: Male / 72 yr Condition: Under treatment, condition stable End 3. Joint effort to dispose of chicken carcasses ******************************************** The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) had recorded almost 1,300 tonnes of chicken and poultry carcasses being buried in three landfill sites in Hong Kong in the past few days, a spokesman for the Inter- Departmental Co-ordinating Committee said today (Friday). He noted that more than 95 per cent of the chicken destroyed by the Agriculture and Fisheries Department (AFD) earlier this week had been disposed of yesterday. These had been carried out with the support of the Regional Services Department (RSD) which had deployed more than 1,500 staff and 250 vehicles in the past four days to help out with the exercise. Staff of all departments concerned were working very hard to clear the remaining lot today. RSD had sent 30 vehicles with 90 staff to help out with the operation and had another 45 vehicles and 135 staff to standby, in an attempt to help AFD to complete the disposal of the last batches of chicken carcasses today. A spokesman for the Inter-Departmental Co-ordinating Committee on H5N1 said, the chicken slaughter operation and the disposal of carcasses was a huge and unprecedented exercise for the departments concerned. All departments had been working their best to complete the task. It was hoped that all would be sorted out by today. While AFD would be continuing with mopping up operations to check whether some live chickens had been missed out and whether there were carcasses uncollected, the spokesman appealed to the public for support by reporting any such incidents to the AFD's hotline at tel no: 2733 2278. After the chicken slaughter exercise and the disposal of carcasses from chicken farms, RSD staff would conduct cleansing at collection/disposal stations and spray disinfectant on the paths in the vicinity. Operators of chicken farmers would be given guidelines by AFD on conducting thorough cleansing of their farms including the disposal of all chicken feces. These farms would be inspected by AFD staff before they would be allowed to re-stock in future. The Inter-Departmental Co-ordinating Committee which held a meeting this morning noted that the chicken slaughter exercise and cleansing work at retails outlets had been carried out smoothly earlier in the week. Stall operators would be asked to carry out in-depth clean-ups and disinfection of their stalls again under the supervision of health inspectors of the two municipal services department. The Department of Health (DH) recorded that some 1,331 poultry traders and workers had made use of the Department's 14 special clinics for health checks and tests. So far, none of them were found to have flu-like symptoms. Counselling services were given to these people by medical social workers where necessary. The spokesman said all efforts would be made by departments concerned to complete their task as soon as possible to safeguard public health. Any inconvenience caused to the public due to this massive exercise was very much regretted. End 4. Dates of General Election and EC Subsector Election *************************************************** The Government announced today (Friday) that the Chief Executive has specified May 24, 1998 as the date for holding the first general election of the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and April 2, 1998 as the date for holding all Election Committee subsector elections. The Election Committee subsector elections will return members from various subsectors to form the Election Committee. The 800-member Election Committee will, in turn, elect 10 members to the Legislative Council at the general election on May 24, a spokesman for the Constitutional Affairs Bureau said. "In order to participate at the Election Committee subsector elections in April, eligible persons must register as voters on or before January 16, 1998. Those who have not yet registered should do it now," the spokesman said. Application forms are available at the Registration and Electoral office and the various district offices of the Home Affairs Department. End 5. Eligible electors reminded of registration deadline *************************************************** A total of 30,000 voter registration ambassadors who knocked on every door all over the territory in early December to help residents sign up as electors for the Legislative Council election in May were given special thanks today (Friday) for a job well done. Speaking at a press conference to review the voter registration exercise, the Chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission, Mr Justice Woo Kwok-hing, pointed out that these voter registration ambassadors had visited nearly two million households during the voter registration week from December 6 to 12. Including re-visits to families who could not be contacted in the first round, they had in fact knocked on the doors of about 3.4 million households. "This is indeed a very impressive record. Every household has been given the opportunity and convenience at their doorstep to sign up as electors," he said. "The door-to-door visits have been an excellent lesson on civic education for the young students, teachers and co-workers," he added. However, with two more weeks to go before the registration deadline closes on January 16, more than a million eligible people have yet to sign up as electors for the first Legislative Council election of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Up to December 30, about 421,000 voter registration forms have been collected. Initial assessment by the Registration and Electoral Office (REO) estimates that about half of them are new electors. The remaining forms are mainly reports of change of residential address. Records by the Home Affairs Department show that among the two million households visited during the voter registration week, the inhabitants of about 720,000 (i.e. some 37 per cent) refused to get registered or were not at home. Although the door-to-door visits have been successfully concluded, the Home Affairs Department has no let-up in their efforts to register as many people as possible. A targeted approach is now under way with visits to young people at tertiary institutes and youth centres, while large public organisations and charitable bodies are actively involved in getting their employees to register. The Home Affairs Department has also set up counters at MTR stations and bus termini to help people register. "I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to public organisations and charitable bodies for supporting the voter registration drive," Mr Justice Woo said. "While the Government has spared no effort to make it convenient for every eligible resident to exercise their civil rights, I am rather disappointed that so many people are so apathetic towards such an important election to everybody in Hong Kong," he said. He urged eligible permanent residents not to forgo their rights. "If you do not register before January 16, you will not be able to choose a legislative council member to represent you. It will be too late if you change your mind later," he said. Turning to voter registration for functional constituencies (FCs) and Election Committee (EC) subsectors, Mr Justice Woo said that response from potential electors of many FCs, especially corporate electors, had been disappointing. A corporate elector must appoint an authorised representative by January 16 to cast a vote on its behalf in the May election. So far, many bodies who have been registered through the notification procedure have not yet appointed their authorised representatives. Moreover, not many application forms have been received from potential electors of some FCs, including those new FCs, and potential voters from subsectors of the Election Committee. These FCs are Labour; Real Estate and Construction; Tourism; Commercial (First); Commercial (Second); Industrial (First); Industrial (Second); Finance; Financial Services; Agriculture and Fisheries; Sports, Performing Arts, Culture and Publication; Import and Export; Textiles and Garment, and Wholesale and Retail. The subsectors are the Employers' Federation of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Chinese Enterprises Association. Response from both bodies and individuals belonging to the Information Technology FC has also been disappointing. The REO has already sent about 121,000 notifications to individuals and 4,000 notifications to bodies to notify them of their registration in an appropriate FC and/or EC subsector. Apart from the notifications, appeal letters and application forms have also been sent to about 60,000 eligible individuals and 45,000 bodies inviting them to apply for registration. As an additional effort, letters have been sent to various umbrella organisations and Government departments to enlist their help in driving home the voter registration message. The REO will send a second round of letters next week to potential electors reminding them to register and to appoint authorised representatives before the deadline. In addition, its staff will continue to make telephone calls to remind them of the deadline and answer any enquiries they may have. Staff from the REO and the Constitutional Affairs Bureau will hold briefings next week for umbrella organisations, chambers of commerce and their members on arrangements for voter registration. "It is important for corporate electors on the old electoral roll to appoint their authorised representatives before January 16. Otherwise they cannot vote in the May election," Mr Justice Woo stressed again. "If people continue to remain indifferent and do not come forward to register themselves as electors and exercise their right, I believe that the Government may have to consider introducing compulsory registration," he added. End 6. Membership of the Basic Law Promotion Steering Committee ******************************************************** The Government today (Friday) announced the membership of the Basic Law Promotion Steering Committee. The Steering Committee is chaired by the Chief Secretary for Administration with Ms Ko Siu-wah as the Vice-chairperson. It also comprises eight other senior government officials and 12 other non-official members who are distinguished and experienced community personalities from various fields such as education, legal and social services. The Committee will be serviced by the Constitutional Affairs Bureau. The Steering Committee will hold its first meeting on January 8 (Thursday) to discuss items such as the terms of reference of the Committee and future promotion strategy, a government spokesman said. The spokesman said that over the years, the Government has been promoting the Basic Law through civic education, school education and training for civil servants. A large number of community-based organisations and individuals have also participated actively in the promotion efforts. "The Steering Committee will build on the success and achievements of various parties concerned and provide co- ordination and a forum for exchange of ideas to maximise the impact of the promotion efforts," the spokesman noted. The following is the membership of the Basic Law Promotion Steering Committee: Chairperson ----------- Mrs Anson Chan, Chief Secretary for Administration Vice-chairperson ---------------- Ms Ko Siu-wah Members ------- Non-officials: Mr Chau How-chen The Hon Cheng Kai-nam Mr Cheng Mo-chi, Moses Mr Chow Wing-kin, Anthony Mr Robert George Kotewall Mr Lee Chung-tak, Joseph Dr Li Sze-bay, Albert Dr Lo Chi-kin Mr Ma Lik Prof the Hon Ng Ching-fai Ms Angela Tsang Prof Zee Sze-yong Government Officials: Secretary for Constitutional Affairs Secretary for the Civil Service Secretary for Education and Manpower Secretary for Home Affairs Solicitor General Director of Education Director of Home Affairs Director of Information Services End 7. Decision to graduate Hong Kong from the EU GSP regretted ******************************************************** The Council of the European Union (EU) has decided to graduate certain beneficiary economies including Hong Kong from the EU Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) Scheme with effect from May 1, 1998. Commenting on the graduation, a Trade Department spokesman said today (Friday), "Our trade has benefited from the generalized tariff preferences under the GSP. The decision of the EU to exclude Hong Kong from the GSP Scheme is therefore regrettable. "However, the impact on our trade will not be serious partly because the range of Hong Kong products eligible for EU's GSP preferences is already limited. "Also, the tariff differentials between the most- favoured-nation rates and the GSP rates have been reduced, following the Uruguay Round negotiations," the spokesman said. Hong Kong's actual benefit from GSP tariff preferences dropped from 10 per cent to 1.7 per cent of the EU's total imports from Hong Kong in the period from 1991 to 1996, and accounted for 0.5 per cent of Hong Kong's total exports to the world in 1996. "A more important point is to ensure that the graduation is based on objective criteria, and beneficiaries of similar level of economic development are graduated at the same pace," the spokesman said. "We note that under the present EU decision, Hong Kong will be graduated vis-a-vis comparable beneficiaries," the spokesman added. The EU has adopted a per capita income threshold (exceeding US$8,210 in 1995) and a development index (for measuring the level of industrial development of a beneficiary) to determine whether a beneficiary economy should be graduated from the GSP Scheme. Under these criteria, Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore will be graduated at the same time. GSP is a donor scheme whereby importing countries accord preferential tariff treatment to developing economies to encourage them to increase and diversify their exports. Hong Kong has been a beneficiary of the EU's GSP Scheme since its inception in 1971. The current EU GSP Scheme, introduced in January 1995, provides for sector graduation in phases, and wholesale graduation of the more advanced beneficiaries as from January 1, 1998. The present Council decision defers the graduation date to May 1, 1998. At present, Hong Kong products which are still eligible for EU's GSP preferences are limited to certain electrical machinery and equipment, mechanical appliances, plastic articles and footwear. End 8. Upgrading works for 40 slopes ***************************** The Civil Engineering Department will carry out upgrading works on 40 slopes and retaining walls in the territory under the Accelerated Landslip Preventive Measures (LPM) Programme. Of the 40 slopes, 23 are located in the New Territories, nine are on Hong Kong Island and the rest in Kowloon. "The upgrading works will mainly be the installation of soil nails, construction of retaining walls, cutting back of slopes to a gentler gradient, recompaction of fill slopes and hydroseeding," the Acting Chief Geotechnical Engineer, Mr Chan Ngan-fai, said today (Friday). "The works are expected to start in April this year for completion in 24 months," he said, adding that upon completion, the slopes would meet safety standard set down in the Geotechnical Manual for Slopes. The Accelerated LPM Programme to upgrade government- owned man-made slopes in the 1977/78 Catalogue of Slopes was launched in April 1995. It aims to speed up the investigation of and the upgrading works for as many substandard slopes in the catalogue as possible by 2000. Nine more contracts for another 300 slopes will be tendered later this year. Six upgrading contracts involving about 200 slopes and retaining walls were let last year. End 9. Construction Output for 3rd quarter of 1997 ******************************************* The gross value of construction work, in nominal terms, performed by main contractors amounted to $31.2 billion in the third quarter of 1997, according to the preliminary results of the Quarterly Survey of Construction Output released today (Friday) by the Census and Statistics Department. This represented an increase of 7.5% over the same quarter last year. Based on the provisional estimate, the gross value of construction work, measured at constant (1990) market prices, performed in the third quarter of 1997 decreased by 2.8% over the same quarter last year. Commenting on the latest statistics on construction output, a Government Secretariat spokesman pointed out that the modest year-on-year decline in real terms in the third quarter of 1997 was mainly attributable to the gradual winding down of most of the projects under the Airport Core Programme. Construction output on residential building projects continued to increase strongly in that quarter. The gross value of construction work, in nominal terms, performed at private sector sites totalled $13.2 billion, representing a notable increase of 37% over the same quarter last year. When measured at constant (1990) market prices, it was up by 22%. The gross value of construction work, in nominal terms, performed at public sector sites amounted to $9.7 billion, representing a decrease of 17.9% over the same quarter last year. When measured at constant (1990) market prices, it was down by 25%. The gross value of construction work, in nominal terms, performed by contractors at locations other than construction sites amounted to $8.4 billion, 9.2% higher than in the third quarter of 1996. When measured at constant (1990) market prices, it decreased marginally by 0.5%. Work in this category included minor new construction activities and renovation work at erected buildings and structures; and electrical and mechanical fitting work. Analysed by end-use, residential building projects (including commercial and residential composite buildings) accounted for the largest portion of the gross value of construction work performed at construction sites. The gross value of construction work performed for these projects was $8.6 billion, representing a notable increase of 29% over the third quarter of 1996. Transport projects, which included the new airport and related infrastructural projects, represented the second largest category of construction site work. The gross value of construction work performed for these projects was $5.3 billion, 18.9% lower than in the third quarter of 1996. Commercial building projects constituted the third largest category of construction site work. The gross value of construction work performed for these projects totalled $4.0 billion, representing a remarkable increase of 40% over the third quarter of 1996. Compared with the second quarter of 1997, the gross value of construction work, in nominal terms, performed by main contractors in the third quarter of 1997 decreased by 3.7%. The gross values of construction work at constant (1990) market prices are derived by deflating the nominal values with appropriate price indices to the price level of 1990. Owing to the widespread sub-contracting practices in the construction industry, a construction establishment can be a main contractor for one contract and a sub- contractor for another contract at the same time. The gross value of construction work performed by main contractors covers only those projects in which the construction establishment takes the role of a main contractor, but not projects in which it takes only the role of a sub-contractor. However, sub-contractors' contribution to projects should have been included in the gross value of construction work performed by main contractors for whom they worked. More detailed statistics on construction output are given in the "Report on the Quarterly Survey of Construction Output, 3rd Quarter 1997". The report is now on sale at $14 per copy at the Government Publications Centre, Ground Floor, Low Block, Queensway Government Offices, or at the Census and Statistics Department Publications Unit, 19th floor, Wanchai Tower, 12 Harbour Road, Wan Chai. Regular subscription may also be arranged. Enquiries about the survey results may be directed to the Building, Construction and Real Estate Statistics Section of the Census and Statistics Department on 2805 6426. End 10. Open space for Sheung Wan residents *********************************** An 850 square-metre public open space with a sitting out area and landscaped gardening will be developed in Cleverly Street, Sheung Wan, next year to cater for the needs of residents. Nineteen private lots with an area of about 552 square metres will have to be resumed in order to undertake the project, a spokesman for the Lands Department said today (Friday). "In view of the acute shortage of public open space in the district, the Urban Services Department has proposed to go ahead with the project as soon as possible," he said. The land resumption work will also involve the clearance of five illegal structures and a six-storey building at Nos 3 and 5 Cleverly Street. About 60 people from 18 households will be affected. "All eligible occupiers will be rehoused and offered ex-gratia allowances in accordance with current policy," he said. "The owners and tenants of the private lots may also make statutory claims if they are not satisfied with the compensation. If the claims cannot be settled by agreement with the Government, the claimants may apply to the Lands Tribunal for determination of the compensation," he added. "If everything is on schedule and smooth, the project works should start in early 1999 and the public open space should be in place in early 2000," the spokesman added. End 11. Tenders for rural improvement works invited ******************************************* The Home Affairs Department is inviting tenders for a package 1B of minor rural improvement works to be carried out under the Rural Planning and Improvement Strategy Minor Projects. The package comprises the following five projects:- (i) Construction of two footbridges between Hung Shing Ye Beach and Lo So Sing, Lamma Island; (ii) Reconstruction of Van Track near Tung Wan School, Shek Pik, Lantau; (iii) Reconstruction of existing vehicular bridge at Chuk Yuen near Tai Sang Chicken Feed Factory, San Tin; (iv) Construction of stream embankment at Tsui Keng (Pang Uk), Sheung Shui; (v) Construction of vehicular bridge at Tong To, Sha Tau Kok. Construction is expected to commence in April and will take 12 months to complete. The works have been designed and construction will be supervised by the Consulting Engineer, Mouchel Asia Limited. The tender notice was gazetted today (Friday). End
