President, first of all, I am very grateful to Mr CHUNG Kwok-pan for proposing this motion, which gives Members a chance to discuss the industrial development of Hong Kong. I have proposed an amendment to Mr CHUNG’s motion mainly because it has not stressed the development of high value-added industries.
Research
The Fire Safety (Buildings) Ordinance stipulates that the fire safety of composite and domestic buildings constructed on or before March 1, 1987 must be enhanced to better meet the requirements of the day. The Fire Services Department and the Buildings Department issue Fire Safety Directions (Directions) to owners and/or occupiers with regard to fire service installations and fire safety constructions in those buildings, with a view to enhancing the basic fire protection measures in those buildings.Quite a number of owners and residents of old buildings in Mong Kok (including Fa Yuen Street) have relayed to me that they have recently received one after another the Directions issued by the authorities.
It has been reported that train services were disrupted for several times last year due to malfunctioning, and quite a number of passengers were late for school or work due to delay in their journeys. Recently, such failure incidents have occurred more frequently. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it has considered appointing an independent committee or rail transport consultant to conduct a comprehensive study on the operational problems of the railways in Hong Kong, including…
It has been reported that according to the Survey on Opinions of Employers on Major Aspects of Performance of Sub-degree Graduates in Year 2010 released recently by the Education Bureau, the score for the overall performance of those graduates as assessed by employers has hit a record low among the same surveys over the past decade. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council…
Some members of the construction industry have pointed out that the Construction Industry Council (CIC) received an annual income of several hundred million dollars, including levies and government funding, in each of the past few years, but the programmes offered by CIC only train students to become semi-skilled workers, without training up a sufficient number of semi-skilled workers for the job types with keen manpower demand.
It has been reported that on the Christmas Day just past, five luxurious apartments on Hong Kong Island were found within a period less than two hours to have been burgled, with properties valued over two million dollars in total stolen from four of them…
The Court of Final Appeal (CFA) has earlier handed down its judgment on an appeal case, declaring that the requirement of seven-year residence in Hong Kong (residence requirement) stipulated by the Government for the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) Scheme was unconstitutional. As a result, the residence requirement must be restored to one year, i.e. the requirement before January 1, 2004…
It has been reported that on September 14 of last year, the crane of a crane lorry in motion hit a directional sign which was six metres above the ground, paralyzing the traffic for more than two hours, and less than a month later, the crane of another crane lorry running on the road snapped two overhead cables of the Light Rail System, causing disruption of the Light Rail service for several hours. Regarding road safety involving crane lorries, will the Government inform this Council…
President, Hong Kong is a densely populated place with a large number of vehicles, and large shopping areas in districts such as Causeway Bay and Tsim Sha Tsui are particularly crowded during weekends and holidays. As there are few shopping areas over the territory, local people and visitors flock to these places for shopping.
Deputy President, first of all I would like to thank Mr WONG Ting-kwong for proposing the motion on “Promoting the economic development of Lok Ma Chau (LMC) and Lantau Island” today. The original motion urges the Government to expeditiously study the setting up of a business and shopping centre in LMC, not only to capitalize on the geographical advantages and flow of people at the border, but also help to alleviate the pressure of popular shopping spots in Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories, which are already crowded to capacity.