A 07/08-26

Legislative Council

Agenda

Wednesday 7 May 2008 at 11:00 am

I. Tabling of Papers
Subsidiary Legislation / InstrumentsL.N. No.
1.Fugitive Offenders (Ireland) Order96/2008
2.Fugitive Offenders (Piracy and Armed Robbery Against Ships) Order97/2008
3.Colouring Matter in Food (Amendment) Regulation 200898/2008
4.Merchant Shipping (Prevention and Control of Pollution) (Charges for Discharge of Polluting Waste) (Amendment) Regulation 200899/2008
5.Noise Control (General) (Amendment) Regulation 2008100/2008
6.Noise Control (Air Compressors) (Amendment) Regulation 2008101/2008
7.Noise Control (Hand Held Percussive Breakers) (Amendment) Regulation 2008102/2008
8.Pensions Ordinance (Established Offices) (Amendment) Order 2008103/2008
9.Pension Benefits Ordinance (Established Offices) (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 2008104/2008
10.Foreign Lawyers Practice (Amendment) Rules 2007 (Commencement) Notice105/2008

Other Papers

1.No.92

-Audited Statement of Accounts together with the Director of Audit's Report of the Early Retirement Ex-gratia Payment Fund for Aided Primary School Teachers for the year ended 31 August 2007
(to be presented by Secretary for Education)

2.No.93

-Audited Statement of Accounts together with the Director of Audit's Report of the Early Retirement Ex-gratia Payment Fund for Aided Secondary School Teachers for the year ended 31 August 2007
(to be presented by Secretary for Education)

II. Questions

1. Hon CHAN Yuen-han to ask: (Translation)

It has been reported that inflation has been very serious in recent months and lots of things are getting more and more expensive, with the rise in food prices being the most acute. Many grass-roots people are forced to buy less food or buy food products of poorer quality so as to cut their expenses on food. Such a situation has even affected the quality of meal services provided by social welfare organizations. Moreover, lunches and fruits supplied to students have also been affected. Some lunch suppliers for schools have indicated that they will increase lunch prices in the next school year. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it will:
    (a)make reference to the practice of Singapore, the United States and other countries and issue food coupons to low-income people;

    (b)subsidize the lunch expenses of poor students; and

    (c)formulate measures and provide subvention to encourage non-governmental organizations to set up "community food banks" in various districts to provide emergency assistance on basic food to low-income people and families not on Comprehensive Social Security Assistance?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Labour and Welfare

2. Dr Hon Fernando CHEUNG to ask: (Translation)

The Lump Sum Grant Subvention System ("LSGSS") has been implemented since January 2001. The staff salary structures of non-governmental welfare organizations subvented under LSGSS ("subvented NGOs") have been delinked from those of the civil service. It has been reported that despite the continuous downward adjustments in the overall remuneration of the staff in subvented NGOs in the past few years, the salaries of senior staff in some NGOs have risen instead. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the 10 subvented NGOs which had been allocated the highest amounts of subventions each year between 2001 and 2008, and whether it knows the respective annual salaries of the five staff members of each NGO who had the highest annual salaries in the relevant year;

    (b)whether it has monitored the use of subventions by subvented NGOs, in particular, the expenditure on staff remuneration; if it has, of the details of such monitoring work, including the means to prevent subvented NGOs from adopting a salary structure which rewards the upper-ranked staff generously but gives the lower-ranked staff a niggardly pay; and

    (c)whether the Social Welfare Department will make public the salary structures adopted by subvented NGOs; if not, of the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Labour and Welfare

3. Hon James TO to ask: (Translation)

Regarding members of the public using facilities such as pedestrian passages, footbridges and open space managed by land owners for public use ("public facilities") on private land, will the Government inform this Council whether:
    (a)there are differences on use restrictions between public facilities on private land and those on government land; if there are, of the differences;

    (b)members of the public may apply for conducting activities or hanging banners in public facilities on private land; if they may, of the procedure, conditions and restrictions of application; if they may not, the reasons for that; and

    (c)any mechanism is in place to handle complaints lodged by members of the public about not being allowed to use public facilities on private land; if so, of the details; if not, whether such a mechanism will be set up?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Development

4. Hon LAU Wong-fat to ask: (Translation)

The Leisure and Cultural Services Department is now implementing the Community Garden Programme ("CGP"). Moreover, the Government is gradually drawing up Greening Master Plans ("GMPs") for various districts in Hong Kong, and the public are welcome to participate in community greening. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)whether it will consider supporting the implementation of the measures proposed in GMPs by means of CGP, i.e. motivating the public to grow in community gardens specified tree saplings and flower seedlings which will be used for implementing GMPs); if it will, of the details; if it will not, the reasons for that;

    (b)of the respective areas of the existing community gardens and the respective numbers of members of the public who participated in CGP in 2007-2008 in various districts, broken down by District Council district; and

    (c)whether the Government will consider setting up temporary community gardens on "Government, Institution or Community" sites of undetermined use?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

5. Hon SIN Chung-kai to ask: (Translation)

Regarding facilities such as pedestrian passages, footbridges and open spaces managed by the land owners for public use ("public facilities") on private land, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)whether the Government has issued guidelines to private land owners on the management of public facilities, requiring them to put up legible notices at prominent places to inform the public of the exact boundaries, opening hours, enquiry telephone numbers, etc. of these public facilities; if it has, of the details of the guidelines; if not, whether it will issue such guidelines;

    (b)whether it allows private land owners to let public facilities; if so, whether it has issued guidelines to them on the letting arrangements, prescribing such matters as permissible charge levels and whether applications from non-profit-making organizations should be given priority etc.; if it has not, whether it will issue such guidelines; and

    (c)how the Government handles the letting of public facilities by private land owners at a charge the level of which exceeds that considered reasonable by the Government?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Development

6. Hon James TIEN to ask: (Translation)

There have been comments that the services provided by Tseung Kwan O Hospital ("TKOH") have long been inadequate to meet the demands of members of the public and the wards in the hospital are often full. TKOH is planning to apply for funding for an expansion project. However, it has been reported recently that a number of the wards in TKOH have actually been left vacant for a long period of time, with some of them not being in use for as long as nine years. Some of such wards have even been used for storing sundries only. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council if it knows:
    (a)the details concerning the wards in TKOH which have been left vacant for a long period of time, and the reasons why they have been left vacant;

    (b)whether TKOH has drawn up measures to ensure the efficient utilization of resources, so as to avoid the situation that while some of its services have long been inadequate to meet the demands of members of the public, some of its wards are persistently under-utilized; and

    (c)whether currently there are similar cases in other public hospitals in which wards and hospital beds have been left vacant for a long period of time; if there are such cases, of the numbers of such wards and beds and their respective vacant periods, and the improvement measures the authorities have put in place?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health

*7. Hon Albert HO to ask: (Translation)

Regarding sewage treatment and water quality of rivers and streams in Tuen Mun District and Yuen Long District, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the current levels and daily handling capacity of the sewage treatment facilities in the above two districts (broken down by district and facility), where the treated sewage is discharged, and whether the facilities concerned can treat all the sewage generated daily in those two districts; if not, of the current daily quantity of sewage in the two districts which is untreated and directly discharged into rivers, streams and Hong Kong waters;

    (b)in the past three years, whether the Government had carried out regular inspections targeted at illegal connection of sewers for discharging sewage in Tuen Mun District and Yuen Long District; if so, of the number of sewers which have been proved to be illegally connected but have not yet been removed so far; among them, the number of those which are illegally connected to the Tuen Mun River, and whether the Government has any plan to remove all such sewers;

    (c)in the past three years, of the overall compliance with the water quality objectives of the rivers and streams in Tuen Mun District and Yuen Long District, as well as the levels of heavy metals and Escherichia coli in such rivers and streams; and

    (d)of the current locations where water samples are taken for monitoring the water quality of the Tuen Mun River; the quality of the water samples taken at these locations in the past three years and, among such water samples, whether any of them were of "Bad" and "Very Bad" quality; if so, whether the Government has studied the reasons for the bad quality of water at those locations; if it has, the outcome of the study?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment

*8. Hon Audrey EU to ask: (Translation)

Recently, quite a number of members of the public are concerned about their rights to use the public facilities in private developments and restrictions on such use. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)whether the Government will consider reviewing the current version of the Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines to set out the basic standards for private developers on the opening of the above public facilities for public use (e.g. such facilities must be open 24 hours a day, types of public activities allowed in such facilities and other restrictions on public use of such facilities, etc.);

    (b)given that after the release by the Government earlier on of a list of private developments completed after 1997 which were required to provide public facilities, the Secretary for Development has undertaken to continue to compile the relevant information for the period before 1997 and upload such information onto the Government web sites in batches upon completion of work, of the latest work progress; and state, according to the information already processed, the number of private developments completed before 1997 in which the developers were required by the Government to provide public facilities under their land leases, as well as the following details of such developments and facilities:

    AddressAreaNature and use of public facilityYear of approval





    and;

    (c)given that the "deeds of dedication" provide for dedication of areas in private developments for public passage, and the Buildings Department had, in its inspections made in 2006 and 2007 of such dedicated areas, identified cases of unauthorized structures causing obstruction to public passage, whether the Government has initiated any prosecution in respect of such cases; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Development

*9. Hon Fred LI to ask: (Translation)

Regarding services of public light buses ("PLBs") in Hong Kong, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the respective current numbers of green minibus ("GMB") routes providing cross-harbour services (between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, and between Hong Kong Island and the New Territories) and their details (please set them out according to the table below);

    RouteTo and fromOperating hoursNumber of vehiclesFares and sectional fares (if applicable)
    Liquefied petroleum gas ("LPG") public light buses("PLBs")Non-LPG
    PLBs    		Total






















    (b)of the respective current numbers of GMB routes offering fare concessions (e.g. discounts for the elderly or students) and their details; and whether it will, when renewing the licences for operating GMB routes in future, consider requesting the operators concerned to offer fare concessions to the elderly; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and

    (c)whether it will consider relaxing completely or partly the existing restrictions on the gross vehicle weight and passenger seating capacity of PLBs, so that the PLB trade can have more vehicle models to choose; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing

*10. Hon CHOY So-yuk to ask: (Translation)

Regarding Fuwa, mascots of the Games of the XXIX Olympiad ("the Olympic Games") to be held in Beijing in 2008, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)whether it has any plan to promote the upcoming Olympic Games by using Fuwa; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;

    (b)whether it knows if there is any publicity campaign in the community to promote Fuwa;

    (c)whether it has any plan to assess the level of awareness of Fuwa by members of the public in Hong Kong; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and

    (d)given that some members of the public have relayed to me that Fuwa are far less seen in Hong Kong than in Qingdao, another co-host city of the Olympic Games, whether it has assessed if this situation reflects that the Olympic publicity campaigns in Hong Kong are not as good as those in mainland cities in terms of quality, number and impact; if it has, of the assessment outcome?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

*11. Hon Albert CHAN to ask: (Translation)

In May 2006, I raised a question in this Council regarding the issue that most of the bus trips to and from Tin Shui Wai were not serviced by wheelchair-accessible buses with low platforms. It is learnt that currently most of these trips are still not serviced by low-platform buses, and wheelchair users often have to wait for more than 30 minutes for such buses. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the respective numbers of low-platform buses added to the fleets of various franchised bus companies since May 2006 and the respective rates of increase;

    (b)of the daily number of trips run by low-platform buses to and from Tin Shui Wai at present, and the percentage of such trips in the total number of relevant bus trips; how such figures compare with those in May 2006; and

    (c)whether it will reconsider including a clause in the future franchise agreements with the franchised bus companies, requiring them to retrofit in all in-service non-low-platform buses facilities which facilitate boarding and alighting of wheel-chaired passengers; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing

*12. Dr Hon David LI to ask:

I have observed that "no smoking" signs are posted along a privately-managed elevated outdoor covered walkway in Central District, which is open for use by the public, while the connecting public elevated outdoor covered walkway does not have such signs posted. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the existing statutory provisions under which the owner concerned is authorized to post the above "no smoking" signs, and whether statutory prohibition against smoking is enforceable along the privately-managed walkway concerned; and

    (b)whether it has assessed if the relevant statutory provisions allow public elevated outdoor covered walkways to be declared no smoking areas; if the assessment outcome indicates that they are allowed to be so declared, whether the Government will make such declarations; if the assessment outcome indicates that the prohibition is neither enforceable nor applicable to all elevated outdoor covered walkways, whether the Government will consider amending the relevant ordinance(s) to effect such a prohibition?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health

*13. Hon Emily LAU to ask: (Translation)

In January last year, the Government advised this Council that in response to public concern about inadequate provision of sanitary fitments in female lavatories in shopping arcades, cinemas and places of public entertainment, the Government planned to amend the Building (Standards of Sanitary Fitments, Plumbing, Drainage Works and Latrines) Regulations (Cap. 123 sub. leg. I) in the 2007-2008 legislative session. As an interim measure before amending the Regulations, the Buildings Department ("BD") issued the non-mandatory Practice Note for Authorized Persons and Registered Structural Engineers ("Practice Note") in May 2005 to revise the ratio for assessing the number of male to female in these premises from 1:1 to 1:1.25 and the standard for the provision of sanitary fitments for male and female. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:
    (a)given that in reply to a question raised by a Member of this Council in January 2007, the authorities advised that 11 building works projects of private shopping arcades, cinemas and places of public entertainment had adopted the new guidelines for the provision of sanitary fitments in female lavatories, and BD would assess the effectiveness of the guidelines upon the completion of these projects, of the number of such projects completed at present and the progress of the assessment work concerned;

    (b)of the reasons why the authorities did not include the proposed amendments to the above Regulations in the Buildings (Amendment) Bill 2007; and

    (c)of the policies and measures in place to complement the implementation of the male to female ratio recommended by the Practice Note?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Development

*14. Hon LAU Kong-wah to ask: (Translation)

Regarding the consumption of fresh water in Hong Kong, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the quantities of fresh water consumed as well as the amounts of water and sewage charges paid by domestic households and commercial premises respectively in each of the past five years;

    (b)whether it has assessed if the quantities of water consumed by domestic and commercial premises have shown an upward trend in recent years, and how the increase in water consumption compares with the growth in the numbers of domestic and commercial premises; and

    (c)of the expenditure on promoting water conservation in the past three years, and how the figure compares with that in the three years preceding that period; and whether it has reviewed if the promotion work in this respect is inadequate?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Development

*15. Hon Frederick FUNG to ask: (Translation)

The operation of the ferry route between Central and Tsim Sha Tsui was relocated from the old Central Star Ferry Pier to Central Pier No 7 in November 2006. The operator of this ferry route, the "Star" Ferry Company Limited, has indicated on many occasions that a drop in the number of passengers, due to the more remote location of the new pier, has put it under pressure to increase fares for this route. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)whether it knows the number of passengers and amount of fare income of the ferry route since the pier relocation, and how the figures compare with those before the pier relocation; how the relative ratio of ferry passengers boarding the upper deck and lower deck respectively has changed since the opening of the elevated walkway linking the new pier and the General Post Office, and of the impact of the change on the income;

    (b)whether it will adopt the following measures to increase the number of passengers for the ferry route: in the short term, building more public transport routes passing the new pier and making optimal use of the areas around the pier, and in the long term, building additional link roads and installing more travelators connecting areas at some distance from the waterfront in the new Central Harbourfront, so as to attract and facilitate the use of ferry services by the public, alleviate the pressure on the existing road harbour crossings, and save this ferry service, which has tourism and conservation value, from being eventually phased out by the more convenient road transport modes; and

    (c)of the criteria it will adopt for assessing and approving the fare increase application for the ferry route, and whether it will consult this Council before making a final decision in this regard?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing

*16. Hon LAU Wong-fat to ask: (Translation)

It has been reported that due to the very large amount of counterfeit Hong Kong $10 coins in circulation at present, it is difficult for people to differentiate such counterfeit coins from the genuine ones, and as a result, quite a number of Hong Kong people travelling on the Mainland or in Macao often encounter shops, food premises and transport operators refusing to accept Hong Kong $10 coins. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the respective quantities of $10 coins issued and counterfeit $10 coins received by banks or seized by law enforcement agencies in each of the past three years, and the major differences between such counterfeit coins and the genuine ones; and

    (b)whether it will stop issuing $10 coins and replace such coins entirely by $10 banknotes; if it will, of the details?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury

*17. Hon LAU Kong-wah to ask: (Translation)

On the departure of civil servants, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of a breakdown by rank of the departed civil servants in the past three years;

    (b)whether it has assessed if the departure is serious and examined the causes; and

    (c)whether it knows the types of employment mainly taken up by civil servants after leaving the civil service?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Civil Service

*18. Hon Frederick FUNG to ask: (Translation)

Regarding the provision of lifeguard services at public swimming pools and beaches under the management of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department ("LCSD"), will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the respective numbers of rescue cases (where rescue operation was required), fatal cases and give-a-hand cases (where no rescue operation was required) which happened at public swimming pools and beaches during service hours in each of the past three years;

    (b)of the details of the cases in the past five years in which individual swimming pools/the entire swimming complexes and beaches were closed because some lifeguards took unscheduled leave, including the dates, duration and areas of closure, as well as the estimated number of swimmers affected and the number of affected organizations which had booked swimming lanes or pools;

    (c)of the progress in the recruitment of lifeguards by LCSD in recent months, including a breakdown by the mode of appointment (i.e. permanent establishment and various contract terms) of the recruitment targets, the number of lifeguards recruited so far, the average years of experience among those recruited, the ratio of male to female and the percentage of those who have worked at public swimming pools or beaches before; whether LCSD will consider further raising the pay levels of lifeguards to bring them back to the pre-1998 levels; and

    (d)given that it has been reported that the existing establishment of lifeguards is below the international standard, and public swimming pools will be opened to the public free of charge between July and September this year, how LCSD ensures that there will be adequate number of on-duty lifeguards at all public swimming pools and beaches even if some lifeguards take unscheduled leave, and whether LCSD will consider recruiting more lifeguards (instead of deploying honorary lifeguards who are inexperienced) to stand in for the lifeguards who take leave?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

*19. Hon Martin LEE to ask: (Translation)

Regarding franchised bus services in Hong Kong, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)of the respective numbers of new and old buses proposed by various franchised bus companies to be purchased and disposed of respectively under the Forward Planning Programmes, which were submitted to the Commissioner for Transport in the past three years, together with a breakdown of such numbers by year and by franchised bus company, and whether the Government has any policy to limit the total number of franchised buses as well as the numbers of old buses being replaced by new buses and disposed of respectively every year; if it has, of the details and the objectives of adopting such a policy; and

    (b)whether currently there is any policy to limit the number of franchised buses operating in some of the districts with heavy traffic (including Yau Tsim Mong District, Central and Western District, Wan Chai District and Eastern District); if so, of the number of franchised buses permitted to operate in each of these districts?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing

*20. Hon SIN Chung-kai to ask: (Translation)

In June last year, the Government announced that it had appointed Arculli Fong & Ng and another law firm, Gilbert+Tobin, as consultants to provide expert services in relation to the introduction of a competition law. The estimated budget for the consultancy services in the last and current financial years exceeds 16 million dollars in total. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
    (a)whether the providers of the aforesaid consultancy services were selected through a tender process; if so, of the commencement and completion dates of the process as well as the total number of bids received by the Government;

    (b)if no tender exercise had been conducted, of the procedure adopted by the Government for identifying providers of the consultancy services; and

    (c)whether it can set out in detail the specific work covered in the consultancy services?
Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development

*For written reply.

III. Bills

First Reading

1.Dutiable Commodities (Amendment) Bill 2008

2.Dutiable Commodities (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2008

3.Revenue Bill 2008

Second Reading (Debates to be adjourned)

1.Dutiable Commodities (Amendment) Bill 2008:Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development

2.Dutiable Commodities (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2008:Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development

3.Revenue Bill 2008:Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury

IV. Motions

Proposed resolution under the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance

Secretary for Food and Health to move the motion:

RESOLVED that the following Regulations, made by the Pharmacy and Poisons Board on 15 April 2008, be approved-

(a)the Pharmacy and Poisons (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulation 2008; and

(b)the Poisons List (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulation 2008.

(The two Regulations were issued on 18 April 2008
under LC Paper No. CB(3) 535/07-08)

V. Members' Motions

  1. Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance

    Hon Bernard CHAN to move the following motion:

    RESOLVED that in relation to the Food and Drugs (Composition and Labelling) (Amendment: Requirements for Nutrition Labelling and Nutrition Claim) Regulation 2008, published in the Gazette as Legal Notice No. 69 of 2008 and laid on the table of the Legislative Council on 9 April 2008, the period for amending subsidiary legislation referred to in section 34(2) of the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance (Cap. 1) be extended under section 34(4) of that Ordinance to the meeting of 28 May 2008.

  2. Strengthening the prevention of communicable diseases for children and the elderly

    Hon Andrew CHENG: (Translation)

    That, as influenza has been prevalent recently and there is also a possibility that a number of communicable diseases may break out in Hong Kong, and given that children and the elderly are high-risk groups whose health may be more seriously affected by these communicable diseases, this Council urges the Government to strengthen the prevention and control of communicable diseases, expand the coverage of immunisation against such diseases, including providing free influenza vaccination for all elderly people, as well as reviewing the Childhood Immunisation Programme and studying the introduction of new vaccines in the light of the development of communicable diseases and vaccines, so as to reduce the risk of the public being infected with communicable diseases.

    Amendments to motion
    (i)Hon LI Kwok-ying: (Translation)

    To delete "as influenza has been prevalent recently and there is" after "That," and substitute with "in the face of continuous threat of influenza and"; to delete "," after "strengthen the prevention and control of communicable diseases" and substitute with ";"; to add "and children" after "all elderly people"; and to add "; review the existing infection control measures in kindergartens, schools, residential care homes for the elderly, medical institutions and public facilities with high pedestrian flow and allocate more resources for these institutions to improve the prevention and control of communicable diseases; improve environmental hygiene, including strengthening anti-rodent and anti-mosquito efforts; and step up education to enhance the awareness of personal hygiene" after "diseases and vaccines".

    (ii)Dr Hon Joseph LEE Kok-long: (Translation)

    To add "in residential care homes for the elderly and schools in the community" after "control of communicable diseases".

    Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Food and Health

  3. Implementing co-location of immigration and customs facilities

    Hon WONG Ting-kwong: (Translation)

    That this Council urges the SAR Government to step up its cooperation with the Mainland and expeditiously implement the "co-location of immigration and customs facilities" for clearance at the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link and the Hong Kong International Airport, so as to enhance the efficiency of passenger and freight transport to and from the Mainland, consolidate the position of Hong Kong as a regional aviation and transportation hub and strengthen the competitiveness of Hong Kong.

    Amendment to motion
    Hon Jeffrey LAM Kin-fung:     (Translation)

    To add ", as exchanges between Hong Kong and the Mainland have become more frequent and the number of cross-boundary control points has also increased," after "That"; to add "and as far as possible" after "expeditiously"; to add "the various existing and new cross-boundary control points, including" after "clearance at"; to delete "and" after "the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link" and substitute with ","; and to add "the rail link between the Hong Kong International Airport and the Shenzhen Airport as well as cross-boundary heliports," after "the Hong Kong International Airport,".

    Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Transport and Housing
Clerk to the Legislative Council