A 07/08-3

Legislative Council

Agenda

Wednesday 17 October 2007 at 11:00 am

I. Tabling of Papers

Subsidiary Legislation / Instruments	L.N. No.
Bankruptcy (Amendment) Ordinance 2005 (Commencement) Notice	185/2007

Other Papers

1.	No.2	-	Occupational Safety and Health Council Annual Report 2006-2007
(to be presented by Secretary for Labour and Welfare)
2.	No.3	-	Report by the Trustee of the Customs and Excise Service Children's Education Trust Fund for the year ending 31 March 2007, together with the Director of Audit's Report and the Audited Statement of Accounts
(to be presented by Secretary for Security)
3.	No.4	-	Hong Kong Deposit Protection Board Annual Report 2006-2007
(to be presented by Financial Secretary)
4.	No.5	-	Urban Renewal Authority Annual Report 2006-2007
(to be presented by Financial Secretary)
5.	No.6	-	Audited Financial Statement of Accounts and Auditors' Report for the Fish Marketing Organization for the year ended 31 March 2007
(to be presented by Secretary for Food and Health)
6.	No.7	-	Audited Financial Statement of Accounts and Auditors' Report for the Vegetable Marketing Organization for the year ended 31 March 2007
(to be presented by Secretary for Food and Health)
7.	No.8	-	Marine Fish Scholarship Fund Trustee's Report and Audited Financial Statement of Accounts and Auditors' Report on the Fund for the year ended 31 March 2007
(to be presented by Secretary for Food and Health)
8.	No.9	-	Agricultural Products Scholarship Fund Trustee's Report and Audited Financial Statement of Accounts and Auditors' Report on the Fund for the year ended 31 March 2007
(to be presented by Secretary for Food and Health)
9.	No.10	-	Report of changes to the approved Estimates of Expenditure approved during the first quarter of 2007-2008 (Public Finance Ordinance : Section 8)
(to be presented by Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury)
10.	No.11	-	Companies Registry Trading Fund Annual Report 2006-2007
(to be presented by Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury)
11.	No.12	-	Environment and Conservation Fund Trustee Report 2006-2007
(to be presented by Secretary for the Environment)
12.	No.13	-	Report by the Trustee of the Prisoners' Education Trust Fund for the period from 1 April 2006 to 31 March 2007
(to be presented by Secretary for Security)
13.	No.14	-	The Land Registry Trading Fund Hong Kong Annual Report 2006-2007
(to be presented by Secretary for Development)
14.	No.15	-	Report on the Recommended Delineation of Geographical Constituencies for the 2008 Legislative Council Election
(to be presented by Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs)
15.	No.16	-	The Government Minute in response to the Report No.48 of the Public Accounts Committee dated July 2007
(to be presented by Chief Secretary for Administration, who will address the Council)

II. Questions

1. Hon Sophie LEUNG to ask: (Translation)

I have learnt that some contractors of building works casually placed cargo compartments for storing construction wastes at roadsides or even in the prohibited zones of busy districts, causing both traffic and environmental nuisances. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	whether it will require the contractors concerned, when placing cargo compartments at roadsides, to install flashlights, lighting systems or other appropriate devices, so that at night or under poor lighting conditions, motorists can be aware of such compartments being placed at roadsides in order to ensure road safety;
(b)	whether it will take the initiative to inspect the locations where such compartments are placed to ensure that there is sufficient room for motorists and to prevent such compartments from affecting the traffic; and
(c)	given that various government departments, including the Lands Department, Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, Environmental Protection Department, Highways Department and Transport Department, are currently involved in handling the above problem of such compartments, whether the Government will draw up guidelines to specify clearly the responsibilities of such departments and the arrangements of their division of work; if it will, of the details?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Development

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

It is stipulated in the subsidiary legislation of the Electoral Affairs Commission Ordinance that no person may use the information relating to any person contained in a register or an extract from such a register for any purpose unrelated to an election. Members returned by Legislative Council ("LegCo") functional constituencies ("FCs"), therefore, cannot make use of such information for sending newsletters on their work in the legislature to their constituents, and can only rely on the professional bodies concerned or registration institutions of the relevant professions to do so on their behalf. However, some professional bodies and registration institutions have refused to send newsletters on behalf of the LegCo Members representing the FCs to which they belonged. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it will:

(a)	review and amend the aforesaid subsidiary legislation to allow LegCo FC Members to use the relevant information for communication with their constituents while they are in office; if it will, of the details of the review and amendments; if not, the reasons for that;
(b)	require professional bodies to assist the LegCo FC Members concerned in communicating with their constituents; if it will, of the specific implementation plan; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c)	formulate other measures to facilitate the communication between LegCo FC Members and their constituents; if it will, of the details of such measures; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs

3. Hon Albert HO to ask: (Translation)

The election for the new term of District Councils ("DC") and the Legislative Council ("LC") by-election for the Hong Kong Island geographical constituency will be held on 18 November and 2 December this year respectively, with an interval of only two weeks between them. The Government has said that not scheduling the above two elections on the same day is to avoid confusion among voters. However, the LC geographical constituency elections and functional constituency elections have all along been held on the same day. On the other hand, the Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs said on 8 August this year that "the Registration and Electoral Office will need about four months to arrange for the by-election." In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	given that on 5 March 1995, the elections of the two former Municipal Councils and by-elections for two DC constituencies were held on the same day, whether the Electoral Affairs Commission pointed out in the reports on the relevant elections that such arrangements had caused confusion among voters; if so, of the details; if not, why the Government is now of the view that holding the above two elections on the same day will cause confusion;
(b)	of the respective estimated expenditures and manpower for the above two elections, and whether it has assessed the savings in expenditures and manpower to be achieved by holding the two elections on the same day; if so, of the respective savings in expenditures and manpower to be achieved; and
(c)	given that in 2000, the Government took only two months to complete the work for the LC by-election for the Hong Kong Island geographical constituency, why it needs almost four months to arrange the LC by-election this time?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs

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

In April this year, Wen Wei Po, Ta Kung Pao and Sing Pao Daily News were given an interim classification as indecent articles by the Obscene Articles Tribunal ("OAT") for publishing the same nude photo of a female soldier. The Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority ("TELA") subsequently instituted prosecution against the three newspapers for the relevant offence. The first two newspapers pleaded guilty and were fined, whereas Sing Pao Daily News denied the charges. Following a review, the photo was re-classified as a Class I article by OAT, and the charges against Sing Pao Daily News were therefore dismissed. In addition, Oriental Daily News, The Sun and Apple Daily published in 2005 an identical set of nude photographs of an overseas female celebrity, but only the former two newspapers were prosecuted. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the criteria adopted by TELA for determining whether an article should be submitted to OAT for classification;
(b)	whether it knows the reasons for OAT's different classifications, made before and afterwards, of the same photo; and
(c)	whether it knows if the same standards are used by OAT for classifying the publications of various media organizations, and if OAT adopts more stringent assessment criteria for media organizations which are found repeatedly in breach of the legislation concerned?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development

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

This year, a number of workers suffered heat stroke while working in very hot weather. A worker even died of heat stroke on 24 July when working at the site of the Jockey Club Kau Sai Chau Public Golf Course in Sai Kung. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	whether the Labour Department ("LD") had investigated if the person responsible for the above golf course had provided sufficient potable water to the workers; if it had, of the findings of the investigation and whether LD will institute prosecution;
(b)	whether LD had instituted, in the past three years, prosecution under section 16 of the Occupational Safety and Health Regulation against any person responsible for a workplace for not providing sufficient potable water to employees; if so, of the number of such cases and, among them, the number of those in which the accused were convicted; and
(c)	whether the Government will legislate to require employers to provide shade shelters for workers working in the hot sun, assign very hot and sunny periods as rest breaks, as well as require employers to arrange workers to suspend work or rest when the Very Hot Weather Warning is in force, so as to ensure that no more workers will die of heat stroke; if it will not, of the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Labour and Welfare

6. Hon James TIEN to ask: (Translation)

At present, the authorities of the Macao Special Administrative Region allow entry of mainland residents who only hold an endorsement for visiting Hong Kong issued by the relevant mainland authorities. However, mainland residents holding an endorsement for visiting Macao ("Macao visit endorsement") only are not allowed to enter Hong Kong. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the reasons for not allowing mainland residents with Macao visit endorsement to visit Hong Kong as a side trip;
(b)	of the security considerations for imposing such a restriction; and
(c)	whether it will consider relaxing the restriction to allow mainland residents with Macao visit endorsement to make a side trip to Hong Kong?

Public Officers to reply

:

Secretary for Security Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development

*7. Hon WONG Ting-kwong to ask: (Translation)

With regard to the Shenzhen Bay Port ("SBP"), which was commissioned on 1 July this year, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	given that cross-boundary goods vehicles may, with effect from 13 August, use SBP for crossing the boundary without the need to apply to the mainland authorities in advance for additional crossing endorsement, whether the authorities know that if such a measure will be implemented on a long-term basis;
(b)	of the respective daily average numbers of private cars and goods vehicles using SBP for crossing the boundary since 13 August, and the impact of the cross-boundary traffic volume on the traffic situation of Tuen Mun Road; and
(c)	whether the authorities have conducted a review to identity room for improvement in the operation and facilities of SBP; if so, of the review results; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing

*8. Hon CHEUNG Man-kwong to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the respective numbers, in each grade of kindergartens, primary and secondary schools in each of the past three and the current school years, of the students travelling across the boundary every day to attend school in Hong Kong, together with a breakdown by the boundary crossings used and the districts in which their schools are located; and
(b)	whether it will consider providing point-to-point school bus services at each crossing; if it will, of the details and implementation timetable; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education

*9. Hon LI Kwok-ying to ask: (Translation)

It has been reported that the prices of mainland foodstuffs imported into Hong Kong have recently risen by 5% to 100%, prompting law breakers to take risks and smuggle foodstuffs into the territory. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the amount and value of the smuggled foodstuffs seized in the past three years by the Government in anti-smuggling operations, together with a breakdown by the types of the foodstuffs involved;
(b)	whether the Customs and Excise Department has correspondingly stepped up its anti-smuggling operations in this respect (including cooperation with the relevant mainland authorities); if so, of the details; and
(c)	given that many of the smuggled foodstuffs are from unknown sources and have not undergone inspections and tests, apart from the measures mentioned by the Government at the meetings of the Council's Panel on Food Safety and Environmental Hygiene on 12 June and 10 July this year, whether the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department will adopt other measures to strengthen the work on food safety inspections and tests so as to safeguard public health; if so, of the details?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

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

Recently, some members of the public have reflected to me that upon receipt of reports about the discovery of dead bird carcasses, the government department concerned often failed to remove the carcasses promptly and seldom conducted avian influenza virus tests on them. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of:

(a)	the number of reports received in each of the past three years regarding the discovery of dead bird carcasses;
(b)	the respective numbers of dead bird carcasses collected and samples of such carcasses tested in each of the past three years, as well as the results of such tests; and
(c)	the reasons for not conducting tests on each of the dead bird carcass collected?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health

*11. Dr Hon KWOK Ka-ki to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government provide the following information concerning the Ear, Nose and Throat, Medicine, Orthopaedics and Surgery departments of the public hospitals listed below, broken down by such specialties:

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health

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

In recent months, the mission of public libraries has been revised to include, among other things, providing a gateway to information for the general public and supporting continuing education for the community. Members of the public have conveyed to me that additional application software should be installed in the computers in public libraries to enable the public to collate information. However, Computer and Information Centres/Areas ("CIC/As") are available in only 20 of the 76 public libraries in the territory. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the total numbers of Internet workstations in the public libraries and computers in various CIC/As, their utilization rates, as well as the situation of overbooking of such facilities, as at the end of each of the past three years;
(b)	whether it will set up CIC/As in all static libraries and install application software in all Internet workstations to accomplish the above-mentioned mission; if it will, of the number of additional CIC/As to be set up, the number and locations of Internet workstations to be installed with additional application software, as well as the implementation schedules concerned; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c)	whether it will standardize the services provided in various CIC/As and install application software for word processing, spreadsheet, database, presentation, web authoring, image and photo editing, drawing and publishing; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

*13. Hon Bernard CHAN to ask: (Translation)

Starting from the current racing season, the Hong Kong Jockey Club ("HKJC") allows the underage family members of racehorse owners to enter racecourses at race meetings to watch horse racing from a close distance at designated boxes, and to join the phototaking with the winning horses at the turf. Some organizations have expressed concern about this arrangement, worrying that it might encourage children and young people to take part in gambling. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	whether it has assessed if such an arrangement goes against its established policy of preventing underage gambling;
(b)	whether it knows if HKJC plans to extend such an arrangement to the underage family members of other HKJC members and spectators at the Public Enclosure; and
(c)	how it will step up efforts to prevent access of children and young people to betting facilities under the new arrangement?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

*14. Hon Alan LEONG Kah-kit to ask: (Translation)

Starting from the current racing season, the Hong Kong Jockey Club ("HKJC") allows racehorse owners to bring their underage family members to racecourses on racedays to watch horse racing. Regarding the mechanism for regulating the betting on horse races, soccer matches and the lottery business, will the Government inform this Council whether:

(a)	the HKJC has applied to the Secretary for Home Affairs ("SHA") for varying the conditions of the horse race betting licence ("the licence") prior to implementing the above measure; if it has, of the approval date and justifications given by SHA; if it has not, the reasons for that;
(b)	SHA has considered amending the conditions of the licence and the related Code of Practice ("the Code") with regard to allowing access of underage persons to racecourses; if he has, of the progress and details of the amendment exercise; if not, the reasons for that, and
(c)	SHA has reviewed the mechanism for regulating the betting on horse races, soccer matches and the lottery business, and made efforts to enhance the transparency of the mechanism, including making public the documents and minutes of the meetings of the Betting and Lotteries Commission, and convening public hearings when dealing with matters involving amendments to the licensing conditions or the Code or licence renewal; if he has, of the progress and details of the review; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

*15. Hon TAM Heung-man to ask: (Translation)

I have recently received a complaint from a resident of Ap Lei Chau alleging that very often, quite a number of large vessels sailing through the waters of Lamma Island and the Southern District emit black smoke, causing serious air pollution problems. Under certain wind directions, such pollutants seriously affect the residents of the flats on the seaside of the Southern District. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)

other than the existing legislation concerned and the Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Air Pollution) Regulation (L.N. 149 of 2007) tabled in Council on 11 July this year, whether the Government has formulated any other control measures targeting at the emission of air pollutants by vessels sailing within the waters of Hong Kong; if it had, of the details of such measures; and

(b)

whether the Government had received, in the past three years, complaints regarding vessels emitting excessive air pollutants in the waters of the Southern District and Lamma Island; if it had, of the number of such complaints and details of the follow-up actions taken; and whether it had instituted prosecution or issued warnings against the owners of the vessels involved; if it had, of the details?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Transport and Housing

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

I have received complaints from parents that currently, the design of the majority of public toilets in shopping malls, parks and those venues under the Government has not yet met children's needs (including the lack of smaller pedestal toilets, and urinal bowls and lavatory basins being installed at a high position). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

(a)

it had conducted any review on the above situation (including reviewing the Building (Standards of Sanitary Fitments, Plumbing, Drainage Works and Latrines) Regulations (Cap. 123 sub. leg. I)); if so, of the outcome of the review; whether it will put forward amendment proposals, in order to provide toilet facilities suitable for use by children; if it had not conducted any review, the reasons for that, and whether it will conduct a review and consider amending the relevant regulations to require that toilets in public places shall be provided with facilities suitable for use by children; and

(b)

it will consider providing toilet facilities suitable for use by children in toilets located in public facilities (including parks, public markets, government offices, community centres, maternal and child health centres, and public hospitals, etc.) as a first step; if not, of the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Development

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

It has been reported that the sub-prime mortgage problem besetting the United States in recent months has triggered off a global financial turmoil and its domino effect has even affected the stability of the international financial market. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:

(a)	whether they have assessed the impact of the sub-prime mortgage problem on the financial market and investment environment of Hong Kong; if so, of the assessment results; if not, the reasons for that;
(b)	whether sub-prime mortgages are common in Hong Kong, and of the measures put in place by the financial sector to prevent the sub-prime mortgage problem; and
(c)	of the details on the amount of money invested by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority in those investment vehicles using sub-prime mortgages as collateral and the losses incurred recently?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury

*18. Dr Hon David LI to ask:

According to the Government's standard conditions for the allocation of a school site for the construction of a private independent school, a school sponsoring body shall ensure that at least 70% of the students enrolled with the school concerned are local children. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the definition of "local children" in the above condition; and
(b)	whether the above condition applies from the first year of operation of the school concerned and, if not, of the timetable for applying the condition?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education

*19. Hon TSANG Yok-sing to ask: (Translation)

It has been reported that the shortage of places in the international schools in Hong Kong is one of the reasons for the reluctance of overseas professionals to come to Hong Kong. Moreover, it has also been reported that in its report on "International Schools' Expansion Efforts in Hong Kong" published in the middle of this year, the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong criticized that the complicated application procedure for expanding international schools in Hong Kong, which involved dealing with 14 government departments, coupled with the lack of transparency in the approval process, made it difficult for international schools to increase their school places. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the current number of international schools which are applying or have successfully applied for the expansion of their school premises; and when the approval process and expansion works concerned are expected to complete; and
(b)	whether it has plans to streamline the application procedure concerned and make it more transparent; if so, of the details of such plans; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Education

*20. Dr Hon Joseph LEE Kok-long to ask: (Translation)

It has been reported that some drug stores have been deceptively selling fake proprietary Chinese medicine or products resembling or packaged like the genuine ones. Moreover, some of the advertisements of proprietary Chinese medicine and health products contain untruthful claims to mislead patients and consumers. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	whether it has estimated the current number of blackspots in Hong Kong where fake western pharmaceutical products, fake proprietary Chinese medicine or pharmaceutical products resembling or packaged like the genuine ones are allegedly sold, as well as the market share of such products; if it has, of the results;
(b)	of the number of complaints received by the Government in the past three years about the sale of fake western pharmaceutical products or fake proprietary Chinese medicine, together with a list of the five most often found categories of fake proprietary Chinese medicine;
(c)	of the existing measures to regulate the packaging, sale, sales outlets and sales practices of western pharmaceutical products and proprietary Chinese medicine and to combat the sale of fake western pharmaceutical products, fake proprietary Chinese medicine and spurious products; whether it has considered implementing a registration system for retail outlets of pharmaceutical products so as to strengthen its regulation efforts; and
(d)	whether it has investigated the situation of advertisements of proprietary Chinese medicine and health food products in the market containing misleading claims; and whether it will study and amend the Undesirable Medical Advertisements Ordinance (Cap. 231) in order to effectively regulate the claims made in the advertisements of proprietary Chinese medicine and health products to ensure that patients will not be misled by such information and delay receiving appropriate treatments or cease western medical treatments on their own initiative, so as to safeguard public health; if it has conducted the investigation and will study the legislation, of the progress of such efforts; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Food and Health

*For written reply.

IIA. Statements

Report on Further Development of Political Appointment System

:

Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs

III. Motions

Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance

Secretary for Justice to move the following motion:

RESOLVED that the Official Languages (Alteration of Text under Section 4D)(Miscellaneous) Order 2007, published in the Gazette as Legal Notice No. 136 of 2007 and laid on the table of the Legislative Council on 4 July 2007, be amended by repealing Part 2.

IV. Members' Motions

1. Proposed resolution under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance
   
   Hon Miriam LAU to move the following motion:
   
   RESOLVED that in relation to the -
   
   

   (a)	Building Management (Third Party Risks Insurance) Regulation, published in the Gazette as Legal Notice No. 146 of 2007; and
   (b)	Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Air Pollution) Regulation, published in the Gazette as Legal Notice No. 149 of 2007,
   and laid on the table of the Legislative Council on 11 July 2007, the period for amending subsidiary legislation referred to in section 34(2) of the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance (Cap. 1) and deemed to be extended under section 34(3) of that Ordinance, be extended under section 34(4) of that Ordinance to the meeting of 7 November 2007.

2. Franchised bus fares
   
   Hon LEE Wing-tat: (Translation)
   
   That, as a franchised bus operator has recently applied to the Transport Department for a substantial fare increase of 9%, which is far beyond public affordability, this Council urges the Government to reject the application and adopt measures, including:
   
   

   (a)	in applying the Modified Basket of Factors approach, taking the outcome of the fare adjustment formula and public affordability as primary factors for consideration, while other factors should be supplementary and secondary ones;
   (b)	allowing the Legislative Council to activate the fare adjustment mechanism so as to safeguard public interest;
   (c)	requesting the franchised bus companies to provide more comprehensive sectional fares and bus-bus interchange concessions;
   (d)	discussing with the franchised bus companies the introduction of one-day and monthly ticket schemes for buses;
   (e)	designating Sundays and public holidays as free-ride days for the elderly; and
   (f)	introducing half-fare concessions for people with disabilities,
   with a view to ensuring that franchised bus fares are within public affordability, and promoting the participation of the socially disadvantaged in the community.
   Amendments to motion
   (i)	Hon Miriam LAU: (Translation) To delete "as" after "That,"; to delete "is far beyond public affordability" after "a substantial fare increase of 9%, which" and substitute with "will far exceed the affordability of the public"; to add "therefore" after "this Council"; to delete ", while other factors should be supplementary and secondary ones" after "public affordability as primary factors for consideration"; to delete "allowing the Legislative Council to activate" after "(b)" and substitute with "when activating"; to add ", fully consulting the Legislative Council and considering the views of the community" after "the fare adjustment mechanism"; and to add "discussing with the franchised bus companies" after "(e)".
   (ii)	Hon WONG Kwok-hing: (Translation) To add "the Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Limited," after "That, as"; to delete "has recently" after "a franchised bus operator" and substitute with ", has"; to add "the inflation rate and" after "which is far beyond"; to add "arousing strong objection from the community," after "public affordability,"; to add "further" after "to reject the application and adopt"; to add "and, prior to that, consulting the Legislative Council and the Transport Advisory Committee on each occasion before any fare adjustment is implemented," after "to activate the fare adjustment mechanism"; to add "expeditiously" after "requesting the franchised bus companies to"; to add ", including inter-company interchange concessions" after "bus-bus interchange concessions"; to delete "discussing with" after "(d)" and substitute with "urging"; to delete "the introduction of" before "one-day and monthly ticket schemes" and substitute with "to expeditiously introduce"; to add "expeditiously" after "(e)"; to delete "introducing" after "(f)" and substitute with "expeditiously implementing the offer of"; to add ", and drawing up the implementation timetable" after "half-fare concessions for people with disabilities"; to delete "," after "within public affordability"; to add "conducive to" before "promoting the participation of"; and to add "people living in remote new towns as well as" after "promoting the participation of".
   (iii)	Hon CHEUNG Hok-ming: (Translation) To delete "adopt" after "Government to reject the application and" and substitute with "discuss with the franchised bus companies how the operating costs can be reduced effectively so as to relieve the pressure to increase fare, while the Government should at the same time adopt"; to delete "and" after "free-ride days for the elderly;"; and to add "; and (g) introducing half-fare concessions for all full-time students in Hong Kong" after "introducing half-fare concessions for people with disabilities".

   Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Transport and Housing
   
   
3. Development of the convention and exhibition industry
   
   Hon Andrew LEUNG Kwan-yuen: (Translation)
   
   That, as the convention and exhibition industry brings about enormous direct and indirect economic benefits to Hong Kong every year, and the Mainland, Macao and many Southeast Asian cities have built or expanded their convention and exhibition spaces in recent years and launched measures and promotional activities to attract large-scale international exhibitions; in the face of keen competition from the neighbouring regions, this Council urges the Government to ensure that Hong Kong provides competitive convention and exhibition venues and supporting facilities to maintain its position as the convention and exhibition capital of Asia.
   
   Amendment to motion
   Hon WONG Ting-kwong: (Translation)
   
   To add ", which is a new point of growth in the economy of Hong Kong in addition to the four pillar industries," after "convention and exhibition industry"; to add "optimize the use of border areas and vacated factory buildings to" after "urges the Government to"; to add ", thus turning Hong Kong into an all-year-round capital of international exhibitions and sales, so as" after "supporting facilities"; to add "leading" after "to maintain its"; to delete "as" after "position" and substitute with "in"; and to delete "capital of" before "Asia" and substitute with "industry in".
   
   Public Officer to attend : Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development
   
   

Clerk to the Legislative Council