The Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan, this afternoon (May 15) visited Yau Tsim Mong District, where he called on a primary school and met with District Council members.

     Accompanied by the Chairman of the Yau Tsim Mong District Council (YTMDC), Mr Chris Ip and the District Officer (Yau Tsim Mong), Mrs Laura Aron, Mr Chan first visited Fresh Fish Traders' School. He toured around the school and chatted with teachers and students.

     Mr Chan said the Government attaches importance to education and nurturing talent. In 2019-20, the estimated total expenditure on education is $124 billion, accounting for about 20.4 per cent of government recurrent expenditure and is the largest spending area. In the 2019-20 Budget, he also initiated to provide a one-off grant of $2,500 to each student in need to support their learning and pay the examination fees for school candidates sitting for the 2020 Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination.

     Mr Chan then met with members of the YTMDC to exchange views on various livelihood and development issues of the district.

      

     The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, visited waste treatment and recycling facilities under Environmental Protection Department (EPD) this afternoon (May 15) to learn more about the development of waste-to-resources and waste-to-energy facilities.
      
     Accompanied by the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Wong Kam-sing, Mr Cheung first inspected fly-tipping black spots and skip storage area at Siu Lang Shui Road in Tuen Mun. Mr Cheung was also briefed by EPD staff on the effectiveness of joint efforts by government departments to step up enforcement actions against illegal construction waste disposal.
      
     Mr Cheung then visited the 3-hectare WEEE·PARK within the EcoPark in Tuen Mun, which provides  essential infrastructure for the full implementation of the Producer Responsibility Scheme on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) last year. He was pleased to note the rapid development in waste-to-resources and recycling-related infrastructure in recent years.
      
     Mr Cheung was briefed on how advanced technologies and equipment in WEEE·PARK could help transform waste regulated electrical  equipment (i.e. air-conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines, televisions, computers, printers, scanners and monitors) into valuable secondary raw materials through detoxification, dismantling and recycling processes. He further visited the refurbishment workshop in WEEE·PARK to understand how serviceable electrical appliances collected could be repaired to become refurbished items for families in need, promoting a caring community while going green.
      
     Mr Cheung pointed out that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government attached importance to supporting sustainable development of the recycling industry and provided long-term sites at the EcoPark in Tuen Mun for the recycling industry at an affordable rental cost.
      
     He was pleased to learn that more than 10 recyclers were operating in the EcoPark to collect and recycle waste cooking oil, waste metals, waste wood, WEEE and more. He also noted that a local waste paper recycling and manufacturing plant would be built and operated in the EcoPark. The plant will have the capacity of processing 300 000 tonnes of local waste paper annually or about one third of the total waste paper recovered in Hong Kong each year when commences operation in 2022/2023.
      
     Mr Cheung then proceeded to the temporary yard waste disposal and treatment site near T·PARK to inspect the disposal progress of tree waste collected after the passage of Super Typhoon Mangkhut and note that the disposal work was nearly completed. The site would start to collect yard waste arising from  works projects under various government departments. He also received a briefing by EPD staff on the operation of the wood shredder and how shredded wood produced from the collected yard waste could be reused and recycled.
      
     Later, Mr Cheung arrived at T·PARK where he was briefed by EPD staff on the sludge treatment technology, plant operation and waste-to-energy process and how the facilities of the park could self-sustain and how the park realised the sustainable development concept. T•PARK has received a number of awards, including the Special Architectural Award – Architectural Sustainability of Hong Kong Institute of Architects (HKIA) Annual Awards 2016-17, and Grand Award as well as Sustainability Award of DFA Design for Asia Award 2016.
      
     Mr Cheung was pleased to see that EPD had reused and recycled useful resources effectively through a series of measures and infrastructure facilities. He encouraged EPD colleagues to continue to provide the industry with professional support with the aim of promoting the sustainable development of Hong Kong in concert.
     

     The Lands Department announced today (May 15) that the tender for a site, New Kowloon Inland Lot No. 6546 at Kai Tak Area 4C Site 4, Kai Tak, Kowloon, has been awarded to the highest tenderer, High Smart Investment Limited (parent company: Frontier Journey Limited), on a 50-year land grant at a premium of $11,124,470,520.
 
     The tenderers, other than the successful tenderer, in alphabetical order, with the name of the parent company where provided by the tenderer in brackets, were:
 
(1) Crown Gain Investments Limited (CK Asset Holdings Limited);
(2) Fair Opal Limited (Sun Hung Kai Properties Limited);
(3) Jasmine Lane Investments Limited (Wheelock Properties Limited);
(4) Sunrise Treasure Limited (Great Eagle Holdings Limited); and
(5) Win Oasis Limited (Sino Land Company Limited).
 
     New Kowloon Inland Lot No. 6546 has a site area of about 10 692 square metres and is designated for non-industrial (excluding residential, godown and petrol filling station but including hotel) purposes. The minimum gross floor area and the maximum gross floor area are 48 114 square metres and 80 190 square metres respectively.

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     The spokesperson for Queen Elizabeth Hospital made the following announcement today (May 15):

     Nine patients (aged 57 to 87) in a male medical ward have been confirmed to be asymptomatic carriers of Carbapenemase-Producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) through active screening since April 24. Five patients concerned are still hospitalised and one has been transferred to another hospital. They are being treated under isolation and are in stable condition. The remaining three patients have been discharged.

     The Hospital Infection Control Team has followed up with the concerned departments and experts of the Centre for Health Protection. The following enhanced infection control measures have already been adopted in the ward:

1. Enhance patient and environmental screening procedures;
2. Apply stringent contact precautions and enhance hand hygiene of staff and patients; and
3. Enhance cleaning and disinfection of the ward. 
 
     The hospital will continue to closely monitor the situation of the ward. The cases have been reported to the Hospital Authority Head Office and the Centre for Health Protection for necessary follow-up.

     A woman was sentenced to two weeks' imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, by the Kowloon City Magistrates' Courts today (May 15) for contravening the Hotel and Guesthouse Accommodation Ordinance.
      
     The courts heard that in December last year, officers of the Office of the Licensing Authority (OLA), the Home Affairs Department, inspected a suspected unlicensed guesthouse on Portland Street in Mong Kok. During the inspection, the OLA officers posed as lodgers and successfully rented a room in the guesthouse on a daily basis.
      
     According to the OLA's record, the guesthouse did not possess a licence under the Ordinance on the day of inspection. The woman responsible for managing the premises was charged with contravening section 5(1) of the Ordinance.
      
     A department spokesman stressed that operating or managing an unlicensed guesthouse is a criminal offence and will lead to a criminal record. Upon conviction, the offender is liable to a maximum fine of $200,000 and two years' imprisonment.
           
     The spokesman appealed to anyone with information about suspected unlicensed guesthouses to report it to the OLA through the hotline (Tel: 2881 7498), by email (hadlaenq@had.gov.hk), by fax (2504 5805) using the report form downloaded from the OLA website (www.hadla.gov.hk), or through the mobile application "Hong Kong Licensed Hotels and Guesthouses".