Attention TV/radio announcers:

Please broadcast the following as soon as possible and repeat it at regular intervals:

     Here is an item of interest to swimmers.

     The Leisure and Cultural Services Department announced today (April 11) that Jockey Club Yan Oi Tong Swimming Pool in Tuen Mun District has been temporarily closed for cleaning and superchlorination following the discovery of a small amount of faeces in the pool.

     It will be reopened at 7.45pm today.

     The department appeals to swimmers to be considerate and to keep the swimming pools clean. They are advised not to swim after a full meal and should use the toilet facilities if necessary before swimming.

     The latest test results of the opening-up investigation in the second stage of the holistic assessment strategy for the Hung Hom Station Extension under the Shatin to Central Link (SCL) project (as at April 11) are now available at the Highways Department's website for the SCL project (www.hyd.gov.hk/en/road_and_railway/railway_projects/scl/index.html) for reference by the public.

     The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, visited the Architectural Services Department (ArchSD) this afternoon (April 11) to gain a first-hand understanding of the Department’s latest development.
      
     Accompanied by the Director of Architectural Services, Mrs Sylvia Lam, Mr Cheung received a briefing on the Department's contribution to public facilities development, the priority projects and the challenges ahead.
      
     Mr Cheung then observed the design and structure services that the Architectural Branch of the Department provided to the building and landscape projects of Government building, particularly on the use of building information modelling (BIM) in project management.
      
     He was pleased to learn that ArchSD received a Hong Kong BIM Award in 2017 for its outstanding application of BIM in the Kai Tak Refuse Collection Point project.  BIM is the process of generating three-dimensional, digital representation of building data to enhance communication between the architects, engineers and construction partners working on the same project.
      
     He then received an update by the Property Services Branch on providing efficient and cost-effective professional and project management services to buildings and facilities undergoing maintenance and refurbishment works.
      
     Mr Cheung then visited the Project Management Branch where he was briefed on the application of modular integrated construction (MiC) in project construction and the latest progress of the Hospital Development Plan projects. MiC is a construction method under which free-standing volumetric modules are manufactured off-site and then transported for constructing buildings.
      
     Mr Cheung said that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government had all along encouraged the construction industry to embrace innovation to increase construction productivity, enhance regulation and quality assurance, improve site safety and reduce environmental impacts. MiC could help achieve these targets since it could enable most labour-intensive and time-consuming construction processes to be completed at off-site prefabrication yards. He anticipated that the technique would be applied widely.
      
     Mr Cheung was also given an introduction on how ArchSD could enhance its operational efficiency by applying smart and innovative technologies in the work process through the development of Corporate Intelligence (CO-i). The core of CO-i development is a big data bank with linkage to various application systems to promote “architectural intelligence”, including integrated project management platform, advanced asset information system integrated with BIM, mobile platform for construction site supervision and work flow digitalisation.
      
     During his dialogue with front-line staff, Mr Cheung commended them for their professionalism. He also encouraged them to continue to apply new technologies and innovative building methods to ensure that the development of community facilities would be of high quality, cost-effective and sustainable.
     

The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:

     The Legislative Council (LegCo) Finance Committee (FC) will hold two sessions of meeting tomorrow (April 12) in Conference Room 1 of the LegCo Complex to examine the Estimates of Expenditure 2019-2020. The arrangements of the meeting will be as follows:

     (i) Session on Welfare and Women of the special FC will start at 3.30pm and;

     (ii) Session on Labour of the special FC will start at 6pm.

     â€‹The Director-General of Investment Promotion, Mr Stephen Phillips, today (April 11) commenced his visit to Paris, France to promote Hong Kong as the favourable global business platform in the Asia-Pacific Region.
      
     Mr Phillips will meet with corporate leaders in various sectors including financial and professional services, innovation and industrial and more. During the visit, he will also attend a business luncheon hosted by the Department of Justice and speak at a reception jointly held by the Department of Justice and Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK) to update French companies about the latest business environment in Hong Kong. In 2018, France was the fourth largest source of assisted companies in InvestHK’s portfolio.
      
     Mr Phillips said, "The number of French companies in Hong Kong has been growing steadily over the past few years. At the same time, French companies are eyeing broader investment in Mainland China. As an international city of China and given its geographical location, Hong Kong has been a crucial gateway via which French investment and other foreign investment go into Mainland China."
      
     "In addition, the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area sets out clearly Hong Kong's multiple roles, amongst other things, as an international financial city, a global innovation hub and the centre for international legal and dispute resolution services in the Asia-Pacific region. These areas of work are all conducive to developing Hong Kong further as an international metropolis with enhanced competitiveness. Hong Kong will offer an even more favourable business platform for foreign companies that aim to develop a reliable foothold in the Asia-Pacific region and have access to the massive Greater Bay Area market."
      
     The Greater Bay Area covers nine cities in Guangdong Province, namely Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Huizhou, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing, as well as the two Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macao. It is an enormous market with a population of 71 million and a gross domestic product of US$1.6 trillion.
      
About InvestHK
         
     InvestHK is the department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government responsible for attracting foreign direct investment and supporting overseas and Mainland businesses to set up or expand in Hong Kong. It provides free advice and customised services for overseas and Mainland companies. For more information, please visit www.investhk.gov.hk.