The Lands Department (LandsD) announced today (October 26) that a site, Lot No. 765 in Demarcation District No. 332 at South Lantau Road, Cheung Sha, Lantau Island, New Territories, in the 2018-19 Land Sale Programme will be disposed of by public tender. The tender invitation for the lot will commence on November 2 and close on November 30.
            
     Lot No. 765 in Demarcation District No. 332 has a site area of about 2,692 square metres and is designated for private residential purposes. The minimum gross floor area is 646 sq m and the maximum gross floor area that may be attained is 1,076 sq m.
      
     Land sale documents including the Form of Tender, the Tender Notice, the Conditions of Sale and the sale plan of the lot will be available for downloading from the LandsD website (www.landsd.gov.hk), and the sale plan will be available for distribution and inspection by the public from November 2, when the particulars of the tender will also be gazetted.

     The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) today (October 26) released the latest grading of water quality of 38 gazetted beaches* that are open for swimming and one non-gazetted beach (i.e. Discovery Bay**).
        
     Twenty-eight beaches were rated as Good (Grade 1) and 11 as Fair (Grade 2).
 
Grade 1 beaches are:        

 
Grade 2 beaches are:

 
* The Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) announced today that Pui O Beach will reopen tomorrow (October 27). In addition, LCSD has also announced earlier on the reopening of 14 beaches, including Butterfly Beach, Castle Peak Beach, Kadoorie Beach, Cafeteria Old Beach, Cafeteria New Beach and Golden Beach in Tuen Mun District; Anglers' Beach, Hoi Mei Wan Beach, Approach Beach and Ma Wan Tung Wan Beach in Tsuen Wan District; Hung Shing Yeh Beach, Lo So Shing Beach and Silver Mine Bay Beach in Islands District; and Repulse Bay Beach in Southern District.  Meanwhile, other gazetted beaches in Southern, Tsuen Wan, Islands and Sai Kung Districts will remain closed until further notice. 
** Discovery Bay is a non-gazetted beach without lifeguard service.
*** The Sai Kung Sewage Treatment Works recently damaged by typhoon is under repair.  The public is advised to avoid water contact recreational activities at Kiu Tsui Beach, Trio Beach and Hap Mun Bay Beach where water quality may be temporarily affected until further notice.
 
     Under the present grading system, beaches are classified into four grades according to the level of E. coli in the water. Grades are calculated on the basis of the geometric mean of the E. coli counts on the five most recent sampling occasions.
      
     A summary of beach grades is published weekly before the weekend.  Latest beach grades based on the most current data may be obtained from the department's websites on Beach Water Quality (www.beachwq.gov.hk or www.epd.gov.hk/epd/beach) or the beach hotline, 2511 6666.

     According to the figures released today (October 26) by the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD), the average monthly salaries for middle-level managerial and professional employees for all the selected industry sections surveyed, as measured by the Nominal Salary Index (A), increased by 3.5% in June 2018 compared with a year earlier.

     After discounting the increase in consumer prices as measured by the Consumer Price Index (C), the Real Salary Index (A) increased by 1.2% in June 2018 over a year earlier.

     Analysed by industry section and on a year-on-year comparison in nominal terms, the average monthly salaries for middle-level managerial and professional employees increased in all the individual industry sections in June 2018, ranging from 3.1% to 4.5%.

     After discounting the increase in consumer prices, year-on-year increases in the Real Salary Index (A) were also observed in all the individual industry sections, ranging from 0.8% to 2.2%.

     The Salary Index (A) measures changes in salary rates for all middle-level managerial and professional employees of the companies covered by the survey. Another index, the Salary Index (B), which excludes newly recruited and promoted employees and covers only those middle-level managerial and professional employees remaining in the same occupations and in the same companies in two consecutive years, is also compiled. Its main purpose is to measure salary changes due to general increment, meritorious performance and gain in seniority.

     Comparing June 2018 with June 2017, the overall Salary Index (B) increased by 4.8% in nominal terms or 2.6% in real terms. The different movement between the Salary Index (A) and the Salary Index (B) was mainly attributable to the lower pay usually received by new recruits (who were included only in the Salary Index (A) but not in the Salary Index (B)) as compared with existing employees. Hence, in general, increases in the Salary Index (B) are greater than the corresponding increases in the Salary Index (A).
 
     Statistics on the year-on-year percentage changes in the Nominal Salary Index (A), Real Salary Index (A), Nominal Salary Index (B) and Real Salary Index (B) for June 2018 in respect of the selected industry sections covered are shown in the tables attached.

     The survey findings also showed that in June 2018, about 40% of the middle-level managerial and professional employees were entitled to guaranteed year-end bonus/payment and about 70% to irregular profit-sharing bonuses. Moreover, the majority of them were entitled to fringe benefits of some kind, including paid annual leave and insurance protection (in addition to the statutory requirements), housing benefits, medical benefits, course fee subsidies for employees’ further studies, etc.

Commentary

     A Government spokesman noted that the average salaries of middle-level managerial and professional employees registered further solid increases in June 2018, representing across-the-board improvement in real terms after netting out inflation. This was underpinned by the keen demand for higher-skilled talents in the corporate sector amid the vibrant economic performance and Hong Kong's continual development towards a knowledge-based economy. Among the selected industry sections, more visible salary gain was observed in the building, construction and related trades section.

Other Information
 
     The salary indices are compiled annually based on the results of the Survey of Salaries and Employee Benefits – Managerial and Professional Employee (Excluding Top Management). This statistical survey has been conducted by the C&SD since 1984 to measure changes in salary rates for middle-level managerial and professional employees in selected industries. A sample of about 270 companies was selected for the survey in 2018.
 
     For the purpose of the survey, salary rate is defined to include basic salary, cost-of-living allowance, guaranteed year-end extra bonus/payment, commission, as well as other regular and guaranteed bonuses and allowances.
 
     Details of the salary movement, average salary rate for major occupations, and statistics on employees' entitlement to various fringe benefits, together with a description of the survey methodology and coverage, are published in the "2018 Report of Salaries and Employee Benefits Statistics – Managerial and Professional Employees (Excluding Top Management)". The publication is available for downloading free of charge from the website of the C&SD (www.censtatd.gov.hk/hkstat/sub/sp210.jsp?productCode=B1050010).

     Enquiries concerning the salary indices can be directed to the Wages and Labour Costs Statistics Section (2) of the Census and Statistics Department at 3105 2369.

     The Education Bureau (EDB) of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region today (October 26) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Ministry of Education of Myanmar on education co-operation to enhance education collaboration between the two places. The MOU was signed by the Under Secretary for Education, Dr Choi Yuk-lin, and the Deputy Minister of Education of Myanmar, Mr Win Maw Tun, by means of exchange of documents.
 
     The MOU provides a framework to facilitate strategic collaboration between the education communities of Hong Kong and Myanmar. It covers initiatives including the provision of scholarships for students; exchange of expertise and experience; exchange of educational literature, teaching aids and demonstration materials; and exchanges of scholars, teachers, experts, students and other education personnel. The main text of the MOU is available on the EDB website (www.edb.gov.hk/en/edu-system/postsecondary/policy-doc/index.html).
 
     The EDB also announced today the launch of the Belt and Road Scholarship (Myanmar) with a view to attracting outstanding students from Myanmar to pursue undergraduate studies in Hong Kong from the 2019/20 academic year. Under the scholarship scheme, up to 10 scholarships will be offered annually to students from Myanmar who are enrolled in first-year undergraduate programmes of publicly funded institutions in Hong Kong. All awardees will receive scholarships to cover the full tuition fees of relevant programmes annually. The scholarships for the first 10 awardees will be supported by donations from the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce (CGCC) and CGCC (Foundation) Limited.
      
     "Signing the MOU with Myanmar and launching a new Belt and Road Scholarship can further internationalise the Hong Kong's higher education sector and enrich our pool of talents with international perspectives, with a view to contributing to the future development of Hong Kong," Dr Choi said.
 
     To internationalise and diversify the Hong Kong higher education sector, and groom talents with global vision and an international network to enhance human capital, the EDB launched the Belt and Road Scholarship (Indonesia) in the 2016/17 academic year. The scholarship scheme was expanded to cover Malaysia and Thailand in the 2017/18 academic year. At the same time, the scholarship awardees can act as ambassadors to strengthen exchange and people-to-people bonds between Hong Kong and these places.

     The Director-General of Civil Aviation, Mr Simon Li, attended the 55th Conference of Directors General of Civil Aviation, Asia and Pacific Regions, organised by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in Fiji.

     The theme for this year's five-day Conference, which concluded successfully today (October 26), was "Collaboration and Harmonisation for Safe, Secure and Sustainable Aviation in the Asia Pacific Region". The Conference was attended by over 200 delegates from about 50 states, administrations and industry organisations. Some 130 papers were submitted by aviation authorities and industry organisations to the conference covering a wide range of subjects, including aviation safety, air navigation, aviation security, unmanned aircraft systems and technical co-operation.

     In the light of the double digit growth in air traffic overflying the Hong Kong Flight Information Region (FIR) in recent years, and to put the idea of "Collaboration and Harmonisation for Safe, Secure and Sustainable Aviation in the Asia Pacific Region" into action, Mr Li held meetings with the Director Generals of Singapore and Thailand, being two of the major neighbouring FIRs with busy traffic flow to and from Hong Kong, China and through the Hong Kong FIR, to enhance air traffic flow in the Asia-Pacific region and to improve on-time performance of aircraft landing and taking off at Hong Kong International Airport. Mr Li will continue to liaise with aviation partners to share best practices and to closely follow ICAO guidelines and standards to promote aviation safety.

     Taking note that sustainability in aviation also includes a steady supply of trained personnel in the various sectors of aviation, Mr Li invited Mrs Vivian Cheung, the President of the Hong Kong International Aviation Academy (HKIAA), established by the Airport Authority Hong Kong, to join the Hong Kong, China delegation to the Conference. They met with the ICAO Secretary General, Dr Fang Liu; the ICAO Regional Director for the Asia Pacific, Mr Arun Mishra; and a number of Director Generals and key representatives from aviation partners in the Asia-Pacific region who sent representatives to attend the Advanced Master in Air Transport Management Programme jointly organised by the HKIAA and National School of Civil Aviation of France (Ecole Nationale de l’Aviation Civile) in Hong Kong. The programme has been well received by the industry. The HKIAA also took the opportunity to introduce to the Conference its curriculum for the coming years. The CAD will continue to support and strengthen its collaboration with the HKIAA to nurture local and regional talents in the aviation sector to further strengthen Hong Kong's leading status as a major aviation hub in the region.