Attention TV/radio announcers:
Please broadcast the following as soon as possible:
Here is an item of interest to swimmers.
The Leisure and Cultural Services Department announced today (June 19) that due to big waves, red flags have been hoisted at St Stephen's Beach and Shek O Beach in Southern District on Hong Kong Island and at Lower Cheung Sha Beach in Islands District. Beach-goers are advised not to swim at these beaches.
​The Transport Department (TD) announced today (June 19) that the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Macao Port Park-and-Ride Scheme (Macao PnR Scheme) will be open for applications from June 21 (Thursday).
Under the Macao PnR Scheme, Hong Kong private cars shall park at the East Car Park of the HZMB Frontier Post at Macao Port (the Macao Car Park) which has around 3 000 car parking spaces. After completing the clearance formalities, visitors will be able to take other transportation from Macao Port to the city of Macao.
The Macao PnR Scheme is open to owners of private cars registered and licensed in Hong Kong without quota restriction. Applicants must complete all formalities as required by the three Governments, including obtaining the valid licences and permits of the Hong Kong and Macao Governments and the Filing Records of the Mainland Government. To assist applicants, the TD will co-ordinate the applications for Hong Kong and Macao licences and permits, as well as those for the preliminary approval of Filing Records of the Mainland Government. With the applicants' consent, the TD will pass the information of applicants, vehicles and drivers to the Macao and Mainland Governments for completing relevant formalities.
Before making the first reservation of a car parking space, applicants are required to obtain the Closed Road Permit (CRP) issued by the TD and the Identification Label issued by the Macao Transport Bureau. Applicants may then reserve a car parking space at the Macao Car Park through the Macao Government's designated online platform (hzmbparking.dsat.gov.mo). A reservation must be made at least 12 hours before departure. During the validity periods of the Identification Label, the CRP and the relevant vehicle licence and driving licence, Hong Kong private car owners may make multiple reservations for a car parking space.
Before departing for the Macao Car Park, an applicant must purchase Macao and Mainland vehicle insurance as required by the respective laws and upload the Mainland insurance information at the Mainland's online filing platform (bridge.zhcgs.gov.cn) for formal approval of Filing Records.
The daily parking hours are divided into two 12-hour sessions. The minimum number of sessions for each reservation is one, and the maximum number of sessions is 16 (i.e. 192 hours). Each Hong Kong private car is allowed to enter and leave the Macao Car Park once during the parking period.
Applicants can apply for the CRP issued by the TD, the Macao Identification Label and the Mainland preliminary approval of the Filing Records via www.gov.hk/macaopnr starting from 8am on June 21. Applicants must book an appointment at the above webpage if they wish to submit applications through a counter. For application details and procedures, please visit the TD's website (www.td.gov.hk/en/public_services/licences_and_permits/hzmb_macao_port_parknride/index.html) or call 2804 2600.
Drivers with anticipated frequent use of the Macao PnR Scheme may apply for a longer validity period of the CRP (the longest validity period is one year) and purchase Mainland vehicle insurance with a longer validity period, so as to save time for applying for a CRP, completing Filing Records and purchasing Mainland insurance after reserving the car parking space each time. The validity period of the Identification Label is three years. The eligibility of the applicants for the scheme is in the Annex.
The following is issued on behalf of the Electoral Affairs Commission:
The Electoral Affairs Commission will hold a public forum on June 21 (Thursday) on the proposed guidelines on election-related activities in respect of the Rural Representative Election.
"Members of the public are invited to express their views at the public forum," a Commission spokesman said.
The forum will be held from 7pm to 8pm at Lung Hang Estate Community Centre, Lung Hang Estate, Sha Tin.
The proposed guidelines were released on June 12 for public consultation until July 11.
Written representations can be sent to the Commission's Secretariat by post to 10/F, Harbour Centre, 25 Harbour Road, Wan Chai; by fax to 2511 1682; or by email to eacenq@reo.gov.hk before the deadline. Late submissions will not be considered.
The proposed guidelines can be downloaded from the Commission's website (www.eac.gov.hk). They are also available at the Registration and Electoral Office and the Home Affairs Enquiry Centres of District Offices.
For enquiries, please call 2891 1001.
Attention TV/radio announcers:
Please broadcast the following as soon as possible:
Here is an item of interest to swimmers.
The Leisure and Cultural Services Department announced today (June 19) that due to big waves, red flag has been hoisted at Upper Cheung Sha Beach in Islands District. Beach-goers are advised not to swim at the beach.
Following is the transcript of remarks by the Acting Chief Executive, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, at a media session before the Executive Council meeting this morning (June 19):
Reporter: Mr Cheung, do you think the MTR has failed to submit its report yesterday? Is the Government going to penalise the MTR for that? And also, there are two further incidents coming out in the past week over the MTR saga – will the judge-led inquiry also investigate into these two incidents in the To Kwa Wan station as well as the exhibition centre?
Acting Chief Executive: The delay in submitting the report by MTR certainly is not satisfactory. In fact, the Director of Highways has already expressed our disappointment yesterday. And MTR promised to submit the report this morning, and apart from the To Kwa Wan report, they will also submit a report on the Exhibition station problem, involving underground support work. So we’re expecting two reports today from MTR.
On whether to extend the terms of reference on the Commission of Inquiry, I already responded yesterday at my function at the Tuen Mun Dragon Boat Festival. I said that the Chief Executive, Mrs Lam, when she announced the news of setting up the Commission of Inquiry last Tuesday, made it quite clear that we want, we really wish the terms of reference to be more focused on problems of the Hung Hom station, rather than spreading it too thin. The reason is very simple, the Hung Hom case is far more complex. We have other ways of tackling the other two issues, the so-called To Kwa Wan problem as well as the Exhibition station problem. There are ways and means of tackling it. It does not necessarily involve expanding the Commission of Inquiry's terms of reference. We don't want the Commission of Inquiry to overextend or overstretch itself. We want it more focus on the more complex problems. And in fact in the course of investigation, there will be certain issues common to all MTR contracts. I am sure that there will be some common denominators coming up in terms of, for example, work supervision. So, we'll certainly kick-start the Commission of Inquiry as quick as possible and at the same time keep a very close eye on the entire Shatin-Central line. In fact, the Chairman of the MTR, Professor Fred Ma, also undertook to launch a thorough Investigation into the whole Shatin Central line. Thank you very much.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)