The Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) expressed grave concern over the lift incident at Paris Court of Sheungshui Tower Centre today (May 11) and has immediately commenced a thorough and detailed investigation into the incident.

     The preliminary investigation conducted by the EMSD revealed that the suspension ropes of the lift concerned were intact, and the incident might be attributed to the unintended car movement of the lift. The EMSD is carrying out an in-depth investigation at the moment in order to ascertain the cause of the incident. The EMSD has also issued a prohibition order to the lift concerned, the operation of the lift could only be allowed to resume after the completion of a thorough inspection by a registered lift engineer who could certify the safe working order of the lift.

      As a prudent measure, the EMSD is now carrying out an immediate inspection with the registered lift contractor of the lift involved in the incident for seven other passenger lifts and two other goods lifts in the housing estate of the same brand as the one in the incident. The inspection is expected to be completed by tomorrow morning. The EMSD has also requested other registered lift contractors to complete a special inspection within two weeks for about 90 lifts of the same brand currently installed in Hong Kong to ensure safety.

     The EMSD will expedite the completion of the investigation, including that of whether there have been contraventions of the Lifts and Escalators Ordinance. The EMSD will strictly enforce the law if contravention has been identified.

     The EMSD is deeply saddened by the incident and again expressed its deepest condolences to the victim's family. The EMSD will do its utmost to provide the family with appropriate assistance.

     The Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, today (May 11) led a Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) delegation with over 120 members and working staff to start their visit to Sichuan Province by attending the high-level meeting cum First Plenary of the Hong Kong-Sichuan Co-operation Conference, the Hong Kong-Sichuan Exchange Conference on Investment and Trade Co-operation, and events related to post-earthquake reconstruction support work after the massive Wenchuan earthquake of 2008.

     In the morning, Mrs Lam led all of the delegation members to meet with the Secretary of the CPC Sichuan Provincial Committee, Mr Peng Qinghua. Mrs Lam said the delegation visiting Sichuan this time comprises a large number of members including government officials, six members of the Executive Council, representatives from various organisations that participated in reconstruction support work, leaders of business chambers and people from creative industries. She thanked the Sichuan Government for its thoughtful and comprehensive arrangements for the HKSAR delegation's visit. She said Hong Kong people dedicated themselves to the reconstruction work in Sichuan after the Wenchuan earthquake 10 years ago, and the proactive participation by the non-governmental organisations was particularly touching. She added that this year marks the 40th anniversary of the reform and opening up of the country, and said the co-operation between Hong Kong and Sichuan should carry on from past successes while creating new achievements in the future. She expressed the belief that, based on Hong Kong's post-earthquake reconstruction support work and the strong bonds between the people of Hong Kong and Sichuan, there is huge potential for strengthening economic development, livelihood improvement, creative industries, innovation and technology and youth development work of the two places. She said she looked forward to a new stage of Hong Kong-Sichuan co-operation by launching the Hong Kong-Sichuan Co-operation Conference today.

     Later, Mrs Lam and Mr Peng co-chaired the high-level meeting cum First Plenary of the Hong Kong-Sichuan Co-operation Conference with the attendance of the HKSAR Government members of the delegation. At the meeting, Mrs Lam said the Hong Kong-Sichuan Co-operation Conference was established through the support of the Central People's Government and the efforts made by both the Hong Kong and Sichuan governments. She expressed the hope that Hong Kong and Sichuan would focus on enhancing co-operation in three directions, namely to contribute together to the Belt and Road Initiative, to leverage the development opportunities in innovation and entrepreneurship, and to foster people-to-people bonds. After the meeting, Mrs Lam and Mr Peng, together with the Director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council (HKMAO), Mr Zhang Xiaoming, and the Director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the HKSAR (CPGLO), Mr Wang Zhimin, witnessed the signing of the arrangement for the Hong Kong-Sichuan Co-operation Conference and the memorandum for the High-Level Meeting cum First Plenary of the Hong Kong-Sichuan Co-operation Conference between Sichuan and Hong Kong.

     Afterwards, Mrs Lam and all of the delegation members joined the Hong Kong-Sichuan Exchange Conference on Investment and Trade Co-operation. They witnessed the signing of a number of co-operation agreements between organisations from creative industries, higher education institutions, associations from different sectors and business enterprises, demonstrating that Hong Kong-Sichuan co-operation has passed beyond the traditional relationship in economic and trade areas and is heading towards multifaceted and comprehensive co-operation.

     After the ceremony, Mrs Lam and the HKSAR Government members of the delegation visited an exhibition held by the Sichuan Provincial Government on the 40th anniversary of the reform and opening up, HK-Sichuan co-operation and 10th anniversary of HK's post-earthquake reconstruction support work in Sichuan. The exhibition reviewed the history of Hong Kong and Sichuan since the reform and opening up of the country 40 years ago and Hong Kong's post-earthquake reconstruction support work in Sichuan in the past 10 years, and also looked ahead to future development in co-operation.

     At noon, Mrs Lam and all of the delegation members joined a lunch hosted by the Sichuan Provincial Government. After the lunch, Mrs Lam and the HKSAR Government members of the delegation visited the Sichuan University-The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Institute for Disaster Management and Reconstruction. The institute was built with RMB200 million in funding support by the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) and opened in 2013, and comprises six laboratories concerned with disasters and a disaster information resources centre. It is the first institute established in the Mainland focusing on research into preventing disasters, minimising the impact of natural disasters and implementing post-disaster reconstruction. Mrs Lam toured the facilities and exchanged views with the Hong Kong students studying in the institute.

     Mrs Lam later participated in an experience sharing session of “5.12 Reconstruction – Past, Present and Future” organised by the Development Bureau. In her opening remarks, she said the HKSAR had injected HK$10 billion and supported about 190 reconstruction projects. During the process, she was deeply impressed by the importance of advance planning, sustainable development as well as management and operation after project completion. Noting that Hong Kong's "can do" spirit was showcased during the course of the reconstruction support work, she said as long as Hong Kong continues with the spirit, the city is set to have a better future and contribute more to the country. At the same time, other delegation members including Executive Council members and representatives from the business chambers visited the Sichuan HKJC Olympic School, which was built with the support of the HKJC, and the Dujiangyan irrigation system respectively.

     After the sharing session, Mrs Lam and the other officials visited the City University of Hong Kong Chengdu Research Institute, and attended the opening ceremony of ARTS + iNNOVATION, which is a public service space for research, training and entrepreneurship in creative media and digitalised society. After the ceremony, Mrs Lam toured a virtual reality technology project about Dunhuang's Mogao Caves at the Centre for Applied Computing and Interactive Media, Chengdu, inside the facility.

     In the evening, the HKSAR Government hosted a thank-you dinner with about 160 participants including Mr Zhang, Mr Wang, leaders of the Sichuan Provincial Government and delegation members. In her speech, Mrs Lam expressed her sincere gratitude for the support offered by the Sichuan Provincial Government, HKMAO and CPGLO in HKSAR's post-earthquake reconstruction support work in Sichuan, and the active participation by various sectors represented by the delegation members.

     Mrs Lam will continue her visit to Sichuan tomorrow (May 12).

                                          

     The Secretary for Justice, Ms Teresa Cheng, SC, continued her visit in Beijing today (May 11).In the morning, Ms Cheng met with Assistant Minister of Commerce, Mr Li Chenggang. They discussed ways to build a communication platform for legal and dispute resolution professionals in Hong Kong to participate in Belt and Road Initiative in a more concrete way. 

     She then met with Vice Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission Mr Ning Jizhe, on the development opportunities in the Mainland for Hong Kong legal and dispute resolution professionals under the Belt and Road Initiative and the Bay Area development plan.

     In the afternoon, Ms Cheng joined the Hong Kong legal and dispute resolution practitioners to attend two roundtable meetings and exchanged views with representatives of the arbitration and business sectors in the Mainland. The first one was held by Beijing Arbitration Commission with focus on the participation of enterprises in the Belt and Road projects and the related legal risk prevention and dispute resolution.  They then joined the second meeting organised by the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission to discuss issues including pragmatic co-operation and exchanges between enterprises, legal and arbitration sectors in the Mainland and Hong Kong legal professionals, as well as ways to link Hong Kong’s legal advantages and Mainland enterprises' needs when seizing opportunities brought by the Belt and Road Initiative.

     Ms Cheng will return to Hong Kong tomorrow (May 12) afternoon.

        

     In response to media enquiries on the average waiting time announced today (May 11) for general applicants for public housing as at end-March 2018, a spokesman for the Transport and Housing Bureau issued the following statement:

     As indicated by the Government time and again, since the public rental housing (PRH) supply has been falling short of the demand for PRH over the years, there has been an ongoing upward pressure on the waiting time for PRH.

     In the past few years, we have been making our best efforts in increasing PRH supply. Despite the continued increase in new PRH units, the pace of increase is not fast enough to absorb the cumulative PRH demand over the years, hence prolonging the waiting time of PRH applicants. When those applicants with longer waiting time are eventually allocated with PRH units, their longer waiting time will be reflected in the average waiting time.

      In future, we will continue our efforts in increasing PRH supply. For the next five years (from 2017-18 to 2021-22), it is estimated that about 74 700 new PRH units will be completed, representing a steady increase over the previous four five-year periods.

      We hope that different sectors of the community will support the PRH development projects. We also appeal to the general public for support of the Government's work in identifying land for housing construction.

      Besides new PRH units, the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) also relies on recovered flats to meet the demand for PRH.  On average, there is a net recovery of over 7 000 PRH units annually. The HA will endeavour to better utilise PRH resources to ensure allocation of resources to those with more pressing housing needs. To this end, the HA has been reviewing the relevant policies from time to time, such as revising the "Well-off Tenants Policies", and combatting tenancy abuse to safeguard the rational use of PRH resources.

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     The spokesperson of Caritas Medical Centre (CMC) made the following announcement today (May 11) on a child inpatient confirmed with tuberculosis:
 
     A 7-year-old girl with symptoms of pneumonia was admitted to the acute ward of Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine on April 30. Due to persistent fever despite antibiotics treatment, the patient was transferred to isolation room on May 9, with specimens for tuberculosis testing arranged on the same day. The diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis was confirmed today (May 11). The patient currently receives treatment under isolation with stable condition.
 
     Upon confirmation of the diagnosis, the hospital has taken investigation and contact tracing according to the prevailing infection control guidelines. A total of 25 female patients (aged 3 months to 13 years) who had close contact with the index patient are required follow-up. Among them, 22 have been discharged while three are still hospitalised. The hospital is liaising with the parents concerned to explain the situation and arrange follow-up assessment for the children. None of them have reported any symptoms of tuberculosis so far.
 
     CMC will continue to closely monitor the health situation of the patients. Enquiry hotline (Tel: 3408 7743) has been established for public enquiry.
 
     The case has been reported to the Hospital Authority Head Office and the Department of Health.