Author Archives: hksar gov

The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Housing Authority:

     Members of the Hong Kong Housing Authority’s (HA) Commercial Properties Committee today (May 11) visited three HA shopping centres to better understand their business conditions.
 
     Members firstly visited the Pok Hong Shopping Centre at Sha Tin. The shopping centre was opened in 1982, with a retail area of about 3 300 square metres. Members were briefed on the improvement works completed last year. The restaurant at Pok Hong Shopping Centre was re-designed and the space released was converted into six shops, providing the residents with more retail services. Moreover, new entrances, a corridor and a barrier-free lift platform were added, which improved the circulation of the shopping centre. The improvement works also included refurbishment of the toilets and renovation of the external walls of the shopping centre, the multi-storey carpark building and advertising panels, giving the shopping centre a new appearance.
 
     Members then visited Kwai Shing West Shopping Centre in Kwai Chung. The three-storey shopping centre was opened in 1975 and has a total lettable area of about 4 500 square metres. Improvement works were also completed last year to enhance the business environment of the shopping centre. The improvement works included construction of a new lift tower connecting the ground floor, first floor and the podium on the second floor; renovation of market stalls, with some of them converted into a Chinese restaurant and storerooms; addition of new shops; floor re-tiling of the shopping centre and the market; renovation of the external walls and signboard of the shopping centre; and installation of glazed covers at podium level.
 
     To conclude the tour, Members visited Ching Long Shopping Centre at the new Kai Tak development area in Kowloon City. The shopping centre was completed in mid-2013 and has a total lettable area of about 9 200 square metres, comprising shops of various trades and a single operator market. It has adopted a “roadside shops” layout with natural ventilation for the corridors, offering the residents of Kai Ching Estate and Tak Long Estate diverse retail services and restaurants.

     Visits to the HA’s commercial facilities have been organised from time to time by the Housing Department for members of Commercial Properties Committee to enable them to gain first-hand knowledge of the operation of the HA’s commercial facilities.

          

     Police will implement special traffic arrangements to facilitate a public procession to be held on Hong Kong Island this Sunday (May 13). Road closure ————      The following roads w… read more

     The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health is today (May 11) investigating two food poisoning clusters affecting seven persons, and reminded the public to maintain personal, food and environmental hygiene to prevent food-borne diseases.

     The first cluster comprised one man and four women aged 29 to 64 who developed fever, abdominal pain and diarrhoea about 10 to 18 hours after having dinner at a restaurant in Prince Edward on April 29. Three of them have sought medical advice and one has been discharged upon hospitalisation. Separately, the stool specimen collected from one patient tested positive for Salmonella enteritidis upon laboratory testing.

     The second cluster comprised two women both aged 35 who developed fever, abdominal pain, diarrhoea and vomiting about 14 to 21 hours after having dinner at the same restaurant on April 30. Both patients of the second cluster have sought medical advice and no hospitalisation is required.
 
     All patients are in a stable condition. The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department has been alerted to the incident and the CHP’s investigations are ongoing.

     To prevent food-borne diseases, members of the public are reminded to maintain personal, food and environmental hygiene at all times. When dining out:
 

• Patronise only reliable and licensed restaurants;
• Avoid eating raw seafood;
• Be a discerning consumer in choosing cold dishes, including sashimi, sushi and raw oysters, at a buffet;
• Ensure food is thoroughly cooked before eating during a hot pot or barbecue meal;
• Handle raw and cooked foods carefully and separate them completely during the cooking process;
• Use two sets of chopsticks and eating utensils to handle raw and cooked food;
• Do not patronise illegal food hawkers;
• Drink boiled water;
• Do not try to use salt, vinegar, wine and wasabi to kill bacteria as they are not effective; and
• Always wash hands before eating and after going to the toilet.

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

     The Legislative Council (LegCo) Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will hold a public hearing on “Management of restored landfills” (Chapter 1) of the Director of Audit’s Report No.70 at 9am next Monday (May 14) in Conference Room 2 of the LegCo Complex.

     Fourteen witnesses have been invited to appear before the above hearing to respond to points raised in the Report and answer questions asked by PAC members.

     The programme for the public hearing is as follows:

May 14 (Monday)
Venue: Conference Room 2
9am 

Subject: Management of restored landfills (Chapter 1 of the Director of Audit’s Report No.70)

Witnesses:

Secretary for the Environment
Mr Wong Kam-sing

Under Secretary for Home Affairs
Mr Jack Chan

Principal Assistant Secretary (Recreation and Sport)2, Home Affairs Bureau
Ms Linda Law

Director of Environmental Protection
Mr Donald Tong

Deputy Director of Environmental Protection (2)
Mrs Vicki Kwok

Assistant Director (Environmental Infrastructure), Environmental Protection Department
Ms Betty Cheung

Principal Environmental Protection Officer (Landfills and Development), Environmental Protection Department
Mr Fong Kin-wa

Director of Leisure and Cultural Services
Ms Michelle Li

Chief Executive Officer (Planning) 2, Leisure and Cultural Services Department
Ms Linda Cheung

Director of Architectural Services
Mrs Sylvia Lam

Project Director/3, Architectural Services Department
Mr Edward Tse

Chief Project Manager 302, Architectural Services Department
Mr Chris Liu

Director of Home Affairs
Miss Janice Tse

Assistant Director (2), Home Affairs Department
Ms Eugenia Chung

     PAC is chaired by Mr Abraham Shek, and its Deputy Chairman is Mr Kenneth Leung. Other members include Mr Paul Tse, Mr Steven Ho, Mr Lam Cheuk-ting, Mr Shiu Ka-fai and Ms Tanya Chan. read more

     The Policy Innovation and Co-ordination Office (PICO) announced today (May 11) the funding results of the first round exercise in 2018-19 of the Public Policy Research (PPR) Funding Scheme.
 
     The PPR Funding Scheme aims to promote public policy research and provide evidence-based research to facilitate public policy discussion. Applications are accepted throughout the year. For the first round exercise in 2018-19, PICO received 21 applications. On the advice of an assessment panel, PICO decided to fund seven projects with a total funding of about $2.8 million.
 
     Assessments on the PPR Funding Scheme are conducted by the assessment panel comprising academics, taking into account the comments of reviewers who are academics and experts outside the panel. Each application is considered on its merits and contributions towards the making of public policies. A declaration of interests system is in place to ensure that the assessments are fair and just.
 
     Details of the funded projects have been uploaded to PICO’s website (www.pico.gov.hk). read more