The Secretary for the Civil Service, Mrs Ingrid Yeung, met with the Head of Civil Service of Singapore, Mr Leo Yip, at the Central Government Offices today (July 20).
 
     Welcoming Mr Yip's visit to Hong Kong, Mrs Yeung said the civil services of Hong Kong and Singapore have been maintaining close ties and exchanges. While reciprocal visits between the civil services could not be materialised in the past two years under the COVID-19 epidemic, Mrs Yeung looked forward to resuming and enhancing exchanges and co-operation between the two places in future.
 
     Moreover, the Permanent Secretary for the Civil Service, Mr Clement Leung, accompanied by the Head of the Civil Service College, Mr Oscar Kwok, had a meeting with Mr Yip on enhancing training and co-operation between the two civil services.
 
     The Civil Service Bureau also arranged a roundtable meeting between senior officials from various government bureaux and departments and Mr Yip. During the meeting, both sides exchanged views and shared experience on various issues including education and youth, culture and sports, and transport and logistics.

      

     The Lands Department announced today (July 20) that in respect of the tender for the site Inland Lot No. 9061 at Queen's Road East, Wan Chai, Hong Kong, which was awarded on June 21 to the successful tenderer, Achieve Bright Limited (parent company: Swire Properties Limited), on a 50-year land grant at a premium of $1,962,168,000, the tender amounts submitted by the unsuccessful tenderers in descending order are published on an anonymous basis as follows:

(1) $1,699,900,000
(2) $1,662,000,000
(3) $1,628,660,000
(4) $1,618,000,000
(5) $1,608,000,000
(6) $1,600,188,000
(7) $1,528,800,000
(8) $1,515,000,000
(9) $1,504,000,000
(10) $1,398,000,000
(11) $1,387,000,000
(12) $1,338,000,000
(13) $1,328,000,000
(14) $1,200,000,000
(15) $1,199,980,000
(16) $1,100,000,000
(17) $1,060,000,000
(18) $1,000,000,000
(19) $998,000,000
(20) $983,888,000
     
     â€‹The information disclosed in this press release is for information only.

     The Lands Department announced today (July 20) that the tender for a site, Kwai Chung Town Lot No. 531 at the junction of Mei Ching Road and Container Port Road South, Kwai Chung, New Territories, has been awarded to the highest tenderer, Sunrise Victory Limited (parent company: ESR Group Limited), on a 50-year land grant at a premium of $5,256,999,999.

     The tenderers, other than the successful tenderer, in alphabetical order, with the name of the parent company where provided by the tenderer in brackets, were:

(1) Mapletree KC (HKSAR) Limited (Mapletree Investments Pte Ltd); and
(2) Mei Ching Investments No. 1 Limited (Goodman HK Investments).

     A spokesman for the Transport and Logistics Bureau said, "The positive market response to the tender exercise for Kwai Chung Town Lot No. 531 reflects the trade's demand for logistics land. The Government will continue to identify more suitable sites for the development of multi-storey modern logistics facilities to promote modern logistics development progressively."
      
     Kwai Chung Town Lot No. 531 has a site area of about 55,245 square metres and is designated for logistics services and public vehicle park purposes. The maximum gross floor area that may be attained is 138,000 sq m for developing multi-storey modern logistics facilities and a public vehicle park, so as to have multiple purposes within the site.

​     The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department today (July 20) announced that malachite green was found in a goldfish sample. A follow-up is in progress.
 
​     A CFS spokesman said, "The CFS collected the above-mentioned goldfish sample from a stall at Cheung Sha Wan Wholesale Food Market for testing under its routine Food Surveillance Programme. The test result showed that the sample contained malachite green at a level of 0.978 part per billion."
 
​     The spokesman said that the CFS has informed the vendor concerned of the irregularity and instructed the vendor to stop sale of the affected product. The CFS is also tracing the source and distribution of the product concerned.
 
​     Malachite green is a type of industrial dye and has been used for treating infections in fish. Currently, malachite green has been prohibited for use in food-producing animals in many countries. According to the Harmful Substances in Food Regulations (Cap. 132AF), no food sold in Hong Kong is allowed to contain malachite green. Offenders will be prosecuted and liable to a fine of $50,000 and to imprisonment for six months upon conviction.
 
​     The CFS will continue to follow up on the incident and take appropriate action. An investigation is ongoing.

     The Task Force on Supplies from the Mainland led by the Transport and Logistics Bureau (TLB) has been working closely with the Guangdong Provincial Government and the Shenzhen Municipal People's Government to explore various means to stabilise the supply of goods from the Mainland to Hong Kong.
 
     A spokesperson for the TLB said that the "Sea Express" water transportation service from the Mainland to Hong Kong has been fully launched and its capacity is rising to increase the supplies of fresh food, other daily necessities and manufacturing materials. The current supply of fresh food from the Mainland is stable.
 
     The spokesperson said today (July 20) that Shenzhen operated 49 cargo vessel trips and transported around 4 940 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of cross-boundary supplies by water yesterday (July 19), equivalent to about 19 950 tonnes of goods, of which around 10 TEUs (about 90 tonnes) were fresh food and around 4 930 TEUs (about 19 860 tonnes) were non-fresh food, according to information from the Mainland authorities.
 
     Since the launch of services from the three ports in Shenzhen since February 18 to yesterday, a total of around 692 750 TEUs of cross-boundary supplies have been transported, equivalent to about 3 381 940 tonnes of goods, of which around 2 140 TEUs (about 18 290 tonnes) were fresh food and around 690 610 TEUs (about 3 363 650 tonnes) were non-fresh food.
 
     Meanwhile, to avoid a spillover of the epidemic, the Transport Department (TD) arranges for dedicated staff to conduct rapid nucleic acid tests, using nasopharyngeal swabs for specimen collection, for cross-boundary goods vehicle drivers at various land boundary control points. Only drivers with a negative result are allowed to enter the Mainland. A total of 3 948 rapid nucleic acid tests were conducted yesterday, among which 10 cases that tested preliminarily positive or indeterminate were found. The TD has passed the cases to the Department of Health for follow-up.
 
     The TLB will closely monitor the situation and co-operate with the Mainland authorities to facilitate and implement various measures to ensure both smooth cross-boundary land transport and a stable goods supply to Hong Kong, while reducing the risk of epidemic transmission in both the Mainland and Hong Kong.