The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
During the winter surge, the Hospital Authority is closely monitoring the service demand of Accident and Emergency Departments and the occupancy rates in public hospitals. Key service statistics are being issued daily for public information. Details are in the appended table.
Police are investigating a fatal traffic accident in Yuen Long last night (December 9) in which a 27-year-old woman died.
At about 11.08pm, a light goods vehicle (LGV) driven by a 33-year-old man was travelling along Tai Tong Road towards Tai Tong Tsuen. When approaching Nam Hang Tsuen, it reportedly lost control, mounted a pavement, knocked down the 27-year-old female pedestrian and then side-turned.
Sustaining head injuries, the woman was rushed to Pok Oi Hospital in unconscious state and was certified dead at 12.21am today (December 10). The LGV driver was trapped inside the compartment and was rescued by firemen. Sustaining injuries to his head and hands, he was sent to Pok Oi Hospital in conscious state.
The LGV driver was arrested for dangerous driving causing death. He is being detained for further enquiries.
Investigation by the Special Investigation Team of Traffic, New Territories North is underway.
Anyone who witnessed the accident or has any information to offer is urged to contact the investigating officers at 3661 3858 or 3661 3800.
In response to media enquiries, the Development Bureau (DEVB) responded today (December 9) as follows:
The funding for the main works of the First Phase development of the Kwu Tung North and Fanling North New Development Area (KTN/FLN NDA) was approved by the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council in May this year. Subsequently, the Lands Department commenced the statutory land resumption procedures on September 26 by posting land resumption notices on the private land within the works area to inform relevant landowners that the said land will revert to the Government on December 27.
As the DEVB stressed repeatedly, the above reversion date is only the date on which the ownership of the private land concerned reverts to the Government. It is not the departure deadline of the affected households, businesses or farmers. Persons affected by the First Phase development will depart the development area by phase. Taking households as an example, their departure deadlines, which range from end-March 2020 to the second half of 2022, are set with regard to the project requirements of the NDAs. Starting from late July this year, the Lands Department has issued a letter to individual households to inform each household of its departure deadline.
On the rehousing aspect, as at end-October this year, around 220 eligible households have been allocated with rehousing flats by the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) and the Hong Kong Housing Society (HKHS) (majority being units within the Po Shek Wu Estate in the North District), and have recently been moving in; around 150 rehousing applications are being processed or pending submission of further information, and are being followed up by the relevant departments; the remainder of around 140 households are not eligible for rehousing based on existing information, due to major circumstances including: the household owns domestic property in Hong Kong, the structure currently occupied by the household is totally unauthorised (i.e. structures not registered in squatter control survey or not covered by any land instrument), or the household is an existing tenant of public housing. Separately, around 20 households opt for cash compensation in lieu of rehousing, and their cases are being processed by the Lands Department. Households registered in the freezing survey will be offered the domestic removal allowance irrespective of their eligibility for rehousing or compensation. Moreover, although the Remaining Phase development does not have a concrete timetable at present and the departure timeline of the affectees is expected to be 2023 or after, around 150 eligible households which are affected by the Remaining Phase development and have applied for early departure and surrender of their squatter structures have started to receive offers of rehousing units by the HA and HKHS, and are moving in.
In addition to the payment of ex-gratia allowance, the eligible affected farmers could consider continuing farming under the Special Agricultural Land Rehabilitation Scheme (SALRS) or at the future Agricultural Park (Agri-Park). Up till now, amongst the some 30 farmers affected by the First Phase development, 11 of them have indicated the intention to join the SALRS, whereas two intended to join the Agri-Park and five intended not to continue farming. In order to strive for making the SALRS sites ready for farming when the affected farmers move out in phases starting from the latter half of 2020, we encourage the farmers to indicate their farming intention before December 13 so that we could timely undertake the required follow-up works. In other words, the mentioned date is not a hard deadline for the SALRS application.
According to the Agricultural, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD), there are about 300 licensed dogs in the NDA. Rehoused housholds who intend to keep their dog(s) in their rehousing flats could apply to the HA under the existing mechanism of keeping companion dog. As at now, the HA has received three applications for keeping companion dogs in Po Shek Wu Estate, amongst which one was approved and two are being processed. In August, we with the support of the Animal Welfare Organisations (AWOs) undertook publicity in the NDA to promote the arrangement for receiving the affected animals. Subsequently, there are affected households handed their pets to the AWOs. Besides, by way of providing financial subsidies, we encourage AWOs to establish animal rehoming centre on government land to help receiving the animals affected by the NDA project. Up till now, subsidy has been granted to one animal rehoming centre which is targeted to operate in the first half of 2020.
The DEVB will continue co-ordinating with the relevant departments and organisations, including the Civil Engineering and Development Department, Lands Department, HA, HKHS, AFCD and Social Welfare Department, etc, to make our best endeavour to handle the matters arising from the NDA project. We will also maintain communication with and offer assistance to the affected households through the NDA Social Service Team.
Police today (December 9) appealed to the public for information on a man who went missing in Mong Kok.
Poon Lap-cheung, aged 71, went missing after he left his residence on Hoi Ting Road yesterday (December 8) morning. His family made a report to Police on the same day.
He is about 1.65 metres tall, 50 kilograms in weight and of thin build. He has a pointed chin with yellow complexion and short white hair. He was last seen wearing a blue and white jacket, a yellow cardigan, grey trousers, dark sneakers, a black hat and a black bag.
Anyone who knows the whereabouts of the missing man or may have seen him is urged to contact the Regional Missing Person Unit of Kowloon West on 3661 8036 or 9020 6542 or email to rmpu-kw@police.gov.hk, or contact any police station.
The Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) announced today (December 9) that its electronic flight bag weather mobile application "MyFlightWx" has officially commenced operation in both Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon flights. Operating alongside the "Flight Folder" developed by Cathay Pacific Airways, the "MyFlightWx" mobile application will contribute to the two airlines' paperless initiative across all flight documentation, marking a new milestone in the development of aviation weather services in Hong Kong.
The Director of the HKO, Mr Shun Chi-ming, and the Chief Operations and Service Delivery Officer of Cathay Pacific Airways, Mr Greg Hughes, officiated at a ceremony today to celebrate the flights of the two airlines going completely paperless.
Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Shun said, "'MyFlightWx' provides flight crews with the latest weather information, including airport weather reports, aerodrome forecasts and hazardous weather warnings, as well as the HKO's in-house global turbulence forecast, for enhancing flight safety and efficiency. It is also the world's first electronic flight bag weather mobile application developed by a meteorological authority and accepted by the aviation authority for industry use. We are encouraged by the Certificate of Merit for the mobile application in the Smart Mobility (Smart Transportation) Award of the Hong Kong ICT Awards 2019."
The HKO began developing the "MyFlightWx" mobile application in 2015 in partnership with Cathay Pacific, and it was soft launched at the end of 2017 for trial use by the aviation industry for replacing traditional paper-based meteorological flight documentation. "MyFlightWx" fully integrates with the work process of the flight crews and provides weather information relevant to the specific flight. On aircraft equipped with Wi-Fi, flight crews can keep themselves abreast of the latest weather conditions during the journey by downloading data updates via the mobile application.
The HKO has been maintaining close co-operation with the local aviation industry in a wide array of areas. Since 2004, Cathay Pacific Airways has collaborated with the HKO in the Hong Kong Aircraft Meteorological Data Relay programme under the World Meteorological Organization by means of contributing aircraft observations, including wind speed, wind direction and temperature, for enhancing weather forecasts. Since this year, Cathay Pacific Airways has also provided the HKO with real-time turbulence data collected by its flights for improving the HKO's global turbulence forecasts, thus enhancing aviation safety and efficiency.
