SCS commends outstanding civil servants (with photos)

     The Secretary for the Civil Service (SCS), Mr Patrick Nip, today (November 17) commended 100 civil servants for their outstanding work performance at the SCS's Commendation Award Presentation Ceremony 2020. The Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, also attended the ceremony to extend her congratulations to the award recipients and encourage them to continue to serve the public with dedication.
      
     Addressing the ceremony, Mr Nip said Hong Kong has been battered by social unrest, violent incidents and the COVID-19 epidemic in the past year, putting the Government and society, as well as the civil service and the public under tremendous pressure. He expressed his sincere gratitude to the civil servants who not only remained steadfast in carrying out their duties, but were also willing to walk an extra mile and make concerted efforts with each other in serving the community.
      
     Mr Nip said that since he took up the office in April, he has visited more than 10 departments. He learned from many frontline colleagues how civil servants served the public with dedication and professionalism, and displayed strength in stabilising society and supporting the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government (HKSARG).
      
     "When knowing that the Police needed support from the disciplined services, many immediately signed up to work as special constables; when knowing that more professionals were needed to fight and help track the epidemic situation, many signed up to join enthusiastically; when knowing that the situation was tense, they did not complain but remained steadfast in carrying out their duties," he said.
      
     "The successful completion of the Universal Community Testing Programme (UCTP) in September is another good example of the civil service's concerted efforts to stabilise the situation. The setting up of more than 140 community testing centres in all 18 districts to provide a convenient and speedy testing service for more than 1.78 million people in two weeks' time was not an easy achievement. The UCTP could not have been such a great success without the experience, careful planning, flexibility and teamwork of civil service colleagues.
      
     "Although civil service colleagues were only given an extremely short period of time to plan and implement the UCTP, they made concerted efforts and responded swiftly to rise to the challenges. Their professionalism and high efficiency were admirable, which was also the key to winning the public's trust and support for the UCTP ultimately.
      
     "Challenges remain in the years ahead. Hence, it is necessary for the civil service to work as a team and give unwavering support to the work of HKSARG," he added.
      
     The awardees this year came from 39 bureaux and departments, and from various professional and technical grades, disciplined services and general grades as well as Model Scale 1 grades. Mr Nip said that while the awardees held different positions and served in different areas, they were united in that they strived for excellence and spared no efforts in providing quality service to the public, adding that they were role models in the civil service and deserved the commendation.
      
     Among the civil servants who were commended this year, some of them have directly participated in the anti-epidemic work. Senior Maintenance Surveyor of the Housing Department (HD), Mr Danny Cheng, with 33 years of service in the HD, played a part in formulating the Total Maintenance Scheme for public housing estates to provide in-flat inspections of units in buildings aged 10 years or above to improve the living environment of tenants and enhance building maintenance. When there were confirmed cases of COVID-19 at Hong Mei House in Cheung Hong Estate and over 100 tenants had to be evacuated straight away early this year, Mr Cheng and his team took immediate emergency action that night to inspect and repair the drain pipes of the units concerned in order to put the residents' minds at ease.
      
     Chief Health Inspector of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD), Ms Leung Shu-yan, is now responsible for matters relating to environmental hygiene in Tuen Mun District. During the epidemic, she has led her teammates to conduct cleaning and disinfection work within a short time for more than 300 households with confirmed cases as well as places associated with infection clusters in Tuen Mun, thereby reducing the risks of virus transmission in the community. She said that the work of the FEHD was closely related to people's daily lives and was full of challenges.
      
     Senior Environmental Protection Inspector of the Environmental Protection Department (EPD), Ms Cannis Cheung, has all along been committed to enforcing environmental legislation and safeguarding environmental quality. Together with the efforts of her team, the water quality of the Shing Mun River in Sha Tin has been rated "excellent" or "good" in the past five years. She considered that the efforts made by EPD colleagues have paid off whenever she saw people jogging at the riverside or canoeing on the river and enjoying the tranquility and comfort of the serene environment.
      
     Another awardee is Chief Immigration Assistant of the Immigration Department, Mr Cheung Wai-kit. Mr Cheung has served in various control points. Apart from having to serve huge volumes of arrival visitors, he also had to stay alert at all times to stop people from entering Hong Kong illegally. He said that the work of serving as a gatekeeper for Hong Kong gave him a lot of job satisfaction.
      
     With over 37 years of service in the Government, Workman II of the Marine Department, Mr Bang Li, has mainly been tasked with the provision of supporting services at the China Ferry Terminal and the Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Terminal. He also provided customer-based services to passengers in need. Mr Li regarded the award as an encouragement to him and other civil service colleagues, as they would be recognised and commended for their hard work so long as they gave their best, regardless of their ranks.
      
     In view of the epidemic situation, this year's ceremony was held in a spacious venue in the Central Government Offices with adequate social distancing measures. In addition, only the awardees were invited to attend.