The Secretary for Development, Ms Bernadette Linn, leading a delegation of the Development Bureau (DEVB) started her visit to Shanghai today (December 19), together with a delegation of the Legislative Council Panel on Development.
The delegations called on the Shanghai Water Authority (SWA) in the afternoon. They met with its Director General, Mr Shi Jiaming, and his fellow officials to learn about their efforts in maintaining the city's resilience, flooding control and relevant emergency handling measures, as well as to exchange views on related issues. Ms Linn said that in the face of extreme weather, apart from enhancing the handling capacity of existing infrastructures and expediting relevant infrastructure projects, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government had taken forward advance planning and engineering study with a view to building Hong Kong into a livable and resilient city.
For the experience exchange, the DEVB and the SWA emphasised that it would not be practical to pursue a design standard that could mitigate all flooding risk without taking account of cost consideration. Rather, the capacity of flooding control should be enhanced through urban planning and flooding prevention management, while the whole society should be well prepared for relevant contingency plans. Ms Linn thanked the SWA for sharing their experiences and views, and looked forward to further exchanges between the governments of the two sides on relevant issues in the future.
In the evening, the delegations had dinner and exchanged views with representatives from the Hong Kong communities in Shanghai. Ms Linn commended that Hong Kong people living in Shanghai have played an important role in the co-operation between the two cities and made significant contributions to promote economic and cultural exchanges. She looked forward to more opportunities of co-operation and development between the two cities in the future.
The delegations will continue their visit in Shanghai tomorrow (December 20).
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