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     Following is a question by Revd Canon the Hon Peter Douglas Koon and a written reply by the Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, in the Legislative Council today (January 10):

Question:

     It has been reported that the current waiting time for public dental services is long and private dental clinics charge exorbitant fees which the grass-roots can hardly afford. Regarding measures to enhance dental services, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) whether it will consider extending the School Dental Care Service of the Department of Health to cover secondary school students and regularising the Jockey Club Children Oral Health Project; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;

(2) as there are views pointing out that each eligible elderly person is allotted health care vouchers with a value of $2,000 each year and the cumulative value of health care vouchers is capped at $8,000 only, which is just a drop in the bucket for many elderly people who need to receive dental treatment, whether the authorities will consider introducing “dental care vouchers” for eligible elderly people and extending the scope of application of such vouchers to the Mainland cities of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and study the introduction of elderly dental care services to allow elderly people who are aged 65 or above and do not reside in residential care homes for the elderly to receive regular dental check-ups; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;

(3) given that the Elderly Dental Assistance Programme of the Community Care Fund only covers people who are aged 65 or above and are recipients of the Old Age Living Allowance, whether the authorities will consider lowering the age threshold of target beneficiaries to 60 years old and further expanding the scope of the subsidised items (to cover, for example, dental implant); if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;

(4) as there are views pointing out that at present, there are only 11 dental clinics providing general public dental services in Hong Kong, and with insufficient general public dental service sessions, such clinics only provide pain relief and extraction services, whether the authorities have plans to (i) set up additional government dental clinics and subsidise non-governmental organisations to operate mobile dental clinics, so that each of the 18 districts across the territory will have at least one government dental clinic and one mobile dental clinic, and (ii) improve general public dental services, including extending the service hours and expanding the service scope to cover services such as dental filling, fitting of dentures and root canal treatment; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and

(5) whether it will, by drawing reference from practices in overseas regions and the findings of the territory-wide Oral Health Survey 2021, expeditiously review the oral health goals and set more appropriate oral health goals for members of the public (particularly elderly people) and formulate the relevant feasible measures; if so, of the details and timetable; if not, the reasons for that?

Reply:

President,

     The Chief Executive announced in the 2022 Policy Address to conduct a comprehensive review of the dental services provided or subsidised by the Government. The Working Group on Oral Health and Dental Care (Working Group) was subsequently established in end 2022. The review covers policy objectives, implementation strategies, service scopes and delivery models of oral health and dental care. The Working Group just released an interim report to summarise the work progress in 2023. Making reference to the recommendations of the Working Group, the Chief Executive announced in the 2023 Policy Address a series of measures to enhance the dental services for different age groups and target groups.

     The Government noted the suggestion of the Working Group that the future development of dental services should be in line with the strategies of the Primary Healthcare Blueprint with the goal of retention of natural teeth and enhancing the overall level of citizens’ oral health. The Government agreed with the advice of the Working Group that when considering the provision of government-funded curative dental services, the long-term financial sustainability must be taken into account. It is more cost-effective to put the emphasis on preventive dental services to achieve the goal of enhancing the overall level of citizens’ oral health. At the same time, targeted assistance should be provided to individual underprivileged groups who had difficulties in obtaining dental services.

     The Government will strive to develop and promote primary dental services to assist citizens to manage their own oral health and to put prevention, early identification and timely intervention of dental diseases into action. The Government will also explore how to continue to develop appropriate and targeted dental services to the underprivileged groups defined by the Working Group.

     The reply to the various parts of the questions raised by the Revd Canon the Hon Peter Douglas Koon is as follows:

(1) As announced in “The Chief Executive’s 2023 Policy Address”, the Government plans to launch the Primary Dental Co-care Pilot Scheme for Adolescents in 2025 as an interface with the School Dental Care Service for primary school students by providing partial subsidies for private dental check-up services for adolescents aged between 13 and 17, so as to foster the establishment of a long-term partnership between the adolescents and the dentists in the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) or the private sector and to promote the adolescents’ life-long habit of regular dental check-ups for prevention of dental diseases.

     The Faculty of Dentistry of the University of Hong Kong launched the Jockey Club Children Oral Health Project in 2019 with the support of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust. The Working Group reviewed the data collected by the Faculty of Dentistry of the University of Hong Kong and noted that the Project was effective in slowing down tooth decay among preschool children. The Project will be supported by the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust up to the 2025/26 academic year. The Working Group will continuously monitor the effectiveness of this Project to determine the way forward for dental services for preschool children.  

(2) The Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme subsidises eligible Hong Kong elders aged 65 or above with an annual voucher amount of $2,000 to use private primary healthcare services, including dental services. In 2019, the accumulation limit of the voucher amount was raised to $8,000. Under the existing arrangement, the elderly can flexibly use the vouchers to receive private primary healthcare services that best suit their health needs. In 2022, the voucher amount claimed by the elderly for private dental services was about $343 million, represented 13 per cent of the total voucher amount claimed, which was the third highest among the 10 types of healthcare services in that period. The average amount per claim transaction for dentists was $1,190, which was the second highest among the 10 types of healthcare services.

     To make better use of resources to promote primary healthcare, the Department of Health (DH) launched the Elderly Health Care Voucher Pilot Reward Scheme from November 13, 2023 for three years. For each year during this period, elderly persons only need to accumulate the use of vouchers of $1,000 or more on designated primary healthcare purposes such as disease prevention and health management services (including dental check-ups, scaling, filling, extraction) within the year, and they will be automatically allotted a $500 reward into their voucher account, which can be used on the same designated primary healthcare purposes. This measure would incentivise the elderly to use the voucher for regular dental check-ups.

     Furthermore, eligible elderly may also use the voucher to pay for services provided by the University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital, including dental services. As announced in “The Chief Executive’s 2023 Policy Address”, the Elderly Health Care Voucher Greater Bay Area Pilot Scheme will be rolled out this year to extend the coverage of the Elderly Health Care Vouchers (EHCV) to suitable medical institutions in the Greater Bay Area, including individual designated medical institutions providing dental services in places such as Shenzhen. The Health Bureau (HHB) and the DH have already commenced work to take forward the Pilot Scheme.

     The HHB will include oral health information into the Life Course Preventive Care Plan promulgated by the Primary Healthcare Office to promote the habit of regular dental check-ups among different age groups, including the elderly.

     The Government currently subsidises elderly to use private healthcare services including dental services through EHCV. At the same time, the Government provides subsidies covering dental services to elderly persons with financial difficulties, including the Elderly Dental Assistance Programme (EDAP) funded by the Community Care Fund (CCF) and the dental grant under the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) Scheme. At this stage, the Government does not have any plan to introduce an EHCV designated for dental services. However, the Government will explore how to incentivise elderly persons to receive regular dental check-ups by various measures, such as the Elderly Health Care Voucher Pilot Reward Scheme and the promotion of dental check-ups in collaboration with the dental profession.

(3) The EDAP funded by the CCF was launched in September 2012. The EDAP aims to provide free removable dentures and related dental services to low-income elderly who are users of home care services subvented by the Social Welfare Department and recipients of the Old Age Living Allowances (OALA) aged 65 or above (i.e. all OALA recipients). The number of eligible elderly of EDAP is now over 710 000, representing about 44 per cent of the population of elderly at the age of 65 or above. The spending on this Programme was close to $300 million in 2022-23.

     The Government will enhance the EDAP in the third quarter of 2024 to lift the essential requirement of fixing removable dentures, so as to enable eligible elderly to receive services such as dental check-ups, scaling, extraction and filling without applying for removable dentures, with a view to encouraging elderly to identify and treat dental diseases in an early stage and to retain natural teeth as far as possible. Taking into consideration the priority in the allocation of resources, there is no plan to lower the minimum eligible age of 65 under the Programme at this stage.

(4) The Government currently provides or subsidises limited dental services, which mainly include the management of dental emergencies for the public, the implementation of measures catering for persons with special dental care needs, especially the elderly and families with financial difficulties or persons who have difficulties in accessing general dental services. Services provided for persons with special dental care needs include special care dental services for persons with intellectual disability and the Healthy Teeth Collaboration, as well as dental care support for the elderly under the Outreach Dental Care Programme for the Elderly and the EDAP funded by the CCF. Also, elderly may use health care vouchers to receive dental services in the private sector, and persons with financial difficulties may apply for dental grant to cover dental treatment expenses under the CSSA Scheme.

     At present, general dental services are provided mainly by the private sector and the NGOs. The Government provides dental services limited to the management of dental emergencies to the public. Free emergency dental service (generally referred to as General Public (GP) Sessions) are provided by the DH through designated sessions each week in its 11 government dental clinics. Dental service under the GP Sessions only include treatment of acute dental diseases, prescription for pain relief, treatment of oral abscess and teeth extraction. The dentists will also provide professional advice based on individual needs of patients. Under the civil service terms of appointment, the Government is obliged to provide dental benefits for civil servants/pensioners and their eligible dependents. Dental clinics under the DH are established primarily for fulfilling this obligation. That said, the Government uses a small fraction of the service capacity of the dental clinics to provide supplementary emergency dental service to the general public. 

     The Working Group considered that the current mode of service of GP Sessions was not effective in targeting underprivileged groups in need. Taking into consideration the dentist manpower shortage in the DH, the Working Group considered that it is more appropriate to increase the service capacity in collaboration with the NGOs. As announced in “The Chief Executive’s 2023 Policy Address”, the Government will collaborate with the NGOs to increase the emergency dental services targeting at the underprivileged groups with financial difficulties in 2025 through expansion of service capacity, service points and service scope. The HHB is exploring the details and will announce the details in due course.

(5) Hong Kong established the oral health goals to be achieved by year 2010 and 2025 in 1991. The Report No. 68 of the Director of Audit published in 2017 on provision of dental services has recommended the review of oral health goals. 

     Before formulating policies and oral health goals in Hong Kong, the DH needs to collect the most recent information on the oral health status and related behaviour of the people in Hong Kong. The first community-wide Oral Health Survey (OHS) conducted by the DH was conducted in 2001, undertook to carry out an OHS every 10 years. The OHS 2011 was therefore conducted, and the following round of OHS already commenced in November 2021. Due to the COVID-19 epidemic, the survey work was delayed and was completed in end 2023. The DH will release the survey report and will set oral health goals for people of different age groups in Hong Kong within this year. The Government will also invite the Working Group to provide comments on the oral health goals. read more

     Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs, Miss Alice Mak, at a media session after attending the Legislative Council meeting today (January 10):
 
Reporter: About the Care Teams, what’s your comment, because some teams stopped operation because they didn’t have a seat in the District Council?
 
Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs: It is always a challenging task for the Care Team members to serve the community. As we can see that they have resources, but resources are always limited. We can’t always have unlimited resources, right? With limited resources, Care Team members will have to think about how to solicit resources in the community and how to mobilise more volunteers to serve the community. It is always a challenging task for the Care Team members and I think they should have our respect and support. I hope through this incident, people will understand more about challenges or problems faced by the Care Team members and give them more support and assistance.
 
     I must say that for anyone who has failed in any elections, it shouldn’t be a factor for someone to consider whether they should still serve the community and serve in the Care Teams. I can see several candidates who have lost in the District Council Elections still insist to serve the community. They still insist to join and participate in the service of the Care Teams, and deliver very high-quality community services to our community. So I pay tribute to those who serve the community and do not ask for their own social status and anything for themselves. They just give their unconditional support and service to the community.
 
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.) read more

     Following is a question by the Hon Andrew Lam and a written reply by the Secretary for Development, Ms Bernadette Linn, in the Legislative Council today (January 10):
 
Question:
 
     The Lands Department established a Special Duties Task Force (Task Force) in 2019 to focus on handling the more serious government land occupation cases and assist District Lands Offices in the New Territories in handling the more serious cases of land irregularities and other backlog cases. As at March 2021, the Task Force completed handling a cumulative total of over 800 cases with offenders in five of them being convicted and fined. Some members of the public have criticised that the conviction threshold for the relevant offences is too high and the fines are too low, with some convicted persons being fined only $1,000. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
      
(1) of the (i) number of unlawful government land occupation cases received by the Government, (ii) number of land control cases still being processed by it at the end of the year, (iii) number of cases in which it completed investigations and made referrals to law enforcement agencies, and (iv) number of cases in which it instituted prosecutions with the unlawful occupiers being convicted and fined, as well as the amounts of fines imposed, in each of the past three years; and
 
(2) whether it will review the penalties for unlawful government land occupation to enhance the deterrent effect; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Reply:

President, 

     The Lands Department (LandsD) takes enforcement actions against unlawful occupation of government land pursuant to the Land (Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance and handles more than 10 000 cases a year. The number of cases is substantial and their form and nature vary significantly (ranging from illegal bicycle parking on streets, abandoned vehicles, addition of shopfront platforms, dumping of wastes/construction wastes, depositing ties of bamboo scaffolds/skips, to the more serious cases of unlawful occupation of a large area of government land for brownfield operations or domestic structures). In view of limited manpower resources, the LandsD has to adopt a pragmatic “risk-based” approach to prioritise its enforcement actions, with priority given to cases of larger scale, more serious contraventions, or cases involving safety or environmental hygiene risks.

     When taking land enforcement actions, the LandsD will post a statutory notice in accordance with the law requiring the occupier to cease occupation before a specified deadline. If the situation does not improve upon expiry of the deadline, the LandsD will take further actions, including taking possession of and clearing the property or structures remaining on the land, as well as considering instituting prosecutions against the occupier (if the identity of the occupier can be ascertained with evidence). 

     To enhance the enforcement efficiency under the “risk-based” approach, the LandsD set up the Special Duties Task Force (Task Force) in mid-2019 to step up targeted enforcement against cases with unlawful occupation of large areas of government land or serious lease breaches involving private agricultural land. As at the end of November 2023, the Task Force completed a cumulative total of over 1 500 cases, with the clearance of more than 44 hectares of unlawfully occupied government land and demolition of over 2 400 unlawful or lease-breaching structures in total. These cases include blackspots targeted by the Task Force and the backlog cases of District Lands Offices (DLOs).

     Besides, the LandsD has implemented a number of measures to enhance enforcement work, including: tightening the regularisation application arrangements for unlawful occupation of government land since March 2017, meaning that the department no longer accepts regularisation applications for cases of unlawful occupation of government land commencing on or after March 28, 2017 and the occupiers can no longer avoid ceasing occupation of the land pursuant to the statutory notice through regularisation application; consolidating the enforcement manpower at various DLOs from April 2023 onwards, such that cases of land irregularities in the same district are handled by one single team in an integrated manner; use of drones and mobile devices to enhance the effectiveness of inspections and the overall efficiency of regular land enforcement work.
          
     â€‹Our reply to the various parts of the Hon Andrew Lam’s question is as follows:

(1) The relevant figures on enforcement against unlawful occupation of government land for the past three years (i.e. from 2021 to 2023) are set out in the Annex.

(2) To enhance the deterrent effect against unlawful occupation of government land, the Government amended the Land (Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance in 2015 to significantly increase the penalties and introduce a progressive system of maximum fines for repeated offender as well as a system of daily fine for stronger deterrent effect against such unlawful act. Upon conviction, an offender is liable to a maximum penalty of a fine of $500,000 and imprisonment for six months on the first occasion (the maximum penalty was a fine of $10,000 and imprisonment for six months before the amendment), and to a further daily fine of $50,000 for non-compliance with a statutory notice (new penalty). The offender, if convicted on each subsequent occasion, is liable to a fine of up to $1,000,000 (new penalty) and imprisonment for six months (new penalty), and to a further daily fine of $100,000 for non-compliance with the statutory notice (new penalty).

     After the amendment came into effect in 2015, the penalties imposed by the court increased accordingly. From the figures collected in the past three years, only five out of the 54 convicted cases were fined $1,000 (one case involved a small area occupied by an abandoned vehicle; four cases involved various persons in charge of an organisation related to a religious temple which occupied government land), while 23 cases were fined over $10,000 (the highest being $137,000). Another three cases was sentenced to imprisonment but the sentences were suspended. As the maximum fines that can be imposed by the court under the law is already significantly higher than the fines actually imposed by the court in recent years, further increasing the penalties allowable under the law at this stage may not be an effective way to enhance deterrence.

     Under the existing framework of the Land (Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance, it gives allowance for the occupiers to first cease the unlawful occupation of government land themselves (and thus bear the responsibility and expenses of the demolition and clearance work). Prosecution will only be invoked if the occupiers did not cease the occupation before the expiry date stipulated in the Government’s statutory notice. It is believed that this “self-rectification” arrangement is one of the reasons accounting for the small number of prosecution cases. Other reasons include that the LandsD has focused its resources on putting an end to such land occupation to clear up the cases and hence less focused on adopting the prosecution strategy, and that gathering of evidence is not successful or the evidence is inadequate to ascertain the identity of the occupier for instituting prosecution.  

     We understand the public’s expectation for proper management of public properties. Despite limited enforcement manpower and difficulties in the collection of evidence to meet the prosecution threshold, the LandsD will review how best to utilise its powers under the existing legislative framework and its manpower to step up enforcement and prosecution work, including the use of technologies (e.g. drones) to enhance its enforcement efficiency, and deploy resources to focus on prosecution of serious cases (such as cases with large area of occupation or those profiteering from use of government land) for stronger deterrence effect.

     The Development Bureau and the LandsD will continue to monitor the implementation situation of the Ordinance and whether unlawful occupation of government land has deteriorated. Depending on the effectiveness of the work above, we may consider ways to enhance deterrence where necessary, including streamlining the process of prosecution (e.g. by introducing other easier means for prosecution of such offences). read more

     â€‹The Outreach Music Interest Courses (OMIC) organised by the Music Office of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) are now open for applications. Members of the public are welcome to apply for an array of courses, ranging from Chinese and Western musical instrument foundation classes to music workshops, which will be held from March to August.
 
     â€‹The OMIC will launch a new workshop “Introduction to AI Music Creation”. Participants will learn how to use artificial intelligence music creation tools such as AIVA and Tone Transfer, and related music copyright concepts. The course, at a fee of $360, welcomes adults and does not require any musical qualifications or performance experience.
 
     â€‹In addition, the Music Office will offer introductory courses on little harp, keyboard, classical guitar and ukulele; instrumental enrichment courses of erhu, yangqin, zheng, violin and cello; ensemble training of Chinese and Western music; music theory (Grades 1 and 2); aural training; and the online course “ABCs of Musicianship”, which is designed for adult beginners. The course fees range from $260 to $1,070.
 
     â€‹Other Chinese and Western musical instrument foundation classes will cover erhu, pipa, zhongruan, yangqin, zheng, dizi, xiao, violin, viola, cello, flute, clarinet, saxophone and percussion (glockenspiel and practice pad). The course fee is $1,140 each.
 
     â€‹All OMIC are conducted in Cantonese. The courses will be held at different venues across the territory, namely Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Sha Tin Town Hall, Tuen Mun Town Hall, North District Town Hall, Sheung Wan Civic Centre, Ngau Chi Wan Civic Centre, Kwai Tsing Theatre, Ko Shan Theatre, Hong Kong Central Library and the Music Office’s music centres in Wan Chai, Mong Kok, Kwun Tong, Sha Tin and Tsuen Wan. Participants of the online course “ABCs of Musicianship” are required to prepare their own electronic device equipped with a wireless or broadband data connection, a webcam and Zoom software in advance.
 
     â€‹Online applications are now available on the Music Office website (www.lcsd.gov.hk/musicoffice). Course prospectuses and application forms are also available at various performance venues of the LCSD and music centres of the Music Office. The deadline for applications is January 30. Oversubscribed courses will be processed by ballot. For courses not fully taken up after the first round of application, places will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis from February 28 onwards.
 
     â€‹For enquiries, please call 3842 7773, 2598 0801 or 2598 8335 or email to outreachmusic@lcsd.gov.hk. read more

     Following is a question by the Hon Tony Tse and a reply by the Acting Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Dr Bernard Chan, in the Legislative Council today (January 10):
 
     According to the consultancy study report on the Demand Study for New Convention and Exhibition Facilities in Hong Kong published in 2015, 84 400 and 132 500 square metres of additional convention and exhibition (C&E) space would be needed in Hong Kong by 2023 and 2028 respectively. However, the Government has subsequently abandoned its plan to develop a new convention centre above the MTR Exhibition Centre Station, and no definite date has been set for the plans to expand the AsiaWorld-Expo (AWE) and redevelop the site of the three government towers in Wan Chai North into C&E facilities. Some members of the industry have relayed that the supply of large-scale and high-end C&E venues in Hong Kong still falls short of the demand, which has affected the competitiveness of the C&E industry and Hong Kong as a whole. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) given that the 2023 Policy Address has proposed to expand C&E facilities, including AWE, and construct new C&E facilities in Wan Chai North, of the specific implementation timetable for these two plans; whether it has assessed if the progress of the expansion of AWE will be affected by the relevant community treatment facilities;
 
(2) apart from the aforesaid two plans, whether the Government will plan to construct large-scale C&E facilities in other districts, such as the Northern Metropolis and the Kau Yi Chau Artificial Islands; and
 
(3) whether it will commence a new demand study for C&E facilities; if so, of the timetable; if not, the reasons for that?
 
Reply:
 
President,
 
     My consolidated reply to the questions raised by the Hon Tony Tse is as follows:
 
     The convention and exhibition (C&E) industry is crucial to Hong Kong as an international trade centre.
 
     According to a study conducted by the industry, in 2018, the exhibition industry contributed a total of $58.6 billion to Hong Kong’s economy, which was equivalent to 2.1 per cent of the gross domestic product, and created some 77 000 full-time employment opportunities.
 
     According to the figures of the Hong Kong Tourism Board, in 2019, Hong Kong attracted 1.69 million overnight MICE (meeting, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) visitors, with a per capita consumption of some $7,200 (i.e. a total of $12.2 billion), which was 23 per cent higher than that of the overall overnight visitors.
 
     Hong Kong hosts many large-scale international C&Es every year. Before the pandemic, Hong Kong hosted over 160 large-scale international exhibitions annually, of which over 10 were the largest Asian or even global sourcing platforms for the trades concerned, including electronics, jewellery, gifts, watches and clocks, lighting; and around 250 large-scale international conventions, including the Asian Financial Forum, the Asian Logistics, Maritime and Aviation Conference, the Belt and Road Summit, the Business of Design Week, in the two dedicated venues for mega C&E events every year, namely the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre and the AsiaWorld-Expo. These large-scale C&Es reflect our role as an international trade centre and a connecting platform between the Mainland and the rest of the world, as well as our strengths as a super connector and super value-adder.
 
     To consolidate and enhance the pre-eminent position of Hong Kong as a hub for international C&E events, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has actively taken forward the expansion of our C&E facilities. When expanding our C&E facilities, we have considered multiple factors including, inter alia, the expectations of the industry, whether there are adequate supporting facilities such as transport, accommodation, dining and entertainment facilities nearby, the synergy between new and existing facilities and the cost-effectiveness. The Government has been studying different options for expanding C&E facilities, and after taking into account the above factors, it is our priority to pursue the expansion of C&E facilities in proximity to the existing Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai North and the AsiaWorld-Expo. The two expansion projects will increase the large-scale C&E space of Hong Kong by more than 40 per cent, from the existing 158 000 square metres to over 220 000 sq m.
 
     In Wan Chai North, the Government will redevelop the sites of the Wan Chai Government Offices Compound, Gloucester Road Garden and the Kong Wan Fire Station into C&E facilities, hotel and Grade A offices. After the redevelopment, there will be an additional 30 000 sq m of rentable C&E spaces connecting seamlessly with the existing Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, and a hotel with some 500 rooms to accommodate visitors during mega C&E events after the expansion of C&E facilities.
 
     The Government is relocating the government departments and law courts in the Wan Chai Government Offices Compound to nine new government building projects as scheduled. Among them, five projects, namely the West Kowloon Government Offices, Government Data Centre Complex, Treasury Building, Inland Revenue Centre and Immigration Headquarters have been completed and respectively commissioned. The Government expects to complete the remaining four building projects of Tseung Kwan O Government Offices, Water Supplies Department Building and Correctional Services Headquarters Building, Drainage Services Tower, and the District Court at Caroline Hill Road in or before 2026.
 
     Meanwhile, after obtaining the funding approval of the Legislative Council’s Finance Committee in November last year, the Government has already commenced the reprovisioning of the Kong Wan Fire Station. To pave way for the Wan Chai North Redevelopment project, the Kong Wan Fire Station will be reprovisioned at the site adjoining Fenwick Pier Street and Lung Hop Street. The Government expects that the reprovisioning of the Kong Wan Fire Station will be completed by 2027 and the Wan Chai Government Offices Compound will be vacated by the end of 2027.
 
     As the Wan Chai North Redevelopment project involves the demolition of three existing multi-storey buildings, deep excavation and construction of large-scale excavation and lateral support, as well as the construction of a multi-storey building, all the demolition and construction works will take at least seven years to be completed. As such, the Government estimates that the Wan Chai North Redevelopment project will be completed in 2034 at the earliest.
 
     On the other hand, the Airport Authority Hong Kong (AA) has conducted a consultancy study on the AsiaWorld-Expo phase 2 expansion, and will invest in the expansion project. Currently, the Government is reviewing the operational needs of the North Lantau Hospital Hong Kong Infection Control Centre. Once the infection control centre ceases operation and is vacated, the AA will commence the expansion works.
 
     According to the preliminary design, the phase 2 expansion of AsiaWorld-Expo will provide an additional 33 600 sq m of rentable C&E spaces, and a multi-purpose indoor arena with a seating capacity of over 20 000 people, providing a venue for large-scale international C&E, entertainment and sports events. The construction of SKYCITY next to the AsiaWorld-Expo is being completed in phases. The AsiaWorld-Expo will synergise with the accommodation, shopping, dining and entertainment facilities in the SKYCITY, facilitating the development of Hong Kong International Airport into an airport city, connecting the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the world.
 
     As the pandemic eases, we are pleased to see that the recovery progress of the C&E industry is better than expected, and the industry assesses it is returning to 70 to 80 per cent of pre-pandemic levels. At this stage, we do not have sufficient data to accurately assess the exact demand for future C&E facilities, but in the longer term, there will still be a substantial demand for C&E facilities. We will continue to proactively expand C&E space in Wan Chai North and the Airport Island, and maintain close communication with the C&E industry, to grasp the latest development in the industry and explore the possibility of further expanding our C&E facilities. read more