â€‹The Highways Department (HyD) today (July 10) signed the Central Kowloon Route (CKR) – Buildings, Electrical and Mechanical (E&M) Works Contract with Gammon Construction Limited.
      
     This contract is the first HyD contract adopting the New Engineering Contract (NEC) target cost option with complex civil, structural and E&M works of various systems. The works mainly comprise the construction of one Administration Building and three ventilation buildings located in Yau Ma Tei, Ho Man Tin and Kai Tak for the CKR and provision of the tunnel ventilation system, air purification system, central control and monitoring system, fire services system and traffic control and surveillance system. The forecast total cost is about $5.67 billion.
      
     One of the critical issues of the contract is the complicated interface arrangement with ongoing contracts. Up to now, a total of seven works contracts including the one signed today have been awarded under the CKR project with a total value of about $28.9 billion.
      
     The Director of Highways, Mr Jimmy Chan, said at the contract signing ceremony that there are three contracts worth $13.9 billion adopting the NEC target cost option, which contributes to about 50 per cent of the total contract value of the CKR project. The NEC emphasises mutual trust and co-operation between the contracting parties. This contract adopts the target cost option that provides incentives for the contractor to explore more innovative and cost-effective construction proposals and to resolve interfacing problems in advance with a view to saving costs and assuring completion on schedule.
      
     The CKR will be a 4.7-kilometre dual three-lane strategic trunk road in Central Kowloon linking the Yau Ma Tei Interchange in West Kowloon with the road network of the Kai Tak Development and Kowloon Bay in East Kowloon. It is anticipated that with the commissioning of the CKR, traffic congestion in the road network in Central Kowloon will be relieved and the journey time between Yau Ma Tei and Kowloon Bay during peak hours will be reduced to about five minutes.

    

The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:

     Details of the meetings of the Legislative Council (LegCo) and its Committees to be held in the LegCo Complex during the week from July 13 to 17 are available in the meeting schedule attached.
 
     The information in the meeting schedule is subject to change. Please refer to the "LegCo Calendar" on the LegCo Website (www.legco.gov.hk) for the latest details of meetings.
 
     Members of the public can watch or listen to the meetings via the "Webcast" system on the LegCo Website. To observe the proceedings of the meetings at the LegCo Complex, members of the public may call 3919 3399 during office hours to reserve seats.

     A spokesman for the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB) said today (July 10) that the Government has launched the Subsidy Scheme for Precious Metals Trading Industry under the Anti-epidemic Fund to provide relief to members of the Chinese Gold and Silver Exchange (CGSE) and practitioners registered with CGSE who are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.  

     Eligibility criteria and details of the Scheme are as follows: 

CGSE members
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     CGSE members with a valid trading licence as at July 1, 2020, and still have trading status as a CGSE member at the time of application are eligible. CGSE members which do not have a valid trading licence ("D" status) or have been suspended from trading by CGSE ("S" status) at the time of application are not eligible for any subsidy. Each eligible CGSE member will receive a cash subsidy of $20,000.

Practitioners registered with CGSE
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     Both "active" and "qualification retained" practitioners registered with CGSE (i.e. Executive Manager, Dealer or Account Executive) as at July 1, 2020, are eligible. Each eligible practitioner registered with CGSE will receive a cash subsidy of $1,200 per person. 

     The Scheme is open for application from today to July 31 (Friday). The FSTB will send out electronic application forms (Chinese version only) for the Scheme to eligible CGSE members/practitioners registered with CGSE by email in batches. Applicants should complete the electronic application form and submit it together with the supporting document(s) required by email to aef@fstb.gov.hk on or before July 31. To expedite processing of applications, applicants are strongly encouraged to submit the electronic application form to the FSTB. For applications made through the electronic application form, the FSTB expects the subsidies will reach successful applicants by mailed cheque within six to eight weeks. Applications may also be made by filling out the application form (Chinese version only) at Annex and submitting it by post to the FSTB at 24/F, West Wing, Central Government Offices, 2 Tim Mei Avenue, Tamar, Hong Kong. The FSTB will process these applications after completing the processing of the applications received through electronic application forms (i.e. around August 17 (Monday)).

Attention TV/radio announcers:

Please broadcast the following as soon as possible and repeat it at regular intervals:

     Here is an item of interest to swimmers.

     The Leisure and Cultural Services Department announced today (July 10) that Ping Shan Tin Shui Wai Swimming Pool in Yuen Long District has been temporarily closed for cleaning and superchlorination following the discovery of a small amount of vomit in the pool.

     It will be reopened at 6.30am tomorrow.

     The department appeals to swimmers to be considerate and to keep the swimming pools clean. They are advised not to swim after a full meal and should use the toilet facilities if necessary before swimming.

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     As at noon today (July 10), 11 COVID-19 confirmed patients (case numbers: 1129, 1130, 1132, 1138, 1159, 1160, 1179, 1198, 1199, 1235 and 1258) were discharged from hospital in the past 24 hours. So far, a total of 1,187 patients with confirmed or probable infection have been discharged.

     At present, there are 596 negative pressure rooms in public hospitals with 1,149 negative pressure beds activated. A total of 172 confirmed patients are currently hospitalised in nine hospitals, among which two patients are in critical condition (case numbers: 595 and 1315), two are in serious condition (case numbers: 1269 and 1306) and the remaining 168 patients are in stable condition.

     The Hospital Authority will maintain close contact with the Centre for Health Protection to monitor the latest developments and to inform the public and healthcare workers on the latest information in a timely manner.