The Government announced today (June 6) that in order to provide additional financial support to the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) to enhance its cashflow, so that the URA can continue to take forward its commenced redevelopment projects in an orderly manner, the Chief Executive in Council approved granting a site at Bailey Street, Hung Hom (the Bailey Street Site), and a site in Tseung Kwan O Area 137 (the TKO Site) to the URA by private treaty at nominal premium of $1,000 for a term of 50 years from the date of execution, on the understanding that the two sites would be rezoned for residential use through statutory town planning procedures in due course.
      
     The Secretary for Development, Ms Bernadette Linn, said, "As an important partner of the Government in urban renewal, the URA has been adopting a district-based approach in planning and taking forward redevelopment projects over the past years to avoid 'pencil' block development, inject holistic planning into urban redevelopment, and enhance liveability. Meanwhile, redevelopment projects of larger scale involve huge acquisition costs. Coupled with the sluggish property market in recent years, the URA's projects have been subject to the 'buy-high-sell-low' situation (i.e. acquiring properties at the market peak but tendering at low price or even a failed tender), thus affecting its cashflow."
      
     The URA has taken a number of measures to maintain a financially healthy portfolio, such as adjusting the pacing of taking forward redevelopment projects, obtaining external financing through bond issuance and loan facilities, enhancing the market attractiveness of project tenders, and critically controlling its operating expenditure. Notwithstanding, according to the URA's latest assessment, in the event that the property market continues to falter and the results of project tenders are not as expected, the URA will have to secure additional financial support in order to maintain the redevelopment momentum, including making acquisition offers for the commenced redevelopment projects.
      
     "The Government has been providing financial support to the URA to enable it to carry out redevelopment and fulfil other statutory missions in a self-financing manner. Granting land at nominal land premium has long been one of the major government support measures for the URA. For example, the Government will grant urban renewal sites to the URA at nil land premium, as well as, in recent years, Government, Institution or Community (G/IC) sites in the vicinity of individual urban redevelopment projects to increase the overall development potential. Granting the two sites to the URA is along the same direction that helps the URA to fulfil its urban renewal mission," Ms Linn continued.
      
     Ms Linn added, "The granting of the two sites to the URA could also benefit the community. Specifically, the Bailey Street Site can create synergy with the URA's cluster of redevelopment projects in the Kowloon City area. As for the TKO Site, the original housing development of which has been deferred due to re-prioritisation of the Hong Kong Housing Authority's (HKHA) projects, granting the site to the URA would optimise the use of the land resources in a timely manner."
      
     The Bailey Street Site, with a net site area of 7 610 square metres, was reserved for school development. Upon review, the Education Bureau considered that this site can be released for other uses. Granting the Bailey Street Site to the URA could result in optimised land use and enhanced planning gains for the area by accommodating G/IC facilities to meet the district shortfall, enhancing connectivity of the area, and amalgamating the adjacent Hoi Sum Park to provide public open space. The proposed total gross floor area (GFA) will be about 68 490 sq m with a plot ratio of 9.
      
     The TKO Site has a net site area of about 9.15 hectares. The proposed total GFA is about 713 700 sq m with a plot ratio of 7.8. While the residential site concerned was reserved for public housing development, having considered the re-prioritisation of the HKHA's projects and with sufficient land supply for public housing over the next 10 years, the granting of the site to the URA will have no impact on the overall public housing supply target for the current 10-year period (from 2025-26 to 2034-35). Furthermore, there are still about 42 ha of land reserved for housing development in Tseung Kwan O Area 137, which can be flexibly deployed for public or private housing use. The Government will take into account the market needs and adjust the public-to-private housing ratio in the area in a timely and appropriate manner to provide flexibility in the mix of housing planned for the longer term.
      
     The Executive Council has set clear requirements for this land grant, including (i) requesting the URA to make good use of the two sites as its assets to enhance its financing and borrowing capacity to maintain the momentum of urban redevelopment in a financially prudent manner in the next few years including making acquisition offers to the six commenced redevelopment projects (Note) between now and 2027-28. Moreover, with the land sales revenue to be generated from the two sites for the URA in the future, the URA should make good use of the additional and other income and re-prioritise yet-to-be-commenced projects in light of its financial position; and (ii) the URA should work with the Government to review and refine its operating and financing model that can enable it to undertake urban redevelopment in a financially sustainable manner irrespective of market ups and downs. Furthermore, the URA should advise how to step up building rehabilitation to extend the service life of aged buildings and reduce the immediate need for redevelopment. The URA should come up with specific recommendations within 2026.
      
     For details of the above, please refer to the Legislative Council Brief issued today.
      
Note: These six commenced redevelopment projects are Kau Pui Lung Road/Chi Kiang Street Project, Ma Tau Wai Road/Lok Shan Road Project, Queen's Road West/Kwai Heung Street Project, Ming Lun Street/Ma Tau Kok Road Project, To Kwa Wan Road/Ma Tau Kok Road Project and Sai Yee Street/Flower Market Road Project.

     The Labour Department (LD) will hold the Career Connect Job Fair at the Tin Ching Community Hall in Tin Shui Wai on June 10 and 11, providing a large number of vacancies from various industries for job seekers.
     
     About 50 organisations will participate in the two-day job fair, offering over 1 800 quality job vacancies from various industries, among which more than 1 200 are from transport, real estate, catering and retail industries. Around 25 organisations will set up booths and conduct recruitment on the spot each day. A wide variety of positions will be offered including system analyst, assistant plant supervisor, technician officer, accounting officer, sales officer, security guard, reservations services associate, building services mechanic, taxi driver, cleaner, packer, electrician, cashier, etc. Job seekers can visit the Interactive Employment Service website (www.jobs.gov.hk) of the LD for more details on the vacancies.
     
     Around 78 per cent of the vacancies offered at the job fair are full-time jobs. Most vacancies offer monthly salaries ranging from $12,000 to $25,000. About 95 per cent of the vacancies require a Secondary Seven education level or below. Around 69 per cent are open to job seekers without relevant work experience.
     
     Job seekers can submit job applications during the event and may be selected for on-the-spot interviews. They can also make enquiries on the employment services provided by the LD at its counter inside the venue.
     
     The job fair will be held from 11am to 5.30pm at the Tin Ching Community Hall, Tin Ching Estate, Tin Wah Road, Tin Shui Wai (near Light Rail Tin Yuet Station). Admission is free, with final admission time at 5pm each day.

     The Rabies Regulation (Amendment of Schedule 3) Notice 2025 (the Amendment Notice) and the Rabies (Transponders on Imported Dogs) (Exemption) Notice (the Exemption Notice) were published in the Gazette today (June 6). The Amendment Notice aims to introduce the International Organization for Standardization standard microchip (ISO microchip) containing the specific code of Hong Kong for dog identification purposes and as evidence that the dog has been vaccinated against rabies, while the Exemption Notice will exempt legally imported dogs from the need of implanting a microchip as mentioned above.
      
     A spokesman for the Environment and Ecology Bureau said, "Currently, many countries and places commonly use the ISO microchip. The Government will introduce an ISO microchip containing the specific code of Hong Kong in addition to the existing AVID microchip. Dogs in Hong Kong already implanted with the AVID microchip and dogs legally imported and implanted with the ISO microchip do not need to additionally implant the ISO microchip containing the specific code of Hong Kong. The new measure will further facilitate the movement of dogs into and out of Hong Kong while ensuring the source of the microchip could be traced."
      
     To prevent and control rabies, the Rabies Regulation (Cap. 421A) requires keepers of dogs to ensure that their dogs are vaccinated against rabies, microchipped and licensed at the age of 5 months, and thereafter the dogs are to be revaccinated against rabies and have the licence renewed every three years. The Government has consulted the Panel on Food Safety and Environmental Hygiene of the Legislative Council and stakeholders, including licensed animal traders, animal welfare organisations, pet transport agents, veterinary clinics and animal organisations regarding the Notices and have obtained general support.
      
     The two Notices will be tabled by the Government before the Legislative Council at its sitting on June 11 for negative vetting, and will enter into force on August 1, 2025.

     The Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) today (June 6) announced that the department tested 70 water samples collected from cooling towers in 45 buildings in its routine inspections in May 2025. Three samples were detected to have a total legionella count at or above the upper threshold, which is 1 000 colony-forming units per millilitre. The latest statistics are set out in Annex 1.

     The cooling towers in which the samples were collected are located at 571 Canton Road, Yau Tsim Mong; Harbour Crystal Centre, 100 Granville Road, Yau Tsim Mong; and 294-296 King's Road, Eastern. The EMSD has issued nuisance notices under the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance to the owners of the cooling towers requiring appropriate disinfection work to be done. Disinfection of the cooling towers in these cases have already been completed by the owners. Details of the cases can be found in Annex 2.

     The EMSD publishes the latest statistics of the above information on a half-monthly basis on its website (www.emsd.gov.hk/en/other_regulatory_services/cooling_towers/water_sampling/index.html).

     The EMSD reminds the owners of fresh water cooling towers that they have the responsibility to design, operate and maintain cooling towers properly. They should arrange regular inspections, timely maintenance and periodic testing of the water quality in their cooling towers in accordance with the Code of Practice for Fresh Water Cooling Towers issued by the department to prevent the proliferation of legionella.

Attention TV/radio announcers:

Please broadcast the following as soon as possible:

     Here is an item of interest to swimmers.

     The Leisure and Cultural Services Department announced today (June 6) that due to big waves, the red flag has been hoisted at Shek O Beach in Southern District, Hong Kong Island. Beachgoers are advised not to swim at the beach.