Tag Archives: China

     A recycling site, Kwong Kei Lee Hardware, located at Ma Liu Shui San Tsuen in Fanling illegally stored hazardous electronic waste (e-waste). It was convicted and fined $15,500 at Fanling Magistrates’ Courts today (November 13) for contravening the Waste Disposal Ordinance (WDO) and the Waste Disposal (Chemical Waste) (General) Regulation.
      
     A spokesman for the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) said that during a blitz operation conducted in May this year, EPD staff raided a recycling site operated by Kwong Kei Lee Hardware at Ma Liu Shui San Tsuen in Fanling. It was found that the site illegally stored waste flat panel displays (FPDs) and waste printed circuit boards (PCBs), which are classified as chemical waste. During the operation, a total of around 300 kilograms of PCBs and more than 450 pieces of FPDs were found stored in some hidden places at the recycling site, with a total export market value of about $100,000. After evidence gathering, the EPD initiated prosecutions against the responsible person of the recycling site in accordance with the Regulation.
 
     The spokesman stressed that dismantled PCBs, LCD monitors and cathode ray tubes are hazardous e-waste, containing heavy metals and other toxic substances. They are classified as chemical waste and must be properly handled. Otherwise, they will pollute the environment and pose a risk to the health of relevant trade practitioners and the general public. The EPD will continue to conduct blitz operations to combat illegal collection, storage, handling, import or export of hazardous e-waste. First-time offenders are liable to a maximum fine of $200,000 and six months’ imprisonment. For subsequent offences, offenders are liable to a maximum fine of $500,000 and two years’ imprisonment.

     Members of the public may visit the EPD’s website for more information about the control of chemical waste: www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/environmentinhk/waste/guide_ref/guide_cwc.html.

  

     A works contractor and a property owner illegally removed the asbestos roofs of a squatter house in Fanling and a residential flat in Tai Po by themselves. They were convicted today (November 13) at Fanling Magistrates’ Courts for contravening the Air Pollution Control Ordinance (APCO) and were fined a total of $9,000.
 
     A spokesman for the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) said that there were reports from members of the public in May about the illegal removal of asbestos roofs of a squatter house at Hung Leng Tsuen in Fanling and a residential flat at Dragon Court in Tai Po. Upon investigation, it was confirmed that the EPD had not been notified prior to the commencement of these asbestos removal works and no registered asbestos contractors were hired for the works as stipulated by the law. After evidence collection, the EPD initiated prosecutions against the non-registered works contractor and the property owner under the APCO.
 
     The spokesman said that to safeguard public health, asbestos abatement works at squatter structures or residential buildings must be carried out by a registered asbestos contractor in accordance with the statutory requirements and the code of practice on asbestos control to prevent the release of asbestos fibres from affecting the workers and public health. Offenders are liable to a maximum fine of $200,000 and six months’ imprisonment. Anyone failing to give not less than 28 days’ written notice to the EPD prior to the commencement of such works is also liable to a maximum fine of $200,000.
 
     The spokesman urged members of the public who witness any illegal asbestos abatement work to report it to the department. They can call the EPD departmental hotline at 2838 3111 to help combat such illegal practices.

  

     The effective exchange rate index for the Hong Kong dollar on Tuesday, November 13, 2018 is 106 (down 0.1 against yesterday’s index). read more

     Special traffic arrangements will be implemented in Happy Valley tomorrow (November 14). The arrangements will come into effect one and a half hours before the start of the first race and will last until the crowds have dispersed after the race meeting.

A. Traffic arrangements before the commencement of the first race

1. Road closure

     Southbound Wong Nai Chung Road between Queen’s Road East and the up-ramp outside Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) will be closed except for vehicles heading for Aberdeen Tunnel.

2. Traffic diversions

– Southbound Wong Nai Chung Road between Village Road and the up-ramp outside HKJC will be re-routed one way northbound;
– Vehicles from eastbound Queen’s Road East heading for Wan Chai and Happy Valley will be diverted to turn left to Morrison Hill Road;
– Traffic along southbound Morrison Hill Road heading for Happy Valley will be diverted via Sports Road and Wong Nai Chung Road;
– Traffic along Queen’s Road East cannot turn right to Wong Nai Chung Road except for vehicles heading to Aberdeen Tunnel;
– Traffic from Cross Harbour Tunnel heading for Queen’s Road East will be diverted via the down-ramp leading from southbound Canal Road flyover to Morrison Hill Road to turn right at the junction of Wong Nai Chung Road and Queen’s Road East; and
– Traffic from Cross Harbour Tunnel heading for Happy Valley or Racecourse will be diverted via the down-ramp leading from southbound Canal Road flyover to Canal Road East, southbound Morrison Hill Road, Sports Road and Wong Nai Chung Road.

B. Traffic arrangements before the conclusion of race meeting

1. Road closure

     The following roads will be closed from 35 minutes before the start of the last race:

– The up-ramp on Wong Nai Chung Road outside HKJC leading to Aberdeen Tunnel;
– Southbound Wong Nai Chung Road between Queen’s Road East and the up-ramp leading to Aberdeen Tunnel;
– Southbound Wong Nai Chung Road between Village Road and the Public Stands of HKJC;
– Westbound Leighton Road between Wong Nai Chung Road and Canal Road East; and
– Southbound Morrison Hill Road between Leighton Road and Queen’s Road East.
     
     In addition, southbound Wong Nai Chung Road between the up-ramp leading to Aberdeen Tunnel and the Public Stands of HKJC will be closed from about 10 minutes before the start of the last race.

2. Traffic diversions

     The following traffic arrangements will be implemented from 35 minutes before the start of the last race:

– Eastbound Queen’s Road East at its junction with Morrison Hill Road will be reduced to one-lane traffic heading for northbound Canal Road flyover;
– Vehicles from Cross Harbour Tunnel heading for Wan Chai will be diverted via the down-ramp leading from Canal Road East, U-turn slip road beneath Canal Road flyover, Canal Road West and Hennessy Road;
– Vehicles from Cross Harbour Tunnel heading for Happy Valley will be diverted via the down-ramp leading from Canal Road East, eastbound Leighton Road and Wong Nai Chung Road;
– Traffic on southbound Morrison Hill Road will be diverted to turn left to eastbound Leighton Road;
– Traffic along southbound Morrison Hill Road heading for Happy Valley will be diverted via eastbound Leighton Road and Wong Nai Chung Road; and
– Traffic along westbound Leighton Road will be diverted to Wong Nai Chung Road.

C. Learner drivers prohibition
     
     Learner drivers will be prohibited to turn left from Caroline Hill Road to Leighton Road between one and a half hours before the start of the first race and one hour after the last race. In addition, learner drivers will be prohibited from accessing the following roads within the above period of time:

– Shan Kwong Road between Yik Yam Street and Wong Nai Chung Road;
– Village Road between its upper and lower junctions with Shan Kwong Road;
– Percival Street between Hennessy Road and Leighton Road;
– Canal Road East; and
– The service road leading from Gloucester Road to Canal Road flyover.

D. Suspension of parking spaces

     Parking spaces on southbound Wong Nai Chung Road between Sports Road and Blue Pool Road will be suspended from 11am to 7pm during day racing, from 4.30pm to 11.59pm during evening racing, and from 5pm to 11.59pm during night racing.

     Any vehicles found illegally parked within the precincts of the above affected areas will be towed away without prior notice.

     Actual implementation of road closure and traffic diversion will be made by the Police at the time depending on traffic conditions in the areas. Motorists should exercise tolerance and patience, and follow the instructions of Police on site. read more

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

     The Legislative Council (LegCo) will hold a meeting tomorrow (November 14) at 11.30am (or immediately after the meeting for the Chief Executive’s Question Time to be held at 11am) in the Chamber of the LegCo Complex.  During the meeting, Members will debate a motion on restructuring the governance of MTR Corporation Limited.

     The motion, moved by Mr Michael Tien, states: “That the MTR Corporation Limited (MTRCL) has built and operates 11 railways in Hong Kong, and in the future, seven new railway projects will most likely be assigned to MTRCL; the people of Hong Kong heavily rely on the railway system as a mode of transport, but in recent years, there have been strong views in society on the service quality, corporate governance and supervision of works of MTRCL; the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) Government as the majority shareholder of MTRCL has a major responsibility of monitoring MTRCL in providing to the public the safest railway services and infrastructure of the best quality; in this connection, this Council urges the SAR Government to adopt the following measures to restructure the governance of MTRCL to restore public confidence in MTRCL:

(1) setting up an independent railway development department—given that at present, a railway from planning to construction involves various government departments, including the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department, the Civil Engineering and Development Department, the Buildings Department and the Highways Department, resulting in fragmentation of responsibilities and inefficiency; besides, responsible for all the works of roads, tunnels, bridges, etc. in Hong Kong, the Highways Department can hardly attend to everything at the same time, thus giving rise to problems in the regulation of railways; hence, the SAR Government should set up an independent railway development department dedicated to railway works and directly responsible to the Secretary for Transport and Housing;

(2) planning new development areas in tandem with their ancillary railway facilities—in planning some of the new development areas in the past, since the SAR Government did not concurrently consider ancillary transport facilities, serious traffic problems arose in such areas, and the SAR Government then constructed railways in a rush, thus causing the works quality to fall; hence, new development areas and ancillary railway facilities should be planned in tandem in order to prevent the quality of railway projects from being affected by very tight work schedules;

(3) urging MTRCL to regularly review its investment strategy of updating the signalling system—in the past, repeated serious disruptions of MTR train services were caused by the ageing signalling system; hence, MTRCL should regularly upgrade the signalling system to the latest version, rather than refusing to upgrade the signalling system on the ground of the cost being the prime factor of consideration, so as to ensure provision of stable and reliable public transport services to passengers;

(4) rationalising the appointment of the Chairman and the Chief Executive Officer of MTRCL—to cope with the foreseeable railway projects, either of the Chairman and the Chief Executive Officer of MTRCL, being the two highest persons-in-charge, should have an engineering background to facilitate monitoring of the works progress at the highest level;

(5) supervising MTRCL in reviewing the criteria of its internal tendering system—when drawing up the criteria of its internal tendering system, MTRCL should study following the criteria of the tendering system of the SAR Government which draw greater reference from the past performance, cooperative attitude, accountability performance of tenderers, etc., rather than overstressing the principle of ‘the lowest bid wins’ and the number of times the tenderers were awarded railway projects in the past as priority considerations, so as to avoid monopolisation;

(6) requiring MTRCL to strengthen the project management notification system—MTRCL should draw up specific and transparent notification criteria and make improvements on two levels: on the first level, requiring frontline site staff to report to the management in higher ranks the site conditions, including but not limited to issuing to contractors non-conformance notices/reports for any work that does not comply with plans and works requirements, and on the second level, reporting to the Government all construction problems in respect of repeated mistakes without rectification, delays in resolving such problems and suspected violations of statutory requirements; and

(7) raising MTRCL’s requirements for supervision of the works of contractors—MTRCL should draw reference from the requirements of the SAR Government in supervising public works, including considering the introduction of the Contractor Management Handbook for public works to conduct regular assessments on the quality, progress and safety of works, environmental protection, management and attitude of the persons-in-charge of projects, subcontracting of works, performance of procurement, etc., and requiring resident site staff to conduct thorough on-site supervision, thereby effecting more stringent supervision of railway projects.”

     Mr Luk Chung-hung, Mr Chan Han-pan, Dr Kwok Ka-ki and Mr Lam Cheuk-ting will move separate amendments to Mr Michael Tien’s motion.

     Mr Chan Chi-chuen will move a motion on studying the formulation of policies for homosexual couples to enter into a union.  The motion states: “That this Council urges the Government to study the formulation of policies for homosexual couples to enter into a union so that they can enjoy equal rights as heterosexual couples.”

     Dr Priscilla Leung, Mr Au Nok-hin and Mr Gary Fan will move separate amendments to Mr Chan Chi-chuen’s motion.

     Members will also continue to debate on two motions moved under the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance.  The first motion, moved by Ms Claudia Mo, states: “That this Council appoints a select committee to inquire into the incident of serious land subsidence of buildings near the construction site of To Kwa Wan station of the Shatin to Central Link (SCL), and whether the incident involved ineffective monitoring by the SAR Government and the MTRCL and their deliberate concealment of the land subsidence problem, and other related matters; and that in the performance of its duties the committee be authorised under section 9(2) of the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance (Cap. 382) to exercise the powers conferred by section 9(1) of that Ordinance.”

     The second motion, moved by Mr Lam Cheuk-ting, states: “That this Council appoints a select committee to inquire into matters relating to the MTRCL’s alleged concealment of the substandard construction works and alternations to the construction drawings of the SCL, alleged failure to suspend the construction works and notify the public when the settlement of some monitoring points is found to have exceeded the pre-set trigger levels during the construction of 8 stations along SCL, and subsequent proposal of relaxing the pre-set trigger levels for temporary suspension of works of the monitoring points near the construction site of the Exhibition Centre Station of SCL, and other related matters, and that in the performance of its duties the committee be authorised under section 9(2) of the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance (Cap. 382) to exercise the powers conferred by section 9(1) of that Ordinance.”

     Meanwhile, Mr Jeffery Lam will move a proposed resolution under section 34(4) of the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance to extend the period for amending the Peak Tramway (Safety) (Amendment) Regulation 2018 and the Peak Tramway Ordinance (Amendment of Section 3(3)) Notice 2018 laid on the table of the Council on October 24, 2018 to the meeting of December 12, 2018.

     Mr James To will move a proposed resolution under section 34(4) of the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance to extend the period for amending the Merchant Shipping (Seafarers) (Working and Living Conditions) (Amendment) Regulation 2018, the Merchant Shipping (Seafarers) (Official Log Books) (Amendment) Regulation 2016 (Amendment) Regulation 2018, the Merchant Shipping (Seafarers) (Amendment) Ordinance 2013 (Commencement) Notice 2018, the Merchant Shipping (Seafarers) (Working and Living Conditions) Regulation (Commencement) Notice, the Merchant Shipping (Seafarers) (Allotments) (Amendment) Regulation 2016 (Commencement) Notice, the Merchant Shipping (Seafarers) (Health and Safety: General Duties) (Amendment) Regulation 2016 (Commencement) Notice 2018, the Merchant Shipping (Seafarers) (Hours of Work) (Amendment) Regulation 2016 (Commencement) Notice, the Merchant Shipping (Seafarers) (Crew Accommodation) (Amendment) Regulation 2016 (Commencement) Notice, the Merchant Shipping (Seafarers) (Official Log Books) (Amendment) Regulation 2016 (Commencement) Notice, the Merchant Shipping (Seafarers) (Repatriation) (Amendment) Regulation 2016 (Commencement) Notice, the Merchant Shipping (Seafarers) (Safety Officials and Reporting of Accidents and Dangerous Occurrences) (Amendment) Regulation 2016 (Commencement) Notice, the Merchant Shipping (Seafarers) (Medical Stores) (Amendment) Regulation 2016 (Commencement) Notice, the Merchant Shipping (Seafarers) (Code of Safe Working Practices) (Amendment) Regulation 2016 (Commencement) Notice, the Merchant Shipping (Seafarers) (Provisions and Water) Regulation (Repeal) Regulation (Commencement) Notice, the Merchant Shipping (Seafarers) (Ships’ Doctors) Regulation (Repeal) Regulation (Commencement) Notice, the Merchant Shipping (Seafarers) (Fees) (Amendment) Regulation 2016 (Commencement) Notice and the Administrative Appeals Board Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule) Order 2016 (Commencement) Notice laid on the table of the Council on October 24, 2018 to the meeting of December 12, 2018.

     On government motion, the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury will move a proposed resolution under the Loans Ordinance to authorise the Government to borrow for the purposes of the Capital Works Reserve Fund (CWRF), sums not exceeding HK$100 billion or equivalent that may be outstanding by way of principal under the Government Green Bond Programme.  Sums borrowed under this authorisation will be credited to CWRF.

     On government bills, the Second Reading debate on the Inland Revenue (Amendment) (No. 5) Bill 2018, the Ferry Services (Amendment) Bill 2018 and the Private Healthcare Facilities Bill will resume.  If the Bills are supported by Members and receive their Second Reading, they will stand committed to the committee of the whole Council.  After the committee of the whole Council has completed consideration of the Bills and their reports are adopted by the Council, the bills will be set down for the Third Reading.

     The Waste Disposal (Charging for Municipal Solid Waste) (Amendment) Bill 2018 and the Inland Revenue (Amendment) (No.7) Bill 2018 will be introduced into the Council for the First Reading and the Second Reading.  The Second Reading debate on the bills will be adjourned.

     On Member’s bill, the Professional Accountants (Amendment) Bill 2018 will be introduced into the Council for the First Reading and the Second Reading.  The Second Reading debate on the bill will be adjourned.

     During the meeting, the Chairman of the LegCo Public Accounts Committee, Mr Abraham Shek, will present the “Supplemental Report of the Public Accounts Committee on Report No.70 of the Director of Audit on the Results of Value for Money Audits” and address the Council.

     Members will also ask the Government 22 questions on various policy areas, six of which require oral replies.

     The agenda of the above meeting can be obtained via the LegCo website (www.legco.gov.hk).  Please note that the agenda is subject to change, and the latest information about the agenda could be found on the LegCo Website. Members of the public are welcome to observe the proceedings of the meeting from the public galleries of the Chamber of the LegCo Complex.  They may reserve seats by calling 3919 3399 during office hours.  Members of the public can also watch or listen to the meeting via the “Webcast” system on the LegCo Website. read more