The Secretary for Food and Health, Professor Sophia Chan, today (July 24) met the chairmen and vice-chairmen of the environmental hygiene committees of the 18 District Councils (DCs) and listened to their views and suggest… read more
Sun Fook Kong Construction Limited illegally used powered mechanical equipment to carry out refurbishment works at Tin Shui Sports Centre in Tin Shui Wai on a Sunday, which violated the regulation on noise control. The company was fined $25,000 by Fanling Magistrates’ Courts today (July 24) for contravening the Noise Control Ordinance (NCO).
The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) received a complaint from members of the public in December last year about the noise generated by construction works at Tin Shui Sports Centre on a Sunday. EPD staff conducted investigation and confirmed that the contractor, without obtaining a construction noise permit (CNP) before the works commenced, carried out works using controlled powered mechanical equipment, including an electric elevator, at the sports centre on a Sunday illegally. The EPD initiated prosecution against the contractor in accordance with the NCO after the investigation and evidence collection.
The NCO aims to protect the public from disturbance of rest. The EPD spokesman stressed that members of the construction industry should carry out works during daytime and non-general holidays as far as possible to minimise noise disturbance to the nearby residents. If the works have to be conducted during the restricted hours (between 7pm and 7am on the following day, or at any time on a general holiday), a permit must be obtained from the EPD. The construction works shall commence only when the CNP has been granted upon completion of assessment to support its compliance with regulatory requirements. Only specified powered mechanical equipment can be used for the construction works and contractors must also implement noise mitigation measures to minimise noise nuisance as stipulated by the CNP, including the erection of fences and noise barriers at the sites, to reduce the impact of noise to nearby residents as far as possible. Otherwise, it constitutes an offence. First-time offenders are liable to a maximum fine of $100,000. A maximum fine of $200,000 may be imposed on second or subsequent convictions. read more
The Secretary for Education, Mr Kevin Yeung, visited Yuen Long District this afternoon (July 24) to meet with members of the Yuen Long District Council and view the summer activities in a local primary school.
Accompanied by the Chairman of the Yuen Long District Council, Mr Shum Ho-kit, and the District Officer (Yuen Long), Mr Enoch Yuen, Mr Yeung first went to the Yuen Long District Council, where he listened and responded to the questions raised by District Councillors and exchanged views on education and other related district issues.
Mr Yeung then visited Tung Tak School in Kam Tin to learn more about the school’s development plan and exchange views with the school head and teaching staff. He also boarded a library bus, stationed beside the playground, to share the joy of reading with some students participating in summer activities.
Mr Yeung said he was pleased to learn that the school has made every effort to promote reading. Besides refurbishing a bus to turn it into a library bus, the school has also organised an annual reading award scheme and its teacher-librarian has also held regular reading sessions for teachers and students to make video presentations to recommend books and share their experience and joy of reading. Related activities, such as parent-child reading, handicraft making and thematic storytelling workshops, have also been organised to nurture the reading habits of the students.
Starting from the 2018/19 school year, the Education Bureau will disburse a new Promotion of Reading Grant to all public sector schools with a view to nurturing a good reading culture in schools, enabling students to derive pleasure from reading, and enhancing their reading abilities.
The total expenditure on the Promotion of Reading Grant will amount to $48 million per year. A recurrent subsidy of $30,000 will be provided for each special school, $20,000 to $40,000 for each primary school and $50,000 to $70,000 for each secondary school.
The grant can be used to procure books and organise various school-based reading activities, including subscriptions to web-based reading schemes and the hiring of service providers such as writers and storytellers, as well as organisation of seminars, storytelling and parent-child reading sessions.
The Innovation and Technology Commission today (July 24) announced the first round of five venture capital (VC) funds selected as Co-investment Partners (CPs) of the Innovation and Technology Venture Fund (ITVF).
From last September to this January, the Government invited the VC industry to join as CPs of the ITVF, and received applications from 14 VC funds. On the advice of the ITVF Advisory Committee, the Government selected the five VC funds to be CPs. The selection criteria encompass the VC fund’s capabilities and its management team’s experience as well as the adequacy of its local resources and knowledge. The five CPs are:
Following is the transcript of remarks by the Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan, at a media session after attending “M21 TV Programme at Book Fair with Mr Paul Chan” held by the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups this morning (July 24):
Reporter: Secretary, how will the weaker Renminbi affect Hong Kong itself? And also on the banning of reselling of HOS flats to the private market, is the Government inclined to have such a ban or what are some of the considerations?
Financial Secretary: On the weakening of Renminbi over the past three months, according to the information available to us, the weakening of Renminbi is mainly attributable to the continuing strengthening of US dollar. During the middle of April to the middle of July, Renminbi vis-à-vis US dollar depreciated by about some 6 per cent, but during the same period actually US dollar has been strengthening and it has risen by over 5 per cent against other currencies. So, if you’re netting off these two you would appreciate that the depreciation in Renminbi is not that much. This is one point. Secondly, according to market intelligence, there were not much speculative activities against Renminbi, and we also noted that the Central Authorities reiterate the position of China in terms of not using depreciation of Renminbi as a tool to respond to trade conflict.
As to your second question about home ownership flats, whether these should be allowed to be resold into the private market, we have heard views from the community. As you may know, for this batch of Home Ownership Scheme flats, the Housing Authority, has already tightened up the resale restrictions. But whether we should apply a ban against all those future home ownership units to be sold in the private market, this will be studied by the Housing Authority and the Transport and Housing Bureau. We will keep an open mind. We’ll continue to listen to different views before we come to a conclusion.
Reporter: Secretary, what kind of support will you give the URA if it continues to develop subsidised housing like this?
Financial Secretary: For the Urban Renewal Authority, they are going to use their project in Ma Tau Wai as a pilot project for Starter Homes scheme. For that particular project, they are going to give about 40 per cent discount, but even with this discount for that particular project I don’t expect them to incur a lot of losses, because the project was acquired quite a number of years ago at a comparatively, at that time compared to now, very reasonable cost. But going forward, if Urban Renewal Authority is to be engaged into development of subsidised flats for sale and if this is supported by the Government, I think resources support will follow if required.
As you may know, the initial setting up of URA was with an injection of HK$10 billion seed money, and in fact a couple of years ago when I was Secretary for Development, URA did launch another project in Kai Tak as subsidised flats for sale. So this is not a new initiative. The overriding consideration remains whether from the government policy standpoint URA should position itself as an agency for developing subsidised flats for sale. That is the most important. If that is the position taken by URA endorsed by the Government, I don’t think resources support from the Government will be a difficulty.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
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