Around 300 students from 37 special schools were arranged to receive the BioNTech vaccine at the Children Community Vaccination Centres (CCVCs) at Yuen Chau Kok Sports Centre in Sha Tin and Hong Kong Children's Hospital in Kowloon Bay at special booking time slots this morning (April 27). 

     The Secretary for the Civil Service, Mr Patrick Nip, visited the CCVC at Yuen Chau Kok Sports Centre in Sha Tin to learn about the vaccination arrangements from the medical team of the CUHK Medical Centre and to give encouragement to the children. About a third of the special school students receiving vaccination at the CCVC today are children aged 6 to 11 and the rest are students aged 12 or above. Medical staff of the CUHK Medical Centre has made special arrangements to provide suitable vaccine dosages to students according to their age.

     Mr Nip said, "To cater for children with special needs, the Civil Service Bureau has been making arrangements for special school students, such as arranging them to receive vaccination at specialist out-patient clinics in hospitals outside opening hours. This is the third arrangement we made to group special school students together for vaccination. The children have already had experience in receiving COVID-19 vaccination. This is the first time we gathered them at the two CCVCs to speed up the vaccination process.

     "The students getting vaccinated today, some with attention deficit disorders and some with certain severe impairments, have different needs that require special support and delicate attention from the medical staff. During the vaccination process, the medical staff has served the children with a great deal of love and care. I am very grateful to the medical staff and also thank the parents for their support."

     Mr Nip reminded members of the public that for the four CCVCs that are dedicated to providing the BioNTech vaccination service to children aged 5 to 11 (Gleneagles Hospital Hong Kong, Hong Kong Children's Hospital, Yuen Chau Kok Sports Centre, and Tsuen Wan Sports Centre), their opening hours on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays have been extended to between 8am and 8pm until May 15, so as to provide convenience to parents to bring their children to get vaccinated during the holidays.

     As the BioNTech vaccine for children requires a special dilution procedure, children aged 5 to 11 must receive the BioNTech vaccine at the four CCVCs mentioned above. They must bring along a consent form of the following version signed by their parents or guardians on the date of vaccination (www.covidvaccine.gov.hk/pdf/Consent_Form_for_Fractional_BioNTech_Vaccination_ENG.pdf) and must be accompanied by their parents or guardians in person when receiving vaccination. 

     Persons have to bring along the original identity documents on the date of vaccination. If the identity documents do not bear the child's photo, such as the birth certificate, then school documents (such as school handbooks) bearing a photo of the student must be presented at the time of vaccination.

     The designated website for the COVID-19 Vaccination Programme (www.covidvaccine.gov.hk/en/programme) provides the latest information including details on vaccination venues, reservation and enquiry hotlines.

        

     The Inland Revenue Department (IRD) today (April 27) alerted members of the public to a fraudulent SMS message purportedly issued by the department that requests the recipient to settle his or her outstanding tax. The fraudulent SMS message provides a hyperlink to a fake IRD website (https://irdgovhk.com/chi/tax/e_alert.php) that seeks to obtain the recipient's personal particulars.

     The department has no connection with the fraudulent SMS message and has reported the case to the Police for further investigation. Members of the public are reminded not to open any suspicious SMS message.

The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:

     The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) today (April 27) issued a discussion paper titled "e-HKD: A policy and design perspective" (the Paper), inviting views from the public and the industry on key policy and design issues for introducing retail central bank digital currency (rCBDC), i.e. e-HKD, in Hong Kong.

     After announcing the "Fintech 2025" strategy in June 2021, the HKMA started a project to study the prospect of introducing the e-HKD in Hong Kong. The initial findings of the first part of the study, which focused on the technical aspect, were published in October 2021 in the form of a technical whitepaper (Note) for comments.

     The second part of the study focused on the policy and design aspects of introducing the e-HKD, and the initial findings of which are set out in the Paper. The issues examined in the study include the potential benefits and challenges, design considerations such as issuance mechanism, interoperability with other payment systems, privacy and data protection and legal considerations, as well as use cases. To facilitate stakeholders in sharing their views, the HKMA has highlighted the issues for comment in the form of twelve discussion questions in the Paper.

     Mr Eddie Yue, Chief Executive of the HKMA, said, "This Paper marks another milestone in our exploration for the e-HKD. The policy and design considerations set out in the paper have reflected latest international developments as well as the unique features of the financial market of Hong Kong. We strongly encourage the public and the industry to take part in this important consultation and share their views with us. The comments received would help us formulate the strategy for best positioning our financial market in the rapidly evolving rCBDC space."

     The Paper is available on the HKMA website. Members of the public and the industry are welcome to submit their responses by email to ehkd_feedback@hkma.gov.hk on or before May 27, 2022.

Note: The whitepaper "e-HKD: A technical perspective" can be viewed on and downloaded from the HKMA website.

     Following is a question by Dr the Hon Kennedy Wong and a written reply by the Secretary for the Civil Service, Mr Patrick Nip, in the Legislative Council today (April 27):
 
Question:
 
     The Chief Executive indicated in the middle of last year that the Government would soon sign agreements on the taking up of temporary positions for exchanges (agreements) with the government of the Guangdong Province and municipal governments such as the Shenzhen Municipal Government, so as to allow civil servants to take up temporary positions on the Mainland for exchanges, thereby enabling them to gain a deeper understanding of the work and operation modes of the provincial and municipal governments on the Mainland. Also, the Government welcomes Mainland civil servants to come to Hong Kong for exchanges. Moreover, the Government also signed agreements with the governments of places such as Beijing and Shanghai earlier on. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) of the dates on which it signed agreements with the governments of Beijing and Shanghai, and when it will sign agreements with the governments of the Guangdong Province and the Shenzhen Municipality; whether it has plans to sign agreements with more governments of different provinces and municipalities in the next three years;
 
(2) as it has been more than half a year since the release of the news that the Government is going to sign agreements with the governments of the Guangdong Province and the Shenzhen Municipality, but the Government has not yet announced the detailed arrangements under the agreements, of the reasons for that;
 
(3) of the ranks of those Hong Kong civil servants to be assigned to take up temporary positions for exchanges, and the considerations in this respect; whether such ranks will include newly recruited and seasoned Administrative Officers of government departments, as well as the permanent secretaries and deputy secretaries of policy bureaux;
 
(4) of the detailed arrangements for the aforesaid (i) Hong Kong civil servants taking up temporary positions on the Mainland for exchanges and (ii) Mainland civil servants taking up temporary positions in Hong Kong for exchanges, including the timetables and the annual numbers of participating civil servants; and
 
(5) of the expected benefits of the taking up of temporary positions for exchanges, including its positive impacts on and help for the civil service system and governance?
 
Reply:
 
President,
 
     The civil service is the backbone of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government. It plays a vital role in implementing the principle of "one country, two systems". As the HKSAR is part of the country, it is important for civil servants to enhance their understanding of the latest developments of the Mainland and the relevant national strategies and plans. The Civil Service Staff Exchange Programme, jointly organised by the Civil Service Bureau and the Mainland municipalities, constitutes part of the work in this area. Under the programme, officers from Hong Kong and the Mainland are attached to each other's side to share experience and expertise, better understand each other's structure, regimes, policy and operation, foster networking and communication, and gain first-hand experience of the host city's latest development.
 
     The Government's consolidated reply to the various parts of the question is as follows:
 
     Since the launch of the Civil Service Staff Exchange Programme, about 380 Mainland civil servants and about 140 Hong Kong civil servants have participated in the programme. Participants from Hong Kong are officers on Master Pay Scale (MPS) Point 45 or above (or equivalent) while the Mainland participants are mostly at division director or deputy division director level. The Mainland municipalities which participated in the programme in recent years included Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Hangzhou, Wuhan and Changsha.
 
     The exchange lasts for about four weeks for each round. The themes are determined with reference to the nature and needs of the participants' work. Areas covered by past exchanges included infrastructure development, town planning, traffic management, public housing, health and food safety, environmental protection, trade and commerce, information technology, culture and arts, etc. The participants would learn more about the operation of the host agencies through briefings, training, meetings, discussion forums, experience sharing sessions and site visits, etc. The participants would not exercise substantive power in the host agencies.
 
     The Chief Executive of the HKSAR and the then Governor of Guangdong Province, Mr Ma Xingrui, signed the 2020 Work Plan of the Framework Agreement on Hong Kong/Guangdong Co-operation on October 30, 2020. One of the measures is "pressing ahead with the extension of the Civil Service Staff Exchange Programme to cover the nine municipalities in the Pearl River Delta, and continuing to organise various types of the exchange activities" (Item 41). The programme targets at civil servants on MPS Point 45 or above (or equivalent) including officers from the Administrative Officer, Executive Officer and various professional grades. Extending the Civil Service Staff Exchange Programme to cover the Mainland municipalities in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) will provide Hong Kong civil servants with the opportunity to experience more deeply the development of the GBA municipalities, so as to enable them to play a more active and vital role in pressing ahead with their respective areas of work.
 
     The participation of Mainland municipalities in the programme is under the overall co-ordination of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council (HKMAO). In the past two years (2020 and 2021), owing to the epidemic, all exchange activities in the Mainland had to be cancelled. Under the co-ordination of the HKMAO, the Government is actively preparing the staff exchange programme for 2022-23 and pursuing discussion with the relevant Mainland authorities on the details. Specific programme arrangements are pending confirmation. The Government looks forward to launching, if circumstances allow, the exchange activities as soon as possible. The term "serving temporary posts" (「掛è�·ã€�) carries a specific connotation in the Mainland and may not be very applicable to the arrangement of mutual staff exchanges between the HKSAR Government and the Mainland municipal authorities. Thus, the programme has all along been named the "Civil Service Staff Exchange Programme".
 
     The feedback of officers and departments participating in the programme has been positive. They consider that the programme has enhanced mutual understanding and networking conducive to future communication and co-operation. Participating officers from both Hong Kong and the Mainland have found the programme inspiring and useful to their concrete understanding of the management strategy, regulations and codes, and working culture of the government authorities of the other side.

     Following is a question by the Hon Holden Chow and a written reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Wong Kam-sing, in the Legislative Council today (April 27):
 
Question:
 
     It is learnt that many years ago, the Government had considered the construction of a road tunnel (Hong Po Road Tunnel) of about 3.5 kilometres long to connect Hong Po Road in Lam Tei, the West New Territories Landfill and Tsang Tsui Columbarium in Tuen Mun, so as to improve the external transport of the Lung Kwu Tan area of Tuen Mun. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) as it has been reported that the Government has held the construction of the Hong Po Road Tunnel in abeyance, of the details of the original planning of the tunnel (including its overall design) and the reasons for holding it in abeyance; and
 
(2) whether it will, by making reference to the effectiveness of the 4.8 kilometres long Lung Shan Tunnel in improving the traffic in the North District and in the light of the latest development of the Lung Kwu Tan area, consider afresh constructing the Hong Po Road Tunnel after developing an appropriate cost management proposal, so as to improve the external transport of the Lung Kwu Tan area; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
 
Reply:
 
President,
 
     Having consulted the Development Bureau, the Transport and Housing Bureau, the Civil Engineering and Development Department (CEDD), the Transport Department and the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, I provide my consolidated response to the question raised by the Hon Holden Chow as follows:
 
     Regarding the details of the Hong Po Road Tunnel, a citizen applied for leave application for judicial review in the High Court earlier and the hearing of the application concerned will be carried out. Since the legal proceedings are in progress, it is inappropriate for us at this stage to comment on further details concerning the judicial review application or matters that may affect the judicial review application.
 
     The Government fully understands the concerns of local stakeholders about the traffic in the Tuen Mun West area. Regarding the proposal raised by local stakeholders on constructing a road tunnel to connect the West New Territories (WENT) Landfill to Tuen Mun, the Government conducted a preliminary study from 2016 to 2019 on different tunnel alignment options, including the construction of the Hong Po Road Tunnel proposed by local stakeholders. As we mentioned in the discussion paper (Legislative Council Paper No. PWSC(2020-21)36) submitted to the Public Works Subcommittee of the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council in March 2021, the outcomes of the study revealed different levels of difficulties and challenges in various options. Based on the existing population and traffic demand in the district, the cost effectiveness is relatively low. Nevertheless, the CEDD (jointly with the Planning Department) will initiate the Planning and Engineering Study on the Lung Kwu Tan Reclamation and Re-planning of Tuen Mun West Area, which will examine the transport network in the Lung Kwu Tan area and study the provision of adequate road support to meet the development needs in the area.
 
     In view of the opportunity that the WENT Landfill is expected to be exhausted in 2026, the Environmental Protection Department is now working with the Highways Department to carry out the upgrading of Nim Wan Road and Deep Bay Road to enhance the coastal road network and the connectivity between Lung Kwu Tan in Tuen Mun West and Lau Fau Shan in Yuen Long West, and improve the accessibility in emergency situations, while upgrade the Nim Wan Road and Deep Bay Road to current design standards, including reducing sharp curves, improving driving sightline and traffic safety.
 
     The Government attaches great importance to the transport infrastructure and development of Tuen Mun West and Lung Kwu Tan areas, and actively and orderly pursues various large-scale infrastructure and transport projects for improving the quality of life for the public as well as enhancing the long-term competitiveness of Tuen Mun West and Lung Kwu Tan areas and promoting economic development.