In light of positive test results for the COVID-19 virus from some sewage samples collected in Kowloon City, Sham Shui Po and Sai Kung, the Home Affairs Department (HAD) said today (April 26) that the Kowloon City District… read more
The Task Force of Supplies from the Mainland led by the Transport and Housing Bureau (THB) has been working closely with the Guangdong Provincial Government and the Shenzhen Municipal People’s Government to explore various means to stabilise the supply of goods from the Mainland to Hong Kong. In addition to road transport arrangements, transportation of goods by water and railway is already in service.
A spokesperson for the THB said that the “Sea Express” water transportation service from the Mainland to Hong Kong has been fully launched and its capacity is rising to increase the supplies of fresh food, other daily necessities and manufacturing materials. The current supply of fresh food from the Mainland is stable.
Currently, there are three water transportation routes between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, namely (1) from Shenzhen Yantian International Container Terminals to Hong Kong Kwai Tsing Container Terminals (KTCT); (2) from Shenzhen DaChan Bay Terminals to KTCT; and (3) from China Merchants Port (South China) Management Center (Shenzhen Mawan, Shekou and Chiwan Container Terminals) to Hong Kong River Trade Terminal and elsewhere. Together with the water transportation routes from other cities in Guangdong Province, including the routes from Guangzhou Lianhuashan Port, Nansha Port, Huadu Port, Zhongshan Huangpu Port and Zhuhai Doumen Port to different terminals in Hong Kong, the water transport capacity amounts to tens of thousands of tonnes daily.
The spokesperson said today (April 26) that Shenzhen operated 53 cargo vessel trips and transported around 5 120 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of cross-boundary supplies by water yesterday (April 25), equivalent to about 28 420 tonnes of goods, of which around 10 TEUs (about 110 tonnes) were fresh food and around 5 110 TEUs (about 28 310 tonnes) were non-fresh food, according to information from the Mainland authorities.
Since the launch of services from the three ports in Shenzhen since February 18 to yesterday, a total of around 249 150 TEUs of cross-boundary supplies have been transported, equivalent to about 1 362 750 tonnes of goods, of which around 1 500 TEUs (about 12 940 tonnes) were fresh food and around 247 650 TEUs (about 1 349 810 tonnes) were non-fresh food.
To further ensure a stable goods supply to Hong Kong through land transport, a trial run of cargo transfer was conducted by the THB at a yard situated on Kam Pok Road, San Tin, Yuen Long, and it was completed smoothly. The THB will continue to work with the Mainland authorities to fully take forward cargo transfer arrangements on the Hong Kong side. It is a contingency measure in response to the latest epidemic situation in the city so as to reduce the risk of epidemic transmission in both the Mainland and Hong Kong, ensuring both smooth cross-boundary land transport and a stable goods supply to Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, to avoid a spillover of the epidemic, the Transport Department (TD) has arranged for dedicated staff to conduct rapid antigen tests for cross-boundary goods vehicle drivers at various land boundary control points (BCPs) from February 28 onwards. Only drivers with a negative result are allowed to enter the Mainland. In order to further improve the accuracy of the tests, the TD has already switched to use rapid nucleic acid tests at the BCPs. Starting from April 21, the sampling method for rapid nucleic acid tests has been further changed to nasopharyngeal swabs. A total of 2 488 rapid nucleic acid tests were conducted yesterday in which 35 drivers preliminarily tested positive. The TD has passed the cases to the Department of Health for follow-up.
The THB will closely monitor the situation and co-operate with the Mainland authorities to facilitate and implement various measures to ensure a stable goods supply to Hong Kong, with a view to complementing the supply through road, water and railway transport, enhancing capacity and efficiency as well as optimising the flow of cross-boundary supplies. read more
The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority: Regarding an earlier announcement on Vancomycin Resistant Enterococci (VRE) carrier cases, the spokesperson for Kowloon Hospital (KH) gave the following updat… read more
The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority: The Hospital Authority today (April 26) announced information regarding patients who tested positive via admission screening or testing with patients or staff memb… read more
The Lands Department announced today (April 26) that all five tenders received for the sale of a residential site in Tuen Mun Town Lot No. 561 at Castle Peak Road – Tai Lam, Tuen Mun (the Site), had been rejected as their tendered premiums did not meet the Government’s reserve price for the Site.
Sites in the Government’s Land Sale Programme are disposed of in the open market under the established mechanism. The Government will not sell a site if no bid reaches the reserve price as assessed by the Government’s professional valuers. This is to ensure that the Government gets a fair and reasonable return in the interest of protecting public revenue. The reserve price is set on the day of tender closure so that the latest market conditions are taken into account.
The tenderers for the Site in alphabetical order, with the names of their parent companies in brackets, were:
(1) Chinawide Development Limited (Henderson Land Development Company Limited);
(2) Strong Associate Limited (K. Wah International Holdings Limited);
(3) Top Infinity Limited (Sino Land Company Limited);
(4) Topco (H.K.) Limited (Sun Hung Kai Properties Limited); and
(5) Treasure King Investment Limited (CK Asset Holdings Limited).
The Government will not speculate on the considerations behind the bids placed by tenderers. Bids are influenced by a myriad of factors, such as how individual tenderers assess the market conditions and the attractiveness of the site, as well as their corporate positions and development strategies.
The Site is the first land sale site carrying the minimum flat size requirement of 26 square metres (around 280 square feet) introduced by the Government in December 2021. “Notwithstanding the cancellation of this tender, the Government will continue to apply the minimum flat size requirement to government land sale sites, railway property development projects and projects of the Urban Renewal Authority, as well as lease modification/land exchange applications for private residential development projects, with the aim of enhancing living space and responding to the aspirations of society. As a matter of fact, many tender exercises mounted by the Urban Renewal Authority and the MTR Corporation Limited for sites carrying minimum flat size requirements have been successfully concluded,” a spokesman for the Development Bureau said.
The Government’s policy objective is to provide a steady and sustained land supply to the market to cater for the community’s housing and economic needs. This objective will not be affected by the results of individual tender exercises or the economic situation of a certain time. The Government will consider rolling out the Site for tender again at an appropriate time.
Tuen Mun Town Lot No. 561 has a site area of about 33,713 sq m and is designated for private residential purposes. The minimum gross floor area is 72,821 sq m and the maximum gross floor area that may be attained is 121,366.8 sq m. The tender closed on April 22.
Over the past five financial years, the Government has conducted over 70 tender exercises for land sales, of which six (including that for the Site) were cancelled due to bids being below the reserve prices. The other five cancelled tender exercises involved four commercial sites and one residential site. One of the commercial sites and the residential site were subsequently successfully re-tendered. The other three commercial sites are undergoing rezoning procedures for residential use. read more