Government receives 35 expression of interest submissions for Smart and Green Mass Transit System in East Kowloon project
The Transport and Logistics Bureau, jointly with the Highways Department (HyD), invited relevant system suppliers and operators to submit expression of interest (EOI) for the smart and green mass transit system (SGMTS) project in East Kowloon on August 29. The invitation for the EOI closed today (November 7), and a total of 35 submissions from local, Mainland and overseas companies have been received.
A spokesperson for the HyD said, "The feedback collected from the EOI not only helps us gain a better understanding of the market's intentions and capabilities but also gives us clearer insight into the various technical aspects of the project. We will immediately commence analysing this information from the EOI, which will serve as a reference for ascertaining the technical details including alignment, delivery mode and financial arrangements of the project."
"As mentioned in 'The Chief Executive's 2024 Policy Address', the Government will continue to take forward the SGMTS in East Kowloon project with full momentum, with a view to inviting tenders for the project in 2026 and awarding the works contract in 2027. In addition, we will make reference to the views gathered from the EOI to review the viability of compressing the programme in various stages from planning and design to construction, with a view to further shortening the overall programme of the project," the spokesperson added.
Meeting attendance of members of District Councils in 2024
The Home Affairs Department (HAD) made the following clarifications today (January 2) regarding certain media reports on the meeting attendance of the current-term members of the District Councils (DCs) in 2024:
(1) The current-term DC members were diligent in their work, with over 98 per cent of 470 members having attended all DC meetings or were only absent with the DC's consent; over 90 per cent having attended all committee/working group meetings or were only absent with the DC's consent. Aside from attending DC meetings, each DC member on average attended 28 committee/working group meetings;
(2) all DC members fulfilled the requirement under the Performance Monitoring Guidelines for Members of the DCs (the Guidelines), i.e. attendance rate of not lower than 80 per cent and no DC members were in violation of the requirement; certain reports were incorrect in stating that some DC members were in violation of the Guidelines due to their absence at meetings since absence at an individual meeting was not a violation in itself; and
(3) for the purpose of calculating attendance, the Guidelines stipulate certain reasons for absence that would be consented by the DCs, including sickness and attendance at another meeting or an activity on behalf of the DCs etc. If a DC member were absent from meetings due to the aforementioned reasons with the DC's consent, the absence would not affect his/her attendance rate. If a DC member were absent from meetings due to other reasons (i.e. personal matters), the absence would be counted towards his/her attendance rate.
The HAD hoped that media outlets and members of the public would have an accurate understanding of DC members' attendance situation at meetings. The current-term DC members' attendance rate at meetings was the highest amongst all previous terms, which fully demonstrated DC members' efforts and work in improving governance at the district level.
