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Following is a question by the Hon Tanya Chan and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Ms Eva Cheng, at the Legislative Council meeting today (February 29):
Question:
The first phase of the trial scheme on one-off ad hoc quotas for Guangdong/ Hong Kong cross-boundary private cars (Self-drive Tour Scheme) will be launched next month. The Government has repeatedly stressed that details of the second phase will be determined only after reviewing the effectiveness of the first phase. Given that quite a number of members of the public still have reservations about whether the Self-drive Tour Scheme should be launched, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the respective average monthly numbers of cross-boundary vehicle trips of the five types of boundary crossing vehicles (i.e. HKSAR/ mainland coaches, HKSAR hire cars, HKSAR private cars, mainland official/ enterprise vehicles and HKSAR/ mainland goods vehicles) at present; whether it has assessed the changes in such numbers upon the launch of the Self-drive Tour Scheme;
(b) of the criteria to be adopted by the Government in assessing the effectiveness of the first phase of the Self-drive Tour Scheme, and the justifications for adopting such criteria, together with examples to demonstrate the specific circumstances under which the first phase will be judged to be effective, and the second phase will be taken forward;
(c) whether the authorities had given any undertaking to the Guangdong Provincial Government during their discussion on the Self-drive Tour Scheme that the second phase must be launched after implementation of the first phase; if they had, of the details of such undertaking; if not, whether the Government will shelve the Self-drive Tour Scheme in view of the strong public reaction against the launch of the second phase of the Scheme; if not, of the reasons for that; and
(d) whether the authorities have established any mechanism of communication and consultation with the Guangdong Provincial Government to deal with various problems arising after the launch of the Self-drive Tour Scheme, to collect views from the public of the two places on the Scheme and to discuss their views and worries; if they have, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
(a) According to the relevant statistics (Note 1) for 2011, the breakdown of the average monthly cross-boundary vehicular traffic by vehicle type is as follows:
Vehicle type Cross-boundary Private Goods
coaches cars vehicles
(Note 2)
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Average 101,600 543,200 654,200
monthly
vehicular
traffic
Note 1: Based on the statistics of the Customs and Excise Department.
Note 2: "Private cars" include cross-boundary hire cars, HKSAR private cars and Mainland official/ enterprise vehicles.
Since the daily quota in the first phase of the ad hoc quota trial scheme for cross-boundary private cars (Scheme) is only 50 and each quota only allows the vehicle concerned to make one round trip to and from the Guangdong Province within a specified period, we do not anticipate significant impact on the current cross-boundary vehicular traffic.
(b) Upon implementation of the first phase of the Scheme, the Administration will carefully observe and review the operation and effectiveness of various aspects of the Scheme, including operation of the control point, application criteria, administrative procedures, impact on the traffic and relevant aspects in the Guangdong Province, publicity and education, handling of incidents, etc.
The Administration will review the effectiveness of the first phase of the Scheme in accordance with the aforementioned factors, and further study and discuss the specific arrangements of the second phase with the relevant Guangdong authorities.
In formulating the arrangements of the second phase of the Scheme, we will certainly listen to the views of the Legislative Council (LegCo) and the public. Implementation of the second phase of the Scheme would involve legislative amendments. Therefore, both the Administration and LegCo will have an important gatekeeping role to play.
(c) We have indicated at the meeting of the Panel on Transport on January 23, 2009, that we have reached preliminary agreement with the relevant Guangdong authorities to pursue the Scheme in two phases, starting with the issue of ad hoc quotas to Hong Kong private cars first, to be followed by the issue of ad hoc quotas to Guangdong private cars at a later stage upon satisfactory implementation of the first phase. It was stated clearly in our paper submitted to the LegCo then that experts of both sides would continue to study the implementation of the entire Scheme and that the implementation arrangements of the first phase (i.e. issuing ad hoc quotas to Hong Kong private cars) would be announced first. The proposal was generally supported by Members at that time. The governments of Guangdong and Hong Kong have been studying the implementation details in this direction, and included the proposal in the Framework Agreement on Hong Kong/ Guangdong Co-operation in April 2010.
We have publicly stated that we will further study and discuss the specific arrangements for the second phase of the Scheme with the Guangdong Provincial Government when there is experience in smooth operation after implementing the first phase for a period of time. We will listen to the views of the LegCo and the public, and do the relevant work properly.
Implementation of the second phase of the Scheme will involve legislative amendments, to provide legal basis for the issuance of temporary licences to Guangdong private cars and for charging the relevant fees. Without the LegCo's approval of the legislative amendments, we will not be able to implement the second phase of the Scheme. The Guangdong side is fully aware of our need to amend the legislation and go through the relevant procedures.
(d) In late 2008, we set up an expert group with the relevant Guangdong authorities to study the implementation framework of the Scheme and the associated detailed arrangements. The relevant departments of the governments of Guangdong and Hong Kong will, after the launch of the first phase, carefully monitor the various issues set out in (b) above and deal with the problems encountered during implementation. The two sides will also communicate and co-ordinate with each other via the expert group to review the effectiveness of the first phase, including the views of the public on the Scheme, for further study and discussion of the detailed arrangements of the second phase. We will continue to closely liaise with the Guangdong side.
Ends/Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Issued at HKT 12:12
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