Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Mr Frank Chan Fan, at a media session after attending a radio programme this morning (August 5):

Reporter: It seems the Government would not carry out any kind of public consultation exclusively on the co-location arrangement. Is such decision in line with the public consultation practice code? And given there is some controversies on this issue, is such decision still the choice?

Secretary for Transport and Housing: As you are aware that the Government has been doing all it can and all it should since the inception of the high-speed rail, because if you look into the document being kept by the Legislative Council, you would appreciate that there were and there are records of these consultations all the time. I have looked into the past records, and the term "co-location" has been mentioned many times in the past. For example, in the year 2013 to 2014, there had been altogether four enquiries by the then legislators, including Jeffrey Lam, Sin Chung-kai, Fung Kin-kee and Tong Ka-wah. In all these four sessions, the Government has put it very clearly that co-location is the option forward and the Government has then promised to inform the legislature as soon as there is any progress. 

     As you are aware that since we come to an initial agreement with the Mainland counterpart, we have actually presented our proposal publicly on July 25. We went back to the Legislative Council to table our consultative reference on August 3, and then we are going to do it again in the joint panel (meeting) next Tuesday. So the Government has been doing what has been promised in terms of public consultation and also with the legislature.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)

Ends/Saturday, August 5, 2017
Issued at HKT 12:31

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