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Following is a transcript of the Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Work, Dr Sarah Liao at a meet the media session this evening (January 16):
Reporter: Why do you have to wait until February to do the investigation?
SETW: That is a tentative date, even February, because I believe the priority now is to solve the problem to make sure that we can continue to run our railway safely and efficiently. And for now, our staff and also the KCRC¡¯s staff are working day and night to try and find the problem and provide solutions and do all the remedial work. To add burden to them and distract them from doing the most important thing is not wise. So I would like to wait until we have a definite answer as to how we should proceed with a long-term remedy, then we would proceed to do the investigation.
Reporter: Why do you ¡ invite KCRC director ¡.into the independent committee?
SETW: We are actually only asking independent directors to participate. The reason for asking them is because they know the company's operation well and will be able to understand the nitty gritty. It is important to have somebody who understands it rather than wasting time through the learning process. So we want their participation but we'll also have the outsiders who have no interest at all. So it will be a combination (of both).
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript)
Ends/Monday, January 16, 2006
Issued at HKT 21:01
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