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In response to media enquiries about the views given by the Christian Zheng Sheng College (CZSC) on its reprovisioning proposal today (March 31), a Government spokesperson gave the following reply:
The Government was pleased to hear that the Christian Zheng Sheng Association (CZSA) had confirmed that it could clearly separate the past income and expenditure accounts of the association and the CZSC. It was also pleased to note that the CZSA promised that the two started to operate independently in 2008 and would enhance their corporate governance, in a bid to respond to the public's concern.
The Government hopes that the CZSA would provide the relevant information in writing as soon as possible so that it could ascertain whether the CZSA and CZSC used income generated from the local drug treatment and educational services properly to benefit their students.
The Government has been providing various forms of support to the 40 drug treatment and rehabilitation centres (DTRCs) now in Hong Kong, such as land and premises and subvention for operation.
The CZSA operates six DTRCs and runs the CZSC to provide services to students from four of them. Detailed information is in the Annex.
The spokesperson said, "As always, the Government will continue to provide support to the CSZA in various ways as laid out below.
"In the short term, we encourage the CSZA to proceed with feasible temporary improvement measures at their facilities in Ha Keng. The Government has completed the slope stabilising works at Ha Keng. Grants from the Beat Drugs Fund (BDF) have been approved for the CSZA to procure a boat for commuting to and from Ha Keng. We encourage the CSZA to proceed as soon as possible."
With the assistance of the Government, the CZSC has registered a new classroom in Ha Keng in March, bringing the total number of classrooms to three. Together with the two classrooms in Cheung Chau, the CZSC has now five registered classrooms.
"We hope the CZSC will make the best use of the facilities to provide suitable learning environment for the students. The CZSC should also provide the required audited account and estimates of income and expenditure of the school as soon as possible to facilitate the Education Bureau to proceed with the remaining procedures for its application to operate the New Senior Secondary curriculum," the spokesperson said.
The occupancy rate of the CZSA's two DTRCs for adults at Lantau Island has been low. Another two DTRCs at Cheung Chau has also maintained a surplus capacity for a long time. The Social Welfare Department has urged the CZSA to thoroughly review the occupancy situation of its DTRCs and deploy resources flexibly, in order to alleviate the situation of over admission at the Ha Keng DTRCs.
The spokesperson said, "We encourage the CZSA to speed up the development plan of its purchased land in Cheung Chau to build a new DTRC and educational facilities as soon as possible, which can accommodate up to 96 persons as it has proposed and provide new educational facilities to the CZSC and improve the learning and living environment. The Government has given support to the change of use of the agriculture land to facilitate the plan. If the existing DTRCs in Cheung Chau can continue to operate under Certificates of Exemption or if it is upgraded to meet the licensing conditions, then the total capacity of the old and new DTRCs in Cheung Chau will be able to accommodate all existing students in Cheung Chau and Ha Keng.
"At the same time, we also support the CZSA in searching for sites to reprovision the centres in Ha Keng and to further increase the capacity. The Government will continue to assist CZSA to discuss with different stake holders to reach a consensus. The Government will also look for potential sites and assist CZSA and other relevant organisations to solve the reprovisioning problem."
Regarding financial support, the Government will continue to encourage CZSA to apply for funding from the BDF in order to take forward the above mentioned temporary improvement measures and other longer-term development and reprovisioning plans. With the injection of $3 billion, BDF is enhancing its funding arrangements, in a bid to help DTRCs to proceed with their required construction works. A project may receive up to a maximum grant of $50 million. The organisations can also make use of the funds to employ authorised persons or consultants to plan and implement projects and conduct technical feasibility studies in the early stage.
The Government appeals to the public again for a tolerant and receptive attitude towards young people who have once fallen prey to drugs. The Government hopes that the public would accept the drug treatment centres as part of the community. A congenial environment for the rehabilitated youths will help them turn a new leaf and reintegrate into society.
Ends/Thursday, March 31, 2011
Issued at HKT 22:54
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