Motion of Thanks- Livable City (2017/11/10)

MR YIU SI-WING (in Cantonese): President, if we are to build a quality living area for Hong Kong people and promote the development of a wide range of industries (including the tourism industry), we must enhance our competitive edge in the region, and the only means to achieve this purpose is a satisfactory external transport network. In this regard, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge ("HZMB"), which will be commissioned early next year, can link up Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, and shorten the time needed for travelling between Hong Kong and Western Guangdong. This can facilitate the development planning of the Bay Area in the future, and boost the economic and tourism developments of the three places. The construction of HZMB is near completion, and it is due to inaugurate very soon. But the plan and timetable for opening have not been announced so far, so the transport and tourism industry are unable to prepare in advance for the commissioning of HZMB. I hope the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government can negotiate with the governments of the Mainland and Macao, and expeditiously announce the transport arrangements, including the boarding/alighting locations, parking facilities and tolls for cross-boundary coaches, franchise buses, local buses, private cars and so on. This can enable transport operators to plan the fleet deployment and routes, and draw up their fare schemes. At the same time, I hope the authorities can make arrangements for the tourism industry to visit the port area of HZMB at an appropriate time before the commissioning of the bridge, so that the industry can get to know the immigration clearance procedure. I also hope the authorities can listen to our views regarding the arrangements for seeing off/receiving visitors and tour groups in the port area, so as to prevent chaos after the commissioning of the bridge.

 

Moreover, the Hong Kong section of the Express Rail Link ("XRL") will be commissioned before the fourth quarter next year. By then the 26 km rail on Hong Kong side will connect to the Mainland's 20 000 km railroad network. Within a travel time of 5 hours, the network covers provinces such as Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan and so on. The total population in these places is over 300 million and the Gross Domestic Product is RMB2.2 billion, accounting for 30% of the Gross National Product of China. Long-haul travellers may travel to provinces in Central China, Eastern China, South Western China and North Eastern China. In time, travellers may even travel to other Asian and European countries by train. Thus this will bring immeasurable business opportunities to all trades and industries of Hong Kong. The actual situation is quite unlike the exaggerated picture painted by the opposition camp: the Hong Kong section of XRL will only benefit people travelling to and from Guangzhou or Shenzhen. Quite the contrary, passengers of the XRL may reach major cities in high-speed rail network in China. Members of the public should not be misled by the opposition camp.

 

The Hong Kong section of XRL should have been completed earlier than the current schedule, but it was delayed due to various factors such as the blocking of the funding proposal by the opposition camp, weather and cost overrun. When compared with the rapid railroad network development in the Mainland, Hong Kong's development is obviously lagging behind. I hope the opposition camp can focus on the interest of the public and objectively scrutinize the relevant legislation, so as to allow the smooth commissioning of the XRL in the fourth quarter of next year. Certainly, the authorities and MTRCL should also do the preparation work for the commissioning of the XRL in a responsible manner, including announcing major stations that the XRL will be stopping over, the ticketing arrangements for passengers and group ticket booking procedures and so on, so that members of the public can better understand the actual situation of the XRL. In order to prevent chaos after commissioning, I hope the authorities can arrange a site visit for the tourism industry, so that the industry may know better about the port facilities. The authorities should also listen to views of the industry, so that the industry can provide seeing off/receiving services to travellers, and travellers can enjoy a unique travel experience.

 

President, from January to September this year, the number of inbound visitors saw a 2.2% increase, but the emerging Indian market saw a decline of 19.4%. The major reason is the implementation of the "Pre-arrival Registration for Indian Nationals" by the Government. Indian nationals are required to apply for and successfully complete pre-arrival registration online before they can visit or transit Hong Kong visa-free. To a certain extent, this will affect the desire of Indian visitors to visit Hong Kong. It has also caused the displeasure of Indian nationals. I understand that the purpose of the measure is to curb the abuse of non-refoulement claims, but I believe the purpose of the majority of Indian visitors is sight-seeing. Therefore I hope the current measure will not victimize the innocent. According to the figures provided by the Security Bureau, in view of the effective implementation of various measures, the number of non-refoulement claim cases has declined by 40% in the first three quarters this year, so the problem has been somewhat mitigated. India is one of the economic entities which enjoys the fastest economic growth, and the Hong Kong Tourism Board has been focusing on this emerging market in the promotion of our tourism industry. Since the number of non-refoulement claim cases has declined, I recommend that the authorities should seriously study the data of overstay visitors who came from Indian directly, so as to make a timely review on the relevant policy and make gradual adjustment, and avoid affecting this market of potential visitor sources.

 

President, I so submit.