The Secretary for Transport and Logistics, Lam Sai-hung, said that the Government had already discussed with the Mainland the boundary crossing arrangements for the coming festive holidays, describing it as a good and positive move, and that if there is a finalized proposal, it will be announced as soon as possible.
He was confident that the discussion would be completed before the Lunar New Year holidays. He said that due to the high capacity of the railroads, the authorities would like to extend the service hours of the railroad for boundary crossing, but there was a need to balance the needs of the travelers and the maintenance of the railroads.
As for Cathay Pacific's earlier cancellation of some flights due to manpower problems, Lam said he has asked the airline to submit a report to the Civil Aviation Department by the end of the month, including operational manpower and flight scheduling arrangements, especially for the Lunar New Year holidays and Easter. Pointing out that Hong Kong has a tourism peak every few months, Lam emphasized that the Government is very concerned about the incident and has been closely monitoring the manpower situation in the aviation industry.
Regarding the importation of drivers for the transport sector, including minibus and coach drivers, Lam said that more than 100 drivers have been approved to come to Hong Kong, and probably half of them have already obtained their licenses and will start working one after another. He pointed out that although the number was only a small number, he emphasized that their licensing requirements are in line with those of local drivers, and that they need to maintain stringency and safety.
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