Press Release - May 5, 2003

The Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), Mr Tung Chee Hwa, has appointed the HKSAR Chief Secretary, Mr Donald Tsang, as the chairman of a special task force named Team Clean. The mission of the team is to establish and promote a sustainable, cross-sectoral approach to improve environmental hygiene in Hong Kong.

Team Clean will comprise members from various Government departments and bureaux that will be directly involved in its work.

The members are: The Permanent Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands (Housing), Permanent Secretary for Home Affairs, Permanent Secretary for Education and Manpower, Director of Home Affairs, Director of Health, Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene, Director of Information Services, Director of Buildings, Director of Lands, Director of Highways and Director of Drainage Services of the HKSAR Government.

Mr Tsang noted that cleaning up Hong Kong is a long-term project and that participation by the whole community is essential to its success.

"We will involve the community as far as possible and marshal the support of leading community, professional and academic bodies interested in the various aspects of our work."

Representatives of other Government departments will be co-opted into the team as and when required.

The HKSAR Chief Secretary will be supported by a small full time team led by the HKSAR Permanent Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands (Planning and Lands) Mr John Tsang.

The terms of reference of Team Clean are:

(1) To develop a coherent system and strategy for integrating and augmenting environmental hygiene improvement initiatives across all concerned bureaux and departments in the HKSAR Government. The system and strategy should be capable of sustaining a high level of cleanliness throughout the territory.

(2) To determine the relative priorities of areas targeted for improvement action, marshalling as much as possible wider community support, particularly that of the District Councils and NGOs to help tackle these areas.

(3) To draw up within a period of three weeks a work plan of short-term measures to be taken and to steer and direct the implementation of these measures.

(4) To establish within a period of three months a sustainable system and a timeframe for implementing the medium-and-long-term initiatives.

The first meeting of the team will be held tomorrow (May 6) afternoon.

For updated information and latest news on respiratory tract infections, please visit the special home page on the subject at www.info.gov.hk/info/infection-e.htm, and the HKSAR Department of Health website at www.info.gov.hk/dh/ap.htm as well as the e-bulletin at www.news.gov.hk/en/index.shtml.