(a)
x (b)
The VI Civil Service
Localisation
31. Although there has been no major change in the Hong Kong Government's localisation policy in the past two decades, the practice of giving suitable local candidates preference in appointment to recruitment ranks has continued to bear fruit as some of these officers have acquired experience and have been promoted through the ranks. In the senior management/professional grades, local officers now hold over 70 per cent of the 1,500 posts whilst in directorate (ie most senior) ranks, the proportion has reached 50 per cent of the 940 positions. The Hong Kong Government is confident that the continued application of the current policy will enable top posts to be filled by local officers in the years before 1997, in keeping with the terms of the Joint Declaration. As regards the Police Force, the overall objective is that the force should be predominantly local by the year 2000. The present ratio of overseas to local officers, in the inspectorate rank and above, is about 70:30 and steps are being taken to identify local officers for promotion and to provide training to develop their potential.
New Pension Scheme
32. During the year extensive consultations were held with Hong Kong Civil Service Staff Associations on a new pension scheme for the civil service. Having regard to the fact that the future government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region will be responsible for pensions after 1997, details of the scheme were also discussed with the Chinese Government.
33. The main elements of the new scheme include: the extension of the normal retirement age from 55 to 60 (serving officers who opt for the scheme may nevertheless, retain their existing normal retirement age of 55); an adjustment in the earning factor: a deferred pension benefit which will be payable at normal retirement age to officers who resign after completing 10 years or more qualifying service (at present no benefits are payable to those leaving the service before normal retirement age); and an increase in the amount of pension which may be commuted as a lump sum, from 25 per cent to 50 per cent. In addition, the Hong Kong Government proposes to make pensions a right rather than a privilege.
34. Consultation with staff has also begun on a draft compensation scheme which, amongst other things, will enable pensionable overseas officers who are required to retire. or who are superseded for promotion to make way for local officers, to be compensated for loss of career.
VII. Daya Bay Nuclear Power Station
35. An issue of major public concern to the people of Hong Kong in 1986 was the proposed construction of a nuclear power station at Daya Bay, in Guangdong province of the People's Republic of China, some 50 kilometres from Hong Kong.
36. The power station will be built and operated by a joint venture company formed in 1985 following an agreement between the Guangdong Nuclear Investment Company (wholly owned by the Chinese Ministry of Nuclear Industry) and the Hong Kong Nuclear Investment Company (wholly owned by the China Light and Power Company of Hong Kong). The participation of the China Light and Power Company in the project was endorsed by the Hong Kong Government following an evaluation of the options for meeting Hong Kong's anticipated future demand for electricity and some six years of detailed negotiations on the project's feasibility, construction, operation and management and financing arrangements.
37. Before the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power station, the Daya Bay project was generally seen as a positive development which augured well for Hong Kong's future. Inevitably, the events at Chernobyl provoked intense debate in Hong Kong, as elsewhere. in the world, on the safety of nuclear power stations. Public concern focused on the proximity of the station to Hong Kong and the difficulties of evacuating the local population should this prove necessary. Opposition by various pressure groups mounted during the early summer months, culminating in the presentation of a petition to the Chinese Government-claimed to contain one million signatures.
8
which, it was claimed,
contained