CALENDAR OF EVENTS IN 1994
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Hong Kong donates $2 million towards emergency assistance to Rwanda. It is the first of five grants totalling $12 million to be made from the Disaster Relief Fund during the year in aid of Rwanda.
The government announces a package of measures to further enhance public access to information. These include the introduction in early 1995 of a code of practice setting out the type of information government departments will be permitted to release.
The Sino-British Joint Liaison Group begins its 29th meeting in Hong Kong, culminating with an agreement on the future use of existing military lands. The New Territories Land (Exemption) Bill, which gives women equal succession rights to land or property in the New Territories in the absence of a will, is passed in the Legislative Council. The Bill overturns the centuries- old tradition under which only men could inherit rural land if the owner died intestate.
The Legislative Council (Electoral Provisions) (Amendment) Bill 1994 is passed after more than 17 hours of debate in the Legislative Council. The Bill broadens the franchise of certain existing functional constituencies; establishes nine new functional constituencies encompassing Hong Kong's workforce; and provides for an election committee, comprising district board members, to return 10 members of the Legislative Council in 1995.
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The British Government, in its response to the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee report on Sino-British relations up to and beyond 1997, agrees that the Hong Kong Government's constitutional development package is within the agreements reached with China, but concludes that the case for an independent, statutory, human rights commission is not well- founded.
The Environmental Protection Department awards a $2.3 billion contract for the development of the Northeast New Territories Landfill, as part of the territory's long-term waste management strategy.
The Chief Justice, Sir Ti Liang Yang, announces the appointment of a steering committee to promote the use of the Chinese language in the courts. Hong Kong donates $20 million from the Disaster Relief Fund in aid of flood victims in China.
A consultation paper containing details of the government's proposed old age pension scheme is published for public comment. Under the proposals, the government would make a one-off capital injection of $10 billion to the scheme; employees and employers would each contribute 1.5 per cent of the employee's salary; and all eligible elderly residents aged 65 or above would receive $2,300 monthly at 1994 price levels.
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