viii
CALENDAR OF EVENTS IN 1998
5
11
16
17
19
December
1
3
6
9
10
13
14
17
53
23
31
The Commissioner for Transport, Mrs Fanny Law, announces that the licences to operate various outlying islands ferry routes will be awarded to Hongkong and Yaumati Ferry Company Limited and Hong Kong & Kowloon Ferry Limited.
The KPS chain of video rental stores goes into receivership.
The Financial Secretary announces that the Rating and Valuation Department will revalue property rates to take account of recent drops in rental levels.
The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) launches a three-month pilot scheme testing the emissions of heavy duty vehicles.
Customs officers of the Intellectual Property Investigation Bureau raid premises in Mong Kok and seize 30 000 suspected pirated optical discs worth about $450,000. It is part of a series of anti-piracy operations code-named 'The Terminator'. On December 1, a further 270 000 pirated optical discs worth more than $5.6 million are seized in Kwun Tong.
The Hong Kong-Guangdong Environmental Protection Liaison Group holds its 10th meeting in Hong Kong to draw up action items for the coming year.
The 1998 Index of Economic Freedom compiled by the American Heritage Foundation rates Hong Kong's economy the freest in the world for the fifth consecutive year. The Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation announces a guarantee scheme that will effectively let home buyers borrow up to 85 per cent of the property's valuation. Six fisherman go missing, believed drowned when their boat sinks after a collision with an oil tanker in the East Lamma Channel.
Consortium members sign land-grant deals with the government marking the go-ahead for the five-year Container Terminal 9 project on the east side of Tsing Yi Island.
Three people die when a car hits a divider on the Tsing Yi end of the Tsing Ma Bridge, hurtles into the air and drops 25 metres to the hillside below.
The government opens up the pay-television market to encourage higher technology and greater competition.
Windsurfer Lee Lai-shan wins the Mistral class gold medal at the Asian games in Bangkok. Her fiance, Sam Wong Tak-sum, wins the silver in his class of the men's event, the lightweight raceboard.
Hong Kong ten-pin bowler Sunny Hui Cheung-kwok takes gold in the men's event at the Asian Games in Bangkok. Later in the day, Chan Wai-tat wins the team snooker final and shares Hong Kong's third gold medal of the Games with his team mates Marco Fu Ka-chun and Ivan Chan Kwok-ming. Subsequently, Ng Siu-ching wins gold in the wushu nanquan event and cyclist Wong Kam-po wins the men's 200-km road race. Hong Kong ends with five gold, six silver and six bronze, finishing in 13th place overall its best Asian Games result.
F
Hong Kong Director of Health, Dr Margaret Chan, accepts a Proclamation of Appreciation signed by 19 world health authorities applauding Hong Kong's swift action in containing avian flu (H5N1) in late 1997. They sincerely commend Hong Kong for its pre-emptive action in slaughtering about 1.6 million poultry, one-fifth of which were found to be carrying the flu virus.
Hong Kong's unemployment reaches 5.5 per cent, the highest level in 22 years. Hong Kong's Asian Games athletes are acclaimed for their efforts at a public reception and a victory parade through Tsim Sha Tsui on an open-top bus.
The year ends as the warmest on record. The annual mean temperature was 24 degrees, 0.2 degrees higher than the previous record set in 1966.