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The spokesman said: "In view of the prudence adopted in the design of the transmission system, the absence of conclusive scientific evidence about the health effect of EMF, and the problems associated with realignment, there is no justification to re-route the power line at high costs to be borne by electricity consumers or tax payers."
The realignment proposed by the residents at the Fei Ngo Shan section could cost up to $1 billion while that for the Yick Yuen section could cost $106 million. Moreover, a realignment without valid justification will create fresh objections from those living near the new route.
The spokesman said that the Governor-in-Council authorised the transmission system in early 1994 after an extensive consultation on the proposed alignment with relevant bodies including district boards, rural committees, area committees, Country Parks Board and village representatives, and publication in the press. This was in line with Government practice.
The spokesman added that the Working Group on EMF will keep in close touch with authoritative nåtional institutions and scientific panels such as the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurement of the USA, the National Radiological Protection Board of the UK, WHO and ICNIRP with a view to continuing monitoring the latest development on EMF studies.
End
Tuition fees set for UGC-&mded institutions course
The Government today (Tuesday) announced that the tuition fees for degree and sub-degree courses at tertiary institutions funded by the University Grants Committee (UGC) will be set at $37,350 and $28,000 in the 1996-97 academic year.
At these fee levels, which are slightly lower than those indicated last year, the Government will recover 16.5 per cent of the recurrent costs of providing degree level education to local students through UGC-funded institutions.
A government spokesman explained that the lower than anticipated fee levels had been achieved as a resuit of the Administration's efforts to contain the costs of tertiary education by deciding not to spend $277 million on extending new Civil Service housing benefits to the staff of the tertiary institutions.