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I think that those meetings, like the ones we've held on disability and transport, have helped to push things forward and though in the area of disability and employment there's, I still think, much further to go. It's been perhaps particularly difficult over the last year because of the tightening in the labour market generally, but we've still managed to place about 1400, just over 1400 people with disabilities through our own Labour Department services. We've still managed to increase the number of people with a disability employed in Government to about 4,200 and we managed to do better than our target of 500 in creating new job opportunities elsewhere for people with disabilities. We actually got to about 550.
Now we've increased those targets for the coming year, for example the last target from 550 to 700 and I hope that we will make it.
My impression is that that most important thing that we have to do is to encourage employers to understand that they're doing themselves a favour by employing somebody with a disability rather than doing the person with a disability a favour. I think we have a real problem of education and it's interesting how, in some sectors, one or two firms employ a lot of people with disabilities and others hardly any. Let me give one example which may not be well taken by those that I don't mention. In the area of the media and broadcasting, ATV have an outstandingly good record. We appealed to a number of organisations during the course of this year to take on more people with a disability ATV. I think I'm right in recalling, took on an extra 14. Hong Kong Commercial Broadcasting took on an extra couple. None of the other people that we contacted replied.
So it's an indication of how employers, individual firms, if they focus on the issue, if they make a real effort, can actually help and help themselves by getting loyal, hard working and dedicated members of staff, even if those members of staff have a disability.
Mr Zachary Wong (in Chinese): Thank you Mr President. Mr Governor, last year in your policy address you stressed one point, that is one of the top priority items is external transport means for NT North-West. And you, and your Government have time and again stressed that you would try your level best to complete WCR before 2001 and yet recently you've said that that's to be decided on by the SAR Government. So that would mean that the project will not be completed by 2001 and we don't know when that will be completed and so in NT North-West the residents in Yuen Long and Tuen Mun are extremely disappointed, they don't know how many more years they will have to suffer traffic congestion.
So do you actually feel guilty about it? And what other commitments are you prepared to put in in relation to their problem?