XN000022-1994-10-10 — Page 19

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MONDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1994 MONDAY,

"IN PARALLEL, THE

TRANSPORT DEPARTMENT

IS UPGRADING AND EXPANDING THE COMPUTERISED AREA TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS TO IMPROVE TRAFFIC FLOW AT 550 ROAD JUNCTIONS IN KOWLOON AND THE NEW TERRITORIES, HE SAID.

++

ON PUBLIC TRANSPORT IMPROVEMENT, MR BARMA SAID: "THE KCRC AND MTRC ARE UNDERTAKING A MASSIVE PROGRAMME TO INCREASE THEIR CARRYING CAPACITY BY 25 PER CENT AND 10 PER CENT RESPECTIVELY BY 1996.

"WE ARE ALSO FINALISING THE RAILWAY DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY WHICH WILL GIVE HIGH PRIORITY TO TWO NEW RAIL LINKS, A NEW RAILWAY FOR THE NORTHWEST NEW TERRITORIES AND AN MASS TRANSIT RAILWAY EXTENSION ΤΟ TSEUNG KWAN 0.

"GIVEN THE CONSTRAINTS OF OUR DENSELY BUILT-UP URBAN AREAS AND THE GOVERNMENT'S COMMITMENTS IN OTHER IMPORTANT AREAS SUCH AS HOUSING, WELFARE AND EDUCATION, NO ACHIEVABLE ROAD/RAIL BUILDING PROGRAMMES OR TRAFFIC IMPROVEMENT AND MANAGEMENT SCHEMES COULD COPE WITH THE PRESENT RATE OF PRIVATE VEHICLE GROWTH, " MR BARMA SAID.

NEW LICENSING OFFICE WELCOMED BY THE PUBLIC

DEPARTMENT'S LICENSING

THE NEW ACCOMMODATION OF THE TRANSPORT OFFICES FOR HONG KONG ISLAND HAS BEEN WELCOMED BY THE PUBLIC WHO VISIT THE OFFICE FOR LICENSING SERVICES.

THE NEW ACCOMMODATION, ON THE THIRD FLOOR OF UNITED CENTRE, QUEENSWAY, WAS OPENED FOR SERVICE ON AUGUST 30 THIS YEAR UPON THE CLOSING OF THE OLD OFFICE AT 2 MURRAY ROAD.

TRANSPORT,

COMMITTEE,

A CEREMONY TO MARK THE OPENING OF THE OFFICE WAS HELD TODAY (MONDAY). IT WAS JOINTLY OFFICIATED BY THE SECRETARY FOR MR HAIDER BARMA; THE CHAIRMAN OF THE TRANSPORT ADVISORY PROFESSOR LEUNG CHI-KEUNG; A REPRESENTATIVE OF DEPARTMENT'S CUSTOMER LIAISON GROUP, MR YUEN CHI-PO; AND A STAFF REPRESENTATIVE OF THE DEPARTMENT'S LICENSING KWING-TONG.

THE TRANSPORT

DIVISION, MR

WONG

WAS

SPEAKING AT THE CEREMONY, MR BARMA SAID THE NEW OFFICE ABOUT 33 PER CENT LARGER THAN THE OLD ONE AND WAS EQUIPPED WITH MORE USER-FRIENDLY FACILITIES.

AS EXAMPLES, MR BARMA SAID CUSTOMERS COULD MAKE USE OF THE ONE-STOP COUNTER FOR OBTAINING BOTH A LEARNER'S DRIVING LICENCE AND ROAD TEST BOOKINGS; THEY COULD USE THE NEW SELF-SERVICE MULTI-MEDIA ENQUIRY MACHINES, THE 24-HOUR TELEPHONE ENQUIRY SERVICE, OR MAKE PERSONAL ENQUIRIES OVER THE COUNTER FOR INFORMATION; AND A NEW 24-HOUR DROP-IN-BOX FOR LICENSING APPLICATION.

"I AM ALSO PLEASED TO NOTE THAT THE TRANSPORT DEPARTMENT IS ANNOUNCING TODAY THE SECOND PHASE OF THEIR PERFORMANCE PLEDGE SCHEME

IN WHICH MORE SERVICES, FROM LICENSING TO VEHICLE EXAMINATION MATTERS, ARE COVERED, HE SAID.

**

/THE PLEDGES