XN000022-1995-07-26 — Page 6

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The Government agreed at a meeting with the trade representatives on June 16 that the sampling survey could be conducted as soon as possible once the trade put forward their proposal and the Government agreed on how the survey was to be conducted.

The spokesman said the Government had repeatedly pointed out before that the Sewage Services regulations did not allow any "grace period" or non-payment pending the outcome of the survey. It would be to the restaurant trade's advantage to come up with a proposal as soon as possible.

The spokesman noted that of those restaurant operators who had received their first TES bills, about 98 per cent had paid their bills. For the second TES bill, about 97.5% had paid their bills.

The spokesman reminded those who failed to settle their water and sewage charge as well as TES bills on or before the due date to pay the bills as soon as possible.

The Drainage Services Department has already issued several reminders to those who have not paid the first TES bills.

End/Wednesday, July 26, 1995

Consultancy to help in future planning of river trade

The Port Development Board today (Wednesday) signed a $1.75 million consultancy with Survey Research Hong Kong Ltd. to compile detailed statistics on the port's river trade for this year.

River cargo traffic is the fastest growing component of Hong Kong's port throughput. In 1994, river trade grew by 30 per cent compared with 17 per cent for ocean cargo. It also accounted for 21 per cent of the total cargo tonnage passing through the port.

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To cope with this rapid growth, new port facilities must be planned. The detailed figures provided by the consultancy will form the basis for future planning of such facilities and ensure that they can cope with the demand. While general river trade increased by 30 per cent in 1994, the number of containers moving between Hong Kong and the Pearl River ports showed a massive jump of 52.8 per cent to total nearly one million TEUS.