XN000022-1996-07-10 — Page 86

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64.

Reply:

(c)

in deciding if the labour importation quotas should be increased, the Government will take into account both the present unemployment situation in the territory and the occurrence of incidents in which foreign workers imported under the Special Labour Importation Scheme for the new airport projects were subjected to wrongful deduction of wages?

The objective of the Special Labour Importation Scheme for the New Airport and Related Projects (SLIS) is to facilitate the timely completion of the new airport and related projects by allowing contractors of such projects to import workers for job vacancies which they are genuinely unable to fill by local workers within a specified timeframe. To protect the employment opportunities of local workers, the SLIS is operating on the principle that local workers are given priority in Cilling job vacancies and that they should not be displaced by imported workers. The SLIS covers all projects related to the new airport. Contractors who have been awarded works contracts for such projects are eligible to apply for imported workers under the scheme.

My reply to the specific parts of the questions is as follows:

(a)

(b)

(c)

According to the Airport Authority's assessment, the construction of the second runway and associated works on the northwest concourse of the terminal will require up to approximately 1,000 workers at the peak of the construction work.

The second runway is a new airport-related project which falls within the ambit of the SLIS. Given the small total number of workers required for the construction of the second runway and associated works on the northwest concourse of the terminal relative to the existing quota ceiling of 17,000 under the Scheme, it would not be necessary to increase the quota ceiling for this

purpose.

We have no plans to increase the quota ceiling under the SLIS despite the possible need for imported workers arising from the second runway project. If the contractors of the second runway and associated works on the northwest concourse of the terminal wish to apply for imported workers under the SLIS, they have to comply fully with all the existing rules and procedures of the Scheme.

End