Special traffic and transport arrangements for football matches at Hong Kong Stadium on August 19, 20 and 23
The Transport Department (TD) today (August 15) said that, to facilitate the holding of football matches at the Hong Kong Stadium on the evenings of August 19, 20 and 23, special traffic and transport arrangements will be implemented in the vicinity of So Kon Po and Causeway Bay as follows. Spectators from the Mainland are urged to plan their journeys early, use the MTR, special bus or cross-boundary coach services, and heed the service hours of public transport services and boundary control points.
Road closures
The following road sections will be temporarily closed to vehicular traffic in phases during the event period, until the closed roads are reopened:
Time |
Details |
From about 5.30pm |
The section of Caroline Hill Road between Leighton Road and Cotton Path;
The section of Hysan Avenue westbound carriageway between Yun Ping Road and Hoi Ping Road;
Stadium Path; and
The section of Lee Garden Road between Lan Fong Road and Hysan Avenue (except for Green Minibuses (GMB)).
From about 9.30pm |
Caroline Hill Road;
The section of Eastern Hospital Road between Caroline Hill Road and Cotton Path;
The section of Tung Lo Wan Road northbound between Eastern Hospital Road and Causeway Road;
The section of Tung Lo Wan Road southbound between Eastern Hospital Road and Causeway Road (except for franchised bus and GMB);
The northbound carriageway of Link Road (downhill);
Hoi Ping Road, Sunning Road, Sun Wui Road, Lee Garden Road, Lan Fong Road, Foo Ming Street, Pak Sha Road, Yun Ping Road, Kai Chiu Road, Hysan Avenue, Shelter Street and Cotton Path; and
Leighton Road (when necessary).
The TD anticipates that, during the event period, the traffic in the vicinity of So Kon Po and Causeway Bay will be very congested. Motorists are advised to avoid driving to the affected areas.
Public transport service arrangements
In connection with the above road closure arrangements, the following bus and GMB routes operating in the affected areas will be subject to temporary diversion and associated stop relocation arrangements during the event period:
Time |
Details |
From about 5.30pm |
Citybus (CTB) route Nos. 5B and 8H will operate in the form of a circular route;
Cross-harbour bus (XHT) route No. 936 (Shek Wai Kok bound) will terminate at Moreton Terrace instead of Cotton Path; and
CTB route No. 678 (Sheung Shui bound) will depart at Causeway Road instead of Eastern Hospital Road (except for August 23).
From about 10pm |
GMB route Nos. 14M, 21A, 21M, 26, 28, 28S and 30 will be temporarily diverted and operate as circular routes, terminating at Keswick Street.
The TD has co-ordinated with local and cross-boundary public transport operators to strengthen their services during dispersal:
The MTR will enhance the interval between trains of the Island Line and the East Rail Line (ERL) on respective days as and when necessary;
CTB will provide one special bus route No. 976S from Causeway Bay (Moreton Terrace) Bus Terminus to Lok Ma Chau (San Tin) Public Transport Interchange; and
Cross-boundary coach services at Hennessy Road, Wan Chai and Causeway Bay (outside Times Square) will be strengthened at the closing of the event subject to passenger demand to facilitate travellers' return to the Mainland via the Lok Ma Chau/Huanggang (LMC/HG) Port and the Shenzhen Bay Port.
Special appeal to cross-boundary travellers
Spectators who plan to return to the Mainland on the same day after the football matches should pay special attention that, if they use the Lo Wu Control Point, they should take the MTR Island Line at Causeway Bay Station to Admiralty Station, and interchange the ERL towards Lo Wu Station. The last connecting train towards Lo Wu Station will depart from Causeway Bay Station at 10.44pm and Admiralty Station at 11.01pm. Travellers should plan their journeys ahead and arrive at the station platform in advance.
For travellers who opt for LMC/HG Port (operating 24 hours daily), apart from the above special bus service route No. 976S directly departing from Causeway Bay, they may also take the MTR ERL to Sheung Shui Station and then KMB route No. 276B or N73, and transfer to the LMC-HG cross-boundary shuttle bus (Yellow Bus) for their journey to the Mainland.
A spokesman for the TD said that, as a large number of travellers may use the LMC/HG Port after the football matches, and that concerts will also be held at the Kai Tak Sports Park on the evenings of August 19 and 20, the Port is expected to be very busy. Travellers' patience is appreciated. To ensure the smooth operation of public transport services, dedicated public transport lanes will be arranged at the LMC/HG Port after midnight during the event period when necessary for the smooth operation of the Yellow Bus and cross-boundary coach services as well as effective dispersal of a large number of cross-boundary travellers. Other cross-boundary private cars and their passengers are expected to have a longer clearance time. The TD has steered operators to reserve standby vehicles and manpower to meet passengers' demand.
Members of the public are advised to make use of public transport services as far as possible to avoid traffic congestion and unnecessary delays. During the event, the TD and the Police will closely monitor the traffic situation. The Police may adjust the traffic arrangements subject to the prevailing crowd and traffic conditions in the areas. Members of the public should pay attention to the latest traffic news through radio, television or the "HKeMobility" mobile application.
For details of the special traffic and public transport arrangements, members of the public may visit the TD website (www.td.gov.hk), its mobile application "HKeMobility" or passenger notices issued by the relevant public transport operators.
Government announces updates on follow-up work on Tai Po fire
The three task forces set up by the Government for the fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po - the Task Force on Investigation and Regulation, the Task Force on Emergency Support and Fund-Raising, and the Task Force on Emergency Accommodation Arrangements - are making full efforts to follow up on the support, relief, and investigation work related to the incident. Details are as follows:
Financial and welfare support
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For the Support Fund for Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po, established by the Government, donations received are about $3 billion as of noon today (December 8). In addition to the start-up capital of $300 million from the Government, the fund's total has now reached around $3.3 billion. The fund will be used to assist residents in rebuilding their homes and providing long-term and sustained support.
The Government earlier announced that the Support Fund will provide a living allowance to each affected household. As of today, 1 357 cases have been processed. The living allowance is increased from $50,000 to $100,000 and will be disbursed in phases. In addition, the Support Fund will provide families of each deceased victim with a token of solidarity of $200,000, as well as $50,000 to cover funeral costs. As of today, a total of 95 cases have been processed.
In addition, the Government has so far disbursed an emergency subsidy of $10,000 to 1 932 households, and the relevant disbursement is largely complete.
Social workers from the Social Welfare Department (SWD) have been in contact with more than 1 970 affected households, and more than 4 900 residents have been registered for the "one social worker per household" follow-up service. SWD staff also paid visits to the affected residents staying in transitional housing units in Yuen Long today and distributed Octopus cards with a face value of $2,000 to facilitate their daily travels and address their imminent needs. The SWD will maintain liaison with the affected households to provide all necessary assistance while fully supporting the relief work of the Government. Those not yet in touch with the SWD are advised to leave their contact information by calling 182 183 as soon as possible.
Accommodation support
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As of this morning, a total of 1 422 residents have been accommodated, through the co-ordination of the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau, in youth hostels, camps, or hotel rooms. Another 2 522 residents are currently living in transitional housing units provided by the Housing Bureau or units from the Hong Kong Housing Society. Moreover, the Tai Po District Office continues to operate a temporary shelter at Tai Po Community Centre, which remains open to residents in need. The other temporary shelter at Tung Cheong Street Community Hall will remain in operation until the existing users have relocated to arranged emergency accommodations.
Relief supplies and donations
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The supplies donation online platform, established by the Government and the information technology sector, continues to operate, facilitating the registration of supplies donations from organisations and the public. The Government has so far received over 1 600 registrations, of which approximately 30 per cent were submitted by organisations, whereas the others were contributed by the public. The various registered donation items include food and beverages, clothing, daily necessities, bedding, and electrical appliances. The Government is actively assessing residents' actual needs through the relevant policy bureau, government departments, and service organisations for the matching of donated supplies in order to distribute appropriate items in phases to places in need. So far, over 5 700 pieces of donation items covering various categories have been distributed to different places. The matching and distribution of supplies will continue.
Handling of reported missing persons
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Officers from the Disaster Victim Identification Unit continued to search the area around the buildings and near the collapsed scaffolding today, which had been confirmed as safe. No human remains were found, and the number of deceased remains at 159. The Police have contacted the families of the missing persons and those who have preliminarily identified the deceased through photographs to arrange for them to undergo DNA oral swab sampling in batches starting today for scientific identification of the deceased.
Regulation and inspection work
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The emergency maintenance contractors co-ordinated by the Housing Department have completed the clearance of the miscellaneous items at the surroundings of the buildings at Wang Fuk Court today. The Independent Checking Unit (ICU) of the Housing Bureau also continued to extract concrete core samples from the affected buildings today. So far, five buildings have been covered.
The ICU has conducted inspections on the scaffoldings of the four Home Ownership Scheme courts, namely Yee Kok Court in Sham Shui Po, On Kay Court in Kwun Tong, Sui Wo Court in Sha Tin and Ching Lai Court in Sham Shui Po, as well as Fung Wah Estate in Chai Wan under the Tenants Purchase Scheme. Miscellaneous items were found on some scaffoldings. The contractor is removing the items. The ICU will closely monitor the progress.
Regarding the order to remove scaffold nets issued by the Buildings Department (BD), as of 5pm today, 227 private buildings have had their scaffold nets removed from the external walls (including two cases completed by government contractors). Work on the remaining three cases, in which the BD has accepted an extension of time, is underway and is expected to finish within this week.
The BD is striving to announce a new set of arrangements within this week that will require scaffold nets used at construction sites to be sampled on-site and certified as compliant with the relevant standards prior to installation, so that the relevant external wall work can resume as soon as possible.
The Labour Department (LD) continues to inspect fire protection facilities and the fire emergency preparedness of building maintenance work sites with large-scale scaffolding to ensure the occupational safety of workers. As of 4pm today, the LD has inspected 351 construction sites, issued a total of 180 written warnings and 96 improvement notices, and has taken out 25 prosecutions.
Source: AI-found images
