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The government plans to make more temporary hostels that have the capacity to accomodate 7000 imported construction workers under the government import labour scheme and plan to make the hostels occupied till around mid-2024, Hong Kong Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn said on Wednesday.
Bernadette Linn spoke at the Legislative Council on Wednesday that 4,600 applications have been approved for the first round of the labour import scheme, and expected the dormitory at Tam Mei in Yuen Long which was previously as a Covid isolation facility to be full up next year.
"Provided the trend of about 4,600 applications continues in the second round, we expect the Tam Mei dormitory may fill up by the second or third quarter next year,” she said.
Linn explained in a written reply to lawmaker Stanley Ng that the hostels had cultural and recreational facilities, pantries, laundry rooms, and medical service rooms “to meet the daily needs of the imported labour.”
The city’s construction sector aims to hire up to 12,000 non-local workers under a labour import scheme designed to attract 20,000 workers to ease a widespread manpower shortage. Workers must live in designated premises, including the Tam Mei site managed by the Construction Industry Council
The remaining 8,000 workers would go to the transport sector, including 6,300 for the aviation industry and 1,700 minibus and coach drivers.
Linn said the government was looking for another site in the New Territories and was considering converting more makeshift Covid hospitals into lodgings for non-local workers.
She told real estate sector lawmaker Louis Loong that the 12,000 construction workers would focus on public works, adding that the labour sector was more confident in the government’s ability to address potential abuses of the scheme.
Concerning the issue of private projects that also in need of manpower, as its facing a shortage too, Linn said private contractors would stand a better chance of hiring imported workers if they could prove they needed workers with specific skills.
The government's quest for more manpower was instigated by city's plan for major infrastructure projects that include the Northern Metropolis plan in the northern New Territories announced in 2021 and slated to provide more than 500,000 new flats, a logistics hub, and innovation and tech zone.
Answering the concerns from lawmaker Gary Zhang that the workers would be subject to “military-style” controls, Linn said monitoring their movements in and out of living quarters would make it easier for employers to arrange transport by shuttle bus.
“When they go back to the hostel after dinner, or where they go over the weekend – none of that will actually be controlled,” she said.
香港發展局局長：政府計劃為外地建築工人興建更多宿舍
香港發展局局長林伯納週三表示，政府計劃根據政府輸入勞工計劃建造更多臨時宿舍，可容納 7000 名輸入建築工人，併計劃使宿舍入住至 2024 年中期左右。
林貝爾納黛特週三在立法會表示，第一輪輸入勞工計畫已批准4,600份申請，並預計元朗潭美宿舍（原為新冠隔離設施）將於明年住滿。
她說：“如果第二輪申請繼續保持約4,600份申請的趨勢，我們預計譚美宿舍可能會在明年第二或第三季度填滿。”
林恩在給立法會議員吳斯坦利的書面答覆中解釋說，宿舍設有文化和娛樂設施、食品儲藏室、洗衣房和醫療服務室，「以滿足外地勞工的日常需求」。
該市的建築業計劃根據一項旨在吸引20,000名工人的勞動力輸入計劃僱用最多12,000名非本地工人，以緩解普遍存在的勞動力短缺問題。 工人必須居住在指定處所，包括建造業議會管理的潭尾工地
其餘8,000名工人將前往交通運輸部門，其中6,300名用於航空業，1,700名小巴和長途汽車司機。
林恩表示，政府正在新界尋找另一個地點，並考慮將更多臨時醫院改造成非本地工人的住所。
她告訴房地產行業議員Louis Loong，12,000名建築工人將專注於公共工程，並補充說，勞工部門對政府解決該計劃潛在濫用問題的能力更有信心。
關於也需要人力的私人專案問題，林恩表示，如果私人承包商能夠證明他們需要具有特定技能的工人，那麼他們將有更好的機會僱用外籍勞工。
政府尋求更多人力的原因是該市的重大基礎設施項目計劃，其中包括 2021 年宣布的新界北部北部都會計劃，該計劃計劃提供超過 50 萬套新公寓、物流中心以及創新科技區。
在回答立法者張加里關於工人將受到「軍事式」控制的擔憂時，林恩表示，監控他們進出生活區的行動將使雇主更容易安排班車交通。
「當他們晚餐後回到旅館，或者週末去哪裡時，這些實際上都不會受到控制，」她說。
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