Latest news with #IntheChamber
RTHK
30-07-2025
- Business
- RTHK
'New subsidised homes meet needs of young families'
'New subsidised homes meet needs of young families' A lawmaker said on Wednesday that subsidised homes to be put on the market from this year are more suitable for young families. The flats will be missing traditional fixtures such as a kitchen stove and a hanging rack. But speaking on RTHK's In the Chamber programme, Scott Leung said people don't cook as much as they did in the past, and they have other ways to dry their clothes. "Nowadays, how many young families will cook at home, or even hang laundry? Many homes now come with a washing machine that has clean and dry functions and that does not require the need to hang clothes out to dry," he said. The new subsidised homes will also see another change, with the main door facing a window instead of a toilet. Leung, who is also a member of the Housing Authority, said the old design aimed to maximise the number of flats that could be built, but is considered unfavourable for feng shui and raises privacy concerns. The Housing Bureau earlier said it would be looking into ways of cutting down unnecessary expenses, for example by not installing lights activated by motion sensors in public spaces at housing estates. Leung welcomed the idea, but said that facilities such as security gates should be kept in place unless technology can be used instead to enhance security.
RTHK
28-05-2025
- Business
- RTHK
Tien not on board with MTR over need for shutdown
Tien not on board with MTR over need for shutdown Michael Tien said he didn't think it was necessary to shut down the entire Tseung Kwan O line on Thursday. File photo: RTHK A lawmaker has questioned why the MTR Corporation had to shut down the entire Tseung Kwan O line last Thursday, when power and signalling failures halted services for five hours starting from the evening rush hour. Roundtable's Michael Tien quoted the railway company as telling him that it couldn't switch to manual operation and use the one available track for trains to go both ways because the section was still running on the old signalling system. Tien, who chaired the Kowloon–Canton Railway Corporation before the merger of the two rail companies, said he didn't find the explanation acceptable. "When you look at the past two, three years, service disruptions didn't affect the whole Tsuen Wan and Island lines – with both of them also running on the old signalling system," he told RTHK's In the Chamber programme. "They just switched to manual. "The design is that, once the automated system isn't safe enough, you can go manual so that the trains would go at a slower speed." The government has said the MTR has to spend more than HK$19 million on passenger rebates because of the service disruption. As a result of the Tseung Kwan O stoppage and two others earlier in February and April, the MTRC will be having a day of half-priced fares on a Saturday or Sunday. Tien said he found it "a bit funny" that passengers across the entire network would benefit, when it was mostly those taking the Tseung Kwan O line trains that bore the brunt of the shutdown.
