Press Releases

ExCo endorses revised packages for voluntary surrender of livestock keeping licences

The Executive Council today (June 7) endorsed revised ex-gratia payment (EGP) packages for live poultry farmers, wholesalers and transporters who voluntarily choose to surrender their livestock keeping licences (LKLs) or market tenancies and cease operation permanently.


A Health, Welfare and Food Bureau spokesman said that the revised packages were part of the administration's overall plan to reduce the risk of avian influenza outbreaks in Hong Kong. The overall plan was compiled in response to the latest development in the Southeast Asia region as well as to World Health Organization warnings.


The original EGP packages were announced on March 14. The EGP for live poultry farmers follows the current formulae for public development clearance approved by the Compensation Review Committee and the Legislative Council Finance Committee.


"Having considered the views expressed by poultry farmers during the consultation and to provide a better incentive for the farmers to surrender their LKLs, we have enhanced the EGP by assuming the farms are fully enclosed and by using the lowest depreciation factor for farm structure," the spokesman said.


"In addition, we have also included in the formula an EGP component accounting for the farmers' capital investment on biosecurity facilities demanded by the Government for the purpose of preventing the introduction of avian influenza viruses to farms. We will also increase the cap on the EGP payable from $3 million to $4 million."


At present, there are 196 live poultry farms in Hong Kong, of which 147 are chicken farms, 43 are pigeon farms and 6 are duck farms.


"For live poultry wholesalers, we will also enhance the EGP rates for different category of poultry stalls by about 40% to 60% to encourage live poultry wholesalers to surrender their tenancies at the Cheung Sha Wan Temporary Wholesale Poultry Market and the Western Wholesale Food Market (Wholesale Markets)," the spokesman said. The revised EGP rates for live poultry wholesalers are shown at Annex.


"As the surrender schemes will inevitably affect the businesses of some live poultry transporters, the Government will also provide an EGP of $50,000 per vehicle to those live poultry transporters who choose to surrender their monthly tenancies of parking spaces for their vehicles at the Wholesale Markets. This could enable the affected transporters to upgrade/convert their vehicles for conveying chilled/frozen products or for other business operations," the spokesman said.


"As for other transporters without any monthly tenancies to surrender, they will not be eligible for EGP under the current scheme but are still eligible for a loan of $50,000 for the same purposes."


The spokesman emphasised that after receiving the EGP or loan, the transporters concerned would not be allowed to enter the Wholesale Markets to convey live poultry again, nor they would be entitled to any further financial assistance from the Government for live poultry operations, if any. The Government will put in place effective measures to prevent abuse.


At present there are about 400 live poultry transporting vehicles in Hong Kong, of which around 120 have rented monthly parking spaces in the Wholesale Markets.


In relation to assistance for those local workers affected by the voluntary surrender schemes, the Administration will offer a one-off grant of $18,000 to each affected local live poultry farm, wholesale and transport worker who becomes unemployed as a result of his/her employer ceasing operation under the voluntary surrender scheme. The amount of one-off grant is equivalent to the maximum amount receivable under the prevailing retraining and financial assistance package for live poultry retail workers.


The spokesman said there would be identity proof similar to that for live poultry retail workers for this scheme. "A worker is only entitled to receive the one-off grant once even if he rejoins the trade and his/her subsequent employers choose to join any of the voluntary surrender schemes for the live poultry trade. For those who still wish to participate in retraining, we would assist them to apply to the Employee Retraining Board (ERB) or other relevant agencies under the normal procedures."


As a matter of fairness, it is also proposed to apply the same arrangements to those live poultry retail workers who become unemployed because of the voluntary surrender scheme but have yet to receive retraining arranged by ERB.


Since the implementation of the voluntary schemes for live poultry farmers, wholesalers and transporters will have significant impact on the local supply of live poultry and hence the business operations of live poultry retailers, the Government also plans to extend the application deadline for the voluntary surrender scheme for live poultry retailers to tally with the application deadline for the former schemes.


Apart from the $14 million loan for live poultry transporters without any monthly tenancies to surrender, the total amount of funding required for the above schemes is estimated to be about $342.1 million.


The spokesman said the proposed packages were in line with the Government's policy to separate humans and poultry and minimise the risk of human infection of avian influenza. He said that the packages were proposed after taking into account the views from the trade and the general public, as well as drawing reference to the prevailing arrangements for live poultry retailers.


"The EGP packages will allow those live poultry operators who are approaching retirement age or those who do not wish to stay in the trade due to the uncertainties of their business prospects to exit the trade voluntarily," the spokesman said.


"Given the continuous outbreaks of avian influenza in the region, especially the high fatality of human infection cases, we are obliged to address the public concerns on the risk of avian influenza outbreak in Hong Kong and their heightened expectation of Government's proactive measures to protect public health."


The revised packages will be discussed at the Food Safety and Environmental Hygiene Panel of the Legislative Council on June 14.




Ends/Tuesday, June 7, 2005

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