The Hong Kong government said on Tuesday that it understood local residents' concerns about the poultry processing facility plan in Sheung Shui at the New Territories and would try to minimize possible nuisance which might caused by the plan.

The Permanent Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food of Hong Kong Carrie Yau Tuesday briefed the Heung Yee Kuk, an organization representing residents of the New Territories, on the proposed Sheung Shui poultry processing plant project and exchanged views with Heung Yee Kuk members on the project.

Yau repeated that the primary purpose for developing the processing plant to place poultry slaughtering activities under one roof was to achieve the policy objective of separating live poultry from humans through minimizing their contacts as far as practicable to reduce the risk of human infection of avian influenza.

She stressed that various factors had been taken into account as far as possible when identifying the plant site. The proposed site is located close to the boundary and local poultry farms, which could shorten the route for transporting live chickens.

In addition, there was also readily available basic infrastructure such as water and electricity supply and sewage network and the relevant land lot could be used within a short time, allowing the slaughtering plant to come into operation as soon as possible.

"This is the first time Hong Kong plans to develop a poultry processing facility, and residents' anxiety is understandable.

"We are willing to continue to maintain close contacts with the relevant organizations and stakeholders on the site issue in the hope of gauging views from various parties during the planning process and actively seeking a consensus," Yau said.

Yau further explained that the government would conduct a statutory environmental impact assessment study and request the operator of the processing plant to adopt design and measures that would effectively control the impact on the environment and reduce possible nuisance.

(Xinhua News Agency April 19, 2006)