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Hong Kong Customs seizes suspected MDMA worth about $7.35 million at airport (with photo)      
     Investigation is ongoing.
      
     Customs will continue to step up enforcement against drug trafficking activities through intelligence analysis. The department also reminds members of the public to stay alert and not to participate in drug trafficking activities for monetary return. They must not accept hiring or delegation from another party to carry controlled items into and out of Hong Kong. They are also reminded not to carry unknown items for other people.
      
     Customs will continue to apply a risk assessment approach and focus on selecting passengers from high-risk regions for clearance to combat transnational drug trafficking activities.
      
     Under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, trafficking in a dangerous drug is a serious offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $5 million and life imprisonment.
      
     Members of the public may report any suspected drug trafficking activities to Customs’ 24-hour hotline 182 8080 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hkIssued at HKT 22:35

Wang Fuk Court long-term housing arrangement plan announced      
     The Head of the Task Force on Emergency Accommodation Arrangements (Task Force) and Deputy Financial Secretary, Mr Michael Wong said, “The Government formulates long-term plans based on the following principles: taking into account the wishes of affected families while balancing empathy, reason, the law with empathy as the priority; providing diverse options so that residents ‘have a real choice’; providing a long-term housing option in Tai Po; and making efficient use of public resources. The current plan offered by the Government provides a range of options, allowing affected households to make decisions based on their individual needs and preferences, with the aim of better addressing and catering to the circumstances of different families.”
      
     The Independent Checking Unit of the Housing Bureau (HB) has conducted an inspection of WFC. The assessment concluded that, although the seven affected blocks (Blocks A to G) do not face an immediate risk of structural collapse, the intense fire has caused extensive, deep, complex, and long-term damage to multiple building functions. This makes it difficult to carry out reasonable and cost-effective repairs, therefore complete demolition is necessary. In this special case of exceptional nature, involving as many as 1 736 flats, there is no effective market mechanism to deal with it at present. Through government intervention by making acquisition offers on titles of the seven affected buildings, the long-term housing arrangements of the affected families can be resolved in the most expeditious manner.
      
     The Government will make acquisition offers to all owners of flats in Blocks A to G of WFC. The acquisition offer, calculated based on the saleable area, is $8,000 per square foot for flats with premium unpaid, and $10,500 per square foot for flats with premium paid. All the flats will be subject to the above uniform standard.
      
     Mr Wong said, “The Government’s current acquisition price mainly takes into account that the residents have lost their homes and suffered significant losses. Their difficult circumstances warrant the understanding and support from society. Meanwhile, the scale and impact of the WFC fire are unprecedented in Hong Kong, therefore the arrangement made for this ‘special case of exceptional nature’ will not serve as a precedent. We also believe that the acquisition price will enable the affected families to relocate and secure long-term housing.”
      
     For Wang Chi House (Block H), although certain necessary repair and management arrangements must be carried out, it was not affected by the fire. Some owners of Wang Chi House have, on different occasions, indicated their wish to resume long-term residence in their original units. Mr Wong said that as Wang Chi House can still provide accommodation, and the Government must respect private property rights, unless owners of Wang Chi House reach a high degree of consensus and would like the Government’s plan to also cover Wang Chi House, it would be difficult for the Government to intervene further. In fact, if the Government was only able to acquire a small number of units in Wang Chi House, issues relating to land leases, building deeds of mutual covenant, or common areas could not be effectively resolved. Accordingly, the Government acquisition proposal does not cover Wang Chi House at this stage. However, Mr Wong stressed that, if owners of Wang Chi House are able to reach a high degree of consensus, the Government would be willing to further explore this possibility with them.
      
     Upon selling their titles to the Government and receiving the acquisition payment, owners may use the cash to make their own long-term housing arrangements, or they may participate in the Special Sales Exercise dedicated for WFC owners to purchase new subsidised sale flats (SSF) afterwards.
      
     The Secretary for Housing, Ms Winnie Ho, said, “We understand that many residents wish to purchase long-term accommodation promptly. To facilitate this, the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) and the HKHS will reserve a total of 2 400 flats in eight of their current projects, and the new HOS project at Chung Nga Road West in Tai Po will provide an additional 1 500 units. All the above projects together will provide a total of 3 900 flats for purchase by owners who have sold their titles to the Government.”
      
Further details as follows:
      
     The HA will reserve approximately 2 000 flats under the latest Sale of HOS Flats 2025 and Sale of GSH Flats 2025 for purchase by owners who have sold their titles through the Special Sales Exercise. The reserved HOS/GSH flats are mainly drawn from the following development projects, and the proposed number of flats and expected intake dates for owners participating in the exercise are as follows:
           Additionally, in response to suggestions from Legislative Council Members and residents to include flats from the HKHS as part of the support measures, and following co-ordination by the HB and the Development Bureau (DEVB), the HKHS will provide around 400 flats. This includes approximately 100 from its project on Pak Wo Road in Fanling, which are scheduled for intake in Q4 this year, and about 300 from the Anderson Road Quarry site project in Kwun Tong, with intake expected to commence in the first quarter of 2028.
      
     Originally, there were no HOS projects planned in Tai Po for the coming years. In response to the wish of some residents to relocate in Tai Po, the HA will pursue a new HOS project at Chung Nga Road West in Tai Po, providing a total of 1 500 flats. The HA is making every effort to implement the project, with the first phase of approximately 900 flats expected to be ready for intake at the earliest in 2029; the second phase will provide approximately 600 flats, which can also be ready for intake over 10 months later. The HA will specifically modify the design, changing the project’s plans to mainly provide flats with saleable area of ​​over 400 square feet, similar in size to the current flats in WFC.
      
     Flat selection under the Special Sales Exercise will commence in September 2026. The Government understands that owners wish to select their preferred flats as early as possible, and the flat selection priority will therefore be determined in batches according to the date on which they accept the Government’s acquisition offer. The flat selection order for applicants within the same batch will be further determined by their sequence as drawn in a ballot.
      
     The long-term housing plan also includes a “Flat-for-Flat” arrangement. The Government will issue a Flat-for-Flat Voucher in lieu of cash to owners willing to sell their titles. This voucher holds the same value as the acquisition amount and will serve as “credits” for owners when they join the Special Sales Exercise to purchase SSF reserved by the HA or the HKHS. If the price of the chosen flat exceeds the “credits”, the owner needs to make up the difference. On the contrary, if the selected flat price is lower than the “credit”, the owner may receive the corresponding balance. In short, under this arrangement, the Government will purchase an SSF flat on the owner’s behalf at the same price as the acquisition price, and any price difference is to be settled by the owner on a “pay more or get refunded” basis.
      
     Regardless of which option is chosen, the owner must confirm their intention by August 31 (i.e. about six months from today).
      
     Ms Ho said, “The Government understands that it is difficult for owners to grasp the specific details of each option in the long-term housing arrangements all at once. Therefore, the Government has established a cross-departmental ‘engagement team’ co-ordinated by the Housing Bureau. Composed of more than 100 people, the team members mainly come from departments under the HB, the Labour and Welfare Bureau, the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau, the Security Bureau and the DEVB. The ‘engagement team’ will follow up on the entire acquisition process of each owner, with a focus on providing support to owners. It will help owners understand the detailed content of the various options according to their individual needs, answer their questions and assist them in making choices based on their specific circumstances.”

     The HB will provide special training for the “engagement team” to help them respond and explain the Government’s plan for long-term housing arrangements to the owners effectively. Through referrals made under the “one social worker per household” service, the “engagement team” will directly contact individual owners starting from early March. Some members will also set up service counters at transitional housing and HKHS projects where a significant number of WFC residents are temporarily accommodated, providing consultation services to owners in need in a more convenient manner.
Issued at HKT 18:29

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TD approves pilot licence for autonomous vehicles in cross-district trial connecting Airport Island in North Lantau with Tung Chung Town Centre and Sunny Bay(2) increasing the number of AVs approved to operate simultaneously from 10 to 20 for the open road passenger-carrying trial on Airport Island, and from three to eight for the Tung Chung Town Centre trial; and
(3) during the Airport Island trial, in addition to having onboard backup operators, remote backup operators at the remote control centre will also operate the AVs, with a view to collecting more trial data prior to the orderly achievement of driverless operations, i.e. AVs with remote backup operators only in lieu of in-vehicle backup operators.Issued at HKT 17:15

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FEHD releases fourth batch of gravidtrap indexes for Aedes albopictus in February