Secretary for Development Carrie Lam said the estimated capital works spending for 2010-11 will reach $49.6 billion, creating 62,500 job opportunities.

     Among them, 6,600 are professional and technical posts while the remaining are workers' posts. Capital works spending for each of the next few years will be more than $50 billion.

     New measures will be launched to meet the manpower needs of future construction projects. They include increasing subsidies for construction training and encouraging workers to shift from "unskilled" to "skilled".

     There are 270,000 registered construction workers in Hong Kong and about 60% are registered as unskilled workers. Over one-third of Hong Kong's registered construction workers are aged over 50 years and only 6% are aged under 25.

     Measures have been proposed in the latest Budget to solve the potential manpower and ageing problem in the sector, and $100 million will be earmarked for this purpose.

     The Government will co-operate with the Construction Industry Council and Hong Kong Construction Association to enhance the existing "adult short courses" to encourage people to receive training on certain construction skills to address the recruitment problems in certain trades.

     This initiative will offer 3,000 extra training opportunities in three year's time to workers who newly join the sector and in-service workers who need to learn another construction skill.

 

To encourage unskilled workers to go through professional tests to gain "skilled workers" status, the Government will pay the $500 testing fee for them.  

     The Government will also take the lead to introduce best practices in public-works projects to bolster the safety, working environment and conditions in construction sites.

     Terms and conditions regarding construction-site safety and staff's working environment will be included in public-work contracts. Working staff at public work sites should be provided with proper uniforms for better identification, safety and security management.

     Meanwhile, measures introduced in 2008 - such as instituting interim payments in contracts which do not contain such a provision, and releasing part of the retention money for works projects when more than half of the works maintenance period has expired - will be extended until this year-end. The move will help construction contractors resolve their cash-flow difficulties.