Secretary for Justice on co-location arrangements at Hong Kong section of Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link

Following is the transcript of remarks made by the Secretary for Justice, Mr Rimsky Yuen, SC, after attending a meeting with officials of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council on the co-location arrangements at the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link and other matters with the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, in Shenzhen today (May 20):

Reporter: What is the purpose of today's meeting and what is the conclusion of today?

Secretary for Justice: As we were saying in Cantonese, the purpose of today's meeting is to discuss the topics concerning co-location of the future railway, as it would be of utmost importance that we can arrange a proper legal framework for the future co-location, and our aim is to achieve that within the framework of the Basic Law. It's of utmost importance that the future design would not be inconsistent with the Basic Law and it is every intention of the Hong Kong Government as well as the Central People's Government to have the arrangement under the umbrella of the Basic Law. The progress of today is reasonably good. It's very constructive. And as I was saying just now in Cantonese, we agreed that the ultimate co-location arrangement should be properly put in place with proper legal basis by the time the railway is to commence operation towards the end of 2017. Taking into account the progress we have made so far, the discussion we have made today, we believe that we should be in a position to achieve the target towards the end of 2017 when the railway is to start operation.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)

Ends/Wednesday, May 20, 2015