News Stories:

Click-on these handy "jump links" to quickly access the news item
you're looking for.

1. Maintenance contracts worth $2.2b awarded

2. Cyberport plays host to digital summit

1. Maintenance contracts worth $2.2b awarded
Keith Wallis, The Standard 4 May 2004

Contracts totalling more than HK$2.2 billion have been awarded by the Architectural Services Department for the maintenance of government buildings in various districts of the SAR for three years.

The largest slice has been won by Yau Lee Construction which secured two deals worth HK$564.9 million. The larger, worth HK$346.4 million, covers buildings and other properties in Tuen Mun and Yuen Long.

The second, valued at HK$218.5 million, covers buildings in Kwun Tong, Mong Kok and Yau Ma Tei.
Chun Wo Construction & Engineering won two contracts worth HK$502.8 million in total. The first, worth HK$302 million, involves the maintenance of buildings in Tai Po, North district and the outlying islands. The second, for HK$200.8million, involves facilities in Kowloon City, Sai Kung and nearby islands. Other successful contractors include:

Woon Lee Construction, which won a HK$308.8million deal for building maintenance on the eastern side of Hong Kong Island plus the southern outlying islands;

Chinney Construction, which secured a HK$293.3 million order for building repairs in Wan Chai;

Wan Chung Construction, which was awarded a HK$277million contract for similar work in Central, the Mid-Levels and The Peak; and

Chee Cheung Hing & Company, which scooped a HK$270 million order for buildings on the western and southern side of Hong Kong Island and Lantau Island.

2. Cyberport plays host to digital summit
SHANE ABRAHAMS, SCMP 4 May 2004

The growing gap between digital haves and have-nots comes under the spotlight at a summit from next Tuesday to Saturday at Cyberport.

Global ICT Summit 2004 aims to bridge the digital divide by showcasing best practices in e-content and e-creativity, according to Elizabeth Quat, president of the Internet Professionals Association of Hong Kong and chairman of the Global Alliance for Bridging the Digital Divide (GABDD).

The summit is GABDD's first project. Ms Quat said: "We believe ICT [information and communication technology] can offer an opportunity to people, to solve problems, to enhance business performance, to narrow the poverty gap, and build a better world for our next generation."

However, with much of the world not connected to the internet, these opportunities are not available to everyone.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said: "An explosion in the free-flow of information and ideas has brought knowledge and its myriad applications to many millions of people, creating new choices and opportunities in some of the most vital realms of human endeavour. Yet too many of the world's people remain untouched by this revolution. A digital divide threatens to exacerbate already-wide gaps between rich and poor, within and among countries."

Ms Quat said the GABDD, which was formed last October, aimed to narrow this divide by using expertise, best practices, experiences and resources from around the world.

The alliance was conceived during side meetings at the plenary meeting of the United Nations' World Summit Award for e-content and creativity.

That event brought together experts from 36 countries to choose the best e-content practices from more than 800 nominations from 136 countries.

The upcoming ICT summit is jointly organised by the Internet Professionals Association, Hong Kong Cyberport, the General Chamber of Commerce, the World Summit Award, GABDD and the World Wide Web Consortium Hong Kong.

It is endorsed by the Ministry of Science and Technology in Beijing. The organisers expect more than 400 people to attend the event, including representatives from the IT industry, academia and the public and private sectors.

Among the 21 countries represented will be Bahrain, Bangladesh, Ecuador, Canada, France, China, India, Singapore, Slovenia, the Slovak Republic, Sudan, Uganda, and the United States. Organisers hope it will allow the exchange of global vision experience, best practices, successful policies, programmes and projects in bridging the digital divide.

They also hope to increase public awareness of the problem, and 100 free tickets have been reserved for local university students, given that the digital divide is not simply an overseas problem.

Ms Quat said a digital divide also existed within Hong Kong, despite its having one of the world's highest levels of internet penetration.

She said training programmes offered by the government and civil societies to disadvantaged groups were still far from being sufficient to make Hong Kong a 100 per cent digitally inclusive information society.

"Less than 10 per cent of our senior citizens aged over 55 are computer literate and the PC and internet usage of housewives, the disabled, the poorly educated and lower income family groups is low."

Correcting this problem has become one of the key missions of the Internet Professionals Association.

Among actions taken by the association was the publication of a booklet - an easy guide to building no-barrier websites.

Published as part of the Web Care Campaign, the booklet is intended as a guide to producing sites that can be used by all members of society, including the physically handicapped.

The 71 sites that achieved the primary requirements for no-barrier websites were recognised with the Web Care Award. Last year, the campaign was named by the Women's Commission as one of the 33 Best Practices projects that empowered women in Hong Kong.