Government to spend over $670 million in 2002-03 to build a digitally inclusive society
13 - 05 - 2002

The Government is determined to build a digitally inclusive society so that different sectors of the community can benefit from information technology (IT) development to enrich their life.

The remarks were made by the Director of Information Technology Services, Mr Alan Wong Chi-kong, who briefed members of the Legislative Council Panel on Information Technology and Broadcasting today (May 13).

Mr Wong reviewed the progress of the Government's measures and its plans in the coming year to drive the building of a digitally inclusive society in Hong Kong.

"Under the 2001 Digital 21 Strategy promulgated in May 2001, we are committed to enhancing the community's awareness and knowledge of IT, promoting the wider use of IT in the community and improving public access to computer facilities and on-line services," said Mr Wong.

"We have been implementing a wide range of measures and spending some $2.2 billion to drive the wider use of IT in the community.

"In 2002-03, the Government will spend some $677 million to further promote IT awareness and encourage the wider adoption of IT in the community," he said. The breakdown of the expenditure items is attached. (15 KB)

The Government will continue to monitor the IT adoption in Hong Kong through annual surveys. The 2002 annual survey on IT penetration and usage in households will be conducted in May to July this year.

Besides, the Government will continue with the Super Cyber Centre and the Community Cyber Points (CCPs) projects to provide free computer facilities for public use.

"We are exploring the establishment of cyber centres at regional or district level in phases to cope with the increasing public demand for free access to IT facilities," said Mr Wong.

"About 20 to 30 personal computers (PCs) with Internet connection will be provided at each centre for free use by the local residents," he said, "We aim to set up the first such centre in Tin Shui Wai in Yuen Long in 2002-03."

The Home Affairs Department will install additional assistive software at CCPs designed for use by the visually impaired.

The ITSD will also explore the development of text-to-speech translation service for Government web sites to further enhance their accessibility.

"To enhance the public's knowledge and awareness of IT, we will continue to organise the 'IT Hong Kong' campaign in 2002-03," said Mr Wong.

"Under the campaign, we will offer some 13 500 training places in our IT awareness programme to housewives, new arrivals, parents and the general public. Documentary television programmes will be produced to promote IT in the community.¡¨

Moreover, the Social Welfare Department will continue with the IT Awareness and Training Programme for the People with Disabilities, under which 4 000 places for people with disabilities and 200 places for trainers will be provided in 2002-03.

Additionally, 4 200 awareness training places will be provided to senior citizens.

The Information Technology and Broadcasting Bureau and the ITSD, in partnership with the Hong Kong Computer Society, will launch a community IT user support service in June 2002.

The service, called "IT Easy Link", will provide members of the community with advice on general problems that they may encounter when using basic IT applications.

The Leisure and Cultural Services Department will also sponsor some organisations to deliver computer talks and IT training to adults, housewives and senior citizens at 11 public libraries with computer training centres.

Mr Wong said, "Regarding the access to on-line services, we will continue to enhance Government web sites within 2002 to bring all of them in compliance with our internal web accessibility guidelines which have been developed based on the internationally recognised 'Web Content Accessibility Guidelines' and with input from the Hong Kong Blind Union. This will facilitate the blind and the visually impaired to surf Government web sites"

"In 2002, we will provide a simplified Chinese character version of Government web pages to facilitate browsing by the new arrivals from the Mainland, as well as Chinese communities in other parts of the world," he said.

On the education and training side, the Education Department will continue to arrange professional IT training for secondary school students in collaboration with IT vendors and will further encourage more schools to make their computer facilities available to students after normal school hours.

In order to establish an objective baseline for the Hong Kong community in understanding the critical issue of access to IT which is currently transforming our economy and lives, the ITSD has published a booklet entitled "Building A Digitally Inclusive Society".

It is available on the "Digital 21" web site (http://www.digital21.gov.hk/eng/programme/digitaldivide.html) for public reference and free downloading.

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