Dormitory for imported workers to open next month

A former isolation facility in Tam Mei, Yuen Long, will start operating as a foreign workers' dormitory next month as the government is still trying to find land to build a long-term dormitory for imported workers.

Authorities announced in June the importation of 12,000 mainland and foreign construction workers, for whom employers need to provide accommodation either next to their workplace or arrange for them to live in centralized dormitories.

The Construction Industry Council, responsible for managing the Tam Mei dormitory, is expected to finish renovations at the site next month in time for the opening.

The 10-hectare site, equivalent to 18 football fields, will provide 2,000 flats for 8,000 workers for two years.

Speaking in a Yuen Long district council meeting yesterday, Acting Deputy Secretary for Development Susanne Wong Ho Wing-sze said the council will run the site based on two factors - not affecting local livelihoods and providing a pleasant living environment for the workers.

Council vice-chairman Tang Ho-nin expressed worries about traffic condition during peak hours if all 8,000 places were to be filled up.

"It will need at least 100 coaches and may take two to three hours to take 8,000 workers to construction sites. How would the authorities solve the problem?" he said.

Civil Engineering and Development Department engineer Eric Ngai Wing-yin said authorities had conducted a traffic impact assessment and that the coaches would depart between 6.30 and 7 am, thus avoiding the peak hours.

Employers have started applying to fill vacancies in 26 low-skilled job descriptions yesterday, including junior chefs, waiters, clerks, and laundry workers.

The hotel sector wants 2,000 imported workers while retailers are looking at 30,000 to 40,000 workers.

Caspar Tsui Ying-wai, executive director of the Federation of Hong Kong Hotel Owners, believed many of its members will gradually apply.

"The hospitality sector is facing a 'crazy' acute shortage, and many times we cannot fully utilize our rooms to serve travelers," he said, adding the sector is facing a manpower shortfall of over 9,000 people.

The laundry sector said 96 percent of employers that service hotels, airlines, hospitals, beauty salons, gyms and restaurants need foreign workers.

Hong Kong Laundry Services Association chairman Lin Sai-wai said: "In the past, when we employers hoped to import workers, we needed to submit the applications via other technician import schemes, and the approval process takes a long time."