2014 HKIS Annual Dinner

The 2014 HKIS Annual Dinner was held in the Grand Ballroom of the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong, No.1 Harbour Road, Wanchai on Friday 28 November 2014. All friends and colleagues in the industry enjoyed a memorable night.  I would like to share with you several photos of the event capturing some treasured moments.

 

Annual HKIS CEPA visit to Beijing – 國家測繪地理信息局

Due to the APEC Summit 2014 held in Beijing, the visit to the 國家測繪地理信息局 on 3 November 2014 was cancelled.  The meeting will be rescheduled for another convenient date.

 

2014 LSD AGM

The LSD AGM was held on 27 Nov 2014 (Wed) in the Surveyors Learning Centre, Room 1207, 12/F, Wing On Centre. The 2014-2015 LSD Council, with Sr Lesly LAM as the Division Chairman, being re-elected for another term.  The new Council will continue to serve the best interests of the Division, as well as continue its work to promote the land surveying profession.

 

Chairman’s Report in the 2014 LSD AGM

This is my first chairmanship of the Land Surveying Division (LSD). I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincerest appreciation to the past Chairmen and the Council for leading the Land Surveying Division Council in serving the Institute. Over the years the LSD has grown significantly and advanced its scope of services to the community. During the past few years, we contributed much advice to the Chief Executive and Financial Secretary concerning the Policy Address on: (a) determining land boundaries; (b) spatial data infrastructure; and (c) establishing a cadastre system for encouraging the public to participate in the management of Hong Kong’s land resources. In addition LSD has arranged various seminars, conferences, and networking activities with our Mainland counterparts. The liaison with Mainland survey and mapping professionals in relation to the issues on mutual recognition of professional qualifications is currently in the pipeline.

 

Taking up the Chairman position is a delightful challenge. Working in harmony with young and experienced LSs, each council member is continuing to work hard to further promote our professional services to the public and society and strengthen our networks with both Mainland and international bodies.

 

In this council year, two issues being focused on are: (1) education and membership issues for younger members and (2) the exploration of providing more scope of services. We are obliged to provide high quality Continuous Professional Development (CPD) and Pre-Qualification Structural Learning (PQSL) sessions for all surveyors and probationers to update their knowledge and to share it with their counterparts, as well as enhance the quality of the LS membership base.

 

For the Land Boundary Survey, the council reviewed in detail the scope of work of the Boundary Survey Advisory Committee (BSAC). This year, BSAC is looking into a broader spectrum of issues in relation to land boundary surveys. The new edition of the Guidance Notes for Land Boundary Survey has been published. Further to the de-linking of the proposal to include a clause on the determination of land boundaries in the Land Survey Ordinance in 2010, the momentum for proceeding with the exercise cannot be sustained without improvements in the Land Title Ordinance. We believe that the new provision will effectively establish a statutory mechanism to clear doubts, as well as possible conflicts and disputes that may arise from undetermined land boundaries.  As such, we have issued a letter urging the government to actively take up the exercise and initiate public consultations on the Land Survey (Amendment) Bill. There is a need to establish a cadastre system, which is a legal record of land rights that supplements the current land registration system. A set of transparent, accurate, and accessible land boundaries and related information can provide the public with a clearer picture in case doubts arise. The proposed provision in the Land Survey Ordinance would be a key element for the development of a cadastre system in Hong Kong. We professional land surveyors would offer assistance via different established links with the administration and stakeholders.

 

For the engineering and construction industry, a task force has been set up in the council to look at current topics of concern, e.g. a shortage of manpower and professional land surveyor positions in various construction projects. We contributed valuable views to the Construction Industry Council (CIC) on their recent manpower study. In recent years, we have been advising the government to hire “the right professionals to do the right jobs” in its infrastructure projects.  Due to our hard work, more Land Surveyor posts have been created, especially for the following projects: the Central/Wanchai Bypass, Chek Lap Kok Link, Liantang/Heung Yuen Wai Boundary Control Point, and HK-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge HKBCF. Professional land surveyors are present at each site to contribute their land surveying expertise. Let’s keep it up.

 

In response to increasing demand for more land surveyors in various public works and infrastructure projects, we have supported the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, in increasing its fulltime student quota in the coming three year period.  To meet the shortage of surveying personnel, including both professionals and technicians, in government departments and consultant and contractor companies in mega infrastructure projects, both degree and sub-degree student quotas must be increased.

 

With regard to the possibility of the mutual recognition of membership between the LSD and RICS GPG, a new form of mutual recognition of membership at the divisional level between the LSD and RICS GPG has been proposed. In this connection, a working group comprising representatives from the two bodies has been formed. The HKIS Team is now studying the relevant information, such as the previous and current agreements, and the MoU with both the RICS and ICES.

 

The biennial LSD Guangdong-HK-Macau networking visit to Chaozhou was successfully held at the end of October 2014. It provided a very good opportunity to liaise with one of our mainland counterparts - the Guangdong Provincial Association of Surveying and Mapping (廣東省測繪學會) and friends from Macau. I gave a speech on the latest development of surveying and mapping techniques in Hong Kong.

 

In the coming council year, we will focus on making significant progress on various outstanding tasks, e.g. the mutual recognition of membership between the LSD and RICS GPG. Moreover, casual gatherings for young surveyors are being considered. I look forward to meeting the new LSD Council to further promote our professional services to the public and society.

 

LSD Contact Points

If you have any views on the work of the Council, please feel free to send them to the Hon Secretary at [email protected] or to me at [email protected]. We shall keep you in close contact with the Council and would be pleased to receive your views and your support for a better LSD.