Secretary for Labour & Welfare Matthew Cheung said Tin Shui Wai is important to the Government and measures to meet residents' aspirations and improve their livelihood have been implemented in the past year.

He was speaking at Ripples Actions' Christmas Celebration in the district this afternoon.

Noting employment is the foundation of people's livelihoods, an issue close to his heart, Mr Cheung said that a large-scale job fair would be staged by the Labour Department at Tin Yiu Community Centre on January 5 and 6, to provide more job opportunities and choices for residents.

He said the Department had held four large-scale job fairs and three others for the youths in the district this year, attracting more than 14,000 job-seekers. The job centre in Yuen Long had also organised smaller job fairs to enhance support for local residents.

"At the same time, the Hong Kong Jockey Club Telebet and Volunteers and Training Centre at Tin Hang Estate, which is expected to commence operation later next year, will create 2,500 job opportunities and add economic vitality to the district," he said.

On training services, Mr Cheung said the Employees Retraining Board would offer 1,000 places to new arrivals and ethnic minorities through the Employment Set Sail Training Courses in Tin Shui Wai, Sham Shui Po and West Kowloon.

The Vocational Training Council will also establish a youth college in Tin Shui Wai and provide 2,000 pre-employment training places every year. The first batch of courses is planned to start in early 2009.

Mr Cheung said special attention had been given to Tin Shui Wai in many of the Government's programmes. For example, at the end of November, about 7,000 Tin Shui Wai residents had benefitted from the Transport Support Scheme expanded in July; of the latest batch of Community Investment and Inclusion Fund projects, 21 were to be carried out in Tin Shui Wai, benefitting more than 12,000 families; and 100 of the 750 children included in the pioneer projects of the Child Development Fund were from Tin Shui Wai.

Regarding community facilities, Mr Cheung said that the Government had decided to grant the land in Area 115 to the Hong Kong Housing Society to develop the first integrated elderly community project in Hong Kong. It was expected to begin construction in 2010.