Better communication: Secretary for Transport & Housing Eva Cheng attends a forum to explore the way forward for enhancing public participation in the planning of transport infrastructure initiatives.

Secretary for Transport & Housing Eva Cheng says the Government will explore ways to enhance ties with Internet users, adding it will improve its communication mechanism to cope with changing social values.

Ms Cheng today attended a forum to explore the way forward for enhancing public participation in the planning of transport infrastructure initiatives.

She said the Government is studying ways to encourage the public to express their views at an earlier stage and to attract stakeholders' continuous attention to consultation topics.

It also wants to know which are the most effective communication channels and how to strike a balance between raising communication transparency and making information materials easy for comprehension.

Understanding different age groups' inspiration for more involvement in infrastructure planning, she said the Government will study ways to improve its interaction with the public, including web surfers, and how to make use of the consultation results when going through the existing statutory procedures.

Other forum participants expressed constructive views and advised the Government to enhance consultation interactivity, transparency, and adopt a sincere and accommodating attitude when consulting the public. They proposed having face-to-face communication with people through multi-media formats at different times.

They also suggested the Government categorise its information according to different stakeholders' needs to enhance their awareness and understanding of the issues.