The Electrical and Mechanical Services Trading Fund remained financially healthy in 2020/21 despite the impact of COVID-19. Thanks to the growth arising from new government building projects and other new businesses, the total revenue rose to HK$8,578 million, representing an increase of about 6% compared to the previous year (2019/20: HK$8,087 million). The return on revenue fell to 2.3%, which was a positive development consistent with our cost recovery principle to help our clients retain funding to optimise value for the public.
ACHIEVEMENTS
A major achievement in 2020/21 was our record-high Customer Satisfaction Index score of 6.83 on the scale of 8, equivalent to 85 out of 100, in the Customer Opinion Survey conducted in late 2020, an improvement compared to 6.61 in the 2018 survey. Achieving this historic score during the epidemic reflects our clients' trust in our ability to provide support through thick and thin.
This year we took on new tasks to reduce risks of COVID-19 transmission in public places. For instance, we supported residential care homes for the elderly, gyms and restaurants by measuring their ventilation performance, providing technical advice on ventilation settings, and recommending air-purifier supplier lists. We also supported the Government's first-ever Universal Community Testing Programme (UCTP) and COVID-19 Vaccination Programme (CVP) by providing all the necessary E&M facilities, including an integrated Fridge Monitoring System using Internet of Things (IoT) technology to monitor medical fridges at Community Vaccination Centres (CVCs) round-the-clock and share real-time data with the Centre for Health Protection.
On top of our work for the Hospital Authority, these projects included converting numerous general wards into second-tier negative pressure wards, installing hundreds of Mobile Modular High Efficiency Particulate Air Filter Units and enhancing ventilation systems in public hospitals to increase air flow to 12 air changes per hour. We also solidly supported the Government in setting up a community treatment facility at the AsiaWorld-Expo and the North Lantau Hospital Hong Kong Infection Control Centre.
Another achievement was that our colleagues received 21 awards and four patents, including four gold and four silver medals at the prestigious International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva for their innovation and technology (I&T) projects this year. Each of these projects were collaborations with start-ups, universities or research institutions, and it is remarkable that all our entries won an award. Such excellent results show that we are working well as the Government's Innovation Facilitator and integrator.
SERVING HONG KONG UNDER THE NEW NORMAL
Thanks to the EMSTF's early start in I&T work years ago, we were well prepared to help clients respond quickly when the COVID-19 struck Hong Kong in early 2020. We rapidly trialled or rolled out for clients I&T solutions, including cleaning robots for government offices and venues, and delivery robots in public hospitals. We also leveraged our E&M InnoPortal to invite anti-epidemic solutions from start-ups for client departments, and arranged over 40 trials such as those on disinfection robots and touchless lift buttons.
When the COVID-19 epidemic persisted, the Government worked hard to enable the public to go about their daily lives and enjoy festivities such as the Chinese New Year fairs. Despite many technical challenges, we set up within two weeks a footfall monitoring system using the Government-Wide IoT Network (GWIN) and a queuing and ticketing system for crowd management for the 15 points of sale of New Year flowers, facilitating the client to operate the venues during the Chinese New Year in February 2021 in an orderly manner with minimum risk of infection. This, together with our work on the UCTP, CVP and other anti-epidemic projects, will serve as a useful reference for the way forward to the new normal.
The new normal has helped enhance our operational transparency too. As the epidemic necessitates the wider use of IoT-based remote monitoring of E&M systems, it has in turn accelerated data sharing with clients. We are leveraging our Customer Centric e-Platform as a common platform for data sharing with clients to enhance transparency.
MAKING OUR CITY SMARTER WITH INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
In general, we are pleased but far from complacent about our I&T work, as much remains to be done to digitalise our clients' E&M systems and make our city smarter. It is gratifying that many start-ups in Hong Kong and Guangdong have leveraged our E&M InnoPortal to propose solutions to satisfy clients' I&T wish lists, including much welcomed anti-epidemic solutions like robots and touchless lift buttons.
To fine-tune our Building Information Modelling-Asset Management (BIM-AM) system, we recently combined augmented reality and 5G communication technologies with BIM-AM to develop a comprehensive platform that enables maintenance personnel to use mobile devices to manage assets by carrying out real-time monitoring, fault diagnosis and rapid equipment positioning via smart glasses. This enhances the effectiveness of maintenance work and reduces service disruptions for the public.
We also made headway in the GWIN, as seen in our work for the points of sale of New Year flowers. For the Drainage Services Department's Smart Drainage – Flood Monitoring System, we connected over 40 additional sites to the GWIN network with IoT water-level sensors. We also set up over 80 GWIN gateways at government buildings for remote E&M monitoring trials.
As the Government's Innovation Facilitator, we have taken up eight of the 130 initiatives put forward in the Hong Kong Smart City Blueprint 2.0, including the BIM-AM and GWIN, etc. We also provided I&T support to clients' smart city initiatives such as the first smart prison at Tai Tam Gap Correctional Institution. The key factor in all these developments is the EMSTF's I&T mind-set which our workforce has embraced to transform us into a tech-savvy, agile organisation where people are ready to try new ideas.
DEEPENING GREATER BAY AREA CO-OPERATION
The epidemic has not stopped our exchanges with the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA). The EMSD signed a new Memorandum of Co-operation with the Guangzhou Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau to deepen collaboration on E&M talent development in December 2020. The Guangzhou Technician College and the Guangzhou Industry and Trade Technician College, both GBA entities, have continued to train our technician trainees online on different subjects.
FIVE-YEAR STRATEGIC PLAN PROGRESS FURTHER
2020/21 was the third year of the EMSTF's second Five-year Strategic Plan and made good progress. We completed the E&M assets digitisation at major government buildings, bringing the total to over 200, representing halfway of our target. Based on the success of the first pilot Regional Digital Control Centre (RDCC) established in 2020/21, our other Strategic Business Units will set up their own RDCCs for monitoring and analysing real-time data from the digitised E&M systems to optimise asset efficiency.
In enhancing the standard of E&M facilities, after industry consultations, the EMSD published four booklets on best practices for operation and maintenance services on different E&M assets, each covering basic, good and best practices. The booklets fulfil our vision of sharing best practices with the trade.
Internally, we launched two special duty units on electrical as well as air-conditioning, serving as role models in building an excellent team for emergency support work, knowledge sharing, agile teamwork and collaboration. To attract young talent, our two Technician Training Schemes were revitalised to become two-year and threeyear programmes starting from the 2021 intake.
Besides, the epidemic has underscored our social and environmental commitments. We volunteered to facilitate compulsory COVID-19 testing in the specified “restricted area” in Yau Ma Tei in January 2021, supported the operation of the CVC at Lung Sum Avenue Sports Centre, and hired about 1500 temporary staff for various support tasks as part of Government's initiative to create jobs during the epidemic. We also continued our “Good People, Good Deeds Commendation Scheme”, encouraging staff community service.
Regarding the environment, in October 2020, we set up an energy management team to co-ordinate energy and carbon audits for about 250 government buildings, in support of the Government's “Green Energy Target” initiative. In March 2021, we completed the refurbishment of our headquarters piazza, creating an excellent public space for the community to enjoy and reinforcing our building's status as a showcase of sustainability.
WAY FORWARD
In the year, the EMSTF successfully accomplished many new tasks to fight the epidemic while carrying on with our normal services. In 2021/22, we shall make the most of the final two years of our Five-year Strategic Plan to attain all its goals and deepen our collaborations in the GBA.
As we celebrate the EMSTF's silver jubilee in 2021 under the theme of “Co-innovate and Co-create Our Future”, we shall not forget that we owe our steady performance over the years to the commitment of our colleagues, the trust of our clients, the guidance of the Executive Board and policy bureaux, as well as the support of trade associations and partners, universities and academics, professional bodies and training and research institutions. We also sincerely thank our co-operation partners in Hong Kong, the Mainland of China and overseas. We endeavour to make greater contributions as an excellent E&M service provider and Innovation Facilitator in the Government.
We look forward to ever more fruitful ventures and co-operation in 2021/22.
