About 64,000 training places will be provided under various training and re-training programmes for the construction industry in this academic year.
With an expansion of training capacity at different skills levels, the industry is expected to have about 64,000 more trained or retrained workers by the end of the 1997-98 academic year.
The expansion is a result of an anticipated growth in demand for labour in the trade arising from the increase in housing supply and major infrastructure projects.
At the second meeting of the Working Group on Training and Retraining for Construction Industry, more resources were committed by various major training bodies to expanding their current training programmes.
Vocational Training Council executive director Professor Lee Ngok promised to provide an additional 720 places for trainees this academic year, and planned to continue to increase its annual training capacity bringing the net increase to 2,950 places by the year 2002.
Construction Industry Training Authority executive director Albert Tong Yat-chu also promised to provide 484 more places for trainees, while the Employees Retraining Board is to increase its training capacity by between 200 and 300 places this year and by 300 places in 1998-99.
