About one-third of civil servants approved for the voluntary retirement scheme will not be allowed to leave until 2002.
The Government said releasing the 3,400 staff from five departments any earlier would disrupt services.
'Only a few departments will need to release their staff over a longer period of time, from two to three years, to ensure that the operation of the departments will not be unduly affected,' a government spokesman said. The departments include the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, the Government Land Transport Agency, the Government Supplies and the Official Language Agency.
About 11,000 people from 59 eligible grades were told about the results of their applications yesterday. A total of 9,300 applications have been approved.
Some 250 applications were rejected. A further 1,200 from the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department were withheld pending further studies and 250 were withdrawn.
The scheme, aimed at eliminating jobs that are obsolete or overstaffed, will cost taxpayers $2.78 billion.
