HK govt departments sourcing drinking water supply from mainland brands
發佈日期: 2025-08-03 23:42
TVB News
The government has changed its bottled drinking water supplier for official departments with some districts now using water sourced from mainland China.
Chief Executive John Lee has stressed that strict safety checks are in place and authorities require suppliers to submit testing reports every two months.
The Government Logistics Department says starting in March, a new round of tenders for bottled water began. Each of the three supply zones received between two and four bids. New contracts were awarded in June. For the first time, Hong Kong brands won the bid.
Departments on Hong Kong Island, outlying islands and locations inaccessible by road, as well as the New Territories, will switch to mainland-based brands.
Kowloon offices will continue with a local brand.
The current contract runs for three years -- on year longer than the previous round and is valued at 16 million dollars per year.
Online discussions recently raised concerns over the packaging company behind one of the suppliers as mainland authorities reportedly flagged the manufacturer for quality issues in the past years, including excessive microbial content and trace amounts of potential carcinogen.
CE John Lee says the tendering system clearly defined strict requirements and all bidders should be certified. There will also be a random sampling system with water quality spot checks from time to time.
