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The Government has been installing barrier-free access facilities at public walkways^[Note] for years. In response to public requests, the Government launched in August 2012 a new policy to expand the programme to retrofit barrier-free access facilities at public walkways, striving to create a “universally accessible” environment in the community to facilitate the access to public walkways by the public. Under this policy –

1. from now on, when considering retrofitting of barrier-free access facilities to existing or newly constructed public walkways, the Government will treat lifts and ramps equally (unless the site conditions dictate one form over the other). This is a change from the past practice which gave priority to ramps; and
2. as long as site conditions permit, we will consider retrofitting lifts at walkways where there is already a standard ramp installed. After a lift has been retrofitted, we will evaluate whether to keep the ramp or demolish it for more spacious pavement or making way for roadside greening.