1
The committees of district level officials known as
District Management Committees, established in recent years under the District Administration Scheme, has made
the process of government at district level more responsive
and achieved better inter-departmental coordination and greater efficiency in the provision of services.
But what
is still lacking is a direct input from local communities.
So District Boards will provide advice on matters affecting
the well-being of people living and working in each district, on the provision and use of public facilities and services
and on the use of public funds allocated to the district
for local public works and community activities. District
Boards should, in short, improve the impact of Government
at the district level and stimulate a greater degree of
local participation in it.
21.
Most of the boards have already been established,
but with all the unofficial members appointed by the Governor.
The necessary preparations, both statutory and administrative,
for elections to be held to return a number of elected
unofficial members to the boards are well advanced. Nearly
200,000 electors have been registered in the New Territories for the elections to be held there in March next year and
there will be a further exercise to register electors for
the urban elections to be held in September..
22. Even from this very brief outline, it should be clear
that District Boards are more than just a logical extension
of the Government's opinion gathering machinery. Certainly,
they will serve to establish what people are thinking as
regards their districts and how they would wish to see them develop. But, more importantly, it is the Government's
fervent hope that the boards will foster community spirit at
district level and give local residents an opportunity to
bring their influence to bear on Government policies and
practices as they affect their districts. The quality
of life in a particular district will thus depend increasingly
and quite properly
-
on the residents of that district,
/through..