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HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL — 13 January 1988
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MR. POON CHI-FAI (in Cantonese): Sir, will Government inform this Council the lowing: the police often make site inspections to see whether the rules are complied with. How many non-compliance cases have been noted and have any serious accidents resulted because of non-compliance?
SECRETARY FOR LANDS AND WORKS: Sir, I can only say I asked this question of somebody this morning and I got the answer, 'Very few' to the first part of the question, and to the second part, 'I know of none.'
DR. Ho: Sir, my question is quite similar to Jackie CHAN's but a bit more specific. Is Government satisfied that the authority responsible for co-ordinating applica- tions for road excavation for various purposes is efficient so that inconvenience caused to the public is kept to the minimum?
SECRETARY FOR LANDS AND WORKS: Yes, I am satisfied that the authority is doing a very good job.
MRS. CHOW: Sir, what measures are taken to ensure that these 1 100 excavation works are not causing unnecessary traffic congestion, especially during rush hours, such as specifying traffic management arrangements to be undertaken by the contractor concerned when permits are being issued?
SECRETARY FOR LANDS AND WORKS: Sir, the Highways Department scrutinise applications in considerable detail. It is its function to ensure that the interrup- tion to the traffic and to the public is kept to a minimum, and if it feels otherwise, it is its function to discuss it with the utilities concerned. Moreover, each application of this kind is discussed in its committees at their monthly meeting and on those occasions the opportunity is also taken to discuss how different road-openings can be co-ordinated so as to ensure that inconvenience to the public is kept to the minimum.
MR. CHAN YING-LUN (in Cantonese): Sir, concerning paragraph 3, mention is made of the regulations and the code of practice and this, Sir, should not be for traffic safety only but also for protecting pedestrians. Will Government inform this Council whether at places where there are many pedestrians there should be two requirements, (1) that there should be a flat cover for the pedestrians to walk on during excavation, and during non-office hours there is also a channel for making complaints for non-compliance?
SECRETARY FOR LANDS AND WORKS: Sir, I can confirm that the Code of Practice for the Lighting, Signing and Guarding of Road Works is one which would be less general than that which Mr. CHAN may think, that is, it may in certain circumstances prescribe a flat panelling for walking over but in other cir- cumstances it may prescribed other methods. I doubt whether his idea of having a place for complaints would be very cost-effective in itself because it would
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