MR. ANDREW WONG (in Cantonese): Sir, I rise to support the
Bill because I feel that the Bill can further improve
Government's efficiency and commitment in the provision of
public housing and I would like
would like to take this opportunity
to give my views.
Firstly, regarding privatisation.
people look at this Bill and
other
establishment of the
A lot of
proposals,
for
a way towards
instance, the Hospital Authority, as
privatisation. But personally, I feel that this does not
comply totally with the concept of privatisation. The
Government can employ its own staff in the provision of
services. At the same time, it can also contract out the
government services required, for example, the cleaning of offices
1 can be done by private cleaning companies. This is
actually the hiring of services and of course some major
services at cannot be done in this way. For instance,
in the United States of America, some prisons' services
are also contracted out and this has greatly damaged the
government's dignity. This is not privatisation but one
way of providing services.
Secondly, certain kind of services may be
at the initial stage
government
but
directly provided by the
through various government departments and these may turn
Λ
into public corporations later on. For instance, the KCRC
was previously a government department but later turned
into an independent corporation. The MTRC on the other
hand started as a public corporation. This is in
in fact