HEALTH
Market
The Urban Council operated 62 retail markets in the urban areas in 1992. In these markets, 10 035 stalls offered commodities ranging from fresh food to household items.
Old and outdated markets have been replaced gradually by multi-purpose complexes managed by the Urban Council with new markets and cooked food centres on the lower floors. On the upper floors of the 14 existing complexes, a variety of facilities are provided for indoor sports activities, cultural and recreational pursuits.
New markets with food centres are built not only to meet hawker resiting commitments which was the case in the past, but also to meet consumer demand. This approach, together with improvements in design, has been adopted in planning and building more pleasant and viable markets.
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The pilot scheme of contracting out cleansing has been implemented in 14 markets eight on Hong Kong Island and six in Kowloon. The scheme will be extended to more markets.
The Regional Council is responsible for the management of public markets in the New Territories. In 1992, a new market with 35 stalls was completed at Mui Wo and provided space for resiting all the licensed hawkers and eligible unlicensed hawkers trading in the vicinity. The council now manages 46 markets providing 5 222 goods stalls and 378 cooked food stalls.
During the year, the council continued to improve its existing markets. Apart from better ventilation already provided, installation of an additional escalator has been planned for Tung Yick Market in Yuen Long to improve its accessibility. At the Yeung Uk Road Market in Tsuen Wan, a water scrubber system and a jet cleaner were installed at the poultry scalding room and refuse collection chamber to improve their sanitation. Recommendations of the council's working group on market design were adopted for the proposed Shek Wu Hui Market under planning for completion in 1994–5. Another working group formed by the council is currently reviewing market policy and related management matters.
Hawkers
The Urban Council is responsible for the licensing of street hawkers in the urban areas and the Regional Council is responsible for their management in public places in the New Territories. In 1992, there were 14 400 licensed hawkers in the territory, a decline of 1 200 compared with 1991. This was attributable to the policy of not renewing or allowing succession of itinerant hawker licenses and resiting on-street hawkers into new markets. The completion in 1992 of the Nam Cheong Street Temporary Market, the Tung Chau Street Temporary Market and the Java Road Cooked Food Centre made it possible to resite 381 on-street licensed hawkers formerly trading in the vicinity. Moreover, steady progress continued in a scheme introduced in 1990 for itinerant hawkers to voluntarily surrender their licences in exchange for ex-gratia payment, a fixed-pitch hawker licence or a mini-stall tenancy. By the end of 1992, 1 550 licences were returned under this scheme.
Following the recommendations of the Urban Council's working party on hawker and related policies, efforts have been made to relax the issue of hawker licences to a limited extent. About 227 fixed-pitch newspaper hawker licences have been issued. The issue of other classes of licences will depend on the availability of suitable sites identified to be viable and acceptable. Both municipal councils have a firm policy of not issuing any new
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