RECREATION, SPORTS AND THE ARTS
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The Landscape Improvement Programme continued, with the aim being to upgrade existing roadside amenities. In 1999, 26 sites were upgraded to enhance the streets- level environment.
Provisional Regional Council
The Provisional Regional Council maintained 1 122 hectares of greenery in the form of parks, gardens, sports grounds, soccer pitches, games areas and children's playgrounds. It also managed amenity plots and soft landscape alongside highways and public roads. In 1999, about 710 000 plants were provided in parks and playgrounds and on roadsides.
Hong Kong Flower Show
Since 1987, the municipal councils jointly organised the annual Hong Kong Flower Show. The show, held in alternate years in the New Territories and the urban area respectively, offers lectures on horticulture, floral arrangement demonstrations, photographic competitions and children's games. More than 70 local and overseas horticultural organisations took part in the 1999 show held at the Sha Tin Park and in the Sha Tin Town Hall. The show attracted more than 400 000 visitors over a
10-day period.
Green Hong Kong Campaign
The Provisional Urban Council's Green Hong Kong Campaign, in its sixth year, continued to concentrate on three elements: tree-planting, community involvement and education. The highlight of the campaign programme in 1999 was the tree-planting project, under which about 2 100 heavy standard street trees, 920 beach- side trees and 30 000 saplings were added to the urban environment.
Under the community involvement programme, a new Green Hong Kong Activities Funding Scheme has been introduced to encourage local citizens to take a more active role in improving the landscape. The Green Hong Kong Ambassadors Scheme continued to expand, and provided tree maintenance, stewardship of campaign. activities and identification of tree planting sites. Other programmes such as the Community Planting Days, the Orchid Show and the Green Hong Kong Camp also attracted a high level of public support. The fourth Green School Award Scheme, launched in April and completed in November, attracted participation from about 150 schools.
Summer Youth Programme
A Hong Kong-wide Summer Youth Programme, having a central theme of Hong Kong, Our Home - Let's Serve and Share, is organised each year for children and youth aged from six to 25. Social, recreational and community activities are held for participants to widen their knowledge, develop their skills, appreciate human relationships, understand the community in which they live and enhance their sense of responsibility to the community.
In 1999, about 22 000 activities were organised involving two million young people at a total cost of about $57 million. The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust donated $19 million and the balance was met by the Government, provisional district boards, private donations and participants' fees.