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DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS: -Mr. Chairman, it should be completed in May this year.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN: -Do you know what other additional work will be done on the site after the decking is completed, Mr. Chairman?
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS:-I do not know, but I could find out and let you know.
MR. H. CHEONG-LEEN asked the following question:-
(a) Will the Chairman please state whether the Urban Services Department has previously considered the building of an ice-skating rink, either in Hong Kong or Kowloon, for use by members of the public?
(b) Will the Director of Public Works please advise whether it is possible to install an ice-skating rink in any new multi-storey garage, or community centre, or any other public building that will be built in the very near future?
(c) Would the Director of Urban Services be prepared to recommend to the relevant Select Committee the installation of an ice-skating rink either in Kowloon or on Hong Kong island for use by the public?
THE CHAIRMAN replied as follows:
The Department has previously considered several possible schemes for both indoor and outdoor ice-skating rinks. We have also considered the possibility of using Victoria Park Swimming Pool for ice-skating in winter. The Department's findings have been discussed by the Urban Amenities Select Committee, which has reluctantly concluded that none of the schemes so far put forward has been feasible.
With regard to the second part of the question, the Director of Public Works asks me to state that it would not be possible to install an ice-skating rink in any public building on which construction work is due to begin in the very near future since such a major change would necessitate total redesign of the project. The planning and design of a public ice-skating rink would be a major task and there could be no question of incorporating one in the plans for any public building without prior approval from Government.
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The answer to the third part of the question is that the Urban Amenities Select Committee will be invited to reconsider the question of an ice-skating rink in connexion with the proposals for an indoor stadium.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, I will ask only two supplementaries and I hope they will not be considered too unfriendly. First, do I assume from the reply in the first paragraph that the Department itself is in favour of having an ice-skating rink in Hong Kong?
CHAIRMAN:-Sir, the Department would wish to be guided by the Council on this matter.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Presumably then, Sir, the several schemes put forward previously were done at the request of Council?
CHAIRMAN:-These schemes were considered, I believe, shortly before I came to this Council--I think the period was 1959-60. Perhaps the Chairman of the Urban Amenities Select Committee could throw some light on the matter.
MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, I would be delighted to go into this matter in extenso at the next meeting of the Urban Amenities Select Committee if Mr. CHEONG-LEEN would come precisely at 8.45 a.m.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, may I finish my last supplementary? Having read in the last sentence of the first paragraph of your reply that the schemes which have been put forward by the Department were not considered feasible, would the Chairman be so kind as to look deeper into the subject so that the next scheme which is put forward will be more feasible from the point of view of eventually having an ice-skating rink in Hong Kong?
CHAIRMAN:-Sir, I can only refer you to the last paragraph of my reply, in which I have already said that the Urban Amenities Select Committee will again be invited to consider this matter.
MR. BERNACCHI :-Mr. Chairman, perhaps I could introduce my supplementary by a statement that I myself consider that for Hong Kong roller-skating rinks are more important than ice-skating rinks. Do I gather from the context of your reply, Sir, that more roller-skating rinks will be considered in future amenity developments?
CHAIRMAN:-Sir, what I have said so far has referred to ice-skating rinks, but I believe that roller-skating rinks are considered as a normal amenity development in our parks.
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