HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:---Mr. Chairman, would you be good enough to draw this to the attention of Government?
CHAIRMAN:-Sir, it has already been drawn to the attention of Government; but it will be again.
MR. BERNACCHI : -As a last supplementary, Mr. Chairman, do you agree that general rubbish is to be found on top of the hawker rubbish in the North Point area?
CHAIRMAN:-I do not know the answer.
Perhaps you would elaborate.
MR. BERNACCHI :-Mr. Chairman, in response to your suggestion, may I say that the Hawkers Select Committee went round the North Point area the other day and certainly I noticed that once hawker rubbish accumulated in one particular place, then members of the general public quite naturally put their rubbish on top of it.
CHAIRMAN:-I agree with you.
(5) MR. B. A. BERNACCHI asked the following question:
Is the Chairman aware that North Point is particularly bad in respect to uncleared rubbish presumably partly because the North Point area was flooded during Typhoon Sally. What steps have been taken to cleanse this area and to ensure that it never gets in so bad a condition again?
THE CHAIRMAN replied as follows:
The bulk of refuse from the North Point district comes from the extensive hawker area bounded by King's Road, Kam Hong Street, Java Road, Wharf Road and North Point Road, from which the output of refuse and junk (boxes and crates) near the mid-autumn festival increased to nearly double its normal quantity of 5 refuse collection vehicle loads and 5 lorry loads respectively each day. There has been a disruption in clearing these due to the successive typhoons and the position was aggravated by a large landslide from Tin Hau Temple Road causing widespread deposits of mud in the district. The mud was removed soon afterwards and the streets were washed by street-washing vehicles. The refuse was also cleared and a twice a day collection service is being maintained. The removal of the accumulation of junk was somewhat delayed because of priority removal of typhoon debris and refuse elsewhere. Additional transport has now been deployed in clearing the back-log of junk, which is expected to be completed shortly.
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refuse elsewhere. Additional transport has now been deployed in clearing the back-log of junk, which is expected to be completed shortly.
This hawker area, like any other major hawker area in the urban district, is scheduled for thorough cleansing and washing once in two weeks by hawker-area cleansing squad. Recommendations have been made in the 1965/66 Estimates for provision of an additional squad on each side of the harbour, so as to increase the frequency of cleansing these areas from once fortnightly to once weekly.
MR. BERNACCHI:-Mr. Chairman, obviously I am keen to get on to my motion, so I will proceed to the next question.
(6) MR. B. A. BERNACCHI asked the following question:
Is the Chairman or is the Commissioner for Resettlement aware of the enormous piles of rubbish opposite the Resettlement Office in Chai Wan? Presumably it has been deliberately brought there from the Chai Wan area generally; what is to happen to it? If the answer is that it is to be incinerated, is the Chairman or the Commissioner aware that the attempts to incinerate so far have only resulted in a fire hazard without at all achieving their proper end?
THE CHAIRMAN replied as follows:
The open ground opposite the Resettlement Estate Office has been used since January as a temporary incineration site, mainly for crates and boxes collected in the eastern part of Hong Kong Island, and large quantities are in fact burned there. After the recent typhoons the quantities increased and tree branches were also dumped on this site. The wet weather has prevented the burning of much of this accumulation, but it will be dealt with as soon as conditions permit. These accumulations do not constitute a health risk.
Similar temporary incineration sites have been set up at Sandy Bay, Hung Hom reclamation and Lung Cheung Road. The sites were chosen with the agreement of the Director of Fire Services and are not considered to constitute a fire hazard. They provide a useful means of disposing locally of bulky combustible materials, which would otherwise have to be transported to Gin Drinkers Bay.
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