HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, can this Council be assured that when the feasibility study is available it will be sent to all Urban Councillors who might be interested in the subject before a decision is taken behind closed doors by the Hawker Policy Select Committee?
MR. CHEONG-LEEN: -Mr. Chairman, the Hawker Policy Select Committee does not convene behind closed doors.
We would welcome MR. SALES as a permanent observer in that Select Committee, if he so desires.
MR. SALES: I would, certainly, Sir.
(12) MR. B. A. BERNACCHI asked the following question:-
I note that the Lei Cheng Uk Swimming Pool project has been delayed. Can the Director of Public Works inform this Council of the length of the delay and give the reason for the delay?
THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS replied as follows:-
The contracts for the construction of these pools and those at Kwun Tong were re-entered in March this year, when the work was about 1/3 completed, because the contractor was not making progress: he has since gone bankrupt. Had the contract run its normal course, this project should have been finished in April this year.
In an attempt to reduce the delay in completion of the swimming pools an agreement was negotiated with a new company to complete the work. Unfortunately, this new firm has failed to make any progress and the contracts were again re-entered in September. New tenders will be invited this week for the completion of the Kwun Tong pools and in 3 weeks time for the Lei Cheng Uk project. Work is expected to be completed in the middle of 1970.
MR. BERNACCHI: Is the contractor concerned on Grade “A” of the Public Works Department Contractors' List?
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS: -The contractor concerned is on no Grade at all, Sir. He has been thrown out because he went bankrupt. (Laughter).
MR. BERNACCHI: -No, "was". I am sorry.
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS: -He was, yes.
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MR. BERNACCHI: Could not a means have been found to take over the contractor's business so that the contractor did not go bankrupt in connection with the Lei Cheng Uk swimming pool complex?
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS: -I am afraid, Mr. Chairman, this is not a matter for this Council. It is a most complicated business, and it is quite impossible for me to discuss it in open session.
MR. BERNACCHI: -Has it ever been considered completing these pools by the staff of the Public Works Department through taking on extra labourers?
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS: -No, it has not and, in any case, it would be contractually impossible. I would hate to make this kind of arrangement.
MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, will the Director of Public Works tell this Council now whether further consideration will be given to the suggestion I made that around the clock work should be undertaken in order that the pools might be finished before the summer of 1970. It hardly serves any purpose to have the pools finished after the summer of 1970, as it would mean that the public would be deprived of the use of these swimming pools for two seasons.
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS: -I fully appreciate MR. SALES' concern at the delay of the swimming pools and, I am afraid, share it completely. I would like to see them completed as quickly as possible. I will certainly bear it in mind, but it will be appreciated, of course, that around the clock work will cost more.
(13) MR. B. A. BERNACCHI asked the following question:
Who is responsible for stopping the operation of illegal hawker stalls on Crown Land?
MR. R. H. LOBO, CHAIRMAN OF THE HAWKER MANAGEMENT SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows:
The answer to this question is that the staff of the Urban Services Department are responsible for stopping the operation of illegal hawker stalls on Crown Land. It is, of course, very often necessary for departmental staff to request Police assistance in this connection, and the newly-formed Hawker Liaison Units are under standing instruction to watch for, and take appropriate action against, any new and unauthorized hawker concentrations whether on Crown Land or elsewhere in the urban areas.
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