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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR. A. de O. SALES, CHAIRMAN OF THE RECREATION AND AMENITIES SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows:-
This question relates to the former military lands at Causeway Bay opposite Victoria Park.
This Council recommended on 21st August, 1970 that an item for development of the site, which comprises 9.7 acres, be included in Category B of the 1971-72 Public Works Programme and proposed that it be developed as the Island's sports training centre with such facilities as a velodrome, and a building for various indoor sports activities. This proposal has not yet been accepted by the authorities who have asked that full description be provided to enable an assessment of the cost to be made since this Council's recommendation includes provision of facilities new to the Hong Kong Government. Work on the detailed description is now being done. All being well, Members will be asked to approve the submission of detailed requirement to Government at the meeting of the Recreation and Amenities Select Committee on the 19th of this month.
In answer to a similar question in June last year, this Council was informed that part of this site was being used as a Police car pound. I understand that a suitable site for reprovisioning the pound has now been found. It is hoped the pound can be cleared in time for work to start on the preparation of the recreation ground. This is, of course, subject to an item being admitted to the Public Works Programme. In the meantime the Education Department is continuing to use, as it has done for some years, about 5.2 acres of the site for school recreation purposes. That area which is under the temporary control of the Education Department pending full development of the ground is, in fact, very heavily used at present. Although I am obliged to Mr. NG for his support, I am sure he will appreciate that until the Council's recommendations have been accepted and an item has been included in the Public Works Programme, no positive answer can be given to his question which I believe has been asked by his colleagues no less than 10 times since 1963.
MR. NG:--Mr. Chairman, thank you for such a thorough answer concerning the history of this ground. Would you dare to look into a crystal ball and say when this piece of land is likely to be available for public use?
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
CHAIRMAN:-I am unable to do this, Mr. NG. The site has not yet been allocated, and I have no idea when it will be.
MR. NG:-Would you venture to say five years?
CHAIRMAN: I would like to think it will be earlier than that, Mr. NG.
MR. BERNACCHI: Mr. Chairman, can you explain what has happened to the Motion that was passed in public meeting by this Council several years ago for the allocation of this piece of ground, why has it not been allocated or why has a decision not been taken as to whether it should be allocated or not?
MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, may I answer that question. In fact the No. "10" includes the Motion which I think Mr. BERNACCHI and I introduced some years back. That Motion has been fulfilled in principle because the Government has decided that the area will be given to the Urban Council. It is only a question of the car pound being moved away, and we have been trying to persuade the Government to evict the car pound as soon as possible, but apparently traffic matters are more important in Hong Kong than human values, so this has been delayed and for this reason I pointed out that the Urban Council is so seriously concerned about this matter that, since 1963, it has been raised no less than ten times in the Council, apart from private speeches by members at the annual debate.
MR. HENRY H. L. Hu :—Mr. Chairman, may I put one supplementary to Mr. SALES? What is the view, Mr. SALES, of the Select Committee. Is this piece of land very much needed for recreation or not?
MR. SALES: Mr. Chairman, I am most obliged to Mr. Hu. It is certainly most needed. In point of fact, it was intended that this piece of land would be an extension of Victoria Park because Victoria Park has long reached saturation point in development and so we needed this area in order to locate there the facilities for active recreation which are not found in Victoria Park.
(6) MR. PETER C. K. CHAN:-Before I ask question No. 6, I would like to make a correction in English, because I am not permitted to ask it in Chinese. It is 6(b), "Is the U.S.D. going to consider installing" I think I put down "incircuit". After checking with some experts it should be "closed circuit". I will ask you to amend this question in this way, and I now ask it as follows:-
In view of the number of robberies occurring in Car Parks: (a) Is the U.S.D. going to take any effective steps to prevent further occurrence of these incidents?
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