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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
(6) MR. HENRY H. L. HU asked the following question:
Could the Commissioner for Resettlement inform the Council what action has the Department taken to clear illegal structures within the areas of resettlement estates? What are the results so far obtained?
THE COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT replied as follows:-
Since the beginning of July, 1971 a total of over 2,000 illegal structures of all sizes have been cleared from the "middle-aged" estates of Lam Tin, Sau Mau Ping, Tsz Wan Shan and Ngau Tau Kok. About 1,500 of these have been resited in properly laid out hawker resite areas, the remainder being mainly non-operative structures, used largely for storage purposes.
These clearances have enabled large areas of open space within estates to be recovered for the use of tenants generally. Much of it requires re-paving, fences need to be repaired, and plans have to be drawn up for making good use of these areas for the enjoyment of the tenants. All of this will require time.
In the other middle-aged estates the problem of illegal structures is not so serious, and of course in the new estates under new management there are no illegal structures at all.
In the older estates, mainly of Mark I and II vintage, some limited clearances of illegal structures have been carried out during the past three months. Some 250 illegal structures have been demolished in Lei Cheng Uk, Wong Tai Sin and Kwun Tong, of which only about 50 have been resited. This is because, for these clearances, only concentrations of mainly non-operative structures have been selected-i.e. structures used for storage, domestic purposes or even abandoned, as opposed to structures actively used for trading purposes. We are looking into the possibility of making greater in-roads into the problem in the older estates, but of course the limitation is the lack of space for resiting the structures which are being used by hawkers for their trade. Even so, it is sometimes possible to recover a fairly large piece of ground which can be developed for use as a sitting out area, as has recently been done at Lei Cheng Uk.
MR. HU: Mr. Chairman, of course this clean-up operation of the Resettlement Department has the full support of the Management Select Committee. What I would like to ask the Commissioner for Resettlement concerns the lack of resiting structures. Has the department done anything about the so-called mini-bazaars in the older estates?
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COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-I thought I had made it clear in my reply, Mr. Chairman, that in the older estates, which I take to predate what I call the "middle-aged" estates, i.e. Ngau Tau Kok and Tsz Wan Shan, as I have said the problem is to find a way of breaking the log-jam, to find a space, open spaces in which you can start this decanting, resiting exercise. As I say, something can be done, something will be done, but it will of course be a slower operation than we have managed to put through in the "middle-aged" estate.
MR. FORSGATE: Mr. Chairman, is the Department able to maintain the position in the areas which have been cleared, or does it find they are trickling back?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:—Mr. Chairman, we have indeed managed to prevent any new structures from going up in the cleared areas.
(7) MR. HENRY H. L. HU asked the following question:-
Could regulations be considered to force hawkers to clean the adjacent area of their hawking sites after business?
MR. B. A. BERNACCHI, CHAIRMAN OF THE HAWKER POLICY SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows:—
At a meeting of the Hawker Policy Select Committee on 1st December, 1971, during discussion on the proposed revised Hawker By-laws, it was agreed that the Council should require hawkers to clean their own pitches, also the surrounding area if messed up with the remnants of their wares, and that they should be made responsible for providing dustbins and other necessary cleansing materials and to do the cleansing to the satisfaction of the Council. This provision is being written into the revised By-laws.
MR. HU:-Mr. Chairman, I thank Mr. BERNACCHI, through you, for his very good answer. What I had particularly in mind is food stalls, hawkers, especially in Mong Kok area. After they have finished their business they should really clean up all the areas around their food stalls, and I think that would probably help a great deal.
CHAIRMAN:---Are you asking a supplementary, Mr. Hu?
MR. HU: That should help us a great deal in cleaning up our city. Is that idea being considered by Mr. BERNACCHI's Select Committee?
MR. BERNACCHI:-Yes, indeed. It is included in the provisions that I have just made mention of.
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