Page 42 of 187
52
33
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
During the year ended 31st March, 1974, only one bazaar was completed, that being the cooked food bazaar at Kun Yam Street in Kowloon, into which 9 cooked food stalls were moved. However, during the same period, some 250 hawkers were moved from on-street positions into two newly completed public retail markets at Wong Tai Sin and Shek Tong Tsui.
MR. SIN (in English):—Mr. Chairman. I am afraid that Part (b) of my question has really not been answered. I asked whether there is a programme providing for the building of a specified number each year to resite licensed hawkers. May this Council be told whether there is such a programme?
MISS YEUNG (in Cantonese):—There is such a plan, but, at present, we have not made arrangements as to how many we are going to accommodate in any one year.
MR. SIN (in English):—Mr. Chairman. If I understand the answer correctly, there is no programme at all. If the number is not specified, how does this Council hope to solve the hawker problem?
MISS YEUNG (in Cantonese):—In reply to Mr. Sin's question, I am afraid I do not have statistics at hand. Perhaps, later, I can give an answer.
MR. SIN (in English):—Last question. From the last paragraph of last part of the answer, is it fair to assume that about 259 hawkers are being resited each year.
MISS YEUNG (in Cantonese):—Up to the end of March 1974, we have accommodated 250 hawkers at Wong Tai Sin, but this does not mean that this is the annual figure for every year.
MR. B. A. BERNACCHI (in English):—Mr. Chairman. I would like to ask Miss YEUNG to confirm this. Surely the point is that the Government will not make any certain the amount of land available to place our off-street bazaars on, so that the answer must inevitably be, no definite number because the Government will not, in view of their other commitments, make clear to this Council how many, even the minimum, sites will be available per year to convert into off-street bazaars.
MISS YEUNG (in Cantonese):—The answer given by Mr. BERNACCHI is the same as mine, that is "Yes".
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
53
MR. JOHN MACKENZIE (in English):—Mr. Chairman. I think Mr. SIN has focused his attention on a very critical area of our activities, but is it not the answer from what is deceptive. According to the minutes I read recently in Hawkers Select Committee, an estimate was produced of 36,000 licensed hawkers and a further 45,000 unlicensed hawkers and a further 13,000 fixed-pitch hawkers and in view of these figures, which I take to be as accurate as anyone has produced, is it not the present means of tackling this problem by provision of bazaars totally inadequate and should not Government's attention be drawn forcibly to this?
MISS YEUNG (in Cantonese):—I believe the question asked by Mr. MACKENZIE is whether Government has fixed any spot or any place, but up to the moment, the number of hawkers licences in Hong Kong Island is 10,400 something, and in Kowloon, the number is nearly 16,000 hawker licences, so adding together, the figure is around 26,000 something and this is the figure that we can provide today, and I don't think we can have a lot of places to resite them in the near future, so up to the moment, we cannot have any decisive figure per year to resite them.
CHAIRMAN (in English):—Thank you Miss YEUNG for having answered those supplementaries in the place of the Chairman of the Select Committee. I think this question has been discussed sufficiently and I would like Members to raise it again in the Standing Committee of the Whole Council when we next meet if they so wish. Thank you very much, Miss YEUNG. So I would give the floor now to Mr. MACKENZIE for the next question.
(6) MR. JOHN MACKENZIE asked the following question (in English):—
To what extent is the slaughtering capacity of Public Abattoirs being utilised, and are these facilities sufficient to meet current and future needs?
Are there sufficient facilities for the cold storage of meat in abattoirs and markets?
MR. R. H. LOBO, CHAIRMAN OF THE MARKETS AND ABATTOIRS SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in English):—
I wish to thank Mr. MACKENZIE for his question which has provided me with an opportunity to give some facts about the current situation in our abattoirs and markets.
Page 42 of 187
54
33