HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
3 MR JOHN MacKENZIE asked the following question (in English):-At the December Meeting the Council was advised that new policy to encourage the development of staff canteens and fast-food shops in industrial buildings is being adopted.
(a) Will the Council give publicity to this scheme through the press and appropriate industrial organizations?
(b) Will the Council also take action against unlicensed food stalls operating illegally in private lanes and in public spaces in industrial areas such as San Po Kong?
(c) Alternatively, if the Council is unable to take such action will it consider a rebate of Rates to Owners of premises whose business is inconvenienced and/or rights of access denied by illegal food-stall holders?
DR P. C. WONG, VICE-CHAIRMAN OF THE FOOD HYGIENE SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in English):-This question concerns the development of fast-food shops and canteens in industrial buildings and action against unlicensed hawkers in industrial areas.
In reply to the first part of this question, I agree that the Council should use all available means of publicity to encourage the development of staff canteens and fast-food shops in industrial buildings. This will be arranged through the Urban Services Department.
In reply to the second part of the question, I can confirm that the Council is taking action against unlicensed food stalls in industrial areas including San Po Kong. This action includes summary arrest of unlicensed hawkers and by way of summons. However I think that we have to accept the fact that this action is not likely to provide a solution to the problems because the hawkers concerned do supply the meals required by a substantial number of industrial workers and there will always be a demand for their services as long as alternative facilities are not available.
Finally, since the Council is taking action against the operators of illegal food stalls it would not be appropriate for the Council to consider a rebate of rates to the owners of premises affected by illegal hawkers even if this were practical and legally possible. In fact, I suggest that the owners of industrial buildings could help to reduce the hawker problem outside industrial buildings by providing eating facilities for their workers if they do not already do so and I hope that factory managements will give serious thought to this.
4 MR JOHN MACKENZIE asked the following question (in English):-Numbers of street traders now operate freely on weekends and holidays around the City Hall, the Star Ferry concourse and on the pavements in Central and other busy shopping areas.
May I ask:
(a) Who is now exercising physical control over hawkers since the run-down of the Hawker Control Force, and why such control is not being exercised?
(b) If the Urban Council has any plans for clearing all hawkers, licensed and unlicensed, from the Central District and other major shopping precincts through the creation of Hawker Free Zones?
MR SHUM CHOI-SANG, CHAIRMAN OF THE STREET TRADERS SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in English):-The first part of this question refers to the control of hawkers in the Central District and other busy shopping areas. Up to 4 February 1979, the Hawker Control Force was responsible for hawker control duties in parts of the Central District and parts of the Wan Chai and Eastern Districts. Since 5 February all these areas have been taken over by General Duties Teams with the exception of a small area around Great George Street, Causeway Bay. This will continue to be the responsibility of the Hawker Control Force until it is completely disbanded at the end of March. Licensed ice cream hawkers may operate in any public place, provided they do not cause obstruction.
During the run-down period the Hawker Control Force has, inevitably, been less able to take enforcement action. Even so, in the Central District alone, the Force brought 102 charges against hawkers in the period between 27 November 1978 and 18 January 1979. I hope that the control of hawkers in the Central District and other districts where the Hawker Control Force previously operated will improve when the new General Duties Teams have acquired more experience.
The answer to the second part of the question is that the Council has no plans to clear all hawkers from the Central District or other major shopping precincts. However it is the Council's policy that, in future, hawking should be confined to specified areas and that hawking in other areas should be prohibited. The most effective way of achieving this is under discussion between the Urban Services Department and the other Government Departments concerned.
5 MISS CECILIA L. Y. YEUNG asked the following question (in Cantonese):- Barbecue pits in Hong Kong and Kowloon areas are frequented and heavily used by thousands of picnickers on Sundays and public holidays. Could the Council be informed whether there is any provision of water supply in all these barbecue areas for public use?
MR KENNETH T. C. LO, CHAIRMAN OF THE RECREATION AND AMENITIES SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in English):-This question concerns the provision of water at barbecue areas.
The Urban Council has provided altogether 146 barbecue pits in the Hong Kong and Kowloon regions. The majority of these are provided at beaches though there are about 25 in the larger Urban Council parks. Apart from the Pinewood Picnic Area which is situated in a somewhat remote part of Victoria Peak where it is not practical to provide a water supply, all the
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