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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
DR HUANG (in Cantonese): - Mr Chairman, can I ask Mr SHUM when USD put up the estimates, did they say that if they have more money and more staff, they will be able to solve the hawking problem or whether we still have to wait and see?
MR SHUM (in Cantonese): - Mr Chairman, when the question was raised the other day, our aim was to make hawking a more orderly business and solving the hawking problem, the only solution is building more markets and bazaars. Increasing manpower alone will not help. We need more bazaars and markets and that is more important than increasing staff.
MR TSIN SAI-NIN (in Cantonese): - I would like to ask the Chairman of Street Traders Select Committee a question. What is the relationship between our enforcement staff and the Police? After they carry out their duties, they need the assistance of the Police and are the Police willing to help in this?
CHAIRMAN (in English): - This is outside the scope of the original question but please answer it in the public interest.
MR SHUM (in Cantonese): - Mr Chairman, the Urban Council always hopes that the Police will help the General Duties Teams. The main duties of the teams are not to arrest people but to make hawking more orderly. We hope that the Police will help us. Generally speaking, if there are major issues, Police are always willing to help.
MR JOHN MacKenzie asked the following question (in English): - What damage was created by Typhoon Hope, and is the Urban Council satisfied with the speed and effectiveness of the clean-up operations in the urban area?
MR AMBROSE K. C. CHOI, VICE-CHAIRMAN OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL HYGIENE SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in Cantonese): — Mr Chairman, as the Chairman of the Environmental Hygiene Select Committee is on leave, I am replying to the question by Mr MACKENZIE.
This question concerns damage created by Typhoon Hope and the speed and effectiveness of the subsequent clean-up operations in the urban area.
I will deal first with damage which I have taken to mean, firstly, damage to Urban Council buildings and other facilities, and secondly, damage to trees.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
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The effect of the typhoon on trees was much more extensive and the Urban Services Department estimate that approximately 1,700 trees were destroyed and another 12,000 damaged. Victoria Park and the Zoological & Botanical Gardens were particularly hard hit. I should mention in passing that thanks to the efforts of departmental staff in the gardens who continued to work throughout the typhoon that the animal and bird collections suffered only minimal losses.
As regards buildings, the roof of the public convenience at the Star Ferry concourse in Tsim Sha Tsui and the foundations of the one at the Jordan Road Ferry concourse were damaged and both are closed pending repair by the Public Works Department. Otherwise, there was only minor damage to the roof of the Haiphong Road Temporary Market and other buildings.
Clean-up operations started immediately after the typhoon and tree gangs worked with the staff of the Public Works Department to re-open roads blocked by fallen trees. All the main roads affected were open to traffic within two days and the main task thereafter was to remove tree debris and other junk and to dispose of it.
A total of around 3,220 lorry loads of tree debris and junk were removed between 3rd August and the end of the month when work was completed. In order to speed up this work additional transport equivalent to 767 vehicle-days was hired and USD staff worked 13,900 man-hours of overtime. I must stress that all these figures relate to typhoon damage and that ordinary junk and refuse collection services continued as usual. This normal service consists of the removal of approximately 2,300 tonnes of junk and refuse each day so that the additional task confronting the department was a very heavy one. I believe that the orderly and efficient way in which typhoon debris was cleared up was a fine achievement and reflects great credit on the staff concerned.
MR MACKENZIE (in English): — Mr Chairman, I am sure that all Members will join me in congratulating the department on its high state of readiness and the excellent job the staff did, particularly the staff working at the street level. At the same time, might I ask the Environmental Hygiene Select Committee, and possibly the other Select Committees, if they could give thought to introducing some pre-typhoon season advice to the public so that perhaps better precautions can be introduced and loose items etc. can be protected in order to make the department's job easier in the event of future typhoons?
MR CHOI (in Cantonese): - Before each typhoon all the radio and television stations broadcast warnings by the Royal Observatory and all the staff of the USD in various districts would also urge people to close their windows and to put all the loose items back into their flats.
Dr Denny M. H. HUANG (in Cantonese): - Mr Chairman, I have pleasure to support what the Vice-Chairman of the Environmental Hygiene Select Committee has mentioned that all the refuse was cleared by 13 August. Actually the refuse in front of my flat was cleared by the afternoon of 3 August. Does it mean that the work started from Kadoorie Avenue up to Kowloon Tong. (Laughter).
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