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whole question will be examined in great detail by the functional Select Committee and then the recommendations pass to the Council before any decision is made.
DR. HUANG (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, perhaps the Vice-Chairman's memory is short. In fact, on 22 September 1981, the Standing Committee has accepted the decision. The document is G.N. 110, in the second paragraph, it said at the meeting of the Standing Committee of the Whole Council on 22 September 1981, the Council considered committee paper CW/126/81 and agreed in principle to take over from the Police the responsibility for the removal of abandoned vehicles from public roads in urban areas subject to following conditions', it then stated the areas given to us and the Government would reimburse us for any expenditure involved. This is about car disposal.
MR. YOUNG (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, as far as I understand, the Environmental Hygiene Select Committee and the Standing Committee of the Whole Council had in principle accepted the responsibility of removal of abandoned vehicles in the urban areas. The responsibility includes the collection of abandoned vehicles and the despatch of them to a certain pounding area. But does this responsibility include the crushing of cars by ourselves? As far as I can see, accepting the responsibility may not mean crushing the cars by ourselves, but then a possibility was for the Urban Council to run its own car crushing plant or to leave it to a private operator or there may be some commercial enterprise interested in it. Dr. HUANG, will you tell me whether I am correct in saying so?
DR. HUANG (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, according to the document I have, it stated that at the Chief Secretary's Clean Hong Kong Steering Committee meeting on 22 June 1982, it was agreed that one agency responsible for removal, storage and crushing and therefore disposal will provide the most effective solution in that two or more agencies would lead to fragmentation of effort and piecemeal coordination. I hope Mr. YOUNG was present at the meeting.
MRS. CHOW (in English): Mr. Chairman, if I might draw Dr. HUANG'S attention to a recent meeting of the Standing Committee where the same issue was discussed and in fact, it was agreed during that meeting that a feasibility study will be conducted into the possibility of setting up such a disposal plant, but in fact, during the same meeting, many questions were raised by fellow Councillors as to the logistics, the financial implications, the operational expertise that is required for setting up such a plant and in fact, we have assurance from Dr. HUANG that this is a feasibility study that we are committing ourselves to and not the actual setting up of the plant. In fact, speaking from myself, I would be very much concerned that at this stage, we are committing the Council to actually setting up the plant without a very detailed report on the result of the feasibility study.
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MRS. HO (in English): Mr. Chairman, I am trying to draw your attention to the point that Mrs. CHOW has raised and that this was decided at the last meeting of the Standing Committee of the Whole Council just a few weeks ago.
MR. YOUNG (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, to follow this up, may I present my interpretation. I was present at the Clean Hong Kong Steering Committee meeting mentioned by Dr. HUANG. At that time, it was agreed that the disposal of abandoned vehicles should be in the hands of only one organization which is right, but here, the responsibility vested does not mean that every step is to be done by the organization itself. As an analogy, if a passenger flies to a place, the airline is responsible for his luggage. But actually, it is not the staff of the airline who do the job of moving luggage but rather a contracted company who does the job. In other words, it should be the responsibility of the Urban Council to coordinate, but not every step necessarily should be taken up by the Urban Council. It could be delegated to other operators, but we take the responsibility.
DR. HUANG (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, it is strange indeed. I think there is some misunderstanding between me and the fellow members. I think it is the Council's responsibility to deal with abandoned vehicles to improve the environment. The problem had lain idle for the past ten years. We must now try to solve the problem as quickly as possible to reduce the number of abandoned vehicles on public roads. As the Urban Council is a non-profit-making organization, it should not care about how much we gain or lose. Actually, the document has stated that expenditure involved will be reimbursed by the Central Government. As to me, if I am a man of responsibility, I would like to see the work go speedily and will not mind whether it will gain or lose. Moreover, as to this matter, we do not gain or lose because the Government will reimburse us for the money we spent. We may have experts advising Council members who will have expertise in this field. This can only provide us with information but should not affect members in thinking of their responsibilities as it is the Urban Council's responsibility to keep the city clean with less abandoned vehicles. In addition, I would like to say that this is only an agreement in principle.
MR. C. K. CHAN (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, may I make a proposal. It has been decided that we will send a team of staff to examine car crushing overseas. May I suggest that as soon as they return from their trip, we will bring this matter up to the Standing Committee of the Whole Council.
DR. HUANG (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, I can promise Mr. CHAN that we will certainly do this. As when the two officers return, they will bring their report to the Standing Committee and it will not be decided by the Environmental Hygiene Select Committee.
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