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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Second, with the expansion of the General Duties Teams which the Council approved at the end of last year, the Department is increasing surveillance to detect illegal subletting or non-operation by licensees, with a view to cancellation of licences under the Hawker By-laws.
Third, a scheme of ex-gratia payment will be introduced with effect from June 1983 to encourage voluntary surrender of licences by licensees, particularly those who are not operating their stalls. It is hoped that the offer of an ex-gratia payment will be found attractive particularly as the alternative will be the cancellation of licence on grounds of non-personal operation. The amount of ex-gratia payment which Council will offer will be $36,000 for each licence.
Thus, with guarded optimism, it is hoped that, through the combined strategy of incentive and enhanced enforcement action, illegal subletting of licences will be stamped out and a substantial number of unlicensed de facto cooked food stall operators will either cease business or become Council lessees in markets or cooked food centres. The resiting commitment will be reduced significantly so as to enable the majority, if not all, of the licensed on-street cooked food stalls to be sited into off-street cooked food centres.
MR. YOUNG (in Cantonese):— Mr. Chairman, on the new policy, in other words the use of ex-gratia payments to encourage cooked food stall operators to surrender their licences, have we estimated the cost involved?
MR. SHUM (in Cantonese):— Mr. Chairman, it all depends on the number of people who are willing to surrender their licences. Of course, we only have an under-provision of 233 stalls. So, I don't think the cost will be that large, but say for instance, we have 233 stalls and we pay $36,000 each, the total then comes to $8,388,000. But we need $150,000 to $200,000 to resite each stall into a cooked food centre. So, it still benefits the tax-payers.
MR. YOUNG (in Cantonese):— The ex-gratia payment scheme starts from 1 June, do we have a deadline?
MR. SHUM (in Cantonese):— Tentatively, we have a 5 years' programme in which to construct the markets. We hope that it will be possible for them to inform us of their intentions within one year. Of course, they will be informed beforehand. If they are willing, they can fill in the form and return to us, and we will offer them the ex-gratia payment.
MRS. CHOW (in English):— Mr. Chairman, the scheme as outlined by Mr. SHUM seems to be a very effective idea and we all hope that it works. May I ask Mr. SHUM through you, how he proposes to control the unlicensed cooked food stalls and proposes to eliminate the present number of on-street hawkers and also to prevent the further setting up of unlicensed cooked food stalls while this other exercise is going on to reduce the number of licensed ones?
MR. SHUM (in Cantonese):— Mr. Chairman, firstly, starting from now, we will strengthen the General Duties Team and improve the management of hawkers. For all those stalls that have to be resited or eliminated, we have to rely on the General Duties Teams. When there are vacant stalls in markets we will inform the unlicensed operators, in other words, the sublessees, and hope that they will bid for them so as to let them have the chance to convert to licensed stall holders. A new policy has been passed on succession and only a spouse can succeed to the licence, I think they will all be aware of the change in policy. So, I think they should take the opportunity to bid for stalls when they are informed that there are stalls for auction, otherwise, when their licences are cancelled, they may be forced out of business.
MISS TAM (in Cantonese):— Mr. Chairman, in Mr. SHUM's reply, according to the U.S.D. study, about 50% of licensees are over 65 years of age, and they cannot be trading as required by the Hawker By-laws. Can I ask about this group of licensees: firstly, whether they have to surrender their licences; secondly, whether they are eligible for the ex-gratia payment; thirdly, of those 233 people who have to surrender their licences, will they be encouraged to apply for the ex-gratia payment of $36,000?
MR. SHUM (in Cantonese):— Mr. Chairman, on the first question, for those people above the age of 65, they may not be necessarily operating stalls. It is assumed that a lot of these people sublet their licence to others. But because of the policy of succession, the chance of further operating these stalls will be quite remote. Soon, we will inform all licensees of stalls, not only those over 65, about the ex-gratia payment scheme. For those over 65, especially those who have sublet their licence, we hope they will make use of the ex-gratia payment scheme and get $36,000.
MRS. NELLIE FONG asked the following question (in English):— We have long heard about the plan to construct the Museum of Science and Technology. For a population size of Hong Kong, there should be a Museum of Science and Technology to provide exhibits and demonstrations to complement the education system. It is therefore imperative that something should be done. I would therefore like to ask what the Urban Council is planning to do to fill the need in this area.
Mrs. Grace Ho, CHAIRMAN OF THE MUSEUMS SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in Cantonese):— This question concerns the planning of a Museum of Science and Technology for Hong Kong.
Under the Memorandum of Administrative Arrangements, it is the Government's responsibility to build Museums to provide a territory-wide service and the Council will manage such facilities by providing exhibits, staffing, etc.
The Urban Council has long recognized the need for a Museum of Science and Technology for the people of Hong Kong and in 1979 engaged a consultancy team from the Association of Science-Technology Centres to
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