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I am therefore appealing to the Government to consider giving tax benefits to local individuals who have worked hard to buy their homes.
Own
(2) Secondly, I would like to talk about the need for all employers to have a compulsory medical and life insurance programme for their employees. A lot of companies in Hong Kong are already providing medical and life insurance programmes for their employees but not all of them do. I feel it is now time to consider imposing a requirement for all employers to take out medical and life insurance programmes for their employees. To introduce a compulsory medical and life insurance programme is to bring out the awareness of all employers that they are responsible to a certain extent to the well-being of their employees. Private medical treatment is extremely expensive in Hong Kong. Hence, an introduction of such a requirement could assure the local people of some proper medical assistance should the need arise and an assurance given to them when accidents happen. The provision of medical and life insurance programme should cover all types and categories of employees irrespective of their rank or income level.
(3) Thirdly, I would like to talk about providing for old age assistance. A person who earns merely enough to support himself when he is young cannot be expected to save for his old days. In order to have a happy and dedicated employee, there should be some assurance given to him of his livelihood when he becomes old and can no longer work. An employer who takes an individual's work day when he is young is responsible somewhat to a portion of his old days when he is unable to work. I therefore appeal to the Government to introduce an old age scheme with which the local people who had dedicated their work lives to Hong Kong could be taken care of when they are old. This is imminent if the Government is committed to being responsible for the well-being of the people of Hong Kong.
The next item I would like to address is finances within the Urban Council. When I first joined the Council in April 1983, I had the impression that the Council had a lot of money to spend. There were capital constructions going on in all areas, there were requisitions to buy this and that, and there were ideas for various projects. Council members only needed to review and approve and there was no real concern over the shortage of funds. However, when I was involved in the 1984-85 budgeting, I realized how wrong I had been. The Council finances are actually in hard times. In the past, it appeared that if the Council was short of funds, we could ask the Government for more money and money came its way. Nowadays, of course, things are different. It would be naive to expect the Government to give us unlimited financial support, recognizing that the Government has its own difficulties in its own financing. It is frustrating because the Urban Council has expanded its facilities and activities in the past and there is a need to maintain them. There are capital projects that the Council has committed to and had to go ahead with. There are programmes for activities that have been planned for and put in place and needed to be supported. In addition, the Council supports the Urban Services Department which has a staff establishment of over 18,000 people. This is all well and good if we could afford it. The problem is we could not. The Council will have a negative year for 1983-84 and a negative budget for 1984–85 and if actual expenditures came out budgeted, the Council would have been left with 1/3 of one month's expenditures in reserves by March 1985. Financially, this is not a satisfactory situation. Frustration deepens when we recognize that it is not desirable to cut back on our services to the public, it is not desirable to cut or shelf capital projects, and it is not desirable to raise fees, so what do we do? The Council has therefore got to reorganize its 5-year capital projects territory-wide over a 7-year period. Since District Boards are most aware of the needs and requirements in their own districts, the Council thus needs to look to and seek out the various District Boards' assistance in this area. Further, there is a need for the Council to enforce tighter control over the overall expenditures. There is a need to question the priorities and cost-effectiveness of each expenditure item and there is also a need to conduct management studies to make sure that labour is efficiently utilized. I would therefore plead to all Council Members and the Urban Services Department to work together to save the Council from a financial disaster.
With these words, Mr. Chairman, I support the motion.
MR. TONG KAM-BIU (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, to Hong Kong, to Urban Council, to myself, the year 1983 is indeed unforgettable.
During the year, Hong Kong managed to surge forward amidst economic recession, worries, and crisis, emerging from them unscathed at the end of the year. A new election system was adopted and more seats were created for Urban Council at a time when the Council happened to be celebrating its Centenary year. Several unprecedented projects were completed and targets set for the celebration of the Centenary Year were also achieved. We now cross over to the year 1984. I had the honour of being appointed a Urbco Member, and thus had the chance to be in the picture. What I witnessed and learned in the year impressed me and gave me a rare experience.
Today the Council is holding its annual debate. Compared with the Urbco, which has a history of 100 years, I, with only 9 months' experience serving in it, am really nothing. But I shall still avail myself of this opportunity to comment on environmental improvements for squatter areas. (The squatter areas I meant including temporary housing unit and roof-top structure.) I would just talk about illegal structures now since time is limited.
The squatters are facing the following problems: Refuse dumps, crammed and dirty residences, offensive smells of unknown origins, accumulation of foul water, inadequacy of water and electricity supplies, lack of street-lighting and
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