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YEUNG may not be able to provide a quick answer to my question, but I think the select committee should look into the possibility.
MISS CECILIA YEUNG (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, I am afraid I cannot give a direct answer to Mr. PAO's question because it is not really very relevant, but I would like to thank him for reminding us of our important role. I can assure him that we have already been paying attention to the cooperation between the Urban Council and district boards. But personally I feel that we should do all these for the district boards, sometimes it seems to me that our efforts are quite futile because our work have not been very rewarding. Mr. PAO has mentioned something about the swimming pool and the District Boards, of course will say 'Yes, we all need swimming pools' and they ask for the swimming pools and we will explain to them that 'No, you have already one swimming pool, we cannot provide you with more', but the District Board members will not understand. In the past, Mr. PAO has mentioned something about the Kowloon City District and he asked a question why we need to provide more soccer pitches. When the District already have so many playgrounds and soccer pitches, we have to explain to them that according to our schedule, we still have to provide these playgrounds but we cannot provide shelters or covers for these playgrounds, because of a number of constraints. We must explain all these to the District Board members, but I really do not know whether the District Board members are willing to listen to our explanation. So there are gaps between the District Boards and the Urban Council and we need our Urban Councillors to sit in the boards to explain to them.
MR. FREDERICK FUNG (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, Miss YEUNG has explained the work of the select committee to us in great detail and I feel that we have not been giving the select committee full support. Later on we will talk about our budget, of course, it is difficult for us to amend the budget now, but the question has already arisen and I think we have neglected the role of some of our select committees. I do not know whether we should take up this matter later on or not. I think that when we talk about our projects, we should also pay attention to the expenditure of our select committees.
MISS CECILIA YEUNG (in Cantonese):—I would like to thank Mr. FUNG, he has been most perceptive, it is just useless to talk about enhancing district relationships. I have already mentioned this to you, Mr. Chairman, the LegCo has recently invited district board members to the LegCo informal meetings there have been chances for communication, of course they have organized some very grand luncheon parties, we cannot compare with the LegCo, we may not be able to organize this very grand parties but I think we are able to provide some friendly regular meetings. I hope that Mr. Chairman will really pay attention to this and I hope that you will understand that every select committee need the concern of the Chairman and we need support from the Council, I would like to thank Mr. FUNG for pointing this out.
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DR. HUANG (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, one point on clarification, I do not know whether Miss YEUNG can answer this or not. As far as I know, the District Boards are just consultative bodies and they do not have power to execute policies, but Mr. PAO has mentioned that we should together with the District Boards manage all these activities; well, I think this is not very appropriate because actually the Urban Council should be responsible for managing these local facilities. Now Miss YEUNG is the expert on district relations and you can see that the Urban Councillors are very enthusiastic and we are all working towards a better relationship between the Urban Council and the District Boards, but can you tell us whether the District Board members are interested in enhancing good relationship with the Urban Council? For example, in the Kwun Tong District Board, the Kwun Tong District Board members said that the Urban Councillors had set up a trap and the member warned other members not to step into the trap set up by the Urban Councillors. Now Urban Councillors are there to make friends with them, but they treat you as enemies, so I think we should really settle the issue with them, whether we are there to make friends with them.
MISS CECILIA YEUNG (in Cantonese):—Well, Dr. HUANG, I would like to thank you for pointing our as a senior Councillor. From his words, we can see that Dr. HUANG has really paid attention to the problem existing and I can really tell you that we are not doing a very rewarding job, as I have already said this should not be a one-way traffic, and we must have the co-operation and the goodwill of the District Board members. Of course, our aims are to enhance good relationship, we hope that we can satisfy the District Board members, I am sure every Urban Councillor really wishes to have a good relationship with District Board members not just elected Councillors. I am sure appointed Councillors will acknowledge the importance of having a good relationship with other members, yes, you may be very willing to make friends with them but they may not be as willing. Yes, I admit that we have this problem, but I hope that in future with assistance from all sides we can really have a better relationship with the District Board members and we hope that we can be both firm and friendly in these District Board meetings. I hope that all Urban Councillors will really work towards this goal.
MR. SHUM (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, I have just heard Miss YEUNG emphasized many times again that liaison work should be stepped up with the District Boards, when I read her reply, I see that on the Clean Hong Kong Committee, we have District Board members on it and we often send representa- tive down to the boards to work on their projects. Now what I would like to know from Miss YEUNG is as follows; what specific plans do we have for the future, we have said a lot on theories, what are we going to do specifically?
MISS CECILIA YEUNG (in Cantonese):—Well, I did mention a few points but these points have to be ratified and approved by the committee itself. I cannot