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These have covered what might be called in municipal terms The Necessary (markets, etc), The Healthy (swimming pools, sports grounds etc.) and The Finer Things (libraries and cultural and entertainment venues).
Beginning with The Necessary, the Council has built four market complexes at Ngau Tau Kok, Aberdeen, Sai Wan Ho and To Kwa Wan. Each of these complexes has brought big improvements to the living standards of those districts. And today similar Urban Council complexes are under construction or planning for the remaining heavily-populated urban districts on either side of the harbour.
Turning to The Healthy, there has been an 'explosion' of sports facilities in the past 12 years, thanks to the initiative of the Urban Council. The extensive range of highly popular facilities opened in the past 12 years includes six swimming pool complexes, one specialist training pool, three sports grounds and eight indoor games halls.
When it comes to the Finer Things, Hong Kong has rapidly cast off the stigma of being a 'cultural desert', in great part thanks to the Council's vision and determination to make Hong Kong a more enjoyable place to live in, too.
Today we have such splendid cultural and entertainment venues as the 12 500-seat Coliseum, the Queen Elizabeth Stadium and the Ko Shan Theatre. Other new cultural facilities include the Space Museum and the Museum of Tea Ware.
In addition, the Council has provided a wide range of parks and gardens and no fewer than 20 public libraries, the centre-piece being the multi-storey Kowloon Central Library in Ho Man Tin.
The Council is fortunate to have as its 30 members a body of highly capable men and women who are a representative cross-section of the community. They include professionals in many fields such as law, finance, accountancy, engineering, social work, education and medicine and of course representatives of the man in the street.
And each of them acts as a financial watchdog in his or her particular field, carefully examining every proposal placed before the Council-Is it necessary? Will it result in more efficiency? . . . Will it improve the quality of Hong Kong's lifestyle? . . . Could it be done more cheaply?
Only after these processes have been fully explored does any proposal gain the Council's stamp of approval.
These combined measures have brought more savings to the ratepayer. Projected deficits have been turned into surpluses; staff have been pruned to the bare essentials to perform necessary duties; computerization and other methods of modern technology have been employed to increase efficiency; and the latest developments in various service fields, such as ultra-modern road-cleaning vehicles, have been introduced.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Staffing in particular has been under constant scrutiny both by the Department and the Council, and since 1 April 1983, no fewer than 1921 U.S.D. posts have been deleted.
While the Council will continue to exercise extreme vigilance and stringent financial control over its financial resources, it is also committed to press on with its large building programme, because these capital works projects serve not just to meet the basic needs of the people but also their aspirations for a better quality of life.
In October last year, the Council endorsed a Five-Year Capital Works Programme covering the period 1985-86 to 1989-90. The programme provides for a total number of 127 major projects, and involves anticipated cash expenditure of the order of $1.57 billion over the five-year period.
As part of this re-structured programme, projected expenditure on capital works will rise by 59 per cent in the coming fiscal year to $330 million.
Looking to the future, the Council will spare no effort in improving the lifestyle of local residents in the days and years ahead while exercising maximum financial stringencies. Meanwhile, we know some problems remain, but we also believe we can solve them--and that there is a concerned community out there watching to see that we do.
Now to turn to some of the many constructive and useful points raised by members during last month's Annual Conventional Debate:
The Vice Chairman, Mr. FORSGATE, spoke on the need to eliminate pig-breeding in the urban areas, and I am happy to say that this is very much the view of Government. We await results sooner rather than later.
Mr. SULKE called for a drastic review of the Council's licensing policies concerning food premises. His points will be studied very carefully. One of his suggestions for setting up a licensing conference' to speed up restaurant applications is already being implemented.
Mr. SAMUEL WONG was concerned about the design and viability of markets, a subject which is uppermost in the minds of the hard-working members of the Working Party on Hawker and Related Polices-a Working Party whose members have earned the thanks both of the Council and the Urban Services Department. I can confirm that the whole situation of market design is under the closest study, a study which is taking into account not only the views of the Council and Department, but also the views of representatives of the trades involved.
Mr. WONG also raised two other problems, namely poor accessibility to the Hong Kong Coliseum and parking problems in Tsim Sha Tsui East, where the magnificent Cultural Centre is now under construction. The Coliseum problem will not be solved easily or quickly, but there should be considerable improvement when the decking of the courtyard of the K.C.R. station is
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