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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Board, Urban Services Department and District Office etc. to discuss and monitor municipal services within the district in accordance with the Council's central policy and to reflect views of local residents to the Council.
2. To have DB members appointed by the Governor as co-opted members of various select committees of the Urban Council so as to enable district boards to have representatives directly involved in formulating policies on municipal services.
3. As proposed in Para. 62(iii)(a), to elect from each of the 10 urban district boards a representative to the Urban Council by indirect elections in addition to the directly elected elements.
The composition and size should be as follows:- Members from direct elections Members from indirect elections Appointed members
15
10
Total 40
15
All Urban Councillors (irrespective of whether they are directly or indirectly elected or appointed) should concurrently be DB members and jointly participate in the works of the Urban Council, the District Board and the district concerned.
I believe that this would enhance the communication and co-operation between the Urban Council and district boards and would probably promote the harmonious relationship between them.
Hong Kong is a society of diversified systems. In order to meet the needs of the real situation in this society, the election system under the representative government should be developed in the direction of diversification. The advisory role of District Boards should remain unchanged. District Boards should be developed as the foundation of the Councils at middle level and central Government through indirect representation. The Legislative Council and Urban Council elections should include diversified election methods, i.e. a mode of combined direct and indirect elections, so as to absorb those with professional expertise into councils that formulate policies.
In view of the fact that district boards will maintain the advisory role, I think that it is reasonable for them to return representatives to Councils that are responsible for policy formulation. In this way, District Boards and the Urban Council will probably form an entity and District Boards will attain a higher status of representation. So there will be councillors who can fully represent both public opinions and views of District Boards.
Mr. Chairman, with the exception of the above, I support your motion.
MR. LAM CHAK-PIU (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, I am too glad to have an opportunity to air my personal view on the 1987 Green Paper in this debate to-day.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
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Since the Green Paper was released at the end of May this year, the Government has been making all-out efforts in giving it good publicity, in the hope of eliciting the views of the public on the development of the Government. We are highly appreciative of the cautious, respectful and democratic attitude being adopted by the Government in the current move of collecting the public opinions. It is my earnest desire that the broad masses can keep on expressing their opinions actively during the rest of the period of consultation in the next two months or so.
To-day, my talk will be centred on paragraph 58 of the Green Paper, which reads 'There have been suggestions, however, that changes should be made in the composition, structure and working arrangements of the Urban Council, to bring it more in line with the Regional Council and to improve its relationship with the Urban District Boards'.
That paragraph comprises two points, the first being that the Urban Council be run in the form of the Regional Council while the second indicates the need for improving the relationship between the Urban Council and the Urban District Boards.
We have to know, first of all, that the Urban Council has over a hundred years' history. Ever since the formation of the Sanitary Board in 1883, the qualities of facilities and services provided in the urban areas have been improving day by day. This Council has all along been cautious and efficient in the work of distribution of resources and land in a bid to serve the people better. That the Council has obtained splendid achievements and valuable experience in the course of its hundred years operation is widely accepted and witnessed by the public.
On the other hand, paragraph 57 of the Green Paper states, 'It is too early to evaluate fully the impact of the Regional Council, as the Regional Council has been formed for just a few years.' It is baffling to hear the suggestion that we should bring the Urban Council in line with the Regional Council whose impact is still to be assessed.
The duties of the Regional Council are mainly the provision of municipal services in the New Territories, and, obviously it has achieved its aim inasmuch as the Government has been intensively developing new towns in recent years and adequate space has been reserved for provision of municipal facilities in accordance with the town planning guidelines. There is, however, one point to note regarding the distribution of the facilities of the Regional Council. They all are mainly concentrated in the isolated new towns and their targets of service are rarely the territory-wide population.
As regards the Urban Council, the environment, history and background conditions of the urban areas are absolutely different from those of the New Territories. The Urban Council, which has not only district-wide but also territory-wide facilities such as the City Hall Complex, the Space Museum, the Hong Kong Coliseum, has its own form and target of service intrinsically
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