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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
In an effort to issue more newspaper hawker licences, the Working Party will soon consider a proposal to license those surveyed hawkers who are occupying sites smaller than the approved pitch size while the Department will continue its on-going effort to identify more licensable sites with a view to accommodating as many surveyed hawkers as possible who are now trading on unlicensable sites.
As to the adequacy of newspaper outlets in each district we believe the number of unlicensed vendors (the vast majority of which are surveyed) and the number of commercial newspaper outlets is a good indicator of the market and that the demands of the market are being met. When the licensing exercise with respect to the surveyed hawkers is complete it is our intention to license any residue which should be very small in number subject to them occupying licensable sites or the availability of a sufficient number of new sites.
MR. HILTON CHEONG-LEEN (in English):-Mr. Chairman, what is the approximate number of the unlicensed newspapers vendors and it is possible for the large proportion of them to have the opportunity to apply for a licence eventually?
(Mr. MAN Sai-cheong left the meeting at 2.59 p.m.)
DR. THE HON. ELSIE TU (in English):-Mr. Chairman, it would appear that the number of unlicensed hawkers selling newspapers is somewhere in the region of 250 in all areas. I could check that number, but I think it is about 250. And the possibility of finding sites for them is not very easy because many of them are operating where they are causing obstruction on the corner of the road or are causing other kinds of traffic hazard. But we are looking for sites being vacated by some hawkers who have retired. We are looking for sites in markets and other areas and we do hope that eventually most of the hawkers who wish to have sites can get their licences.
MR. WALTER SULKE (in English):-Mr. Chairman, VCUC mentioned a whole list of people who might object, but she left out the long suffering pedestrians. I could name a few sites, like Leighton Road, for instance, where the newspaper hawkers are spread wide across the pavement and you can't walk. What are we doing about it?
DR. THE HON. ELSIE TU (in English):-That is a different question I think. But I'll try to answer it. The answer is whenever possible, we are taking action and there are many arrests every day of newspaper hawkers. That is the reason why some of them stopped applying for licences because of being arrested so many times. But I must say that there are many hawkers who are spreading newspapers across the street. And I would like to see stronger hawker control on it. I think when we get our new hawker control force which I hope will not be too long (and this comes up in another question today), I hope that we will be able to control that. At the moment, we are just chasing them around the street, I think.
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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
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MR. JOSEPH Y. S. CHAN asked the following question (in Cantonese):--- With the announcement that a contract will be awarded in December for the construction and private operation of Hong Kong's first refuse transfer station in Kowloon Bay and that the Lai Chi Kok and the Kennedy Town incinerators will be closed by the early 1990s, is the Urban Services Department making arrangements with the Central Government to facilitate the transporting of refuse to Kowloon Bay?
MR. TONG KAM-BIU, VICE-CHAIRMAN OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL HYGIENE SELECT COMMITTEE replied as follows (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, the question refers to the opening of the Kowloon Bay Refuse Transfer Station, and asks if the Department is making arrangements with the Government with regard to the transport of refuse.
The answer to this question is both 'yes' and 'no'. 'Yes' in that the Department is making arrangements with the Government to take refuse in Kowloon to the Kowloon Bay Transfer Station upon its commissioning in late 1990 when the Lai Chi Kok Incineration Plant stops operation; 'no' in that the Department has no plan to take refuse on Hong Kong Island to the Kowloon Bay Transfer Station for disposal when the Kennedy Town Incinerator ceases to burn refuse early next decade.
The Kowloon Bay Transfer Station initially will have a throughput of about 1000 tonnes per day, rising to about 1500 tonnes in 1991 and 1600 tonnes in 1992. The present daily yield of refuse in Kowloon is about 1800 tonnes. Despite the projected migration of population from Kowloon to the New Territories, some increase in daily yield is still expected due to rising affluence of the community. Negotiation is in hand with the Government to build refuse barging facilities in West Kowloon to make good the shortfall posed by the Kowloon Bay Transfer Station and the impending closure of the Jordan Valley Landfill which will soon be filled to capacity. Some diversion to the Kwai Chung Incineration Plant, which will remain in operation in the next decade, will also be made.
On Hong Kong Island, the two main disposal points for refuse collected by the Urban Council are the Chai Wan facility for Hong Kong East and the Kennedy Town Incinerator for Hong Kong West. The daily throughput at present is 420 tonnes for the former, and 550 tonnes for the latter, against a total daily yield of some 1100 tonnes on the Island. The shortfall is made good by direct barging to Junk Bay through discharge at the emergency ramp at the Kennedy Town Incinerator for which the cost of diversion is borne by Government.
The Government plans to convert the existing Chai Wan facility into a full transfer station (Island Eastern Transfer Station) by 1992 and to build an Island Western Transfer Station by 1993, site permitting. The present thinking is to close the Kennedy Town Incinerator upon the commissioning of the Island Eastern Transfer Station in 1992, with the shortfall made good by direct...
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