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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
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method of using ozone to cleanse water as chlorine may cause irritation and it (b) In particular when will the off-street refuse disposal points at Luard Road, Shiu Fai Terrace, and Caroline Hill in Wan Chai District be completed, and also just effective.
CHAIRMAN (in English):--That really calls for a new question but I exercise discretion to Mr. WONG.
my what is the estimated cost?
DR. RONALD D. B. LEUNG, CHAIRMAN OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in English):-The question by Mr. CHEONG-LEEN is in two parts: the first referring to the number of permanent RCPs to be built in the next five years, and the second when certain RCPs in Wan Chai District will be completed.
MR. SAMUEL P. W. WONG (in English):- Mr. Chairman, I think at the moment the only pool in Urban Council Complexes which would use ozone is this in Kowloon Park new Swimming Pool Complex. The rest is still using chlorine as a medium. But certainly in the future we would look into the possibility.
2. MR. HILTON CHEONG-LEEN asked the following question (in English):--- (a) To what extent are the Urban Council Urban Services Department performing their role to ameliorate the problem of street-sleeper blackspots in the ten urban districts?
(b) And particularly, since the beginning of this year, how many clean-up operations were conducted to prevent the ten or more street-sleep blackspots in Wan Chai District from deterioration even further as an environmental nuisance to the residents and their children living nearby?
DR. RONALD D. B. LEUNG, CHAIRMAN OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in English):--This question is in two parts. The first part asks what role the Council and the Department play to ameliorate the problem of street sleeper blackspots; the second part asks specifically the number of clean up operations conducted to prevent worsening of the environmental nuisance in the street sleeper blackspots in Wan Chai.
The answer to the first part of the question is that neither the UC nor the Department has any specific role to play to alleviate the problem of street sleepers. It falls outside the jurisdiction of the Council to remove these people from their shelters. Departmental staff do, however, refer street sleeper cases including those in parks, playgrounds and sitting out areas to the Social Welfare Department to take action as the latter may deem fit, and remove street-sleepers' belongings in the course of carrying out street cleansing operations after giving due notice in accordance with section 22 of the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance, Cap. 132, whenever obstruction to scavenging operations exists. These cleansing operations are usually carried out jointly with the Social Welfare Department, the CNTA and the Police. I would like to stress that it falls outside the purview of the Council to solve this social problem which I understand is being tackled by the Government.
The answer to the second part of the question is that there has been a total of 99 clean-up operations in Wan Chai since the beginning of this year.
3. MR. HILTON CHEONG-LEEN asked the following question (in English):— (a) How many more permanent off-street refuse disposal points are expected to be built in the ten urban areas during the coming five years, and what is the projected cost, and
In reply to Mr. CHEONG-LEEN's first question, there are currently 33 off-street refuse collection points under planning and expected to be built during the next five years in the urban districts. Some RCP's will be built-in facilities within UC complexes, joint-user buildings or paired with public toilets. Others will be free-standing facilities. The project cost of each varies depending on whether there are special structural requirements involved such as geotechnical work, special drainage connections or other features to meet individual site requirements. On average, the project cost per free-standing RCP is estimated at $2.4m-3m.
In reply to Mr. CHEONG-LEEN's second question regarding three specific permanent refuse collection points in Wan Chai, the approved estimate for the permanent refuse collection point at Shiu Fai Terrace is $3.858m while the estimated cost for the permanent refuse collection point at Luard Road is $4.5m. Construction of both is expected to be completed by early 1991. As to the Caroline Hill area, the Department's request for a suitable site for a permanent refuse collection point within the Tramway Depot Redevelopment scheme was dismissed by the Town Planning Board in October 1988. Several alternative sites have subsequently been suggested but all were found to be unsuitable due to site and operational constraints. The site searching exercise is still continuing but experience indicates that suitable sites in built-up urban areas are very difficult to find. The timing for a permanent refuse collection point in the Caroline Hill area is thus still uncertain.
MR. HILTON CHEONG-LEEN (in English):-Mr. Chairman, in regard to the overall situation, may I ask whether the 33 off-street refuse collection points which are under planning and are expected to be built during the next five years, are sufficient to meet the anticipated requirements in order to catch up with the existing needs? Is there also a need for additional collection points for which sites cannot be found?
DR. RONALD D. B. LEUNG (in English):-Mr. Chairman, it is our policy to put the existing off-street refuse collection points to replace the existing nuisance caused by on-street sites. The need is always there and we hope to get more sites for construction of our off-street refuse collection points. But as I mentioned in the reply that the site availability is our main problem for construction of off-street refuse collection points in urban areas.
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