Page 139 of 166
264
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
other government departments to provide better municipal facilities for the HK citizens. I also hope the government will give greater financial support and allocate more land to the Council so that it can carry out its work more effectively in the 90's.
Mr. Chairman, with these remarks, I support the motion.
(Dr. Ronald D. B. LEUNG left the meeting at 3.48 p.m.)
MR. DICKSON PANG KAM-FAI (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, more than nine months have slipped away since I joined the Urban Council in the capacity of the representative of the Kwun Tong District Board on 1 April 1989. I have great pleasure in taking this opportunity to express my views at the Urban Council Annual Conventional Debate. First of all, as the representative of the Kwun Tong District Board, I would like to convey the District Board's views on two important cultural and recreational facilities for attention of both the Council and the Department:
(1) Construction of a second swimming pool in Kwun Tong
Taking into account the fact that there is only one swimming pool facility provided for the existing population of more than 600,000 in Kwun Tong, the District Board has for a long time strongly requested the Urban Council to construct another swimming pool in the district. The proposed early construction of a leisure pool at the Jordan Valley site under the second phase of the development project was approved by the Council's Working Group on Leisure Pools and the Recreation Select Committee last June and July respectively. All the Kwun Tong District Board members were glad to hear the above decision, hoping that the Urban Council would implement the leisure-pool project as soon as possible. However, as the Housing Department had not yet decided at that time whether to demolish the remaining five blocks of the public housing, it seemed that the leisure-pool project would suffer delay. Later, the Kwun Tong District Board Chairman learnt from a reply dated 3 November 1989 from the Director for Housing that the Housing Department had decided to demolish concurrently Blocks 9 and 10 of the Jordan Valley Estate. Moreover, subject to the availability of resiting resources later, the remaining three blocks, i.e., Blocks 3 to 5 would also be demolished. Consequently, the Housing Department will be able to vacate a larger site for the Urban Council to construct a leisure pool. In view of the above development, I earnestly urge the Council and the Department to take prompt action in planning and building the leisure pool. Besides, as not the whole site would be available for the use of the Urban Council at one time, the Department should implement the project by phases so as to avoid further delay.
(2) Construction of a civic centre in Kwun Tong
In addition to construction of a second swimming pool, it has long been the wish of the Kwun Tong District Board that a relatively large civic centre be built in the district with a seating capacity of about 1,000. Last year the Working Group on Civic Centre and Swimming Pool of the Kwun Tong District Board commissioned a statistics and research agency to conduct a survey in the district with a view to determining the suitability of constructing a civic centre and assessing the seating capacity needed. The research was completed around last October. Briefly speaking, the research report concludes that a medium-size civic centre (i.e., with a seating capacity of 800 to 900) should better suit the needs of the audience as well as the performing groups. The research report has already been submitted to the Urban Services Department for perusal. I hope the Department will actively and carefully examine the findings and analysis of the report and consider constructing a civic centre in Kwun Tong as soon as possible.
Hawker Problem
(1) Hawker problem has always been my major concern because it directly affects people's daily lives and also the environmental hygiene. On the other hand, the hawker issue has all along remained a thorny problem of the Council. Following a lengthy and in-depth study of the problem, the 'Report and Recommendations of the Urban Council Working Party on Hawker and Related Policies' was released in October 1987. Yet it is really a pity that so far many useful recommendations contained in the Report have still not been implemented. I therefore request that the Working Group on Hawker Control appointed by the Chief Secretary promptly study this problem. In addition, the Government should give assistance in terms of provision of financial or land resources so as to help solve the hawker problem as early as possible.
(2) Recently I received a lot of complaints about many illegal cooked food hawkers operating at night near the Amoy Gardens and in streets like Yue Man Square, Mut Wah Street and Ngau Tau Kok Road in the busy areas of Ngau Tau Kok of the Kwun Tong District. These cooked food hawkers start business on pavements after the GDT Squads are off-duty at 10.30 p.m., thus leading to serious obstruction and environmental hygiene problems. As far as I know, similar phenomena can be seen in other districts as well. Therefore, I hope the Department will review the work shift schedule of the GDT and consider extending a little bit the night-time working hours of the GDT in order to alleviate the nocturnal hawker problem. However, as an immediate measure, I would like to ask the Department to make joint efforts with the police in taking more law-enforcement action against the illegal cooked food hawkers at night.
(3) In addition, I have received complaints that unlicensed hawkers after being driven out of the public housing estates by the staff of the Housing Department often continue business in areas managed by the Council. Conversely, when the GDT Squads launch raids against illegal hawkers, the hawkers will get into the area of public estates. These common phenomena deserve our attention. I hereby request the Department to
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
265
Page 140 of 166