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MISS CHRISTINA Y. C. TING (in Cantonese): -Some flats are vacant and it is difficult to trace the owners. What I mean is that waste water which pulls out of the pipes gives rise to an environmental nuisance to nearby residents. How can we deal with the problem immediately?
DR. RONALD D. B. LEUNG (in English):—As I said the immediate cleaning job would be the Urban Services Department's duty, but the repair itself still had to depend on the house owners. If we cannot trace the owner or get the cooperation of other owners of the building, the Drainage Services Department or the Buildings and Lands Department will come to assist to do the repair immediately and later on to recover the costs involved.
MR. MAN SAI-CHEONG (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, this problem is very serious in Eastern District. This problem is raised for discussion at every area committee and District Board meetings. Since it is the owners' responsibility to repair the pipes, when the pipes were first built, they were not supposed to cater for such a large population which is the case in Eastern District. Since our USD staff are fully engaged in collecting refuse and if they are to take up the additional task of cleaning-up the waste water, how can we solve the problem of manpower resources?
DR. RONALD D. B. LEUNG (in English):-This is difficult to answer and it depends on the magnitude of the problem. I think the department will make the best out of the human resources available to the Council to do the job. I think we have to trust our department. If the problem is serious in Eastern District, it might be necessary to deploy more staff and human resources to deal with the problem.
MR. TONG KAM-BIU (in Cantonese):—Paragraph 3 of the reply mentions that if problems occur in private buildings and the owners cannot be traced or the cooperation of joint-owners cannot be secured to share the expenses, then the Chief Building Surveyor of the Buildings and Lands Department will be asked to assist, and after the inter-departmental arrangements, they will be passed to the Urban Drainage Division of the Drainage Services Department for action. I would like to know how long will it take? Is it going to take 3, 6 or 9 months before the problem can be solved? Who is responsible for taking follow-up action? So, is the complainant responsible for taking follow-up action? Does he need to go through all these departments to have the problem solved or is it the responsibility of our department or other department?
DR. RONALD D. B. LEUNG (in English):—I have no data about the time taken between the lodge of the complaint and the commission of remedial actions. But I can tell you that the Drainage Services Department which was formed specifically for that purpose will be the sole department responsible with the assistance and cooperation of the other departments including our own department to deal with the problem. In the case that if we cannot trace the owner or we cannot get cooperation of the house owners, then this will be a difficult problem and this problem will then be dealt with by the Drainage Services Department.
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MR. CHAN TAK-CHOR (in Cantonese):----Mr. Chairman, Dr. LEUNG has just said that the USD is responsible for cleaning up the waste. I would like to know whether the USD is also responsible for cleaning up in private lanes.
DR. RONALD D. B. LEUNG (in English):—The answer is yes.
7. MR. LAM CHAK-PIU asked the following question (in Cantonese):— (a) How are the terms and conditions of service for the artists of the Council's performing companies determined?
(b) What basic benefits and entitlements are enjoyed by the members of the Council's performing companies? How can these benefits and rights be genuinely guaranteed?
MR. LO KING-MAN, CHAIRMAN OF THE CULTURE SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in Cantonese):-This question concerns the terms and conditions of service as well as the benefits and entitlements of members of the Council's performing companies.
With regard to the first part of the question, the terms and conditions of service were initially determined with reference to comparable practice elsewhere, but have been modified and refined over the years having regard to changing statutory provisions for employment, the nature and artistic requirements of the company, as well as the stage of development and development plans of the individual company. As a result, each of the three companies have a slightly different structure and scale of progression for its members, and there are also minor variations in benefits, e.g. a bone setting allowance for dancers but not for members of the other two companies.
The basic terms and conditions of service are kept under constant review by the department and by the Council's Performing Companies Sub-committee, and revisions are introduced as part of an on-going exercise, whenever appropriate, in the light of suggestions from Council members, management experience or requests from the members' committees of the three companies, or indeed from any individual member of a company.
As regards the second part of the question, all members of the Council's performing companies enjoy the following basic benefits:
(a) paid leave;
(b) salary increments within the appropriate scales;
(c) end-of-contract gratuity; and
(d) annual salary adjustment in accordance with revisions for the civil service.
In addition, there are specific allowances for members of the different companies.
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