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# HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
## ADDRESS BY CHAIRMAN
CHAIRMAN (in English):-Ladies and Gentlemen, the meeting is called to order.
## MINUTES
The minutes of the meetings held on 8 January 1991 and 10 January 1991, were confirmed.
## PAPER
The following paper was laid on the table:
(1) Report to the Urban Council by the Director of Urban Services and Secretary, Urban Council, for the month of January 1991.
## QUESTION
1. MR. PAO PING-WING on behalf of MR. FREDERICK K. K. FUNG asked the following question (in English):---I raised questions on obstruction to traffic and pedestrians and environmental problems caused by illegal hawking and heaps of junk along Apliu Street and Nam Cheong Street in Sham Shui Po three years ago and one and a half years ago. I also requested the Council to actively seek improvements for this. Now that three years have passed, the situation has not yet come under control. On the contrary, it has gone from bad to worse day after day. Has the Council taken any positive actions in this regard? If yes, why has the situation deteriorated? Has the Council taken any effective actions to review this matter? If not, will there be any review? If yes, what are those actions?
MR. HILTON CHEONG-LEEN, CHAIRMAN OF THE MARKETS AND STREET TRADERS SELECT COMMITTEE replied as follows (in English):—This question concerns obstruction and environmental problems being caused by illegal hawking along Apliu Street and at its junction with Nam Cheong Street. It asks whether positive action has already been taken and, if so, why the situation appears to have deteriorated.
As Mr. FUNG is aware, and as has been stated previously in this Council when the problems associated with hawking in Apliu Street were raised in September 1988, the street in question has been a traditional trading area for salvage materials for many years. A large number of dealers engage in the sale and exchange of used and salvaged electrical and household articles. Often these are valuable simply as spare parts. Thus although much of that which is on sale would appear to be little more than junk, there are nevertheless a variety of customers who come from all over Hong Kong to purchase these kinds of goods. The items concerned, which are often bulky and heavy, take up considerable space on-street. Environmental problems particularly arise when such items are abandoned by illegal hawkers, as is usually the case, when they flee from possible arrest during GDT raids and operations. This in turn presents mountains of bulky junk which requires considerable manpower and vehicular resources in order to clear these abandoned items.
# HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
There are presently about 220 licensed and 175 unlicensed hawkers habitually trading in this area. This compares favourably with 1988, at least as far as unlicensed hawkers are concerned. In fact, the last two years or so have seen a reduction of well over 50% in unlicensed hawkers, from 400 in September 1988 to 175 in December 1990. Over the last two years, the Department had carried out 60 joint operations with the Police against the illegal hawkers. A further 103 operations have been conducted independently by the Department over the same period. A total of 593 lorry loads of junk were removed and disposed of during these 163 operations. Furthermore, a total of 3,882 arrests, and 946 seizures, in the vicinity of Apliu Street and its junction with Nam Cheong Street have been recorded. The statistics I have just quoted indicate the extent to which enforcement action has been stepped up in this vicinity.
GDT staff are deployed on a daily basis in this vicinity both during the lunch hour and the late afternoon, so as to reduce the obstruction to pedestrians and vehicular traffic caused by illegal hawking activity, particularly at the MTR entrance at the junction of Kweilin Street and Apliu Street. The Department will continue to take enforcement and cleansing action to minimize the problems and inconvenience caused by these illegal hawking activities as far as manpower and other resources permit.
The Department has devoted much effort into trying to find a long-term solution to the hawking problems in Apliu Street in particular. Various alternatives have been explored. The Department has ruled out the possibility of converting these hawkers into market lessees on the grounds that the items they sell are neither suitable nor appropriate for sale in markets. Another option under exploration has been to try to find an off-street site suitable for a hawker bazaar. Nevertheless, existing policy dictates that when such bazaars are created, priority must be given to wet goods hawkers. The Department has been unable to date to find a suitable and viable site which might be used to accommodate this type of hawker.
The best chance of some success in finding a solution will arise in the context of the two temporary markets which the Department is already planning for Sham Shui Po district-one at Nam Cheong Street and the second at Tung Chau Street. After completion, these temporary facilities will be used to accommodate existing on-street hawkers selling wet-goods in the vicinity of the existing Sham Shui Po market, which itself will be redeveloped within the next five years. The resiting of these wet-goods hawkers into the two temporary markets will present the opportunity for the Department to consider the extent to which it might be possible to achieve some re-ordering on-street of the remaining dry-goods hawkers, particularly those in and around Apliu Street.
A working group co-ordinated by the Sham Shui Po District Officer, CNTA, is being formed to pool the resources of the various concerned departments in the district, in a concerted and sustained effort to improve the overall environmental and hawking situation in this area.
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