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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
ADDRESS BY CHAIRMAN
CHAIRMAN (in English):—Ladies and Gentlemen, the meeting is called to order.
Before taking the first item on the agenda, I would like to congratulate Dr. Elsie Tu on being returned to the Legislative Council as the Urban Council Representative uncontested.
MINUTES
The minutes of the meeting held on 9 July 1991, were confirmed.
PAPERS
The following papers were laid on the table:
(1) Reports to the Urban Council by the Director of Urban Services and Secretary, Urban Council, for the months of July and August 1991.
QUESTIONS
1. MR. B. A. BERNACCHI (in English):—I would like to ask the question under my name. However, in paragraph (c), second line, the second word, 'not' is missing due to a typographical error:-
(a) The cooked food stalls part of the market, were promised air-conditioning in October of this year. It has now been disclosed that the air-conditioning will not be installed until April 1992. Can I have an assurance that the air-conditioning will be installed and functioning before the hot season of 1992?
(b) When will the rest of the market, Ground and First Floors have air-conditioning? The present system of ventilating shafts is just not working.
(c) There are quite a lot of stall holders, mainly but not exclusively selling fruit and vegetables, who, although some of their goods are laid out, are not to be seen. As the heat prevents many people from coming to the market to buy, do the USD staff have reason to believe that any of these stall holders are in fact hawking illegally in or around Tai On Building nearby, the management of which has complained several times both officially and personally to me, about such hawking?
(d) Does the Urban Services Department consider that better conditions in the big Sai Wan Ho Market would stop or at least reduce this form of illegal hawking, particularly in or around the vicinity of Tai On Building?
MR. CHAN TAK-CHOR, CHAIRMAN OF THE MARKETS AND STREET TRADERS SELECT COMMITTEE replied as follows (in Cantonese): This is a four-part question concerning Sai Wan Ho Market.
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The first part of the question seeks an assurance that the cooked food centre in Sai Wan Ho Market would be air-conditioned before the summer of 1992.
Contrary to what was stated in this question, there was no undertaking given by the Department that air-conditioning would be installed in the cooked food centre in October this year. The present position is that a feasibility study on the installation of air-conditioning for this cooked food centre was recently completed and this has confirmed the technical feasibility of the proposal. Once some remaining details of the proposal have been resolved with the Architectural Services Department, it is expected that a proposal will be submitted for Members' consideration in about two months' time. Should Council approve the installation of air-conditioning, the Architectural Services Department has advised that a minimum period of 15 months will be required for the completion of installation. This period has been calculated on the basis of the time required for design and documentation, the tender process, delivery of equipment from overseas and actual installation work. On the basis of this timetable, it would not be feasible to complete installation work until 1993.
The second part of this question claims that the present ventilation system in the market is not working and asks whether the remainder of the ground floor and the first floor of the market will also be provided with air-conditioning.
(Messrs. YIM Kwok-on and Daniel WONG Kwok-tung arrived at 2:35 p.m.)
It is not the general policy of the Urban Council to air-condition markets. Under the present Council policy, the Market Economic Air Treatment or MEAT system is normally installed at all those markets where it is considered necessary to supplement natural ventilation. The MEAT system is generally designed to reduce the temperature inside the market by 2-3°C when compared with the ambient temperature outside the market. The Sai Wan Ho Market has been provided with such a system, supplemented by ceiling fans, in all areas other than the cooked food centre. There are no plans to install air-conditioning at the Sai Wan Ho Market other than to the cooked food centre. However, the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department have been requested to examine whether the performance and efficiency of the MEAT system can be improved in any way.
The third part of the question asks whether USD staff have reason to believe that some stall holders from Sai Wan Ho Market are hawking illegally in or around Tai On Building nearby because the heat discourages customers from entering the market.
There are no indications that the temperature within the market is discouraging people from patronizing the market. A peak-hour survey conducted recently by the Department revealed that about 1,500 people patronize the market between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. every day and about 1,300 people do so between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. This would indicate that the market is quite a popular shopping place in this area.
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