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No discussion on urban services is complete without touching on the perennial problem of unlicensed hawkers. In view of the growing number of unlicensed hawkers, especially those plying their trade at night in busy districts, USD has set up 'flying squads' to continue the 'cat and mouse' game which has been going on for decades between the worn out Hawker Control Force and the illegal hawkers who are always on the run. The result of setting up these flying squads without additional manpower is predictable—not much has been achieved. This is treating the symptoms instead of tackling the problem at its root. I cannot detect much effect in the past year. To resolve the hawker problem, more markets should be built at a faster pace to accommodate the street traders. Besides, the morale of the General Duties Team has to be boosted, by increasing the number of their strength, improving the grade structure and enhancing their promotion prospects.
The hawker problem is in fact a social and economic problem constituted by a number of factors such as the absence of provident fund and the inadequacy of public assistance. How can an old person live on a meagre handout of $1,000-odd which is already inclusive of public assistance and old age allowance? Being not fortunate enough to lead a comfortable life at home, these aged people are, no doubt, stuck in poverty and have to make a living by hawking.
Apart from the desolate old people, female garment workers also add to the number of hawkers. The government insists on importing more non-technical foreign labour despite the fact that textile workers, in particular female linking-machine operators, are underemployed. In fact, the wages of non-technical labour in real terms have not risen at all. These women, fed up with living on so-called 'saline drip feeding', either switch to hawking or become night-time hawkers to supplement their income. I reckon the problem of unlicensed hawkers will aggravate in the coming years but it is beyond the Urban Council to find a solution because the government is the main culprit.
(2) New Airport
Secondly, I would like to talk about the new airport project. In recent months, the talks between China and Britain over the airport issue have reached an impasse. Unfortunately, the new airport is being used by the Chinese government as the 'economic card' to deal a blow to the political development in Hong Kong. Chinese officials even went so far as to say that planes taking off from the new airport would not be allowed to fly over Chinese territorial sky, and that the Huangtian Airport in Shenzhen could replace the Chek Lap Kok Airport. The Hong Kong economy suffers as a consequence.
Whatever the political motives of the Chinese and British Governments, I would like to point out an indisputable fact, i.e., Hong Kong really needs a new airport. Having been in the airline service for more than 20 years, I would like to share with you some information in this area. In fact, the airline sector reflected to the Government as early as 15 years ago that Kai Tak Airport would reach saturation point by the 1990s. However, as Sino-British negotiations on the future of Hong Kong were still going on at that time, the new airport issue was shelved because of the uncertainty of Hong Kong's future. Instead, Kai Tak Airport was extended to meet the urgent need. After all, the airline industry is holding the lifeline of our trade and industry, particularly tourism as shown by the statistics available (see Annex I). The number of people using the Hong Kong International Airport last year was over 8 million, with tourism making directly an income of over $40 billion. Tourism has been Hong Kong's third major income-earner for many years. With the number of tourists growing at an average rate of 10% a year, the prospect is promising indeed. Tourism also indirectly brings prosperity to the food, hotel and retail industries, and the profits thus generated are unquantifiable.
Countries in South East Asia are all trying to develop tourism. It has been suggested that the proposed new airport in Hong Kong be replaced by the new airports in Macao, Shenzhen and Zhuhai. Undoubtedly, this will result in loss of direct economic gains for Hong Kong. What an unwise commercial decision it would be to stop competing in the market! As 'a workman must first sharpen his tools if he is to do his work well', building the new Chek Lap Kok Airport as scheduled is essential if Hong Kong is to increase its competitiveness. Of course, such a large-scale infrastructure project as the new airport will certainly involve a considerable amount of capital. Nevertheless, considering the steady growth of tourism and flourishing business resulting from the further development of aviation, such a commercial investment is worthwhile. Moreover, the resulting development of Lantao Island, and the redevelopment of the present site and adjacent areas of Kai Tak Airport will also generate a considerable amount of revenue. Thus, the building of the new airport as scheduled is, commercially speaking, cost-effective.
The way to prevent the new airport from incurring cost-overruns is to increase transparency of its accounts and to strengthen supervision. Of course, the most effective method to achieve this is to speed up democratization of the Legislative Council thereby enabling the generally elected Councillors to monitor the tenders, accounts and operation of the new airport. All developed countries in the world attach great importance to the accountability of the Executive to the Legislature. The operation and finance of the Government must be monitored by a democratically elected State Council in order to achieve effective control and to prevent abuses and cost-overruns. If you are not forgetful, you will recall that after direct election was introduced into the Legislative Council in 1991, the late Councillor Stephen NG Ming-yum, in his eloquent argument, disclosed the cost-overruns of the University of Science and Technology. This shows that only a democratically constituted Council can supervise the Government effectively.
(3) Constitutional Development
Finally, I would like to talk about the constitutional development in Hong Kong. As a Catholic, I strongly believe that every man is made the same way by God and all men are equal in the eyes of God. Nobody should enjoy privileges,
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