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Concerning the third question—are we going to admit that we are unable to control illegal hawking, I will leave this for members to judge. We must ask ourselves whether we have fulfilled our responsibilities. I think this is a question to be judged by members individually. I do not want to comment on that.
MOTIONS
1. MR. YIM KWOK-ON, VICE-CHAIRMAN OF THE RECREATION SELECT COMMITTEE, moved the following motion (in Cantonese):- Mr. Chairman, as Vice-Chairman of the Recreation Select Committee, I rise on the motion standing in my name:
'RESOLVED that the Public Health and Municipal Services (Public Pleasure Grounds) (Amendment of Fourth Schedule) (No. 5) Order 1993 be made under Section 106 of the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance, Chapter 132.'
The purpose is to amend the Fourth Schedule of the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance, Chapter 132 to include five new venues and delete four existing public pleasure grounds and rename one.
Sir, I so move.
MR. JOSEPH CHAN YUEK-SUT (in Cantonese):-- Mr. Chairman, I second the motion.
The question was put.
The motion was carried unanimously.
2.
PROFESSOR LEUNG PING-CHUNG, CHAIRMAN OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH SELECT COMMITTEE, moved the following motion (in English):- Mr. Chairman, as Chairman of the Public Health Select Committee, I rise to move the motion standing in my name:
'RESOLVED that the Slaughterhouses (Urban Council) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bylaw 1993 be made under Section 77 of the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance, Cap. 132.'
This amendment bylaw, when gazetted, will give effect to revision of licensing fees for operation of a private slaughterhouse in the Urban Council area. The revision will bring the Council's scale of fees on a par with that charged by the Regional Council from July this year. The increase has been approved by the Public Health Select Committee and the Finance Select Committee, and ratified by the Standing Committee of the Whole Council.
There is at present only one licensed private slaughterhouse at Kennedy Town in the Urban Council area. The revised scale will slightly increase the annual licence fee payable by the operator from $118,250 to $126,530, when they apply for renewal in mid November this year.
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This increase in licensing fees will bring about full cost-recovery in respect of licensing control of the private slaughterhouse at Kennedy Town. The increase is minimal in monetary terms and should have no perceivable impact on the overall operating costs of the slaughterhouse concerned.
Mr. Chairman, I beg to move.
MR. WONG SHUI-LAI, VICE-CHAIRMAN OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH SELECT COMMITTEE, (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, I second the motion.
The question was put.
The motion was carried unanimously.
3.
MR. CHIANG SAI-CHEONG moved the following motion (in Cantonese):—
'RESOLVED that in the development of future Urban Council venues, consideration should be given to providing suitable number of parking facilities to provide convenience of the public using the venues, to improve the quality of the Council's services, increase the popularity of these venues, alleviate the parking problems in urban areas and make optimum use of land resources.'
He said (in Cantonese):- Mr. Chairman, my motion reads like this:
'RESOLVED that in the development of future Urban Council venues, consideration should be given to providing suitable number of parking facilities to provide convenience of the public using the venues, to improve the quality of the Council's services, increase the popularity of these venues, alleviate the parking problems in urban areas and make optimum use of land resources.'
Mr. Chairman, in recent years, the Urban Council has been undergoing rapid development and in future we will be building a lot of venues, big ones and small ones such as indoor games hall, libraries, markets, civic centres, activity centres or even parks and gardens. And for future venues built by the Urban Council, I think it would be best if we can provide suitable number of parking spaces. This can provide convenience to the public using these venues and can improve the quality of the Council services. And it can also boost the utilisation rate of these venues so that these facilities will become more popular. We will also be able to make optimum use of land resources. I think we can engage private carpark management consultants to assist us. And we can offer concessionary fares for those using UC venues, and the maintenance cost can be met by the parking fees. It is true that alleviating the parking problem in the urban area is not the sole responsibility of the Urban Council, since there will be more and more UC venues, I think the Urban Council should also be concerned about the parking problems in the territory. The Urban Council should provide suitable number of parking spaces. I have consulted the
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