HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
an enclosed design, and if there are shops, shopping arcades, restaurants, supermarkets, car parks as mentioned by Chairman or even entertainment venues such as cinemas and bowling centres, and with the installation of air-conditioning and ventilation systems, I stress this will be a revolutionary reform. I notice that some markets, such as the Po On Road Market, are located below Home Ownership Scheme flats. I think we can turn the market into a more attractive facility following this direction.
With these remarks, I support this motion.
MR. IP Kwok-Chung (in Cantonese):—As the Chairman has pointed out in his motion speech, U.C. markets are very popular with members of the public, providing them with an indispensable service. The results of a survey conducted in December, 1994 indicate that over 87% of the respondents purchased essential food items from the U.C. markets. Due to problems originated from the past, U.C. markets were mainly built to satisfy the reprovisioning needs of hawkers. This involved a large number of different types of hawkers. Little consideration was given to the interests and convenience of both traders and market users. This has led to the many problems plaguing old U.C. markets today.
Having learnt from this experience, the Working Party to Review Hawker and Related Policies once made the recommendation that approval for building a new market should only be given when there was proven need for the market and that the market would be viable. The number of markets should also be taken into consideration and viability should be used as a basis for deciding the location of stalls. Following progress of society and improvement of the standard of living, I personally think that it is now the right time to conduct a comprehensive review on the design of existing and future U.C. markets and make improvements accordingly.
On the other hand, while there is provision of the hardware, which is market design, there should also be the software, which is market management, a subject of Members' serious concern. The Chairman has made mention of this in his motion speech clearly and I am not going to repeat it. Since the Chairman has mentioned this point, I wish to say that more manpower resources should be committed to market management. At present, there is insufficient management on markets because the establishment responsible for this is too small. If market management is to be done, there will be quite a number of problems. I think we should request the Department or the Council to further review the establishment of our supervisory staff and field staff with a view to further improving the management of markets. Besides, one important aspect of market management is to enhance the viability of some unsuccessful markets. To achieve this aim, I will urge the Council to set aside enough funds to organise wide publicity for less viable markets in next year.
As Chairman of the Market and Street Traders Select Committee, I have made some efforts to improve the design of markets in a few recent projects, including
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