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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Part of the question goes beyond the jurisdiction of the Council, but still I would like to give some information to Mr. TANG. The Department would liaise with the Marine Department to take action against any illegal mooring activities which affect land and waterfront allocated to the department. The Department will not however approach the Marine Department directly to ask them to relocate their public cargo working areas. Nonetheless, it is noted that the Planning Department, when pursuing the Metroplan objective to maximise the amenity and recreational value of the harbour and its shoreline as mentioned in paragraph 5 of my reply above, has been working closely with the Marine Department and other relevant departments to rationalise the use of the urban waterfront for marine activities and to minimise the land-take in the urban districts. The Department has actively participated in the planning process for the new reclamation areas as well as the redevelopment of the existing areas and would seek every opportunity to obtain suitable land and waterfrontage for Council's use. Regarding the suggestion of minimising the amount of waterfrontage being occupied by the cargo-handling activities, it is noted that, for example in the Green Island Reclamation Feasibility Study, pier structures have indeed been proposed for cargo working activities leaving much of the remaining waterfront for promenade and open space uses.
MR. CHAN KWOK-LEUNG (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, according to the reply by the Chairman of the Recreation Select Committee on the ratio between promenades and coastline, is the one for promenades on the very low side? We have 110 km of coastline under our jurisdiction, but only 3.8 km is used for promenades. Secondly, under the current procedures for land applications, do we need to wait for the land to be zoned as 'open space' by the Town Planning Board before we can apply to use it for promenade developments, or can we take the initiative to ask the Town Planning Board to change the land use of some reclaimed land for promenade developments? Thirdly, some public housing estates under the Housing Authority like Ap Lei Chau Estate and North Point Estate are built along the waterfront. Yet, the land there has not been used for developing promenades. In this regard, can we ask the Housing Department to hand over the land along the waterfront to the Council for building promenades when it develops waterfront housing estates in future? Alternatively, could the Urban Council be consulted during the development process whether it has the intention of developing the waterfront of the housing estates into promenades? By so doing, even residents of the public housing estates can be benefited.
MR. RONNIE WONG MAN-CHIU (in Cantonese): The first part of the question asks about the ratio between promenades and the coastline. Our coastline is 110 km long. Yet, only 3.8 km is zoned as promenades. I have mentioned in my reply that of the 110 km coastline, 47km is zoned as coastal protection area. I reckon they are environmental protected zones such as cliffs, beaches and stony bays etc. Out of the remaining 63 km used by the Council, 3.8 km is used for promenade developments while some 2.5 km for other UC facilities,
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