HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
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provided to the Urban Council and the latest progress of privatization of Council's services.
Concerning the first part of the question, there is a wide range of services provided to the Urban Council by other government departments on a charged basis. A full list of such departments, the services they provide and the charges levied is set out at Annex I.
Nevertheless, in monetary terms, two of the most significant are those services provided by Architectural Services Department and Electrical & Mechanical Services Department. In the case of ASD, the Council is charged the contract price plus 16% on-cost. In the case of EMSD, the issue is somewhat more complex and different rates are charged depending upon the nature of the services provided. In general, EMSD endeavours to recover the full costs of the services provided.
As regards the second part of the question, most of the charges levied by Government on the Urban Council are based on full cost recovery and are applicable to other autonomous bodies and members of the public using the services. We have no reason for doubting the fairness of the charges which are assessed by the Finance Branch and are subject to review on a need basis.
In respect of the third part of the question, the Department has contracted out the management of a number of Environmental Health (EH) and Leisure Management (LM) facilities. Under EH services, the Department has contracted out the management of Kennedy Town Abattoir; the street cleansing services in Wanchai, Western, Mongkok and Kowloon City districts; the cleansing services of 43 markets, 158 public toilets and 31 bathhouses. Provision of high level cleansing services to 23 small-scale markets and hawker bazaars have also been awarded to private contractors.
Under LM services, the major contracting out schemes, such as cleansing services and garden maintenance services in parks and playgrounds, were implemented in phases. The contracting out of cleansing services in parks and playgrounds commenced in the Hong Kong East & West Regions in October 1991 and the scope was expanded to cover the Kowloon Regions in 1992. The garden maintenance services were first contracted out in the Kowloon West Region in April 1994 and eventually extended to all the other three Regions. If any member wishes to have a summary of the services contracted out, I shall be pleased to provide it after the meeting.
The Council's policy on contracting out of services is to achieve savings both in costs and manpower without lowering the standard of services. Before the contracting-out schemes are implemented, the approval of the relevant select committee is necessary.
MR. CHAN CHOI-HI (in Cantonese): -I have several follow-up questions. The first one concerns part (c) of the question on whether consideration can be given
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