Page 44 of 498
Page 44 of 498
44
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Street. Apart from resiting licenced hawkers of fixed pitches, quite a large number of the stalls were offered to unlicenced hawkers. We can see that negotiating with the Highways Department and Transport Department for street space to resite itinerant hawkers is definitely feasible.
In the past few months, I had received response from the Licenced Hawkers Association and itinerant hawkers. I would like to offer to the Council some directional opinions as well as cite some examples for the Council and Department to consider. If we want to identify streets for use, what should we look for? I can give several examples. First of all, Bute Street, Tung Choi Street and Sai Yeung Choi Street that run between Mongkok Road and Nullah Road. This is the first example that I hope the Department will consider. The second one is Nelson Street between Shantung Street and Argyle Street, also, the section of Fa Yuen Street between these 2 streets may be a possibility. The third example is Bowring Street between Nathan Rd and Parkes Street. Some spots in those sections are suitable for erecting fixed pitches for itinerant hawkers to choose from.
I would also like to suggest an alternative direction. That is to reserve some market stalls for itinerant hawkers when designing and planning new markets. Apart from fixed pitch hawkers, itinerant hawkers should also be given priority in choosing stalls in new markets. Let me emphasize that by itinerant hawkers, I don't mean those operating in the vicinity of the new markets, but those that come under the 1 420 figure. The Council should make reasonable arrangements for them to choose stalls. Mr. Chairman, I support Mr. Daniel WONG's motion.
Ms. Jennifer CHOW KIT-BING (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, I won't repeat what other Members have said. We have been very concerned about the resiting of itinerant hawkers. Of course, we hope to come up with an arrangement that can satisfy various needs and be accepted by all. So I agree with the spirit of Mr. WONG's motion. At least we are going an extra step to seek options in order to help hawkers as best as we can and offer them more choices. I think the proposed options are feasible. By the nature of their businesses, some hawkers have to operate on-street, not in market complexes. If we can find places where fixed pitches can be provided, it will be an alternative. There are quite a number of flea markets in Hong Kong and I think we can consider this business style. Also, at present there are a lot of markets with poor business conditions. Even fixed pitch licence holders find it difficult to go on and therefore switch over to be itinerant hawkers. So, insisting licenced hawkers to choose stalls in such markets would be driving them to a dead end. I support Mr. WONG's motion and I hope we can explore more possibilities to solve the problem.
MR. CHRISTOPHER CHUNG SHU-KUN (in Cantonese):-Concerning the requests of licenced hawkers, I support Mr. Daniel WONG's motion. In fact, to solve the
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