Page 174 of 498
Page 174 of 498
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170
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
the streets outside our markets, thereby directly affecting business at the market stalls. When stall tenants feel that they are losing the competitive edge because they have to pay high rent, they are left with no alternative but to give up their stalls and go back to the streets for survival. We certainly don't want to see this happen.
For the well-being of the public and the Council market stall tenants, we must find the right solution to the problem.
(1) Tightening up enforcement actions against unlicensed hawkers outside markets;
(2) conducting an overall review of the Council market stall rental policy; and
(3) temporarily freezing rent on renewal pending the outcome of the review.
Fellow Members, I call for your support of my motion as an act to discharge our function as Urban Councillors. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Ms. GRACE AU YUK-HAR (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, I second the motion.
MR. LEUNG KAM-TAO (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, I am the Chairman of the Markets Sub-Committee under the Markets and Street Traders Select Committee. Mr. WEN's motion mainly asks for a full review of the council's market rental policy. In fact, the Sub-Committee has started the review and it is anticipated that the rental policy of market stalls will be discussed in detail at the upcoming meeting to be held in September. The Department has presented a document on the policy as well as proposed some options for consideration. Rental review is not an easy job. As policy makers, we have to listen to the views of tenants and consider other factors. It is indeed a task that calls for wisdom. As Chairman of the Sub-Committee, I hope that Members or organizations who are concerned about this matter will let us know of the feasible options so that we can study and evaluate them. We hope to collect opinions from different sectors during the policy making process so that we can review them and devise a policy acceptable to all parties.
Before the review formally starts, I want to take this opportunity to clarify a very important misunderstanding among members of the public and market stall tenants concerning market rent. In fact, the Council is not at present collecting market rent from stall tenants. The Council is only making market rent a reference for pinning the rent level. First of all, the Council looks at the fair market rent. Then a formula is applied for working out discounts in two stages before the final rental amount is fixed. After discounts in two stages, the gap between the new rent charged and the current fair rent will be greatly closed and the rate of rental increase will be greatly reduced.
£4.98