HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
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absolutely lawless and dangerous city in its last days, hence rendering Hong Kong a dead city upon its reversion to China. If there are any claims that such actions are attributable to the cause of democracy, the meaning for the term 'democracy' in the dictionary should be revised accordingly. The new definition for the term would then be ‘a state of absolute lawlessness'.
We do not want to see the Urban Council turning into a political arena in 6 months, nor can the 6 million people of Hong Kong ever bear to see municipal facilities and activities subject to political manipulation. In no way are my worries groundless, for some shadows were cast in the Urban Council elections two years ago. Would there be a through train for all the 41 existing Urban Councillors after 1 July 1997? I have no comment. However, in order that the people of Hong Kong may enjoy municipal facilities and activities which are unaffected by politics, a suitable number of appointed members with expertise and no political party affiliation should be introduced to the Urban Council without delay.
Mr. Chairman, with these remarks, I support the motion.
MR. SUEN KAI-CHEONG (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, I would like to discuss with you today about the Trading Funds Ordinance passed by the Government in 1993.
Since the enactment of the Trading Funds Ordinance, the Government has established 6 Trading Funds namely, the Land Registry Trading Fund, the Companies Registry Trading Fund, the Office of the Telecommunications Authority Trading Fund, the Sewage Services Trading Fund, the Post Office Trading Fund and the Electrical and Mechanical Services Trading Fund.
The main objective of proposing to establish the Trading Funds that year was to improve the quality of management and cost-effectiveness of the government departments with a view to achieving unlimited effectiveness with limited resources. In operation, the Trading Funds adopt a sound commercial accounting system and mode of management to control the Government's resources with the aim to increasing the Government's revenue by reducing the unnecessary expenditure and enhancing the rate of return. This will bring about improvement on welfare items and the ultimate beneficiaries will be the general public.
As the objective of establishing the Trading Funds is to turn the commercial modes of operation of some government departments into a self-financing form through the Trading Fund, I think it will help enhance the efficiency of the government departments to a certain extent,
Let's take the Urban Council as an example. Every year, we assign our capital works and electrical and mechanical works to the Architectural Services Department and the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department, but we find that the services provided are not first-rate in terms of both quality
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