HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
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progress of democracy, runs counter to historical trends, and strips the Council of their powers, and it is detrimental to a smooth transition. Seizing the Council's powers will only upset their operation and generate antagonism among Councillors. The masterminds will be denounced by posterity. This is absolutely not the highest honour. Appointed power manipulators have no right to sit in this conference room and discuss urban services with me.
Part II A 16-Percent Increase in Construction and Maintenance Expenditure In the following part, I shall express my views on the Urban Council's payment of a 16-percent additional fee to hire government departments concerned to carry out construction and maintenance.
Recently, the Urban Council has been reviewing works expenditure and performance. The following two items in the document I received are bad enough to arouse the Councillors' general dissatisfaction.
Report of the Architectural Services Department:
(1) Emergency Repairs:
The contract requires the contractors to go to the scene to repair or temporarily repair damaged facilities within 24 hours after a report has been received. If it is impossible to make permanent repairs within 24 hours, then such repairs must be completed within 14 days. Of the 5,823 repair notifications, 99 percent was completed within the designated time.
(2) General Repairs:
The contract requires the contractors to go to the scene to effect repairs within 21 days. The record shows that of the 9,067 repair notifications, 98.9 percent was completed within the designated time.
Superficially, the progress of repairs is satisfactory. However, using the same figures, I interpret a minor repair job as follows: First of all, the damage has to be detected by the Urban Services Department. After receiving the notice, the subject officer categorises it and, upon approval, informs the Architectural Services Department. I expect such a process to take about a week. Then, the Architectural Services Department notifies the repairs contractor. The contractor goes to the scene within three weeks to carry out repairs. As a result, there is a one-month delay. If problems crop up, there will be further delays. This is an absolutely unacceptable contract term that has been accepted by the government. The authorities say that they will review the terms when they renew the contractors' contracts in 1998.
The Democratic Party feels that it is time to review the hire of services of government departments such as the Architectural Services Department and the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department and the cost-effectiveness of the 16-percent on-cost provision for the works. We believe that the Urban Council should study the feasibility of directly contracting out architectural
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