HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
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stalls. In the end, we have this vicious cycle of the problem continuing to aggravate.
In fact in February 1989, the Urban Council laid down the occupancy rate to be 90% of market stalls. But we have never been able to achieve that objective. In 1995, there was a vacancy rate of 12.12% and in 1996 16.2%. As at the end of March 1996, 56% of vacant stalls had been vacant for more than three years. As pointed out in the report by the Director of Audit, in 1996, non-operating stalls including vacant ones and those used for other purposes take up 44%, which is worse than 35.1% recorded for 1995. The vacant or non-operating stalls make the situation get worse. The fact that no goods are sold make the public more reluctant to go to markets for shopping so that operating conditions get even worse.
In fact, the planning standard for markets has always been quite high. In 1989, the standard was revised downwards to 1 stall for every 55 to 65 households. The Department of Audit thinks this standard is still high. The Urban Services Department has not made an in-depth study into the shopping modes of citizens in certain areas, traffic convenience and competition from neighbouring traders. As a result, problems facing UC markets get more and more serious. If there are 100 stalls in a market that has a clientele for 50 stalls only, you can imagine the competition market traders have to face.
On the other hand, the location of markets is a deciding factor. Many markets are situated at far out sites and there are no convenient traffic means. The public is naturally unwilling to go there to shop. If the street hawker problem is not successfully dealt with, the public may choose to shop near at hand and buy things from them. This causes unfair competition and further cuts the viability of markets in general.
The basic remedy should be to improve the viability of markets as a means to solve the problem of illegal hawking and to improve the outlook of our city. The Democratic Party thinks the crux of the problem lies in planning. If we look at the expenditure related to markets for 95/96, it was over $540 million. If, as pointed out by the Department of Audit, the vacancy rate is as high as 44%, we are just seen to be stupid to have spent a large amount of money without offering effective market service to the public.
I shall cite several examples of markets. Take for example the market in Electric Road built in 1987. It has 18 stalls. According to the findings of a survey by the Urban Services Department in 94, the most suitable number of stalls should be 62. Such a serious state of supply outnumbering demand makes business for stalls there difficult and we have wasted a large amount of money. You see the construction fee for the Electric Road market was as high as $49.1 million and the operating cost for 95/96 was $10.7 million. If we have more detailed planning, such wastage can be avoided.
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