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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Secondly, the Council at present has a team of over 4440 cleaners to clean streets in the urban area. We have 25 mechanical street sweepers to clean the highways, flyovers and road dividers. We also have 51 water wagons to clean our streets. The Department should carry out a review to see if the above manpower and resources have been well utilized and whether they can cope with the increasing load of rubbish. A report should be made to this Council.
Our aim and our pledge are to provide clean, comfortable roads for the enjoyment of the citizens of Hong Kong. The result of the review will tell us whether it is manpower or equipment that is insufficient. I fully support increased manpower and facilities as well as contracting out more street cleansing work. One of the functions of expanding the contracting out scheme is to contain the size of the Department's management role and indirectly devote our manpower and resources in improving service quality. If it is decided to expand the contracting out Scheme, we will of course have to make a fresh review of the current policy on contracting out no more than one-third of the area under our jurisdiction.
The third point has to do with street washing. The trend is that the number of times of street washing is dropping. I have often received complaints against insufficient washing of streets. At present, contracting out Services include sweeping of streets, cleaning of roads, cleaning of roadside drains, clearing of rubbish bins etc. I believe we should consider contracting out street washing jobs to private, professional contractors as well. In this way, the flexibility of commercial operations can be fully utilized to carry out washing work late at night. I think contracting out all instead of some operations will be more effective.
Dear colleagues, the name of Pearl of the Orient has to be protected and nourished. Positive improvements on street cleanliness, environmental hygiene and municipal amenities are the statutory duties of this Council. I have so spoken to urge Members to support the motion.
MR. CHIANG SAI-CHEONG (in Cantonese):—I think the Urban Services Department should be concerned with health education first and foremost. On 17th this month, the Health Education Centre at Kowloon Park was commissioned. I think it is important for us, in particular for schools, to promote health education.
As to whether we should put additional staff or authorize more people to prosecute, I think we should follow the example of the Environmental Protection Department in handling vehicles that emit black exhaust smoke by authorising district personalities such as District Board Members or Area Committee Members to report by post. Rubbish thrown out of vehicles, household rubbish littering or even falling objects should be reported.
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