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occupancy is less than 10%. How are we going to recoup the cost? People passing by can see that the market is quite deserted. There are no goods for sale. Neither are there any shops operating. But the market was completed more than a year ago and has been in operation for more than a year. How come it is like this? What does Mr. IP Kwok-chung, Chairman of the Markets and Street Traders Select Committee, think about what I have said? Why should the construction of such markets be approved?
And then there are shops encroaching on public space. This is known to everyone. The problem is that we can no longer consider it an encroachment because it looks as if it was the shop's exclusive area. This is by no means exaggerating. The area encroached in some cases is even larger than the shop itself. Have they rented the shop or have they rented the street for business? As far as this is concerned, how much effort has the Council made?
Now I would turn to the problem of our libraries. I received many complaints recently. Students are no longer using our private study rooms because, they said, they were too noisy with people eating and listening to discmen. They are no longer ideal places for study. How much has our staff done in managing the libraries?
If you have noticed, you too should have known the problems I have cited. I hope that everybody will be more concerned for their management duties. As for image, I do not have much interest in it.
I also wish to recommend here that the scope of some municipal services be expanded. For example, we know that admission to the Museum of Art, Science Museum and Space Museum is free every Wednesday. This has been so for a long time. Has there been any review? I think it is time to make a review and seriously study the possibility of extending this free service. I consider that it should further be extended.
A lot of our recreational facilities are now rented to schools at concessionary rates on trial. I consider this a good way forward. My school too has received a letter from the Department making the above offer. I think more could be done in this direction, I consider that the offer could be made on a larger scale. For example, we could further offer those sessions of our swimming pools with a low usage rate on normal days to schools for the holding of some half-day or full-day swimming activities so that both students and teachers may enjoy our facilities, preferably free of charge.
Just now Mr. LEE Kwok-keung mentioned queuing up for booking of our recreational services. I wonder whether you have ever lined up for the above services. As far as I know, the demand for these services far exceeds the supply. Members of the public generally consider that the Council has a lot of resources, in particular the recreational services are cheap but terrific. Could we therefore adopt some strategy in expanding the scope of services? The provision of more services might result in additional cost but we could raise the
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