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HONG KONG PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
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concerned does not allow you to answer on behalf of the Chairman of a Committee.
In my opinion, if Mr. Joseph Chan considers that this has been the practice, then the Standing Order concerned will have to be amended to the effect that the Chairman of any Select Committee may authorize the Chairmen of those Working Groups under them to answer questions on their behalf.
CHAIRMAN (in Cantonese):—Good. Let us do it this way. There is a Working Group on the review of the Standing Orders of the Council. I will in due course refer this issue to the Working Group for deliberation. Take today's case for example. Should the question be answered by the Chairman of the Urban Council, or the Chairman of the Select Committee concerned or by the Chairman of the Working Group upon authorization of the Chairman of the Select committee concerned? I consider that this should be referred to the Working Group on the Review of the Standing Orders of the Provisional Urban Council for consideration.
MR. KAM NAI-WAI (in Cantonese):—I wish to ask a few follow-up questions. The first one is, is there any stipulation that public toilets must be cleaned for a certain number of times per day? And what is the time required for cleaning a public toilet of a certain size. Are there any such stipulations? This is the first follow-up question, which I put forth because I find the toilet in my neighbourhood to be quite dirty every time when I pass by.
The second follow-up question is about our staff (contract cleansing workers). As far as I know, if the toilets are cleaned by workers of the opposite sex, the toilets must be closed beforehand but if they are cleaned by workers of the same sex, then there will be no need to close the toilets. Could we deploy workers of the same sex to clean the toilets as far as possible?
The third follow-up question. Has the issue about toilets with slippery grounds and bad smell been ever discussed at a meeting of the Working Group on Public Toilets? I understand that the Chairman has made some improvement to the design in this respect, but has the provision of air freshener been ever considered to remove the odour? Could these questions be answered?
Chairman (in Cantonese):—Any person with some general knowledge about science knows that air freshener can hardly dispel the odour of toilets. The most basic solution is to prevent urea from being fermented to become ammonia, which is the source of the stink. In answering this question, I have also indirectly answered that put forth by Mr. LAI just now. I am a medical doctor and am therefore in a position to give more detailed replies to such questions raised by Members. The bad smell is the basic problem. If there was no bad smell, then there would be no odour. The source of the bad smell is fermented urea which has turned into ammonia and no odour can cover up the smell.
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