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PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
Gloominess has been hanging over Hong Kong this year, obviously like the climate today. Apart from the series of financial turmoil, which has resulted in an economic downturn in Hong Kong, a number of unfavourable rumours followed one after another last month. The unemployment rate announced by the Government has reached a record high of 3.9% and there was negative growth in the economy in the first quarter. I believe that Hong Kong has not experienced such economic difficulties for years. Although the Government still denies frequently on public occasions that Hong Kong is suffering from an economic crisis, or even experiencing obviously an economic recession, it began last week to hold summit talks on the issue of unemployment. Twelve options were proposed and it is obvious that they were looking for a workable solution that could bring about some improvement to the economy of Hong Kong. The seven major political parties have also put aside their differences and seek a common ground on which they could make some proposals to the Government to improve the economy.
As the Urban Council is a public organization, the Democratic Party considers that it is its duty to do something to revive the economy at this time of emergency. Of course, I am aware that to workers who are suffering heavily from unemployment, our contribution would hopefully be in the form of finding a way out for them. I have moved the motion today in the hope that if resources permit, the Council will make use of its financial provision in speeding up the objectives it has laid down, so as to provide some job opportunities as part of the solution to revive the economy of Hong Kong.
Mr. Chairman, five-year plans within their ambits were laid down by the Libraries Select Committee (S/C), Culture S/C, Entertainment S/C, Recreation S/C, Capital Works S/C and Museums S/C. Obviously it is the hope of the Council that through these plans, the objectives we wish to accomplish may be achieved systematically in order to contribute to the building up of a city of a better quality. Inevitably, in order to achieve the objectives, more manpower will be needed. Take a look at our current plans. For the cultural projects, nine additional posts will be required while for the libraries and entertainment projects, 54 and two additional posts will be needed respectively. With regard to the sports projects, capital works and museum projects, as specific proposals are still being worked out by the Department, the implication on additional human resources is yet to be confirmed, but obviously it is envisaged that there will be some additional demand for manpower in order to cope with the workload arising from the five-year plans. In other words, even based on the current assessment, 65 additional posts will be necessary. Furthermore, the Government declared last week that there were still 50 vacancies in the establishment of the Department, which were yet to be filled. If all the above posts were created and filled, the Council would definitely be able to give a helping hand in allaying the current unemployment situation. Nevertheless, I wish to stress that the above posts should be filled as far as possible by contract staff. We should not specify that they must be filled by permanent
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