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PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
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Hence, the review of district organizations must not be made carelessly, recklessly and rashly.
We must not introduce administrative reforms just for the sake of reforming. We need to take a wide perspective and formulate some long-term policies in response to the needs of the people in terms of their living environment, such as policies on hygiene and environment, on culture and art as well as on recreation and sport. It is only on the basis of these macro-policies that we could proceed to discuss the kind of administrative structure we need in order to implement the policies and to fulfil our social and municipal functions.
The Consultation Document on Review of District Organizations has proposed four recommendations/options, but it has not specifically described what the new structure will be after the two municipal councils are re-structured or abolished. In medical jargon, it is like undertaking four different operations, but as to how the patients are to recuperate, it is not mentioned. While due consideration is given to the operations, it is not given to recuperation. How are the municipal functions to be redeployed after the re-organization? What kind of arrangements or deployment will be made for the staff of the executive arms (the staff of the different sections of the municipal services departments)? What will be the relationships and distribution of duties between the policy bureaux and the statutory bodies? It takes time to conduct detailed studies and discussions in these areas.
I therefore consider that the Central Government should attach importance to the review of district organizations. Our priorities will be as follows:
1. To re-assess and define the needs of the people of Hong Kong in the 21st century in terms of living environment and quality;
2. To begin to work out macro-policies on the social and urban environments;
3. To proceed to study the options for district organizations; and
4. To analyze the differences between the proposed and existing organizations as well as the problem of convergence in the transition.
Accordingly, I tend to recommend that the Central Government should:
1. Postpone a decision on district re-organization or extend the consultation period, so that there will be adequate time for a wider study, discussion of the consultation results, planning for staff redeployment and arrangement for administrative support in the transition; and
2. The Government is fond of commissioning independent advisory committees to solve the many social problems. I support or recommend the Central Government's appointment of an independent advisory committee to determine the ways to conduct the study, the schedule and the related mechanism, so that the two provisional municipal councils.
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