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PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
Secondly, concerning the outbreak of cholera this year, some of the cases were contracted from overseas. These include the patient who brought back prawns from the mainland and those who ate unclean raw fish there. Would the Select Committee and the relevant Working Group consider stepping up publicity efforts to prevent people from eating unclean food outside Hong Kong and to enhance their awareness of safety issues of certain types of food?
Mr. Joseph CHAN YUEK-SUT (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, the methods suggested by Mr. CHAN could be further studied. However, the Inter-departmental Working Group has discussed this issue before and representatives from the Water Supplies Department have advised that the costs of this project would be colossal. This means it would be very costly to lay pipes in order to lead water from the said three target sites to Hong Kong or Kowloon regions. This can be done only if this service can be contracted out (currently the Government prefers to contract out services) and if contractors are willing to tender for the service, finding the business cost-effective and viable. However, contractors may also find that the business requires a large amount of investment but has a bleak profit prospect. Therefore it might turn out that nobody is interested.
Regarding stepping up publicity efforts among people travelling abroad, we can definitely achieve that. In fact, we have worked closely with travel agencies and the Tourist Association in the past in strengthening the publicity work.
MR. DANIEL TO BOON-MAN (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman. I would like to ask the Chairman of the Select Committee to answer again the question raised just now. Do we have an established policy on the sampling of seawater? I mean taking samples from vessels supplying seawater, not from fish tanks. This is because another issue is involved, that is, how can we implement measures to ensure that the seawater supplied within the PUC Area is up to the standard? This is my first question.
Secondly, how can we implement measures to ensure that the seawater suppliers will not draw water from the PUC Area, i.e. no unauthorized drawing of seawater within the PUC Area?
Thirdly, would the Chairman of the Select Committee follow up these issues at its meeting?
MR. JOSEPH CHAN YUEK-SUT (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, it is impracticable to sample seawater from seawater suppliers. The seawater drawn may not necessarily be sold to people for keeping live seafood. If the water is not to be used for such purpose, it will be a waste of resources to test those water samples. Suppliers can defend that the water is to be used for flushing toilets or for cleansing the floors of factories. Therefore, this is not practical because we cannot be certain that the water drawn will be used for keeping live seafood. This is why at present we only draw water samples from fish tanks. If