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Wednesday, March 29, 1972
Thus, the purpose of increasing parking charges stemmed, not so much
from the present shortage of parking space, as from the limitation on the
availability of road space in our urban society, he explained.
The Hon. G.M.B. Salmon had asked whether higher parking charges had
been designed to restrict ownership of cars, he said.
"I must say here and now that the aim of higher parking charges is
not to limit car ownership; rather, to repeat, the higher parking charges
and even higher charges to come -- are designed to restrict the use of cars
rather than their ownership," he stressed.
Mr. Salmon's view was that, in the Central district of Hong Kong
Island, Government car parks made a profit, he said.
"This is not so: overall we lose $59 per space per month," he added.
Even if the new charges do not have a deterrent effect, they will only
result in our breaking even on an historical cost basis," he said.
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