16.
Thursday, March 14, 1974
The proposal to increase off-street car parking charges was one
of the points to which he strongly objected. In place of the "exorbitant"
charges, he suggested that the charges in public multi-storey car parks be
set at $1.50 per hour for the first 10 hours and at $2.50 for every hour
thereafter. This would, he argued, be sufficient deterrent to drivers from
parking for too long periods at any one time.
Mr. Cheong-Leen also urged the government to encourage the building
of more public and privately-owned multi-storey car parks.
In addition, he asked the government to rethink the proposal of
charging $50 to each endorsement on a licence which would jeopardise the
livelihood of professional drivers and to adopt a simplified classification
of vehicles.
Turning to public housing, Mr. Cheong-Leen reminded the government
of the necessity to go full speed ahead in its plans to rebuild all the
very old resettlement estates, now known as Group B estates, in a bid to
improve the living standard and quality of life of the tenants.
He hoped that the government could explore all possibilities of
outside long-term loans for Hong Kong's specific major development projects,
which would in turn release more funds to enable the Public Works Department
to keep abreast with its development programmes in public housing and new
towns.
Population growth was also a theme in Mr. Cheong-Leen's speech.
He drew the government's attention to the increase of the local population
which has been putting a heavy strain on our social services."
/On the Civil