Reply:
Mr President,
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(a)
Departmental attendance at District Board meetings is by invitation and determined by the District Officer, in consultation with the District Board Chairman. Instructions to departments have been promulgated in circulars which are reviewed and up-dated periodically.
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(b) & (d) The present practice and standing arrangement is that the Territory Development Department represents all Works Branch Departments (including Highways Department) at District Board meetings on engineering and project programming matters. It is for this reason that Highways Department declined requests to attend, on a regular basis, each and every meeting of the Yuen Long, Eastern, and Central & Western District Boards during the past session.
(c)
I have been advised that the Highways Department did not send a representative to attend the discussion at the Yuen Long District Board meeting held on 20 April 1995. However, written advice was provided to the District Board before that meeting.
(e) & (f) In retrospect, the Director of Highways recognises that the business of the District Board would have been better facilitated had his representative been able to attend. Meanwhile, to improve communication, the Department has recently agreed to attend Yuen Long District Board Traffic and Transport Committee meetings regularly on a trial basis for one year.
End/Wednesday, May 3, 1995