XN000022-1972-03-29 — Page 18

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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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