TNAG-0317-FCO40-353-Policy-of-housing-and-resettlement-in-Hong-Kong-problem-of-s-1971 — Page 55

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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

MRS. ELLIOTT:-I visited the Kowloon Bay area last year and saw definite signs of erosion. Is there any arrangement with P.W.D. to investigate each of these sites before the rainy season?

COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-I have seen the roads too, on the side. I have instructed my Works Division to try to build some sort of herring bone drains to prevent landslides.

(11) MR. HENRY H. L. Hu asked the following question:—

Could the Chairman inform the Council which Department or Departments of the Government have hitherto looked after the hawker problem in the Resettlement Estates? What measures are being taken to tackle this question? Is there any intention to review the present policy in the near future, which policy has been in existence ever since the first resettlement blocks were built?

MR. HILTON CHEONG-LEEN, CHAIRMAN OF THE HAWKER POLICY SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows:

The Urban Council is the responsible authority for hawkers throughout the urban areas and as its executive arm the Urban Services Department is, therefore, responsible for hawkers in Resettlement Estates. The Resettlement De- partment has always worked in very close co-operation with the Urban Services Department on hawker matters in Resettlement Estates and, indeed, in many instances has provided invaluable assistance. As Members are aware the Urban Services Department is suffering from a severe shortage of staff for the control of hawkers and it has, therefore, been extremely difficult for the Department to undertake its full responsibility in the Resettlement Estates and other areas.

The Council's recently formulated policy on hawking, which has been approved by the Standing Committee of the Whole Council, applies without discrimination to the whole of the urban areas including the Resettlement Estates. I do not see that at present there is any need for a special review of the policy as the Hawker Policy Select Committee keeps it under continuous review and as and when the need for changes arise they will be dealt with.

The main problem is the severe shortage of staff, and it is to be regretted that due to administrative red tape the central