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is one bus every quarter of an hour. In most cases, during rush hours, people have to wait for one full hour to get on a bus. Can something be done about the bus service?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-It is true that there is only one bus service, and if I remember correctly, the frequency is 12 minutes. In replying to a question by a Member either at the last meeting or the one before, I referred to a survey carried out on behalf of the Resettlement Department by a staff member of the Advisory Committee on Public Transport in connexion with the time it takes to get from Tsz Wan Shan to Wan Chai during rush hours. In the course of that survey, we found that in the morning rush hours there was very little waiting at Tsz Wan Shan at all; the main source of delay was in changing buses at Wong Tai Sin.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, with your permission, may I ask the Commissioner for Resettlement whether most of the hawkers at this temporary hawker bazaar are illegal hawkers?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-I should not have thought so, as the balloting is organized by the Urban Services Department. (Laughter).
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, could I ask the Commissioner for Resettlement whether he is aware that there is an illegal hawker bazaar in Tsz Wan Shan Estate?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-Mr. Chairman, if Mr. CHEONG-LEEN will indicate where it is, I shall be very glad to look into the matter.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-I think Mr. CHEUNG Wing-in and I, who visited this place recently, can vouch for that. Mr. Chairman, could I ask the Commissioner when he expects that a market centre which will serve the Tsz Wan Shan Estate will be opened?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-Sir, I did not in fact use the expression "market centre". I referred to centres where residents can buy fresh food. What we have in mind, of course, is that facing onto the open areas between blocks there will be fresh meat and fish shops dotted around, and in between will be these covered hawker bazaars, the prototype of which can be seen at Yau Tong Estate where two have already been constructed. This complex of fresh meat and fish shops in association with hawker bazaars of its kind, is what I had in mind.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Will some of the shops in Tsz Wan Shan Estate be selling meat and fresh fish, Mr. Chairman, because when Mr. CHEUNG Wing-in and I visited the area there was a very strong complaint by representatives of the settlers there, to the effect that they had nowhere else to buy food-for-man? They claim that after a few days the Police came up and arrested the illegal hawkers there and the residents had no alternative but either to buy from illegal hawkers or to go at least one mile further up to buy meat and fish.
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-As I have said, I hope that we will have some of these shops as going concerns very soon.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Thank you. Could I ask the Commissioner whether from the figures he has given, there are 1,300 children of primary school age who are not going to school in the estate?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-I did not intend to imply that. I meant what I have said in fact, that is, 2,500 are known to be going to school. We have not got any precise information as to whether the others are or are not going to school.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Can the Commissioner advise, Mr. Chairman, how the estimate was arrived at?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-I am afraid I could not give details of that as it was done by the estate staff.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Could the Commissioner elaborate as to whether or not this estimate of 3,000 places immediately available, means 3,000 school places which are all taken up, or whether these 3,000 places are available and if they would be open to children who want to go to school?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-The latter, Sir.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-In other words, there are 3,000 vacant school places?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-That is so.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, would the Commissioner be prepared to give an exact figure of the number of children of primary school age in this estate who are not going to school, in the same manner as he did for me for the Wong Tai Sin Estate?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-It would not be such an easy task. I do not say that the exercise at Wong Tai Sin was easy either but this would be even more difficult because this is not a closed estate like Wong Tai Sin. You are adding to the population by the thousands every week, thus the situation changes, not every week but every month or so. The situation is changing so rapidly that you never reach finality.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-I appreciate that, Mr. Chairman. May I ask the Commissioner whether he would be good enough to put it to the
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is one bus every quarter of an hour. In most cases, during rush hours, people have to wait for one full hour to get on a bus. Can something be done about the bus service?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-It is true that there is only one bus service, and if I remember correctly, the frequency is 12 minutes. In replying to a question by a Member either at the last meeting or the one before, I referred to a survey carried out on behalf of the Resettlement Department by a staff member of the Advisory Committee on Public Transport in connexion with the time it takes to get from Tsz Wan Shan to Wan Chai during rush hours. In the course of that survey, we found that in the morning rush hours there was very little waiting at Tsz Wan Shan at all; the main source of delay was in changing buses at Wong Tai Sin.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, with your permission, may I ask the Commissioner for Resettlement whether most of the hawkers at this temporary hawker bazaar are illegal hawkers?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-I should not have thought so, as the balloting is organized by the Urban Services Department. (Laughter).
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, could I ask the Commissioner for Resettlement whether he is aware that there is an illegal hawker bazaar in Tsz Wan Shan Estate?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:--Mr. Chairman, if Mr. CHEONG-LEEN will indicate where it is, I shall be very glad to look into the matter.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN: -I think Mr. CHEUNG Wing-in and I, who visited this place recently, can vouch for that. Mr. Chairman, could I ask the Commissioner when he expects that a market centre which will serve the Tsz Wan Shan Estate will be opened?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-Sir, I did not in fact use the expression "market centre". I referred to centres where residents can buy fresh food. What we have in mind, of course, is that facing onto the open areas between blocks there will be fresh meat and fish shops dotted around, and in between will be these covered hawker bazaars, the prototype of which can be seen at Yau Tong Estate where two have already been constructed. This complex of fresh meat and fish shops in association with hawker bazaars of its kind, is what I had in mind. MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Will some of the shops in Tsz Wan Shan Estate be selling meat and fresh fish, Mr. Chairman, because when Mr. CHEUNG Wing-in and I visited the area there was a very strong complaint by representatives of the settlers there, to the effect that they
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had nowhere else to buy food-for-man? They claim that after a few days the Police came up and arrested the illegal hawkers there and the residents had no alternative but either to buy from illegal hawkers or to go at least one mile further up to buy meat and fish.
COMMISSIONER for ResettleMENT:-As I have said, I hope that we will have some of these shops as going concerns very soon.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Thank you. Could I ask the Commissioner whether from the figures he has given, there are 1,300 children of primary school age who are not going to school in the estate?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-I did not intend to imply that. I meant what I have said in fact, that is, 2,500 are known to be going to school. We have not got any precise information as to whether the others are or are not going to school.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Can the Commissioner advise, Mr. Chairman, how the estimate was arrived at?
COMMISSIONER for ResettlemeNT:—I am afraid I could not give details of that as it was done by the estate staff.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Could the Commissioner elaborate as to whether or not this estimate of 3,000 places immediately available, means 3,000 school places which are all taken up, or whether these 3,000 places are available and if they would be open to children who want to go to school?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT: --The latter, Sir.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-In other words, there are 3,000 vacant school places?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-That is so.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN: Mr. Chairman, would the Commissioner be prepared to give an exact figure of the number of children of primary school age in this estate who are not going to school, in the same manner as he did for me for the Wong Tai Sin Estate?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT: -It would not be such an easy task. I do not say that the exercise at Wong Tai Sin was easy either but this would be even more difficult because this is not a closed estate like Wong Tai Sin. You are adding to the population by the thousands every week, thus the situation changes, not every week but every month or so. The situation is changing so rapidly that you never reach finality.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:- I appreciate that, Mr. Chairman. May I ask the Commissioner whether he would be good enough to put it to the
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