1972 — Page 17

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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

THE COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT replied as follows:

With Mr. CHEONG-LEEN's permission, this reply is also in answer to his question appearing next on the Order Paper. Two large landslides have occurred over the past year, and at this Council's Annual Debate on 7th December last year I commented in considerable detail on the landslide at Tsz Wan Shan. The only other landslide was the recent one at Jordan Valley. The cause was the same in both cases, that is, fractured water mains. As I said on the 7th December, my Works Division is maintaining a continuous watch on all such embankments and we intend to establish a new inspection team in this financial year with new posts made available for this purpose. In short, Members may be assured that my staff will do whatever is possible to minimize the risk of such collapses in future.

MRS. ELLIOTT:- Mr. Chairman, may I please ask my question with just a clarification? Last time when we visited Tsz Wan Shan Resettlement Estate, we were told that it was because of the cementing over of the embankment that the water from the burst pipe could not get through. May I ask if anything has been done to improve that situation so that it will not burst down the embankment and run out to a drain?

COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:- Well, it is no one cause, Mr. Chairman. I think as I said in December that it was a mixture of events, not only the presence of a concrete as opposed to a turf embankment, but also the fact that some of the outer valves on that concrete embankment had become jammed with the passage of time, but certainly the short answer to that is, I think, we now regret ever having gone for concrete embankments, and as and when opportunity presents itself we will do what we can to switch to turf.

MR. FORSGATE:- Mr. Chairman, is there no technical way of detecting reduction in pressure in the water main before it bursts through would enable the staff to rapidly close off the offending main?

COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:- Well, we are getting on to dangerous ground, Mr. Chairman. The trouble is, of course, that in such cases as this the trouble point is always out of sight. The question is whether or not, although it is out of sight, there can be some early warning system. I can say that my technical staff are in touch with the Public Works Department on this very point to see whether or not there is any way at all in which it might be possible to get early detection. However, this new inspection team, I think, should stand a considerable chance of anticipating disaster in this way.

HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

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MRS. ELLIOTT:- Mr. Chairman, before the disaster at Tsz Wan Shan, some of the residents said they did detect cracks and reported them and they were told they were nothing. Could we be assured that in future any such cracks will be treated very seriously, because it is only a stroke of luck that nobody was killed?

COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:- Yes, I am glad to give such an assurance. I hope that members, or rather tenants, will go on reporting these, and I hope that no one has been put off by that particular incident or discouraged from reporting when they have cause to be afraid.

MR. CHEONG-LEEN:- Mr. Chairman, assuming that finance will shortly be made available, how soon does the Commissioner anticipate that the inspection team will be formed?

COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:- Mr. Chairman, given the inherent delays in recruiting technical staff, especially nowadays when they are in such popular demand in the private building sector, I honestly could not give any information that would not be misleading. But you may be assured that we for our part will press on as fast as we can.

(7) MR. HILTON CHEONG-LEEN asked the following question:-

Can the Commissioner for Resettlement make a statement on the cause of the landslide which recently occurred at the Jordan Valley Resettlement Estate, and what steps have been taken to prevent a recurrence of such landslides?

(for reply to the above question, see answer to question (6))

(8) MR. HILTON CHEONG-LEEN asked the following question:—

In order to improve the environment in resettlement estates, can steps be taken to make all hawkers who have been resited by the Resettlement Department to put a litter bin next to their stalls and to advise them to refrain from throwing litter indiscriminately on the ground?

THE COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT replied as follows:-

Most resited hawkers do in fact recognize that it is in their own interest to keep their stalls and the surrounding passages as clean as possible. Normally, they do not throw refuse indiscriminately in the immediate vicinity of their own stalls.

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