204
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCILment, especially active entertainment and sports, is essential and it is only fair that we do give ample consideration and attention to this very popular programme for our people. Sir, with these remarks, I support the motion.
MR. C. K. CHAN (in Cantonese): - Mr. Chairman, I have not prepared any statement, so I wish to point out one or two points. The first is, quite often, people of Hong Kong feel that since the Urban Council is in charge of various car parks in Hong Kong, so the revenue must be quite big, but the pity is that because we have to maintain these various car parks we have only an income of $5,000 per year, and of course we have to spend some money on employing people to take care of these car parks, and the profit is only $5,000 regardless that we have used up quite a lot of our senior staff. And other than paying them, we have also to pay 20% of the so-called maintenance charges. Whenever we ask the Central Government to do anything for us, they will charge us 20%, and they charge people millions of dollars per year from the car parks and we receive only $5,000, so actually this is something which we cannot stand. And, of course, Mr. No had mentioned just now that, in future, advertisement signs are to be controlled by us, and it is better for us to receive the charge in this respect, otherwise, if we only receive $5,000 for this, then the people of Hong Kong will feel that our services are not worth the money.
And also here I wish to mention that when the Vice-Chairman, in supporting the motion, mentioned that we should improve the efficiency of our staff, I would like to say here that in the Urban Services Department what we lack most is those people who are able to supervise. We feel that something which can be done better is always not so ideal, it is because of lack of supervising people both in quality and quantity. This is mainly because the Central Government has made the salary for this type of people too low. A simple example is the post of Amenities Assistant III. At the time they join the Government, they have to finish their secondary school education, and of course with credit in biology would be the best, and then if they can take care of a particular section they would have to have credit in mathematics. After these people join the Government we have changed the system, so those people who have finished the Form IV education can join the service. So, for a person who has finished the secondary education to take up a job of supervising a beach, or to supervise those people collecting money from car parks, with a starting-pay of $600, while the police officer is now receiving starting pay of $900. And something which is extremely humiliating is that those working on beaches as Life Guards receive $100 more than those supervising them so, how can we have a satisfactory supervising system? In this respect, I believe that in order to get a satisfactory system, we have to improve in this field. I feel that in order to make the people appreciate our good work, it is not just by one or two exhibitions. We have to improve the facilities we provide them so as to show them that we have independence in every field, and they can see that, of course. That is the best way to show to the people here, and not just one or two very simple exhibitions. Of course, we need to improve in one or two fields, but we have spent quite a lot of time, the first in the first budget here, we have to discuss or even argue, but we can say that the budget is quite a satisfactory one, and we hope that in the future, we can have more time to prepare the budget so that we can have more time to discuss it. This is our first time, and including myself, we do not have enough time to make every possible estimation. I hope that we can propose the budget earlier next year, listing out some of my points. I support the motion.
MR. TSIN SAI-NIN (in Cantonese): - Mr. Chairman, I have heard the Chairman and the Chairman of the Finance Select Committee's speeches, and various speeches by the other Councillors, I wish only to briefly comment on two aspects of this budget. The first is that the income and the expenditure of this budget are subject to substantial consequence as pointed out by Mr. Hu, over 70% of our personal emolument are not of our control. In revenue, many powers concerning the spending of certain sums of money, or in certain aspects of revenue, for example, in what aspect we should collect more or collect less, are in fact not within our control. Such a high percentage of this is not within our control. Therefore our ability to serve the public has been greatly reduced. Generally speaking, I feel that this budget is lacking in recreational and amenities development. For example, $209,000,000 are personal emoluments and headquarters charges are over $24,000,000. Recreational charges are only $2,000,000 plus another $2,000,000 for special expenditure. $200,000,000 and $2,000,000 when compared shows the contrast. Therefore our ability to serve the public has been greatly reduced. I know that this budget is the result of a lot of hard work on the part of Chairmen and Members of various Select Committees, and it is also our first budget, therefore, I support this budget and hope that in future we can have greater improvements.
CHAIRMAN (in English): - Does any other member wish to have the floor? Do Select Committee Chairmen wish to clarify any points that might have been raised, perhaps in respect of the work of their
Page 137 of 212
205
204
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
ment, especially active entertainment and sports, is essential and it is only fair that we do give ample consideration and attention to this very popular programme for our people. Sir, with these remarks, I support the motion.
MR. C. K. CHAN (in Cantonese): -Mr. Chairman, I have not prepared any statement, so I wish to point out one or two points. The first is, quite often, people of Hong Kong feel that since the Urban Council is in charge of various car parks in Hong Kong, so the revenue must be quite big, but the pity is that because we have to maintain these various car parks we have only an income of $5,000 per year, and of course we have to spend some money on employing people to take care of these car parks, and the profit is only $5,000 regardless that we have used up quite a lot of our senior staff. And other than paying them, we have also to pay 20% of the so-called maintenance charges. Whenever, we ask the Central Government to do anything for us, they will charge us 20%, and they charge people millions of dollars per year from the car parks and we receive only $5,000, so actually this is something which we cannot stand. And, of course, Mr. No had mentioned just now that, in future, advertise- ment signs are to be controlled by us, and it is better for us to receive the charge in this respect, otherwise, if we only receive $5,000 for this, then the people of Hong Kong will feel that our services are not worth the money.
And also here I wish to mention that when the Vice-Chairman, in supporting the motion, mentioned that we should improve the efficiency of our staff, I would like to say here that in the Urban Services Department what we lack most is those people who are able to supervise. We feel that something which can be done better is always not so ideal, it is because of lack of supervising people both in quality and quantity. This is mainly because the Central Government has made the salary for this type of people too low. A simple example is the post of Amenities Assistant III. At the time they join the Government, they have to finish their secondary school education, and of course with credit in biology would be the best, and then if they can take care of a particular section they would have to have credit in mathematics. After these people join the Government we have changed the system, so those people who have finished the Form IV education can join the service. So, for a person who has finished the secondary education to take up a job of super- vising a beach, or to supervise those people collecting money from car parks, with a starting-pay of $600, while the police officer is now receiving starting pay of $900. And something which is extremely humiliating is that those working on beaches as Life Guards receive $100 more than those supervising them so, how can we have a satis-
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Page 137 of 212
205
factory supervising system? In this respect, I believe that in order to satisfactory system, we have to improve in this field. I feel get a that in order to make the people appreciate our good work, it is not just by one or two exhibitions. We have to improve the facilities we provide them so as to show them that we have independence in That is the best way every field, and they can see that, of course. to show to the people here, and not just one or two very simple exhibitions. Of course, we need to improve in one or two fields, but we have spent quite a lot of time, the first in the first budget here, we have to discuss or even argue, but we can say that the budget is quite a satisfactory one, and we hope that in the future, we can have more time to prepare the budget so that we can have more time to discuss it. This is our first time, and including myself, we do not have enough time to make every possible estimation. I hope that we can propose the budget earlier next year, listing out some of my points. I support the motion.
MR. TSIN SAI-NIN (in Cantonese): -Mr. Chairman, I have heard the Chairman and the Chairman of the Finance Select Committee' speeches, and various speeches by the other Councillors, I wish only to briefly comment on two aspects of this budget. The first is that the income and the expenditure of this budget are subject to sub- stantial consequence as pointed out by Mr. Hu, over 70% of our personal emolument are not of our control. In revenue, many powers concerning the spending of certain sums of money, or in certain aspects of revenue, for example, in what aspect we should collect more or collect less, are in fact not within our control. Such a high percentage of this is not within our control. Therefore our ability to serve the public has been greatly reduced. Generally speaking, I feel that this budget is lacking in recreational and amenities develop- ment. For example, $209,000,000 are personal emoluments and headquarters charges are over $24,000,000. Recreational charges are only $2,000,000 plus another $2,000,000 for special expenditure. $200,000,000 and $2,000,000 when compared shows the contrast. Therefore our ability to serve the public has been greatly reduced. I know that this budget is the result of a lot of hardwork on the part of Chairmen and Members of various Select Committees, and it is also our first budget, therefore, I support this budget and hope that in future we can have greater improvements.
CHAIRMAN (in English): --Does any other member wish to have the floor? Do Select Committee Chairmen wish to clarify any points that might have been raised, perhaps in respect of the work of their
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.