1974 — Page 143

Page 143 of 187

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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

The reorganization of the Urban Services Department is now complete, and proving effective. The challenge to regional and district staff is great, and the Administration Select Com- mittee and the Council will give them our full support in the effort to improve the efficiency of urban services. In assessing progress in this area, I can do no more than quote the Direc tor, Urban Services who recently said: "There is no doubt that the (USD) reorganization .

has resulted in greatly im proved operational efficiency

and provided a vastly im- proved service to the public."

I believe that the Council's working relationship with the Urban Services Department has never been better, and I hope it will always thus continue.

(d) Staff training

An area of keen concern to the Administration Select Com- mittee, and on which the Council and the Department are placing increasing emphasis, is that of staff training. During the year, the Departmental Training Unit was reorganized, and a Staff Officer (Training) appointed. The assistance of the H.K. Management Association and the H.K. Productivity Centre was invited to expand our local training facilities on a wider and longer-term basis. We now have 25 Urban Services Officers studying abroad and, in 1975-76, we will expend $1.4 million on overall staff training. Study groups of USD officers will also visit Southeast Asian countries for research purposes.

It can be safely said that greater attention than ever before is being given to staff training and development at all levels of Management. In time, this will reflect beneficially through our Headquarters and District organization in improved standards of management efficiency and better service to the public.

(e) Planning and Development Unit

The call for a long-term programme of Council Works, which I made at the last Conventional Debate, has found answer in the setting up of the Works Planning Sub-committee in March 1974 and production of a Draft 10-year Development Pro- gramme. An instrument of this progress has been the Planning and Development Unit which was substantially restructured during the year. Central, and better, planning

is the theme of our activities.

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It has taken the usual, frustrating effort to obtain the staff needed to conduct these essential Council duties and, unfor- tunately, the staffing situation remains still not satisfactory. Last March, Council approved the following staffing struc- ture for the Planning and Development Unit:

1 Assistant Director (Planning)

1 Staff Officer (SEO)

5 Assistant Staff Officers (EO)

The Assistant Director post was not approved by Government until July when the Staff Officer was promoted on an acting basis. The Staff Officer post then remained vacant until January. Of the 5 Assistants, only 3 are now in post. None of the original Executive Officers remains; all will have been transferred elsewhere by April! One post, now vacant, has had 3 incumbents in 9 months.

Mr. Chairman, this is most unsatisfactory and illustrates one fact very clearly: that the Urban Council must insist in exercis- ing closer control over its servicing staff or, alternatively, should recruit its permanent staff outside of the Civil Service. It is also a matter of concern-and evidence of grave deficiency in Government administration-that the Council with an outstanding Works Programme of essential community proj- ects, quoted at $600 million, should not be directly repre- sented on the Town Planning Board, and should be subject to arbitrary treatment by the Building Priorities Committee of Public Works Department. Action is also needed to correct this situation.

(f) Council Works Programme

On our massive Works Programme I will only make brief comment. The volume of work to be done, covering hun- dreds of items of essential community projects, is staggering but, hopefully, we will now get off to making some real im- pression with scheduled works expenditure of $30.6 million in 1975-76 and $68 million in 1976-77.

I wish that I could be kind on our performance this year. We started off with the modest expectation of completing capital works to a value of $13.95 million but, excluding the Kennedy Town Swimming-pool ($7.8 million) donated by the Jockey Club, we completed only 5 minor projects valued at $1.4 million. Possibly, the worst performance on record.