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community use. Perhaps they would have preferred instead to put it up for auction in the market.
To be fair, the new proposals are not altogether bad. For, in another part, they call for the re-location of a school and the isolation of a police station, both of which should not be in the park. Even so, there is the other suggestion: the capricious advocacy of a row of shops along Nathan Road. Presumably, it is for the Government to make more money. Otherwise, why should there be more shops in a district already saturated with them? What other flimsy pretext could there be? Bad as it would be for a park, such a proposed development, if pursued, would obviate the use of that stretch of Nathan Road for parades and processions as have been held in the popular Festivals of Hong Kong and the Royal Visit, because it is hardly to be expected that shopkeepers would agree to all that area being closed to pedestrian traffic as would be required. Alas, the citizen might be forgiven for asking why his Government seems always to be beholden to commercial interests. Surely, all land belongs to the people. As such, it should be developed for the common good.
There are also the old railway and army lands east of Chatham Road, recently relinquished. Some provision is being made for green areas there. Are they really adequate? Old residents will recall with nostalgia how all the way from Black Head to Hung Hom there were extensive playing fields and grass walks. If so, the new lay-out will only restore in part what the people enjoyed before.
It would be a pity to flatten the knoll where the Marine Police Station now stands in order to sell that parcel of land for private development. It should be left as it is and put to use as a public garden.
This Council appeals to public opinion. Will it save the day for a better Hong Kong?
(Messrs. Hilton CHEONG-LEEN and Peter C. K. CHAN arrived at this point.)
PAPER
The following paper was laid on the table:
Report to the Urban Council by the Director of Urban Services and Secretary, Urban Council, for the month of July 1976.
QUESTIONS
(1) MR. JOHN MACKENZIE asked the following question (in English):
(a) To what extent is pig-breeding and pig-keeping still prevalent in urban areas; and what steps have been taken in the past three years to implement the Council's policy of eliminating this nuisance from the urban areas?
(b) Specifically, what action has been taken to improve conditions in Tin Hau Temple Road since my question in March 1975; and to improve the unsatisfactory situation in Stanley?
(c) Can the Council give positive assurance of future progress in the removal of pig-farms from urban zones?
DR. HENRY H. L. Hu replied as follows (in English):
Mr. Chairman, the answer to the first part of the question is that pig-breeding still occurs in the urban areas, although in the past 3 years there has been an overall decrease of 34% in the number of pig-sties (48% in Kowloon and 20% on Hong Kong island). This decrease is apparently largely the result of land development, particularly in north Kowloon.
As regards the second part of the question, there are 69 pig-sties in the area of Tanner Hill and Braemar Hill, North Point. They are constantly visited by anti-fly and anti-mosquito gangs of the Urban Services Department, which succeed in keeping conditions tolerably under control. If it's any indication of things, there have been only 3 complaints about these particular pig-sties in the past 12 months. Similar efforts are made by the Urban Services Department to prevent nuisance at the 210 pig-sties at Ma Hang in Stanley. The Public Works Department is also engaged at present in converting a stream into a concrete nullah connected to a sewer, for conveying waste water from these pig-sties through a submarine outfall and discharging it well out to sea.
For the final part of the question, I'm afraid it's not possible to give a firm assurance that pig-sties will be removed from the urban areas. From the point of view of public health and their potential for causing a nuisance, the sooner these pig-sties are removed, the better it will be.
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community use. Perhaps they would have preferred instead to put it up for auction in the market.
To be fair, the new proposals are not altogether bad. For, in another part, they call for the re-location of a school and the isolation of a police station, both of which should not be in the park. Even so, there is the other suggestion: the capricious advocacy of a row of shops along Nathan Road. Presumably, it is for the Government to make more money. Otherwise, why should there be more shops in a district already saturated with them? What other flimsy pretext could there be? Bad as it would be for a park, such a proposed develop- ment, if pursued, would obviate the use of that stretch of Nathan Road for parades and processions as have been held in the popular Festivals of Hong Kong and the Royal Visit, because it is hardly to be expected that shopkeepers would agree to all that area being closed to pedestrian traffic as would be required. Alas, the citizen might be forgiven for asking why his Government seems always to be beholden to com- mercial interests. Surely, all land belongs to the people. As such, it should be developed for the common good.
There are also the old railway and army lands east of Chatham Road, recently relinquished. Some provision is being made for green areas there. Are they really adequate? Old residents will recall with nostalgia how all the way from Black Head to Hung Hom there were extensive playing fields and grass walks. If so, the new lay-out will only restore in part what the people enjoyed before.
It would be a pity to flatten the knoll where the Marine Police Station now stands in order to sell that parcel of land for private development. It should be left as it is and put to use as a public garden.
This Council appeals to public opinion. Will it save the day for a better Hong Kong?
(Messrs. Hilton CHEONG-LEEN and Peter C. K. CHAN arrived at this point.)
PAPER
The following paper was laid on the table:
Report to the Urban Council by the Director of Urban Services and Secretary, Urban Council, for the month of July 1976.
QUESTIONS
(1) MR. JOHN MACKENZIE asked the following question (in English):
(a) To what extent is pig-breeding and pig-keeping still prevalent in urban areas; and what steps have been taken in the past three years to implement the Council's policy of eliminating this nuisance from the urban areas? (b) Specifically, what action has been taken to improve con- ditions in Tin Hau Temple Road since my question in March 1975; and to improve the unsatisfactory situation in Stanley?
(c) Can the Council give positive assurance of future progress
in the removal of pig-farms from urban zones?
DR. HENRY H. L. Hu replied as follows (in English):
Mr. Chairman, the answer to the first part of the question is that pig-breeding still occurs in the urban areas, although in the past 3 years there has been an overall decrease of 34% in the number of pig-sties (48% in Kowloon and 20% on Hong Kong island). This decrease is apparently largely the result of land development, particularly in north Kowloon.
As regards the second part of the question, there are 69 pig-sties in the area of Tanner Hill and Braemar Hill, North Point. They are constantly visited by anti-fly and anti-mosquito gangs of the Urban Services Department, which succeed in keeping conditions tolerably under con- trol. If it's any indication of things, there have been only 3 complaints about these particular pig-sties in the past 12 months. Similar efforts are made by the Urban Services Department to prevent nuisance at the 210 pig- sties at Ma Hang in Stanley. The Public Works Depart- ment is also engaged at present in converting a stream into a concrete nullah connected to a sewer, for conveying waste water from these pig-sties through a submarine outfall and discharging it well out to sea.
For the final part of the question, I'm afraid it's not possible to give a firm assurance that pig-sties will be removed from the urban areas. From the point of view of public health and their potential for causing a nuisance, the sooner these pig-sties are removed, the better it will be.
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.