1981 — Page 58

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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

be presented in the City Hall Theatre on 26 and 27 January. Both these programmes are particularly appropriate to the festive occasion.

MR. YOUNG (in English):—Mr. Chairman, apart from the performing arts type of entertainment mentioned just now, has the Council considered another form of entertainment during Chinese New Year which is very traditional, that is some sort of display of fire works?

MR. HU (in English):-I think we did consider fire works in the past, but I think, for various reasons we stopped. So, as far as Urban Council is concerned, I don't think we have fire works in mind for the time being.

MR. YOUNG (in English):—Although we are not going to have any fire works display on our own, I do understand that the Hong Kong Tourist Association is going to have some sort of display in the harbour. Is it possible that the Council might consider some sort of a joint venture with them, because most of the people who live in the urban area will be entertained by that?

MR. HU (in English):-Mr. Chairman, I do agree with Mr. Howard YOUNG that the Hong Kong Tourist Association will be organizing fire works. I think the Council will certainly look into the question of fire works display in future, either by the Council itself or in joint arrangements with other organizations.

3. MR. KENNETH T. C. Lo asked the following question (in English):—-What is the Urban Council policy regarding the leasing of accommodation for its use as against constructing its own premises?

MR. STEPHEN M. L. Lau, VICE-CHAIRMAN OF THE ADMINISTRATION SELECT Committee, replied as follows (in Cantonese):—This question concerns the Urban Council's policy on the leasing of accommodation as against the construction of its own premises.

The Urban Council tries to provide in its own premises accommodation for its services to the public and for departmental staff employed by the Council. However, the rapid expansion of the Council's activities has made it necessary to rent a substantial amount of accommodation in commercial buildings. This is mainly office accommodation but the Council has also rented space from the private sector for the Museum of History, for the department's main store, and for several public libraries. New Council projects, and particularly new market complexes, are being planned to make maximum use of the sites provided and, as and when they are completed during the next few years, it should be possible to reduce the amount of space rented from the private sector.

MR. Lo (in English):—Mr. Chairman, in addition to the office accommodation to be provided in new market complexes, will the Council also consider building its own office accommodation where possible, so as to minimize the expenditure on rents?

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MR. LAU (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, apart from the provision of office spaces

within the market complexes, wherever possible, with the approval from the Government, I believe the Urban Council would consider constructing more such premises.

MR. YOUNG (in Cantonese):----Mr. Chairman, in order to reduce the renting of space from the private sector for Urban Council projects, would it be possible for us to build more such premises or will our projects be affected by our financial situation?

MR. LAU (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, in considering the plans for the projects, apart from those places which are for some very particular reasons cannot be used as offices, we always try to provide office accommodation. For instance, in the recent projects, we have considered the height of the building and the usage of the building.

MR. AUGUSTINE S. K. CHUNG (in English):—Mr. Chairman, the question concerns a lot of libraries. Many students make use of those libraries for studying and also for their research work, then afterwards, many students may want to take a stroll or a walk. Can we make use of the park to produce some library premises there, where these sum of people or students can do some reading and take a stroll in the park and come back to do some studying or reading in the library? So, can we consider using part of the park spaces to construct our library premises instead of renting at a very high rate in commercial premises for library purposes?

CHAIRMAN (in English):-This is a rather specific question away from the general nature of the question but I don't know whether Mr. LAU would like to

answer.

MR. LAU (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, I believe at the moment we already have 12 libraries within the urban district and 6 of them already have got their own accommodation and for the rest, we are renting from the private sector. In the construction of all future market premises, we have already made allowances for spaces for library purposes. As regard to the possibility for constructing libraries within our parks, I believe this matter has to be discussed in the relevant Select Committee before we can come to any conclusion in the Administration Select Committee.

MR. HU (in English):—Mr. Chairman, in order to expedite the construction programme, can Mr. LAU clarify whether the Council would consider joint development with private developers?

MR. LAU (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, if there are such possibilities in the future, I believe the Administration Select Committee would consider the possibility of constructing the premises with the co-operation of the private sector.

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