1982 — Page 49

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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

MR. HU (in English):-Mr. Chairman, we have not done that yet but certainly consideration will be given.

2.

MRS. E. ELLIOTT asked the following question (in English):---What plans if any, have been made for ventilation of rooms in the new Ngau Tau Kok Market now being used for activities such as dancing?

MR. KENNETH T. C. LO, CHAIRMAN OF THE RECREATION SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in English):-This question concerns the ventilation of the two games rooms in the Ngau Tau Kok Urban Council Complex which are used for indoor recreational activities.

The games rooms are ventilated by a mechanical system designed for 10 air changes per hour, i.e. a system capable of changing all the air in the room ten times in an hour, and is the general standard applied to normal sports halls and dance halls as based on the Chartered Institute of Building Services handbook.

Since the rooms were commissioned in November 1981, the Department has received a number of complaints about poor ventilation, all in the summer months. The department has asked the Government Maintenance Surveyor to look into ways and means of improving the situation.

Meanwhile, special care is exercised by the management staff to ensure that all doors and windows in the games rooms are properly closed while they are in use to avoid disrupting the air current generated by the ventilation system.

MRS. ELLIOTT (in English):-Mr. Chairman, I welcome the promise made in paragraph 3 that the department will ask the Government Maintenance Surveyor to look into ways and means of improving the situation. Since we are encouraging activities at the district level, I would like to ask Mr. Lo if he would with his committee, press very hard for this improvement to be made before the next hot summer months.

MR. LO (in English):-Mr. Chairman, we shall certainly see what we can do to have that done before the next hot weather.

3.

MRS. E. ELLIOTT asked the following question (in English):—

(a) Who is responsible for keeping the environs of the new Ngau Tau Kok Market free of illegal hawking?

(b) What action is being taken against market stall-holders who now insist on operating outside the market?

(c) What faults in planning and lay-out in the market, if any, have resulted in hawkers finding their stalls unviable inside the market?

MR. SHUM CHOI-SANG, CHAIRMAN OF THE MARKETS AND STREET TRADERS SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in Cantonese):-This question concerns the Ngau Tau Kok Market.

HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

In answer to the first part of the question, the Urban Services Department is responsible for keeping the environs of the new Ngau Tau Kok Market free of illegal hawking. This is achieved by the deployment of General Duties Team staff around the Market on a continuous basis.

The answer to the second part of the question is that members of the General Duties Team arrest any person who is found hawking illegally outside the Market. A small number of market stall holders have been seen trading amongst hawkers in the vicinity, particularly during the evening, and action is taken against them in the same way as against other illegal hawkers.

The answer to the third part of the question is that the stalls in the Market are generally viable. However, at certain times of day, hawkers trading near the Market, though not in the immediate area, do better business than market stall holders on the upper floors of the Market and this appears to be the reason why some stall holders occasionally prefer to trade outside rather than because of faults in the planning and layout of the Market. When the adjacent Home Ownership Housing Scheme at On Kay Court is fully occupied, business on the upper floors of the Market should be better than at present because there will be two additional footbridges leading from On Kay Court into the Market at the first floor level.

MRS. ELLIOTT (in English):—Mr. Chairman, there have been a lot of complaints from the District Board members about this market and the illegal hawkers outside, and from my own observation, it seems that the real reason is not mentioned here. The real reason seems to be not enough entrances from the streets with the result that people are going along the pavement and buying from the first stall and not bothering to go to the inside stalls, just buying through a gap in the wall instead of going inside the market. Is it possible to consider making more entrances at various sides of the market both in this one and the future markets?

MR. SHUM (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, to make more exits or entrances in the market, I think is worthy of consideration. But in respect of On Kay Court Market, as I have mentioned, there will be two foot-bridges leading to the Market at the first floor level.

MR. YOUNG (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, from the answer, although it was said that there were defects not related to the design of the market, I observed that the level of business on different floors of the market has caused dissatisfaction to market goers and market stall-holders themselves. Shall we then in future abolish this idea of split-level construction, but rather to have semi-split-levels. In other words, when you enter the market, you either go up or down. Perhaps through this way, complaints and the difference in the level of business can be reduced.

MR. SHUM (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, this is a good proposal which Urban Council will consider. We have also installed escalators to go up to the second floor.

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