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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
The Wong Tai Sin Arts Festival, strongly supported by the Urban Council, will be held between October 26 to 30, 1982, which is at about the same time as the Asian Arts Festival. The Wong Tai Sin community leaders are to be congratulated on their initiative in organizing this Festival. I am sure that the Festival will be not only popular and successful, but will also instil a greater sense of community identity among Wong Tai Sin residents.
(Mr. Augustine S. K. CHUNG, Mr. CHAN Chi-kwan and Mr. Edmund W. H. CHOW arrived during the Chairman's address.)
PAPER
The following paper was laid on the table:
(1) Report to the Urban Council by the Director of Urban Services and Secretary, Urban Council, for the month of September 1982.
QUESTIONS
1. MR. STEPHEN M. L. LAU asked the following question (in Cantonese):- What is the progress of the refurbishment scheme of toilets and public bathhouses in our capital works programme?
DR. DENNY M. H. HUANG, CHAIRMAN OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL HYGIENE SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in Cantonese):-This question concerns the progress of the refurbishment scheme for public toilets and bathhouses in the Urban Council's capital works programme.
The Council approved the refurbishment scheme in late 1977, to improve the hygienic condition of old public toilets and bathhouses.
To make the scheme more cost-effective, public toilets are categorized into two groups according to their expected life and their structural condition: the first group consists of those with a life expectancy of more than 10 years, and the second of those which will last for 5 to 10 years. For the former, refurbishment work is carried out by the Architectural Office and includes the redesigning of the internal layout to provide larger compartments and the provision of higher grade surface finishes, for example mosaic tiles on the external walls. For the latter, the Government Maintenance Surveyor is responsible for the work: higher grade finishes are included where possible but no structural alteration is carried out. As for toilets with a life expectancy of less than 5 years, large scale improvements are not considered to be justified and only standard maintenance treatment is given as and when due.
The provision originally approved for this scheme is $24 million and expenditure up-to-date is $16.9 million.
81
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Improvement work started in the financial year 1979-80 and, of the 133 toilets to be refurbished under the scheme, work on 114 has already been completed. Work on the remainder will be completed by the end of the financial year 1983-84.
MR. LAU (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask whether we will improve the temporary wooden toilets?
DR. HUANG (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, I think Mr. LAU is referring to toilets in squatter areas as Council has very few toilets built of wood.
MR. LAU (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, I think we still have some wooden toilets in the less developed areas such as Kwun Tong or Wong Tai Sin.
DR. HUANG (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, I think I had better go back to my answer. For toilets with a life expectancy of less than 5 years, standard maintenance treatment is given. For those which will last for 5 to 10 years, the Government Maintenance Surveyor is responsible for the work. I don't think wooden toilets could last for over 10 years. They will no longer exist in 10 years' time. As to the toilets in the squatter areas, I think the Urban Council will assist the squatter areas to improve their hygienic standards, and some colourful toilets will be provided,
MR. YOUNG (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, with your permission, I would like to make a supplementary reply. Perhaps Mr. LAU is referring to the wooden toilets in the squatter areas. During the Clean Hong Kong Campaign, many of these wooden toilets have been replaced by fibre glass toilets and in future, all of them will be replaced.
MRS. CHOW (in English):-Mr. Chairman, in the refurbishment scheme, is special attention given to ensure that the floors of the toilets and bathhouses are not slippery?
DR. HUANG (in Cantonese): Yes, since the Urban Council has been brought to court once, we have been paying attention to this matter so as to avoid future law-suits.
MRS. Ho (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, it had been mentioned previously that the metal doors of the toilets will be replaced by fibre glass doors. Have we done anything about this? Secondly, for those that have been replaced, are they successful?
DR. HUANG (in Cantonese):—Yes, Mr. Chairman, we have carried out experiments with fibre glass doors at certain toilets and it has proved successful. So in future, we will use fibre glass in all of them.
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Page 61
Page 61 of 142
Page 60 of 142
80
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
The Wong Tai Sin Arts Festival, strongly supported by the Urban Council, will be held between October 26 to 30, 1982, which is at about the same time as the Asian Arts Festival. The Wong Tai Sin community leaders are to be congratulated on their initiative in organizing this Festival. I am sure that the Festival will be not only popular and successful, but will also instil a greater
sense of community identity among Wong Tai Sin residents.
(Mr. Augustine S. K. CHUNG, Mr. CHAN Chi-kwan and Mr. Edmund W. H. CHOW arrived during the Chairman's address.)
PAPER
The following paper was laid on the table:----
(1) Report to the Urban Council by the Director of Urban Services and
Secretary, Urban Council, for the month of September 1982.
QUESTIONS
1. MR. STEPHEN M. L. LAU asked the following question (in Cantonese):- What is the progress of the refurbishment scheme of toilets and public bathhouses in our capital works programme?
DR. DENNY M. H. HUANG, CHAIRMAN OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL HYGIENE SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in Cantonese):-This question concerns the progress of the refurbishment scheme for public toilets and bathhouses in the Urban Council's capital works programe.
The Council approved the refurbishment scheme in late 1977, to improve the hygienic condition of old public toilets and bathhouses.
To make the scheme more cost-effective, public toilets are categorized into two groups according to their expected life and their structural condition: the first group consists of those with a life expectancy of more than 10 years, and the second of those which will last for 5 to 10 years. For the former, refurbishment work is carried out by the Architectural Office and includes the redesigning of the internal layout to provide larger compartments and the provision of higher grade surface finishes, for example mosaic tiles on the external walls. For the latter, the Government Maintenance Surveyor is responsible for the work: higher grade finishes are included where possible but no structural alteration is carried out. As for toilets with a life expectancy of less than 5 years, large scale improvements are not considered to be justified and only standard maintenance treatment is given as and when due.
The provision originally approved for this scheme is $24 million and expenditure up-to-date is $16.9 million.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Page 60 of 142
81
Improvement work started in the financial year 1979-80 and, of the 133 toilets to be refurbished under the scheme, work on 114 has already been completed. Work on the remainder will be completed by the end of the financial
year
1983-84.
MR. LAU (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask whether we will
improve the temporary wooden toilets?
construct or
DR. HUANG (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, I think Mr. LAU is referring to toilets in squatter areas as Council has very few toilets built of wood.
MR. LAU (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, I think we still have some wooden toilets in the less developed areas such as Kwun Tong or Wong Tai Sin.
DR. HUANG (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, I think I had better go back to my answer. For toilets with a life expectancy of less than 5 years, standard maintenance treatment is given. For those which will last for 5 to 10 years, the Government Maintenance Surveyor is responsible for the work. I don't think wooden toilets could last for over 10 years. They will no longer exist in 10 years' time. As to the toilets in the squatter areas, I think the Urban Council will assist the squatter areas to improve their hygienic standards, and some colourful toilets will be provided,
MR. YOUNG (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, with your permission, I would like to make a supplementary reply. Perhaps Mr. LAU is referring to the wooden toilets in the squatter areas. During the Clean Hong Kong Campaign, many of these wooden toilets have been replaced by fibre glass toilets and in future, all of them will be replaced.
MRS. CHOW (in English):-Mr. Chairman, in the refurbishment scheme, is special attention given to ensure that the floors of the toilets and bathhouses are not slippery?
DR. HUANG (in Cantonese): Yes, since the Urban Council has been brought to court once, we have been paying attention to this matter so as to avoid future law-suits.
MRS. Ho (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, it had been mentioned previously that the metal doors of the toilets will be replaced by fibre glass doors. Have we done anything about this? Secondly, for those that have been replaced, are they successful?
DR. HUANG (in Cantonese):—Yes, Mr. Chairman, we have carried out experiments with fibre glass doors at certain toilets and it has proved successful. So in future, we will use fibre glass in all of them.
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