1983 — Page 179

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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

If the principle of 'N.T. people administering the New Territories' is to be maintained, we may consider setting up a 'New Territories Affairs Committee' within the framework of a single council. Councillors elected from the New Territories will serve on the committee to deliberate on all the special issues concerning the New Territories.

Whether there is going to be one council or two on urban services in future, the responsibilities and powers of these councils and the District Boards should be clearly defined. This is essential in order to strengthen mutual co-operation and avoid any recrimination between one another.

Unless administratively there are circumstances beyond the knowledge of the public, otherwise it is certainly more practical and convenient to have a single council, instead of 2, to look after the urban services in all Hong Kong.

Sir, I support the motion of having one council.

MRS. GRACE HO (in English):—Mr. Chairman, today is the last open meeting I shall be attending as a Member of this Council. I therefore take this opportunity to make my swan song, a short one.

We will be hearing from many different points of views and have heard some of them already this afternoon, but I think the most fundamental and important point we must consider is what is the best solution for the community we serve. It is the public who pays the rates at the end of the day.

We should examine the financial and staffing commitments of the services to be provided, their productivity under one Council, two Councils or even more. In our deliberations it is impossible to ignore that apart from the Urban Council, there are the Heung Yee Kuk, District Boards, Legislative and Executive Councils which all have separate responsibilities and functions but which from time to time, overlap. Perhaps an overall blueprint for the future needs to be mapped out in its entirety and to debate in isolation whether or not to agree to the setting up of one or two councils in the Urban Council mode should be left to a later date.

For this reason, I support the motion before us today because the motion says 'its views on the desirability'. I support the motion on that point.

DR. KIM Y. S. CHAM (in English):—Mr. Chairman,

I. To evaluate the introduction of a regional council in the New Territories as proposed by the Chief Secretary, we must examine the pros and cons of the proposal. After all, we need to arrive at a balanced view by weighing the merits of having 2 regional councils against the advantages of having only one territory-wide council.

II. Merits of 2 Councils

HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

Indeed, there are merits in having 2 councils. As I see it, they are as follows:

(1) A regional council can be more responsive to regional needs.

(3)

(4)

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Healthy competition between the 2 councils may permit experimentation by one council which may help to set standards for the other.

Two regional councils are geographically smaller and more manageable. One may also argue that even with one territory-wide council, regional representatives in the council will push for expenditure with a regional pattern in order to show accountability to the regional community. Hence, one territory-wide council will result in the same expenditure pattern as 2 councils.

III. Present Expenditure

Before we analyse the demerits of having 2 regional councils, let us examine the present expenditure of the New Territories Services Department (N.T.S.D.). For 1983-84, expenditure of the N.T.S.D. less revenue collected totals $637 million and total estimated rate income from the New Territories amounts to $417 million. Thus, there is a shortfall of $220 million, which is subsidized by general revenue, i.e. taxpayers of the whole of Hong Kong. On the other hand, Urban Council finance is independent, financing its deficits from reserves and not subsidies from government. The shortfall of $220 million is equal to 20% of the bond borrowing proposed by the Financial Secretary in his Budget Speech recently. Thus, any increase in costs arising from the new regional council must be accountable to the average taxpayer.

IV. Merits of 1 Council

As to the advantages of having only 1 territory-wide council, the following can be considered:-

(1) Some services are collective for Hong Kong as a whole. This will permit centralization of resources. For example, Hong Kong needs only one Dance Company, one Chinese Orchestra, one Repertory Theatre Company, etc. To create a new company for each region will only result in wastages. Also, it is not desirable for the New Territories to be a mere buyer of performances, because it will have no say in the development of these services. This applies equally to presentations of visiting international cultural groups.

(2) Certain services involve a unified presentation in a ‘All-Hong Kong' venue. International sports events, such as the championship match of an international basketball tournament must be played in the Hong Kong Coliseum for its seating capacity and also the 'All-Hong Kong' image. One territory-wide council will enable even semi-final matches to be played in the New Territories, thus giving New Territories residents a chance to see international matches.

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