HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
will not ask for increases of rates. As the Chairman is fully aware, I have now been saying for some time in meetings of various select committees that we must consider raising our own finances rather than depending on the Central Government for handouts. I noted with some pleasure from our Vice-Chairman's speech on Tuesday that he agrees. I realize the Chairman has to satisfy voters and as Mr. MONDALE just demonstrated in the United States, it is bad practice for anyone who stands for election to say he will raise taxes. However, I believe that the voters in Hong Kong are intelligent enough to understand it would be far worse if for lack of funds the Council needed to curtail its services and especially its services for hygiene and street cleaning. It is quite clear, at least to me, judging from the constant stream of complaints the Council receives about environmental matters, that not only can we not afford to curtail our services, we must increase them. And this must be paid for. At the same time it is also obvious that we are running down our reserves. We are already well below our benchmark of three months' reserves and in another year, as per the Chairman's own statement in this Chamber, we will have no reserves left at all. This is no way to run the Council.
First of all, it is essential that this Council always has a three months' reserve on hand and secondly it is essential that this Council's services of whatever nature are not curtailed. Thirdly, it is essential that this Council considers expanding its services in order to improve the average Hong Kong Urbanite's quality of life. In order to comply with these aims, which I believe are the aims of the majority of members of this Council, we must have sufficient funds and I would have thought that we must increase our share of the rates during the next couple of years by at least HK$500 million per annum. And we should now have sufficient confidence in this Council and ourselves to come out into the open and say so instead of the Chairman and Vice Chairman, as hitherto, going with begging bowl to the Financial Secretary. We can justify every penny we spend and intend to spend, so why not say so? But our present leadership is too timid and too concerned with making a good impression on Government and voters to do so.
What Government Secretaries think of the Urban Council can be seen, for instance, from the fact that the Secretary for Transport is discussing his fancy Electronic Road Pricing scheme at every District Board but doesn't bother to come and talk to the Urban Council about it. This is more than a little ironic as local Governments everywhere else in the world always incorporate transport and this Council long ago should have been made responsible for transport in the Urban Areas. But whenever this suggestion has been mentioned our leadership has shied away from it as being ultra vires. How can something as important to each one of our citizens as transport be ever ultra vires in a Council concerned with the nitty-gritty of the running of the City? If we had had real leadership, transport would have by now been run from this Council considerably better than it is being run by the Central Government. For instance, I am certain that the contacts we have with our citizens and the feedback we listen to every day would never have allowed such a thing as a taxi strike to happen.
Similarly, three years ago we had a working party discussing the extension of the Urban Council's powers to the New Towns in the New Territories. This was immediately killed by our leadership when word came down from up the hill that we were not supposed to talk about such matters. If the working party had been allowed to finish its work and made a sensible recommendation, I am sure we could have avoided the present threatening curtailment of our powers and our citizen taxpayers could have avoided the huge expense and political conflicts which will come our way with the establishment of a second Regional Council.
While I am on this subject, I must say how disappointed I was to read the reply we have received from the Chief Secretary to our suggestions on how best to handle the interfaces between the Secretary for Municipal Services, the Regional Council, and the Urban Council. It seems that in spite of the oft-expressed Governmental good intentions, Government is still trying to divide and rule. In my view, it is quite wrong that the two Councils should be reporting to the Secretary for Municipal Services. Instead, the Secretary for Municipal Services should be responsible to the two Councils. It is also quite wrong that Government does not want a formal policy board consisting of members of both Councils and the Secretary to help iron out political differences between the three, and, what is even more important, to coordinate policies where considerable costs could arise if the two Councils use different methods for cleansing, hawker control, etc.
Even in small symbolic items, our leadership falls down. With its privatisation, the City Hall carpark is full with monthly parkers and can no longer be used by concert-goers, who now have to park at the Star Ferry carpark and on windy, wet nights have the unpleasant walk from there to the City Hall when, if they were parking in the City Hall carpark, they would be able to stay dry. But the Wilson people arrogantly tell the USD that this is the way it has to be and our leaders take this lying down instead of getting up in public and pointing out that the City Hall carpark was built for the benefit of the City Hall and should be used for the benefit of those using the City Hall, and that the Wilson attitude is entirely unacceptable.
We have always needed strong, uncompromising leadership in this Council but now, when we have to stand up to the new Secretary of Municipal Services with his many powers duplicating those of this Council, we need it more than ever. We need to show the citizens, the Government, the newly reconstituted LEGCO, how essential to the life of the Community we are, and that by protecting our powers we are protecting the quality of life of all those living in the Urban Areas of Hong Kong.
Our leaders must not constantly compromise, must not constantly bow to what they think is political expediency, must not kowtow to the Central Government up the hill. They must stand up and tell the world what we are doing, why we are doing it, and why we should be doing it. They must stand up and expand our services and improve them and must not be afraid to spend money to do so.
Page 186 of 233
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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
will not ask for increases of rates. As the Chairman is fully aware, I have now been saying for some time in meetings of various select committees that we
on the Central
must consider raising our own finances rather than depending Government for handouts. I noted with some pleasure from our vice- Chairman's speech on Tuesday that he agrees. I realize the Chairman has to satisfy voters and as Mr. MONDALE just demonstrated in the United States, it is bad practice for anyone who stands for election to say he will raise taxes. However, I believe that the voters in Hong Kong are intelligent enough to understand it would be far worse if for lack of funds the Council needed to curtail its services and especially its services for hygiene and street cleaning. It is quite clear, at least to me, judging from the constant stream of complaints the Council receives about environmental matters, that not only can we not afford to curtail our services, we must increase them. And this must be paid for. At the same time it is also obvious that we are running down our reserves. We are already well below our bench mark of three months reserves and in another year, as per the Chairman's own statement in this Chamber, we will have no reserves left at all. This is no way to run the Council. First of all it is essential that this Council always has a three months reserve on hand and secondly it is essential that this Council's services of whatever nature are not curtailed. Thirdly, it is essential that this Council considers expanding its services in order to improve the average Hong Kong Urbanite's quality of life. In order to comply with these aims, which I believe are the aims of the majority of members of this Council, we must have sufficient funds and I would have thought that we must increase our share of the rates during the next couple of years by at least HK$500 million per annum. And we should now have sufficient confidence in this Council and ourselves to come out into the open and say so instead of the Chairman and Vice Chairman, as hitherto, going with begging bowl to the Financial Secretary. We can justify every penny we spend and intend to spend, so why not say so? But our present leadership is too timid and too concerned with making a good impression on Government and voters to do so.
What Government Secretaries think of the Urban Council can be seen, for instance, from the fact that the Secretary for Transport is discussing his fancy Electronic Road Pricing scheme at every District Board but doesn't bother to come and talk to the Urban Council about it. This is more than a little ironic as local Governments everywhere else in the world always incorporate transport and this Council long ago should have been made responsible for transport in the Urban Areas. But whenever this suggestion has been mentioned our leadership has shied away from it as being ultra vires. How can something as important to each one of our citizens as transport be ever ultra vires in a Council concerned with the nitty gritty of the running of the City? If we had had real leadership transport would have by now be run from this Council considerably better than it is being run by the Central Government. For instance, I am certain that the contacts we have with our citizens and the feedback we listen to every day would never have allowed such a thing as a taxi strike to happen.
was
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Page 186 of 233
333
Similarly, three years ago we had a working party discussing the extension of the Urban Council's powers to the New Towns in the New Territories. This immediately killed by our leadership when word came down from up the hill that we were not supposed to talk about such matters. If the working party had been allowed to finish its work and made a sensible recommendation, I am sure we could have avoided the present threatening curtailment of our powers and our citizen taxpayers could have avoided the huge expense and political conflicts which will come our way with the establishment of a second Regional
Council.
While I am on this subject, I must say how disappointed I was to read the reply we have received from the Chief Secretary to our suggestions on how best to handle the interfaces between the Secretary for Municipal Services, the Regional Council and the Urban Council. it seems that in spite of the oft expressed Governmental good intentions, Government is still trying to divide and rule. In my view it is quite wrong that the two Councils should be reporting to the Secretary for Municipal Services. Instead the Secretary for Municipal Services should be responsible to the two Councils. It is also quite wrong that Government does not want a formal policy board consisting of members of both Councils and the Secretary to help iron out political differences between the three, and, what is even more important, to coordinate policies where considerable costs could arise if the two Councils use different methods for cleansing, hawker control, etc.
Even in small symbolic items our leadership falls down. With its privatisa- tion, the City Hall carpark is full with monthly parkers and can no longer be used by Concert goers, who now have to park at the Star Ferry carpark and on windy wet nights have the unpleasant walk from there to the City Hall when, if they were parking in the City Hall carpark, they would be able to stay dry. But the Wilson people arrogantly tell the USD that this is the way it has to be and our leaders take this lying down intead of getting up in public and pointing out that the City Hall carpark was built for the benefit of the City Hall and should be used for the benefit of those using the City Hall, and that the Wilson attitude is entirely unacceptable.
We have always needed strong uncompromising leadership in this Council but now when we have to stand up to the New Secretary of Municipal Services with his many powers duplicating those of this Council, we need it more than ever. We need to show the citizens, the Government, the newly reconstituted LEGCO, how essential to the life of the Community we are, and that by protecting our powers we are protecting the quality of life of all those living in the Urban Areas of Hong Kong.
Our leaders must not constantly compromise, must not constantly bow to what they think is political expediency, must not kowtow to the Central Government up the hill. They must stand up and tell the world what we are doing, why we are doing it and why we should be doing it. They must stand up and expand our services and improve them and must not be afraid to spend money to do so.
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