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Court, Wah Yuen Chuen, and Wonderland Villas etc. May I ask what are the Council's plans for the project and what progress has been made now that the site is already available?
MR. SAMUEL P. W. WONG, VICE-CHAIRMAN OF THE CAPITAL WORKS SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in Cantonese):-The Sham Shui Po District Office advised the Department in October 1985 that the Lai Wan Area Committee had demanded that the site earmarked for the proposed Lai Chi Kok Area Centre should be used for the construction of a permanent market and that a new site be found for the Area Centre in the new Lai Chi Kok reclamation area. One can see from the location plan that the site is separated from Mei Foo Sun Chuen by a major road junction. It is also located further away from Mei Foo residents than existing market facilities in Mei Foo Sun Chuen. These point to the need for a careful study of the suitability of the proposed site as a permanent U.C. market having regard to both accessibility and viability. The Department has been studying the case taking into account that a slip road cutting across the proposed site may be constructed some time after 1987 and that a short term use for the site has just been granted to a private developer by the Lands Department.
The Department is expected to complete its study shortly and its conclusions will be put to the Council for consideration.
MR. FAN (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank the Vice-Chairman of the Capital Works Select Committee, Mr. WONG for his reply, but Mr. WONG referred to the map and before I ask supplementary questions, I would like to know whether this is intentional or otherwise, whether the intention is to mislead people who refer to the sketch or whether people are given the misconception that there are three markets in Mei Foo Sun Chuen at present. Secondly, when the Council embarks on a market building project, would the Council first of all ascertain that there are no food shops, lo mei shops, supermarkets and restaurants nearby, I do not think this is the case. In Pei Ho Street, we are about to build the Sham Shui Po market and there are a lot of food shops, restaurants, lo mei shops and provision shops etc. in the immediate vicinity. The second point is let us not talk about Mei Foo Sun Chuen, but whether a community with 50,000 residents should ask or apply to have a market built. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
MR. WONG (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, I would like to answer the last part of the question first. MR. FAN mentioned the densely populated area such as Mei Foo Sun Chuen and whether Mei Foo should have its own market, of course, this should be the case. But in the early development, the developer did not reserve a site for this purpose, if you look at the plan you will see that the whole area is devoted for residential purposes. As to markets in the area, there are three small scale markets, 8 supermarkets and 24 fresh meat or fresh fish shops and we would have to consider first of all, whether the site concerned would meet the residents' needs and secondly, whether the site concerned will be cut across by the proposed slip road so that the market could not come in fruition, these are the factors we have to consider.
MR. TONG (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the fact that Mei Foo Sun Chuen is an old private development area and no detailed consideration was given to the building of markets in the initial stage because the developer put up more shops there and as this would fetch higher prices, and there are also housing estates in the vicinity. Building markets is one of the Urban Council's jobs and that we must really discuss with other Government departments concerned to see whether there are suitable sites in the vicinity for the building of the market. In Mei Foo, you will find that most of the people live there belong to the middle income group and they pay a lot of taxes and they make a lot of contribution to the economy, but they do not have even a minimum facilities and I think we should provide them with a market otherwise we are not treating them very fairly and I hope that the committee concerned would pay particular attention to this aspect.
MR. WONG (in Cantonese):-As I have said we are starting our investigation, it is not that nothing is done.
RESUMPTION OF ANNUAL CONVENTIONAL DEBATE
CHAIRMAN (in English):-I will now exercise my right of reply to the motion "THAT this Council endorse the Statement of Aims for 1986."
It is widely recognized that Hong Kong residents are now enjoying a better, happier and healthier quality of life than a decade ago. In fact, the lifestyle of the average person living in Hong Kong is envied by many who live in neighbouring countries, and the average life expectancy, according to a report attributed to WHO, reputed to be the highest in the world. We in the Urban Council should take pride in the Council having played a significant role in helping to bring this about.
To achieve its challenging long-term goals, the Council, together with its executive arm, the Urban Services Department, has made it a prime objective that those basic services that make life safe, clean and healthy have been continuously consolidated and expanded. Furthermore, by similarly updating and increasing the provision of facilities for recreation and culture, the Council has provided more and better services in other fields such as sport, entertainment and culture, thereby bringing a wide range of enjoyment to the man in the street.
It is of course difficult to quantify each and every achievement of the Council over the years. But just to give a general idea, since the Council gained financial autonomy in 1973, it has spent more than $1 billion on hundreds of capital works projects, both large and small.
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Court, Wah Yuen Chuen, and Wonderland Villas etc. May I ask what are the Council's plans for the project and what progress has been made now that the site is already available?
MR. SAMUEL P. W. Wong, VICE-CHAIRMAN OF THE CAPITAL WORKS SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in Cantonese):-The Sham Shui Po District Office advised the Department in October 1985 that the Lai Wan Area Committee had demanded that the site earmarked for the proposed Lai Chi Kok Area Centre should be used for the construction of a permanent market and that a new site be found for the Area Centre in the new Lai Chi Kok reclamation area. One can see from the location plan that the site is separated from Mei Foo Sun Chuen by a major road junction. It is also located further away from Mei Foo residents than existing market facilities in Mei Foo Sun Chuen. These point to the need for a careful study of the suitability of the proposed site as a permanent U.C. market having regard to both accessibility and viability. The Department has been studying the case taking into account that a slip road cutting across the proposed site may be constructed some time after 1987 and that a short term use for the site has just been granted to a private developer by the Lands Department.
The Department is expected to complete its study shortly and its conclusions will be put to the Council for consideration.
MR. FAN (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank the Vice- Chairman of the Capital Works Select Committee, Mr. WONG for his reply, but Mr. WONG referred to the map and before I ask supplementary questions, I would like to know whether this is intentional or otherwise, whether the intention is to mislead people who refer to the sketch or whether people are given the misconception that there are three markets in Mei Foo Sun Chuen at present. Secondly, when the Council embarks on a market building project, would the Council first of all ascertain that there are no food shops, lo mei shops, supermarkets and restaurants nearby, I do not think this is the case. In Pei Ho Street, we are about to build the Sham Shui Po market and there are a lot of food shops, restaurants, lo mei shops and provision shops etc. in the immediate vicinity. The seocnd point is let us not talk about Mei Foo Sun Chuen, but whether a community with 50 000 residents should ask or apply to have a market built. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
MR. WONG (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, I would like to answer the last part of the question first. Mr. FAN mentioned the densely populated area such as Mei Foo Sun Chuen and whether Mei Foo should have its own market, of course, this should be the case. But in the early development, the developer did not reserve a site for this purpose, if you look at the plan you will see that the whole area is devoted for residential purposes. As to markets in the area, there are three small scale markets, 8 supermarkets and 24 fresh meat or fresh fish shops and we would have to consider first of all, whether the site concerned would
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
meet the residents' needs and secondly, whether the site concerned will be cut across by the proposed slip road so that the market could not come in fruition, these are the factors we have to consider.
MR. TONG (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the fact that Mei Foo Sun Chuen is an old private development area and no detailed consideration was given to the building of markets in the initial stage because the developer put up more shops there and as this would fetch higher prices, and there are also housing estates in the vicinity. Building markets is one of the Urban Council's jobs and that we must really discuss with other Government departments concerned to see whether there are suitable sites in the vicinity for the building of the market. In Mei Foo, you will find that most of the people live there belong to the middle income group and they pay a lot of taxes and they make a lot of contribution to the economy, but they do not have even a minimum facilities and I think we should provide them with a market otherwise we are not treating them very fairly and I hope that the committee concerned would pay particular attention to this aspect.
MR. WONG (in Cantonese):-As I have said we are starting our investigation, it is not that nothing is done.
RESUMPTION OF ANNUAL CONVENTIONAL DEBATE
CHAIRMAN (in English):-I will now exercise my right of reply to the motion "THAT this Council endorse the Statement of Aims for 1986."
It is widely recognized that Hong Kong residents are now enjoying a better, happier and healthier quality of life than a decade ago. In fact, the lifestyle of the average person living in Hong Kong is envied by many who live in neighbouring countries, and the average life expectancy, according to a report attributed to WHO, reputed to be the highest in the world. We in the Urban Council should take pride in the Council having played a significant role in helping to bring this about.
To achieve its challenging long-term goals, the Council, together with its executive arm, the Urban Services Department, has made it a prime objective that those basic services that make life safe, clean and healthy have been continuously consolidated and expanded. Furthermore, by similarly up- dating and increasing the provision of facilities for recreation and culture, the Council has provided more and better services in other fields such as sport, entertainment and culture, thereby bringing a wide range of enjoyment to the man in the street.
It is of course difficult to quantify each and every achievement of the Council over the years. But just to give a general idea, since the Council gained financial autonomy in 1973, it has spent more than $1 billion on hundreds of capital works projects, both large and small.
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