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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

the Council is extremely cautious in deciding what should be built. Besides finding out the needs of various districts through the district boards, constant review and improvement have been made on design, quality and planning. We also learn from the experience of foreign countries in order to provide better urban services facilities.

In the coming three years, the Council expects to spend more than $300 million on capital works each year. To achieve the target of providing facilities of higher quality at greater speed, efforts are now being made to review and improve the use of land, computerization of planning work, procedures of tender-calling and supervision of construction progress. In this respect, I would like to express my gratitude to all the staffs of the District Boards, Architectural Services Department, Urban Services Department and other departments concerned.

Possible Ways of Setting Up Provident Funds

As a tiny territory lacking natural resources, Hong Kong's achievements in social construction, especially in its economic development, are much admired by other developing countries. In fact, the highly effective labour force is one of the major factors that have brought about Hong Kong's economic miracle. Hong Kong always enjoys a higher employment rate than most developed and developing countries. Unemployment is never a source of anxiety. What worries the working class is the lack of guarantee for their living after retirement. One way to solve the problem is, of course, a commitment from government funds. But I am against such welfare system which, in fact, does not suit the local economic reality. Another solution is a provident funds system of shared responsibility between both employers and employees. I support in principle such system.

Some think that a provident funds system would increase the production cost, make our products less competitive and adversely affect our economy. Although not totally groundless, these are overanxieties for the following reasons:

(1) Both local economists and industrialists believe that as a policy, our industry should aim at medium to high-tech products of high quality to gradually replace the less expensive and inferior ones. As compared to the taxation and social benefits of countries or regions competing with Hong Kong in the production of this kind of products, we still enjoy a lower production cost even with the setting up of provident funds.

(2) With the setting up of provident funds, the working people would feel that their living is guaranteed in the long run. This does help to maintain a highly efficient labour force which is one of the main factors of our economic success.

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(3) The setting up of provident funds helps to maintain our taxation at its low level since it is not necessary to allocate money from government funds to meet such expenses. Low taxation is another key factor that brings about our success. If provident funds are to be set up and implemented, the best mode is, of course, a central system run by the government or public organizations. If social conditions and factors make it impossible at the moment, I would like to suggest an interim solution:

As the first step towards the implementation of a central provident funds system in the future, laws should be made as soon as possible to require all employers and employees to contribute to provident funds to be run by an organization recognized and supervised by the government.

Aging and Management Problems of Multi-storey Buildings

At present, there are many multi-storey buildings with a history of over 15 years in Hong Kong. Having worked with owners' corporations of dozens of private premises and residents' organizations, I have noticed that due to the aging of the buildings and the government's neglect of their management, it is difficult for the residents to handle problems like damage of public facilities, illegal structures, blocking of fire escapes and environment hygiene. This would greatly affect the residents' living environment. However, as it is not the Council's statutory duties to improve the management of the multi-storey buildings, I would like to warn here the departments concerned that in the future, management of multi-storey buildings would pose a serious problem in city management. It is an urgent task of the government to look straight at the problem and work out related policies. In this aspect, I would like to put forth the following suggestions:-

(1) To set up as soon as possible a central co-ordinating committee on the improvement of multi-storey building management. The committee should comprise Councillors of all levels, and representatives of residents' organizations and government departments to co-ordinate various pilot schemes and advise on the drafting of new policies and related laws.

(2) To set up a working party on multi-storey building management in every district board for the purposes of implementing pilot schemes and identifying management problems for reference of policy-making.

(3) To amend existing laws so as to increase the efficiency and statutory powers of the owners' corporations in the management of multi-storey buildings.

(4) The district offices should keep a closer link with residents' organizations like owners' corporations of all multi-storey buildings and mutual aid committees within the district. Adequate support and instructions should also be provided along with training courses of various levels for representatives of residents' organizations.