1986 — Page 38

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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

MR. LAU (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask the Chairman of the Environmental Hygiene Select Committee whether he has considered that they can ask the residents in that area to place their refuse in plastic bags so that the burden of the RCP is not so much?

DR. LEUNG (in English):--Mr. Chairman, we have not actually considered for this particular district and I regard this as a general issue affecting the whole territory. If we were to introduce this scheme, then this must be carried out in all districts in Hong Kong. In this particular RCP, I do not think that the use of the plastic bags for refuse will solve the problem. Mr. Lau's point is taken and if necessary, we will discuss it in our Select Committee in the future.

MR. PETER CHAN (in English):-Mr. Chairman, I have to declare my interest because being an owner and occupier of certain offices right in Lan Kwai Fong on top of '1997'. I understand that residents, not including myself because I try to solve the conflict of interest, have suggested 2 locations for these RCPs instead of the present old toilet. I do not know whether the Environmental Hygiene Select Committee has considered these alternative sites and why not using one of those two alternative sites?

DR. LEUNG (in English):-Yes, we have considered one site, the old Diary Farm site, but the exit for the refuse collection vehicles would be difficult to manoeuvre and another site at 28 D'Aguilar Street also proved bigger in size and we turned down that proposal. I may add that in the Town Planning Board meetings, several other alternatives have also been discussed and turned down, and this Lan Kwai Fong site I think is going to be the only available site and it is the only best possible site under the circumstances.

MR. PETER CHAN (in English):—I hope it is the last supplementary. I think that the Chairman has answered the question about the scene, that is to say if properly designed, the scene will be just as beautiful as the toilet is now. Has he considered the question of smell? If it is a RCP even off-street the smell inside can be very offensive to these high class office occupiers, with the exception of myself.

DR. LEUNG (in English):—I think the future RCP with the activated carbon- filtration system, the smell emitting from it will not be worse than the existing smell entering from the toilet now situated there in the area.

MR. SULKE (in English):-Surely, the fault lies with the Government and the developers for not putting in proper rubbish handling facilities into the building site and is it not about time that we insisted that especially on old buildings we now install rubbish chutes?

CHAIRMAN (in English): Is that a supplementary? It is hard to recognize it.

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DR. LEUNG (in English):-Neither can I recognize it, Mr. Chairman, because I think it is a general issue again and it will require a LegCo amendment to impose on the developers to have built-in some of the facilities for refuse collection chamber within the multi-storeys buildings. I do not think it is within the jurisdiction of the Urban Council,

MR. PETER CHAN (in English):---One last point, Mr. Chairman. As I understand some of the residents of Lan Kwai Fong are up there, one or two familiar faces I see. This is the situation, can the Committee arrange the staff of the USD to explain this in detail to the residents concerned so that they know more about this which I think would be a good PR exercise rather than the carbon-filtration which I know very little, can that be arranged?

DR. LEUNG (in English):—If you pay attention to the first part of my speech, such briefing and consultation was actually carried out in 1985 together with the District Office. We arranged a consultation with the local residents but if Mr. Peter Chan feels there is a need we certainly can arrange a briefing on the drawings and the site and what not.

MR. PETER CHAN (in English):—I understand that Dr. LEUNG was not then the Chairman and I do not know whether it was a spelling mistake, that was not a 'consultation', that is a 'confrontation', I was not present. If this can be arranged, I hope it will be a consultation or a friendly briefing.

11. MR. PETER C. K. CHAN asked the following question (in English):-The former Tom Lee Bookshop in the City Hall Low Block has been vacant since January, while the Council continues to operate a very small bookshop in another part of the Low Block where it reduces the size of the lobby for public circulation. Why has not this small bookshop been moved to the larger premises left vacant for so long?

MR. LAWRENCE H. L. FUNG, CHAIRMAN OF THE CULTURE SELECT Committee, replied as follows (in English):-Before I answer the question, can I just clarify part of his question and i.e. the sheer fact that the bookshop is now located in the foyer of the Lower Block of the City Hall is, in fact, not affecting the public circulation whatsoever, but I admit that the size of the bookshop at the moment is less than ideal for its purpose.

It is the Department's intention to recommend to the Culture Select Committee that the currently vacant shop space should be used to relocate the Urban Council bookshop. However, operational details have yet to be finalized. Once this is done, a formal proposal will be submitted to the Committee.

City Hall is presently the Cultural Centre of Hong Kong and of Urban Council's cultural activities, the original intent was to have a shop as a catering facilities to the needs of patrons of cultural performances, i.e. they can buy records, music scores, etc.