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Before addressing myself specifically to the question perhaps it would be useful if I first provide a very brief background although my answer is rather long. The Working Party carried out its deliberations from 1984 and the Report and Recommendations of the Working Party were endorsed in principle by Select Committee on 21 October 1987. Two areas were not considered in depth by the Working Party and they are: the future size and form of the GDT and the provision of land both on-street and off-street for markets, for off-street provisioning of hawkers and for the creation of on-street fixed pitches. These questions were to be separately considered by the Government's Working Group on Hawker Control. The view was taken that the report and recommendations of the Working Party would be put before the full Council in conjunction with the conclusions of the Government's Working Group. If Members will bear with me I will inform them of the present situation with respect to the Government's Working Group later in this response.
Hawkers have been a serious problem in Hong Kong and have been an important concern of this Council for very many years. There are no easy or quick solutions. The development of rational and workable policies with respect to hawkers is also fraught with difficulties. The fact that the deliberations of the Working Party covered fully 34 years is symptomatic of this fact. Moreover, the recommendations of the Working Party were seen by Members as improvements only and not as total solutions. It was also understood that there would be difficulties and time would be needed to implement the policies recommended by the Working Party.
That being said, much progress has, in fact, been achieved in the past twelve months. With respect to markets, the recommendations of the Working Party are being fully taken into account on all market projects now under planning. This means first and foremost that market projects will be designed and built in terms of their viability rather than in terms of a resiting commitment which was previously the case. This also means that Council will refuse to accept sites for new markets when the location would mean doubtful viability. Smaller markets will be built principally restricted to the resiting of wet goods hawkers. Attention is also being given to improved interior design, ventilation, lighting, size of stalls and mix of commodities. Proper attention is also being paid to providing better management of markets and more effective control of market lessees. Members will be aware that dedicated commitment of GDT is now provided for all new market projects. This has assisted very greatly in the elimination of competition from unlicensed hawkers in the vicinity of the markets and Shui Wo Street Market and Po On Road Market are two examples of what can be successfully done in this area. That is not to say that there are still no serious problems with respect of our markets both old and new. One of these problems is illegal extensions inside the markets and the infiltration of unlicensed hawkers into our markets including our newest markets and I might mention Po On Road Market. The latter is in fact evidence of the effectiveness of measures being taken on the streets outside markets. Measures to overcome these problems inside the markets are now in hand. Members may also be interested to know that a consultancy studying the requirements for market facilities was undertaken late last year and the second consultancy study on the question of market management is now underway.
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With respect to hawkers, a number of policies of the Working Party have now been implemented including the licensing of newspaper hawkers which is the subject of a separate question, the reintroduction of the ex-gratia payment scheme for licensed cooked-food licensees, the new succession and transfer policy and others. A number of re-ordering exercises have been carried out in conjunction with new market projects of which I might mention the Po On Road Market and the Tai Kok Tsui Temporary Market and future re-ordering exercises under planning include those related to the new Fa Yuen Street Market Complex and the Wan Chai Road Temporary Market. Members may also wish to know that the project to computerize hawker licensing records have been completed and is operating very effectively and the project for the computerization of hawker convictions is close to completion and is expected to be operational in February 1989. It is hoped that providing magistrates with a record of previous convictions will enable the magistrates to impose appropriate penalties for unlicensed hawking which will act as more of a disincentive to unlicensed hawking.
Therefore, important progress has indeed been made in the past twelve months and much effort continues to be expended in this area including the on-going review of hawker policies, plans for the limited re-opening of hawker licensing, dealing with the question of IHLS and so on.
This now brings me to the question of the Government's Working Group on Hawker Control. The question of the future size and form of the GDT is an extremely difficult and complex problem one that has been studied on several occasions over the past decade. The present GDT, as Members are aware, has now developed into a force of considerable size and its development to its present size and scope derived from ad hoc decisions made in response to urgent needs and in the absence of alternatives. As a result, the GDT scheme is, in a number of areas, flawed and deficient. That is not to say that they have been ineffective. They have, in fact, been effective and have had to work under the most difficult circumstances. They therefore deserve our appreciation for what they have managed to achieve so far. There is, however, clearly room for improvement. To effect such improvement is in itself difficult. It is not a matter of simply wiping the slate clean and starting afresh. That is simply not possible. We have no alternative but to transform the existing organization. This subject has over the last year been studied in depth with the view to devising effective, realizable and acceptable proposals. This has required much time but I am pleased to inform Members that a paper on this subject is likely to be considered by the Government's Working Group before the end of this year, which we was promised in September by the way and it is still not ready. Even this, however, is but the starting point and any proposals acceptable to both Government and to this Council will only be capable of implementation over a
Page 97 of 182
186
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Before addressing myself specifically to the question perhaps it would be useful if I first provide a very brief background although my answer is rather long. The Working Party carried out its deliberations from 1984 and the Report and Recommendations of the Working Party were endorsed in principle by Select Committee on 21 October 1987. Two areas were not considered in depth by the Working Party and they are: the future size and form of the GDT and the provision of land both on-street and off-street for markets, for off-strect provisioning of hawkers and for the creation of on- street fixed pitches. These questions were to be separately considered by the Government's Working Group on Hawker Control. The view was taken that the report and recommendations of the Working Party would be put before the full Council in conjunction with the conclusions of the Government's Working Group. If Members will bear with me I will inform them of the present situation with respect to the Government's Working Group later in this response.
Hawkers have been a serious problem in Hong Kong and have been an important concern of this Council for very many years. There are no easy or quick solutions. The development of rational and workable policies with respect to hawkers is also fraught with difficulties. The fact that the deli- berations of the Working Party covered fully 34 years is symptomatic of this fact. Moreover, the recommendations of the Working Party were seen by Members as improvements only and not as total solutions. It was also understood that there would be difficulties and time would be needed to implement the policies recommended by the Working Party.
That being said, much progress has, in fact, been achieved in the past twelve months. With respect to markets, the recommendations of the Working Party are being fully taken into account on all market projects now under planning. This means first and foremost that market projects will be designed and built in terms of their viability rather than in terms of a resiting commitment which was previously the case. This also means that Council will refuse to accept sites for new markets when the location would mean doubtful viability. Smaller markets will be built principally restricted to the resiting of wet goods hawkers. Attention is also being given to improved interior design, ventilation, lighting, size of stalls and mix of commodities. Proper attention is also being paid to providing better management of markets and more effective control of market lessees. Members will be aware that dedicated commitment of GDT is now provided for all new market projects. This has assisted very greatly in the elimination of competition from unlicensed hawkers in the vicinity of the markets and Shui Wo Street Market and Po On Road Market are two examples of what can be successfully done in this area. That is not to say that there are still no serious problems with respect of our markets both old and new. One of these problems is illegal extensions inside the markets and the infiltration of unlicensed hawkers into our markets including our newest markets and I might mention Po On Road Market. The latter is in fact evidence of the effectiveness of measures being taken on the streets outside
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
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markets. Measures to overcome these problems inside the markets are now in hand. Members may also be interested to know that a consultancy studying the requirements for market facilities was undertaken late last year and the second consultancy study on the question of market management is now underway.
With respect to hawkers, a number of policies of the Working Party have now been implemented including the licensing of newspaper hawkers which is the subject of a separate question, the reintroduction of the ex-gratia payment scheme for licensed cooked-food licensees, the new succession and transfer policy and others. A number of re-ordering exercises have been carried out in conjunction with new market projects of which I might mention the Po On Road Market and the Tai Kok Tsui Temporary Market and future re-ordering exercises under planning include those related to the new Fa Yuen Street Market Complex and the Wan Chai Road Temporary Market. Members may also wish to know that the project to computerize hawker licensing records have been completed and is operating very effectively and the project for the computerization of hawker convictions is close to completion and is expected to be operational in February 1989. It is hoped that providing magistrates with a record of previous convictions will enable the magistrates to impose appropriate penalties for unlicensed hawking which will act as more of a disincentive to unlicensed hawking.
Therefore, important progress has indeed been made in the past twelve months and much effort continues to be expended in this area including the on-going review of hawker policies, plans for the limited re-opening of hawker licensing, dealing with the question of IHLS and so on.
This now brings me to the question of the Government's Working Group on Hawker Control. The question of the future size and form of the GDT is an extremely difficult and complex problem one that has been studied on several occasions over the past decade. The present GDT, as Members are aware, has now developed into a force of considerable size and its development to its present size and scope derived from ad hoc decisions made in response to urgent needs and in the absence of alternatives. As a result, the GDT scheme is, in a number of areas, flawed and deficient. That is not to say that they have been ineffective. They have, in fact, been effective and have had to work under the most difficult circumstances. They therefore deserve our appreciation for what they have managed to achieve so far. There is, however, clearly room for improvement. To effect such improvement is in itself difficult. It is not a matter of simply wiping the slate clean and starting afresh. That is simply not possible. We have no alternative but to transform the existing organization. This subject has over the last year been studied in depth with the view to devising effective, realizable and acceptable proposals. This has required much time but I am pleased to inform Members that a paper on this subject is likely to be considered by the Government's Working Group before the end of this year, which we was promised in September by the way and it is still not ready. Even this, however, is but the starting point and any proposals acceptable to both Government and to this Council will only be capable of implementation over a
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