Page 85 of 126
148
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
open stadia which will cause noise nuisance to nearby residents. So I hope the field track should be retained if it is to be re-developed. If the field track is to be taken away, I hope the Government would build a brand-new Stadium around Chai Wan, Wan Chai or the reclamation area. If it cannot be done, I hope the redevelopment project could be postponed. Mr. Chairman, I support the motion.
CHAIRMAN (in English):-The motion has been proposed and seconded. And I now put the question to the floor. But before doing so, I want to request members not to speak more than 5 minutes in order not to unnecessarily prolong the meeting and also members are reminded that they are only allowed to speak once. I shall call up members to speak in turn according to the list available to me. Now, Mr. Brook BERNACCHI.
MR. B. A. BERNACCHI (in English):-Mr. Chairman, I am personally very worried about this whole matter. On the one hand, I consider that it is a duty that we owe to the public of Hong Kong to play a prominent role at least in the management of the new Stadium. I consider that all parties to the arrangements ought to make clear, as soon as possible, that the Urban Council is not going to be left out in the cold in this matter. On the other hand however, as Chairman of the Finance Select Committee I do have my doubts as to the viability of this new Stadium and I hope that we can be advised by experts in this matter. I would hate to see our reserves diminishing because of a situation that has been, in effect, forced upon us by other people, but not one on which we must inevitably play a prominent part. We therefore owe it to the people of Hong Kong to make a success of this venture. That is all I have to say except I support the motion.
MISS CECILIA YEUNG (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, when I learnt about this news, I felt very upset as I have been working in educational sector and the Hong Kong Stadium is under the management of the Council. I think this redevelopment project is a discrimination of power of the Council and also I am worried that there will not be enough venues for school children to practise sports. I think we all agree that we have been encouraging students to achieve a balance between academic and physical pursuits. So we should provide additional venues for the students instead of reducing the number of venues available to them. I don't know what will be the future development of this case but I think we should support that if the Government insists on going ahead with the project, there should be some sort of compensation. We should emphasize the need on the physical development of students. I support Mr. Joseph CHAN's motion.
MR. PAO PING-WING (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, concerning the re-development of the Hong Kong Stadium, in the past, it had stimulated the concern of this Council, members of the public, and in particular, the school children and the educational sectors. Just now, some of my colleagues have
Page 85 of 126
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Page 85 of 126
149
already expressed their views. I agree with them and I would not repeat these points. I would just like to make 3 points. In principle, I agree to make improvement to the Hong Kong Stadium and actually not just to the Hong Kong Stadium but all facilities under the Urban Council because we know these improvements will enhance the quality of lives of our citizens and the users of these facilities. So in principle, I agree with the re-development project on the Hong Kong Stadium. But the success of this re-development project depends on one main point i.e. we must make the proposal acceptable to those who are affected. In this incident, we think three parties are affected. The ones affected most are the users including school students and sports associations. And the second party is the Jockey Club because according to the information, the Jockey Club is willing to finance the re-development of the Hong Kong Stadium and the third party is of course the Urban Council. I believe if a proposal is not acceptable to these three parties, the improvement project cannot be claimed as successful. So how can we make this project successful? How can it win my full support? I think we have to consider 3 points: Firstly, as mentioned, the issue on the cancellation of the field track. There are a lot of statistics from the educational sectors showing the importance of keeping the existing running track. It is beyond doubt that the school sectors really need this running track. We can prove this from the utilization rate in the past and the numbers of school students who need to use this track. All these data and statistics support the argument that we should keep the running track. Otherwise it would seriously deprive of these schools of using the Hong Kong Stadium. So I think the most important thing to consider now is to keep the existing track. But of course, if there are some reasons which lead to the cancellation of the running track, then I hope the Government and the Jockey Club will build another Stadium with a running track to replace the existing one. The second point concerns the financial feasibility of the project. According to the proposal, the re-developed Stadium would have a lot of facilities which are not very compatible with the existing facilities. In other words, the management of Hong Kong Stadium in future will be very important. The Urban Council must be very careful in using tax-payers' money. So we can't say at this stage whether we agree to this proposal and whether we want to take over the management of it because right now we still don't know whether it will be turned into a white elephant or not.
We were informed that the Jockey Club and the Government had already conducted a very serious and careful study of the project and they told us that the financial feasibility is doubtless. In future, the management cost would not be very high and in fact there will be revenue pouring in to subsidise other sports development projects. Of course, it is difficult to assess at this time whether such a study is accurate or not because a lot of my colleagues including myself have not received this report from the Government. Of course, I have confidence in the Jockey Club because they must have commissioned experts and consultants to conduct the study. But since we still have not obtained the information from them, it is simply difficult for us to decide whether it is really feasible and they cannot blame the Urban Council for not giving its full support
Page 85 of 126
Page 85Page 86
Page 86 of 126
Page 85 of 126
148
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
open stadia which will cause noise nuisance to nearby residents. So I hope the field track should be retained if it is to be re-developed. If the field track is to be taken away, I hope the Government would build a brand-new Stadium around Chai Wan, Wan Chai or the reclamation area. If it cannot be done, I hope the redevelopment project could be postponed. Mr. Chairman, I support the motion.
CHAIRMAN (in English):-The motion has been proposed and seconded. And I now put the question to the floor. But before doing so, I want to request members not to speak more than 5 minutes in order not to unnecessarily prolong the meeting and also members are reminded that they are only allowed to speak once. I shall call up members to speak in turn according to the list available to me. Now, Mr. Brook BERNACCHI.
MR. B. A. BERNACCHI (in English):-Mr. Chairman, I am personally very worried about this whole matter. On the one hand, I consider that it is a duty that we owe to the public of Hong Kong to play a prominent role at least in the management of the new Stadium. I consider that all parties to the arrangements ought to make clear, as soon as possible, that the Urban Council is not going to be left out in the cold in this matter. On the other hand however, as Chairman of the Finance Select Committee I do have my doubts as to the viability of this new Stadium and I hope that we can be advised by experts in this matter. I would hate to see our reserves diminishing because of a situation that has been, in effect, forced upon us by other people, but not one on which we must inevitably play a prominent part. We therefore owe it to the people of Hong Kong to make a success of this venture. That is all I have to to say except I support the motion.
MISS CECILIA YEUNG (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, when I learnt about this news, I felt very upset as I have been working in educational sector and the Hong Kong Stadium is under the management of the Council. I think this redevelopment project is a discrimination of power of the Council and also I am worried that there will not be enough venues for school children to practise sports. I think we all agree that we have been encouraging students to achieve a balance between academic and physical pursuits. So we should provide additional venues for the students instead of reducing the number of venues available to them. I don't know what will be the future development of this case but I think we should support that if the Government insists on going ahead with the project, there should be some sort of compensation. We should emphasize the need on the physical development of students. I support Mr. Joseph CHAN's motion.
MR. PAO PING-WING (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, concerning the re- development of the Hong Kong Stadium, in the past, it had stimulated the concern of this Council, members of the public, and in particular, the school children and the educational sectors. Just now, some of my colleagues have
Page 85 of 126
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Page 85 of 126
149
already expressed their views. I agree with them and I would not repeat these points. I would just like to make 3 points. In principle, I agree to make improvement to the Hong Kong Stadium and actually not just to the Hong Kong Stadium but all facilities under the Urban Council because we know these improvements will enhance the quality of lives of our citizens and the users of these facilities. So in principle, I agree with the re-development project on the Hong Kong Stadium. But the success of this re-development project depends on one main point i.e. we must make the proposal acceptable to those who are affected. In this incident, we think three parties are affected. The ones affected most are the users including school students and sports associations. And the second party is the Jockey Club because according to the information, the Jockey Club is willing to finance the re-development of the Hong Kong Stadium and the third party is of course the Urban Council. I believe if a proposal is not acceptable to these three parties, the improvement project cannot be claimed as successful. So how can we make this project successful? How can it win my full support? I think we have to consider 3 points: Firstly, as mentioned, the issue on the cancellation of the field track. There are a lot of statistics from the educational sectors showing the importance of keeping the existing running track. It is beyond doubt that the school sectors really need this running track. We can prove this from the utilization rate in the past and the numbers of school students who need to use this track. All these data and statistics support the argument that we should keep the running track. Otherwise it would seriously deprive of these schools of using the Hong Kong Stadium. So I think the most important thing to consider now is to keep the existing track. But of course, if there are some reasons which lead to the cancellation of the running track, then I hope the Government and the Jockey Club will build another Stadium with a running track to replace the existing one. The second point concerns the financial feasibility of the project. According to the proposal, the re-developed Stadium would have a lot of facilities which are not very compatible with the existing facilities. In other words, the management of Hong Kong Stadium in future will be very important. The Urban Council must be very careful in using tax-payers' money. So we can't say at this stage whether we agree to this proposal and whether we want to take over the management of it because right now we still don't know whether it will be turned into a white elephant or not.
We were informed that the Jockey Club and the Government had already conducted a very serious and careful study of the project and they told us that the financial feasibility is doubtless. In future, the management cost would not be very high and in fact there will be revenue pouring in to subsidise other sports development projects. Of course, it is difficult to assess at this time whether such a study is accurate or not because a lot of my colleagues including myself have not received this report from the Government. Of course, I have confidence in the Jockey Club because they must have commissioned experts and consultants to conduct the study. But since we still have not obtained the information from them, it is simply difficult for us to decide whether it is really feasible and they cannot blame the Urban Council for not giving its full support
Page 85 of 126
Page 85Page 86
Page 86 of 126
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.