Page 45 of 132
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
also other markets. I paid a visit to Nam Cheong Street early on and the problem actually exists. But due to limited resources available, it is impossible to carry out operations every day. We cannot ask our GDT squads to carry out duties earlier than 7.30 a.m. in the morning each day. Even if you carry out raids before 7.30 a.m., the hawkers will just shift the operation hours even further earlier. We have difficulties in prohibiting all early morning illegal hawking activities. We will certainly put appropriate control measures in place to control illegal hawking subject to limited resources available. Mr. CHEUNG also asks in determining the establishment of our new grade of hawker control officers, will consideration be made to the policy aspect of how we should control early morning illegal hawking activities? We will certainly put this question before the relevant policy working party chaired by Mr. CHAN Tak-chor. I have some information for Mr. CHEUNG that the new grade will be dedicated to the control of hawkers. They will have the sole responsibility of hawker control and they are also selected on a very strict criteria. So I think it is a positive step to solve the problems such as the early morning illegal hawking activities.
MR. STEPHEN LAU MAN-LUNG (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, just then when Mr. Ip answered the question, he mentioned on several occasions that control measures are made subject to limited resources available. Have any requests for resources allocations been disapproved by this Council as far as hawker control is concerned or have any requests for allocation of more funds to deal with the hawker problem been made?
MR. IP KWOK-CHUNG (in Cantonese):—I think as regards the question on whether requests have been put forward or not, I believe we have limited resources. Since Mr. LAU has also been the Chairman of the MST Select Committee, he should know whether the establishment of GDT staff was adequate or not. Obviously we cannot put all our resources on hawker control. As the Chairman of the MST Select Committee I notice that if we are to eliminate all illegal hawking activities, the present resources are certainly not enough.
THE HON. FREDERICK FUNG KIN-KEE (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, I have a question through you to Mr. Ip. The early morning illegal hawking activities threaten the viability of Nam Cheong Street and Tung Chau Street Markets. The lessees have lodged complaints in this regard to me and the Department. The illegal hawkers will disappear when our GDT staff are present. We have considered the possibility of advancing the duty hours of GDTs. In the reply, the GDT staff report duty at 7.30 a.m. but they have to report duty to Sai Yee Street headquarters before they can carry out their duties. Can we advance their reporting duty hours at 7.00 a.m.? Mr. IP also mentioned that in future we will have 2260 hawker control officers. Can we simply ask the officers not to report duty to the headquarters, and they just go straight to the market so that we can have people on patrol right at 7.30 a.m. Secondly, as for the new posts of 2260 to be created, can we consider deploying more staff to control the early morning illegal hawking activities as we all know that Sham Shui Po is always a hawker black spot.
MR. IP KWOK-CHUNG (in Cantonese):—For the first question, I do not think we can do that. When GDT staff commence a day's work, they must report duty to their headquarters for preparations and for receiving instructions. I have discussed this issue with the Department and they told me that the procedure is indispensable. So if you ask the GDT staff members to go straight to the markets instead of going to the headquarters, that is simply not possible. As for the number of posts to be created, I can tell Mr. FUNG that of the 2260 posts, only 1639 are under the jurisdiction of the UC and the rest belongs to the RC. So we will not have so many officers as mentioned. Now we have only about 3000 GDT staff. At present, the GDT staff are not solely for hawker control. That has some bearing as well.
MR. MA LEE-WO (in Cantonese):—I would like to return to the questions on Lai Wan Market. According to Mr. Ip's reply, three joint operations with the police are conducted each month. As in Mong Kok, we have increased the number of operations to 6 times a month. But then the efforts cannot be maintained over a long period of time and the problem cannot be eliminated. Illegal hawking has to do with street management. I have talked to senior officers in the USD. Because the problem also has a bearing on traffic problems and other related issues, will the Department liaise with other Government departments to come up with a comprehensive measure to control illegal hawkings in the vicinity of Lai Wan Market? Concerning the peak trading hours from 7.30 a.m. to 11.30 a.m. and 3.30 p.m. to 7 p.m., I do not understand why these are called peak trading hours? For illegal hawkers, these are not peak hours at all. My observation is that it is from 5.30 to 7.30 a.m. in the morning and 7 to 10 p.m. in the evening after the departure of GDTs. Can an internal review be conducted on the operational hours of the GDT staff so that our manpower resources can be more effectively utilised? We are talking about carrying out operations subject to limited resources available. Will you tell the Members and the public frankly that we simply cannot do anything about illegal hawking?
MR. IP KWOK-CHUNG (in Cantonese):—Concerning the first question, I agree with Mr. MA that this is not just the responsibility for the USD, the Police have their share of responsibility as well. I will relay Mr. Ma's proposal to the Police and the DMCs, so we hope the DMC and other departments can also step up efforts in monitoring the situation.
The second question is about the peak trading hours. I do not think Mr. MA's view is correct. If we do not employ GDT staff in these peak hours, say from 3.30 to 7 p.m., then the situation will certainly be worse. So we are talking about the hours when the maximum number of patrons are around. We want to protect our lessees in the markets so that they can carry out a viable business.
Page 45 of 132
Page 46 of 132
Page 45 of 132
Page 45 of 132
99
98
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
also other markets. I paid a visit to Nam Cheong Street early on and the problem actually exists. But due to limited resources available, it is impossible to carry out operations every day. We cannot ask our GDT squads to carry out duties carlier than 7.30 a.m. in the morning each day. Even if you carry out raids before 7.30 a.m., the hawkers will just shift the operation hours even further earlier. We have difficulties in prohibiting all early morning illegal hawking activities. We will certainly put appropriate control measures in place to control illegal hawking subject to limited resources available. Mr. CHEUNG also asks in determining the establishment of our new grade of hawker control officers, will consideration be made to the policy aspect of how we should control early morning illegal hawking activities? We will certainly put this question before the relevant policy working party chaired by Mr. CHAN Tak-chor. I have some information for Mr. CHEUNG that the new grade will be dedicated in the control of hawkers. They will have the sole responsibility of hawker control and they are also selected on a very strict criteria. So I think it is a positive step to solve the problems such as the early morning illegal hawking activities.
MR. STEPHEN LAU MAN-LUNG (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, just then when Mr. Ip answered the question, he mentioned on several occasions that control measures are made subject to limited resources available. Have any requests for resources allocations be disapproved by this Council as far as hawker control is concerned or have any requests for allocation of more funds to deal with the hawker problem been made?
MR. IP KWOK-CHUNG (in Cantonese):—I think as regards the question on whether requests have been put forward or not, I believe we have limited resources. Since Mr. LAU has also been the Chairman of the MST Select Committee, he should know whether the establishment of GDT staff was adequate or not. Obviously we cannot put all our resources on hawker control. As the Chairman of the MST Select Committee I notice that if we are to eliminate all illegal hawking activities, the present resources are certainly not enough.
THE HON. FREDERICK FUNG KIN-KEE (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, I have a question through you to Mr. Ir. The early morning illegal hawking activities threaten the viability of Nam Cheong Street and Tung Chau Street Markets. The lessees have lodged complaints in this regard to me and the Department. The illegal hawkers will disappear when our GDT staff are present. We have considered the possibility of advancing the duty hours of GDTs. In the reply, the GDT staff report duty at 7.30 a.m. but they have to report duty to Sai Yee Street headquarters before they can carry out their duties. Can we advance their reporting duty hours at 7.00 a.m.? Mr. IP also mentioned that in future we will have 2 260 hawker control officers. Can we simply ask the officers not to report duty to the headquarters, and they just go straight to the market so that we can have people on patrol right at 7.30 a.m. Secondly, as for the new posts of 2 260 to
Page 45 of 132
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
be created, can we consider deploying more staff to control the early morning illegal hawking activities as we all know that Sham Shui Po is always a hawker black spot.
MR. IP KWOK-CHUNG (in Cantonese):-For the first question, I do not think we can do that. When GDT staff commence a day's work, they must report duty to their headquarters for preparations and for receiving instructions. I have discussed this issue with the Department and they told me that the procedure is indispensable. So if you ask the GDT staff members to go straight to the markets instead of going to the headquarters, that is simply not possible. As for the number of posts to be created, I can tell Mr. FUNG that of the 2 260 posts, only 1 639 are under the jurisdiction of the UC and the rest belongs to the RC. So we will not have so many officers as mentioned. Now we have only about 3 000 GDT staff. At present, the GDT staff are not solely for hawker control. That has some bearing as well.
MR. MA LEE-wo (in Cantonese):—I would like to return to the questions on Lai Wan Market. According to Mr. Ip's reply, three joint operations with the police are conducted each month. As in Mong Kok, we have increased the number of operations to 6 times a month. But then the efforts cannot be maintained over a long period of time and the problem cannot be eliminated. Illegal hawking has to do with street management. I have talked to senior officers in the USD. Because the problem also has a bearing on traffic problems and other related issues, will the Department liaise with other Government departments to come up with a comprehensive measure to control illegal hawkings in the vicinity of Lai Wan Market? Concerning the peak trading hours from 7.30 a.m. to 11.30 a.m. and 3.30 p.m. to 7 p.m., I do not understand why these are called peak trading hours? For illegal hawkers, these are not peak hours at all. My observation is that it is from 5.30 to 7.30 a.m. in the morning and 7 to 10 p.m. in the evening after the departure of GDTs. Can an internal review be conducted on the operational hours of the GDT staff so that our manpower resources can be more effectively utilised? We are talking about carrying out operations subject to limited resources available. Will you tell the Members and the public frankly that we simply cannot do anything about illegal hawking?
MR. IP KWOK-CHUNG (in Cantonese):-Concerning the first question, I agree with Mr. MA that this is not just the responsibility for the USD, the Police have their share of responsibility as well. I will relay Mr. Ma's proposal to the Police and the DMCs, so we hope the DMC and other departments can also step up efforts in monitoring the situation.
The second question is about the peak trading hours. I do not think Mr. MA's view is correct. If we do not employ GDT staff in these peak hours, say from 3.30 to 7 p.m., then the situation will certainly be worse. So we are talking about the hours when the maximum number of patrons are around. We want to protect our lessees in the markets so that they can carry out a viable business.
Page 45 of 132
Page 45Page 46
Page 46 of 132
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.