HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
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Entertainment Select Committee and Recreation Select Committee, they might need to consider the same issue. And if we do have a consensus in all committees then perhaps we can submit that to SCWC. I think this can be done at the next meetings of various S/Cs.
CHAIRMAN (in Cantonese): What about 'in the near future'. What does that mean?
THE HONOURABLE MAN SAI-CHEONG (in Cantonese): We are talking about in the coming Select Committee meetings.
(2) MR. IP KWOK-CHUNG asked the following question (in Cantonese): Nearly 70% of the fruits consumed by Hong Kong people are wholesaled in the Yau Ma Tei Wholesale Fruits Market at the junction of Waterloo Road and Reclamation Street. The rising standard of living of the Hong Kong people has also brought about an increasing demand for fruits. As a result, the environmental hygiene of the area near the market has deteriorated as the roadsides and pavements of this busy location are always scattered with rubbish, wooden crates, iron strips and rotten fruits. These problems have always been the main concern of the residents there and the 3 primary schools adjacent to the market. Moreover, beside one of the schools there is a temporary refuse collection point in which the large heaps of rotten fruit send out bad smell thus directly affecting that school. Therefore, I would like to ask:
(i) Can the Council take some measures as soon as possible to improve the situation?
(ii) Has the Council any plan to move that refuse collection point?
PROFESSOR LEUNG PING-CHUNG, CHAIRMAN OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, the two-part question concerns the environmental problems arising from the Yau Ma Tei Wholesale Fruit Market at the junction of Waterloo Road and Reclamation Street. The first part enquires whether the Department can take measures to improve the situation.
The market itself is somewhat an anomaly in that the land use has been granted by the Lands Authority to the market vendors or permittees on a year by year basis so that vendors or permittees can have the licences renewed year by year. Neither the AFD nor this Department bear any management responsibility in respect of the wholesale market itself.
The vicinity of this wholesale market has long been plagued with indiscriminate dumping of wooden duckboards and rotten fruit as 'trade refuse' deposited by those who make their living in connection with the business, namely the hawkers merchants and lorry/container drivers. The situation is at its worst every year during summer months when water melon and other fruits are in season and the import of fruit is at its peak near the lunar mid-autumn festival in August and September. This year the situation is further aggravated
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by the temporary closure of the small off-street refuse collection point (RCP) at Shek Lung Street (which serves solely the market) because it is being provided with a roof structure.
Based on the previous years' experience in handling a sudden upsurge of refuse and junk yield during the peak season of the trade, the Department has had meetings in May and July this year with two concerned associations namely the Kowloon Fruit Hawkers Association and the Fruit Importers' Association, and other government departments to discuss and co-ordinate ways to combat the problems. The two Associations promised to hire contractors to remove their 'trade refuse' for final disposal at the landfill sites. However such promises were not honoured by the parties concerned. One of the Associations had hired some workers but the workers had not done a good job. The Department has taken some actions in August and September. 53 and 67 additional refuse/junk vehicles were respectively deployed to clear the backlog against the average monthly deployment of 20 additional vehicles in April to July 1993. The number of additional vehicles required will have to depend on the season and the demand of service. Also, a special cleansing team of 8 workmen was formed to help clear and sweep the refuse/junk left on the site. In August and September this year, enforcement actions were taken by the Department, 22 intended prosecutions were taken out by district staff against lorry/container drivers for leaving behind duckboards or rotten fruits in public places.
With the passing of the peak season and the re-opening of the Shek Lung Street Temporary RCP in September 1993, the situation has recently been much improved. The new roof structure over the RCP has served to reduce the smell and dust nuisances from the refuse, while waiting and during collection, by shielding them against scorching sunlight of the hot summer months and strong wind in winter. However, given that the wholesale market will remain in-situ for a few more years before being reprovisioned elsewhere, effective measures will have to be sorted out to deal with the inherent problems by close liaison with all government departments concerned and the co-operation of the trade Associations. This Department will also closely monitor the ground situation by stepping up enforcement actions against illegal dumping of refuse/junk and tasking additional manpower and refuse collection vehicles as the circumstances require. So on the whole the situation is still not very satisfactory. This is because the Associations are not too co-operative. Up to now the Department has had no way of forcing the Associations to co-operate. We can only make use of measures to reduce the problem rather than to solve it altogether.
The second part of the question asks whether the Department has any plan to remove the Shek Lung Street RCP which abuts the perimeter wall of the Wanchai Church Kei To School.
In accordance with the Draft Land Development Corporation Development Scheme Plan No. S/K2/LDC1/A at Waterloo Road/Yunnan Lane, Kowloon, the current cooked food bazaar at Shanghai Street/Waterloo Road, which is in close proximity to the Shek Lung Street RCP and having only 8 stalls at
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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Page 61 of 132
127
Entertainment Select Committee and Recreation Select Committee, they might need to consider the same issue. And if we do have a consensus in all committees then perhaps we can submit that to SCWC. I think this can be done at the next meetings of various S/Cs.
CHAIRMAN (in Cantonese):-What about 'in the near future'. What does that mean?
THE HONOURABLE MAN SAI-CHEONG (in Cantonese):--We are talking about in the coming Select Committee meetings.
(2) MR. IP KWOK-CHUNG asked the following question (in Cantonese):- Nearly 70% of the fruits consumed by Hong Kong people are wholesaled in the Yau Ma Tei Wholesale Fruits Market at the junction of Waterloo Road and Reclamation Street. The rising standard of living of the Hong Kong people has also brought about an increasing demand for fruits. As a result, the environmental hygiene of the area near the market has deteriorated as the roadsides and pavements of this busy location are always scattered with rubbish, wooden crates, iron strips and rotten fruits. These problems have always been the main concern of the residents there and the 3 primary schools adjacent to the market. Moreover, beside one of the schools there is a temporary refuse collection point in which the large heaps of rotten fruit send out bad smell thus directly affecting that school. Therefore, I would like to ask:
(i) Can the Council take some measures as soon as possible to improve the
situation?
(ii) Has the Council any plan to move that refuse collection point?
PROFESSOR LEUNG PING-CHUNG, CHAIRMAN OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, the two-part question concerns the environmental problems arising from the Yau Ma Tei Wholesale Fruit Market at the junction of Waterloo Road and Reclamation Street. The first part enquires whether the Department can take measures to improve the situation.
The market itself is somewhat an anomaly in that the land use has been granted by the Lands Authority to the market vendors or permittees on a year by year basis so that vendors or permittees can have the licences renewed year by year. Neither the AFD nor this Department bear any management responsibility in respect of the wholesale market itself.
The vicinity of this wholesale market has long been plagued with indiscriminate dumping of wooden duckboards and rotten fruit as 'trade refuse' deposited by those who make their living in connection with the business, namely the laan merchants and lorry/container drivers. The situation is at its worst every year during summer months when water melon and other fruits are in season and the import of fruit is at its peak near the lunar mid-autumn festival in August and September. This year the situation is further aggravated
Page 61 of 132
by the temporary closure of the small off-street refuse collection point (RCP) at Shek Lung Street (which serves solely the market) because it is being provided with a roof structure.
Based on the previous years' experience in handling a sudden upsurge of refuse and junk yield during the peak season of the trade, the Department has had meetings in May and July this year with two concerned associations namely the Kowloon Fruit Laans Association and the Fruit Importers' Association, and other government departments to discuss and co-ordinate ways to combat the problems. The two Associations promised to hire contractors to remove their 'trade refuse' for final disposal at the landfill sites. However such promises were not honoured by the parties concerned. One of the Associations had hired some workers but the workers had not done the good job. The Department has taken some actions in August and September. 53 and 67 additional refuse/junk vehicles were respectively deployed to clear the backlog against the average monthly deployment of 20 additional vehicles in April to July 1993. The number of additional vehicles required will have to depend on the season and the demand of service. Also, a special cleansing team of 8 workmen was formed to help clear and sweep the refuse/junk left on the site. In August and September this year, enforcement actions were taken by the Department, 22 intended prosecutions were taken out by district staff against lorry/container drivers for leaving behind duckboards or rotten fruits in public places.
With the passing of the peak season and the re-opening of the Shek Lung Street Temporary RCP in September 1993, the situation has recently been much improved. The new roof structure over the RCP has served to reduce the smell and dust nuisances from the refuse, while waiting and during collection, by shielding them against scorching sunlight of the hot summer months and strong wind in winter. However, given that the wholesale market will remain in-situ for a few more years before being reprovisioned elsewhere, effective measures will have to be sorted out to deal with the inherent problems by close liaison with all government departments concerned and the co-operation of the trade Associations. This Department will also closely monitor the ground situation by stepping up enforcement actions against illegal dumping of refuse/junk and tasking additional manpower and refuse collection vehicles as the circumstances require. So on the whole the situation is still not very satisfactory. This is because the Associations are not too co-operative. Up to now the Department has had no way of forcing the Associations to co-operate. We can only make use of measures to reduce the problem rather than to solve it altogether.
The second part of the question asks whether the Department has any plan to remove the Shek Lung Street RCP which abuts the perimeter wall of the Wanchai Church Kei To School.
In accordance with the Draft Land Development Corporation Development Scheme Plan No. S/K2/LDC1/A at Waterloo Road/Yunnan Lane, Kowloon, the current cooked food bazaar at Shanghai Street/Waterloo Road, which is in close proximity to the Shek Lung Street RCP and having only 8 stalls at
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