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MR. STEPHEN LAU MAN-LUNG (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, perhaps I did not make myself clear enough. The monthly expenditure is around $2.5 million. In paragraph 3 of my reply, I mentioned that the fixed revenue from the executive suites will give us a monthly income of around $1.4-1.5 million. During the closure period, our bar and restaurants will still be operating and there will still be advertisements. This can generate several hundreds of thousands of dollars. That is why I say that we will have quite a stable income of $2 million per month. We know that our term of office will expire very soon, but we will not evade our responsibility. We will still prepare the budget for the next financial year and in that budget we will give more details to the Urban Council. Now how should we avoid future deficits? I think we need to stick to our earlier decision that the Stadium should cater for different types of events. Apart from soccer matches, rugby sevens, community activities and so forth, we need to enhance our efforts to explore the possibility of organising concerts. In that case, we should not be having any deficit. I think I have said that already, although I might not have made myself clear earlier on.
THE HON. FREDERICK FUNG KIN-KEE (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, before the summer recess, I was asked by the SCWC to study the noise issue of the Hong Kong Stadium and we took 3 months to make our recommendations to the SCWC. One of our recommendations was that the SCWC should review the Stadium's self-financing policy as it affects the operation of the Stadium. The Secretary for Recreation and Culture, Mr. James So, also attended our meetings. He said that if the Council so wishes, he would review the policy in six months' time. Before the summer recess, the SCWC formally endorsed the recommendation to review the Hong Kong Stadium's self-financing policy after it had operated for six months. In the coming few months, the Stadium will be closed. Will that closure affect the review and if that is the case, when can we have the review?
MR. STEPHEN LAU MAN-LUNG (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, we have agreed earlier on at our monthly meetings, after the Stadium had been commissioned for six months, there would be a review. By the end of August, we had already operated for six months. We are now considering how the review should be carried out. We will take into consideration the possibility of re-examining the self-financing policy with the Central Government.
THE HON. FREDERICK FUNG KIN-KEE (in Cantonese):-I have a follow-up question. Mr. James So, when attending our meeting, promised to discuss with us the self-financial policy at the end of this year. I just want to know whether a time schedule has been set up by the Board of Governors of the Hong Kong Stadium to discuss the matter with the Central Government?
MR. STEPHEN LAU MAN-LUNG (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, we have not yet had a firm time-table. We are now preparing the budget and the financial review. If we can't do it at the next BOG meeting, I believe we will be able to discuss it in December. As regards the question of discussing the self-financing policy with the Central Government, we need to wait for the result of the report of the review. Whether or not we can re-open discussion with the Central Government really depends on the outcome of the review.
CHAIRMAN (in Cantonese):—I must add two more points. In the operation of the Stadium, there are two complicated factors affecting the self-financing policy. First of all is the turf issue. When we first talked about the review, we did not envisage that there would be such serious problems with the turf which affected the holding of football matches. As the turf is to be closed, the review has to be shelved for some time. Secondly, we have now a slight hope of overcoming the noise problem. Overseas technology may be able to help us by focusing the noise direction and, if proven viable, certain concerts may be allowed to be performed. This will also have an impact on our revenue and consequently our self-financing policy. Before these two complex factors are sorted out, the Central Government may not be in a position to consider the whole issue. That is why we have not fixed a time-table for discussing with the Central Government.
(2) MR. JOSEPH CHAN YUEK-SUT asked the following question (in Cantonese):- What was the state of cleanliness of UC venues such as parks and beaches on the day after the Mid-Autumn Festival? How much rubbish was accumulated and what damage was done to trees, grass and pitches? How much manpower and cost were required to remedy the situation? What are the causes of such pollution? What measures are in hand to tackle the problem?
MR. RONNIE WONG MAN-CHIU, CHAIRMAN OF THE RECREATION SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in Cantonese):-Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The first part of Mr. CHAN's question concerns the state of cleanliness at the Council's parks and beaches on the day after the Mid-Autumn Festival.
As were the cases in previous years, the venues on the day after the Festival were littered with huge volume of refuse (for example, containers with unfinished food and drinks, metal boxes for moon cakes, newspapers and tissue papers, broken lanterns, candles and sticks, wax stains etc). These waste materials were left over by those venue users who were inconsiderate and did not care to deposit the rubbish into the litter bins which were provided at the UC venues.
On the second question regarding the amount of rubbish accumulated, the problem was more serious in major parks. For popular venues such as Victoria Park and Kowloon Park where the Council organised large-scale outdoor carnivals, the total quantity of rubbish collected was about 30 000 kg. and 12 000 kg. respectively. At the beaches approximately 88 560 kg. of rubbish was collected on the day after the Mid-Autumn Festival. Fortunately, damage to trees, grass and pitches was minimal at these venues, although wax stains left on some of these pitches had to be removed by high pressure water jets.
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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR. STEPHEN LAU MAN-LUNG (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, perhaps I did not make myself clear enough. The monthly expenditure is around $2.5 million. In paragraph 3 of my reply, I mentioned that the fixed revenue from the executive suites will give us a monthly income of around $1.4-1.5 million. During the closure period, our bar and restaurants will still be operating and there will still be advertisements. This can generate several hundreds of thousands of dollars. That is why I say that we will have quite a stable income of $2 million per month. We know that our term of office will expire very soon, but we will not evade our responsibility. We will still prepare the budget for the next financial year and in that budget we will give more details to the Urban Council. Now how should we avoid future deficits? I think we need to stick to our earlier decision that the Stadium should cater for different types of events. Apart from soccer matches, rugby sevens, community activities and so forth, we need to enhance our efforts to explore the possibility of organising concerts. In that case, we should not be having any deficit. I think I have said that already, although I might not have made myself clear earlier on.
THE HON. FREDERICK FUNG KIN-KEE (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, before the summer recess, I was asked by the SCWC to study the noise issue of the Hong Kong Stadium and we took 3 months to make our recommendations to the SCWC. One of our recommendations was that the SCWC should review the Stadium's self-financing policy as it affects the operation of the Stadium. The Secretary for Recreation and Culture, Mr. James So, also attended our meetings. He said that if the Council so wishes, he would review the policy in six months' time. Before the summer recess, the SCWC formally endorsed the recommendation to review the Hong Kong Stadium's self-financing policy after it had operated for six months. In the coming few months, the Stadium will be closed. Will that closure affect the review and if that is the case, when can we have the review?
MR. STEPHEN LAU MAN-LUNG (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, we have agreed earlier on at our monthly meetings, after the Stadium had been commissioned for six months, there would be a review. By the end of August, we had already operated for six months. We are now considering how the review should be carried out. We will take into consideration the possibility of re-examining the self- financing policy with the Central Government.
THE HON. FREDERICK FUNG KIN-KEE (in Cantonese):-I have a follow-up question. Mr. James So, when attending our meeting, promised to discuss with us the self- financial policy at the end of this year. I just want to know whether a time schedule has been set up by the Board of Governors of the Hong Kong Stadium to discuss the matter with the Central Government?
MR. STEPHEN LAU MAN-LUNG (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, we have not yet had a firm time-table. We now preparing the budget and the financial review. If we can't do it at the next BOG meeting, I believe we will be able to discuss it in December. As regards the question of discussing the self-financing policy with the
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Central Government, we need to wait for the result of the report of the review. Whether or not we can re-open discussion with the Central Government really depends on the outcome of the review.
CHAIRMAN (in Cantonese):—I must add two more points. In the operation of the Stadium, there are two complicated factors affecting the self-financing policy. First of all is the turf issue. When we first talked about the review, we did not envisage that there would be such serious problems with the turf which affected the holding of football matches. As the turf is to be closed, the review has to be shelved for some time. Secondly, we have now a slight hope of overcoming the noise problem. Overseas technology may be able to help us by focusing the noise direction and, if proven viable, certain concerts may be allowed to be performed. This will also have an impact on our revenue and consequently our self-financing policy. Before these two complex factors are sorted out, the Central Government may not be in a position to consider the whole issue. That is why we have not fixed a time-table for discussing with the Central Government.
(2) MR. JOSEPH CHAN YUEK-SUT asked the following question (in Cantonese):- What was the state of cleanliness of UC venues such as parks and beaches on the day after the Mid-Autumn Festival? How much rubbish was accumulated and what damage was done to trees, grass and pitches? How much manpower and cost were required to remedy the situation? What are the causes of such pollution? What measures are in hand to tackle the problem?
MR. RONNIE WONG MAN-CHIU, CHAIRMAN OF THE RECREATION SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in Cantonese):-Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The first part of Mr. CHAN's question concerns the state of cleanliness at the Council's parks and beaches on the day after the Mid-Autumn Festival.
As were the cases in previous years, the venues on the day after the Festival were littered with huge volume of refuse (for example, containers with unfinished food and drinks, metal boxes for moon cakes, newspapers and tissue papers, broken lanterns, candles and sticks, wax stains etc). These waste materials were left over by those venue users who were inconsiderate and did not care to deposit the rubbish into the litter bins which were provided at the UC venues.
On the second question regarding the amount of rubbish accumulated, the problem was more serious in major parks. For popular venues such as Victoria Park and Kowloon Park where the Council organised large-scale outdoor carnivals, the total quantity of rubbish collected was about 30 000 kg. and 12 000 kg. respectively. At the beaches approximately 88 560 kg. of rubbish was collected on the day after the Mid-Autumn Festival. Fortunately, damage to trees, grass and pitches was minimal at these venues, although wax stains left on some of these pitches had to be removed by high pressure water jets.
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