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making a total of more than 6 km. Whether this ratio is satisfactory or not is another issue. As for the USD or the Council, it is necessary to seek more land when discussing the land use in urban areas with the Town Planning Board. As I have said in my reply, the Council/Department has all along been fighting for more land at the meetings with the Town Planning Board. Nevertheless, I still find that there are rooms for improvement as far as how active the Department/Council has been pursuing is concerned. For example, for some landfills areas, the Department would give up using them as UC's open space areas if we did not make the requests. Hence, I think that more could be done in this respect. Should Members know in what aspects the Department can seek more from the Town Planning Board, please let them know your recommendations, and I trust they will be happy to reflect your opinions to the Town Planning Board.
The last question concerns public housing developments. As a matter of fact, using waterfrontage to develop open space areas for public use is a matter more for the Housing Department. It is not appropriate for me to comment, to fight for it or to answer this question for the Department. Perhaps your views can be reflected to the Housing Department through USD.
MS. JENNIFER CHOW KIT-BING (in Cantonese):—Going back to paragraph 5 of the reply, which concerns the existing UC policies that the Council tries to get more land for promenade uses through active consultations with the Government, it is aimed at newly created land only. In the past, let's take the typhoon shelter of my district as an example, we did try fighting for the building of a promenade there. Yet, we met with a rebuff because of the inter-departmental land ownership. In this connection, I would like to know if the Council would consider taking an active approach in discussing with other government departments in order to acquire more existing land for promenade developments.
MR. RONNIE WONG MAN-CHIU (in Cantonese):—This is our major working direction. I trust none of you would object. Nevertheless, whether there will be any technical problems in individual cases, we have to wait for the results of interdepartmental studies. I am happy to put forward Members' suggestions and views for discussion at meetings of the Recreation Select Committee.
MR. TO BOON-MAN (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, I would like to follow-up the question about the Victoria Harbour Reclamation which makes some of our existing promenades disappear automatically. Can we ask the Department to strongly reflect that the once provided facilities have been taken away by the reclamation? At the same time, can we also ask the Town Planning Board and the Planning Department to make compensation for the land we lost?
MR. RONNIE WONG MAN-CHIU (in Cantonese):—As for the matter of quantity i.e. the compensation for the loss of promenade land because of reclamation, it has in fact been explained in paragraph 6 of my reply. Central is a good
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making a total of more than 6 km. Whether this ratio is satisfactory or not is another issue. As for the USD or the Council, it is necessary to seek more land when discussing the land use in urban areas with the Town Planning Board. As I have said in my reply, the Council/Department has all along been fighting more land at the meetings with the Town Planning Board. Nevertheless, I still find that there are rooms for improvement as far as how active the Department/Council has been pursuing is concerned. For example, for some landfills areas, the Department would give up using them as UC's open space areas if we did not make the requests. Hence, I think that more could be done in this respect. Should Members know in what aspects the Department can seek more from the Town Planning Board, please let them know your recommendations, and I trust they will be happy to reflect your opinions to the Town Planning Board.
The last question concerns public housing developments. As a matter of fact, using waterfrontage to develop open space areas for public use is a matter more for the Housing Department. It is not appropriate for me to comment, to fight for it or to answer this question for the Department. Perhaps your views can be reflected to the Housing Department through USD.
MS. JENNIFER CHOW KIT-BING (in Cantonese):-Going back to paragraph 5 of the reply, which concerns the existing UC policies that the Council tries to get more land for promenade uses through active consultations with the Government, it is aimed at newly created land only. In the past, let's take the typhoon shelter of my district as an example, we did try fighting for the building of a promenade there. Yet, we met with a rebuff because of the inter-departmental land ownership. In this connection, I would like to know if the Council would consider taking an active approach in discussing with other government departments in order 10 acquire more existing land for promenade developments.
MR. RONNIE Wong Man-CHIU (in Cantonese):—This is our major working direction. I trust none of you would object. Nevertheless, whether there will be any technical problems in individual cases, we have to wait for the results of interdepartmental studies. I am happy to put forward Members' suggestions and views for discussion at meetings of the Recreation Select Committee.
MR. TO BOON-MAN (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, I would like to follow-up the question about the Victoria Harbour Reclamation which makes some of our existing promenades disappear automatically. Can we ask the Department to strongly reflect that the once provided facilities have been taken away by the reclamation? At the same time, can we also ask the Town Planning Board and the Planning Department to make compensation for the land we lost?
MR. RONNIE Wong Man-Chu (in Cantonese):—As for the matter of quantity i.e. the compensation for the loss of promenade land because of reclamation, it has in fact been explained in paragraph 6 of my reply. Central is a good
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