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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
In Hong Kong, most of the streets and pavements are paved with 'Besser bricks' which are made of sand. There is a narrow gap in every brick, allowing waste water to permeate through the sand making up the brick. According to the USD staff, waste water absorbed into the sand will become smelly and the smell cannot be washed away. Therefore, we do not mean that it is only the Urban Council's duty to tackle the problem of foul odour of streets. In fact, Government departments should tackle it with joint efforts.
Even if we are to increase the frequency of street-washing, i.e. to adopt the three categories proposed by Mr. NG, we cannot implement it too soon because various facilities of the Urban Council will have to be adjusted drastically. For instance, it will take some time to arrange the manpower and street-washing vehicles. So, I hope that the USD will draw up certain plans as soon as possible. The monitoring mechanism in fact plays the most important role. I consider that we should adopt a monitoring mechanism. The work of monitoring should be undertaken by district staff similar to the monitoring groups for markets under the Urban Council. This system will ensure that whenever adverse environmental conditions prevail in a particular street, it can be reflected to the relevant parties as soon as possible. With these remarks, I support the motion.
MS. JENNIFER CHOW KIT-BING (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, the Urban Council has been playing an important role in preserving the environmental hygiene and the tidiness of Hong Kong. Street-washing service is the most important part in keeping the city tidy and protecting the health of citizens. The traffic flow is very heavy in Hong Kong. Traffic congestion is very common. So, streets require constant cleansing. Since the workload of cleansing is very heavy, many streets that are heavily polluted are not adequately cared for and the environmental hygiene is therefore adversely affected. In the long run, it is unavoidable that street users would be dissatisfied with the situation. They would tend to underrate the achievements of the Department and the Council. The level of traffic flow, pedestrian flow and pollution vary from street to street. Therefore, it is necessary to set the frequency of street-washing according to actual needs.
I agree with setting a time-table for the frequency of street-washing. The frequency should be flexibly set according to the actual needs of individual districts. Only by that can it be both sufficient and cost effective. Therefore, I agree to the categorisation of street-washing service on the basis of the actual needs of individual districts. Moreover, the experience gathered by cleansing workers in their daily work should be taken into consideration in determining the categorisation of individual streets and co-ordinate of resources.
In view of this, I think the Council may take a pilot scheme in categorising specific streets and increasing the frequency of washing in these streets, and then keep adjusting the frequency of washing according to the actual needs. I think that for the redeveloped areas and areas where there are more
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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
In Hong Kong, most of the streets and pavements are paved with 'Besser bricks' which are made of sand. There is a narrow gap in every brick, allowing waste water to permeate through the sand making up the brick. According to the USD staff, waste water absorbed into the sand will become smelly and the smell cannot be washed away. Therefore, we do not mean that it is only the Urban Council's duty to tackle the problem of foul odour of streets. In fact, Government departments should tackle it with joint efforts.
Even if we are to increase the frequency of strect-washing, i.e. to adopt the three categories proposed by Mr. NG, we cannot implement it too soon because various facilities of the Urban Council will have to be adjusted drastically. For instance, it will take some time to arrange the manpower and street-washing vehicles. So, I hope that the USD will draw up certain plans as soon as possible. The monitoring mechanism in fact plays the most important role. I consider that we should adopt a monitoring mechanism. The work of monitoring should be undertaken by district staff similar to the monitoring groups for markets under the Urban Council. This system will ensure that whenever adverse environmental conditions prevail in a particular street, it can be reflected to the relevant parties as soon as possible. With these remarks, I support the motion.
MS. JENNIFER CHOW KIT-BING (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, the Urban Council has been playing an important role in preserving the environmental hygiene and the tidiness of Hong Kong. Street-washing service is the most important part in keeping the city tidy and protecting the health of citizens. The traffic flow is very heavy in Hong Kong. Traffic congestion is very common. So, streets require constant cleansing. Since the workload of cleansing is very heavy, many streets that are heavily polluted are not adequately cared for and the environmental hygiene is therefore adversely affected. In the long run, it is unavoidable that street users would be dissatisfied with the situation. They would tend to underrate the achievements of the Department and the Council. The level of traffic flow, pedestrian flow and pollution vary from street to street. Therefore, it is necessary to set the frequency of street-washing according to actual needs.
I agree with setting a time-table for the frequency of street-washing. The frequency should be flexibly set according to the actual needs of individual districts. Only by that can it be both sufficient and cost effective. Therefore, I agree to the categorisation of street-washing service on the basis of the actual needs of individual districts. Moreover, the experience gathered by cleansing workers in their daily work should be taken into consideration in determining the categorisation of individual streets and co-ordinate of resources.
In view of this, I think the Council may take a pilot scheme in categorising specific streets and increasing the frequency of washing in these streets, and then keep adjusting the frequency of washing according to the actual needs. I think that for the redeveloped areas and areas where there are more
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