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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Mr. Lam MAN-FAI (in Cantonese):—
A Golden Opportunity—(Redevelopment of the Kai Tak Airport into a Harbour City)
Mr. Chairman, in these two days, our Annual Debate has been focused on political arguments. Some Members criticised others for carrying a coffin, lying on the street, breaking into an embassy and defying law and order. Some other Members counterattacked by saying that restoring the appointment system was like using old batteries. I am a pragmatist and I would say, 'No matter it is a new battery or an old battery, as long as it can give out light and heat, it is a good battery'. However, as I have said before, such arguments have changed the pragmatic Council into one that merely talks. In fact, we have a lot of things to do before Hong Kong's reversion to the motherland and we should not waste any more time on such arguments. As Urban Councillors, we should not merely talk about election, the more important thing is what we can do for the benefits of the public after we have been elected. As the sayings go, 'Let things slide' and 'Opportunity may arise when one seems to be at the end of the rope'. Mr. Chairman, you have promised to make arrangement for the 41 Councillors to meet Mr. TUNG Chee-hwa, the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, to discuss the transition of the Council. We should do our own jobs pragmatically. As Mr. IP Kwok-chung, VCUC has said, we should have less disputes and participate actively in building the SAR and implementing the Basic Law. In this year of reversion, we should bring all our potency into full play, and show the public how pragmatic we Urban Councillors are. Hence, I use 'A Golden Opportunity' as the topic of my speech for this year's Annual Debate.
'Enriching City Life' is the slogan of our Council. The Kai Tak Airport will move to Chek Lap Kok next year. This offers us a golden opportunity to redevelop the old airport site. As Urban Councillors, we should be pragmatic, forward-looking and well-planned for the future. We should make proposals to the Planning Department and other government departments on how city life can be enriched. Therefore, I would like to put forward my following proposal on the redevelopment of Kai Tak Airport into a Harbour City.
With such a huge site, we can of course build houses. Yet we also need some areas for UC facilities. Therefore, the first point of my proposal is to build a multi-purpose stadium of international standard. Hong Kong is a well-developed city and tourism is an important smokeless industry to us. With a stadium of international standard, Hong Kong will be able to host large scale international matches and competitions. This can on one hand attract foreign visitors and on the other help promote local sports. At present, our Hong Kong Stadium is facing two problems. The first one, as everybody knows, is the noise problem. This has turned the Stadium into a 'deathly silent' stadium. The concert audience have to use earphones and such concerts were also known as 'earphone concerts'. The other problem is that the number of seats is
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1 age 590 of 498
434
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Mr. Lam MAN-FAI (in Cantonese):—
A Golden Opportunity—(Redevelopment of the Kai Tak Airport into a Harbour City)
Mr. Chairman, in these two days, our Annual Debate has been focused on political arguments. Some Members criticised others for carrying a coffin, lying on the street, breaking into an embassy and defying law and order. Some other Members counterattacked by saying that restoring the appointment system was like using old batteries. I am a pragmatist and I would say, 'No matter it is a new battery or an old battery, as long as it can give out light and heat, it is a good battery'. However, as I have said before, such arguments have changed the pragmatic Council into one that merely talks. In fact, we have a lot of things to do before Hong Kong's reversion to the motherland and we should not waste any more time on such arguments. As Urban Councillors, we should not merely talk about election, the more important thing is what we can do for the benefits of the public after we have been elected. As the sayings go. 'Let things slide' and ‘Opportunity may arise when one seems to be at the end of the rope'. Mr. Chairman, you have promised to make arrangement for the 41 Councillors to meet Mr. TUNG Chee-hwa, the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, to discuss the transition of the Council. We should do our own jobs pragmatically. As Mr. IP Kwok-chung, VCUC has said, we should have less disputes and participate actively in building the SAR and implementing the Basic Law. In this year of reversion, we should bring all our potency into full play, and show the public how pragmatic we Urban Councillors are. Hence, I use 'A Golden Opportunity' as the topic of my speech for this year's Annual Debate.
'Enriching City Life' is the slogan of our Council. The Kai Tak Airport will move to Chek Lap Kok next year. This offers us a golden opportunity to redevelop the old airport site. As Urban Councillors, we should be pragmatic, forward-looking and well-planned for the future. We should make proposals to the Planning Department and other government departments on how city life can be enriched. Therefore, I would like to put forward my following proposal on the redevelopment of Kai Tak Airport into a Harbour City.
With such a huge site, we can of course build houses. Yet we also need some areas for UC facilities. Therefore, the first point of my proposal is to build a multi-purpose stadium of international standard. Hong Kong is a well- developed city and tourism is an important smokeless industry to us. With a stadium of international standard, Hong Kong will be able to host large scale international matches and competitions. This can on one hand attract foreign visitors and on the other help promote local sports. At present, our Hong Kong Stadium is facing two problems. The first one, as everybody knows, is the noise problem. This has turned the Stadium into a 'deathly silent' stadium. The concert audience have to use earphones and such concerts were also known as 'earphone concerts'. The other problem is that the number of seats is
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