1997 — Page 456

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HONG KONG PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL

We must bear in mind the lesson we learn from the bird flu outbreak and introduce a reform to the food hygiene and quarantine system of Hong Kong. Otherwise, the massive deaths of the chickens being slaughtered in 1997 would be meaningless.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

MR. KAM NAI-WAI (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, my speech today will focus on the main scope of my work, giving my views on the redevelopment of the Central Market and library services.

Some Councillors joined the Council only recently. In fact, I mentioned the redevelopment of the Central Market in my speech last year. This year, let me talk about it once again. The Council has been discussing the redevelopment of the Central Market ever since 1976, which was more than 20 years ago. Right from the time I joined the Urban Council in 1995, I have been raising questions concerning the redevelopment of the Central Market at the UC Monthly Meetings. We also took the initiative to form a Working Group under the Council in the hope that the Central Market could be redeveloped as early as possible. Unfortunately, we were suddenly told by the Central Government in September 1996 that it had no plan to redevelop the Central Market. However, it was heard from the Government later on that it would like to relocate the Market to the police quarters in Hollywood Road. Things just went round and round and our Councillors have spent a few years' time and much energy in discussing the redevelopment of the Central Market. So far, I think the redevelopment has been confined to coverage in newspapers. It exists on paper only and has never been put into practice. This issue evidently reveals that the Urban Council is in a passive position. I believe that the Council indeed always plays a passive role-not only in the redevelopment of the Central Market but in many other cases, such as the Central Library project. Some Councillors are of the view that there is nothing wrong with the existing Central Market site. In their opinions, there should be a market in Central and the problem of availability of space for redevelopment can be ignored. However, I think this is not what the public expect. The Urban Council can only meet the community's need if it takes the initiative and strives to effect the redevelopment of the Central Market in the near future. In past negotiations, the SAR Government showed no sincerity at all and its aim was to reap the highest profit. With regard to the public's standpoint, we have sought the views of many residents of Central and they hope very much that municipal facilities can be provided at the site. The use of such a good site for municipal facilities instead of commercial development can better meet the need of members of the public. In fact, at recent meetings of the Standing Committee of the Whole Council, Councillors agreed to the Council's taking the initiative to make recommendations to the Government on the redevelopment. It happens that recently there are residential redevelopment projects in the Central District being undertaken by the Land Development