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# HONG KONG PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL

attending the advisory committee meetings and voicing our opinions there. Why is the Housing Authority more closed-in than the Urban Council? The reason is that all members of the Housing Authority are appointed, not elected. The appointment serves as a kind of 'medal' to affirm the status of certain politicians or to create certain political privileges for councillors who can then do whatever they like and derive political gains from the housing problem. Of course, they can attend whatever advisory committee meeting they wish. But they do not want councillors from other parties to attend the meetings of other estates management advisory committees and to air their views. This kind of monopoly is, in fact, a political privilege. As the Housing Department has so many problems, pressure groups and political parties will naturally want to criticize and monitor it. Even if we cannot overstep our authority to make comments, we should at least fulfill our duty by providing some sort of guidance and supervision on the environmental hygiene of all housing estates and on legislation regarding the powers of the Urban Council. We should be able to lodge charges if necessary. However, Members of this Council have always been greatly disappointed when they see the departments trying to defend one another. Both the Urban Services Department and the Housing Department are major departments. It is not surprising, therefore, that whenever the Urban Council wants to lay charges on the Housing Department on matters of hygiene, the matter always ends up in discussions only and the action is never carried out.

Let me say some more on the Urban Services Department. While this Department is not one of the 5 most unpopular departments, it is not one of the 5 most popular either. Although the Urban Services Department is monitored and supervised by the Urban Council, which is an elected body, it is not listed as one of the five most popular departments. This is not something to be proud of. The most important reason is that there are five major problems in its operation. I shall discuss these problems with you now:

First, the USD officials play politics much harder than we do. This is already evident in their handling of the Pillar of Shame incident and the application by the HK Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China for the use of the Victoria Park.

Second, this concerns their procrastination policy. They procrastinated time and again on the question of the Cheung Sha Wan Abattoir. The construction of the abattoir was already near completion but they had yet to come up with a solution on cutting costs.

Third, the Department acts in an arbitrary manner, particularly after the new Director came into office. This is evident in the Department's handling of the Central Library and the issue of transferring the booking for the Hong Kong Coliseum. Whenever something important comes up, the Department, particularly the Director, does not try to resolve the problem by consulting