HONG KONG PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
521
while the Director of Urban Services is its chief executive. However, this is only an illusion on the surface. If the UC Chairman really acts as the chairman of the board of directors, why is it that he is ranked after the Director in the VIP precedence list? If the Council is the real decision-maker, we should have a machinery to monitor the operation of the Department effectively. Over the past ten years, a lot of feign compliances have been observed in the policies endorsed by the Council. The most typical examples include a resolution passed by the Council in 1988 for hiving-off the three performing companies by stages. This resolution has not been implemented so far and no explanation has been given by the Department. More recently, although the Five-Year Information Technology Development Plan was already endorsed by the Council some time ago, the Director considered that it should start all over again. The implementation of the Plan might have to be deferred further because of the proposed structural merger. All these make me wonder if the Council is the leader or just the one to be led by the nose. I find that the Department has no fear of the Council which just looks like a toothless tiger. Perhaps the crux of the problem lies in the fact that we do not have the authority to decide on staff promotions and transfers. If the Urban Council really plays the role of the board of directors, we should have the authority to recruit the chief executive and secretary general that we consider suitable. We should be able to conduct open recruitment exercise and dismiss those who are considered incompetent. However, all these are beyond our authority because the Urban Services Department is a Government department and the 'boss' of the civil servants is the Chief Executive of the SAR. We Councillors have no say in the promotions and transfers of these civil servants. Under the circumstances, will the Department implement the policies of the Council effectively? The so-called directors and bosses are merely fine-sounding names.
In my opinion, Mr. Chairman, the debate today should focus on the ways to build up a macroscopic perspective in the construction of municipal cultural and recreational facilities and the ways to review the relationship between the Council and the Department. Only by a good performance in these areas will the Council's value of existence be positively confirmed. These are my remarks.
Mr. Chiang Sai-cheong (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, to begin with, I would like to thank the staff of the Urban Services Department for their contribution in implementing various policies of the Urban Council over the past year. Although there is still much room for improvement, I hope that they will keep up their work and do an even better job in the coming year.
We all know that the Council will have a very tight budget in the next 3 years. As Chairman of the Finance Select Committee, I would like to speak on ways to broaden the sources of income for the Council. Firstly, on rental income, some rental arrangements could be made for the Council's venues. For instance, the Hong Kong Coliseum is surrounded by large podiums on 3 sides. I hope we would seriously consider making use of these podiums to operate a
Page 526 of 654
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HONG KONG PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
521
while the Director of Urban Services is its chief executive. However, this is only an illusion on the surface. If the UC Chairman really acts as the chairman of the board of directors, why is it that he is ranked after the Director in the VIP precedence list? If the Council is the real decision-maker, we should have a machinery to monitor the operation of the Department effectively. Over the past ten years, a lot of feign compliances have been observed in the policies endorsed by the Council. The most typical examples include a resolution passed by the Council in 1988 for hiving-off the three performing companies by stages. This resolution has not been implemented so far and no explanation has been given by the Department. More recently, although the Five-Year Information Technology Development Plan was already endorsed by the Council some time ago, the Director considered that it should start all over again. The implementation of the Plan might have to be deferred further because of the proposed structural merger. All these make me wonder if the Council is the leader or just the one to be led by the nose. I find that the Department has no fear of the Council which just looks like a toothless tiger. Perhaps the crux of the problem lies in the fact that we do not have the authority to decide on staff promotions and transfers. If the Urban Council really plays the role of the board of directors, we should have the authority to recruit the chief executive and secretary general that we consider suitable. We should be able to conduct open recruitment exercise and dismiss those who are considered incompetent. However, all these are beyond our authority because the Urban Services Department is a Government department and the 'boss' of the civil servants is the Chief Executive of the SAR. We Councillors have no say in the promotions and transfers of these civil servants. Under the circumstances, will the Department implement the policies of the Council effectively? The so-called directors and bosses are merely fine-sounding names.
In my opinion, Mr. Chairman, the debate today should focus on the ways to build up a macroscopic perspective in the construction of municipal cultural and recreational facilities and the ways to review the relationship between the Council and the Department. Only by a good performance in these areas will the Council's value of existence be positively confirmed. These are my remarks.
Mr. Chiang Sai-cheong (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, to begin with, I would like to thank the staff of the Urban Services Department for their contribution in implementing various policies of the Urban Council over the past year. Although there is still much room for improvement, I hope that they will keep up their work and do an even better job in the coming year.
We all know that the Council will have a very tight budget in the next 3 years. As Chairman of the Finance Select Committee, I would like to speak on ways to broaden the sources of income for the Council. Firstly, on rental income, some rental arrangements could be made for the Council's venues. For instance, the Hong Kong Coliseum is surrounded by large podiums on 3 sides. I hope we would seriously consider making use of these podiums to operate a
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