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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
79
Education should be stepped up on indiscriminate spitting and littering. When new immigrants arrive, they should be educated. The Education Department provides education, publicity and seminars to newly arrived people. I hope the Urban Council and Urban Services Department can actively educate our large daily intake of new immigrants as well. Coordination from all sides will create a clean and comfortable Hong Kong. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
MR. FRANCIS TANG CHI-HO (in Cantonese): The Democratic Party supports the motion on improvements to street cleanliness and amenities.
In fact, when we proposed the three-tier system on street cleaning last June and also in the amended motion just carried, the concern was on improvement and protection of the environment. We welcome all suggestions on the direction for improvement.
We basically support Mr. Ip's motion, although some of the wording of the motion do not meet the expectation of the Democratic Party. We have not proposed an amendment, but I intend to explain our stand here.
First of all, we have reservations on manpower deployment. We feel that we should analyze existing establishment, deployment and work performance in order to get to the root of the problem. Only then can we proceed to consider the approach to the problem. It seems we should not make manpower increase the main focal point. If we do, we may run the risk of using taxpayers' money without getting value for money returns and we may have a greater burden on our hands.
The other thing is Mr. Ip's statement that the Democratic Party supports contracting out only one third of overall street cleaning duties. That ratio is the one planned and we have reservations on further enlarging it. The main reason for this is that many details of the existing contracting out system have to be discussed at the Select Committee and many problems about the system have surfaced, even financial ones including that staff pay may be affected and cases of exploitation. We need to make a comprehensive review and further testing of the system. As such, we have reservations on further expansion of the scheme.
We are pleased that Mr. Ip mentioned our proposal last June for the three-tier system of street cleaning and that for contracting out. We can see clearly that the cleaning of certain streets is not up to requirement. Environmental Protection Department staff recently attended the environmental improvement committee meeting of Kwun Tong District Board and made a report. The representative pointed out that the content of respirable suspended particles in Kwun Tong, Mong Kok etc. was rising. That shows the need for street cleaning services. As we lack equipment to perform cleaning, perhaps conditional contracting out of street cleaning services will make our streets cleaner and better.
Page 81 of 654
Page 81 or 054
Page 81 of 654
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
79
Education should be stepped up on indiscriminate spitting and littering. When new immigrants arrive, they should be educated. The Education Department provides education, publicity and seminars to newly arrived people. I hope the Urban Council and Urban Services Department can actively educate our large daily intake of new immigrants as well. Coordination from all sides will create a clean and comfortable Hong Kong. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
MR. FRANCIS TANG CHI-HO (in Cantonese):-The Democratic Party supports the motion on improvements to street cleanliness and amenities.
In fact, when we proposed the three tier system on street cleaning last June and also in the amended motion just carried, the concern was on improvement and protection of the environment. We welcome all suggestions on the direction for improvement.
We basically support Mr. Ip's motion, although some of the wording of the motion do not meet the expectation of the Democratic Party. We have not proposed an amendment, but I intend to explain our stand here.
First of all, we have reservations on manpower deployment. We feel that we should analyze existing establishment, deployment and work performance in order to get to the root of the problem. Only then can we proceed to consider the approach to the problem. It seems we should not make manpower increase the main focal point. If we do, we may run the risk of using taxpayers' money without getting value for money returns and we may have a greater burden on our hands.
The other thing is Mr. Ip's statement that the Democratic Party supports contracting out only one third of overall street cleaning duties. That ratio is the one planned and we have reservations on further enlarging it. The main reason for this is that many details of the existing contracting out system have to be discussed at the Select Committee and many problems about the system have surfaced, even financial ones including that staff pay may be affected and cases of exploitation. We need to make a comprehensive review and further testing of the system. As such, we have reservations on further expansion of the scheme.
We are pleased that Mr. Ip mentioned our proposal last June for the three lier system of street cleaning and that for contracting out. We can see clearly that the cleaning of certain streets is not up to requirement. Environmental Protection Department staff recently attended the environmental improvement committee meeting of Kwun Tong District Board and made a report. The representative pointed out that the content of respirable suspended particles in Kwun Tong, Mong Kok etc. was rising. That shows the need for street cleaning services. As we lack equipment to perform cleaning, perhaps conditional contracting out of street cleaning services will make our streets cleaner and better.
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