ENG-1990 — Page 211

HEALTH

Hawkers

The Urban Council is responsible for the licensing of street hawkers in the urban areas and its general duties teams enforce hawker control legislation. By end-December 1990, 14 100 hawker licences had been issued, 1 100 less than in 1989. The decrease was partly due to efforts by the council to move on-street hawkers into newly-completed markets. The completion of the Kwun Chung Market in 1990 made it possible to resite 100 on- street licensed hawkers in the vicinity. Moreover, a new scheme was introduced from the beginning of the year for itinerant hawkers to surrender their licences, on a voluntary basis, in exchange for an ex-gratia payment or a fixed-pitch hawker licence or a market mini-stall tenancy. By the end of the year, 940 licences were returned under this scheme.

Following the recommendations of the Urban Council's Working Party on Hawker and Related Policies, efforts have been made to relax the issue of hawker licences. During the first phase of the licensing exercise, about 210 fixed-pitch newspaper hawker licences were issued. The issue of other classes of licences will depend on the availability of suitable sites identified to be viable and publicly acceptable.

-

Despite the unpleasant and difficult nature of hawker control work, the general duties teams continue to make sustained efforts to keep illegal hawking activities under reason- able control. In 1990, there were 9 300 court convictions against hawker offences.

The management and control of hawkers in the Regional Council area is the respon- sibility of the council. In 1990, there were 2 613 licensed hawkers in the area, a drop of 235 compared with 1989. There were an estimated 1 626 unlicensed hawkers.

Through the deployment of general duties teams, with a total staff of 725, the Regional Services Department maintains control over hawking activities. Although there are still some illegal hawking blackspots in the new towns, the problem is generally contained, and the number of licensed hawkers is gradually declining as more are given sites in the new markets.

The council has a firm policy of not issuing any new hawker licences, except Fixed Pitch (Newspaper) Hawker Licences.

Abattoirs

For many years, the Urban Council operated two abattoirs, one at Kennedy Town on Hong Kong Island and the other at Cheung Sha Wan in Kowloon, to provide slaughtering services in the urban areas.

In 1987, the council decided to privatise the slaughtering services provided by the two abattoirs on condition that it would continue to operate a meat inspection service after privatisation. The scheme involves the handing over of the Kennedy Town Abattoir to a private company during the first phase, and the closure of the Cheung Sha Wan Abattoir upon the completion of a replacement private slaughterhouse in Sheung Shui in the second phase.

After lengthy negotiations with the parties concerned, the Kennedy Town Abattoir was successfully leased out by the Urban Services Department in mid-November. Meanwhile, the Cheung Sha Wan Abattoir will continue to be operated by the council as negotiations are still in progress.

During the year 2017 000 pigs, 109 000 cattle and 12 000 goats were slaughtered in these two abattoirs which together supplied about 63 per cent of the local demand for fresh meat.

177