ENG-2003 — Page 36

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CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION

The District Management Committee serves as a forum for inter-departmental consultation on district matters and coordinates the provision of public services and facilities to ensure that district needs are met promptly. The District Officer reports regularly the work of the District Management Committee to the District Council.

Area Committees were set up in 1972 to support the Keep Hong Kong Clean Campaign and the Fight Violent Crime Campaign. Nowadays, the functions of Area Committees are to encourage public participation in district affairs, to help organise community activities and government campaigns, and to advise on issues of a local

nature.

Mutual Aid Committees are building-based resident organisations, established to improve the security, cleanliness and general management of multi-storey buildings. At year-end, there were 73 Area Committees and 3 121 Mutual Aid Committees. They provide an extensive network of communication between the Government and the people at the grassroots level.

Apart from Mutual Aid Committees, the Government also devotes time and effort to helping owners of private multi-storey buildings to form Owners' Corporations to facilitate effective management and timely maintenance of the buildings concerned. At year-end, 7 205 Owners' Corporations were registered with the Land Registry.

The Home Affairs Department has established four Building Management Resource Centres in Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories to enhance its services in building management. These centres provide information, services and advice to building owners, residents, Owners' Corporations, Mutual Aid Committees and management bodies so as to assist them in improving the standards of management, safety and maintenance of their buildings. In 2003, the four centres handled a total of 36 332 visitors, 46 091 enquiries and 283 appointments for interviews with members of professional bodies.

Twenty Public Enquiry Service Centres are attached to the District Offices, providing a wide range of free services to the public. These services include answering general enquiries on government services; distributing government forms and information; administering oaths and declarations; and referring cases under the District Council members' meet-the-public scheme, the Free Legal Advice Scheme and the Rent Officer Scheme. The Public Enquiry Service Centres and the Central Telephone Enquiry Centre served a total of 2.45 million clients in 2003.

The Electoral System

Electoral System for the Legislative Council

Under the Basic Law, the Legislative Council of the HKSAR shall be constituted by elections, and the method for its formation is to be specified in the light of the actual situation in the HKSAR and in accordance with the principle of gradual and orderly progress. The Basic Law also provides that the ultimate aim is the election of all members of the Legislative Council by universal suffrage.

The composition of the first three terms of the Legislative Council as set out in the Basic Law is as follows:-