Minutes of the 6th Meeting ofCentral and Western District Council

Date : 11 October 2012 (Thursday)

Time : 2:30 pm

Venue : Conference Room, 14/F., Harbour Building,38 Pier Road, Central, Hong Kong

Present:

ChairmanMr YIP Wing-shing, BBS, MH, JP*

Vice -c hairman Mr CHAN Hok-fung*

MembersMr CHAN Chit-kwai, BBS, JP*Mr CHAN Choi-hi*Mr CHAN Ho-lim, Joseph*Ms CHENG Lai-king (2:37 pm – 7:03 pm and 9:07 pm – end of the meeting)Mr CHEUNG Kwok-kwan (2:30 pm – 6:39 pm)Mr CHEUNG Yick-hung, Jackie (2:30 pm – 6:27 pm)Mr HUI Chi-fung (2:30 pm – 6:57 pm)Mr KAM Nai-wai, MH*Dr Malcolm LAM (2:30 pm – 8:42 pm)Mr LEE Chi-hang, Sidney*Miss LO Yee-hang (3:47 pm – 4:32 pm and 6:03 pm – 8:23 pm)Mr MAN Chi-wah, MH (2:30 pm – 9:30 pm)Mr NG Siu-keung, Thomas, MH*Miss SIU Ka-yi*Mr WONG Kin-shing (2:30 pm – 8:39 pm)

Remarks: * Members who attended the whole meeting( ) Time of attendance of Members

Item 2Mrs TAN KAM Mi-wah, Director of Home Affairs

Pamela, JP

Item 3Mr LEUNG Cheuk-man, Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene

Clement, JPMr LAU Che-wong Assistant Director (Operation) 1, Food and Environmental

Hygiene Department

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Item 7(i)Mr Wilfred AU Deputy Manager, Planning & Design Division, Urban Renewal

AuthorityMs Alice PANG Chief Assistant Secretary (Works), Development BureauMr NG Wai-keung Assistant Secretary (Heritage Conservation) 2, Development BureauMr Albert CHAN Executive Manager (External Relations), Hong Kong Jockey ClubMr LEE Man-leung Building Project Manager, Hong Kong Jockey ClubMr TANG Ho-pak Public Affairs Consultant, Hong Kong Jockey ClubMr KUNG See-chung Senior Associate, Rocco Design Architects LimitedMr YAM Ka-fai Consultant Officer, Ove Arup & Partners Hong KongMr LO Yuk-kuen Senior Project Building Engineer, Gammon Construction Limited

Item 7(ii)Mr LEUNG Ka-wah, Michael Senior Liaison Engineer, MTR Corporation LimitedMs WU Mei-fung Public Communications Manager - Project & Property,

MTR Corporation LimitedMr WAN Chung-kei Architect, MTR Corporation LimitedMr LIU Bing-sing Acting Chief Engineer, Highways DepartmentMr CHAN Gin-wing, David Senior Engineer/Priority Railway 3, Transport DepartmentMr YU Hon-chung, Chris Engineer/Priority Railway 5, Transport DepartmentMs AU Pui-yin, Rosa Senior Executive Officer (Planning) 4, Leisure and Cultural

Services DepartmentMr LEUNG King-fat, Kelvin District Leisure Manager (Central & Western), Leisure and

Cultural Services DepartmentMs CHOW Ka-wai Public Relations Manager - Project & Property, MTR

Corporation LimitedMr Bernard WONG Senior Liaison Engineer, MTR Corporation LimitedMr CHIU Chi-keung Senior Construction Engineer - Civil Engineering, MTR

Corporation LimitedMr Ken WONG Construction Manager, MTR Corporation LimitedMr NG Tak-wing Chief Engineer/Railways Development 1-1, Highways

DepartmentMr CHAN Gin-wing, David Senior Engineer/Priority Railway 3, Transport Department (sic)Mr YU Hon-chung, Chris Engineer/Priority Railway 5, Transport Department (sic)

Item 9Mr LEUNG Ka-wah, Michael Senior Liaison Engineer, MTR Corporation LimitedMiss WU Mei-fung Public Communications Manager - Project & Property, MTR

Corporation LimitedMr LIU Bing-sing Acting Chief Engineer, Highways DepartmentMr LAM Joe-shing, David Senior Geotechnical Engineer/Mines 1, Civil Engineering and

Development DepartmentMr WONG Ting-yuen Geotechnical Engineer/Mines 1, Civil Engineering and

Development Department

Item 10Mr Edmond WONG Operations Manager - Island Line and Tseung Kwan O Line,

MTR Corporation Limited

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Ms LEUNG Ho-yan Assistant Public Relations Manager - External Affairs, MTR Corporation Limited

Mr TSE How-woon, Frank Acting Assistant Director/Railways, Electrical & Mechanical Services Department

Mr CHAN Nap-sang, Nelson Chief Transport Officer/Hong Kong, Transport Department

Item 11Mr HO Ka-man, Edmond Principal Environmental Protection Officer (Mobile Source),

Environmental Protection DepartmentDr AU Sze-man, Vanessa Senior Environmental Protection Officer (Mobile Source) 1,

Environmental Protection DepartmentDr PAO Lap-yan Environmental Protection Officer (Mobile Source) 13,

Environmental Protection DepartmentMr CHAN Gin-wing, David Senior Engineer/Priority Railway 3, Transport DepartmentMr YU Hon-chung, Chris Engineer/Priority Railway 5, Transport DepartmentMr CHAN Kwok-chu, Joseph Senior Engineer/Gas Standards B3, Electrical & Mechanical

Services DepartmentMr LAW Chun-hung Engineer/Gas Standards B3/3, Electrical & Mechanical

Services Department

Item 12Mr KWOK Yam-shu District Commander (Central), Hong Kong Police ForceMr LAU Kar-ming Police Community Relation Officer (Central District), Hong

Kong Police Force

Item 13Mr KWOK Yam-shu District Commander (Central), Hong Kong Police ForceMr LAU Kar-ming Police Community Relation Officer (Central District), Hong

Kong Police Force

Item 14Ms YU Wing-lun, Kitty Principal Assistant Secretary (Civic Affairs)1, Home Affairs

BureauMr YIU Tsz-leung, Ivan Community Services Secretary, Tung Wah Group of HospitalsMs WONG Fung-yee, Assistant Community Services Secretary (Youth and Family

Margaret Services), Tung Wah Group of HospitalsMs Ngan Ching-ching Project Coordinator (Family and Youth Counselling), Tung

Wah Group of Hospitals

Item 15Mr CHIU Pit-ming, Ryan Principal Assistant Secretary (Planning & Lands),

Development BureauMr LO Cho-ki, Daniel Chief Building Surveyor/A, Buildings DepartmentMr WONG Cheung-kin Senior Structural Engineer/MBI1-D, Buildings DepartmentMs Connie WAN Manager, Property Management Advisory Centre (Central

District), Hong Kong Housing SocietyMs Yun Sin-wah Senior Community Development Manager, Urban Renewal

AuthorityMr WONG Fuk-cheung Building Rehabilitation Manager, Urban Renewal Authority

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In Attendance:Mr KWOK Yam-shu District Commander (Central), Hong Kong Police ForceMr LAU Kar-ming Police Community Relation Officer (Central District), Hong

Kong Police ForceMr MAK Chi-biu Chief Engineer/Hong Kong (1), Civil Engineering and

Development DepartmentMs LEUNG Yuen-sheung District Environmental Hygiene Superintendent

(Central/Western), Food and Environmental Hygiene Department

Mr LEUNG King-fat, Kelvin District Leisure Manager (Central & Western), Leisure and Cultural Services Department

Mr CHAN Nap-sang, Chief Transport Officer/Hong Kong, Transport DepartmentNelson

Ms CHOW Ho-kiu, District Officer (Central & Western), Home Affairs DepartmentCheryl, JP

Ms KEI Lai-ting, Grace Assistant District Officer (Central & Western), Home Affairs Department

Ms YEUNG Lai-ching, Senior Executive Officer (District Management), Central andRegent Western District Office

Mr CHAN Shing-fung Executive Officer I (District Council), Central and Western District Office

SecretaryMs WONG Ming,wai Senior Executive Officer (District Council), Central and

Western District Office

Absent with Apolog ies Mr IP Kwok-him, GBS, JP

Opening Remarks

The Chairman welcomed representatives from government departments and Members to the sixth meeting of the Central and Western District Council (C&WDC). He asked attendees to stand and observe silence in memory of the victims who died in the vessel collision incident near Lamma Island on 1 October this year.

Item 1: Adoption of the A genda (2:32 pm)

2. Members had no objection to the amended agenda, so the Chairman declared the adoption of the agenda.

Item 2: Meeting the Director of Home Affairs (2:32 pm – 3:35 pm)

3. The Chairman welcomed the Director of Home Affairs (DHA) to the meeting.

4. Mrs Pamela TAN , DHA, gave a PowerPoint presentation on district administration under the Home Affairs Department (HAD). The vision of the HAD was to serve the community in a people-oriented approach, taking the pulse of the community and enhance the

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communication between the Government and the public. Moreover, the HAD would continue to provide more support to District Councils (DCs), for example, through regular monthly meetings with chairmen and deputy chairmen of DCs to introduce policies and listen to their views, and arrangements for heads of government departments to attend DC meetings. She then briefed the meeting on the four major work areas of district administration:

(a) First is District Minor Works (DMWs). The fundamental principle was to meet the needs of the community. Resources would be pooled as far as possible for implementing major projects of larger scale to highlight the effectiveness of the DC projects. In the previous financial year, the C&WDC was allocated about $10.71 million and had endorsed more than 30 projects, of which over 20 had been completed. From this financial year, the allocation for 18 DCs had increased by 6.7% from $300 million to $320 million. The allocation for the C&WDC had even increased by 15.2% from $10.71 million to $12.34 million, a rate of increase higher than that of the block allocation, to recognise the achievements of C&WDC in DMWs.

(b) Second is district facilities management. With user friendliness in mind, the HAD had made continuous improvements in the efficiency of district facilities management and was committed to ensure the proper use of public resources. The HAD had just completed a review on the management of community halls and community centres, and put forward standardised guidelines and recommendations for the booking system, exemption of charges, penalty system, etc.. The recommendations had been being implemented smoothly in the Central and Western (C&W) District since 1 July this year. Members of the C&WDC offered valuable advice to the HAD on district facilities management from time to time, which would definitely be followed up and adopted as appropriate.

(c) Third is community involvement (CI) activities. The essence was diversity, and the most important principle was that the themes of activities should be in line with Government policies as well as public needs. Resident organisations such as mutual aid committees (MACs) were encouraged to actively participate in the activities. In the previous financial year, an allocation of $13.05 million was provided to the C&WDC for the implementation of CI activities. A total of 252 activities that could benefit residents of different ages and backgrounds with different needs were organised, and some were conducive to further promotion of local tourism. The allocation to the C&WDC for CI activities was increased by $850,000 (6.5%) from $13.05 million last year to $13.9 million this year so that the C&WDC could organise more diversified celebration activities.

(d) Fourth is enhancement of the management of old buildings in the district. Among some 3 500 private buildings in the C&W District, 1 400 owners’ corporations (OCs) had been set up and 18 resident organisations like MACs were still active. Although about 70% of private buildings (2 400 buildings) in the C&W District were over 30 years old, most of them were in relatively good condition with proper building management and daily maintenance. Only a small number of the buildings which lacked proper management and maintenance needed improvement in their condition and environmental hygiene. The Administration would continue to take proactive measures to support building owners and residents in enhancing building management and implementation of repair works. In recent years, the

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HAD had taken forward many new measures to strengthen the support for owners and OCs, which included providing assistance to OCs in procuring third party risks insurance, introducing the Building Management Professional Advisory Service Scheme, recruiting Resident Liaison Ambassadors (RLAs) for “three nil” buildings to facilitate the formation of OCs with the C&W District recruited 46 RLAs and successfully assisted two buildings in forming OCs, referring unsettled cases to the Panel of Advisors on Building Management Disputes, nominating members of management committees of OCs to participate in the LEAD Programme, and providing a subsidy of $20,000 under the Community Care Fund (CCF) to eligible OCs to deal with building management problems.

(e) Lastly, DHA emphasised that the HAD attached great importance to working with the DCs for the well-being of the community.

5. The Chairman invited Members to express their views. The major views of the Members were as follows:

(a) The Vice -c hairman pointed out that even though resources had been provided to the DCs for the DMWs, there was difficulty in the implementation due to the large number of projects planned for various districts and short staffing in the Works Section of the HAD. In fact, the Works Section was heavily loaded as the DCs preferred its service to the expensive outsourced consultancies. He recommended that the Administration reduced the cost of outsourced consultancies.

(b) Ms CHENG Lai-King pointed out that students dressed in black at the flag-raising ceremony held on the National Day were removed from the venue. She asked whether the Government had drawn up guidelines for observance by the public while watching the ceremony so as to ensure that those who wished to watch the ceremony would not meet with unnecessary obstruction.

(c) Mr CHAN Chit-kwai hoped that the Government could subsidise visits of Members. He explained that the setting up of offices had placed heavy burden on them due to the prevailing expensive rental and high salary for personal assistants. He also said that many projects were delayed because the Works Section was understaffed. He remarked that the Administration should attach more importance to the views of the DCs since it was the Government’s policy to address district issues at the local level. For instance, the C&WDC had commissioned a traffic consultant last year to study the feasibility of providing another uphill escalator, and the C&WDC has reached a consensus.

(d) Mr CHAN Choi-hi stated that the major government departments involved in the affairs of the C&W District as well as other government departments responsible for the key initiatives concerning people’s livelihood, such as the Transport Department (TD), Lands Department, Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) and Highways Department (HyD), should submit annual work plans and review reports to the C&WDC. He suggested systematising the submission of documents such that the government departments would have to submit their documents through a new mechanism. He also said that although the Government’s policy was to address district issues at the local level, the authority of the DCs was not strengthened accordingly. He thus proposed the Government

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to conduct a major review of district administration in 2013.

(e) Mr Sidney LEE said that so far the DCs were advisory bodies with no de facto power to function in full to address district issues at the local level. He recommended that the Government considered increasing the allowances for DC members and providing special funding for year-end clean-up and environmental improvement projects. He urged the Government to consider revitalising the Western District Magistracy Building for community use.

(f) Mr MAN Chi-wah shared his experience gained from attending seminars on OC management, which in his view should be promoted as they allowed exchanges of views among property owners on building management. He also recognised the RLA Scheme as a good measure that helped property owners address their concerns and form OCs. He suggested the Administration to further examine the management of rear lanes within private lots in the future. On DMWs, the difficulty in the implementation lay in the shortage of manpower. As Members were reluctant to use the consultancy services, which in their view were too costly, it made the staff shortage problem intractable. He suggested that the Administration should help facilitate the implementation of DMWs through centralised staff deployment and increase of manpower.

(g) Mr Joseph CHAN commented on the three aspects. As regards district administration, he commended the dedication of the Central and Western District Office (C&W DO) to serving the community in a people-oriented approach and offering help to local residents despite the constraints of objective factors. He realised that it was no easy task to address district issues at the local level because the C&W DO required coordination and assistance of other professional government departments. Therefore, the Government had to look into the problem and expand the power of District Officers. Also, the DMWs were of considerable benefit to local residents. As for the greater increase in the allocation to the C&W District than other districts, he said that the C&W District was an old district which involved more complementary works for redevelopments, preservation of the many local monuments with cultural and historical value as well as substantial greening for the mountainous terrain. It was thus reasonable to increase the allocation to the district. Regarding Members’ remuneration, he pointed out that as the allowances for Members were insufficient, they had to use their remuneration to cover the expensive office rental and the high salary for personal assistants. He asked if tax exemption could be granted for proven office expenses of DC members.

(h) Miss SIU Ka-yi said that she had not been able to set up her office due to the expensive rental and the high salary for personal assistants. She asked the Administration to review the operating expenses of DC members’ offices, office set-up costs and monthly remuneration for necessary adjustment.

(i) Mr Jackie CHEUNG mentioned the hygiene problems of private streets in old districts. In the C&W District, only some 1 400 buildings had OCs and 70% of the buildings were over 30 years old. Moreover, many rear lanes of buildings were privately owned and were not provided with cleansing services by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD). The hygiene conditions there were

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poor. He asked the Administration to consider increasing resources for the cleansing of such areas and requested the FEHD to arrange for staff to provide regular cleansing services. He cited Prince’s Terrace in the Mid-levels as an example and said that the poor hygiene of the area was a result of fouling by dogs. He hoped that the FEHD would arrange for regular washing for the area.

(j) Mr WONG Kin-shing mentioned about the booklet which introduced the application procedures for a subsidy of $20,000 from the CCF. He asked why the booklet did not explain that there was no conflict between the applications for the said subsidy and those for the subsidy for purchase of third party risks insurance from the Hong Kong Housing Society (HKHS), and that applicants would not be regarded as obtaining double benefits if they applied for both subsidies. He also said that the Building Management Ordinance had been in force for many years, and there was a need to re-examine the grey areas, particularly in the aspect of the operation of OCs of small buildings, for necessary amendment.

6. Mrs Pamela TAN gave a consolidated response as follows:

(a) In response to the question about understaffing in the Works Section, she explained that the DCs were encouraged to engage term contractor because the consultant was a team composed of professionals of different fields who could provide more innovative and sophisticated designs than the Works Section. In addition, it would not be possible for the Works Section to increase its manpower as the Government had to contain the size of the civil service. She hoped that the DCs would use term contractor as far as possible. On some Members’ views that the consultancy fees was on the high side, she indicated that consultants were commissioned through open tender, so the fees reasonably reflected market prices. She also remarked that the payment for the consultancy services by using other sources of funding involved a change in the mechanism and could not be implemented for the time being. However, the issues of concerns of Members would be examined.

(b) In response to Ms CHENG Lai-king’s question, she indicated that since 2003, the HAD had already devised and put in place the “Rules on the Use of Venue” and “Rules to Observe” for the flag-raising ceremonies to be held on 1 July and 1 October every year at Golden Bauhinia Square in Wan Chai. The said rules would be displayed at various entry points and in conspicuous places at the event venue on the day of the ceremony for reference by participants. Only those who did not observe the rules would be asked to leave the venue.

(c) In response to the question about increasing the Operating Expenses Reimbursement (OER), she said that the matter lay within the purview of the Independent Commission on Remuneration for the Members of the District Councils (the Commission). Under normal circumstances, the Commission completed the review on the remuneration package of DC members and announced the results about one year before the next DC election so that potential candidates were aware of the remuneration package before deciding whether to run in the election. As an established practice, all proposed significant changes in the remuneration package of DC members should be implemented only upon the commencement of the next term of office.

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(d) In response to Mr Joseph CHAN’s question about tax matters, she explained that the honorarium for DC members was non-accountable in nature and was regarded as chargeable income. Expenses of the items covered by OER, Setting-up Expenses Reimbursements and Winding-up Expenses Reimbursements that were not reimbursed should be tax deductible. The Commissioner of Inland Revenue would consider tax exemption applications from Members if they could prove that the portion of their remuneration concerned was used for the office operating expenses mentioned above.

(e) In response to the question of Mr CHAN Chit-kwai about subsidising overseas visits of Members, she said that the matter could be reviewed by the Commission before the next DC election. She reiterated that the allocation had to be used for district affairs according to the principle of funding for the DCs, which could not be changed for the time being.

(f) In response to the question about enhancing the functions of the DCs, she revealed that the Administration was exploring a more proactive approach to realise the concept of “addressing district issues at the local level” proposed by the Government. As for the recommendation to systematise the submission of annual work plans and review documents by government departments, she opined that attendance of the heads of government departments in DC meetings for exchange of views already reflected that the Government attached great importance to maintaining close communication with DC Members.

(g) In response to the year-end clean-up and the hygiene conditions of rear lanes, she said that the Administration had provided funding for cleansing operations carried out by local residents to improve environmental hygiene. She stressed that it was crucial to have the participation of the community.

(h) In response to Mr WONG Kin-shing’s question about applying for the two types of subsidies, she reiterated that applicants who applied in parallel for the subsidy from the CCF and the subsidy for purchase of third party risks insurance from the HKHS would only receive an amount equal to one half of the difference between the two subsidies. There were no double benefits at all. She undertook to review whether the contents of the booklet could be improved. She also agreed that some of the provisions of the Building Management Ordinance might be outdated. Thus, the Administration had formed a review committee comprising members from different sectors. An interim report was being prepared, and more in-depth discussions would be allowed in the second phase.

7. The Chairman said in conclusion that DHA had made detailed responses to the questions of Members. She also agreed to further study and optimise practices related to resources allocation, building management of small buildings, subsidies for overseas visits of DC members, operating expenses for maintaining DC members’ offices, building management, etc. He hoped that the Administration would take into account the pressure of DC members in operating their offices and give consideration to the tax exemption arrangements.

8. Lastly, Mrs Pamela TAN added that the escalator link at Pound Lane, which was supported by the C&WDC, had been included as a regular escalator project under the HyD. The consultancy study for the works was launched in July this year and was expected to be

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completed in early 2013.

9. The Chairman thanked DHA for attending the meeting.

Item 3: Meeting the Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene (3:35 pm – 4:40 pm)

10. The Chairman welcomed the Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene (DFEH) and his colleagues to the meeting.

11. Mr Clement LEUNG, DFEH, gave a brief introduction on the two major areas of work, namely monitoring food safety and handling of environmental hygiene matters. As there was a large number of staff (around 10 000 civil servants and 10 000 outsourced staff) under the FEHD, a relatively higher number of 180 000 complaints were received last year. Regarding food safety, the FEHD had sped up and tightened testing on suspected food products and announced the results to restore public confidence in the food products in question. The FEHD’s original plan was to test the nutritional composition of all formula products in two years. After certain brands of powered formula from Japan were found to have lower iodine level than the prescribed requirements, the FEHD promptly announced the product names of the formula concerned, and requested a recall and suspension of sale of the products in question. The FEHD also worked with the Department of Health (DH) to conduct blood tests for children under eight years old to identify any affected children. The tests on the nutritional composition of infant formulae for babies under six months old were expected to be completed by the end of this year, followed by the tests on follow-up formula for babies and young children between six and 36 months. The Administration would introduce legislation as soon as possible to regulate the nutritional composition and food labels of all powered formula for babies and young children. With the commencement of the Food Safety Ordinance in February this year, all food importers and distributors were required to be registered and maintain records to allow swift tracing of source in case of food incidents. On law enforcement, FEHD adopted the first-lax-then-stringent practice, i.e. written warning would be issued first and prosecution be initiated as a last resort. In addition, the vetting of the Pesticide Residues in Food Regulation was completed in June 2012 and the Regulation would come into operation after a two-year grace period. On hawker control, law enforcement on hawker stalls were strengthened in the wake of the Fa Yuen Street fire last year, requiring that no stall canopies should be made of combustible materials and no overnight storage of goods would be allowed inside stalls. Besides, subletting of fixed pitches and serious obstruction were strictly prohibited. These measures had been implemented successfully in the district. The Administration had consulted the C&WDC twice about the mechanism for cancellation of licences and long-term improvement measures. The proposal was revised according to the views collected by changing licence cancellation to suspension which would last from seven to 30 days on a case-by-case basis. However, a penalty of licence cancellation should be imposed for serious offences such as subletting of fixed patches, illegal connection of electricity, making false declaration, etc. The C&WDC and local hawker associations accepted the revised arrangements in general. For the long-term fire prevention measures, specific improvement measures would be taken for individual districts according to the situation upon consultation with the public, the Fire Services Department, the Buildings Department (BD) and the DOs instead of adopting uniform guidelines territory-wide. The FEHD was preparing a preliminary proposal and would consult DCs and hawker associations about this later. The Food and Health Bureau (FHB) announced a 5-year scheme in early September this year to provide ex-gratia payments to fixed-pitch hawkers who were

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required to relocate their stalls, improve fire resistance capability or surrendered their hawker licenses voluntarily. The scheme was under internal study and was expected to be implemented in six to eight months.

12. The Chairman invited Members to express their views. The major views of the Members were as follows:

(a) Mr Jackie CHEUNG pointed out that the environmental hygiene of local private streets were very undesirable because over 70% of the local buildings were old buildings of more than 30 years old, most of which were “3 nil” buildings. Moreover, the residents were old and lacked the ability and resources to clean the private streets themselves, resulting in the bad hygiene conditions of some streets. He requested the FEHD to act according to the principle of taking special measures for special incidents and study how to help address the hygiene problems of those streets, such as weekly cleaning of those streets.

(b) Mr HUI Chi-fung had reservation about the recommendations on a number of proposed amendments to the legislation regarding fixed hawker pitches as an implementation timetable was yet to be set out. He said that the Administration should consider setting out a concrete implementation timetable for each district in consideration of its local characteristics and consult the DC concerned again about the revised proposal. He reminded the FEHD that fixed hawker pitches were a unique characteristic and community asset of the C&W District, which were gradually disappearing.

(c) Miss SIU Ka-yi reflected many views of the stall hawkers, including whether the proposal of licence cancellation of which the consultation had been conducted but consensus yet to be reached; how a balance could be struck in the business environment for the traders; whether frontline FEHD staff could exercise discretion in law enforcement, such as by making verbal warnings first; and whether attitude of frontline staff could further be improved during law enforcement.

(d) Mr Joseph CHAN first praised the FEHD staff of the district for their good performance. He then recommended that the FEHD worked with government departments other than those responsible for the management of country parks to improve the hygiene of the areas concerned. Besides, he said that fouling by dogs had an adverse impact on the environmental hygiene of the community and asked the Administration whether the problem would be addressed through publicity, punitive legislation, enhanced policies and complementary measures in addition to stepping up enforcement actions and cleaning efforts.

(e) Miss LO Yee-hang stated that the odours from the items collected by waste recyclers created nuisance to local residents. The problem which could not be solved simply with cleaning services or verbal advice required complementary initiatives at the policy level, such as a licensing and demerit point system, to deal with. To tackle the problem of fouling by dogs, she also agreed that it could be completely solved only with the facilitation of policies as well as territory-wide publicity and education.

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(f) Mr MAN Chi-wah stated that the formulation of policies was the solution to the problems posed by the waste recyclers who scattered items around and took advantage of inadequacies in legal provisions. As regards the problem of fouling by dogs, policy was required and enforcement action at night should be stepped up to achieve a deterrent effect.

(g) Mr Sidney LEE said that though existing legislation regulated only dog faeces, the nuisance to environmental hygiene created by dog urine should not be neglected. The Government needed a holistic approach to tackle the problem. He praised the performance of FEHD staff in the district. The problem with the serious obstruction of market passageways was that the market management contractors did not have the law enforcement powers, which he asked the Administration to look into. As for food safety, many products whose active ingredients were proprietary Chinese medicines would be viewed as food so long as a few other food ingredients were added. For example, Cordyceps mycelium could be sold as long as it had a food label, thereby circumventing the regulation of the licensing system even though the public would still regard such products as Chinese medicine when they purchased it. He urged the FEHD, DH and FHB to pay heed to the problem in join forces to address the possible problems brought about by such products, such as pesticide residues (mainly agricultural pesticides).

(h) Mr CHAN Choi-hi pointed out that the functions of the Urban Council and Regional Council were shared by the LCSD and FEHD upon their dissolution in 2000. While participating more actively in the work of the LCSD, the DCs could only participate in the FEHD’s work through its Market Sections or through complaints to monitor other areas of work, such as street cleaning and public toilet management. In view of the lack of a consultation mechanism, he recommended that the FEHD provided more interfaces for communication with the DCs. He proposed that the FEHD submitted the street cleaning schedule of contractors to the C&WDC to facilitate the monitoring of the work. The FEHD could also require contractors to take photos at the cleaning locations and upload the photos onto the internet. He recommended that the air conditioning facilities for Shek Tong Tsui Market be installed before summer next year to improve the business environment and reduce complaints.

(i) Mr CHAN Chit-kwai suggested that the FEHD consider assigning civil servants as street sweepers to enhance the department’s image as well as to improve the cityscape, environmental hygiene and relationship between the public and the Government. To solve the dog fouling problem, he said that the Government had to prosecute offenders and step up monitoring on cleaning staff hired by contractors to ensure that the dog urine was thoroughly washed away from the ground with clean water.

(j) Ms CHENG Lai-king opined that the procedures for handling water seepage complaints of the Joint Offices for Investigation of Water Seepage Complaints (Joint Offices), which was set up by the FEHD and BD, were very complicated, resulting in very slow progress of such cases. She asked if the Joint Offices could speed up the processing of the cases, address the seepage problems by identifying causes more accurately, and enhance cooperation among the two government departments to speed up complaints processing.

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(k) The Vice -c hairman stated that waste recyclers existed for a reason, but the problem lay in the very inadequate monitoring, and improvement in statutory requirements was required. Specific counter measures might include night-time law enforcement. Regarding the increasing complaints about fouling by pets, he suggested that arrangements be made for plainclothes officers to make prosecutions. He also recommended that the Administration conducted a comprehensive review of the outsourcing system of the cleaning services and the related monitoring system in order to enhance the quality of cleaning staff.

13. Mr Clement LEUNG responded as follows:

(a) He explained the limitations of law enforcement of the FEHD and that a significant effect could be achieved only with the cooperation of civic-minded citizens and self-disciplined shop or stall owners. Different people had different views about the law enforcement efforts of the FEHD, and the FEHD staff would continue to take vigorous law enforcement actions.

(b) In response to the problem of street obstruction by waste recyclers, he said that albeit the disturbance to environmental hygiene, the four-hour notice to the owners was a statutory requirement which must be complied with. The FEHD would strengthen enforcement at black spots of street obstruction and prosecute offenders. In addition, publicity and education measures would be implemented to call upon recyclers to be self-disciplined. He revealed that inter-departmental operations would be considered and law enforcement be stepped up upon local requests.

(c) In response to the hawker management problem, he said that in addition to stepped-up law enforcement, communication with stall hawkers would be enhanced. The advisory body comprising hawker representatives, DC members, members of the Fire Safety Committees and District Office staff would hold discussion on specific issues such as enforcement standards. The Administration would take more stringent enforcement action against serious irregularities like those that involved fire hazards.

(d) In response to the problem of fouling by dogs, he said that the Administration would tackle the issue from three aspects, namely strengthening law enforcement, promoting self-discipline as well as cleaning and follow-ups. Certain black spots would be tackled with priority in accordance with the views of local residents and consideration be given to the provision of dog parks and dog excreta collection bins. The Administration had considered introducing legislation to punish the owners of dogs that urinate on the streets, but had not done so because there were suggestions that dog urine had less impact on environmental hygiene and it was difficult for dog walkers to prevent dogs from urinating on the streets.

(e) In response to the outsourcing of street cleaning services, he said that currently about 70% of street cleaning services were performed by contractors, and the major considerations included charges and service quality. He indicated that street cleaning services would be more cost effective and flexible by outsourcing. The FEHD attached great importance to the quality of service and would take disciplinary action against non-compliant contractors. He stressed that the

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Government currently had no intention to make massive change to the ratio of contractor personnel to civil servants.

(f) In response to the problem about the cleanliness of private streets, he remarked that picking up items at those streets might cause disputes according to past experience and therefore must be handled with care. The FEHD would implement one-off cleaning measures as appropriate to deal with the hygiene problems at certain black spots and study how to enhance the civic-mindedness of the public and arouse their awareness to the importance of environmental hygiene.

(g) In response to the food safety problem, he said that the FEHD’s goal was to ensure that all foods sold in Hong Kong complied with the standard of consumption. Products would be defined as food or medicine according to the actual circumstances, and the individual cases would be followed-up by the FEHD and relevant government departments.

(h) In response to the water seepage problem of buildings, he pointed out that the aging and water seepage problems of local buildings were quite serious. When handling water seepage problems, the Joint Offices focused on whether the water seepage would cause nuisance to environmental hygiene and building safety problems. However, the cause of water seepage was very complex and difficult to pinpoint. If a prosecution was needed, the court would be satisfied only if the FEHD was very careful with evidence collection. He said that the cases could be solved more efficiently if the public had a good-neighbourly attitude and spirit of cooperation. He further explained that evidence collection would involve non-destructive methods, such as the dye tracing tests, of which the process took a longer period of time. Water seepage might involve external walls and units on upper floors, so it was not easy to determine the cause. To tackle this, the Joint Offices were looking for new technology to assist in determining the cause of seepage, and continued to increase the number of health inspectors to process the cases so as to improve the continuity of the follow-up work.

14. Mr CHAN Chit-kwai remarked that the replies of the FEHD indicating the unknown cause of seepage often hindered the progress of water seepage investigations.

15. Mr Sidney LEE reiterated that some products containing a lot of proprietary Chinese medicines could be sold as food products without registration. He hoped that the Administration would pay attention to the problem.

16. Mr CHAN Choi-hi requested the Administration to submit the work schedules of street cleaning of the contractors to the C&WDC.

17. Mr Clement LEUNG indicated that he would instruct staff of the district to follow up Mr CHAN Choi-hi’s request, and specific cases of food products containing proprietary Chinese medicines as mentioned by Mr Sidney LEE would be followed up with the DH.

18. Mr Sidney LEE said that he would provide information about food products containing proprietary Chinese medicines to the FEHD.

19. The Chairman praised the FEHD staff of the district for their good performance.

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However, hawkers in the Central District reflected to him that the law enforcement of the frontline FEHD staff were quite strict, and he hoped that law enforcement staff would make verbal warnings before prosecuting the offenders under the principle of impartial law enforcement.

20. Mr Clement LEUNG understood that the C&WDC had always attached importance to the conservation of local hawker markets and had maintained good communication with the hawkers. That said, fire safety related law enforcement was necessary and the FEHD would strike a balance taking into consideration of the operation of the hawkers for making a living. He understood that the situation was different for each district, so views of DC members on enforcement standards would be gauged via consultation. The FEHD had already prepared specific management measures for some 300 stalls in nine streets of the district, which would be submitted to the C&WDC for discussion in due course.

21. The Chairman thanked the guest for attending the meeting.

Item 4: Chairman’s R eport (4:40 pm)

22. The Chairman said that the C&WDC would hold an informal meeting on 25 October this year to discuss the paper in respect of the amendments incorporated in the Draft Sai Ying Pun & Sheung Wan Outline Zoning Plan No. S/H3/28 submitted by the Planning Department. The consultation period for the paper was from 5 October to 12 December this year. The Secretariat had already e-mailed the meeting agenda and paper to Members and invite them to attend the meeting.

Item 5: Confirmation of the M inutes of the 5 th C&WDC M eeting H eld on 12 July 2012 (4: 40 pm)

23. The Chairman said that the Secretariat had already sent the draft of the minutes of the 5th

meeting to Members on 21 September 2013 by e-mail and post. The proposed amendments put forward by Mr Joseph CHAN had been incorporated in a paper tabled at the meeting for consideration of the Members. Members had no comment on the amended draft minutes of meeting, so the Chairman declared the confirmation of the minutes.

Item 6: Confirmation of the Minutes of the 1st Special C&WDC Meeting H eld on 26 July 2012 (4:40 pm – 4:42 pm)

24. The Chairman said that the Secretariat had already sent the draft minutes of the 1st special meeting to Members on 21 September 2013 by e-mail and post, of which Members proposed no amendment. T he Chairman declared the confirmation of the minutes.

25. The Chairman reported that all the follow-up issues raised at the 1st Special meeting had been addressed. The Secretariat had e-mailed the supplementary documents submitted by the TD to Members on 31 July and 3 August 2013. In addition, a written reply regarding road signs near St. Anthony’s School and the progress report submitted by the TD on improvement measures for pedestrian safety at Eastern Street had already been e-mailed to Members on 4 and 14 September respectively.

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Item 7: Standing I tems

7(i) Conserving Central(C&WDC Paper No. 123/2012)Revitalisation of the Central Police Station Compound – Proposed Footbridge Connection to the Mid-Levels Escalators

(C&WDC Paper No. 124/2012) (4:42 pm – 5:45 pm)

26. The Chairman welcomed representatives from the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) to the meeting and asked Members to note the papers submitted by the Development Bureau (DEVB).

27. Mr Wilfred AU , Deputy Manager of Planning & Design Division of the URA, reported on the preservation projects of URA:

(a) The covering of the Central Market would have a new look in October. Three local cartoonists who exceled in public artwork, namely Miss Lee Wai-chun, Mr Lee Chi-ching and Mr Wong Chiu-tat, had been invited to create illustrations for display on its external wall to reflect the unique livelihood, landscape and characteristics of Central. The renovation works was expected to be substantially completed in October, which could tie in with the opening ceremony of the C&W District Tourism Festival in November.

(b) Regarding the redevelopment projects of Graham Street Market and H18, the demolition works at Site B was completed. The URA would apply for electricity meters and arrange power supply devices as well as physical optimisation of stalls for hawkers with stalls in Gage Street facing Site B, who were willing to accept the assistance. Having contacted those hawkers, the URA learned that four of them were willing to accept the assistance. The URA was now in discussion with the power company and government departments concerned about the works arrangement and the design of the stalls.

(c) Moreover, as a public storm water drain was within Site C, the Drainage Services Department had initially agreed to the proposed diversion of the storm water drain for clarification and facilitation of future maintenance, of which the relevant works would take place in phases next year. Subject to the endorsement of the C&WDC, the URA planned to beautify the area beneath the flyover on Cochrane Street, which involved in the proposed diversion, along with the works so as to further connect Cochrane Street and the public space at Site C to create synergy. The C&WDC would be consulted about this in due course.

(d) Regarding the Pak Tsz Lane Revitalisation Project, the peripheral revitalisation of the refuse collection point (RCP) at Gage Street (i.e. Phase 2) was about to complete now, and the URA would hand over its management to FEHD in late 2012. The main objective of this project was to facilitate the public to enjoy the public space there by improving its accessibility through reorganisation and enhancement of the RCP and provision of one more staircase, in addition to the

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existing five accesses, next to the RCP to connect to Pak Tsz Lane Park. Having learnt that the C&WDC had discussed with government departments on the addition of signage, the URA was willing to give cooperation in order to match the overall design of the park and to guide travellers or the public to the park. However, the completed staircase and signage would be managed by the HyD. Subject to the support of the C&WDC and consent of the government departments, the URA would be responsible for the relevant designs and production and leave the installation to the relevant government departments. A written reply in respect of this proposal was sent to the C&WDC for consideration. After the C&WDC and the relevant government departments agreed on the design and location of the signage, the signage would be handed to government departments concerned for installation.

28. Mr Sidney LEE reminded the Administration to be wary of art image that might induce negative thinking of people.

29. The Chairman stated that the above situation could be avoided if introduction was provided for the artwork. He thanked the Administration for supporting the trade and business promotion activities of the C&W District.

30. The Chairman then welcomed representatives from the DEVB, Hong Kong Jockey Club (Jockey Club), Rocco Design Architects Limited, Ove Arup & Partners Hong Kong and Cammon Construction Limited to the meeting for discussion of the proposed footbridge connection to the Mid-Levels Escalators under the revitalisation of the Central Police Station Compound (the Compound).

31. Ms Alice PANG , Chief Assistant Secretary (Works) of the DEVB, consulted Members about the design and work arrangements of the footbridge for connecting the Mid-Levels Escalator and the Compound with a view to initiating the gazettal procedures as soon as possible.

32. Mr Albert CHAN , Executive Manager (External Relations) of the Jockey Club, stated that the first part of the report would briefly introduce the design of the footbridge and relevant community improvement works, and the second part included an introduction to the uses of each building in the Compound upon the revitalisation project and proposed open invitation to institutions and organisations for operations as well as a discussion on naming the buildings.

33. Mr LEE Man-leung , Building Project Manager of the Jockey Club, introduced the connection between the Compound and its surrounding areas as well as the barrier-free access. The proposed footbridge which was about 32 meters in length was to connect the Compound and the Mid-Levels Escalator. In January 2011, the Jockey Club had consulted the C&WDC on the preliminary design of the footbridge and revised the design afterwards. The design was further modified after a public consultation conducted during the applications for a planning permission and an environmental permit. The environmental permit and planning permission were subsequently obtained for the design in April and May 2011 respectively, and the Advisory Committee on the Appearance of Bridges and Associated Structures gave its approval in June this year. He then presented the design of the footbridge, which was simple but highly functional, with a slender uncovered span to leave the view unblocked as far as possible. On management, CCTV(s) would be installed on the footbridge, and a barrier be installed between the new footbridge and the Mid-Levels Escalator for use of the temporary

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closure of the footbridge. The relevant lighting equipment also met the requirements of the HyD. Regarding work arrangements, the works would be implemented in phases to reduce the impact on the public and traffic. No road closures were required, but diversion might be needed for green minibuses which travelled to the Central business district and Causeway Bay via the said site from the Southern District. In addition, the vehicle weight limit for Old Bailey Street was 5.5 tons and large vehicles were not allowed to enter certain sections of it (i.e. the section between Staunton Street and Hollywood Road) and thus the passing large vehicles would not be affected by the works. The works would commence upon in-situ field test and approval of the government departments. The Jockey Club also requested the contractors to shorten the construction time as much as possible and take appropriate measures to reduce the impact of the works on the traffic in the vicinity. A number of community improvement projects would also be conducted by the Jockey Club at the same time, including the addition of an accessible lift at the junction of Hollywood Road and Arbuthnot Road, provision of a pavement at the west end of Arbuthnot Road, the strengthening of retaining walls, and the improvement of the existing driveway along Hollywood Road. Mr LEE asked Members to express their views and subject to the support of the C&WDC, the gazettal procedures would be initiated so as to commence the construction works as soon as possible.

34. Mr TANG Ho-pak , Public Affairs Consultant of the Jockey Club, introduced the uses of the Compound after the completion of the revitalisation project. He pointed out that based on the results of the public consultation in 2008, the C&WDC’s views, and the recommendations from various sectors including the cultural sector, the project was a revitalisation project focused on heritage conservation with an aim to revitalise the largest monument cluster now in Hong Kong as a leading cultural destination where heritage, contemporary art and leisure facilities were seamlessly integrated for all to join. After the revitalisation works, the total construction floor area of the Compound was about 300 000 square feet. To strike a balance between heritage, contemporary art and entertainment, the Compound would be used mainly for holding activities regarding heritage and contemporary art (37%), provision of spaces for public circulation as well as electric and mechanical plant (36%) and provision of commercial facilities to provide leisure and entertainment to visitors (27%). The outdoor public space of the Compound would be over 40,000 square feet. The relevant arrangements were reported at the C&WDC meeting in January 2011. In recent months, the Jockey Club had established an expert group of history to commence a study on the history of the Compound, and their findings could be used for future interpretation programmes. He also briefly introduced the proposed uses of the open spaces and various buildings, including the Police Headquarters Block, Armoury, Barracks Block, Married Inspectors’ Quarters, Married Sergeants’ Quarters, Single Inspectors’ Quarters, Ablutions Block, Central Magistracy, Superintendent’s House, C Hall, A Hall, B Hall, D Hall, E Hall, F Hall, Bauhinia House, Old Bailey Wing, Arbuthnot Wing, etc. In addition, the Jockey Club would invite operators to participate in the project by stages from 2012 to 2014, including operators of heritage and contemporary art facilities, operators of integrated cultural and leisure facilities, food and beverage service provides, retail service providers, artists-in-residence, cultural and educational organisations and non-profit-making organisations. All operators were asked by the Jockey Club to support the objective of revitalisation, conserve the heritage buildings, match the unique historical features of the Compound, and actively support and participate in major events for promoting appreciation of heritage and contemporary art. Regarding the naming of the Compound, he said it was proposed that the Compound be given a new name after the completion of the revitalisation project lest the public and tourists mistook it as a police station in operation. The naming principle required that the new name should reflect the historical characteristics of the Compound and match its future uses as well. The existing names of certain buildings and

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courtyards, however, would be retained. The Jockey Club collected the opinion of the public, people from the conservation and cultural sectors as well as civil servants who had worked at the Compound by focus groups before putting forward initial proposals, which included “THE BIG HOUSE 大館” , “TAI KWUN 大館” , “VICTORIA QUARTER 大館” and “VICTORIA QUARTER 維館” . The C&WDC was welcome to make comments and suggestions.

35. The major views of the Members were as follows:

(a) The Vice -c hairman supported the proposal for provision of the footbridge which might help ease up the traffic on Hollywood Road. He also agreed with the design of the footbridge but hoped that the Administration would follow-up the problem with the transformer station of the Hongkong Electric Company Limited (HK Electric) beneath the flyover as the future addition of bridge piers would further narrow the roads. Regarding the name of the Compound, he was in favour of “TAI KWUN大館”.

(b) Ms CHENG Lai-king asked whether lifts would be provided at all the five barrier-free access points shown in the drawing. The proposed path to the report room was so steep that it was not suitable for provision of barrier-free access.

(c) Mr CHAN Chit-kwai supported the proposal for provision of a footbridge. He clarified that the C&WDC had all along discussed the revitalisation project seriously and collected the views of the public through various channels. He thanked the Jockey Club for adopting the Members’ comments and conducting the revitalisation project in a masses-oriented approach rather than an up-market one. He found the proposal of the Jockey Club acceptable to include commercial elements other than the cultural and art elements in the Compound. As for the naming, he was in favour of “大館” and VICTORIA QUARTER because it was relevant to the background of Castle Road area.

(d) Mr CHAN Choi-hi proposed the Compound be renamed as “大館” and “P PLUS”, while the footbridge be named “P PLUS BRIDGE” to echo the revitalisation characteristics in brand new names. The design could be further enhanced by adding artistic flavour, such as matching colours and special effects at night. He suggested that the Jockey Club reserved more space in the Compound for public use to benefit the community.

(e) Mr Sidney LEE supported the design of the footbridge and was in favour of “大館” and “VICTORIA QUARTER” as the names of the Compound.

(f) Mr MAN Chi-wah was in favour of “大館” and “VICTORIA QUARTER” as the names of the Compound.

(g) Mr Jackie CHEUNG stated that the provision of the footbridge was necessary, a unanimous opinion shared by Members of the Working Group. He suggested that ramps should be provided instead of stairs for the footbridge as far as possible. He

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was also in support of “大館” as the Chinese name of the Compound while “THE BIG HALL”, “THE BIG HOUSE” or “THE BIG OLD HALL” could be considered for the English name for a publicity effect. He also agreed with the recommendations about operational arrangements subject to no damage would be made to the building structure.

(h) Mr WONG Kin-shing was in favour of “TAI KWUN” as the name of the Compound.

(i) The Chairman agreed with the provision of a footbridge but worried that the modern architectural style of the footbridge might be incompatible with the rather old-fashioned buildings. He supported that the Compound be named “大館” and “VICTORIA QUARTER” and shared the view of Mr HUI Chi-fung that the area occupied by the transformer station under the flyover should be reduced. He was also worried that the number of parking spaces there would be affected upon completion of the flyover.

(j) Mr KAM Nai-wa i had reservation about naming the Compound as “TAI KWUN” (大館 ) because the public might not understand its significance. He considered that the English name should not be “TAI KWUN” even if “大館” was adopted for the Chinese name as tourists from overseas, in particular, would find it difficult to understand. He asked whether the original proposal of a pedestrian subway to Lan Kwai Fong had been rejected and wanted to know the reason of it. He indicated that the location of flyover was one of the places with the highest pedestrian flow in the Mid-Levels and thus made three recommendations, which were changing the design to a covered footbridge, replacing the staircase with ramps, and providing an access to Lan Kwai Fong. Lastly, attention should be paid to the diversion of pedestrian traffic to Central in future even if the proposed footbridge was provided.

36. Mr LEE Man-leung responded as follows:

(a) The Jockey Club had discussed with the HK Electric about the transformer station under the flyover for many times. Yet there was no feasible proposal to relocate the station.

(b) Regarding the barrier-free access facility, he revealed that not all barrier-free access shown on the drawing would be provided with lifts. Some road sections which are relatively steep, such as the steep road next to the former police headquarters building, would be altered to meet the minimum gradient requirement (1:12). A lift would be provided at the junction of Hollywood Road and Arbuthnot Road, and ramps would be used at other locations as barrier-free access.

(c) On front of colour and material of the Compound, the Jockey Club took “Simple is Beautiful” as the principle and would retain the original appearance of the old buildings as far as possible so that visitors could appreciate their original look.

(d) On the lighting of the footbridge, no decorative lighting would be installed because the footbridge was close to residential dwellings. Proper lighting would be

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provided.

(e) Regarding the steps of the footbridge, it was proposed to provide steps on the bridge deck to enhance safety due to the very steep gradient resulting from a level difference of 3 metres over a length of merely about 32 meters. The proposed height for each step was only about 14 cm.

37. Mr Albert CHAN supplemented as follows:

(a) In response to the concerns of Mr KAM Nai-wai over the confusion caused by excessive pedestrian traffic upon completion of the footbridge in future, he explained that the Jockey Club had conducted an assessment on the pedestrian flow and the width of the footbridge under the current design was sufficient. Pedestrians to and from the Compound from Soho, Lan Kwai Fong and other locations could use other access.

(b) Most views collected on the open design of the footbridge reflected that it would not obstruct pedestrians’ view of the Compound.

(c) The name of the Compound was yet to be finalised, so Members’ suggestions, such as the English name “P PLUS” proposed by Mr CHAN Choi-hi, would all be considered. He explained that the name “VICTORIA QUARTER” was recommended to respect and preserve the history.

38. Mr LEE Man-leung pointed out that since the two bridge piers would narrow the existing pavement, the pavement section at Old Bailey Street where the new footbridge located, would be widened upon discussion with the TD. Also, eight parking spaces originally located at Old Bailey Street would be relocated to a carriageway on Old Bailey Street near the Compound, among which four would be converted into a drop-off point for taxis and minibuses to facilitate the elderly and wheelchair users.

39. Mr Jackie CHEUNG proposed another new English name, “VICTORIA HALL”.

40. The Vice -c hairman asked whether coaches for visiting groups would mostly pick up and drop off visitors at Old Bailey Street, the Compound would be open all day and some areas open all day.

41. The Chairman agreed with the arrangement for catering and beverage of the proposal and suggested inviting social enterprises to take part in the project.

42. Mr Albert CHAN said that the Jockey Club had already considered inviting social enterprises to take part in the project. He also pointed out that the term “VICTORIA QUARTER” also had the meaning of an “(exclusive) region”. In consideration of various factors including the environment, law and order, etc., 24-hour opening of the Compound would not be considered for now. The upper courtyard, which was closer to residential dwellings, would be closed earlier while the opening hours of the lower courtyard, which was closer to commercial buildings, could be extended till midnight on discretion.

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43. Mr LEE Man-leung supplemented that the pick-up and drop-off area of coaches would be outside the Bauhinia Building on Arbuthnot Street.

44. The Chairman thanked guests for attending the meeting.

7(ii) Progress of the MTR West Island Line Project – Progress of the Construction Works of the West Island Line(C&WDC Paper No. 125/2012)– Latest Progress of the Admiralty Station Extension Project

(C&WDC Paper No. 126/2012) (5:45 pm – 7:10 pm)

45. The Chairman welcomed representatives from the Mass Transit Railway Corporation Limited (MTRC), HyD, TD and LCSD to the meeting.

46. Mr Michael LEUNG , Senior Liaison Engineer of the MTRC, presented the progress of the construction works of West Island Line (WIL) with a short video and PowerPoint slides. He said that the progress of the works was satisfactory and expected that all major tunnel blasting works would be completed by the end of the year. As the excavation works for the three stations had been completed in September, the main tunnels could be connected in the fourth quarter. In addition, the electrical and mechanical engineering works had started in September this year, and all civil engineering works would be completed by the end of 2013. Given the current progress, the WIL was expected to open in 2014. He pointed out when giving a brief on the overall temporary traffic management scheme for the WIL that out of the 20 locations, four locations including Queen Street, New Market Street, Ko Shing Street/Des Voeux Road West and Sands Street/Rock Hill Street, could be gradually open from the end of this year or next year. Regarding the delivery arrangement of the works trains, the MTRC would deliver the components of the works trains on a 23-metre-long trailer from Chai Wan to Kennedy Town in four nights in November and December. The delivery route of the components was similar to that of the tracks, so the delivery was expected to be smooth.

47. Ms WU Mei-fung , Public Communications Manager - Construction Project & Property of the MTRC, said that since 1998, the MTRC had already implemented art programmes at stations of the existing and new lines, and artistic elements would also be introduced into the WIL stations. She stressed that the degree of public participation in all the WIL stations was the highest among the MTRC network and could be described as unprecedented.

48. Mr WAN Chung-kei, Architect of the MTRC, briefly presented the art design of three WIL stations, which included the display of mega murals, illustrations and distinctive artworks in the concourses.

49. The major views of the Members were as follows:

(a) The Vice -c hairman hoped that the MTRC could reinstate the occupied site at Ko Shing Street by the end of the year to facilitate loading and unloading of goods by shop owners. He pointed out that the works at Kennedy Town Station that commenced at 7:30 am created noise nuisance and affected the residents’ rest. He requested the MTRC to give a clear account for the design and orientation of the ventilation facilities at the next meeting. Lastly, he asked the TD about the

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progress of the bus route rationalisation and urged early consultation on it. He also requested the TD to explain how to resolve the serious vehicle-pedestrian conflicts at the entrance of the MTR station at Rock Hill Street.

(b) Mr KAM Nai-wai thought that there was a need to improve the arrangement for playing short videos at meetings to give Members more time for discussion. He requested the MTRC to provide more monthly statistics of complaints, enquiries and views of the public about the WIL works for comparison. He enquired the reasons for up to 64 complaints against the Sai Ying Pun section of the WIL works, and what the complaints under “Site Management” were about. He also asked about the category of noise complaints against the Kennedy Town section that received most complaints. He urged the MTRC to notify residents as soon as possible the date for reinstatement of the site at Ko Shing Street and asked whether it could be returned before the Lunar New Year. He requested that two traffic lanes of Queen’s Road West near Sai Woo Lane be re-opened as soon as possible and asked the date for reinstatement of the sites at Sai Ying Pun Station and New Market Street.

(c) Ms CHENG Lai-king asked whether the height of the sitting-out area on the east of West Garden at First Street would be maintained at the original six meters so as not to block the view of certain flats of it.

(d) Mr CHAN Chit-kwai expressed his appreciation of the MTRC to beautify the stations by community involvement. He asked whether information about the characteristics of C&WDistrict such as the old stores, tenement buildings and Yu Lan Festival were included and offered to help provide the relevant information.

(e) Mr CHAN Choi-hi questioned why the HK Electric had not yet moved out of the site at Des Voeux Road West even though the MTRC had already done so. Since the roads were narrow around the site at Whitty Street, he suggested setting the priority to vacate the site the fifth. He also recommended that artistic flavours should be added to the appearance of WIL stations.

(f) Mr Sidney LEE considered that the blasting works on Centre Street progressed very slowly. Also, the later hours the blasting works lasted, the stronger vibrations the residents felt. The number of complaints increased as a result. He said that the temporary traffic management scheme implemented for the WIL project imposed a great impact on local traffic and asked whether this was due to poor planning or unannounced changes. He reflected the views of West Garden residents and hoped that the MTRC would complete the works there as soon as possible. Regarding the facilities at the station entrances, he hoped that the structures could be as short as possible and be located on the east. He also requested the MTRC for an early submission of the design after the meeting.

(g) Mr MAN Chi-wah said that the community gallery at Sheung Wan Station was well received by the public and recommended it be provided at the three new stations.

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(h) Mr WONG Kin-shing requested the MTRC for an early provision of pavement near the site at Hill Road and South Lane to improve pedestrian safety. He also requested the company to provide the date of completion.

(i) Mr CHEUNG Kwok-kwan said that the escalators works at Sands Street and Rock Hill Street at Sai Wan had been completed on schedule and the OCs of Axeford Villa had made two comments. It hoped that the MTRC would follow-up and improve the deteriorating hygiene environment there and install CCTVs as well as enhance lighting devices there as they worried that the law and order would worsen due to the increased pedestrian traffic upon completion of the escalators.

50. Mr Michael LEUNG said that regarding the temporary traffic diversion measures, the tunnel demolition works at the Ko Shing Street site were basically completed and procedures such as backfilling of shafts and the removal of machines had already commenced. Since the ventilation facility had to be disassembled, the site could only be vacated in the second quarter next year at the earliest. Regarding the site at Des Voeux Road West, the mechanical facilities would be disassembled and removed from the site in February next year. The MTRC was currently discussing the removal and relocation arrangements of high-voltage cables with HK Electric. As for the temporary traffic management scheme at Sai Woo Lane, the MTRC would review the possibility of further reducing the site area in the second quarter of next year. He revealed that the debris at the New Market Street site had been cleared away and only the enclosure railings were retained for monitoring of the project. The roads were expected to be reopened for public use in the middle of next year after they were repaired early next year. Details of the ventilation facilities would be reported at the next meeting. Regarding the works near West Garden, he said that the bored piling works had been completed, the excavation works commenced and installation of noise barriers would begin in November in the hope to reduce the impact of dust and noise then. He had explained the modified design at the last meeting and, according to the design, the structures on the podium had already been moved to keep a distance of nine meters from West Garden with its height lowered from nine to six meters. The MTRC would meet with residents between November and early December to explain the latest design. On the progress of the blasting works at Centre Street, the excavation works would take longer as there would be six access points and thus more connecting tunnels, which were relatively long, for the Sai Ying Pun Station. Since the blasting works near Centre Street had been completed, the blasting works would be concentrated on the Eastern Street area in the next three months and were expected to be completed gradually by early next year. Concerning the hygiene problem at Axeford Villa, the MTRC and the contractor had already taken action to deal it and would widen the footpath there in early November. For the security problem of the escalator, since the government departments would be the manager of the escalator in the long run, the MTRC would reflect the problem to the relevant government departments.

51. Ms WU Mei-fung responded that there were more complaints, enquires and comments raised by the public about Sai Ying Pun section as it had more access points. She explained that the figure for “vibration” was relatively high as the number of enquiries made by the public after hearing the blasting sound was also included. She pointed out that “Site Management” involved management matters such as dealing with issues on hygiene and removal of accumulated articles. She also clarified that some of the articles was left there by waste recyclers and even contractors of other sites, so the MTRC needed to contact them for removal of the articles. In response to the noise generated by the works at the Kennedy Town

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section, she said that the MTRC was in discussion with the contractor about postponing the time of work commencement to after 8 am. She would respond to the recommendation of providing community galleries inside the stations at the next meeting.

52. In response to the art programme at the stations, Mr WAN Chung-kei indicated that images of old shops and tenement buildings would be displayed in the stations.

53. Mr David CHAN , Senior Engineer/Priority Railway 3 of the TD, said that a study on rationalisation of bus routes was underway. As the study included both the WIL and South Island Line (East) (SILE) projects, it was initially estimated that the consultation with the DCs would be conducted in early 2013 and the actual schedule would be confirmed after the meeting. The pavements of Rock Hill Street and North Street would be widened for improvement, and additional traffic lights would be installed at North Street to cope with the future pedestrian traffic at the entrances of the MTR stations. The TD would submit the plans at the next meeting.

(PMN: The TD had already commissioned a consultant to conduct a study for coordination of the WIL and SILE under the MTRC with other public transport services. It had already made appropriate adjustments to and arrangements for other public transport services as well as related facilities in response to district development and passenger needs to better match the changes in passenger demand after the opening of the new railway lines. The TD planned to conduct a consultation for the proposed public transport re-organisation plan around mid-2013.)

54. The latest progress of the Admiralty Station Extension Project was then discussed at the meeting.

55. Mr Bernard Wong , Senior Liaison Engineer of the MTRC, gave a PowerPoint presentation on the progress of Admiralty Station Extension Project. He said that the objective of the project was to match the overall development of the railway network as the station would become an interchange station for the Island Line, Tsuen Wan Line, SILE and the Shatin to Central Link in future. The extension would facilitate future arrangement for the passenger flow. He also briefly introduced the progress of the extension works, the alterations of facilities inside the stations, and the work progress of the ventilation facilities and tunnels of Hong Kong Park. On temporary traffic diversion measures, he revealed that the blasting works with the working hours between 8:30 pm and 11 pm would be conducted from October to November, and some carriageways and pavements along the upper sections of Justice Drive would be temporarily closed during the period. A temporary U-shaped driveway had been provided at the planters on Shing Sai Road since December last year to ease the traffic pressure in the Western District, facilitating the transportation of debris to the temporary barging point at Western District Public Cargo Working Area (WDPCWA) by dump trucks that had already commenced since June this year. During the trial run, the traffic was smooth when there were less than 50 movements of dump trucks a day. The peak period of transportation would start from 2013, estimating a daily maximum of 270 movements of dump trucks, or around 45 movements per hour, to and from the WDPCWA during off-peak hours. The debris transportation was expected to complete by late 2014. During the period, there would be 120 movements per day on average.

56. Mr Joseph CHAN pointed out that the return route of dump trucks to Queensway was via Connaught Road Central, Harcourt Road and then into Cotton Tree Drive where the driveway

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was narrow with chaotic traffic. He worried that the frequent movements of dump trucks, which were large vehicles, would increase the risk of traffic accidents. He proposed that dump truck drivers should be reminded to drive with correct attitude and remain vigilant at all times.

57. Mr Sidney LEE emphasised that the consensus reached in a past meeting was 100 plus movements of dump trucks a day. As the SILE involved a number of districts, other districts should also share the responsibility for the debris dump. He asked why there was a difference between the current proposed number of 270 movements and the consensual number of movements of the C&WDC and enquired about the daily number of dump trucks entered the C&W District during the peak period and the parking location of dump trucks at night. He objected to the proposal put forward by the MTRC as the significant increase in the number of movements of the dump trucks would bring very heavy traffic to the district.

58. The Vice -c hairman pointed out that the consensus reached by both parties was 120 movements a day and that the current proposal of 270 movements greatly exceeded that number. He believed that the calculation of daily movements of dump trucks should not be based on the number since 2010, and the Western District could hardly afford such traffic flow. In addition, he also regarded that the chaotic traffic at the area from Harcourt Road turning into Cotton Tree Drive might pose high risks if too many large vehicles drove on that section at the same time. He suggested that the egress points of the dump trucks be relocated at roads other than Queensway and reiterated that he did not accept the proposal of 270 movements a day.

59. The Chairman believed that the increased movements of dump trucks would worsen the traffic conditions at the bottleneck at Queensway and sought the advice of the TD.

60. Mr David Chan , Senior Engineer/Priority Railway 3 of the TD, said that there would be 45 movements per hour or one movement every 1.5 minutes if there were 270 movements a day. According to the traffic assessment provided in the consultation paper for C&WDC on 4 November 2010 by the MTRC, the traffic capacity of Harcourt Road was some 6 000 movements per hour, which was sufficient for the 270 movements a day. He held that from the perspective of traffic management, the debris should be transported in the shortest distance by sea to ease the burden of road traffic. If other barging points, such as the one in Chai Wan, were used, dump trucks had to drive through very busy roads, namely Gloucester Road and the area near the entrance of Cross Harbour Tunnel in particular as well as the section of Island Eastern Corridor near Causeway Bay, and the distance would be three times that of the route to WDPCWA. To share the responsibility for dumping the SILE debris, two barging points had been set up at two locations in the Southern District, namely Kong Sin Wan and Lee Nam Road, for vessels to ship away the debris. The TD had conducted an assessment on the traffic condition of the route to WDPCWA proposed by the MTRC and found it acceptable.

61. Mr Bernard WONG supplemented that the MTRC would closely monitor the performance of dump truck drivers while they were performing their duties. Besides, due to the mismatch of time, the excavated debris from the Admiralty Station could not be used for reclamation projects in other districts and therefore other districts such as the Southern District should share the dumping responsibilities. He clarified that the calculation for the average number of movements of dump trucks was for the period from June 2012 to the end of 2014 and the peak period would be phased. In regard to the use of Cotton Tree Drive by the dump

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trucks, careful consideration had been given to the possibilities of providing the access points at various locations of the site at Harcourt Garden before the final decision of providing the egress point at Harcourt Road and ingress point at Queensway via Cotton Tree Drive was made.

62. Mr Sidney LEE pointed out that the responsibility to remove the debris could not be bracketed together with the need for debris of other districts. The site of Kennedy Town Public Cargo Working Area had been planned to be returned to C&W District for development in 2013 after the completion of the WIL, but the return of the site was postponed to 2014 due to the transportation of debris. He asked why the debris could not be transported via tunnels.

63. Mr Ken WONG , Construction Manager of the MTRC, responded that the transportation of debris by excavation of tunnels would also create debris which would in turn affect the traffic during the disposal. Currently, the MTRC considered transporting the debris during non-peak hours.

64. Mr David CHAN recommended a review after a trial run.

65. The Vice -c hairman regarded that the traffic around Queensway was already chaotic and it was not appropriate to increase its burden.

66. Mr KAM Nai-wai reiterated that the site at Kennedy Town should not be used as a loading and unloading area and opposed the trial of operations.

67. The Chairman concluded that Members were very discontented with the proposal of increasing the movements of dump trucks to 270 a day and wanted to conduct further assessment.

68. The Chairman thanked the guests for attending the meeting.

Item 8: Action Checklist on Matters Arising from the Last Meeting (C&WDC Paper No. 127/2012) (7:10 pm)

69. The Chairman asked Members to refer to the follow-up of the items on the checklist.

Item 9: Strong Request for Enhanced Monitoring of Blasting Works to Safeguard the Safety of the Public

(C&WDC Paper No. 110/2012) (7:10 pm – 7:16 pm)

70. The Chairman welcomed representatives from the MTRC, the HyD and the Civil Engineering and Development Department (CEDD) to the meeting.

71. Mr Sidney LEE added that the submission of the document aimed to raise concern about the safety awareness of the MTRC on blasting works. His concern had been fully addressed as the MTRC revealed in its reply that the explosives failed to detonate were always under watch by qualified persons on site. He suggested that police officers had better be stationed on site in case of similar incidents to put the public’s mind at ease.

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72. Mr Michael LEUNG , Senior Liaison Engineer of the MTRC, said that the MTRC attached great importance to the security of blasting works and had strictly complied with the contents and requirements of the Dangerous Goods Ordinance (the Ordinance) and the blasting permit. He explained that the incident occurred on 22 August was a single event caused by technical problems instead of procedural problems. In the last two and a half years, about 4 000 blasting works were conducted for the WIL project with only one failure in detonation. He stressed that the MTRC had all along been rigorously examining the procedures of blasting works and security to ensure public safety.

73. The Vice -c hairman asked why the incident could not be resolved until 24 August, which was two days after the incident on 22 August. He also asked the MTRC whether it lacked contingency plans for such incidents.

74. Mr Michael LEUNG responded that the MTRC had contingency plans for such situations. He explained that water ballast was used for the blasts to reduce vibration, noise and dust to be generated during the blasts. Before processing the remaining explosives, a large quantity of water already injected into the vertical shaft of 22 metres in diameter had to be pumped out before safety inspections and other relevant arrangements could be made. Hence, the staff could not immediately destroy the undetonated explosives that night. On the afternoon of 23 August, the MTRC developed a plan for the disposal of remaining explosives and requested the Mines Division of CEDD to provide detonators and other materials which were delivered from the explosive depot of the Mines Division on Lantau Island to the site for installation. Therefore, the incident could only be well handled on 24 August. He reiterated that all blasts under the MTRC were in full compliance with the requirements as provided in the Ordinance and the permit. The above incident was purely a single incident with technical problem as electronic detonators were quite sensitive to water. The MTRC had already conducted a review regarding the incident to ensure that the remaining blasting works could be completed successfully.

75. The Chairman thanked the guests for attending the meeting.

Item 10: Concern over the Recent Failure of a MTRC Train at Sheung Wan Station and Request for Enhanced Management of all MTRC Facilities(C&WDC Paper No. 129/2012)Strong Concern over the Serious Confusion of MTRC Service for the Island Line during the Peak Hours in the Morning of 3 October 2012 due to Disruption of Train Service at Sheung Wan Station resulting from the Peeling of a Metal Plate off the Wall inside the Tunnel near the Station at 8:15 am That day

(C&WDC Paper 129/2012 Annex) (7:16 pm – 7:30 pm)

76. The Chairman welcomed representatives from the MTRC, Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) and TD to the meeting.

77. Mr CHAN Choi-hi said he witnessed the chaos on the day and found it unacceptable. He opined that the MTRC should have announced the incident of train failure with the least delay. Moreover, the incident highlighted the MTRC’s inadequacy of emergency preparedness which rendered the passengers unsure of where to get the feeder buses as well as its delay in

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manpower deployment.

78. Mr Sidney LEE asked the MTRC the reason for closing off the walkway between Shun Tak Centre and Des Voeux Road Central, which left the footbridges at Rumsey Street and Western Market as the only ways to direct the pedestrian flow. Later, the walkway was reopened abruptly and the public was confused by this. He suggested the MTRC to review its response measures for emergency incidents.

79. Mr Edmond WONG , Operations Manager - Island Line and Tseung Kwan O Line of the MTRC, apologised to the C&WDC and members of the public affected by the incident that day and undertook to improve the message notification mechanism.

80. Ms LEUNG Ho-yan , Assistant Public Affairs Manager - External Affairs of the MTRC, said on-going announcements had been made inside the MTR stations and train compartments upon the happening of the incident with notifications to the media. She also indicated that the public could obtain information about the incident via MTRC’s mobile app (Traffic News) and official website.

81. Mr KAM Nai-wai opined that the MTRC had shown to be inadequate in handling unexpected incidents. He also asked two questions: first, whether the company had any contingency plans and emergency arrangements to prepare for unexpected incidents for all stations and provided the staff with the relevant training; second, whether the company had made any arrangements to open up the non-toll areas inside the stations in the event of emergency, and if yes, what they were.

82. Mr WONG Kin-shing said since the public would not normally use mobile apps or log in MTRC’s website to check train information when they were on the way to work, he suggested the MTRC to consider sending messages to phone users to inform them of any emergencies affecting the train services.

83. The Vice-chairman commended the WIL project for its outstanding work in public relations. He said reference could be made to the relevant practices for handling emergencies, for example, utilising communication channels to inform the DCs of the contingency measures so that it could convey the information to local residents.

84. Mr Edmond WONG responded that, to prepare for unexpected incidents affecting the train services, the MTRC would conduct more than 20 emergency drills a year with feeder bus service arranged for diverting passengers. He explained that it took time for the MTRC to deploy additional manpower if special bus services were provided. He also agreed that some non-toll areas opening around the clock in MTR stations should not be closed, and he would follow up the matter.

85. Mr CHAN Choi-hi requested the MTRC to submit a report on the additional manpower deployed in response to the incident. He asked what was the manpower deployed to handle the incident that day, and how much manpower would be sufficient to deal with the incident.

86. Ms LEUNG Ho-yan provided information on the parking locations of the feeder buses, i.e. United Centre Bus Terminus (Admiralty Station) and Infinitus Plaza (Sheung Wan Station). Moreover, booklets advising passengers on handling of unexpected incidents were available from the Customer Service Centres in MTR stations. She would furnish the C&WDC with

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copies of the booklet and the relevant weblink in due course.

87. The Chairman hoped that the MTRC could provide the C&WDC with the publicity materials on handling of emergencies as soon as possible, and that it would learn a lesson from the incident to prevent a recurrence of the chaotic situation in the event of emergencies in the future.

88. The Chairman thanked guests for attending the meeting.

(P M N : In response to Mr CHAN Choi-hi’s request for a report on the additional manpower deployed for the incident, the MTRC indicated after the meeting that since the causes and nature of each service delay were different, it was not appropriate to generalise the additional manpower required. In the event of a service delay, the number of staff at the station concerned would be increased as needed. In fact, the MTRC had established a 60-member dedicated Customer Service Rapid Response Unit in 2011 to provide advice and assistance to passengers as well as to maintain order at affected stations and emergency bus boarding/alighting points.)

Item 11: A Proposal to Set Up a Petrol-cum-LPG Filling Station at Fung Mat Road, Sheung Wan

(C&WDC Paper No. 128/2012) (7:30 pm – 8 pm)

89. The Vice -c hairman welcomed the representatives from the Environmental Protection Department (EPD), TD and EMSD to the meeting.

90. Mr Edmond HO , Principal Environmental Protection Officer (Mobile Source) of the EPD, said, in order to improve roadside air quality, the Government had introduced liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) vehicles to replace diesel taxis and public light buses about 12 years ago (year 2000). To date, 18 000 taxis and 2 800 public light buses in Hong Kong had switched to LPG vehicles. In the past, since the Government intended to provide a LPG filling station network as soon as possible to support the operation of LPG vehicles, sites were granted to filling station operators at nil land premium to operate dedicated LPG filling stations (dedicated filling stations) whose LPG price was subject to the terms of operating contract. Currently, there were 12 dedicated filling stations and 49 petrol-cum-LPG filling stations (non-dedicated filling stations) in Hong Kong. As the non-dedicated filling stations were subject to payment of land premium, the operators could set their LPG retail price according to market conditions. On Hong Kong Island, there were three dedicated filling stations including the one at Fung Mat Road, Sheung Wan and eight non-dedicated filling stations. At some LPG filling stations which were relatively well-used by members of the trades, such as the dedicated filling station in Sheung Wan, vehicles took about 20 minutes to queue for LPG filling during peak hours. Hence, members and operators of the taxi and minibus trades operating in the C&W District strongly requested for addition of LPG filling facilities in the district. In response, the EPD made efforts last year to identify new suitable sites across the territory for provision of LPG filling facilities. Nevertheless, only two suitable sites were identified on Hong Kong Island, one at Fung Mat Road in Western District and the other at Tin Wan in Southern District. Besides, when the dedicated filling station at Marsh Road, Wan Chai was temporarily closed for business during June to August this year for revalidation of the LPG underground storage tank, it could sometimes take as much as around 30 minutes to queue at the filling station at Fung Mat Road. This showed that there was a need for the

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Administration to provide additional LPG filling facilities on Hong Kong Island to meet contingency needs. In this connection, it was proposed that the temporary car park at Fung Mat Road be developed into a non-dedicated filling station. The site was now used for operating a car park under short-term tenancy, and the investigation conducted by the TD revealed that around 35 vehicles were parked in the car park every night. Furthermore, the two temporary fee-paying car parks located at Sai See Street and Eastern Street North had a total of around 30 vacant parking spaces every night, and the vacant site beneath Connaught Road West flyover at Eastern Street was being converted into a car park for goods vehicles providing some 20 parking spaces. Thus, the setting up of an additional filling station would not affect the provision of parking spaces for commercial vehicles. Mr Edmond HO pointed out that the proposed filling station at Fung Mat Road would not attract a large number of LPG vehicles coming for refilling since it was a non-dedicated filling station whose LPG price would not be particularly cheap. The station just served as an alternative for members of the trades.

91. Regarding gas safety, the proposed non-dedicated filling station at Fung Mat Road would be compliant with the criteria as provided in Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines, and the operators should submit a Quantitative Risk Assessment Report on LPG filling facilities to ascertain that the risk level posed by such facilities would be acceptable in accordance with the Government Risk Guidelines. Moreover, the construction works could be commenced only with the construction approval granted by the EMSD.

92. The major views of the Members were as follows:

(a) Mr KAM Nai-wai pointed out that the crux of the problem was that there were dedicated and non-dedicated filling stations. The queuing time at dedicated filling stations was longer because the LPG price was lower. However, the Government had not made good use of the existing eight non-dedicated filling stations to help solve the problem of long waiting time at dedicated filling stations. Members of the trades suffered from a lack of dedicated filling stations, but the one proposed to be set up at Fung Mat Road was a non-dedicated filling station. He enquired about the reason for proposing a non-dedicated filling station while there was a lack of dedicated filling stations. Moreover, if the station was later changed to a dedicated filling station, there might be an upsurge in utilisation rate causing a long queue of vehicles. He would also like to know whether the Administration would consult local residents.

(b) Mr CHAN Chit-kwai supported the proposal. He said given that LPG vehicles had proved to be beneficial to the improvement of air quality, he would like to know (i) whether the Government had specific plans to require other types of vehicles, such as goods vehicles and light goods vehicles, to switch over to LPG vehicles; and (ii) the reason for not providing more LPG filling nozzles at non-dedicated filling stations. He hoped that the Government would require operators of non-dedicated filling stations to provide more filling nozzles. He agreed with Mr KAM Nai-wai that the problem could only be solved through an increased number of dedicated filling stations. It was because the proposed non-dedicated filling station would attract other types of vehicles to come for refilling and could do nothing to solve the problem of long waiting time of vehicles at dedicated filling stations.

(c) Mr CHAN Choi-hi said the strong request from the goods vehicle trade for the

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Administration to increase the number of parking spaces should not be confused with the issue of vacant parking spaces. Moreover, he opposed the proposal to provide an additional filling station since the proximity of the non-dedicated filling station to the waterfront promenade would have an adverse impact on the coastal ambience.

(d) Mr Sidney LEE said the site for the proposed filling station was originally part of the waterfront promenade, but it was later converted into a temporary goods vehicle park to make way for the MTR WIL project. The site was supposed to be surrendered for use as part of the waterfront promenade upon the completion of the WIL. However, the Government now intended to make it a permanent filling station, he therefore would not accept the proposal. He pointed out that if it was to solve the problem of long waiting time of LPG taxis, the Administration should build dedicated filling stations since non-dedicated filling stations would attract other types of vehicles coming for refilling and resulted in increased vehicular traffic.

(e) The Vice -c hairman opined that given the mode of operation of the taxi trade, the proposed non-dedicated filling station could do nothing to solve the problem of long waiting time of LPG taxis for refilling. Regarding the goods vehicle parking spaces beneath the Connaught Street West Flyover at Eastern Street, it was originally a car park reprovisioned by the TD under the WIL project and should not be counted as a new site. He was therefore of the view that the proposal could not address the parking demand of the district. Moreover, since the proposed site was supposed to be part of the waterfront promenade, it should not be used for gas refilling purpose even after the car park was moved out in the future. In short, he opposed the proposal to provide an additional non-dedicated filling station.

(f) The Chairman agreed with Mr Sidney LEE’s views. He indicated that the temporary goods vehicle park was an arrangement made following the land resumption for the construction of the WIL. Moreover, the setting up of parking spaces for goods vehicles beneath the flyover at Eastern Street was a result of the continued pursuit by Members. He explicitly pointed out that the waterfront promenade represented a vision and a strategic location for future development of the district, where only temporary stay of private vehicles would be allowed. Therefore, he believed that Members would not agree to the conversion of the site into a filling station. Besides, non-dedicated stations would not be used exclusively by LPG taxis to solve their problem of long waiting time. Hence, he opposed the proposal to provide an additional filling station.

93. Mr Edmond HO responded as follows:

(a) He reiterated that there were historical reasons for the setting up of dedicated filling stations. In the past, as the Government intended to build a LPG filling network as soon as possible, sites were granted at nil land premium for the operation of dedicated filling stations. However, the LPG price at these dedicated filling stations was regulated by operation contract. Given that it had been the Government’s established policy to rely on non-dedicated filling stations to further expand the LPG filling network for better convenience of drivers requiring refilling service, any additional filling stations, including the proposed one at Fung Mat

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Road, would be non-dedicated.

(b) As regards the problem of insufficient filling nozzles at gas filling stations, the Government had formulated a policy to require the existing petrol filling stations, to provide additional LPG filling facilities during re-tendering subject to compliance with safety requirements. The minimum requirement for filling nozzles provided at new or existing gas filling stations should be 25% of the nozzles in total, subject to the fulfilment of the safety requirements.

(c) He said he understood and respected the C&WDC’s wish to build a waterfront promenade at the proposed location. However, given the limited land resources of Hong Kong, and the fact that members of the taxi and minibus trades who made a strong request for additional filling stations had been operated in the district to serve the residents, Members should set priorities and balance the different demands.

(d) As regards the issue concerning parking spaces, he pointed out that there would be enough parking spaces in the district to meet the demands even after the conversion of the car park at Fung Mat Road into a filling station.

94. Mr Chris YU , Engineer/Priority Railway 5 of the TD, supplemented that the car park at Eastern Street was a project committed by the TD for the C&WDC. Regardless of whether the proposed filling station would take place or not, the car park would be built as planned. The plan was currently being examined by the Task Force on Harbourfront Developments on Hong Kong Island under the Harbourfront Commission, and would proceed if there were no objections. As to whether there were sufficient parking spaces for goods vehicles in the district, he revealed that the TD had, in response to the proposal to provide an additional filling station, made a comparison of the number of vehicles parked at the car park at Fung Mat Road with the number of vacant parking spaces in the car parks at Sai See Street and Eastern Street North. It was found that the vacant parking spaces in the two existing car parks together with the newly proposed parking spaces at Eastern Street were adequate to cope with the parking demand arising from the cancellation of the car park at Fung Mat Road. If the car park at Sai See Street or Eastern Street North was to be developed in the future, the TD would assess the availability of alternative sites to provide sufficient parking spaces before deciding whether or not to approve the proposal.

95. Mr KAM Nai-wai opposed the provision of an additional non-dedicated filling station at the location concerned. He pointed out that even LPG vehicles would emit pollutants, and that the Government had made available funds for taxis to retrofit catalytic converters in order to solve the pollution problem, so there would be no need to provide more filling stations. Given that the proposal could do nothing to solve the problem of long waiting time of LPG taxis, and there was no need to provide a filling station at Fung Mat Road, he opposed the proposal to provide an additional non-dedicated filling station at Fung Mat Road, Sheung Wan.

96. Mr CHAN Chit-kwai requested the Administration to give a reply on when the Government would implement a programme to replace other vehicles with LPG vehicles, and whether the LPG Vehicle Scheme was unsuccessful. He also asked for the relevant figures of the Scheme.

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97. The Vice -c hairman opined that the TD’s assessment of the adequacy of parking spaces was not comprehensive enough as there were many goods vehicles parked illegally on the streets at night. He also stressed that the provision of an additional non-dedicated filling station could do nothing to solve the problem of long waiting time of taxis for refilling.

98. Mr Edmond HO responded that it had been the Government’s policy to promote the use of LPG vehicles, but this type of vehicles would need proper maintenance and repairs for maximum environmental friendliness. Given that many taxi and minibus owners did not provide proper maintenance and repairs to their LPG vehicles, the Government had taken targeted measures in this regard. He said although LPG vehicles were more environmentally friendly than diesel vehicles, the limited land resources of Hong Kong rendered it difficult to locate more sites for the construction of filling stations. Hence, the existing filling station facilities were not sufficient to allow vehicles other than taxis and minibuses to switch to LPG.

99. Dr Vanessa AU , Senior Environmental Protection Officer (Mobile Source) 1 of the EPD, further explained the use of non-dedicated filling stations by taxi drivers. Currently, there were 12 dedicated filling stations in Hong Kong, and all the other stations were non-dedicated filling stations. Moreover, among the LPG vehicle drivers, about two-thirds would choose dedicated filling stations and the remaining one-third would consider using non-dedicated filling stations. On the whole, both types of filling stations had been used by LPG taxi drivers. On Hong Kong Island, some of the dedicated filling stations were located near to the non-dedicated filling stations, but drivers would most likely use the dedicated filling stations price-wise. Nevertheless, there was a role for non-dedicated filling stations especially in the event of service suspension due to maintenance of gas filling facilities. The proposed non-dedicated filling station at Fung Mat Road would probably provide relief for unforeseen circumstances. For instance, when the filling station at Marsh Road was temporarily suspended from June to August this year, the number and time of vehicles waiting for refilling doubled at the existing station at Fung Mat Road. If there were a non-dedicated filling station nearby, the situation could be relieved and the impact of unexpected incidents happened to filling stations on operators of LPG vehicles could be minimised.

100. The Vice -c hairman concluded that, except Mr CHAN Chit-kwai who had expressed reservations, Members who had spoken opposed the proposal to provide an additional petrol-cum-LPG filling station at Fung Mat Road.

Item 12: Concern over the Abuse of Drugs (“Bomb”) and Problem of Law andOrder in the Area of Lan Kwai Fong(C&WDC Paper No. 111/2012)Wanton and Widespread Abuse of Drugs and GHB “Bomb” inLan Kwai Fong

(C&WDC Paper No. 11 1 /2012) (sic) (8:00 pm – 8:50 pm)

101. The Vice -c hairman welcomed representatives from the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) to the meeting.

102. The Vice -c hairman invited Members to give their views. The salient points of their views were as follows:

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(a) Miss SIU Ka-yi pointed out that, as could be seen from the crime statistics for the period from 2010 to 2012, there was a significant rise in the number of cases of theft, indecent assault, assault on police officers, etc. She asked whether the situation reflected a lack of effectiveness of the high-profile anti-crime operations of the Police. Moreover, during the period from 2010 to August 2012, the crime rate continued to rise despite the ever-increasing number of police inspections in Lan Kwai Fong district. She wondered if this meant that the frequency of inspections was insufficient or the routine operations were losing effect. She requested the Police to brief on the crime-fighting measures to be implemented during Halloween and Christmas this year.

(b) Mr CHAN Choi-hi said the total number of crimes this year was higher than that in the past two years. He asked if there was any rape case happened in Lan Kwai Fong district this year and if the crimes in the district involved gang or triad infiltration. If yes, he asked whether they involved gangs of foreigners, and whether the Police needed to adopt new targeted measures to fight crime and to conduct joint operations with the Immigration Department.

(c) Mr CHAN Chit-kwai said the increasing number of crimes and the worsening drug problem in Lan Kwai Fong district were causes for concern. Moreover, as regards the serious problem of having customers passed out in the district due to intoxication, owners of liquor-licensed premises were definitely responsible for this. The Police should strengthen the supervision of these premises and forward the relevant information to the Liquor Licensing Board (LLB) so as to regulate these premises through license renewal procedures. He suggested the LLB to impose a restriction on the number of persons for liquor-licensed premises operating on mezzanine or basement.

(d) Mr KAM Nai-wai asked why the drug-related crime figures were down while the overall crime statistics were up in Lan Kwai Fong district. He wanted to know whether it would be more effective for the Police to tackle drug crimes by posing as customers to make drug purchases (commonly known as “snaking”) and deploying undercover police officers for infiltration, etc. He suggested the Administration to remind and advise owners of liquor-licensed premises of ways to deal with drug problems and to organise courses for them. He also asked if the Police had revoked any licences issued to liquor-licensed premises.

(e) D r Malcolm LAM asked whether “Bomb” and “Rape Water” were soft drugs or abused chemicals, and whether they were industrial products or drugs produced deliberately by drug traffickers. He suggested combating the crime at source.

103. Mr KWOK Yam-shu , District Commander (Central) of the HKPF, gave a consolidated reply as follows:

(a) He said the Central Police District was very concerned about the crime situation, crime statistics and effectiveness of law enforcement in Lan Kwai Fong district. He reminded the public to read a particular newspaper with critical thinking to distinguish between right and wrong in a conscientious way to avoid being misled by the contents. For instance, the operation codenamed “OMEGA” was a routine high-profile crime-fighting operation implemented by the Police since November

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last year and was not a measure taken in response to newspaper reports. He explained that it was necessary for the Police to compile its crime statistics by crime scene rather than by place visited by victims before the crime happened. Hence, the crimes happened in Lan Kwai Fong district referred to those taken place in Lan Kwai Fong.

(b) In response to Mr CHAN Choi-hi’s question, he explained that the number of rape cases was calculated based on crime scenes. He further explained that the Police provided the statistics for the last three years (i.e. from 2010 to 2012) to enhance Members’ understanding of the trends in crime statistics. He said no rape case was shown because there was no rape case happened in Lan Kwai Fong since January 2012. The Police had no intention to conceal any information. Moreover, there were two rape cases reported in Lan Kwai Fong with one each in 2010 and 2011.

(c) In response to the question about the increasing incidence of crimes, he explained that Lan Kwai Fong was not a static community, and its development was linked to the overall economic situation. During the economic downturn from 2010 to 2011, the people of Hong Kong participated less in leisure activities, and the number of liquor-licensed premises in Lan Kwai Fong dropped drastically due to the demolition of buildings. The relatively low pedestrian flow explained the relatively less number of crimes. From the beginning of 2012 till now, seven large-scale liquor-licensed premises were opened for business in the district, and the total maximum number of people allowed in the premises increased by 1 607 people (i.e. 18.3%). Moreover, there was an increasing trend of younger consumers going there with the mainstream behaviour changed from the “yuppie” style embracing cultural expression to a love of dance and a “drinking until drunk” mode.

(d) In response to Miss SIU Ka-yi’s question, he said that an increased pedestrian flow might be a reason for the upward trend in the number of crimes. He said that it was difficult to form a simple judgement as to whether the current measures were effective, but the Police would continue to review and adopt the most effective ways to fight crime. He pointed out that inspections by police officers was the most basic and essential mode of law enforcement. Although the effectiveness of this mode in combating crime could not be directly proven, it would continue to be used so far as resources permitted. For instance, the operation codenamed “OMEGA” initiated last year had become a routine operation.

(e) He said that no rape case was recorded in Lan Kwai Fong district in 2012, but there were two alleged rape cases reported with one each in 2011 and 2010. As to whether there were foreign people forming gangs in Lan Kwai Fong district, he said that the Police’s high-profile operations were to prevent the problem from happening. Despite the influx of foreign people into the area, there was not any gang formed.

(f) In response to the question of Mr CHAN Chit-kwai, he said there was a fall in the number of drug cases in the district. However, the reporting by some newspapers was debatable. He pointed out that liquor licence holders had a duty not to sell alcoholic beverages to drunken persons, and that the Police would remind the

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parties concerned in such premises during inspections to comply with this requirement. He pointed out that there were practical difficulties for the Police in taking enforcement actions in this regard. The key to tackling the problem of having customers drunk and passed out was the willingness of the liquor licence holders to fulfil their social responsibilities. He also agreed that the LLB should set a maximum capacity for liquor-licensed premises for all kinds of liquor licences. At the LLB meeting in January this year, he had recommended the addition of a condition specifying the maximum capacity for new liquor licence applications so as to prevent accidents due to overcrowding.

(g) In response to the question of Mr KAM Nai-wai, he said that the Police had conducted “snaking” and undercover operations, etc. for investigations.

(h) In response to Dr Malcolm LAM’s question, he said “Rape Water”, “Super Rape Water” and “Bomb” all referred to the same thing with the chemical name gamma-hydroxybutyric acid. Some newspapers had made exaggerated reports about “Rape Water”. In fact, there had only been one suspected case reported in the Central District, and the test results on blood and exhibits showed that the pass out of the plaintiff was due to intoxication and had nothing to do with “Rape Water”. In the end, the authority concerned dismissed the charge against the accused. In 2012, there were seven suspected cases reported in Hong Kong, but only one of them was confirmed to have involved the possession of real “Rape Water” for the time being.

(i) In response to the question about the assaults on police officers, he said the more the interaction between police officers and members of the public, the more likely the number of cases of assaults on police officers increased. Presently, the fine imposed by courts for this type of offence was not high. He hoped that appropriate measures would be taken by courts to ensure the safety of police officers on duty.

104. Mr KAM Nai-wai recognised the efforts of the Police in the battle against crime (e.g. handling of cases involving liquor-licensed premises). He asked whether the Police had provided training to liquor licence holders on the compliance with operational rules.

105. Mr CHAN Choi-hi commended the efforts of the Police. However, in view of the increasing number of crimes, he asked what measures would be taken by the Police to curb the trend.

106. Miss SIU Ka-yi asked the reason for the upward trend in the number of crimes despite the fact that the Police had conducted not a few inspections every day. She clarified that the improved economic environment, the increased pedestrian flow and the increased number of customers in the district, etc. were hypothetical factors for the upward trend in the number of crimes. Citing the number of theft cases as an example, she pointed out that the territorial figure had decreased while the figure reported in the C&W District had increased. She asked how the Police would step up measures against crime and curb the rising crime trend.

107. The Chairman said media coverage was one way by which Members kept abreast of the situation in the district. He thanked Mr KWOK Yam-shu, Chief Superintendent, for his elaboration which allowed Members to understand the facts. He understood clearly that the

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Police had made great efforts in its battle against crimes. However, given the increasing number of crimes, he hoped that the Police would step up enforcement against criminals in future to maintain a low crime rate in Hong Kong.

108. Mr Thomas NG pointed out that according to the statistics from 2010 to 2012, there had been an upward trend in the number of crimes reported in the district with increased cases of various crimes. He opined that the frequent operations performed by the Police had proved to be effective, leading to a much greater chance of detecting and cracking down on crimes. He indicated that the problem relating to liquor-licensed premises in the C&W District was difficult to control. The lax licensing policy of the LLB, the convenience for crowds to gather in the district coupled with the continuous extension of alcohol selling hours, made the district more prone to crime. He suggested fighting crime at source, and a concerted effort to control liquor-licensed premises would be one way to do it. Finally, he commended the Police for its efforts to maintain law and order in the district.

109. Mr KWOK Yam-shu responded that the Police was in constant communication with liquor licence holders. Moreover, a cross-sectoral Central District Consultation Group, comprising licence holders and staff of liquor selling premises as well as representatives of organisations in Lan Kwai Fong district, was set up this year to review the operation of liquor-licensed premises through regular meetings. He stressed that liquor-licensed premises that cooperated in combating crime and improving the environment would receive the support of the Police on their licence renewal applications. As regards theft and pickpocketing cases, nearly 80% of such cases took place in liquor-licensed premises and many involved mobile phones. Hence, the number of these two crimes showed an opposite trend of increase when compared to the overall crime statistics for Hong Kong. The figures of other types of cases generally remained stable and there was no rising trend. In addition, to reduce criminal damage cases, the TD would soon implement a pilot scheme to allow taxis to pick up and set down passengers there. The C&WDC would be consulted on the arrangements in due course. He reiterated that, in addition to implementing existing measures, the Police would also seek the full support of the Central District Consultation Group in the fight against crime. As regards the granting of liquor licences to premises, he agreed that the requirements for the granting of licences could not be too lenient and it was essential to fight crime at source.

110. The Vice-c hairman thanked guests for attending the meeting.

Item 13: Concern over the law and order on the Peak (C&WDC Paper No. 11 2 /2012) (8:50 pm – 8:55 pm)

111. The Vice -c hairman welcomed representatives from the HKPF to the meeting.

112. Mr Joseph CHAN said that seven burglary cases, including the two recent cases, had taken place on the Peak since January 2012. He asked whether there had been an upward trend in this type of crime in comparison with last year and the reason for the rise. He opined that the topography of the Peak area was a cause for more reported burglary cases. A large area with many slopes and trails made the Peak area more prone to this type of crime. To tackle these cases, he made three proposals to the Police. First, publicity efforts should be enhanced to raise residents’ awareness of crime prevention. Second, apart from deploying officers in plainclothes, the Police also needed to strengthen patrols performed by uniformed officers to serve as a deterrent. Third, more road blocks should be set up, especially in the

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early morning, to increase the deterrent effect.

113. Mr KWOK Yam-shu , District Commander (Central) of the HKPF, used slides to present to Members an analysis and comparison of the overall crime figure and the burglary figure in the Peak area over the past nine months of the year. He then pointed out that the large area of the Peak made it attractive to criminals, yet the burglary figure was not high in the first nine months of the year. Only two burglaries were reported in July in residences where no anti-theft measures were taken when the household owners were travelling overseas. He emphasised that police-community partnership was the key to combating crime, and members of the public had a responsibility to take good care of their belongings. In response to the proposal of strengthening patrols performed by uniformed officers, he said the monthly frequency of patrols performed by uniformed officers remained constant from July to September. As regards the proposal of setting up more road blocks to intercept culprits, he cited a case from last year in which the Police had successfully arrested the culprit within two hours of a crime case being reported with the aid of road blocks. It was enough to prove that the setting up of road blocks was an effective means to combat crime.

Item 14: Concern over the Alteration of Tung Wah Group of HospitalsLee Sai Chow Memorial Primary School in Sheung Wan to Become a Hostel for Single Youths

(C&WDC Paper No. 113/2012) (8:55 pm – 9:30 pm)

114. The Chairman welcomed representatives from the Home Affairs Bureau (HAB) and Tung Wah Group of Hospitals (TWGHs) to the meeting.

115. Members’ views were highlighted as follows:

(a) Miss SIU Ka-yi said that she supported in principle the policy of providing a youth hostel and raised the following questions in respect of the concerns of local residents: (i) what the anticipated increase in traffic flow in Hollywood Road and the results of the traffic impact assessment would be; (ii) whether the hostel would affect the view of the nearby buildings, especially the units on lower floors, and whether it would create wall effect; (iii) what measures would be implemented to protect the Man Mo Temple during the demolition and construction process; and (iv) whether community facilities would be added to the hostel and open for use by local residents. She hoped that the TWGHs would conduct a more extensive consultation before making an application to the Town Planning Board (TPB).

(b) Mr KAM Nai-wai asked when the HAB and TWGHs would consult the C&WDC on this project. In order to make the project more readily acceptable by local residents, he suggested that, apart from providing residential service, the youth hostel might be equipped with community facilities open for use by local residents to ensure a better integration into the community. In regard to building height, he was worried that residents would raise an objection to the building height of 18 floors and asked if it was necessary to build 18 floors. He was also concerned about the compatibility of Man Mo Temple and the hostel because the noise created by occupants of the hostel would affect the surrounding environment. He urged the Administration to start consultation as soon as possible.

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(c) Mr CHAN Chit-kwai supported the proposal of building a youth hostel which would help solve the housing problem of the youth in Hong Kong and assist them in purchasing their own homes. As the project would be taken forward by utilising a “Government, Institution or Community” site in the district, he asked whether local residents would be given a preferential rating during the selection process.

(d) Mr Sidney LEE opined that the policy was worth implementing. With a rough calculation based on the proposed 250 hostel places and the rent levels, he expected that the TWGHs would have to subsidise the management of the hostel. Hence, he appreciated the contribution of TWGHs. He asked how the hostel would be managed. He urged the Administration to bring in complementary legislation for different aspects including rental, contract, tenancy protection and rights of tenancy renewal.

(e) The Vice -c hairman agreed to the policy of building youth hostels, but he said attention should be paid to the suitability of sites, ways in which voices of opposition can be reduced and the communication mechanisms with residents can be strengthened, etc. He said the traffic pressure on Hollywood Road would definitely increase as a result of the development, and thus asked the Administration what complementary measures would be in place. He was worried that the youth who stayed up late in the hostel would cause noise disturbance to nearby residents and that the hostel would affect the property value of the private premises in the vicinity. Hence, contact, communication and integration with local residents in diverse ways were required.

(f) The Chairman opined that the youth in general could hardly purchase their own homes due to the high property prices, so the project was worth supporting as it could help some of them. He asked whether the building of the youth hostel had been incorporated into the youth policies and called for relevant NGOs to work in line with youth development. He also remarked that youth hostels could not be used as a measure to alleviate the long-term housing problems, the fitting-out of hostels should not be overly luxurious, the development of hostels should take into consideration the opinions of local residents, strict eligibility criteria should be set, contributions like volunteer services should be made by occupants in return, and comprehensive requirements should be defined for the moving out of occupants. He urged the Government and NGOs to further study various aspects of the project.

116. Ms Kitty YU , Principal Assistant Secretary (Civic Affairs)1 of the HAB, responded on the policy front as follows:

(a) The redevelopment project for Lee Sai Chow Memorial Primary School in Sheung Wan was a more mature project under the Youth Hostel Scheme, which was not aimed to solve all housing problems of the youth. The focus of the project was, under the principle of better use of land resources, to facilitate the independence and growth of the youth with the land resources in Hong Kong and provided them an additional housing option as well.

(b) Although the policy was yet to undergo public consultation, it had been submitted

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to the Legislative Council for discussion. She emphasised that the Government would definitely conduct public consultation when all the details were worked out.

(c) She said that the policy provided a framework of direction only and it allowed room for fine-tuning. For instance, the Government would allocate a percentage of hostel places for the participating NGOs to exercise flexibility and discretion in accepting youth occupants according to their operational objectives and targets. The Government would also provide NGOs with operational guidelines requiring the design and materials to be simple and practical so as to achieve the policy objectives.

(d) There was a need to perform preliminary assessments to determine the impact of the hostel on the district. For example, a traffic impact assessment would be carried out before the submission of the proposal to the TPB to find out the traffic pressure, etc. to be brought about by the development.

117. Mr Ivan YIU , Community Services Secretary of TWGHs, supplemented the project as follows:

(a) The TWGHs had fully considered the impact of the development on surrounding landscape and traffic flow. Given that the site was elongated in shape with an area of around 300 square metres only, a height-oriented structure was required having regard to operational efficiency. Moreover, the TPB’s approval conditions and the impact of the development on residents would also be taken into account. Regarding the landscape, it was believed that only a few flats would be affected because the youth hostel would not be built immediately adjacent to the nearby private buildings. As for the traffic flow, with a detailed traffic impact assessment to be carried out and the availability of mass transit transport systems in the vicinity, there should not be a substantial increase in the vehicle flow on Hollywood Road. In addition, the entrance to the parking area of the hostel would be located at Bridges Street to help divert pressure on roads.

(b) He assured Members that due care would be exercised to protect Man Mo Temple, which was one of the declared monuments under the management of the TWGHs, throughout the alteration works.

(c) Subject to Government’s approval, a bazaar might be set up in the basement of the hostel to provide a communal community space for local residents. Under the prerequisite that occupants’ needs would be met first, other complementary facilities including activity rooms, dance rooms and a café for training purpose might be open for public use. The fourth to the seventeenth floors where the hostel rooms were housed would be for the exclusive use of occupants.

(d) As to whether the youths in the C&W District would be given priority for hostel places, he said the youth within and outside the district were welcome to apply for hostel places, and the TWGHs would carry out the selection in an equal and fair manner. Regarding rental concession, the rental would be set at 50% or less of the open market rental as far as possible so that it would take up less than 25% of the household income.

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(e) Regarding the moving out of occupants, when an occupant was due to renew a tenancy after three years of accommodation, the TWGHs would offer a less favourable rental at 60% or more of the open market rental.

(f) Regarding volunteer services, the TWGHs would encourage and induce occupants to take part in volunteer and community services with the provision of leadership and volunteer training courses, but would not make it mandatory for the occupants.

(g) Regarding noise nuisance, it was believed that there would not be serious noise issues because occupants on the fourth to eighth floors, where the twin/double rooms located, would probably be married couples with different occupational backgrounds, who would unlikely be present in the hostel at the same time.

(h) The management committee of the youth hostel would involve the participation of occupants to allow the youth to play a part in the management work, thus achieving the goals of promoting a harmonious community and getting residents to make contribution to the society.

118. Ms CHENG Lai-king asked whether the plaque found at the staircase on Ping On Lane was within the site of Lee Sai Chow Memorial Primary School.

119. Mr YIU Tze-leung ’s initial view was that the area was covered by the lease of Man Mo Temple under TWGHs.

120. Mr KAM Nai-wai stressed that, despite the discussion about the proposal to provide a youth hostel in this meeting, the C&WDC had not given its consent to the entire plan. He reiterated that the Administration should expeditiously launch public consultation on the “hardware” of the alteration works.

121. The Chairman concluded that the policy of providing a youth hostel was supported, but the TWGH should announce the details of the design, etc. of the hostel and conduct consultation as soon as possible.

122. The Chairman thanked guests for attending the meeting.

Item 15: Review on the Operation Building Bright (C&WDC Paper No. 114/2012) (9:30 pm – 9:50 pm)

123. The Chairman welcomed representatives from the DEVB, BD, HKHS and URA to the meeting.

124. Mr KAM Nai-wai pointed out that, despite the submission of a funding application, an OC still had to pay in advance part of the construction costs to the contractor before the commencement of works. Hence, the collection of funds might place financial pressure on some of the elderly in the premises. He asked how the Administration would deal with this situation. In addition, he asked how the Operation Building Bright (OBB) and the Mandatory Building Inspection Scheme (MBIS) would tie in with each other and, if, for example, buildings could be exempted from the MBIS if they had joined the OBB.

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125. Mr CHAN Chit-kwai hoped that works of the remaining 145 target buildings in the district under the OBB would commence as soon as possible. Second, he was in support of further funding to benefit more parties. Third, he suggested that the government departments concerned revised the eligibility criteria to include more buildings into the OBB as buildings over 30 years old or whose occupants were poor did not meet the criteria for the funding.

126. Mr CHAN Choi-hi commended that the OBB was a benevolent initiative of the DEVB. He pointed out that 235 buildings of the 3 000 plus buildings in the C&W District were target buildings, which accounted for a high proportion of target buildings. He asked when the remaining 145 buildings would be dealt with. He agreed that the Administration had to be cautious when considering the applications because it involved the use of public funds, but some OCs regarded that the approval process of this district was more stringent than other districts. He asked whether there were differences in the approval criteria in different districts. He hoped that the Administration could speed up the processing of the cases by further streamlining the vetting and approving procedures so that all applicants could obtain approval before the deadline. He also hoped that assistance would be provided to the elderly for making the applications. Moreover, he proposed that programmes of similar nature to OBB under the BD, HKHS and URA should be reorganised to provide one-stop service to the public. In addition, he proposed that the Government provide more funds to subsidise more buildings for maintenance by changing the names of the programmes or introducing new plans.

127. Mr Ryan CHIU , Principal Assistant Secretary (Planning & Lands) of the DEVB, responded as follows:

(a) In response to the question of Mr KAM Nai-wai, he said that to ensure the proper use of public funds, the HKHS and URA would release the subsidies payable to the OCs for any payment already made for the works in advance after the vetting of the works. The HKHS and URA would consider special arrangements for release of subsidies to elderly owners who had financial difficulties on a case by case basis. The HKHS and URA recommended that OCs made payments to contractors in installments and negotiated for a longer payment period, such as 30 days, to ease the fund collection pressure. Regarding the relationship between the OBB and MBIS, the BD had issued letters to the owners and OCs of the first batch of target buildings in mid-2012 to inform them that the MBIS had been in full implementation since the middle of 2012 and the relevant statutory notices would be issued in early 2013. The BD would not issue the statutory notices for building inspection to buildings having completed maintenance under the OBB at this stage.

(b) In response to the views of Mr CHAN Chit-kwai, he said that the Administration hoped that the repair works of the 145 buildings could commence as soon as possible, and assistance would be rendered to owners during the vetting and approving process as far as practicable. He indicated that cooperation of the owners was necessary for speedy repair works. Even if the HKHS and URA had issued the Approval-in-Principle notifications, repair works could commence only after consensus reached on the tendering arrangements and scope of works by the owners. The HKHS and URA would assist OCs/owners to organise their repair works as much as possible so that the works could commence soon. The application deadline for the OBB was due, and more than 200 buildings in the

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C&W District had become the target buildings under the OBB. In addition, support would be provided to other owners in need for their building maintenance under the Integrated Building Maintenance Assistance Scheme (IBMAS) managed by the HKHS and URA. The HKHS and URA amended the eligibility criteria of the IBMAS this year to cover 80% of the buildings in Hong Kong and would continue to review the eligibility and funding criteria of the scheme from time to time.

(c) In response to Mr CHAN Choi-hi’s question, he said that the Administration would introduce suitable measures to assist the public as appropriate. For example, the HKHS and URA launched a new scheme to provide funding to owners who needed help to carry out building inspections to help them comply with the requirements of the MBIS and improve building safety. The HKHS and URA would expedite the vetting and approving process of the applications for financial support of the owners to facilitate smooth building inspections.

128. Ms Connie WAN , Manager of Property Management Advisory Centre (Central District) of the HKHS, said that the OCs of target buildings approved under the OBB could make four claims for subsidies to alleviate the financial burden of owners. The maximum grant for elderly owner-occupiers was $40,000. In general, the share of the cost of repair works for each household of a target building within the C&W District was between $20,000 and $30,000. Most of the elderly owner-occupiers would receive the full grant if the repair works met the requirements of the OBB, and the grant of the OBB would be credited directly to the bank account of the OCs if they had not yet made any payment to the OCs for the maintenance cost. If each household share for the cost of works exceeded $40,000, eligible elderly owner-occupiers who had financial difficulties could apply for a grant from the Building Maintenance Grant Scheme for Elderly Owners for further assistance. Applicants of the scheme should submit the application in accordance with the established procedures, and the HKHS and URA staff would help elderly owners fill in and submit the form if necessary.

129. Mr WONG Fuk-cheung , Building Rehabilitation Manager of the URA, said that the URA staff would fully participate in the OBB. OCs could claim the allowance for a maximum of four times, and fund collection arrangements must be endorsed by the management committees. URA staff would provide advice to the management committees on the number of installments for the cost of repair works based on the cost of works and the financial position of OCs, such as surplus of the maintenance fund, as the payment for the works were not made to the contractor in one lump sum. So far the URA had not received any reported cases with problems concerning the applications of elderly owners or fund collections of OCs.

130. Mr CHAN Choi-hi asked the Administration what concrete plans it had to streamline or optimise the vetting and approving procedures so that the repair works of the remaining 145 buildings could commence as soon as possible.

131. Mr Ryan CHIU said that the HKHS and URA would maintain contact with the OCs of the target buildings having obtained Approval-in-Principle notifications with repair works yet to commence, encouraging them to convene owners’ meetings to facilitate a consensus be reached by the owners as soon as possible so as to launch the tendering procedures, etc. The HKHS and URA would assist the OCs to begin the works as far as possible.

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132. The Chairman thanked the guests for attending the meeting.

Item 16: Proposed Dates of Meeting of the C&WDC and its Committeesbetween January and December 2013

(C&WDC Paper No. 115/2012) (9:50 pm – 9:51 pm)

133. Mr KAM Nai-wai recommended that meeting arrangement be changed lest the meeting time would be too long. He suggested that some agenda items could be discussed in the meetings of relevant committees.

134. The Chairman pointed out that the agenda of the meetings of the committees were already quite packed but agreed to consider simplifying the agenda.

135. The Secretary supplemented that the C&WDC and its committees would have meetings around every two months in 2013. She explained that the Finance Committee had to advance its meeting to late April 2013 for the funding arrangements and thus the date of its meeting would be switched with the one of the Cultural, Leisure & Social Affairs Committee.

136. Members had no comments about the proposed meeting dates, so the Chairman announced that all relevant proposals were endorsed.

Item 17: Members’ W ritten R eports (9:51 pm)

137. The Chairman said that the C&W District Fight Crime Committee held its second meeting of 2012 to 2013 on 27 July. The Committee would hold the third meeting on 19 October 2013.

138. Members had no additional information to supplement.

Item 18: Work R eports of the C ommittees under C&WDC (9:52 pm)

139. The Chairman asked Members to note the following papers:

(i) Cultural, Leisure & Social Affairs Committee(C&WDC Paper No. 116/2012)

(ii) District Facilities Management Committee(C&WDC Paper No. 117/2012)

(iii) Finance Committee(C&WDC Paper No. 118/2012)

(iv) Food, Environmental, Hygiene & Works Committee(C&WDC Paper No. 119/2012)

(v) Traffic & Transport Committee(C&WDC Paper No. 120/2012)

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Item 19: Reports of the W orking G roups under C&WDC (2012-13) (9:52 pm – 9:53 pm)

140. Mr Thomas NG called Members’ attention that the opening ceremony of the C&W District Tourist Festival would be held on 12 November this year.

141. The Chairman referred Members to the paper. The chairmen of other working groups had no additional information to supplement.

Item 20: Report on the 181st Meeting of the C&W District Management Committee (C&WDC Paper No. 121/2012) (9:53 pm)

142. The Chairman referred Members to the paper.

Item 21: Reports on the Meeting of the Area Committees of the C&W District (C&WDC Paper No. 122/2012) (9:53 pm)

143. The Chairman referred Members to the paper.

Item 22: Concern over the Relocation of Property Management Advisory Centre(Western District)

(C&WDC Written Question No. 2/2012) (9:54 pm)

144. The Chairman asked Members to note the replies of the government departments at the Annex.

Item 23: Any O ther B usiness (9:55 pm)

145. There was no other business.

Item 24: Date of the N ext M eeting (9:55 pm)

146. The Chairman announced that the seventh DC meeting would be held on 10 January 2013. The deadlines for government departments and Members to submit papers were 17 December 2012 and 21 December 2012 respectively. Lastly, he declared the close of meeting and thanked the guests and Members for attending the meeting.

147. The meeting was adjourned at 9:55 pm

The meeting minutes were confirmed on 10 January 2013

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Chairmen: Mr YIP Wing-shing, BBS, MH, JP

Secretary: Ms WONG Ming,wai

Secretariat of the Central & Western District CouncilDecember 2012

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