Minutes of the Combined 8th and 9th Meeting of

the Tuen Mun District Council

Date: 2 March 2021 (Tuesday)

Time: 2:30 p.m.

Venue: Tuen Mun District Council (“TMDC”) Conference Room

Present: Time of Arrival Time of Departure

Ms CHAN Shu-ying, Josephine (Chairman) 2:30 p.m. End of meeting

Mr WONG Tan-ching (Vice Chairman) 2:30 p.m. End of meeting

Mr CHAN Yau-hoi, BBS, MH, JP 2:30 p.m. End of meeting

Ms WONG Lai-sheung, Catherine 2:30 p.m. End of meeting

Ms HO Hang-mui 2:30 p.m. End of meeting

Mr LAM Chung-hoi 2:30 p.m. End of meeting

Ms CHU Shun-nga, Beatrice 2:30 p.m. End of meeting

Ms SO Ka-man 2:32 p.m. End of meeting

Mr YEUNG Chi-hang 4:20 p.m. End of meeting

Mr YAN Siu-nam 2:30 p.m. End of meeting

Mr WONG Tak-yuen 2:30 p.m. End of meeting

Mr LEE Ka-wai 2:30 p.m. 5:09 p.m.

Mr MO Kwan-tai, Michael 2:48 p.m. End of meeting

Mr HO Kwok-ho 2:30 p.m. End of meeting

Mr LAM Ming-yan 2:30 p.m. End of meeting

Mr LAM Kin-cheung 2:30 p.m. End of meeting

Mr CHOW Kai-lim 2:30 p.m. End of meeting

Mr MA Kee 2:30 p.m. End of meeting

Mr CHEUNG Kam-hung, Kenneth 2:30 p.m. End of meeting

Mr TSANG Chun-hing 2:30 p.m. End of meeting

Mr TSANG Kam-wing 2:36 p.m. End of meeting

Mr YAN Pui-lam 2:30 p.m. End of meeting

Mr POON Chi-kin 2:30 p.m. End of meeting

Mr LAI Chun-wing, Alfred 2:30 p.m. End of meeting

Mr LO Chun-yu 2:30 p.m. End of meeting

Ms LAI Ka-man 2:30 p.m. End of meeting

Ms LAW Pei-lee 2:30 p.m. End of meeting

Mr LAU Chun-fai, Lawrence

(Secretary)

Senior Executive Officer (District Council),

Tuen Mun District Office, Home Affairs Department

Absent with Apologies:

Ms KONG Fung-yi TMDC Member

The Hon LAU Ip-keung, Kenneth, BBS, MH, JP TMDC Member

Mr CHEUNG Ho-sum TMDC Member

Mr LEUNG Ho-man TMDC Member

Mr WONG Hung-ming TMDC Member

By Invitation:

Mr LO Kwok-wah, Kelvin, JP Director of Water Supplies

Mr Stephen CATLIN Chief Engineer/New Territories West, Water Supplies Department

Mr Eric CHAN Senior Engineer/New Territories West, Water Supplies Department

Ms IP Chor-ki District Intelligence Section (Tuen Mun), Hong Kong Police Force

Mr LAI Kwok-chung Chief Engineer/Railway Development 1-3/Railway Development Office,

Highways Department

Mr KAM Ka-yuen Senior Engineer/Railway Schemes(2)/Railway Development Office,

Highways Department

Ms LAM Nga-man Engineer/Railway Schemes(2)/Railway Development Office,

Highways Department

Mr Nelson YEUNG Project Manager - Tuen Mun South Extension, MTR Corporation Limited

Mr FUNG Wai-chung Senior Liaison Engineer, MTR Corporation Limited

Mr Henry MAN Projects Communications Manager, MTR Corporation Limited

Mr Alex MAN Senior Engineer/Housing and Planning/New Territories West,

Transport Department

Ms CHAN Hoi-ki District Engineer/General(3), Highways Department

Mr NG Yuk-kong Executive Committee Member,

Hong Kong Amateur Swimming Association

Ms WONG Lam-ching Chief Sports Executive,

Hong Kong Amateur Swimming Association

Mr LEE Kam-kong Vice-chairman, Tuen Mun Sports Association

In Attendance:

Ms FUNG Ngar-wai, Aubrey District Officer (Tuen Mun), Home Affairs Department

Ms LEUNG Chue-kay, Koronis Assistant District Officer (Tuen Mun)1, Home Affairs Department

Ms Wing CHENG Assistant District Officer (Tuen Mun)2, Home Affairs Department

Ms YAN Yuet-han, Fion Senior Liaison Officer (1), Tuen Mun District Office,

Home Affairs Department

Ms Melinder YU Senior Liaison Officer (2), Tuen Mun District Office,

Home Affairs Department

Mr KWONG Ka-kuen Senior Liaison Officer (3)(Acting), Tuen Mun District Office,

Home Affairs Department

Mr CHUNG Lok-chin Chief Engineer/West 3, Civil Engineering and Development Department

Ms HON Hin-yan Chief School Development Officer (Tuen Mun), Education Bureau

Mr YU Wai-yip, Ricky District Social Welfare Officer (Tuen Mun), Social Welfare Department

Mr LEE Kam-ho, Edwin District Environmental Hygiene Superintendent (Tuen Mun),

Food and Environmental Hygiene Department

Mr WONG Pui-chun Chief Manager/Management (Tuen Mun & Yuen Long),

Housing Department

Ms Jackie LO Chief Leisure Manager (New Territories North),

Leisure and Cultural Services Department

Ms Pat TAM District Leisure Manager (Tuen Mun),

Leisure and Cultural Services Department

Mr KONG Man-keung District Commander (Tuen Mun), Hong Kong Police Force

Ms Angela LEE Police Community Relations Officer (Tuen Mun District),

Hong Kong Police Force

Ms Joyce NG District Lands Officer (Tuen Mun), Lands Department

Mr Clement WONG Administrative Assistant, Lands (District Lands Office, Tuen

Mun)(Acting), Lands Department

Mr Kepler YUEN District Planning Officer/Tuen Mun & Yuen Long West,

Planning Department

Ms Christine YUEN Chief Transport Officer/New Territories North West(Acting),

Transport Department

Ms CHAN Mei-ting, Emily

(Assistant Secretary)

Executive Officer I (District Council)1,

Tuen Mun District Office, Home Affairs Department

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I. Opening Remarks

The Chairman welcomed all present to the combined 8th and 9th meeting

of the TMDC. She also extended welcome to government department

representatives in attendance at the meeting.

2. The Chairman said that before the current meeting, she had staged a

petition for a paper put to the meeting held by the Finance, Administration and

Publicity Committee on the previous Friday. The petition letter was placed on

the table for Members’ reference, but the relevant matter would not be discussed.

3. On behalf of the TMDC, the Chairman welcomed Mr KWONG Ka-kuen,

Senior Liaison Officer (3)(Acting) of the Tuen Mun District Office (“TMDO”),

who was attending meetings of the current-term DC for the first time. She also

thanked his predecessor, Mr NG Chi-keung, Vincent, for his past contribution to

Tuen Mun.

4. The Chairman reminded Members that as the audio recording of the

meeting would be uploaded to the TMDC website, Members who wished to

speak should raise their hands first and speak only after she signalled them to do

so. Also, to minimise the risk of community transmission of the virus, the

TMDO would implement the following measures at the meetings of TMDC and

its committees/working groups: (i) before entering the conference room,

participants, media representatives and members of the public (ten at most) must

put on their own surgical masks and have their body temperature checked by the

Secretariat staff. Places for members of the public to observe the meeting were

available on a first come first served basis; (ii) before entering the conference

room, participants, media representatives and members of the public (ten at most)

must fill in health declaration forms; (iii) participants, media representatives and

members of the public (ten at most) would have their personal particulars (e.g.

name, respective media organisation and staff number) recorded properly so that

health authorities could trace all media representatives admitted to the conference

room when necessary; and (iv) tea service was suspended and participants could

bring water and drinking utensils of their own. Participants could enjoy

refreshments, which were prepared by the Chairman, in the common room, but

they should not eat, drink or take off their masks in the conference room. The

meeting would follow the order of business set out in the agenda. For the sake

of time management, she suggested that Members should speak not more than

one minute for each remark and not more than twice on each matter so as to

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finish the meeting as early as possible.

5. The Chairman also reminded Members that those who were aware of their

personal interests in any matters discussed at the meeting should declare the

interests before the discussion. She would, in accordance with Order 38(11) of

the Tuen Mun District Council Standing Orders (“Standing Orders”), decide

whether the Members who had declared interests might speak or vote on the

matters, might remain at the meeting as observers, or should withdraw from the

meeting. All cases of declaration of interests would be recorded in the minutes

of the meeting.

II. Absence from Meeting

6. The Secretary said that the Secretariat had received applications for

absence from four Members. Mr LEUNG Ho-man and Ms KONG Fung-yi

were absent due to illness. Their leave applications would be endorsed by the

TMDC if medical certificates were submitted in accordance with Order 41 of the

Standing Orders. Mr WONG Hung-ming and Mr CHEUNG Ho-sum applied

for leave of absence on other grounds. Mr WONG Hung-ming’s reason for

absence was as follows: “since the court has given an instruction to adjourn the

hearing to 2 March 2021 at short notice, I, as the defence counsel, am unable to

make timely arrangements for the time clash and thus cannot attend the District

Council meeting held on the same day. I apologise for any inconvenience

caused.” Mr CHEUNG Ho-sum’s reason for absence was as follows: “I cannot

attend the meeting due to legal proceedings.” The reasons stated by the two

Members were outside the reasons generally accepted by the TMDC under the

Standing Orders. Nonetheless, according to Order 41 of the Standing Orders,

with the agreement of more than half of the Members present, the TMDC could

discuss and consider if the applications for absence should be accepted.

7. The Chairman said that she had prepared a statement to elaborate on and

deal with the applications for absence filed by Mr CHEUNG Ho-sum and Mr

WONG Hung-ming, which read as follows: “… Since the Basic Law adopts the

presumption of innocence, meaning that a person is considered innocent until

proven guilty, and they cannot attend the meeting simply because of legal

proceedings, I will accept the applications for absence filed by Mr CHEUNG

Ho-sum and Mr WONG Hung-ming, who represents the former in the relevant

lawsuit, with the agreement of more than half of the Members present in

accordance with the TMDC Standing Orders. …”

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[Post-meeting note: After conducting an internal assessment, the Government

holds the view that some parts of the above statement involve the basis of

criminal prosecution and the handling of the lawsuit concerned, and they are

outside the DC functions stipulated in the District Councils Ordinance.

Therefore, the Secretariat shall not provide secretarial services such as minutes

taking and audio uploading for those parts.]

8. Members voted on the applications for absence filed by the two Members.

After voting, their applications for absence were accepted by 20 votes to 3 with

no abstentions.

[Members in favour included Ms Josephine CHAN, Mr WONG Tan-ching, Ms

Catherine WONG, Ms Beatrice CHU, Mr WONG Tak-yuen, Mr LAM Ming-yan,

Mr CHOW Kai-lim, Mr TSANG Chun-hing, Mr YAN Pui-lam, Mr Alfred LAI,

Ms LAW Pei-lee, Mr POON Chi-kin, Mr TSANG Kam-wing, Mr Kenneth

CHEUNG, Mr MA Kee, Mr LAM Kin-cheung, Mr HO Kwok-ho, Mr LEE

Ka-wai, Mr YAN Siu-nam and Ms HO Hang-mui. Members against included

Ms LAI Ka-man, Ms SO Ka-man and Mr CHAN Yau-hoi.]

III. Meeting between the Director of Water Supplies and TMDC

Members

9. The Chairman welcomed Mr Kelvin LO, the Director of Water Supplies,

Mr Stephen CATLIN, Chief Engineer/New Territories West, and Mr Eric CHAN

Senior Engineer/New Territories West, of the Water Supplies Department

(“WSD”) to the meeting. They would brief Members on the department’s work

and listen to views about matters which aroused local concern. She asked Mr

LO to brief Members on the work of the WSD.

10. The Director of Water Supplies said that he was pleased to have a chance

to brief Members on the WSD’s work at the TMDC meeting. He used

PowerPoint slides for the briefing.

11. The Chairman thanked the Director of Water Supplies for his briefing.

Members were reminded not to speak more than one minute each time.

12. Ms Catherine WONG said that a large amount of small shrimps had been

found in the salt water pipes of Leung King Estate and San Wai Court recently

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and that resulted in slow flow of flush water. Showing photos of the Y-strainers

of the salt water pipes being filled with small shrimps, she asked the Director to

collect salt water samples and find out the cause of the incident. Moreover, she

enquired about the surge in water charges since many residents had reported that

in the past year. She also said that the water pressure at Leung King Estate and

San Wai Court was too low for residents to take hot showers, so she asked the

Director to follow up on the problem.

13. Mr WONG Tak-yuen said that his constituency faced the same situation

and the problem of water pressure had been present for a long time. As far as

Leung King Estate was concerned, water supply ran from the top to the bottom of

the buildings, while units on 7/F or below had direct water supply from the WSD.

Residents on those floors would suffer inconveniences caused by the low water

pressure during a shower. Mr YIP of the WSD had conducted a site inspection

earlier and the valve system had been replaced. While the situation had

improved after the replacement, it relapsed after a while and no further action was

taken.

14. Mr CHAN Yau-hoi thanked the Director for attending the meeting. He

said that water pipes at Shek Pai Tau Road had burst three times in the same year

and the latest case had occurred on the previous Sunday. He asked why those

pipes were not included as pipes requiring rehabilitation or reinstallation under

the rehabilitation works currently conducted by the WSD. Also, he supported

using salt water for flushing and reckoned that the current coverage rate of 85%

could be further increased.

15. Mr POON Chi-kin said that many residents had shared their views about

the water pipe bursts at Shek Pai Tau Road as well. He asked the WSD what

contingency plans and standard operation procedures were in place to deal with

water main bursts affecting traffic and road safety in the early hours. While

WSD staff had arrived at the scene to handle the situation promptly on the night

of the water main burst, he still wanted to know more about the procedures

involved and how to contact the WSD in the small hours. Moreover, he opined

that it was right to adopt seawater desalination as a broad direction. He hoped

that the department could step up its effort in developing seawater desalination so

that it could replace Dongjiang water as a source of water supply for Hong Kong

in the long run.

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16. Mr CHOW Kai-lim thanked the Director for attending the meeting. He

said that flush water was often suspended around Tuen Mun Ferry Pier. He

noted that the WSD had made an effort to replace the underground pipes in that

area. However, since the pumping station for salt water supply in Tuen Mun

was located at Mei Lok Lane, even a water main burst at Shan King Estate would

lead to water suspension around Tuen Mun Ferry Pier. As toilet hygiene was

especially important during the epidemic, residents were dissatisfied about the

suspension of water supply. Having enquired about the possibility of

connecting salt water pipes to the Tuen Mun Ferry Pier area, he asked whether

the earlier suggestion of connecting the water supply system of Wu Shan

Playground to that area would be implemented.

17. Mr HO Kwok-ho welcomed the Director to the meeting. He said that

residents on the lower levels of Fu Tai Estate were often bothered by low water

pressure. The WSD’s water supply to those floors was too weak to even get

water heaters running. Therefore, he was concerned about the pressure of water

supply across Tuen Mun, worrying that it might continue to drop due to leakage.

He described the situation as “having ten tea pots but only eight lids so there is no

way to get all the pots covered”, and suggested that the department consider

increasing the pressure of water supply across Tuen Mun.

18. Ms HO Hang-mui said that some residents had recently complained to her

about a sudden surge in water charges and some people who had just moved into

new housing estates had already been charged several hundred dollars. She

reckoned that the situation was related to the estimation of meter readings.

Since water charges were collected according to a progressive tariff structure, a

slight deviation in the estimated reading could lead to a big difference in the

water charge. Therefore, she opined that the estimation of meter readings

should be avoided in the future to reduce conflicts.

19. Mr LAM Chung-hoi thanked the Director for attending the meeting. He

praised the WSD staff who were responsible for repairs in the district for creating

a WhatsApp group with TMDC Members since it was a very effective way to

communicate. As for the surge in water charges, he said the problem, which

was caused by the estimation of meter readings, was common across the territory.

If a meter reading was underestimated, the accumulated usage, and hence the

charge, would be higher when the actual reading was taken. Therefore, he

hoped that the WSD would look into the billing practice and reimburse users for

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overcharges. Instead of estimating meter readings, he suggested taking meter

readings in person to avoid overcharging.

20. Mr Kenneth CHEUNG said that Sun Fung Wai residents had complained

several times about low water pressure at home. The water pressure became

normal after the WSD had checked and replaced the water meters upon his

notification. In that village, other village houses where residents moved in

around the same time faced a similar problem as water pressure was affected by

rusty or blocked water pipes. Therefore, he suggested that the department

inspect and replace water metres for rural residents spontaneously. Moreover,

while water pipes often burst in rural areas, no households were willing to carry

out repairs since it was difficult to trace the source. He asked whether the WSD

could arrange for repairs and have the cost shared by relevant households.

21. The Vice Chairman said that he shared Members’ views about the water

charge issue. He also supported developing seawater desalination so that Hong

Kong needed not rely on Dongjiang water in the future. He also enquired about

the progress of the works to replace water pipes at Shan King Estate, saying that

the project had been raised as early as in 2018. Therefore, he hoped that the

Director could report on its progress.

22. Mr MA Kee said that the water works at So Kwun Wat Area 2 had been

completed and thanked the WSD for its help. However, since water works had

not been conducted in So Kwun Wat Area 1, its fresh water problem had

persisted for several decades. In this connection, he had already written a letter

to the Director and hoped that the WSD would help follow it up.

23. The Director of Water Supplies thanked Members for their enquiries and

gave a consolidated response as follows:

(i) It was rare, and possibly the first time, to find small shrimps in the

seawater filters of internal water supply systems. The WSD had

immediately inspected the pumping station and the water tanks of the

affected housing estates, and found no irregularities. The department

had taken samples for tests and stepped up disinfection of flushing

seawater at the pumping station. In the long run, the department would

assess whether there was a need for stronger filters at the pumping

stations;

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(ii) On water charges, routine meter reading had been suspended for a while

due to social distancing under the epidemic, when it was not suitable for

over 100 meter readers of the WSD to take meter readings at more than

three million households across Hong Kong. The settlement of water

bills would be deferred until routine meter reading resumed in the next

billing period, meaning that members of the public would settle the water

bills of two billing periods (i.e. eight months in total) at the same time and

in fact no extra charges would be collected. He said that users could

enjoy up to 12 cubic metres of free water in a four-month period and the

free consumption was extended to 24 cubic metres of water as meter

reading was deferred for one billing period. Other water charge tiers

would also be adjusted accordingly. Therefore, the suspension of routine

meter reading would not result in higher water charges. The WSD

understood that paying for two billing periods at the same time might not

be ideal. If the department received enquiries from the public, it would

take the actual meter reading for confirmation and extend the deadline of

bill payment. Also, people who had difficulty in settling the combined

water bill could apply for payment deferral;

(iii) On leakage such as water pipe burst at Shek Pai Tau Road, the WSD had

launched a large-scale project to rehabilitate and replace water pipes in

2000. The number of water pipe burst cases per year had dropped from

over 2 500 to around 40 at the moment and there were only five water

pipe burst cases in Tuen Mun in the past three years. The department

would keep monitoring the situation and deal with the more serious spots

first;

(iv) On water pipe bursts, the WSD had formed a regular night team to cope

with water main bursts in the early hours. Since the operations were

rather urgent and required expeditious road closure, he asked for

Members’ understanding for the lack of prior consultation. The

department would further strengthen the management of water pipes,

identify pipes at risk of bursting and carry out timely repairs to avoid

water main bursts;

(v) On the maintenance of water pipes in private housing estates, the law

stipulated that while public pipes were maintained by the WSD, private

pipes should be maintained by the housing estates or individuals

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concerned. He hoped Members would understand that the WSD already

had to take care of over 8 300 kilometres of public pipes and could hardly

spare resources to deal with the water pipes of private housing estates.

Nevertheless, the department was willing to offer technical advice if

private estates ran into difficulty in maintaining water pipes. As regards

the problem faced by Shan King Estate, he said that the WSD had

contacted the residents and the management company before, but did not

receive any reply. The department would try to get in touch with them

again in a bid to hear their opinions and minimise the impact;

(vi) O On the problem of water pressure, the WSD would conduct inspections at

the specific locations mentioned by the Members. However, he pointed

out that not all parts of Tuen Mun were affected by low water pressure

since water pipes were more likely to burst under high water pressure.

Only under special circumstances such as the deterioration of water mains

would water pipes burst under low pressure. The normal operation of

water pipes depended on private housing estates taking the initiative to

maintain the facilities, whereas the department would maintain facilities

under its management on a regular basis. If Members found issues at a

specific location, they were welcome to approach the WSD and the

department staff would follow up and conduct thorough inspections;

(vii) On seawater desalination, he said that the aim of developing this

technology was not to replace Dongjiang water, but to provide an

alternative which would not be affected by climatic conditions such as

drought. The cost of seawater desalination was $13 per cubic metre,

which was a lot higher than that of Dongjiang water. Moreover, this

technology consumed a large amount of energy and would affect the

environment, so it could not replace Dongjiang water at this stage. The

WSD would monitor the technological development and adopt this

technology more widely if its cost-effectiveness improved; and

(viii) On using salt water for flushing, the current coverage rate was 85%. It

was not higher since it was less cost-effective to lay pipes in distant areas,

but the WSD would continue its effort. If the cost effectiveness

increased, the department would also expand the salt water system to

reduce the demand for fresh water.

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24. The Chairman thanked the Director of Water Supplies for attending the

meeting and hoped that he would consider Members’ views. Also, she said that

in the past, not only had departmental heads attended official TMDC meetings to

exchange ideas with DC Members, bureau secretaries had also visited Tuen Mun

to meet with councillors informally. The Government had recently gazetted the

Public Offices (Candidacy and Taking Up Offices)(Miscellaneous Amendments)

Bill 2021, which involved oath-taking requirements for DC Members. Since it

was closely related to the councillors, the TMDC would write to the Secretary for

Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, inviting him to meet with TMDC Members

informally so that Members could directly express their views about this matter.

[Post-meeting note: The letter was sent on 26 March 2021.]

IV. Discussion Items

(A) Tuen Mun South Extension

(TMDC Paper No. 4/2021)

25. The Chairman said that since the captioned matter was of major concern

to the public, and representatives from the Highways Department (“HyD”), MTR

Corporation Limited (“MTRCL”), Hong Kong Amateur Swimming Association

(“HKASA”) and Tuen Mun Sports Association were present at the meeting, she

would change the order of business to discuss this item first so as not to keep

them waiting.

26. The Chairman then welcomed Mr LAI Kwok-chung, Chief

Engineer/Railway Development 1-3, Mr KAM Ka-yuen, Senior

Engineer/Railway Schemes(2), and Ms LAM Nga-man, Engineer/Railway

Schemes(2), of the Railway Development Office of the HyD, Mr Nelson

YEUNG, Project Manager - Tuen Mun South Extension, Mr FUNG Wai-chung,

Senior Liaison Engineer, and Mr Henry MAN, Projects Communications

Manager, of the MTRCL to the meeting. She also extended welcome to Mr NG

Yuk-kong, Executive Committee Member, and Ms WONG Lam-ching, Chief

Sports Executive, of the HKASA, and Mr LEE Kam-kong, Vice-chairman of the

Tuen Mun Sports Association, in attendance to the meeting.

27. Mr LAI Kwok-chung of the HyD and Mr FUNG Wai-chung of the

MTRCL used PowerPoint slides to brief Members on the Tuen Mun South

Extension project in respect of its details and progress, community facilities

which were expected to be affected, and relocation suggestions.

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28. The Chairman thanked Mr MAN Ka-yuen of the MTRCL for conducting

a site inspection even during the fourth wave of the epidemic, with the Members

divided into six groups for briefing. She said that many swimming clubs had

expressed concern about the relocation of the swimming pool and asked whether

new facilities would be provided to promote the development of swimming.

Therefore, she had invited swimming club representatives to the meeting. She

pointed out that the earlier briefing about the project had set out facilities which

would be available after the swimming pool was relocated. She asked the

HKASA representatives to express their views about the relocation.

29. Mr NG Yuk-kong of the HKASA said that he had collected comments

from swimming clubs, swimmers and parents. They hoped that advanced

equipment would be available after relocation and that the existing pool would

only be demolished after the new one was completed to avoid interruptions to

swimming training. He added that swimming clubs looked forward to a new

swimming pool where swimming contests of different scales could be held.

Nevertheless, while the contemporary requirement for spectator stands was to

provide 1 200 to 1 500 seats, there would only be 700 to 800 seats under the

current plan, which was equivalent to the standard in the 80s. As for ventilation

facilities, he pointed out that poor ventilation had caused users to faint at

swimming pools newly built in recent years (such as Kwun Tong Swimming

Pool, Tung Chung Swimming Pool and Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park Swimming

Pool), and it was not eco-friendly to install additional air coolers. Therefore, he

reminded the relevant department to pay attention to ventilation. Lastly, he

praised the plan for the spacious changing rooms at the swimming pool. He also

hoped that the main pool would be a ten-lane heated pool with electronic display

panels so that large-scale competitions could be held.

30. Mr LEE Kam-kong of the Tuen Mun Sports Association said that they did

not mind any changes to the plan for relocating the swimming pool and concurred

that the new pool should be built before the old one was demolished. Moreover,

he said that Tuen Mun had a large population but not enough complementary

facilities, so he hoped that the authorities would take the opportunity of relocating

Tuen Mun Swimming Pool to build more sports facilities.

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31. Mr LEE Ka-wai also expressed support for the proposal to build the new

pool before demolishing the old one and asked the MTRCL to provide a

timetable for the works. Besides, he had earlier passed petition letters to the

Transport Department (“TD”) and the MTRCL, demanding that the Adventure

Park be converted into a pet park. He said that the current plan to move the pet

park from Hoi Wong Road to Wong Chu Road Interchange was not ideal since

the proposed location was surrounded by traffic and residential areas.

Moreover, new buildings would be completed around Tuen Mun Ferry Pier and

Yau Oi South, so the park area was not large enough to satisfy the future demand.

Therefore, he suggested building the pet park elsewhere. In addition, the works

project concerning the Adventure Park involved many complex and expensive

items such as slope levelling, so he hoped the MTRCL would listen to public

views.

32. Mr YAN Siu-nam said that the Tuen Mun South Extension affected many

community facilities as they had to be relocated, allocated for other uses or

removed permanently. Therefore, he hoped that the relevant department could

announce the plans for each facility as soon as possible. Moreover, he was

worried that the noise emitted from the works would affect residents and schools

nearby, but the paper did not mention any noise mitigation measures.

Therefore, he asked the departments to elaborate on that.

33. Mr TSANG Kam-wing concurred that the new pool should be built before

the old one was demolished and it should be a heated pool. He reckoned that

the seats near the teaching pool should be open to the public for ease of looking

after young swimmers and stairs should be provided as well. He also criticised

that there might not be enough parking spaces and parking fees might go up if the

swimming pool and the golf course shared the same parking spaces. He

suggested that the Chairman invite the Teachers’ Association to send

representatives to the next meeting.

34. Mr Kenneth CHEUNG said that nothing could be done if fewer pools

would be available due to spatial constraints, but he suggested upgrading pool

facilities by providing Jacuzzis and sauna rooms in return.

35. Mr Michael MO asked whether the Leisure and Cultural Services

Department (“LCSD”) had considered constructing noise mitigation facilities or

building more pet parks as the new pet park would be near Wong Chu Road. He

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also asked the chairman of the TMDC or the Traffic and Transport Committee

(“TTC”) to help follow up on the construction of a third platform at Tuen Mun

Station and frequency improvement. Although the HyD had already reserved

necessary parts, it still had not instructed the MTRCL to carry out relevant

research.

36. Mr LAM Ming-yan said that while the construction of the South

Extension would affect hundreds of thousands of Tuen Mun residents, no public

consultation had been conducted. He suggested that the relevant department

consult the community about important works such as the relocation of the

swimming pool and the pet park instead of pushing through the project.

Moreover, he was concerned that the new location of the pet park might be noisy

and suggested that the department consider building one more pet park near the

proposed location.

37. Mr CHOW Kai-lim hoped that the works would not affect housing estates

and schools in Wu King. Since local residents had expressed concern over

privacy and noise, he had earlier suggested erecting noise barriers at Wu King

Road and Wu Shan Road and designing the platform in such a way that the

buildings would not be overexposed. He asked whether the department had

looked into his suggestions. He understood why it was suggested to stop using

Wu Hong Bridge. He suggested providing at grade crossing facilities on a

permanent basis and adding an entrance on Wu King Road at the existing

location of Wu Yuet Bridge to connect to the West Rail Station to divert

pedestrians on the street. If the department decided to build a bus stop at Wu

King Road Garden, a public toilet could also be provided to meet residents’

needs. He also suggested setting up a car park for the relocated swimming pool.

38. Ms HO Hang-mui pointed out that both the station and the swimming

pool to be built in Tuen Mun South were very close to residential areas, so she

hoped that the MTRCL would pay extra attention to construction noise. Also,

she suggested providing a jacuzzi at the new swimming pool to satisfy residents’

needs and increasing the number of seats at the spectator stand to 1 200 to 1 500

for holding large-scale activities.

39. The Chairman added that at the earlier site inspection, swimming club

representatives had said that the main pool should be 52 metres long so that it

could be used for holding competitions or separated into two 25 m x 25 m pools

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if necessary. Members had also mentioned that Lung Fu Road flyover might

pose danger to swimmers, so she asked whether any facilities would be installed

to protect swimmers from accidents occurring on the flyover.

40. Mr LAI Kwok-chung of the HyD thanked the representatives and

Members for their comments. He pointed out that the plans for relocating the

swimming pool and the pet park involved technical considerations, so he asked

the MTRCL representatives to elaborate.

41. Mr MAN Ka-yuen of the MTRCL said that the company was willing to

communicate with the residents about the works and would talk to the HKASA

and the Tuen Mun Sports Association about the details of the project after the

meeting. He added that Members’ suggestions about additional pool facilities,

station design, additional pet parks and noise mitigation facilities would be

considered. Separately, he said that the company would continue to collect

public opinions through different channels such as community offices and asked

his colleague Mr FUNG Wai-chung to elaborate on the swimming pool works.

42. Mr FUNG Wai-chung of the MTRCL said that the company would decide

whether it was possible to build the new pool before demolishing the old one

based on the arrangements and timeline of the works. Whether more seats could

be provided at the spectator stand depended on how much space was available

after other facilities were installed. He then responded to Members’ comments

about other aspects of the relocation plan. As far as ventilation facilities were

concerned, he said the MTRCL would keep stakeholders informed about the

progress and discuss relevant things with them. The company would take

reference from Tuen Mun North Swimming Pool in designing the changing

rooms of the new swimming pool. Also, there was room to upgrade the

facilities of the new swimming pool. For example, electronic score panels could

be installed. On the provision of a jacuzzi, he said that quite a lot of space was

already allocated to a leisure pool for amusement purposes but the company

would look into the suggestion. He understood that residents might be worried

about the construction of the station. Their opinions had earlier been passed to

the consultancy who was responsible for conducting the environmental impact

assessment and the report would be made available to the public in due course.

As for the pet park, he suggested that the company consider implementing more

mitigation measures or building the pet park elsewhere. He would explore the

above ideas and give an elaboration at the next meeting. Regarding the safety

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issues of Lung Fu Road flyover, the consultancy was asked to carry out a risk

assessment and look into the situation.

43. The Chairman said that several issues were related to the LCSD. First,

the existing site might not be big enough if Members’ suggestions were adopted

in the swimming pool relocation plan, so she asked the department whether it

would further revise the proposal concerning the Adventure Park. Second, she

asked for the department’s opinion about the suggestion of relocating the pet park

elsewhere. Third, she asked whether the department had assessed the demand

for parking spaces at venues such as the relocated swimming pool, the golf course

and the Adventure Park and whether more parking spaces would be set up. The

Chairman asked the LCSD representative to respond to the above issues.

44. Ms Jackie LO of the LCSD said that since the MTRCL had engaged a

consultancy for the detailed planning and design of the works, the department

would discuss and follow up on the above suggestions with the MTRCL.

45. The Chairman said she noted that the expensive admission fee deterred

visitors from the Adventure Park and resulted in a low utilisation rate.

Therefore, she hoped that the LCSD would also deal with this problem.

46. Mr WONG Tan-ching asked for a response from the LCSD or the

MTRCL as to why the swimming pool was only 50 metres long instead of 52

metres as suggested by the HKASA. In addition, he suggested improving the

aesthetic design of the last station of the Tuen Mun South Extension.

47. Mr CHAN Yau-hoi said that closing down the old pool before the new

one was completed would cause inconvenience to the residents. Therefore, he

hoped that the MTRCL would promise a seamless transition in the relocation of

the swimming pool. Moreover, he asked whether it was possible to combine

training pool (2) and the teaching pool to form a secondary pool which could be

separated into different parts if necessary.

48. Mr LO Chun-yu expressed concern over the timetable for the works to

relocate the swimming pool and reckoned that there was a need to conduct an

extensive consultation about the Tuen Mun South Extension project as a whole as

soon as possible. Also, he asked the LCSD whether the squash court next to

Tuen Mun Swimming Pool would be relocated and when the public toilet and

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other facilities near Richland Garden would be completed.

49. Mr Alfred LAI suggested completing the works to relocate the swimming

pool first and it could only be considered a seamless transition if the main pool,

training pool and heated pool were completed. Also, he said that according to

the paper, the works would take up some road sections of Tuen Mun Park near

Tuen Mun River. Therefore, he asked whether trees would be removed and

hoped that the department would avoid such removal as far as possible.

50. Ms Beatrice CHU said that the MTRCL failed to give a clear reply

regarding the arrangements for building a standard pool. She pointed out that

after the site inspection, a few swimming coaches had told her that it was not

acceptable to have a non-standard main pool with the size of 50 metres x 25

metres. She hoped that the MTRCL could clearly state the size of the main

pool.

51. Mr YAN Pui-lam said that people had not been thoroughly consulted on

the South Extension project, which he had no choice but to accept. Since Siu

Tsui would already lose a swimming pool and a pet park under the project, he

asked the MTRCL to elaborate on noise mitigation measures so as not to cause

further nuisance to the residents. He also asked whether the company would

build fitness facilities as a compensation for Siu Tsui residents or arrange shuttle

buses for them to travel to and from the new pool. Moreover, after the

swimming pool was demolished, buildings would be built at the same location.

He suggested that the relevant department commence works to widen Wong Chu

Road and Hoi Wong Road as soon as possible.

52. Mr LAM Kin-cheung pointed out that the site was on the bank of Tuen

Mun River near Tuen Mun Park and Yau Oi Estate. Since the cycle track and

the footway in the park were very narrow, he hoped that the MTRCL would not

put construction materials there and suggested using Pui To Road (South) Rest

Garden and Tin Hau Temple Plaza instead. Moreover, the pet park would be

close to a main road and quite small after relocation. Therefore, he suggested

merging Tuen Mun River (Eastern Bank) Garden and the pet park and building

another park at a vacant area on Lung Chak Road to satisfy the future population

growth in Tuen Mun. Also, he asked whether the MTRCL representatives

would attend meetings again to listen to the views of park users and pool users.

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53. Mr MA Kee suggested building Area 16 Station in the middle of Tuen

Mun River to avoid procedures such as demolition and relocation and cut costs.

54. The Chairman said that many Members had mentioned the need to

conduct a public consultation, so she hoped that the MTRCL representatives

would give a response. She added that if the company was unwilling to make

arrangements for the consultation, the TMDC could do it on its own.

55. Mr TSANG Kam-wing asked whether it was possible to continue

discussing the captioned matter at the next meeting or convene a special meeting

to invite more stakeholders to express their views.

56. Mr Nelson YEUNG of the MTRCL said that under the relocation of Tuen

Mun Swimming Pool, the size of the main pool would be 25 metres x 50 metres.

Despite the limited space of the proposed location, the request to extend the pool

to 52 metres long had been passed to the consultancy for consideration. On the

seamless transition from the old pool to the new pool, different parts of the

project were faced with different challenges. While different works under the

Tuen Mun South Extension project would commence at the same time, works to

build Area 16 Station and railway facilities at the current location of Tuen Mun

Swimming Pool could only commence after its demolition. Therefore, the

MTRCL was looking to open the outdoor area of the new pool first so that the old

pool could be demolished earlier for speedy commencement of the railway

works. The entire works to relocate the pool would be completed around nine

months after the outdoor facilities were built. On the relocation of the pet park,

the MTRCL was looking to install noise barriers at the new park and was

identifying a better location. He also said that part of the Adventure Park would

be taken up by the training grass pitch of the relocated golf centre. Moreover,

since the railway viaducts in the plan would mainly run along Tuen Mun River,

some parts of the cycle path and the footways of Tuen Mun Park near the

riverbank would be used as a construction site. As temporary traffic

arrangements would be implemented to move the cycle path and the footway

inwards during the works, it might be necessary to relocate or remove the

plantation there.

57. Mr Nelson YEUNG of the MTRCL added that there would be

multi-purpose activity rooms on the lower levels of the new swimming pool for

more flexible use. He noted Members’ suggestions to merge the pet park and

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Tuen Mun River (Eastern Bank) Garden or build an additional pet park under the

flyover of Lung Fu Road and would maintain communication with different

stakeholders. Members were welcome to suggest more locations for

consideration. Moreover, he pointed out that the new pool was close to a bus

stop and two light rail stops. He would discuss with Members again after

collecting information such as the walking distance between the old pool and the

new pool and ways to travel to the new pool. Noting Members’ concern about

consultation, he said that the MTRCL representatives would attend meetings of

the Working Group on Development and Planning of Tuen Mun District to

discuss the Tuen Mun South Extension project and they were willing to exchange

opinions about the works with different stakeholders in the community. He

added that the design and planning work of Tuen Mun South Station had begun in

October 2020 and the MTRCL would exchange opinions with Members again.

58. Mr FUNG Wai-chung of the MTRCL said that an environmental impact

assessment would be conducted and reviewed before works commencement.

Due to the construction of piers and decks for the section of railway viaducts

between Tuen Mun Station and Area 16 Station, the MTRCL could only

determine the location of the site entrance and count the number of trees affected

after the site location was confirmed. The company would minimise the impact

of the works on the trees and relocate or replant trees if necessary. An

assessment report concerning the affected trees would be submitted to relevant

government departments.

59. The Chairman said that the MTRCL representatives had not responded to

the suggestion of building Area 16 Station in the middle of Tuen Mun River.

Separately, she asked the HyD whether it could build new facilities at the location

of Tuen Mun Community Green Station.

60. Mr LAI Kwok-chung of the HyD said that the MTRCL had to submit an

assessment report on the trees affected by the works, which would be scrutinised

by the HyD, the District Lands Office (“DLO”) or the LCSD. Moreover, he

said that while the HyD was in charge of coordination, Tuen Mun Community

Green Station fell under the purview of the Environmental Protection

Department. Therefore, the arrangements for providing additional facilities

would be followed up by the Environmental Protection Department and the

operator concerned.

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61. Ms Jackie LO of the LCSD said that the department would continue to

advise on the relocation of facilities by the MTRCL. Members’ comments

given at the current meeting would be passed to the MTRCL for follow-up action

as well.

62. The Chairman summarised the points made in the discussion. Regarding

the relocation of the swimming pool, the TMDC demanded that the MTRCL start

demolishing the existing pool only after the main pool was completed.

Therefore, the Council could not accept the MTRCL’s suggestion of opening the

outdoor areas first. It was requested that the main pool be extended to 52 metres

long, more seats be provided at the spectator stand and a jacuzzi be built. Since

many issues were related to the LCSD, she would pass the matter to the Working

Group on Development and Planning of Tuen Mun District under the TMDC for

it to follow up and consider conducting a public consultation. Moreover, she

asked the relevant departments to pass the briefing information to Members

through the Secretariat.

63. Mr Michael MO pointed out that the relevant department had not

answered his question about the follow-up work on the third platform of Tuen

Mun Station.

64. Mr FUNG Wai-chung of the MTRCL said that at the moment, he had no

further information to add.

65. The Chairman said that all of the issues mentioned above would be passed

to the Working Group on Development and Planning of Tuen Mun District for

further action. She thanked the representatives from the MTRCL, the HyD, the

HKASA and Tuen Mun Sports Association for attending the meeting. She also

urged the MTRCL, the HyD and the LCSD to consider Members’ views.

V. Confirmation of the Minutes of the 6th Meeting held on 18 September

2020 and the 5th Special Meeting held on 5 October 2020

66. The Chairman said that the Secretariat had sent Members two sets of draft

minutes for perusal. The first set was sent on 26 February 2021 for the 6th

meeting held on 18 September 2020 and the second set was sent on 1 March 2021

for the 5th special meeting held on 5 October 2020. The Secretariat had not

received any proposed amendments from the Members. At the meeting, the

Chairman proposed an amendment to the part about “Concern about Hunger

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Strike at Castle Peak Bay Immigration Centre” in the minutes of the 5th special

meeting. She suggested adding a remark to paragraph 84 so that members of the

public could approach the proposer of the paper for details of the discussion.

The Chairman asked whether Members supported the amendment.

67. Mr LO Chun-yu doubted how people would know who had submitted the

paper when it was not available online.

68. The Chairman said that the agenda of that meeting was available on the

TMDC’s website for public perusal. DC Members should provide members of

the public with the whole paper upon request.

69. Mr MA Kee asked the Secretariat to draft minutes for the remaining

meetings as soon as possible.

70. The Chairman announced that the above amendment was endorsed.

[Post-meeting note: Regarding the matter “Concern about Hunger Strike at Castle

Peak Bay Immigration Centre”, the District Officer (Tuen Mun) said at the 5th

special meeting that after internal consultation, the Government considered that

the agenda item did not carry a particular district angle, and was outside the ambit

of the functions of DC under section 61 of the District Councils Ordinance;

government officials and the Secretariat staff would not join the discussion, and

the Secretariat could not provide secretarial service (including uploading the

relevant documents onto the DC webpage). Therefore, the Secretariat cannot

follow up on the above matter which is outside the ambit of the functions of DC,

including uploading the relevant documents onto the DC webpage. The

Secretariat has sent an email to inform the TMDC Chairman about the above

arrangement after the meeting.]

VI. Discussion Items

(A) Request to Remove Abandoned Vehicles on the Roadside

(TMDC Paper No. 75/2020)

71. The Chairman said that the TMDC had discussed the matter at the

meetings held on 5 October and 3 November 2020, during which Members learnt

that the Lands Department (“LandsD”) was deliberating with the Transport and

Housing Bureau (“THB”) on how to deal with the problem of abandoned vehicles

on public roads. After discussion, the TMDC decided to continue discussing the

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matter to follow up on the THB’s latest policy and instruction. She welcomed

Ms CHAN Hoi-ki, District Engineer/General(3) of the HyD, to the meeting.

Since the matter had been discussed extensively at the last two meetings, she

directly asked the District Officer (Tuen Mun), the District Lands Officer (Tuen

Mun), and Ms CHAN Hoi-ki of the HyD to report on the latest progress.

72. Ms CHAN Hoi-ki of the HyD quoted a paper from the Legislative

Council (“LegCo”) about abandoned vehicles on the roads. In order to handle

abandoned vehicles on public roads more effectively, relevant government

departments were working out the modus operandi of joint clearance operations

so that such operations could be realised as soon as possible. Under the

arrangements being contemplated, various District Offices would play an overall

planning and coordinating role. The TD was considering accepting the

LandsD’s delegation of power under section 6 of the Land (Miscellaneous

Provisions) Ordinance to affix notices on abandoned vehicles on public roads.

If the vehicles concerned remained in the same place upon the expiry of the

notice period, the HyD would tow away the abandoned vehicles to the storage

pounds managed by the LandsD for disposal. The Police would continue to deal

with vehicles that posed immediate danger to road users or obstructed traffic,

whereas the LandsD would continue to deal with abandoned vehicles on unleased

and unallocated government land other than public roads. She added that the

Government had launched the first phase of the pilot scheme in Yau Tsim Mong

and would gradually extend the scheme to other districts across the territory in

the second phase. The TMDO would hold an inter-departmental meeting with

the departments concerned to discuss the details of joint operations shortly

afterwards.

73. The District Officer (Tuen Mun) said that as mentioned by the HyD

representative, the Government had launched the first phase of the pilot scheme

in Yau Tsim Mong and it planned to gradually extend the scheme to other

districts across the territory, including Tuen Mun, in the second phase. The

TMDO would hold an inter-departmental meeting to discuss relevant details

shortly afterwards.

74. The Chairman said that the TMDC had continued discussing the

captioned matter for several meetings. She believed that the proposers of the

paper expected the Government to carry out joint operations to deal with the

problem of abandoned vehicles on the roads on an inter-departmental basis. She

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further asked whether the HyD was responsible for coordinating the joint

operations. If so, the matter could be passed to the TTC; but if the operations

were coordinated by the TMDO, she suggested that the TMDC continue

following up on the matter and have the operation progress reported by the

District Management Committee.

75. The District Officer (Tuen Mun) said that the TMDO would play an

overall planning and coordinating role in the joint operations. She supported the

Chairman’s suggestion to have the operation progress reported by the District

Management Committee. She added that after an inter-departmental meeting

had been held to discuss the joint operations, the Secretariat would report the

details to Members in writing.

76. The Chairman said that there had been various joint operations such as

those for removing bicycles on the roadside, the details and figures of which were

reported regularly. Therefore, she hoped that Members would agree to deal with

abandoned vehicles on the roadside in the same way.

77. Mr HO Kwok-ho was pleased to see progress in solving the problem of

abandoned vehicles. He asked: (i) whether a timetable for the second phase of

the pilot scheme was available for Members’ reference; (ii) whether Members

would be informed of the details of the joint operations in advance; and (iii)

whether the plan to affix notices mentioned in the department’s written reply was

part of the joint clearance operations discussed earlier.

78. Mr TSANG Kam-wing demanded a specific timetable from the

department, saying that there was an increasing number of abandoned

motorcycles in his constituency and the problem of abandoned vehicles in Mr

Kenneth CHEUNG’s constituency was rather serious. Therefore, he hoped that

the TMDO could provide a specific action timetable.

79. Mr Kenneth CHEUNG said that according to the earlier responses given

by the government departments, the joint operation was similar to the removal of

abandoned bicycles – the TMDO would arrange for inter-departmental joint

clearance operations on a regular basis after receiving complaints about

abandoned bicycles from the public. He asked the Office whether it would

adopt the modus operandi of removing abandoned bicycles, under which

Members would be notified of the location and time of the joint operations to be

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taken in the next few months so that they could remind the public. Also, he

asked the departments to note that even bicycles parked at bicycle parking spaces

had been removed too. Separately, he asked whether conducting joint

operations was the only way to remove abandoned vehicles on the roadside. He

had once complained to the LandsD about abandoned vehicles and the complaint

was solved in the same month, so he reckoned that there was no need to wait for

inter-departmental joint operations to remove the vehicles.

80. The District Officer (Tuen Mun) said the first phase of the scheme in Yau

Tsim Mong had been completed in February 2021. A total of five joint

operations had been conducted and around 120 vehicles had been dealt with.

Law enforcement departments had affixed notices on non-compliant vehicles. If

the vehicle concerned had not been removed within 24 hours, relevant legal

procedures would be initiated. The TD would exercise the power delegated to it

by the LandsD under section 6 of the Land (Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance

to affix notices on abandoned vehicles on public roads. If the vehicles

concerned remained in the same place upon the expiry of the notice period, the

HyD would tow away the abandoned vehicles to the storage pounds managed by

the LandsD for disposal. She added that the operations would be similar to the

operations for removing bicycles. The Office would hold inter-departmental

meetings to discuss complaints received, conduct site inspections and arrange for

inter-departmental joint operations as appropriate. During the operation, notices

would be put up to alert the public. Moreover, joint operations in Tuen Mun

were expected to start in the first half of the year.

81. The Chairman said that the modus operandi described by the District

Officer (Tuen Mun) was similar to that of the scheme for removing used clothes

recycling banks many years earlier. While more preparation time was needed at

the beginning of the scheme, operation intervals could be shortened after the

scheme had been launched for a while and the departments had become familiar

with the procedures. Rather than conducting operations several months apart,

the problem could be handled more flexibly as mentioned by Mr Kenneth

CHEUNG. The Chairman added that the departments should summarise the

results of past operations and report the latest situation to the TMDC on a regular

basis.

82. Mr HO Kwok-ho said that the HyD had replied to him that it was about to

start affixing notices. Therefore, he asked the department whether what it had

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mentioned in the reply was part of the pilot scheme mentioned earlier.

83. Ms CHAN Hoi-ki of the HyD said that as far as the relevant operation

was concerned, the department would follow the arrangements of the LandsD and

the Home Affairs Department (“HAD”) and tow away the abandoned vehicles to

the storage pounds managed by the LandsD for disposal.

84. The District Lands Officer (Tuen Mun) said that the LandsD would

continue to deal with abandoned vehicles on unleased and unallocated

government land other than public roads. After asking the TD and the Police for

information about the vehicles concerned, the department would notify the

registered car owners in writing and affix notices. If the vehicles concerned

remained in the same place upon the expiry of the notice period, the department

would arrange for disposal by contractors.

85. The Chairman said that the DLO and the Police had given responses in

the last two TMDC meetings. She opined that the departments would deal with

the matter according to the written responses and under the modus operandi of

the joint operations mentioned at the current meeting.

(B) Follow Up on the Applications for Leasing the Area beside

Millennium School in So Kwun Wat and the Area Adjacent to Aegean

Coast

(TMDC Paper No. 80/2020)

86. The Chairman said that the TMDC had endorsed an impromptu motion

regarding the captioned matter on 5 October 2020 and discussed the matter again

on 3 November 2020. Since there had been progress in the relevant land lease

applications in late 2020, the TMDC decided to discuss the matter again at the

current meeting. She asked the District Lands Officer (Tuen Mun) to report on

the latest progress.

87. The District Lands Officer (Tuen Mun) said that regarding the short-term

tenancy (“STT”) application made by the Construction Industry Council, the

DLO had asked the organisation to provide supplementary information but none

had been submitted as yet. Therefore, the DLO would notify the Construction

Industry Council in writing that its application would be terminated. As for the

STT application made by the CEO Foundation for the area adjacent to Aegean

Coast, the Office had received some comments after the consultation ended in

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November 2020 and the CEO Foundation had submitted some information. The

Office would pass it to the relevant policy bureau and keep in touch with the

stakeholders to pass them the bureau’s opinion.

88. Ms Beatrice CHU pointed out that on 5 October 2020, the TMDC had

endorsed a motion which clearly indicated its objection to the lease applications.

While the District Lands Officer had said the application was still under

consideration with supplementary information to be passed to the relevant policy

bureau, in January 2021, some people had in fact claimed to be the applicant and

obtained a key to enter the government land, where they had a picnic and walked

dogs without the supervision of DLO staff. She asked the District Lands Officer

(Tuen Mun) for an explanation.

89. The District Lands Officer (Tuen Mun) said that she had no relevant

information at hand and would provide supplementary information after the

meeting.

[Post-meeting note from the DLO: The DLO has informed Ms Beatrice CHU

after the meeting that the applicant had applied for a site inspection at the

government land concerned and the inspection had been completed. Moreover,

the DLO would look into the arrangements for site inspections.]

90. The Chairman said that the captioned matter involved two cases and the

one related to leasing the area beside Millennium School in So Kwun Wat had

been settled. Therefore, she suggested that the discussion be discontinued while

the application for leasing the area adjacent to Aegean Coast be followed up by

the Working Group on Development and Planning of Tuen Mun District. Since

the lease application involved other matters about Aegean Coast such as the

Super Cycle Track, the working group could deal with them in tandem.

Members had no objection to the above arrangement.

(C) To Hold All Levels of DC Meetings via Video Conferencing

(TMDC Paper No. 1/2021)

91. The Chairman said that at the meeting held on 5 February 2021, the

TMDC had endorsed an impromptu motion, asked the District Officer (Tuen

Mun) to consult the HAD on the DC’s decision, and resolved to continue

discussing this matter. The Chairman asked the District Officer (Tuen Mun) to

respond to the captioned matter.

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92. The District Officer (Tuen Mun) said that after the last meeting, she had

consulted the HAD and received a reply as follows: “as far as holding online

meetings is concerned, the Home Affairs Department is of the view that there is a

need to consider whether holding DC meetings online will affect their validity.

The quorum of a DC is stipulated in section 70 of the District Councils

Ordinance. To hold an online meeting, it is necessary to look into issues such as

how to count the number of people joining the meeting and how to record the

participation of DC members in the discussion of different agenda items

throughout the online meeting. Since there is no specific way to meet these

concerns at the moment, the DC Secretariats cannot provide support to online

meetings. With the Government fully resuming normal public services from

18 February, the arrangement for holding online meetings is not a pressing matter

at this stage. Having said that, the HAD will continue to look at the above

matter to explore the feasibility of holding online meetings.”

93. Mr TSANG Kam-wing said that if Members’ participation could not be

recorded at online meetings, it was even more difficult to do so at face-to-face

meetings. At a certain TTC meeting, he had left after signing the attendance

record to handle district issues with government officials, and only returned to the

conference room five minutes before the end of the meeting. However, the

minutes showed that he had been present throughout the meeting. Moreover, if

the TMDC did not discuss the captioned matter because work had fully resumed

at the moment, he asked how to handle it if a fifth wave of the epidemic occurred.

94. Ms HO Hang-mui reckoned that holding video conferences on Zoom was

definitely feasible since the number of participants as well as the extent of their

participation in a meeting were clearly visible on the screen. On the contrary, it

was more difficult to tell whether Members were working on other things at a

face-to-face meeting. She said that instead of putting off the discussion till the

fifth wave of the epidemic, the DC should make early preparations. If the fifth

wave of the epidemic arrived, or government departments implemented

work-from-home arrangements again, the DC could hold video conferences on

Zoom right away to avoid delays in its work. Since the LegCo, which involved

more participants than the DC, could conduct video conferences on Zoom, she

asked why the DC could not do so.

95. Mr LO Chun-yu said that there were double standards in the situation

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where the LegCo was allowed to conduct video conferences while the HAD

objected to video conferencing on the grounds of having difficulty in counting

quorum. He asked how the District Officer (Tuen Mun) planned to arrange DC

meetings if a new wave of the epidemic arrived. He opined that the relevant

arrangement was very important as the DC could not stop working because of the

epidemic. Members were even more concerned than government staff about the

meeting arrangements. However, he objected to holding video conferences on

Zoom.

96. The Chairman said that the TMDC would continue discussing the matter

at the next meeting. She also asked the Secretariat to write to the HAD again

for negotiation. In submitting the captioned paper, she had mentioned that the

request was not to hold all meetings via video conferencing but to implement the

arrangement gradually. She agreed that the TMDC and its committees might

face technical issues in aspects such as submitting impromptu motions and

conducting closed-door meetings, but working groups and steering groups could

try holding meetings by video conference first. The LegCo also introduced

video conferencing at panel meetings first to follow up on outstanding items and

invite department representatives to give responses. Since the HAD’s reply did

not bring any progress, the matter came to a standstill and the situation was far

from satisfactory. She suggested sending another letter to the HAD through the

Secretariat to demand that video conferencing be introduced at meetings of

working groups and steering groups first. She hoped to see progress when they

discussed the matter the next time. She thanked the District Officer (Tuen Mun)

for her reply and announced that the TMDC would continue discussing the

matter.

(D) Visiting Arrangements in Residential Care Homes during the

Epidemic

(TMDC Paper No. 3/2021)

97. At the 5th meeting held on 10 November 2020, the Social Services

Committee had discussed the captioned matter and received written responses

from the Department of Health (“DH”) and the Social Welfare Department

(“SWD”). However, the committee reckoned that the written responses

submitted by the government departments failed to answer Members’ enquiries in

detail and thus decided to pass the matter to the TMDC for follow-up action.

The Secretariat had received a written response from the DH on the captioned

paper and emailed it to Members for perusal before the meeting.

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98. The District Social Welfare Officer (Tuen Mun) said that while the

epidemic seemed to have subsided for the time being, no amendments had been

made to the Guidelines for Residential Care Homes for the Elderly or Persons

with Disabilities for the Prevention of COVID-19 issued by the Centre for Health

Protection. In other words, visits were currently prohibited except on

compassionate grounds or in official capacity.

99. Mr TSANG Kam-wing said that since no DH representatives were present

at the meeting, he hoped that the TMDC would continue discussing the matter.

100. The Chairman said it appeared to her that the DH, which had no

permanent representatives in the DC, would not send representatives to the

meeting. If Mr TSANG Kam-wing still found it necessary to invite DH

representatives to the meeting, the TMDC could send an invitation again. She

said it was hoped that the department would appoint a permanent representative

to discuss DH-related issues at TMDC meetings.

101. Mr HO Kwok-ho concurred with Mr TSANG Kam-wing and hoped that

the TMDC could send an invitation to the DH again. He also asked the SWD

about the arrangements for visits on compassionate grounds and for the Home

End-of-Life Care Programme. He reckoned that the SWD had shifted the

responsibility to the care homes.

102. The District Welfare Officer (Tuen Mun) said it was hard to generalise all

cases of compassionate visits. Members were encouraged to notify the SWD if

they came across unreasonable cases. The department would contact the care

home concerned to learn more about the arrangements for compassionate visits,

including those for visiting terminally ill residents.

103. The Chairman hoped that the District Welfare Officer (Tuen Mun) could

actively explore ways to make more visits possible. For instance, care homes

could allow residents and visitors to meet without coming into direct contact,

which would be better than only having video visits on Zoom.

104. The District Welfare Officer (Tuen Mun) said that care home staff

provided assistance in conducting visits, mainly through phone calls or video

calls. Although some family members might not be familiar with video visits or

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did not have relevant equipment at home to contact the residents, care home

workers would help them contact the residents using equipment available in the

care homes. He added that colleagues in Tuen Mun had communicated with

most care homes in the district. In general, the care home workers had

explained the visiting arrangements clearly and most family members and

residents showed understanding and acceptance.

105. The Chairman said that the TMDC would write to the DH again. She

hoped that the department would send representatives to DC meetings to

strengthen communication with the Members.

VII. Date of Next Meeting

106. The Chairman said she noted that many Members demanded an

adjournment, so she would announce the meeting adjourned until 16 March to

discuss the remaining items. New papers would not be accepted for that

meeting.

107. Ms SO Ka-man said she was astounded by the Chairman’s suggestion of

an adjournment since there were many outstanding items at the current meeting,

not to mention the huge backlog built up during the pandemic. While the

Chairman said that many Members demanded an adjournment, they had not voted

or expressed views on the arrangement. Therefore, she wanted to know how

many and why Members demanded an adjournment and asked for the Chairman’s

clarification.

108. The Chairman responded to Ms SO Ka-man’s enquiry, saying that many

Members, including the Vice Chairman, strongly demanded that the meeting be

adjourned.

109. The Vice Chairman said that since Mr CHEUNG Ho-sum and Mr WONG

Hung-ming were absent from the meeting because of legal proceedings, many

Members were concerned about their situation and wished to express support at

the court. Therefore, some Members had suggested to him and the Chairman

that the meeting be adjourned. He said that it was reasonable to adjourn the

meeting if Members wished to go to the court and see how things went for Mr

CHEUNG Ho-sum and Mr WONG Hung-ming.

110. The Chairman said that other DCs had to adjourn meetings due to the lack

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of quorum that day. She believed that Members had tried to attend the meeting

as far as possible. If the meeting carried on and ran into a lack of quorum later,

the meeting would still have to be adjourned. Therefore, she proposed two

options for Members to vote on: “to adjourn the meeting immediately and

reconvene as soon as possible” and “to continue the meeting until it has to be

adjourned due to a lack of quorum”. After voting, the Chairman announced that

immediate adjournment was endorsed.

[Members who voted for the option “to adjourn the meeting immediately and

reconvene as soon as possible” included Mr WONG Tan-ching, Ms Catherine

WONG, Ms Beatrice CHU, Mr YEUNG Chi-hang, Mr LAM Ming-yan, Mr

TSANG Chun-hing, Mr YAN Pui-lam, Ms LAW Pei-lee, Mr LO Chun-yu, Mr

Kenneth CHEUNG, Mr LAM Kin-cheung, Mr HO Kwok-ho, Ms HO Hang-mui

and Mr Michael MO. Members who voted for the option “to continue the

meeting until it has to be adjourned due to a lack of quorum” included Ms LAI

Ka-man, Mr MA Kee, Ms SO Ka-man and Mr CHAN Yau-hoi. The Member

who abstained was Mr Alfred LAI.]

111. The Chairman announced the meeting closed at 5:26 p.m. The next

meeting would be held at 2:30 p.m. on 16 March.

Tuen Mun District Council Secretariat

Date: June 2021

File Ref: HAD TMDC/13/25/DC/21