(Translation) Minutes of the 23 Meeting of the 4 Wan Chai District
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(Translation) Minutes of the 23rd Meeting of the 4th Wan Chai District Council Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Date: 7 July 2015 (Tuesday) Time: 2:30 p.m. Venue: District Council Conference Room, Wan Chai District Office, 21/F Southorn Centre, 130 Hennessy Road, Wan Chai, H.K. Present Chairperson Mr SUEN Kai-cheong, SBS, MH, JP Vice-Chairperson Mr Stephen NG, BBS, MH, JP Members Ms Pamela PECK Ms Yolanda NG, MH Ms Kenny LEE Ms Peggy LEE Mr Ivan WONG, MH Mr David WONG Mr CHENG Ki-kin Dr Anna TANG, BBS, MH Ms Jacqueline CHUNG Dr Jeffrey PONG 1 23 DCMIN Representatives of Core Government Departments Ms Angela LUK, JP District Officer (Wan Chai), Home Affairs Department Ms Renie LAI Assistant District Officer (Wan Chai), Home Affairs Department Ms Daphne CHAN Senior Liaison Officer (Community Affairs), Home Affairs Department Mr CHAN Chung-chi District Environmental Hygiene Superintendent (Wan Chai), Food and Environmental Hygiene Department Mr Nelson CHENG District Commander (Wan Chai), Hong Kong Police Force Ms Dorothy NIEH Police Community Relation Officer (Wan Chai District), Hong Kong Police Force Mr FUNG Ching-kwong Assistant District Social Welfare Officer (Eastern/Wan Chai)1, Social Welfare Department Mr Nelson CHAN Chief Transport Officer/Hong Kong, Transport Department Mr Franklin TSE Senior Engineer 5 (HK Island Div 2), Civil Engineering and Development Department Mr Simon LIU Chief Leisure Manager (Hong Kong East), Leisure and Cultural Services Department Ms Brenda YEUNG District Leisure Manager (Wan Chai), Leisure and Cultural Services Department Mr Vincent PANG District Lands Officer (Hong Kong East), Lands Department Representatives of Other Government Departments and Organisations Ms Bernadette LINN, JP Director of Lands Mr Jim LAM Senior Estate Surveyor (Technical Information), Lands Department for agenda Mr Alex KWOK Senior Estate Surveyor/Land Control & Lease item 1 Enforcement (District Lands Office/Hong Kong East, West & South), Lands Department 2 23 DCMIN Mr LAI Man-hin, FSDSM Director of Fire Services Mr TONG Chung-wai Divisional Commander (Hong Kong Central), Fire Services Department for agenda Mr CHEUNG Tsee-tuck Assistant Chief Ambulance Officer (Hong Kong), item 2 Fire Services Department Mr Eric LO Divisional Officer (Management Group)2, Fire Services Department Ms April KUN Acting Chief Town Planner (Studies and Research), Planning Department Mr Patrick FUNG Acting Senior Town Planner (Studies and Research 5), Planning Department Dr Eunice MAK Deputy Project Director, AECOM Asia Co. Ltd for agenda Ms Pearl HUI Project Manager, AECOM Asia Co. Ltd item 4 Mr Kenny CHAN Senior Town Planner, AECOM Asia Co. Ltd Ms Joyce CHOW Public Engagement Specialist, Kadoorie Institute Ms Carol LEE Public Engagement Coordinator, Kadoorie Institute Mr Jonathan LEUNG Chief Engineer (Railway Development 1-2), Railway Development Office, Highways Department Ms Yanny LI Acting Senior Engineer (SCL 6), Railway Development Office, Highways Department Mr Johnny CHAN Senior Engineer (Priority Railway 3), Transport Department for agenda Mr Walter LAM Construction Manager (SCL Civil), MTRCL item 5 Mr T. C. LAM Construction Manager (SCL Civil), MTRCL Mr Kelvin WU Senior Liaison Engineer, MTRCL Ms Sandy WU Projects Communications Manager, MTRCL Dr Victor WONG Arup Hong Kong Ltd Ms Joyce WONG Arup Hong Kong Ltd 3 23 DCMIN Ms Leonie LEE Assistant Secretary (Heritage Conservation)3, Development Bureau Mr Ryan CHU Engineer (Heritage Conservation)Special Duties, Development Bureau for agenda Mr Tony CHEUNG Senior Engineer (Wan Chai), Transport Department item 6 Mr Thomas Jefferson WU Managing Director, Hopewell Holdings Limited Mr Chris LI General Manager, Hopewell Project Development Limited Mr Philip LIAO Partner, Philip Liao and Partners Ltd Mr Peter MAK Director, WMKY Limited Absent with Apologies Mr David LAI Secretary Mr Vincent CHUK Senior Executive Officer (District Council)/Wan Chai, Home Affairs Department Action Opening Remarks 1. The Chairperson welcomed Ms Bernadette LINN, JP, Director of Lands, Mr Jim LAM, Senior Estate Surveyor (Technical Information), Mr Vincent PANG, District Lands Officer (Hong Kong East) and Mr Alex KWOK, Senior Estate Surveyor/Land Control & Lease Enforcement (District Lands Office/Hong Kong East, West & South) of the Lands Department (LandsD), to the meeting. The Chairperson, on behalf of the Wan Chai District Council (WCDC), extended welcome to Mr Nelson CHENG, District Commander (Wan Chai) of the Hong Kong Police Force, who attended the meeting for the first time; Mr Franklin TSE, Senior Engineer 5 (HK Island Div 2) of the Civil Engineering and Development Department (CEDD), who replaced Mr Samson LAM; and 4 23 DCMIN Action Mr FUNG Ching-kwong, Assistant District Social Welfare Officer (Eastern/Wan Chai)1 of the Social Welfare Department (SWD), who replaced Mr NGAN Man-por. The Chairperson congratulated Mr Stephen NG and Mr David WONG for being awarded Bronze Bauhinia Star and Chief Executive’s Commendation for Community Service respectively. (Mr CHENG Ki-kin joined the meeting at 2:35 p.m.) 2. The Chairperson asked Members to note the papers on the conference table and the suggested discussion time. He reminded them that a maximum of three minutes were allowed for each Member to speak in respect of each agenda item. Meeting with Head of Department Item 1: Visit by Director of Lands 3. The Chairperson invited Ms Bernadette LINN, JP, Director of Lands, to brief Members on the work of LandsD. 4. Ms Bernadette LINN, JP, with the aid of PowerPoint presentation, briefed Members on the work of LandsD. The areas covered were land disposal, including sale of government land, private treaty grant, land lease modification and in-situ land exchange; granting of short term tenancies (STT); estate management, including land control actions and lease enforcement; land acquisition and clearance; and land survey and mapping. (Dr Jeffrey PONG and Ms Pamela PECK joined the meeting at 2:47 p.m. and 2:55 p.m. respectively.) 5. The Chairperson thanked Ms Bernadette LINN, JP for introducing concisely and clearly the work of LandsD. He then invited Members to express their views. 5 23 DCMIN Action 6. Ms Peggy LEE raised the following comments and enquiries: (i) The problem of skips had been an issue of concern for local residents. There were cases where LandsD had removed the skips or instituted prosecution, but the construction waste in the skips was then left on the ground, causing environmental hygiene problems. To address these cases, she enquired whether a warning notice could be posted again during an inspection by staff of LandsD to remind the party concerned that enforcement action would be taken if the waste was not cleared. She suggested that communication between departments should be strengthened; otherwise only LandsD would take enforcement action, with no other departments to follow up the problems left after the enforcement action, leaving the problems to remain unresolved. (ii) Illegal display of banners had been a serious problem in Wan Chai District. Unauthorised banners such as commercial advertising banners, publicity banners from various organisations or political banners were commonly seen on footbridges and streets. She enquired if LandsD could step up enforcement to reduce the nuisance caused by unauthorised banners to local residents. 7. Mr Stephen NG, BBS, MH, JP raised the following comments and enquiries: (i) Various departments seemed to be unable to find a solution to the problem of skips. He enquired whether a registration system could be implemented to require skips owner or manufacturers to be registered, with a view to facilitating any necessary enforcement actions in the future. 6 23 DCMIN Action (ii) He expressed concern over street sleepers’ occupation of subways, public spaces and government land. Such problem was in particularly rampant in the subway opposite the Hong Kong Racing Museum. He enquired what actions could be taken to address the issue. (iii) A large number of old buildings in Wan Chai was designated as “One European House” in the land leases. Upon redevelopment, developers had to bring their cases to court before they could redevelop the old buildings into multi-storey buildings. There were currently no clear standards for making applications for redevelopment. (iv) He opined that “Hong Kong Map Service” was a good idea and suggested that more elements should be added to the website such as outline development plans. 8. Mr David WONG raised the following comments and enquiries: (i) Owing to the sophisticated division of duties among departments, inter-departmental collaboration was often required in carrying out daily land control work. The Highways Department (HyD), the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) and the police might be involved. It was well known that long-term reliance on inter-departmental collaboration would bring about many limitations. Besides, the existing ordinances were enacted many years ago, which had limited coverage. He suggested that LandsD should amend the relevant ordinances to tackle the difficulties in law enforcement. (ii) The development of the Caroline Hill Road site, where the former headquarters of the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department was situated, had been under planning 7 23 DCMIN Action for almost a decade. He enquired if there was a concrete schedule or any preliminary development direction. 9. Ms Jacqueline CHUNG raised the following comments and enquiries: (i) As regards the assessment of the Caroline Hill Road site, there were many minibus stations or taxi stands occupying road surface in Wan Chai District, resulting in traffic congestion. She enquired if LandsD could consider setting up a transport interchange on Caroline Hill Road and utilise the area to relieve traffic congestion. (ii) A large number of street sleepers had been living in the subways in Happy Valley. The District Officer (Wan Chai) (DO) and the District Lands Office concerned had paid great effort to clear the things placed in the subways by treating those things as illegal structures. However, the current situation had been worsening, with accumulation of things not as simple as illegal structures.