(Translation) Minutes of the First Meeting of the Community Affairs Committee (2020) of Kwai Tsing District Council [Note Of
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(Translation) Minutes of the First Meeting of the Community Affairs Committee (2020) of Kwai Tsing District Council [Note of the Kwai Tsing District Council Secretariat: To avoid gatherings of people in view of the serious outbreak of COVID -19, the Kwai Tsing District Office and the Kwai Tsing District Council Secretariat could not provide a venue for the meeting and secretariat service at the meeting respectively. Representatives of the relevant government departments also did not attend the above meeting. The minutes of this meeting were prepared in accordance with the audio recording provided by the Chairman of the Community Affairs Committee.] Date : 11 February 2020 Time : 2:30 p.m. – 4:22 p.m. Venue : No.1, G/F., Kwai Yan House, Kwai Fong Estate Attendee Time of Arrival Time of Departure (p.m.) (p.m.) Mr NG Kim-sing (Chairman) Start of Meeting End of Meeting Miss WONG Pit-man Start of Meeting End of Meeting (Vice-chairman) Mr CHEUNG Kwan-kiu, Steve Start of Meeting End of Meeting Mr HON Chun-yin Start of Meeting 3:30 Mr HUI Kei-cheung Start of Meeting End of Meeting Miss KWOK Fu-yung 2:42 3:54 Mr LAM Siu-fai 2:37 End of Meeting Mr LAU Chi-kit 2:45 3:28 Ms LAU Kwai-mui 2:37 End of Meeting Miss LEUNG Ching-shan Start of Meeting End of Meeting Mr LEUNG Kam-wai Start of Meeting End of Meeting Mr LEUNG Kwok-wah Start of Meeting End of Meeting Mr LEUNG Wing-kuen Start of Meeting 3:40 The Hon. LEUNG Yiu-chung Start of Meeting End of Meeting Miss LO Yuen-ting Start of Meeting 4:13 Mr SIN Ho-fai Start of Meeting 3:37 Mr TAM Ka-chun, Warren 2:34 3:35 1 Mr TONG Ho-man Start of Meeting End of Meeting Mr TSUI Hiu-kit Start of Meeting 3:55 Mr WONG Bing-kuen Start of Meeting End of Meeting Mr WONG Chun-tat Start of Meeting 3:37 Mr WONG Yun-tat, Ivan Start of Meeting End of Meeting Absent with Apologies Mr CHOW Wai-hung, Rayman (Without prior notice) Mr LEUNG Chi-shing (Without prior notice) Ms LEUNG Kar-ming (Without prior notice) 2 Opening Remarks The Chairman welcomed Members to the first meeting of the Community Affairs Committee (CAC) (2020) of the Kwai Tsing District Council (K&T DC). Confirmation of Minutes of the first Special Meeting (2020) held on 16 January 2020 2. Mr HUI Kei-cheung moved a motion to confirm the minutes. The motion was seconded by Mr TAM Ka-chun, Warren. The Committee endorsed the minutes unanimously. Arrangement of Regular Meeting Schedule of the Community Affairs Committee in 2020 (Proposed by the Kwai Tsing District Council Secretariat) (CAC Paper No. 1/D/2020) 3. Members endorsed the arrangement of regular meeting schedule of CAC in 2020 unanimously. Endorsement of the Working Groups Established under the Community Affairs Committee in 2020 and 2021 (Proposed by Miss WONG Pit-man) (CAC Paper No. 2/D/2020) 4. Miss WONG Pit-man briefly introduced the paper, and pointed out that matters related to education, students and youths would be coordinated by the Youth Affairs Committee. Therefore, the working groups under the CAC would not cover the target groups aforementioned. 5. Miss WONG Pit-man moved endorsing the paper, which was seconded by Mr SIN Ho-fai and Mr WONG Chun-tat. Members endorsed the establishment of the 3 working groups and their terms of reference mentioned in the paper unanimously. 3 Motion: The Kwai Tsing District Council (K&T DC) Strongly Requests the Government Department Concerned to Remove as Soon as Possible the Wire Fences Recently Installed on the Footbridge s Connecting Kwai Chung Plaza to Kwai Fong Estate and Ko Fong Street Without Any Prior Consultation With the Public, Including the Residents Nearby and K&T DC. (Proposed by Miss LEUNG Ching-shan, Mr LEUNG Chi-shing and Mr TONG Ho-man, seconded by The Hon. LEUNG Yiu-chung and Mr NG Kim-sing) (CAC Paper No. 3,3a/D/2020) 6. Miss LEUNG Ching-shan and Mr TONG Ho-man briefly introduced the paper. 7. Mr WONG Bing-kuen put forth opinions and enquiries as follows: (i) the installation of wire meshes on footbridges was to be carried out territory-wide in Hong Kong. There were seven selected sites in Kwai Tsing. Since no representative from the Highways Department (HyD) attended the meeting, it was thus decided that the issue would be brought up for discussion again in the District Council (DC) meeting, and HyD was requested to submit a paper setting out the relevant sites and project costs of the works. (ii) the Government explained in writing that the arrangement concerned was a collective decision of the Government which was made for urgent situation, but he questioned the urgency. 8. Mr HUI Kei-cheung supported the above motion and put forth opinions as follows: (i) since the installation of wire meshes would be territory-wide in Hong Kong and it could be anticipated that the Government would install wire meshes at other locations, HyD should not install wire meshes on footbridges in Tai Wo Hau and other areas without consulting DC members. He 4 therefore supported Mr WONG Bing-kuen to bring up the issue in the DC meeting and request the departments to consult and explain the details, including the planned locations of installation, implementation schedule, project budget and the urgency of the works. (ii) the relevant measure of HyD was a misallocation of resources. Resources should be allocated to more urgent projects, such as road, railing and pavement construction and maintenance. 9. Mr WONG Yun-tat, Ivan supported the above motion and put forth opinions as follows: (i) the installation of wire meshes on footbridges was not urgent compared to boundary closure and acquisition of face masks. This move was a waste of public funds. In addition, the design of the project was not aesthetic and obstructed the view making people felt like being in prison and had impacts on the residents. (ii) Government departments should respect the views of the locals and consult the DC members before the work commencement. 10. Mr LAM Siu-fai supported the above motion and put forth enquiries as follows: (i) when the Government was requested to retrofit footbridges and covers, relevant departments responded that they had to take the maximum loading limit of the structures into consideration. However, no explanation had been provided for the impact of that installation on the loading limit of the footbridges concerned. It was concerned if it would constitute safety issue and therefore requested the Government to submit a paper setting out details for every relevant footbridge. 5 (ii) the issue of cleaning of the wire meshes on the footbridges was concerned and the subject department was requested to account for the details of cleaning. 11. Mr TAM Ka-chun, Warren put forth enquiries regarding the reply from HyD as follows: (i) on one hand, it was claimed that local consultation was not possible due to urgent situation, but on the other hand, it was said that whether to continue the implementation would be decided after considering the views of various parties. He asked if local consultation could be conducted in the vacuum period. If possible, the department should provide information on the parties be consulted, specific timetable and departments which were responsible for the project(s). (ii) which department would be in charge of coordination of the policy concerned. (iii) whether the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) would be responsible for issues of cleaning and hygiene, e.g. clearing cigarette butts, spit and rubbish. (iv) the specific construction cost of the wire meshes of each footbridge in Kwai Tsing. (v) the Government replied that they would review the situation and decide whether to continue to implement the interim measure concerned after considering various factors. He asked what factors the Government would consider and what the period of the interim measure would be. 12. Mr LEUNG Kam-wai put forth enquiries regarding the reply from HyD as follows: (i) the mechanism of demolition of the temporary wire meshes installed. 6 (ii) the Government had been reluctant to increase the provision of resources to address the issue of objects being thrown from a height in housing estates in the past. The Government, however, rushed the additionally installation of wire meshes which would have no impact on the livelihood of the people. Moreover, it could not be understood why the works was conducted at midnight in certain areas. He therefore supported the motion aforementioned, and agreed that Mr WONG Bing-kuen should bring the relevant issue up for discussion at the DC meeting. 13. The Hon. LEUNG Yiu-chung supported the above motion and put forth opinions as follows: (i) the installation of wire meshes was special community facilities. DC members should be consulted in prior. (ii) the footbridges, which installed with wire meshes, had previously no complaint of traffic obstruction due to objects being thrown from a height onto the road beneath them. The reason for citizens to block the roads was because the Government was not responding to the public views. The issue concerned could only be resolved when the Government responded to the relevant requests. 14. Mr TSUI Hiu-kit pointed out that it had been discussed in meetings of the Traffic and Transport Committee that HyD should give prior notice to local DC members regarding changes in facilities so that they could notify local residents. He thus requested HyD for explanations so as to avoid greater conflicts between citizens and government departments.