(Translation)

Minutes of the 13th Meeting of District Council (5th Term) under the Special Administrative Region

Date: 16 January 2018 (Tuesday) Time: 9:30 a.m. Venue: Conference Room, Council

Present

Chairman Mr CHEUNG Wing-sum, Ambrose, BBS, MH, JP

Members Mr CHAN Kwok-wai Mr CHAN Wai-ming, MH, JP Ms CHAN Wing-yan, Joephy Mr CHENG Wing-shun, Vincent, MH Ms CHOW Wing-heng, Zoé (Arrived at 10 a.m.; left at 7:43 p.m.) Mr CHUM Tak-shing (Arrived at 10:55 a.m.; left at 7:45 p.m.) Mr HO Kai-ming, Kalvin (Arrived at 10 a.m.; left at 7:43 p.m.) Mr KONG Kwai-sang (Left at 7:43 p.m.) Mr LAM Ka-fai, Aaron, BBS, JP Ms LAU Pui-yuk Mr LEE Tsz-king, Dominic Mr LEE Wing-man Mr LEUNG Man-kwong Mr LEUNG Yau-fong (Left at 7:44 p.m.) Ms NG Mei, Carman (Left at 4:50 p.m.) Ms NG Yuet-lan (Arrived at 9:40 a.m.; left at 7:35 p.m.) Mr TAM Kwok-kiu, MH, JP (Arrived at 9:50 a.m.; left at 7:43 p.m.) Mr WAI Woon-nam (Left at 7:43 p.m.) Mr WONG Tat-tung, Dennis, MH, JP Mr YAN Kai-wing (Arrived at 10 a.m.) - 2 - Action by

Mr YEUNG Yuk Mr YUEN Hoi-man (Arrived at 9:51 a.m.; left at 4:50 p.m.)

In Attendance Mr LEE Kwok-hung, Damian, JP District Officer (Sham Shui Po) Miss MAN Ka-wing, Kelly Assistant District Officer (Sham Shui Po) 1 Miss CHEUNG Yun-chee, Freda Assistant District Officer (Sham Shui Po) 2 Ms CHAN Tsz-yee, Emily Senior Liaison Officer 1, Sham Shui Po District Office Mr WONG Leung-ping, Ben Senior Liaison Officer 2, Sham Shui Po District Office Ms NG Suk-min, Min Senior Liaison Officer 3, Sham Shui Po District Office Ms CHAN Wing-mee District Commander (Sham Shui Po), (Acting) Ms WONG Mei-yee, Amy Police Community Relations Officer (Sham Shui Po District), Hong Kong Police Force Mr LEE Wai-man, Raymond Chief Engineer/South 1, South Development Office, Civil Engineering and Development Department Mr LI Ping-chi Senior Engineer/South (3), Civil Engineering and Development Department Ms CHAU Fung-mui, Wendy District Social Welfare Officer (Sham Shui Po), Social Welfare Department Mr LAI Huen-lam, Stephen Assistant District Social Welfare Officer (Sham Shui Po) 1, Social Welfare Department Mr LUK Chi-kwong Chief Leisure Manager (Hong Kong East), Leisure and Cultural Services Department Ms LEE Shuk-ling, Agnes District Leisure Manager (Sham Shui Po), Leisure and Cultural Services Department Mr LAI Kah-kit District Environmental Hygiene Superintendent (Sham Shui Po), Food and Environmental Hygiene Department Mr TSE Chick-lam Chief Manager/Management ( West and Sai Kung), Mr CHOY Chik-sang, Mario Chief Transport Officer/Kowloon, Transport Department Mrs CHENG IP Sau-fong, Susanna Acting Senior Housing Manager/Kowloon West and Sai Kung 1, Housing Department Ms Mable CHAN, JP Commissioner for Transport Mr WONG Pak-chow, Peter Assistant Commissioner/Urban, Transport Department Mr WONG Lai-man Senior Engineer/Kowloon District West, Transport Department Miss LAU Lee-kwan, Vivian, JP Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene Mr LAM Wing-hong Assistant Director (Operations) 2, Food and Environmental Hygiene Department - 3 - Action by

Mr YAU Tang-wah, Edward, GBS, JP Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Mr Eric YIM Chairman, Hong Kong Design Centre Mr MA Chiu-tsee, Michael Executive Director, Urban Renewal Authority Mr LAU Chun-hon, Anthony Executive Director, Hong Kong Tourism Board Miss LAI Sai-ming, Drew Principal Assistant Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development (Communications and Creative Industries), Commerce and Economic Mr LAM Wai-kiu, Victor, JP Deputy Government Chief Information Officer (Infrastructure and Operations), Office of the Government Chief Information Officer Ms MOK Kwai-ying, Joyce Assistant Government Chief Information Officer (IT Infrastructure), Office of the Government Chief Information Officer Mr CHAN Kwok-kit, Patrick Chief Systems Manager (IT Infrastructure), Office of the Government Chief Information Officer Mr CHOY Chung-wah, Stephen Senior Systems Manager (IT Infrastructure) 4, Office of the Government Chief Information Officer Mr WONG Chi-leung Senior Project Manager 125, Architectural Services Department Mr LI Kwong-ho, John Chief Engineer, Drainage Services Department Mr CHAN Hei-yuet Senior Engineer, Drainage Services Department Mr NG Ka-wing, Henry Engineer, Drainage Services Department Mr LAM Kwai-sang Chief Project Manager, Architectural Services Department Ms WU Man-lam, Doris Senior Project Manager, Architectural Services Department Ms CHENG Wai-pan, Julie Project Manager, Architectural Services Department Ms Aubrey WONG Senior Executive Officer, Social Welfare Department Ms SHIU Fung-sze, Rosanna Senior Social Security Officer, Social Welfare Department Ms AU Wai-yin, Teresa Assistant Postmaster General (Corporate Development), Post Office Mr LUI Po-chuen, Andy General Manager (Planning and Development), Post Office

Secretary Ms CHEUNG Ching, Jenny Senior Executive Officer (District Council), Sham Shui Po District Office - 4 - Action by

Opening Remarks

The Chairman welcomed Members and representatives of government departments to the thirteenth meeting of the Sham Shui Po District Council (“SSPDC”) (5th Term). He also said that Ms CHAN Wing-mee, Acting District Commander (Sham Shui Po) of the Hong Kong Police Force, would attend today’s meeting in place of Mr CHO Ming-lung, Samson; Mrs Susanna IP, Senior Housing Manager/Kowloon West and Sai Kung 1 of the Housing Department (“HD”), would attend the meeting in the morning in place of Mr TSE Chick-lam; Mr Li Ping-chi, Senior Engineer/South (3) of the Civil Engineering and Development Department (“CEDD”), would attend the meeting in the afternoon in place of Mr Raymond LEE.

Item 1: Confirmation of minutes of the 12th meeting held on 7 November 2017

2. The minutes of the above meeting were confirmed without amendment.

Item 2: Commissioner for Transport meets with Members of Sham Shui Po District Council

3. The Chairman, on behalf of SSPDC, welcomed Ms Mable CHAN, JP, Commissioner for Transport (“C for T”), and the representatives of the Transport Department (“TD”) accompanying her to this meeting.

4. Ms Mable CHAN said that Sham Shui Po District (“SSP District”) was traditionally a main district for design and fashion wholesaling and retailing. The housing developments and population growth in the district in recent years as well as the development project of the design and fashion base in the future would bring opportunities as well as challenges to traffic and transportation.

5. Mr Peter WONG, with the aid of PowerPoint, introduced TD’s traffic and transportation measures to cope with the development of SSP District, which included the connection of new development areas, the supporting facilities for redevelopment projects, the traffic and transportation improvement measures for urban centre, the monitoring of public transportation service and facility improvement works, and the measures for the “universally accessible; walk in Hong Kong”.

6. The Chairman raised the following views: (i) he supported TD to carry out improvement measures at Lai Wan Road in Mei Foo. However, he opined that the traffic congestion at Nassau Street and Mei Lai Road was also very serious, in particular during commuting hours. He hoped that the Department would pay heed to that; (ii) traffic accidents always happened at the section of Ching Cheung Road near , not only - 5 - Action by causing casualties but also obstructing traffic flow. Moreover, road racing also occurred at that road section from time to time and residents always complained about traffic noise. He suggested TD install speed enforcement cameras near Ching Lai Court Flyover to improve the situation.

7. Mr WAI Woon-nam extended welcome to C for T who visited SSPDC and raised the following views: (i) the report given by TD just now had only repeated the issues discussed by SSPDC for a long time; which was disappointing; (ii) the street sleeper problem on Cheong San Lane Footbridge had not been solved for many years. He pointed out that since a pedestrian crossing had been provided there and no one would use the footbridge now, he hoped that the Department would consider demolishing the footbridge; (iii) there were many pedestrians and vehicles at the junction of Road/Yen Chow Street and a serious traffic accident had happened there earlier. He hoped that TD could consider building a footbridge there to separate pedestrians and vehicles and bring convenience to the public travelling between MTR and Cheung Sha Wan Government Offices; (iv) buses would stop at Hoi Ying Estate/Lai Ying Street. He pointed out that there was a pedestrian crossing and hoped that the Department could handle that carefully to avoid pedestrians walking on the road and competing with vehicles for road space in the future.

8. Mr CHAN Wai-ming extended welcome to C for T who visited SSPDC and raised the following views and enquiries: (i) he was concerned about the connection between the old and new areas in Sham Shui Po, in particular the connection between the new reclamation area and Sham Shui Po as well as Cheung Sha Wan; and about the ancillary transport facilities and planning for Hoi Lai Estate, “Four Little Dragons” via Hing Wah Street to the . He reckoned that problems such as traffic congestion should also be considered when development projects were carried out and hoped that the Department would consult residents’ views; (ii) he was concerned about the lost trip problem of bus route 702 at Hoi Lai Estate. Besides, bus route 702B was planned to provide service from Monday to Friday until 4:12 p.m. only; he asked TD to consider extending the service hours; (iii) he welcomed the road improvement works at Estate and hoped that the Department could coordinate with the relevant departments so as to finish the works for the pedestrian crossing facilities at Cheong Wah Street as soon as possible; (iv) he enquired whether the Department would strengthen the service of mini-bus route 45B.

9. Mr Vincent CHENG extended welcome to C for T who visited SSPDC and raised the following views and enquiries: (i) the illegal parking problem was serious at Un Chau Street, Fuk Wing Street and Fuk Wah Street, etc. in Sham Shui Po and it was not desirable to rely solely on the Police for law enforcement. He enquired whether TD would have new direction or employ new technology to improve the problem; (ii) pedestrians had to - 6 - Action by walk on the road and competed with vehicles for road space at the junction of /Yen Chow Street and a serious traffic accident had happened there earlier. The Council opined that a footbridge should be built and bus routes be rationalised to improve the problem. He hoped that the Department could respond to the relevant proposals.

10. Mr YEUNG Yuk extended welcome to C for T who visited SSPDC and raised the following views: (i) the parking spaces were not enough in SSP District, which had led to serious illegal parking problem. He suggested TD build multi-storey car parks in the district to increase the number of parking spaces and alleviate the problem of illegal parking; (ii) he hoped that more bus routes could be arranged to connect the new reclamation area of Sham Shui Po with places liked Tsuen Wan, Kwai Tsing and Sha Tin, etc. and consideration could be given to extending bus route 38A running between Riviera Gardens in Tsuen Wan and Mei Foo to the new reclamation area.

11. Ms Mable CHAN gave a consolidated response as follows:

(i) TD would keep reviewing the arrangement for picking up or dropping off passengers and loading or unloading goods at Nassau Street and Mei Lai Road so as to improve the road congestion problem.

(ii) Regarding the road safety, traffic noise and speeding problems, etc. at the section of Ching Cheung Road near Nob Hill, the Department had given an account on its overall policy and technical considerations to the District Council (“DC”) and improved the safety facilities and design to the road concerned. The Department reiterated that the installation of speed enforcement cameras aimed at tackling the speeding problem; it would improve the road design and safety measures in the vicinity to tackle road safety problem. In the past decade, TD had installed speed enforcement cameras in various districts in Hong Kong and the works had been completed successively between 2013 and 2014. When considering the plan to install the next batch of speed enforcement cameras, TD would review the opinions of SSPDC again and assess the locations in need of installing speed enforcement cameras territory-wide so as to better utilise resources. The Department would report to the Council in a timely manner if there was progress.

(iii) The Department understood the importance of connecting the old and new areas of Sham Shui Po and was now carrying out construction works for square-shaped footbridges. The Department would pay close attention to community development and population growth and was open-minded about - 7 - Action by

using footbridges to strengthen connection in SSP District.

(iv) Since the proposal of building a footbridge at the junction of Cheung Sha Wan Road/Yen Chow Street would involve environmental problems and underground public utilities, etc., the Department would follow up on the proposal and carefully examine its feasibility. TD would install road signs at suitable locations and widen the pavements to improve the safety of the relevant road section. It would also extend the no stopping hours with a view to reducing traffic flow and facilitating pedestrians to cross the road.

(v) TD intended to discuss the bus route planning programme for SSP District at the meeting of the Transport Affairs Committee (“TAC”) in February this year and would then listen carefully to Members’ views. SSP District was the traffic hub of the Kowloon peninsula; with 142 bus routes travelling via SSP District, 82 routes via Cheung Sha Wan Road, 62 routes travelling westward to the , and more than 40 routes heading for Mong Kok. As a result, the traffic at the junction of Cheung Sha Wan Road/Yen Chow Street was extremely busy. The Department had to strike a balance carefully between the journey time and the road crossing time. She hoped that the Department would have the understanding and support of Members in the discussion of bus routes travelling via SSP District in the future.

(vi) Regarding the improvement works for the roads in , TD, apart from providing cautionary crossing at Po On Road outside Cheong Fai Building, would also enhance So Uk Estate Bus Terminus and improve the road crossings, on-street parking spaces as well as overall road crossing measures along Po On Road and Cheung Fat Street. The Department would seize the time and report to DC the works progress in a timely manner so that the Works Request Form could be issued to the Highways Department (“HyD”) at an earlier time.

(vii) Illegal parking problem stemmed from a lack of parking spaces. So Uk Estate and redevelopment projects, etc. had reduced the number of on-street parking spaces in the past few years. However, following the completion of the redevelopment projects one after the other, the Department would identify suitable locations at the relevant road sections for providing on-street parking spaces and introduce new parking meters. Regarding the provision of more public car parks, the Department would follow the principle of “single site, multiple use” and require the developers to provide more public parking spaces at their development projects. It would also liaise with the (“LandsD”) and - 8 - Action by

the Planning Department (“PlanD”) to identify suitable locations for providing temporary car parks.

12. Mr Dennis WONG extended welcome to C for T who visited SSPDC and raised the following views: (i) he welcomed the traffic improvement measures for Mei Foo proposed by the Department; (ii) at present, the roads in Mei Foo were very congested during busy hours. He hoped that the Department would carefully examine the function of Mei Foo Bus Terminus as a bus-bus interchange to avoid aggravating traffic congestion; (iii) there were 36 pick-up/drop-off points for staff buses in Mei Foo. He strongly requested the Department to reduce the number and stop increasing this kind of pick-up/drop-off points; (iv) DC had for many years sought to add barrier free facilities at Exit A of MTR ; he hoped that the Department would help urge MTR to carry out the relevant project.

13. Mr YUEN Hoi-man raised the following views and enquiries: (i) he enquired how many on-street parking spaces the Department could provide. He opined that the number of on-street parking spaces that could be provided in SSP District was limited and could not meet the parking needs in the district. He suggested the Department consider optimising the use of open space such as Cheung Sha Wan Temporary Wholesale Poultry Market and providing parks on top of car parks under the principle of “single site, multiple use”; (ii) he asked TD to provide details on the plan to turn Mei Foo into a hub of bus-bus interchange; (iii) he supported the concept of Tsing Sha Highway Bus Interchange and opined that at present the number of whole-day service routes travelling via that interchange was relatively few. He hoped that the Department would find ways to improve utilisation rate of that interchange.

14. Mr Dominic LEE said that he hoped that TD would arrange transportation means to connect SSP District and Station of the Express Rail Link (“ERL”). He pointed out that many residents of had to travel to the Mainland frequently; hence he suggested the Department arrange mini-bus routes to run from via Olympic Station to West Kowloon Station of ERL. He had discussed the idea with mini-bus operators and they all believed that the route concerned was profitable. He hoped that the Department would implement the arrangement before ERL coming into operation.

15. Ms Carman NG extended welcome to C for T who visited SSPDC and raised the following views and enquiries: (i) regarding the provision of additional speed enforcement cameras, she pointed out that traffic accident had happened frequently at and she had repeatedly asked for improving the road design of that road section to reduce traffic accidents; (ii) she reckoned that the Department had made a snap decision regarding the installation of smart device at Woh Chai Street, to extend pedestrian - 9 - Action by green time, pointing out that that road crossing was too short and with many mini-buses and students getting through it. She hoped that the Department would consult district views again; (iii) MTR’s interchange concessionary schemes for green mini-buses territory-wide only offered concession of $0.3; which was too low; (iv) the industrial waste and unwanted vehicles discarded at Tai Woh Ping Road as well as the vehicles illegally parked there would pose danger to road users. She hoped that the Department would handle the problem seriously; (v) residents in her constituency had to travel to markets and MTR station by mini-buses but the waiting time was too long. She hoped that the Department would review seriously the implementation of 19-seat mini-buses in SSP District; (vi) she enquired when bus route 86B would be extended to Mei Foo; (vii) she agreed that bus route 702B could bring convenience to residents but the redevelopment of Pak Tin Estate had led to more illegal parking; she enquired how the Department would improve that.

16. Ms LAU Pui-yuk raised the following views and enquiries: (i) whether TD had any plan to provide seats for bus stops at the section of Cheung Sha Wan Road from Nam Cheong Street to Yen Chow Street. Since that road section was very busy, the Department should make careful arrangement and assess the impact of the works on shop operators and residents; (ii) the installation of smart device at Woh Chai Street, Shek Kip Mei to extend pedestrian green time could help the visually impaired cross the road. However, the device would prolong the stopping time of vehicles and might lead to traffic queues; (iii) as the pedestrian flow at the junction of Cheung Sha Wan Road/Yen Chow Street was quite heavy, she hoped that the Department would study to improve the situation by building footbridges or other methods; (iv) the areas near Market such as Tai Nan Street, Kweilin Street and Pei Ho Street were traffic black spots where traffic accidents happened frequently. She hoped that the Department would find ways to improve that.

17. Ms Mable CHAN gave a consolidated response as follows:

(i) TD understood that it would be difficult to meet parking demand with on-street parking spaces only; it would strive to increase the supply of public parking spaces. The Department would endeavour to secure 77 and 20 public parking spaces respectively at the private housing development projects at Fuk Wing Street and . It would also provide 80 public parking spaces at the commercial building development project at Cheung Shun Street. Moreover, the Department was considering providing temporary parking spaces at the site near a slope at Pak Wan Street and Mei Lai Road; and launched a territory-wide consultancy study on commercial vehicle parking spaces, for example, changing the loading and unloading spaces in commercial developments as commercial vehicle parking spaces at night. Besides, the Department would study the feasibility of providing car - 10 - Action by

parks underneath planned public open space with the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (“LCSD”).

(ii) TD would study carefully with bus companies on the using of Mei Foo Bus Terminus for interchanging purpose. Since residents of SSP District needed to travel to North West New Territories, Kowloon and , etc., the Department would provide bus routes for interchanging to bring convenience to residents and at the same time make SSP District the transportation hub of Hong Kong. The Department would conduct traffic assessment, listen to residents’ views and balance different needs.

(iii) The provision of seats for bus stops was a territory-wide measure; all bus companies had participated in that. About 20 seats would be provided at the bus stops at Cheung Sha Wan Road which would be designed according to the environment of the bus stops so as to reduce the impact of the projects on traffic and residents.

(iv) The Department already had a preliminary plan for the feeder transportation service for West Kowloon Station of ERL. It would introduce the details to DC in a timely manner.

(v) Regarding the congestion caused by goods vehicles and the dumping of refuse at Tai Woh Ping Road, TD and HyD would finish the pavement fencing project for that road section in February this year and would finish the works for adding hatched road markings in October in the hope of improving the problem.

(vi) The installation of smart device at Woh Chai Street, Shek Kip Mei to extend pedestrian green time was a trial scheme in the hope of benefiting the elderly and the disabled. The Department would take into account the impact of the project on residents and traffic in the vicinity and keep improving and pressing ahead the relevant project. The Department would brief DC on the details of the pilot scheme in a timely manner.

18. Mr LEUNG Man-kwong raised the following views: (i) a survey was conducted earlier to gauge the needs of residents in the new reclamation area of Sham Shui Po for feeder transportation services. Regarding short-haul routes, he pointed out that residents had relatively negative comments on the existing bus routes 701A and 702B, considering that bus should not be the only means for short-haul feeder transportation and the adding of mini-bus routes would be more desirable; (ii) regarding long-haul feeder routes, currently residents of the new reclamation area had to take bus route 296C to Kowloon East. - 11 - Action by

However, he opined that the route was relatively long and hoped that the Department could arrange another route so that the residents could reach Kowloon East (e.g. Kwun Tong, etc.) directly; (iii) the road improvement works for Sai Chuen Road had been stalled repeatedly while two traffic accidents had happened in the meantime. He asked the Department to carry out the project as soon as possible; (iv) he suggested the Department consider demolishing some footbridges and subways in the district which were less frequently used in order to provide motorcycle parking spaces.

19. Mr YAN Kai-wing extended welcome to C for T who visited SSPDC and raised the following views: (i) the Department expressed concern over the demands for parking spaces on one hand while reducing the private vehicle parking spaces of the redeveloped Pak Tin Estate from 300 to around 80 on the other hand, forcing some of the car owners to park their vehicles illegally; (ii) according to the planning standard of the Government, tenants of one-person public rental housing (“PRH”) units were deemed as tenants with no demand for parking spaces. Yet apart from elderly people, young people were also tenants of one-people units; the Department should therefore count their demands for parking spaces.

20. Mr TAM Kwok-kiu raised the following views and enquiries: (i) he enquired about the progress of the study on and the timetable for building a footbridge near Yen Chow Street; (ii) on-street parking spaces could not solve the problem of inadequate parking spaces. New parking spaces provided in recent years were mainly located inside private development projects and might not be opened for public use. Coupled with the redevelopment of Pak Tin Estate, vehicle owners who could once use the parking spaces in the estate could only park their vehicles on the streets. TD should take the initiative to plan the parking spaces in the district, for example, reviewing the sites of various departments in SSP District which were under-utilised and could be used for car parks. Assistance from the relevant senior officials should be sought when necessary; (iii) the Government had allowed different organisations to use parking spaces for other purposes when the economy was in the doldrums years ago, for example, two and a half storeys of the car park in was used by the City University of Hong Kong. He hoped that the Department would take the initiative to resume the place concerned for parking purpose; (iv) it was difficult for the visually impaired and the elderly to get on buses; he hoped that the Department would put forth effective measure to help them.

21. Mr LEUNG Yau-fong extended welcome to C for T who visited SSPDC and raised the following views: (i) vehicles started parking illegally on the two sides of Po On Road Playground and outside Po Lai Court at 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Moreover, there were always heavy vehicles parking illegally outside Po Hei Court; generating noises when they left in late night and early morning. He enquired whether the Department would designate a prohibited zone at the relevant road section for a certain time period so that - 12 - Action by heavy vehicles could not park there; (ii) heavy vehicles had loaded and unloaded goods at Fuk Wing Street outside Un Wai House and Un Mun House of Phase 5 long ago and the restricted areas existed in name only from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Since the noise generated had caused nuisance to residents, he suggested using the site for providing parking spaces and ensuring pedestrian safety at the same time.

22. Mr Aaron LAM raised the following views and enquiries: (i) more than 10 years ago DC had supported building a subway connecting MTR Sham Shui Po Station and . However the plan was finally shelved due to commercial reasons despite there was detailed design. Given that the junction of Cheung Sha Wan Road/Yen Chow Street was extremely crowded, he suggested TD re-examine the plan and consider changing the subway as to connecting MTR Sham Shui Po Station and Cheung Sha Wan Government Offices instead; with a view to diverting the pedestrian flow on the road; (ii) he supported the Department to provide car parks underneath public open space such as parks, etc. Many parks and playgrounds in SSP District were located in the urban centre, for example, Sham Shui Po Sports Ground and Cheung Sha Wan Playground; the Department could consider turning the areas under the relevant facilities into car parks.

23. Ms Mable CHAN gave a consolidated response as follows:

(i) TD would take the initiative to contact HD, PlanD and LandsD, etc. to find out ways to increase the number of parking spaces.

(ii) In the past few years, the Government in some occasions had not provided enough parking spaces to meet residents’ demands when redeveloping PRH estates. The Department would discuss with the relevant departments, hoping that the upper limits for parking space supply set out in the Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines could be applied for the provision of parking facilities.

(iii) The visually impaired needed the assistance of bus captains when taking public transport. Therefore, the Department would work vigorously with the bus companies to improve the attitude of bus captains other than providing supporting facilities.

(iv) TD would examine the proposals of building footbridge and subway near the junction of Cheung Sha Wan Road/Yen Chow Street and review the impact of the proposal on public facilities, pedestrian and traffic flows. It could not provide a timetable for the time being.

24. Ms NG Yuet-lan raised the following views and enquiries: (i) she had discussed - 13 - Action by with KMB earlier on extending route 86A from Kom Tsun Street to Mei Foo but the change was not included in the news update on the internet. She enquired whether the plan would be implemented; (ii) she thanked TD for designating a 24-hour pick-up/drop-off restricted zone at Lai Wan Road but hoped that the Department would exempt school buses from the restriction to facilitate students (in particular students of special schools) getting on and off the school buses; (iii) since the Department had issued licenses to quite a number of staff buses for them to pick-up/drop-off passengers at Mei Foo, the traffic of Mei Foo was very congested from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. She hoped that TD would review the licensing regime and consider relocating some pick-up/drop-off points of staff buses to Nam Cheong; (iv) she hoped that the Department would strengthen monitoring on the breakdowns and escalator accidents of MTR.

25. Ms Zoé CHOW extended welcome to C for T who visited SSPDC and raised the following views and enquiries: (i) she enquired about the details of the bus terminus near Site 6; (ii) the pavement in Hing Wah Street would become wider after the implementation of two-way traffic arrangement on 30 January this year. However, she enquired how the Department would optimise the use of that pavement as there were not many pedestrians; (iii) bus routes 296C and 701A would stop at Lai Ying Street. However, parking spaces were not enough in that area and illegal parking was serious. She was worried that if on-street parking spaces were to be provided at Lai Ying Street; congestion would deteriorate and the buses would find it difficult to approach the bus stop; (iv) as Cheung Sha Wan Temporary Wholesale Poultry Market had been designated as open space, she suggested an underground car park be built to alleviate the parking problem in the district; (v) the roadside ramps for the visually impaired were always blocked; she enquired how the Department would improve the problem.

26. Mr KONG Kwai-sang raised the following views: (i) the parking spaces in and Un Chau Street were not enough and the illegal parking problem was very serious; which had led to traffic congestion. Apart from illegal parking, heavy vehicles loading and unloading goods there was also a major contributor to traffic congestion. He hoped that the Department could find ways to improve the problem; (ii) there was no bus route in Sham Shui Po which could reach the urban centre of Kwun Tong directly after bus route 40 was re-routed; residents could only rely on mini-bus. Since public demand for travelling between Sham Shui Po and Kwun Tong was great, he hoped that bus routes plying Sham Shui Po and Kwun Tong could be provided.

27. Mr Kalvin HO raised the following views: (i) the visually impaired and the elderly who had problems in seeing things often needed assistance when waiting for the buses. He suggested TD consider installing voice announcement system at bus stops; (ii) he suggested the smart device for extending pedestrian green time adopt thermal sensing technology to save pedestrians from touching the device and safeguard public hygiene. - 14 - Action by

28. Mr CHUM Tak-shing extended welcome to C for T who visited SSPDC and raised the following views and enquiries: (i) he hoped that TD could take the initiative to properly plan the development projects with the relevant government departments to avoid confrontation between tenants of new buildings and logistic operators due to road using issues. Un Chau Street and Fuk Wing Street were examples; (ii) in Hong Kong, the number of private vehicles alone had reached 600 000 and was ever increasing. He was worried that the road would be even more congested after the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge was commissioned in the future. He enquired whether the Department would improve the problem through licensing and imposing restrictions on cross-boundary vehicles (in particular heavy vehicles); (iii) he hoped that the Department would consider adding count down devices to pedestrian lights to facilitate the elderly to cross the roads.

29. Ms Joephy CHAN extended welcome to C for T who visited SSPDC and raised the following enquiries and views: (i) low-floor 19-seat mini-buses were convenient to wheelchair users and the visually impaired. Given the ageing population in SSP District, she hoped that the Department could offer incentives to help introduce this type of mini-buses to SSP District, in particular for routes with more elderly and disabled passengers such as 45M; (ii) she hoped that the Department would respond to the “19+1” mini-bus option; (iii) the Council opposed the cancellation of bus route 212 and hoped that TD would not merely take patronage into account when making decision of cancelling some routes, in particular hospital routes, to avoid causing inconvenience to the public; (iv) since only four routes would stop at Dragon Centre, she hoped that the Department could better utilise the space and arrange more buses to travel via there.

30. Ms Mable CHAN gave a consolidated response as follows:

(i) TD reckoned that the incident happened recently at MTR was not desirable and urged MTR to submit a report to the Government. It also asked MTR to properly manage and monitor its system and tracks to minimise the inconvenience caused to the passengers.

(ii) The road improvement project for Hing Wah Street would be completed in January this year with pavement widened from 4 metres to more than 10 metres. TD would consider improving the environment of the pavement, for example, stepping up greening, and would consult Members’ views.

(iii) The elderly and the disabled could tap their Octopus cards at the smart device for extending the pedestrian green time to extend the green time; there was no need for them to touch the device.

(iv) The Department planned to make use of new technology to facilitate the - 15 - Action by

elderly and the needy people to use the road. It would report to DC once there was detailed plan.

(v) The introduction of low-floor 19-seat mini-buses aimed to cater for the needs of the elderly and those who had to go to the hospital. TD was now planning a trial run for three routes and would communicate with various stakeholders with a view to further pressing ahead the plan.

(vi) TD welcomed Members’ views and would keep communicating with Members and serving the public.

31. The Chairman concluded by thanking Ms Mable CHAN for attending this meeting. It was hoped that TD would keep communicating with DC and improving the traffic problems in SSP District through enhancing facilities and measures.

Item 3: Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene meets with Members of Sham Shui Po District Council

32. The Chairman, on behalf of SSPDC, welcomed Miss Vivian LAU, JP, Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene (“DFEH”), and the representatives of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (“FEHD”) accompanying her to this meeting.

33. Miss Vivian LAU briefly introduced the progress of the major work of FEHD in the district as follows:

(i) FEHD was responsible for two major work areas namely food safety and environmental hygiene. It currently employed a workforce of over 10 000 with an expenditure of about $6.7 billion in this financial year.

(ii) The Centre for Food Safety under the Department was responsible for carrying out regular food inspections at importation, wholesale and retail levels and would take food samples for examination. The Department would also enact relevant laws and promote public to ensure that the food sold in Hong Kong was safe and suitable for human consumption.

(iii) The Department was also responsible for issuing food business licences, hawker management, pubic market management, street cleansing, waste collection, public toilet service, pest control, problems of water seepage and water dripping from air-conditioners in buildings, as well as regulating public cemeteries, crematoria, columbarium and funeral service trade. Since the Private Columbaria Ordinance had come into effect, the scope of - 16 - Action by

work of the Department also covered private columbaria.

(iv) FEHD received more than 18 000 complaints on the environmental hygiene of SSP District in 2017, one-fourths of which were related to accumulation of rubbish, and issued more than 2 000 fixed penalty tickets. The Department had adopted a “three-pronged” approach to handle the relevant problem including increasing the number of outsourced cleansing workers by more than 10% in mid-2017 and deploying more manpower to enforce law and carry out promotion and education work in SSP District.

(v) FEHD had appointed “Ah Tak” as Keep Hong Kong Clean Ambassador earlier and launched a social media page, produced Radio Announcements in the Public Interest and posters so as to step up promotion and education. The Department thanked Members and the local communities for their contributions in civic education. It would continue to organise promotion and education activities such as the “Year-end Clean-up Campaign” to be launched on 22 January to disseminate the message of keeping the environment clean.

(vi) To address the rodent infestation problem in SSP District, FEHD carried out a two-month anti-rodent operation in designated target areas in May and September last year respectively. The Department adopted a “multi-pronged” approach in September last year by focusing anti-rodent operations and strengthening public education near Fuk Wing Street, Pei Ho Street, Cheung Sha Wan Road and Yen Chow Street as well as the back lanes, refuse collection points, markets, cooked food markets and works sites near Shun Ning Road, Cheung Fat Street, Castle Peak Road, Fat Tseung Street, Un Chau Street and Hing Wah Street which were prone to have serious rodent infestation problems.

(vii) After the fixed penalty legislation for shop front extension (“SFE”) was enforced in September 2016, SFE was remarkably improved. FEHD would continue to carry out joint operations with the Police on SFE and keep communicating with shop operators so as to improve the situation and ensure that the pavements were unblocked.

(viii) The Department had strengthened inspections and law enforcement for hawker black spots from mid-2017. During the period before and after the Lunar New Year, the Department would adopt its usual strategy of issuing verbal warnings to and dispersing unlicensed hawkers who had blocked the pedestrian walkways as well as carrying out law enforcement action - 17 - Action by

immediately against unlicensed hawkers selling cooked food or prohibited/restricted food or blocking main walkways to ensure public health, food safety and environmental hygiene.

(ix) The Government adopted a positive attitude toward the bazaar issue. If district organisations could identify suitable sites for organising bazaars and were supported by the communities and DCs, the Department would liaise with relevant bureaux and departments on the use of the sites provided that the relevant applications would not compromise public order and safety, food safety and environmental hygiene and obstruct public walkways. The (“FHB”) had drafted an Application Guidelines for Setting up Bazaars; views from all sectors on the guidelines were welcomed.

(x) The relocation of Yen Chow Street Fabric Market (“Pang Tsai”) was coordinated by FHB and implemented by FEHD. The Department had been liaising with cloth hawkers and reported the progress regularly to DC. Currently, FEHD had vacated Blocks 1 to 5 of Tung Chau Street Temporary Market and carried out renovation works incrementally. FEHD reckoned that relocating the cloth hawkers to Tung Chau Street Temporary Market was the best option.

(xi) On the other hand, the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau (“CEDB”) had announced earlier the development of a Sham Shui Po design and fashion base at a project of the Urban Renewal Authority (“URA”) at Tung Chau Street/Kweilin Street. The site for the fashion base, which was located in the opposite of Tung Chau Street Temporary Market, could generate synergy effect with the relocated cloth market and promote district economic and tourist development.

(xii) There were many street sleepers dwelling near Tung Chau Street Temporary Market which had caused law and order and hygiene problems, in particular problems involving triad society, sex crime and drugs, etc. That would have undesirable impact on the business environment of the future fashion and design base and the relocated cloth market. The Government attached great importance to that and was determined to handle the problem. The Sham Shui Po District Office (“SSPDO”) would coordinate with the relevant government departments including the Police, the Social Welfare Department (“SWD”) and FEHD to actively follow up on and resolve the problem.

(xiii) FEHD would keep liaising with cloth hawkers with a view to following up - 18 - Action by

on the relocation of “Pang Tsai”.

(xiv) The work of FEHD was closely related to people’s livelihood. DC was an important channel for the district to express views. The Department greatly valued DC’s views and would like to thank the Council for its continuous support to the work of the Department.

34. Mr CHAN Wai-ming extended welcome to DFEH who visited SSPDC and raised the following views: (i) the rodent infestation problem was serious in SSP District in recent years. Although FEHD had launched anti-rodent operation in designated target areas, rodents still climbed up the blocks in Un Chau Estate, Fortune Estate, Un Chau Street and the old buildings near Castle Peak Road. Hence he suggested the Department expand the designated target areas for anti-rodent operation and increase manpower so as to handle the problem through restaurant management, daily cleansing, law enforcement and promotion and education; (ii) So Uk Estate Redevelopment Phase 2 was still underway; the site and the slopes had aggravated the mosquito infestation problem of the Estate. He hoped that the Department could step up anti-mosquito work; (iii) he hoped that the Department would step up handling wild birds gathering at the Exit of MTR (near Un Chau Estate Phase 5) and the problem of illegal feeding of wild birds at the vicinity of and Shun Ning Road.

35. Mr WAI Woon-nam raised the following views: (i) he understood that FEHD was mainly responsible for the environmental hygiene of public areas but still hoped that the Department could offer anti-rodent support for PRH estates and private buildings; (ii) when the Government relocated the cloth hawkers at Yu Chau Street to “Pang Tsai” years ago, it stated that the relocation policy for cloth hawkers was worked out by the Urban Council (the former FHB) and implemented by the Urban Services Department (the former FEHD). At the end of 2015, the authorities asked “Pang Tsai” cloth hawkers to move out; but despite the Government’s previous announcement of developing the Sham Shui Po design and fashion base at Tung Chau Building, it did not work out concrete arrangement for relocating “Pang Tsai”. He hoped that the Department could give an account on that today.

36. Mr TAM Kwok-kiu raised the following views: (i) he opined that the discussion should be focused on the relocation arrangement for cloth hawkers, pointing out that FEHD could relocate the 33 registered cloth hawkers under the existing policy. As far as the remaining 17 cloth hawkers who were not registered by the Department were concerned, since they mainly wanted to be relocated to the future cloth market and continue their business there, the financial arrangement would not likely be affected. He enquired whether the Department would consider that option; (ii) FHB would responsible for coordinating the relocation of “Pang Tsai”. He hoped that the Bureau and the - 19 - Action by

Department would adopt the civic proposal and take the opportunity of developing the Sham Shui Po design and fashion base to develop Tung Chau Street Temporary Market as a creative cloth centre; (iii) he noted that FEHD would discuss with HD how to improve the rodent infestation problem. Yet he hoped that FEHD would be more proactive towards the rodent infestation problem and carry out surprise inspections at locations in PRH estates with serious rodent infestation problem (e.g. restaurants and markets).

37. Mr YUEN Hoi-man extended welcome to DFEH who visited SSPDC and raised the following views: (i) he criticised FEHD for not optimising the use of the space of hawker stalls, public markets and cooked food markets; the business environment of shop operators was not good. He cited Po On Road Market as an example, pointing out that the market had been partially closed down every time when works projects were carried out; which were inefficient. He opined that the whole market should be closed down for a short period of time for improvement works. Consideration should also be given to making use of the nearly completed market at Northwest Kowloon Reclamation Site 6 to upgrade the facilities of existing markets; (ii) he had sought to improve the facilities of Cheung Sha Wan Cooked Food Market but the Department gave no new response at all in the past few months; which was disappointing. He pointed out that there were many commercial buildings completed in the district and there was a certain demand for restaurants. The Department had only carried out electrical installation works, etc. for the cooked food market and he considered that that was useless to the cooked food market and was a waste of public money. He urged the Department to study how to upgrade the facilities of the cooked food market and the markets effectively.

38. Mr LEE Wing-man raised the following views: (i) the rodent infestation problem in SSP District was serious. Many restaurants had discharged effluent illegally; which had aggravated mosquito and rodent infestation problems, etc. and caused nuisance to the residents in the district. He hoped that the Department would expand the scope of the anti-rodent operation in designated target areas and cleanse the streets in the district by phases even though large scale cleansing work could not be carried out due to limited manpower; (ii) Sham Shui Po was an old district; with dense population and poor planning and the hygiene condition of back lanes of old buildings was poor. The Department should step up cleansing work in winter to avoid mosquito infestation problem, etc. breaking out in summer.

39. Mr LEUNG Yau-fong extended welcome to DFEH who visited SSPDC and raised the following views: (i) he praised FEHD for its efforts in maintaining the environmental hygiene in the district; (ii) the environmental hygiene of street blocks near markets was woeful. He had carried out night time inspections with the Pest Control Team of FEHD and found out that some shop operators would discard waste on the street after business hours. Some restaurants washed their dishes and discarded food wastes at back lanes; - 20 - Action by which would provide food for rodents and render the baits placed by the Department ineffective. He pointed out that there were cases in Po Lai Court and Un Chau Estate where the rodents had climbed upstairs and opined that the Department should toughen law enforcement and step up cleansing work; (iii) as the cleansing contractors of FEHD had been ineffective in street cleansing work, he suggested the Department conduct large-scale “Operation Tai Ping Tei”; (iv) he suggested the Department strengthen control on restaurants through licensing to avoid restaurants affecting environmental hygiene.

40. Ms NG Yuet-lan raised the following views: (i) she thanked FEHD’s efforts in district work; (ii) she suggested installing CCTV at back lanes at a large scale to deter people discarding waste at back lanes and solve rodent infestation problem at the source; (iii) many shop operators would discard waste arbitrarily; worsening the environmental hygiene. She suggested the Department work out a monitoring regime and penalty, for example, requiring shop operators to discard waste at designated waste bags to improve the problem; (iv) she hoped that the Bureau would relocate “Pang Tsai” at Tung Chau Street Temporary Market.

41. Miss Vivian LAU gave a consolidated response as follows:

(i) SSP District had witnessed an upward trend in the Rodent Infestation Rate. Apart from launching anti-rodent operation in designated target areas last year, FEHD also carried out regular anti-rodent work, including eliminating food sources, harbourages and routes of rodents to prevent rodent infestation.

(ii) FEHD would impose additional licensing conditions for the licence of Licensed Food Premises, for example, stipulating that used cooking oil, food waste and wastewater should not be disposed at back lanes, public places and stormwater drains, etc. The Department had put in place a Demerit Point System for Licensed Food Premises. If licensees breached the relevant ordinances or licensing conditions, the Department would take down the demerit points or issue warning letters. After the licensees had accumulated a certain demerit points, their licenses would be suspended temporarily or even cancelled. The Department would also strengthen monitoring on Licensed Food Premises in the future to prevent restaurants from discarding waste at back lanes.

(iii) SSP District was one of the pilot locations for the Internet Protocol (“IP”) Cameras Trial Scheme. FEHD considered that the Scheme was very effective and planned to extend it to all the districts in Hong Kong. The Department had consulted the Environment and Hygiene Committee (“EHC”) under SSPDC before the scheme was implemented and worked out - 21 - Action by

16 installation locations at last. Given the serious environmental hygiene problem in SSP District, six out of 82 installation locations for the fresh round of territory-wide IP camera installation programme would be located in SSP District. The Department would consider deploying more resources for installing more cameras at hygiene black spots in the district if necessary.

(iv) Mosquito was the principal vector of diseases such as dengue fever and Japanese encephalitis, etc. Two years ago, FEHD started a year-round anti-mosquito project so as to contain mosquito infestation in winter as well as in summer. In the past few years, Hong Kong had about 100 dengue fever cases each year. Most of them were imported cases while only a small number of them were local ones. To target the serious mosquito problem in work sites, the Department had set up work site inspection teams which would make prosecutions immediately once stagnant water was found in work sites which had led to mosquito infestation. The number of prosecutions had doubled in the past year, indicating that the Department would not tolerate such situation. It would provide information on the prosecutions to relevant departments for reference so that they could decide whether the contractors concerned were suitable for undertaking government projects.

(v) There were 101 public markets and cooked food markets under FEHD; two of them would be closed after the Lunar New Year to release space for use of other government departments. The Legislative Council (“LegCo”) had agreed earlier the creation of a directorate post by the Department to lead a team to promote the improvement work for the hardware and software of public markets, including the building of new markets in new districts and revitalising existing markets. The new task group set up by the Department was now studying on the revitalisation of existing markets and would discuss the issue with the relevant parties.

(vi) FEHD had the duty to monitor the performance of service contractors; ensuring their compliance with the service standards stipulated by the Department. Regarding whether the poor service standard of the contractors was a result of “lowest bid wins”, the Department, other than considering the prices, would also conduct technical assessments which included the plans worked out by the bidders for the contracts, the wage levels and working hours of workers, etc. The past bidding results indicated that 40% of the successful bidders did not win the bids by offering the lowest prices. The Labour and Welfare Bureau (“LWB”) had set up an inter-departmental working group on improving the outsourcing system and - 22 - Action by

FEHD had taken part in that so as to further improve the outsourcing system.

42. Ms LAU Pui-yuk extended welcome to DFEH who visited SSPDC and raised the following views: (i) she was glad to know that the Department would install CCTVs at six locations in the district. However, given the grave environmental hygiene problem in the district, she hoped that the Department would devote more resources and install CCTVs at more locations to alleviate the work pressure of frontline staff; (ii) illegal hawking was serious during the Lunar New Year at the area of and Pei Ho Street; which affected the daily lives of the residents nearby. She hoped that the Department would increase manpower and resources to carry out properly the management and law enforcement work during the New Year; (iii) the rodent infestation problem was serious in the district. She suggested the Department review pest control methods to improve the environmental hygiene in the district.

43. Mr LEUNG Man-kwong raised the following views: (i) after the anti-rodent operation in designated target areas of FEHD was launched, the rodent infestation problem on the street was indeed improved. However, the rodent infestation problem in areas not managed by FEHD (e.g. PRH estates) was still serious. He suggested the Department strengthen cooperation with other government departments to improve the matter; (ii) according to a survey, the problem of construction waste and rubbish discarded on the street had deteriorated. Since the environmental hygiene awareness of residents was weak, coupled with the fact that Hong Kong would soon implement the Municipal Solid Waste Charging Scheme, he opined that the Government should enhance civic education to avoid causing more serious public hygiene problems; (iii) when assessing the tenders, the Department’s weighting for price score was 60% to 70% while technical score only 30% to 40%. He reckoned that it was necessary to adjust the ratio and provide incentives for contractors to introduce new technology for street cleansing

44. Mr KONG Kwai-sang raised the following views: (i) even though the Department had carried out much work, the rodent infestation problem near Fat Tseung Street, Wing Lung Street, Shun Ning Road and Po On Road did not have much improvement; (ii) the law enforcement work of the Department at night was not enough. Restaurants and shop operators would discard waste on the streets after the last round of street cleansing by FEHD was completed; leading to rodent infestation problem; (iii) as the deterrent effect of fines and issuance of warning letters was limited on retail stalls; he suggested the Department consider working out other concrete measures to address the problem.

45. Mr Kalvin HO raised the following views: (i) although the Department said that the contracts were not awarded to the lowest bids, the ratio of price score was high. Moreover, FEHD would only inform the contractors for follow ups after receiving public complaints under the outsourcing system, not handle them directly. As a result, the - 23 - Action by problems could not be handled effectively; (ii) since there were only a few cleansing contractors, it might lead to bid-rigging. Not only the service quality would decline, workers would be exploited because the wages of outsourced cleansing workers were lower than those employed directly by the Department. Hence, he opined that the Government should scrap the outsourcing system; (iii) rodent infestation problem was also very serious in Sham Shui Po East and restaurants often dumped waste on the streets during night time. He hoped that the Department could step up law enforcement; (iv) as dog excreta was often found in the vicinity of Tai Po Road, he hoped that the Department would take follow up action.

46. Mr CHUM Tak-shing extended welcome to DFEH who visited SSPDC and raised the following views: (i) FEHD said that 40% of the successful bidders did not win the contracts by offering the lowest bids. In other words, 60% of the successful bidders won the contracts by offering the lowest bids; (ii) the assessment of bids had emphasised too much on price, causing contractors to suppress workers’ wages and blunting their incentives to improvement equipment. The outsourcing system had led to exploitation of the disadvantaged and the elderly working as cleansing workers while the environmental hygiene in the district deteriorated. He therefore opined that this system should be scrapped; (iii) after the implementation of the fixed penalty for SFE for a period of time, some of the shop operators started to backslide. They placed miscellaneous items and even food on the streets, causing environmental hygiene problems. He opined that FEHD should strengthen law enforcement. He was worried that the Department was paving the way for the implementation of the Municipal Solid Waste Charging Scheme in the future by installing cameras; (iv) Cheong Wah Street Refuse Collection Point had caused serious nuisance to the residents of Lai Bo Garden and its vicinity. DC had demanded for the relocation of the refuse collection point to the future Wing Hong Street Refuse Collection Point for many times; he hoped that the Department could follow up on that vigorously.

47. The Chairman raised the following views: (i) he asked the Bureau and the Department to finalise the relocation and promotion plan for “Pang Tsai” within three months; (ii) under the current policy, the Government would not be able to handle the problem properly. He pointed out that although there were many uncertainties in the development of the new cloth market, “Pang Tsai” cloth hawkers were still willing to participate in and jointly promote the economic development of SSP District with the Government. In view of this, he hoped that the Department could be considerate and handle the issue with discretion; (iii) he asked the Department to make good its promise of handling special situations with special measures and handle the cloth market issue in a sensible and reasonable manner by arranging the 33 registered cloth hawkers and the 17 unregistered ones to move to Tung Chau Street Temporary Market altogether and providing suitable support including rent-free period and rental concession. - 24 - Action by

48. Ms Zoé CHOW extended welcome to DFEH who visited SSPDC and raised the following views and enquiries: (i) she was concerned about rodent infestation problem, pointing out that the same situation of rodents climbing upstairs had also happened in Fortune Estate. She opined that the areas managed by the Link or HD might also have rodent infestation problem and enquired about the role played by FEHD in the environmental hygiene issues of PRH estates; (ii) she hoped that the Department could step up handling the problem of wild birds gathering at Exit A of MTR Cheung Sha Wan Station; (iii) she hoped that the Government could listen to the views of “Pang Tsai” cloth hawkers and consider adopting civic proposals.

49. Mr Vincent CHENG raised the following views: (i) DC had adopted a bottom up approach when discussing the “Pang Tsai” issue and encountered many difficulties. He hoped that the Department could provide a plan within a short period of time to handle the issue properly; (ii) “Pang Tsai” cloth hawkers had to face with challenges such as losing customers after they were relocated to the new cloth market; their operation would not be easy. He opined that the Department should take the opportunity of developing the Sham Shui Po design and fashion base and study in tandem the supporting facilities for the cloth market and the fashion base. It should also learn from the experience of relocating the hawker stalls in and provide support such as promotion and supporting facilities, etc. for the cloth hawkers to help them operate; (iii) he asked the Department to handle special situations with special measures by arranging the 33 registered cloth hawkers and the 17 unregistered ones to move to the new cloth market altogether.

50. Mr YEUNG Yuk raised the following views: (i) the “Pang Tsai” issue had been discussed for years. He hoped that the Department could relocate “Pang Tsai” as soon as possible and create suitable business environment so as to develop the local economy; (ii) he was concerned about the benefits and working environment of cleansing workers, pointing out that even though 40% of the successful bidders were not the ones offering the lowest bids, some surveys indicated that 80% cleansing workers were hired with the minimum wages. The existing outsourcing system was fraught with problems and flaws; he suggested the Department adjust the ratio taken up by price score and technical score and revise upward the ratio taken up by wage score so that the cleansing workers could enjoy more protection.

51. Mr YAN Kai-wing raised the following views: (i) FEHD, in accordance with its criteria, opined that 17 cloth hawkers had failed to meet the relocation requirements. He reckoned that there were many grey areas in the handling process and implementation details of the Department. Given that those cloth hawkers had operated at “Pang Tsai” for years and it was the authorities who wanted them to move out now, coupled with DC’s unanimous support for relocating all the cloth hawkers, he hoped that the Department could exercise discretion when handling the matter; (ii) the Government planned to build a - 25 - Action by design and fashion base in SSP District which would be located near Tung Chau Street Temporary Market; which indicated that the Government also agreed with that development direction and mode. FEHD should work in line with the Government’s plan.

52. Mr WAI Woon-nam raised the following views: (i) LandsD had requested for resuming the site of “Pang Tsai” in 2005 but it stated later that there was no need to hasten the relocation of “Pang Tsai”; hence “Pang Tsai” cloth hawkers could operate to date; (ii) “Pang Tsai” cloth hawkers had been operating like hawkers and they only had to pay about $2,000 each year for licence fee. However, they would have to pay a rent of about $2,000 each month after moving to Tung Chau Street Temporary Market; which represented a 12-fold increase and would be unaffordable for them. He suggested the Department handle special situations with special measures and allow all the cloth hawkers to operate under the original mode and without paying the high rent; (iii) he requested the Department to make use of Blocks 1 to 3 of Tung Chau Street Temporary Market to relocate all the “Pang Tsai” cloth hawkers and make public all the details as soon as possible including the license fees and the layouts of the shops, etc.

53. Mr TAM Kwok-kiu opined that FEHD had the duty to handle properly the relocation of “Pang Tsai” cloth hawkers and implement the civic proposal on cloth centre. In view of this, he moved a provisional motion on the implementation of the civic proposal on cloth centre and the content was as follows: “Strongly requests FEHD/FHB to announce a relocation plan for Pang Tsai cloth hawkers within three months, which includes: relocating the existing (33+17) cloth hawkers to the new cloth market underneath the Tung Chau Street Flyover; implementing the civic proposal on cloth centre initiated by Pang Tsai cloth hawkers by providing comprehensive support and rent concessions, etc. to Pang Tsai cloth hawkers.” He also pointed out that the provisional motion covered the views raised by the Chairman just now as well as the request repeatedly made by DC.

54. Mr LEE Wing-man said that although the Department had not seen the 17 unregistered cloth hawkers during its inspections, it did not mean that they did not do business there. He suggested the Department handle special situations with special measures and exercise discretion by relocating all cloth hawkers as early as possible to ease their mind. Concrete arrangements such as rents, etc. could be discussed later.

55. Mr LEUNG Yau-fong raised the following views: (i) it was the responsibility of the Department to relocate “Pang Tsai” cloth hawkers properly. He asked the Department to handle special situation with special measures so that all the cloth hawkers could continue their business; (ii) the cloth hawkers were unnerved by the current situation. They had been in the cloth industry for years and had contributed a lot; it would be difficult for them to switch to other trades. The Department should show understanding; - 26 - Action by otherwise, it would be difficult for it to justify the case to the public; (iii) he asked the Department to relay DC’s views to the Bureau.

56. Ms Carman NG raised the following views: (i) she was dissatisfied that the livelihood of shop operators had been affected every time when the Government carried out redevelopment projects; (ii) she hoped that different bureaux and departments would handle the “Pang Tsai” issue together and put forth a proper relocation plan before the Lunar New Year to tie in with the development of the Sham Shui Po design and fashion base; (iii) cloth hawkers wanted to be self-reliant but they were too old to switch to other trades.

57. Mr KONG Kwai-sang raised the following views: (i) the Government announced the development of the Sham Shui Po design and fashion base right after “Pang Tsai” won awards, which was hypocritical; (ii) since the Government want to capitalise on “Pang Tsai” for the development of the fashion base, he hoped that the Department could adopt the proposal of “Pang Tsai” cloth hawkers and work out a proper plan before the Lunar New Year.

58. Mr Kalvin HO raised the following views: (i) cloth hawkers had worked hard for the cloth business but the Government had never provided any support. It was not until “Pang Tsai” won awards that the Government announced the development of Sham Shui Po design and fashion base. However, since Sham Shui Po design and fashion base was located in the opposite of Tung Chau Street Temporary Market, it would affect the business of “Pang Tsai”; (ii) he hoped that the Department would proactively address the demands of the cloth hawkers and properly relocate all of them.

59. The Chairman proposed as follows: (i) if Members had no objection, he suggested the provisional motion be moved by DC; (ii) he suggested amending “providing comprehensive support and rent concessions, etc. to Pang Tsai cloth hawkers” in the provisional motion as “providing comprehensive support and rent-free concessions, etc. to Pang Tsai cloth hawkers”.

60. Mr TAM Kwok-kiu agreed with the above proposal.

61. Miss Vivian LAU gave a consolidated response as follows:

(i) Since the environment of “Pang Tsai” was crowded and had potential fire hazards, FEHD invited the Fire Services Department (“FSD”) to conduct two fire drills each year for “Pang Tsai” during the discussion on the relocation plan. - 27 - Action by

(ii) FEHD had recovered all the stalls in Blocks 1 to 5 of Tung Chau Street Temporary Market. 18 of the 21 “Pang Tsai” licensed cloth hawkers opted to take the ex-gratia payment and retired or continue their business at fixed-pitch hawker stalls on the streets. The remaining three people had yet to make a decision.

(iii) The Department knew the history of “Pang Tsai” and understood that some unlicensed cloth hawkers had done business in the venue for many years and made contributions to the cloth industry. In view of this, the Government was willing to make special arrangement but it would be difficult for it to offer the same arrangement for both licensed and unlicensed cloth hawkers. The Department would continue to discuss issues such as the qualifications, rents, support and auxiliary facilities, etc. with the unlicensed cloth hawkers in the venue according to principles which were fair, sensible and in line with public interest.

(iv) FEHD was determined to solve the street sleeper problem near Tung Chau Street Temporary Market step by step. It would also keep cooperating with SSPDO and other departments so as to provide a suitable business environment for the cloth hawkers.

(v) The Department hoped that the cloth hawkers could be relocated to Tung Chau Street Temporary Market so that they could keep doing business in SSP District and the local characteristics be retained. The business environment of Tung Chau Street Temporary Market in the future would be better than that of “Pang Tsai”; with better equipment and supporting facilities. Hence the current relocation arrangement was an “all-win” and workable option.

(vi) Regarding the use of space of Tung Chau Street Temporary Market and the future use of the site of Yen Chow Street cloth market, FEHD would optimise the land use as far as possible.

(vii) The Department was ready to set another date to discuss again the “Pang Tsai” issue with DC.

62. Miss Vivian LAU then said that FEHD would launch the “Year-end Clean-up Campaign” next week and hoped that all parties would support it.

63. Mr TAM Kwok-kiu said that he hoped that the Department would make good its promise and discuss the “Pang Tsai” issue with DC and the cloth hawkers before or after - 28 - Action by the Lunar New Year.

64. The Chairman concluded that: (i) the Council thanked Miss Vivian LAU for attending this meeting to introduce FEHD’s work and was glad to know that the Department was willing to continue the discussion on the “Pang Tsai” issue with DC; (ii) the provisional motion moved by DC just now was fair, reasonable and could fulfil the “all-win” principle; and the Department was requested to resolve the relocation arrangement for “Pang Tsai” within three months; (iii) the Government should handle “Pang Tsai” issue and the street sleeper problem in tandem and the relocation of “Pang Tsai” should not be affected.

65. The Chairman then announced that Members who were present at the meeting (including Mr CHAN Kwok-wai, Mr CHAN Wai-ming, Ms Zoé CHOW, Mr Ambrose CHEUNG, Mr CHUM Tak-shing, Mr Kalvin HO, Mr KONG Kwai-sang, Mr Aaron LAM, Ms LAU Pui-yuk, Mr LEE Wing-man, Mr LEUNG Man-kwong, Mr LEUNG Yau-fong, Ms Carman NG, Ms NG Yuet-lan, Mr TAM Kwok-kiu, Mr WAI Woon-nam, Mr YAN Kai-wing, Mr YEUNG Yuk, Mr YUEN Hoi-man) unanimously passed the provisional motion of DC.

Item 4: Matters for discussion

(a) The design and fashion base in Sham Shui Po (SSPDC Paper 1/18)

66. The Chairman, on behalf of SSPDC, welcomed Mr Edward YAU, GBS, JP, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development (“SCED”), as well as the representatives of the Hong Kong Design Centre (“HKDC”), URA and the Hong Kong Tourism Board (“HKTB”) accompanying him to this meeting.

67. Mr Edward YAU introduced Paper 1/18 with the aid of PowerPoint.

68. The Chairman said that the design and fashion base in Sham Shui Po (“the base”) was a gift from SCED to Sham Shui Po. He thanked the Government for providing resources and land to develop the base and engaging different stakeholders such as HKDC, HKTB and URA. He believed that the base could effectively promote the development in the district and had full confidence in the plan.

69. Mr Vincent CHENG extended welcome to SCED who visited SSPDC and raised the following views: (i) he welcomed the development of the base in Sham Shui Po and opined that new resources and concepts could help boost the economy in the district; (ii) many years ago, the Government implemented three historical building revitalisation projects in the district, i.e. Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre (“JCCAC”), - 29 - Action by and the Savannah College of Art and Design in Hong Kong (“SCAD Hong Kong”) in Shek Kip Mei. These organisations had promised to promote community collaboration and cultural arts but the result was disappointing. He was concerned whether the base could integrate into the community and collaborate with other stakeholders in the district (e.g. “Pang Tsai”); (iii) a lot of ancillary facilities were developed in the because of “Energizing Kowloon East”. He hoped that the base could produce the same effect, for example, providing ancillary hardware and software in the relevant areas, improving the environment in the district, enhancing the cultural and arts atmosphere, etc.; (iv) he wanted to understand how HKDC would develop the base, e.g. how it would energise and revitalise the community and how it would collaborate with different stakeholders in the district such “Pang Tsai”, stalls and cloth hawkers.

70. Mr WAI Woon-nam extended welcome to SCED who visited SSPDC and raised the following views: (i) the base was related to industries such as fashion, fabric, etc., and it was opposite to Tung Chau Street Temporary Market where the practitioners in “Pang Zai” would be relocated to. He was worried that the base might not fit in with the relocated “Pang Tsai” in future and they might even have conflicts of interest. He enquired whether the Bureau would seek the views of the practitioners in “Pang Tsai” on the plan, or even allow them to do business in the base; (ii) since the Government had the intention to revitalise Tung Chau Building, he enquired whether the Government would also consider revitalising the area underneath Tung Chau Street Flyover and adding a venue for fashion shows in Blocks 4 and 5 of Tung Chau Street Temporary Market, so that the practitioners in “Pang Tsai” could make contributions to the base and share the fruits; (iii) URA announced in 2006 that “Jade Walk” would be built at the redevelopment site at Tung Chau Street/Hai Tan Street. However, 12 years had passed and that area was still a construction site. He suspected that the ineffective follow-up by URA had caused the works to be further delayed and requested URA to provide the details concerned.

71. Mr Dennis WONG raised the following views and enquiries: (i) he appreciated the concept of the base and opined that it could continue the tradition in the fabric and fashion manufacturing industries in Sham Shui Po and was also an innovative idea; (ii) he enquired about the mode of operation of the base, for example, whether it would be operated by non-government organisations (“NGOs”), the industries or fashion design institutes. He opined that the relevant ancillary facilities and factories’ support had to be considered and the base had to be connected with overseas markets such as the ones in Europe and America in order to achieve sustainable development; (iii) he enquired how the authorities would consolidate the tourist attractions and themes in the district to promote the development of tourism.

72. Mr YEUNG Yuk raised the following views: (i) he expressed concerns about this plan and pointed out that the Government had implemented numerous projects over the - 30 - Action by years but many of them were “loud thunder but small raindrops”; (ii) Sham Shui Po was a place full of friendliness. The organisations and stakeholders in the district got on well with each other. He was worried that once the plan was implemented, “gentrification” would occur in the surrounding areas causing commodity prices to rise and these areas would then not fit in with nearby facilities such as markets, stalls on the floor, bazaars, etc. If the Government did not let the stakeholders at the grassroots level (e.g. practitioners in “Pang Tsai”, street sleepers) participate when implementing the plan, he was worried that only the fashion industry and traders would be benefitted in the end, while the ones who would be affected were the residents in Sham Shui Po. He hoped that SCED would dispel their doubts.

73. Mr Edward YAU gave a consolidated response as follows:

(i) The base would be a 5-storey building with about 3 600 square metres usable floor area in total but there were over 350 fashion-related shops in SSP District. Therefore, the most crucial thing was for the base to fit in with the existing facilities in the district and create synergy.

(ii) The base could help promote fashion design and the Bureau hoped to develop Sham Shui Po into a tourist attraction through the plan as well. The authorities would provide the relevant ancillary facilities and carry out promotion, with a view to creating synergy.

(iii) The base was established to nurture design talents, consolidate industries, etc. As there were many related shops in SSP District, the authorities opined that their development could also be promoted at the same time in order to maximize the synergy. He believed that if “Pang Tsai” were relocated to the area underneath Tung Chau Street Flyover or places nearby, they would complement with the base well.

(iv) The Bureau had made preliminary contact with HKDC, hoping that the base would be operated by it. The authorities hoped to merge the work in marketing and training as well as introducing the element of tourism to allow members of the public and those from overseas to participate together. When carrying out promotion, HKTB would make a map of Sham Shui Po showing places for garments, food, accommodation and sightseeing for tourists to use. After the base was built, different activities would be organised to attract more tourists, with a view to fully utilising the space.

74. Mr TAM Kwok-kiu raised the following views: (i) the Bureau hoped that the base could create synergy with the district instead of replacing the existing elements. He - 31 - Action by opined that, in order to achieve this goal, the Bureau had to have discussions with the relevant stakeholders (including the practitioners in “Pang Tsai”), for example, workshops could be provided to let the practitioners know more details and get clarifications regarding various problems while the Bureau could listen to their views, so that the base could also address the needs of the district; (ii) the practitioners in “Pang Tsai” did not expect that they could do business in the base. What they proposed was to develop the community fabric fashion centre. He hoped that the Bureau could fully consult the stakeholders (including the practitioners in “Pang Tsai”) and gain an understanding of the special features and needs of the fabric fashion centre when developing the base, so that special features of the district would be shown. He believed that if the ideas of the base could be implemented, it would bring benefits to the district.

75. Mr KONG Kwai-sang raised the following views: (i) “gentrification” was happening in Sham Shui Po and redevelopment projects caused commodity prices in the surrounding areas to rise, increasing the burdens on the residents in the district. He was worried that the plan of the base would make the situation worse. Also, he did not want the authorities to change the appearance of the grassroots community in Sham Shui Po for the sake of developing tourism and attracting tourists; (ii) the Government announced the development of the base after the proposal about the community fabric fashion centre by “Pang Tsai” had received an award. In addition, the plan of the base did not take the needs of “Pang Tsai” into consideration. Such approach was hypocritical. He hoped that the Bureau would listen to the views of the practitioners in “Pang Tsai” when formulating development plans and explain how it would prevent the above problems.

76. Mr Aaron LAM raised the following views: (i) the base was a new development involving different departments and organisations. Various problems might be encountered throughout the process but they should be solvable. He had high expectation for the plan; (ii) in the past, there had been many companies related to the garment industry in SSP District. However, as the industry was declining, many people with expertise in this area lost their jobs. He hoped that the base would provide job opportunities for them, allowing them to make contributions; (iii) he suggested that the authorities allow Members to join the management committee or board of directors of the base so that they could help reflect the views of the district, helping the base integrate with the community.

77. Mr LEE Wing-man raised the following views: (i) he welcomed the plan of the base; (ii) there were many fashion-related shops in Sham Shui Po, such as shops doing fashion wholesale business and those selling fabric and garment accessories. However, as the garment industry was declining, factories were moved to the Mainland and the practitioners lost their jobs as a result. He hoped that the fashion-related industries in the district would be stimulated through the base lest they died out; (iii) he hoped that the base could nurture fashion designers and sell their products to overseas buyers, with a view to - 32 - Action by boosting the local economy.

78. Mr Edward YAU gave a consolidated response as follows:

(i) The new-term Government put forward the plan about the base when formulating the Policy Address as it wanted to promote the development of the design and fashion industries together with other organisations, with a view to providing impetus. The Government hoped to preserve various elements that were related to fashion and design and strengthen the links between them. Therefore, the base had to fit in with other industries in the district in order to create synergy and this was also the intention of the plan. When designing the base in future, HKDC would definitely listen to different views and engage more people.

(ii) The authorities had always encouraged fashion design institutes to expose themselves to different sectors, with a view to absorbing different ideas. Sham Shui Po could provide a unique opportunity for people working in the design industry to expose themselves to various garment industries, which could help them create designs.

(iii) Designing was only one of the stages in the garment manufacturing process and designers needed to materialise their design concepts. Therefore, facilities such as rooms for making samples would be provided in the base. Different kinds of jobs would also be provided, hoping that it would stimulate the employment in the district.

(iv) The base, after it was established, could attract more buyers to come to Sham Shui Po to purchase fabric and materials. Many people would also come to visit the base because of its fame and its unique theme could attract tourists as well, which would stimulate the economy of Sham Shui Po.

79. Ms LAU Pui-yuk raised the following views: (i) she welcomed the establishment of the base in Sham Shui Po. She hoped that the base would integrate with SSP District, and thus would become a project that was community-oriented and full of special features of the district so that residents would be benefitted; (ii) many traders selling garment accessories or fabric hoped that the base would organise various activities (e.g. fashion shows on the street) at different locations in the district in future and cooperate with different stakeholders (e.g. “Pang Tsai”); (iii) the Bureau planned to develop Sham Shui Po into a tourist attraction but the environmental hygiene in the district came under criticism constantly. She urged CEDB to cooperate with FEHD and allocate more resources to improve the environmental hygiene in the district; (iv) she hoped that the orientation of the - 33 - Action by base would be different from other design centres.

80. Mr YUEN Hoi-man raised the following views: (i) he supported the authorities to promote the development of the economy and tourism in the district through the base. The plan was just a concept at this stage and he was concerned about how the Bureau would implement it; (ii) the goal of the plan was to create synergy, nurture talents, promote tourism, etc. He hoped that the Bureau could provide quantitative indicators or data for measuring the effectiveness; (iii) he enquired about the operational expenditure and sources of income of the base; (iv) he hoped that the authorities could promise to enhance communication with “Pang Tsai” and other stakeholders, with a view to creating synergy; (v) there were many crimes involving non-Chinese people in Sham Shui Po (especially in the area underneath Tung Chau Street Flyover) and many sub-divided units in the district. He was worried that these problems would affect tourists’ impression of Hong Kong and hoped that the Government would address the problems.

81. Mr CHAN Wai-ming raised the following views: (i) the industries and residents were pleased to see that the Government would establish the base in Sham Shui Po and hoped that the authorities would take this opportunity to promote the development of the fabric and other related industries in the district and provide impetus in various aspects; (ii) according to the information from the Bureau, the promotion area of the project concerned would include the current location of “Pang Tsai” but not the area underneath Tung Chau Street Flyover. The Government suggested relocating “Pang Tsai” to Tung Chau Street Temporary Market to make it become the new fabric market. He opined that the said market should also be included into the promotion area; (iii) he opined that this was an opportunity for various sectors to promote featured fabric development in Sham Shui Po.

82. Mr Kalvin HO raised the following views: (i) the Government had never provided any support to “Pang Tsai” in the last 20-odd years but announced the development of the base after “Pang Tsai” had received an award. In addition, the Bureau did not mention “Pang Tsai” in its plan about the base and only said that “Pang Tsai” would be rehoused by FHB. He opined that the synergy mentioned by the Bureau was just empty words; (ii) the Bureau should enhance communication with the practitioners in “Pang Tsai”. He pointed out that they were hawkers operating business and CEDB had the responsibility to provide assistance to them. He hoped that the Bureau could understand the situation of “Pang Tsai”.

83. Ms Joephy CHAN raised the following views: (i) LegCo members as well as the School of Architecture of the Chinese University of Hong Kong had submitted a blueprint for the development of the design and fashion base in Sham Shui Po to the Government for consideration before. She was pleased to see that the Government accepted the proposal last year and provided a vision in the Policy Address in this regard. Members of the - 34 - Action by public all hoped that the vision would be materialise but no specifics were provided in the Bureau’s paper; (ii) the design and fashion industries were very important to the development of Hong Kong and the local economy. She hoped that the Bureau could give an account of the benefits that the base could bring to Sham Shui Po, for example, provision of job opportunities for the grassroots, improvement to community facilities, etc.

84. Mr Eric YIM gave a consolidated response as follows:

(i) The base would be a 5-storey building with an area of 3 600 square metres in total. The ground floor would be a display area for original design and fashion garments. HKDC intended to display the products concerned using innovative means, such as displaying them as fashion series or using technologies like virtual reality.

(ii) The first floor of the base was space for fashion manufacturing, where facilities for making patterns and samples would be provided. The space would not be used by fashion designers only, workshops and seminars would also be held there for members of the public to learn traditional crafts, with a view to strengthening the link between the base and the district.

(iii) The second floor of the base was space for collaboration, where designers could discuss, study and work together when creating designs, rehearse their speeches and give introductions of their products.

(iv) The third floor of the base was space for start-up incubation, where designers of different fields could have meetings, work and have discussions. It was anticipated that, in addition to a library stocking newspapers and magazines, a material library stocking fabric from cloth hawkers in Sham Shui Po would also be established on that floor to provide designers with samples of fabric and other materials, which could help them create new products.

(v) The fourth floor of the base was for provision of support services related to start-up incubation, such as filing of tax returns, application for intellectual property rights, to designers.

(vi) The above design of the base was in preliminary conceptual stage and there was still room for improvement.

85. Mr Anthony LAU gave a consolidated response as follows:

(i) Tourists no longer came to Hong Kong for shopping only, they also wanted - 35 - Action by

to experience different local customs. HKTB wanted to attract tourists to visit Sham Shui Po from the angles of garments, food, accommodation and sightseeing, which would bring economic benefits to Sham Shui Po.

(ii) In respect of “garments”, there were many shops in Sham Shui Po doing fabric wholesale or garment retail business or selling materials for manufacturing. The stories behind these shops could be recounted to tourists. In respect of “food”, many “Dai Pai Tong” and special delicacies were available in Sham Shui Po. In respect of “accommodation”, HKTB would use the construction of public housing estates and old buildings with special features as the main theme and recommend them to tourists. In respect of “sightseeing”, there were many stalls, bazaars, cultural and creative shops in Sham Shui Po. It was believed that these places had a certain level of appeal to overseas tourists.

(iii) HKTB planned to hold a launching ceremony in late May this year and would use overseas publicity means to recommend Sham Shui Po to tourists around the world. Crew from overseas television stations would come to Sham Shui Po to interview residents at the time and the Bureau would promote special features of SSP District at specific time slots through CNN’s platforms.

(iv) HKTB would promote the delicacies, history, stories, etc. of Sham Shui Po through the promotion platforms of Hong Kong Summer Fun, online media and social media.

(v) Between October and December this year, HKTB would collaborate with HKDC to set up installations on special themes in outdoor areas and promote them to tourists through social media.

(vi) HKTB was planning a comprehensive promotion campaign and hoped that tourism could bring economic benefits to Sham Shui Po within the next one to two years.

86. Mr Edward YAU gave a consolidated response as follows:

(i) Whether it was the construction of the base or the promotion of tourism, the whole plan of the base required the cooperation of the community. The base could nurture talents for and bring them to Sham Shui Po, create business opportunities and add new elements to Sham Shui Po. It would not take away the existing special features of the district. The promotion - 36 - Action by

campaigns of HKTB could promote Sham Shui Po overseas in a systematic manner, highlighting the special features of Sham Shui Po in various aspects.

(ii) Elements related to fashion and design were crucial to the plan of the base. Therefore, the existing cloth stalls, hawkers and shops would become part of the plan in order to create synergy. As for the relocation of “Pang Tsai”, government departments would perform their own duties and FHED would be responsible for the work concerned.

(iii) The effectiveness of the plan could be measured by different indicators, such as whether it could introduce fashion and design industries into the district, whether there were increase in the number of tourists and turnovers of shops, etc. The Government would take the progress of the preparatory work of the base into account and carry out various campaigns to promote tourism within the next one to two years accordingly.

(iv) When developing the base, the authorities would listen to the views of different sectors to seek to integrate the base with the community.

87. The Chairman raised the following views: (i) this was the first time the Bureau came to DC to give an introduction to the plan of the base and the scope of discussion was relatively wide; (ii) with the Government taking the lead and adequate resources, he opined that the plan would definitely be successful; (iii) he believed that the Bureau would listen to Members’ views and continue to have discussions.

88. Mr Dominic LEE raised the following views: (i) LegCo members representing the textiles and garment functional constituency and the ones representing blue-collar workers had collaborated before to call for the design and fashion base to be established in Sham Shui Po, which showed that this plan could take care of the needs of both the business sector and blue-collar workers; (ii) the public hoped that industrial operations would come back to Hong Kong and the design, garment and tourist industries would be developed. They also hoped that special features of Sham Shui Po would be considered in the development of the base and job opportunities and development platforms would be provided for the grassroots; (iii) the Council’s vision was to develop Sham Shui Po into “Dongdaemun” of Hong Kong but the resources allocated to the garment and fashion industries in Sham Shui Po by the Government were insufficient. He was pleased to see that the Bureau would make new attempts and hoped that the Council could provide cooperation to the Bureau in this regard so that the plan of the base would become the beginning of development.

89. Mr CHUM Tak-shing raised the following views: (i) he hoped to understand the - 37 - Action by financial commitments, mode of operation of the base as well as how sustainable development would be achieved. He was worried that the nature of the base would change in future and it needed to continue its operation by doing business, which would have an impact on the surrounding traders such as “Pang Tsai”; (ii) he hoped to understand how the base would carry out procurement and opined that district participation would not be required if the base already had enough suppliers. He hoped that the authorities would promise that the base would not affect “Pang Tsai” and traders in the district.

90. Mr LEUNG Yau-fong extended welcome to SCED who visited SSPDC and raised the following views: (i) although the Government’s plan to develop the base was made out of good intentions, he opined that the plan was not pragmatic and it put more emphasis on tourism than the fashion and design industries; (ii) many factories in Hong Kong was moved to the Mainland in earlier years and the garment industry practitioners lost their jobs as a result. He urged the Government to encourage factory owners to move some of the production lines back to Hong Kong and encourage more people to join this industry; (iii) a district study was carried out more than a decade ago and the findings showed that Sham Shui Po was suitable for development of the fashion and design industries. Many skilled workers in the garment industry could still be found in the district at the time. He pointed out that nurturing design talents alone might not be enough to make the plan successful; (iv) he hoped that the base could collaborate with “Pang Tsai” and urged CEDB to help “Pang Tsai” continue their business and nurture talents for them by means of inter-departmental co-operation.

91. Mr YAN Kai-wing extended welcome to SCED who visited SSPDC and raised the following views: (i) he welcomed this unprecedented plan but opined that the plan only had concepts and main directions at the moment; (ii) the base was related to design and creativity. He suggested that the authorities should consider using the numbers of products created and awards received as the indicators to measure the outcomes of the base; (iii) implementation of projects by the Government involved administrative, managerial and policy considerations. He opined that if fewer restrictions were imposed on the district and more people of different backgrounds were allowed to participate, many useful views and ideas could then be collected; (iv) he was worried whether the design and fashion base alone could achieve the numerous goals including promotion of tourism.

92. Ms Zoé CHOW extended welcome to SCED who visited SSPDC and raised the following views: (i) the base would be well-equipped and self-sustaining in terms of operation. She questioned whether it would build links with the “Pang Tsai”, flea markets and existing creative and arts industries in the district; (ii) she was pleased to see the Government intended to promote and encourage the development of the creative and arts industries but worried that the plan was not pragmatic enough. She hoped that the Bureau could strengthen the link between the base and the district. - 38 - Action by

93. Mr CHAN Kwok-wai extended welcome to SCED who visited SSPDC and raised the following views: (i) he welcomed and looked forward to the establishment of the base in Sham Shui Po; (ii) JCCAC and SCAD Hong Kong did not form links with DC and the community after they were established in the district; (iii) he opined that SSP District did have the conditions and potential to develop the design and fashion industries. He hoped that the base could form links with different creative landmarks in the community (e.g. Mei Ho House) and allow the whole community to participate so that they could witness the development of Sham Shui Po.

94. The Chairman said that he received two provisional motions.

95. Mr Edward YAU gave a consolidated response as follows:

(i) The base would make the existing elements perform better instead of replacing them.

(ii) The Bureau hoped to maintain close contact with DC and therefore visited DC at the beginning of the plan.

(iii) For the plan of the base to be successful, good cooperation in terms of the community, economy, livelihood and environment was required. He believed that different departments would perform their own duties and solve the community problems such as those related to the cloth hawkers in Sham Shui Po, environmental hygiene and security proactively.

(iv) The base had limited space but as long as it could integrate with the community, it should be able to bring changes to Sham Shui Po.

(v) In the section about creativity in the 2017 Policy Address, the Chief Executive mentioned that the Government would actively look into ways to make full use of the traditional base for apparel and fabrics in SSP District to create new synergy and drive the local economy. Apart from developing the base, the Government would also introduce elements such as tourism, hoping that these would provide impetus to the economy of Sham Shui Po. The authorities would continue to discuss with different stakeholders (including DC) in the development process of the base.

96. The Chairman raised the following views; (i) he welcomed the promise by SCED and opined that the base had to cooperate with the district in order to be successful; (ii) he supported the establishment of the base in principle and hoped that all parties could participate and provide more views. - 39 - Action by

97. The Chairman continued to say that he would deal with the two provisional motions moved by Mr Vincent CHENG and Mr TAM Kwok-kiu respectively.

98. Mr Vincent CHENG introduced his provisional motion (Motion 1) which read as follows:

“The Sham Shui Po District Council supports the plan of the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau to establish the design and fashion base in Sham Shui Po, with a view to further promoting the development of the design and creative industries in Hong Kong.

This Council requests policy bureaux of the Government and stakeholders to enhance coordination and formulate concrete plans so as to create an atmosphere for Sham Shui Po Pang Tsai fabric market as well as the traditional service industries, such as wholesale of fabric and garments, in the surrounding areas, with a view to creating new synergy, boosting the development of the local economy from the angles of garments, food, accommodation and sightseeing as well as enriching the tourism resources in the district.”

99. Mr TAM Kwok-kiu said that Members did not have the details of the base yet and were concerned whether it could create synergy with the community fabric fashion centre proposed by “Pang Tsai”. He continued to introduce his provisional motion (Motion 2) which read as follows:

“As fabric and fashion design are indispensable, the Sham Shui Po District Council urges the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau to seriously consider and absorb the proposal about the community fabric fashion centre by Pang Tsai and encourage the creation of real synergy by Sham Shui Po District Pang Tsai community fabric centre and the fashion design base so as to avoid gentrification.”

100. The Chairman said that he would deal with the two provisional motions separately. Motion 1 was moved by Mr Vincent CHENG and seconded by Mr CHAN Wai-ming. He continued to say that he received from Mr Dominic LEE written authorisation in which Mr CHAN Wai-ming was appointed to act as his proxy to vote.

101. Mr CHUM Tak-shing said that the Members not present at the meeting did not know that provisional motions were moved by other Members and opined that the Chairman’s acceptance of voting by proxy was inappropriate.

102. The Chairman said that he would deal with the matter according to the Sham Shun Po District Council Standing Orders (“Standing Orders”). - 40 - Action by

103. Mr TAM Kwok-kiu said that Motion 2 was moved by him and seconded by Mr WAI Woon-nam.

104. Mr YUEN Hoi-man said that he supported the directions of the two provisional motions but opined that training young design talents was also important. He suggested that this be included in the provisional motions.

105. The Chairman said that the first paragraph of Motion 1 mentioned that the base would promote the development of the design and creative industries in Hong Kong and therefore opined that it had included such view. Paper 1/18 had also mentioned that the goals of the plan included nurturing talents and providing facilities to support the development of Hong Kong’s young fashion designers.

106. Mr LEUNG Yau-fong raised the following views: (i) nurturing design talents alone might not be enough. He opined that nurturing talents for all garment-related industries should also be carried out. He requested the Chairman to convey Members’ views to SCED; (ii) Members from the pan-democratic camp were most concerned about the livelihood of the practitioners in “Pang Tsai” and therefore Motion 2 encouraged the establishment of “Pang Tsai” community fabric centre to create synergy; (iii) he opined that the stance of Motion 1 was relatively vague but he would not object to it.

107. The Chairman said that he believed that SCED and his team noted Members’ views and concerns and they would continue to liaise and cooperate as well as developing the base. He would convey Members’ views on the plan to the Bureau.

108. The Chairman continued to announce that the meeting would be adjourned for five minutes to allow the representatives of “Pang Tsai” to express their views.

(The meeting was adjourned for five minutes.)

109. The Chairman announced that the meeting was resumed and said that he would deal with the two provisional motions.

110. Mr Vincent CHENG said that Motion 1 was seconded by Mr CHAN Wai-ming.

111. The meeting voted on Motion 1 moved by Mr Vincent CHENG by open ballot.

112. The voting result was as follows:

For: Mr CHAN Kwok-wai, Ms Joephy CHAN, Mr CHAN Wai-ming, Mr Vincent CHENG, Mr Ambrose CHEUNG, Mr Aaron LAM, - 41 - Action by

Ms LAU Pui-yuk, Mr Dominic LEE (voted by Mr CHAN Wai-ming as a proxy), Mr LEE Wing-man, Mr LEUNG Man-kwong, Mr Dennis WONG and Mr YAN Kai-wing (12)

Against: (0)

Abstain: Ms Zoé CHOW, Mr CHUM Tak-shing, Mr Kalvin HO, Mr KONG Kwai-sang, Mr LEUNG Yau-fong, Ms Carman NG, Ms NG Yuet-lan, Mr TAM Kwok-kiu, Mr YEUNG Yuk and Mr YUEN Hoi-man (10)

113. The Secretary announced the voting result: 12 Members voted for the motion, no Members voted against it and 10 Members abstained. The Chairman announced that Motion 1 was carried.

114. The meeting voted on Motion 2 moved by Mr TAM Kwok-kiu by open ballot.

115. The voting result was as follows：

For: Ms Zoé CHOW, Mr Ambrose CHEUNG, Mr CHUM Tak-shing, Mr Kalvin HO, Mr KONG Kwai-sang, Mr LEUNG Yau-fong, Ms Carman NG, Ms NG Yuet-lan, Mr TAM Kwok-kiu, Mr YAN Kai-wing, Mr YEUNG Yuk and Mr YUEN Hoi-man (12)

Against: Mr Dennis WONG (1)

Abstain: Mr CHAN Kwok-wai, Ms Joephy CHAN, Mr CHAN Wai-ming, Mr Vincent CHENG, Mr Aaron LAM, Ms LAU Pui-yuk, Mr Dominic LEE (voted by Mr CHAN Wai-ming as a proxy), Mr LEE Wing-man and Mr LEUNG Man-kwong (9)

116. The Secretary announced the voting result: 12 Members voted for the motion, 1 Member voted against it and 9 Members abstained. The Chairman announced that Motion 2 was carried.

(b) Building a government data centre complex (SSPDC Paper 2/18)

117. The Chairman said that the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (“OGCIO”) had introduced its plan to build a new government data centre complex at King Lam Street, Cheung Sha Wan on 2 September 2014 to SSPDC and the plan was supported - 42 - Action by by the Council. He then welcomed the representatives of OGCIO and the Architectural Services Department (“ArchSD”) to the meeting.

118. Mr Victor LAM and Mr Stephen CHOY introduced Paper 2/18 with the aid of PowerPoint.

119. Mr Aaron LAM raised the following views and enquiries: (i) the building of the new government data centre complex could help the Government promote the development of smart city; hence he supported the plan; (ii) the proposed complex was adjacent to dangerous goods stores. He enquired whether the relevant departments had conducted risk assessment and whether the design of the complex could endure the risks.

120. Mr CHUM Tak-shing raised the following views: (i) he praised the greening design of the data centre; (ii) since the data centre required a certain voltages and its internal temperature would be higher, it was necessary to strengthen the fire safety equipment of the complex; (iii) generally speaking, industrial areas were more likely to have traffic congestion problem, the relevant departments should conduct assessment on rescue work, for example, the time for FSD officers to arrive at the scene after a fire broke out, and make adequate preparation; (iv) the parking spaces provided by the data centre complex were limited and the staff working in the complex might increase the traffic load of that area. He suggested OGCIO alleviate the relevant impact as far as possible.

121. Mr Victor LAM gave a consolidated response as follows:

(i) Before deciding to build a new data centre at King Lam Street, OGCIO had taken reference from the guidelines pertaining to site selection of data centres. Despite the fact that land resource was limited in Hong Kong and the sites available for choice were few, OGCIO would still ensure the safety of the complex and the data centre had stringent fire safety requirements. When carrying out the design work for the complex, OGCIO had at the same time conducted studies on and risk assessments for the adjacent stores and the underground diesel fuel storage tank. OGCIO would adopt necessary measures to reduce the risks of the project. It would also add suitable stabilisation measures in the design and construction of the surrounding area in the east of the complex to minimise the potential danger posed by the adjacent stores. OGCIO would also adopt necessary measures to reduce potential risks so that they would be lowered to an acceptable level.

(ii) OGCIO was concerned about the fire safety problem of the data centre. The complex would have suitable fire safety equipment so that contingency arrangement could be made when fire broke out. - 43 - Action by

(iii) It was expected that the number of staff working in the complex would be limited, with about 120 people for one shift. Less than 100 staff would enter and leave the complex at a time; hence he believed that the impact on the traffic flow in the vicinity would be limited.

122. Mr WONG Chi-leung gave a supplementary response as follows:

(i) ArchSD expected that it was unlikely for the complex to catch fire due to the operation of the data centre.

(ii) The Department had considered the relevant fire safety requirements when carrying out design work for the complex. The complex would adopt the gas fire extinguishing system commonly used by data centres. Alarm system would also be installed. Once unusual smoke or heat was detected, the system would activate the fire extinguishing system. The Department hoped that there would be no need to wait for the fire officers to put out the fire.

123. The Chairman concluded that: (i) DC noted and supported OGCIO’s project of building a new government data centre complex and hoped that it would be carried out smoothly; (ii) OGCIO was requested to pay heed to the views on the Dangerous Goods Stores.

(c) Consultation paper on better use of the remaining land of Cheung Sha Wan Sewage Pumping Station at the junction of Fat Cheung Street and Ying Wa Street for the construction of Drainage Services Department building (SSPDC Paper 3/18)

124. The Chairman welcomed the representatives of the Drainage Services Department (“DSD”), ArchSD and SWD to the meeting.

125. Mr John LI introduced Paper 3/18 with the aid of PowerPoint.

126. Mr Aaron LAM raised the following views: (i) the construction of DSD building could meet the Department’s office accommodation needs while vacating land in core business district for other purposes and allowing more resources for the Government to carry out development; (ii) he did not oppose the construction of DSD building at the remaining land of Cheung Sha Wan Sewage Pumping Station (“CSW Station”) at the junction of Fat Tseung Street and Ying Wa Street; (iii) the proposed building was environmentally friendly; (iv) the Department’s arrangement of allowing other departments to use the remaining floor area was satisfactory. At present, the offices of SSPDC and SSPDO were crowded. Given that the population of SSP District would grow substantially and the workload of the Council and SSPDO would be increasingly - 44 - Action by heavy; there would be needs to increase manpower. In view of this, he proposed that the Department should reserve one storey for use of DC and SSPDO.

127. Ms Zoé CHOW raised the following views: (i) the proposed building was situated near two schools and the schools and the Parent Teacher Associations were worried about the noise and traffic problems during the construction period. Since heavy vehicles often used Ying Wa Street, it might give rise to safety problem as there would be a lot of people before and after school hours. She hoped that the Department would consider the relevant views and arrange the foundation works to be carried out during school holidays as far as possible and keep tabs on the traffic problem in the vicinity; (ii) it was hoped that the Department would provide more information on the odour control facilities of CSW Station to dispel residents’ doubts.

128. Mr YEUNG Yuk raised the following views and enquiries: (i) there were not many restaurants near the proposed building; hence he was concerned about the meal arrangement of the staff working there. He enquired about the number of staff working in the building and suggested the Department consider setting up a staff canteen inside the building; (ii) he enquired whether the Department would conduct ventilation assessment for the building, worrying that the building would affect the ventilation of residential buildings in the vicinity; (iii) he enquired whether there was height restriction for the site concerned and the number of storeys of the building.

129. Mr LEUNG Man-kwong raised the following views: (i) the schools in the vicinity had comments on the construction arrangement of the building; (ii) he was concerned about the impact on the schools in the vicinity after the building was completed, for example, whether the pedestrian flow during the commuting hours would affect the schools; (iii) he hoped that the building could provide community facilities, for example, multi-purpose activity rooms, conference rooms or study rooms for public use to enlist support of more residents and integrate the building into the community; (iv) he asked the Department to study relocating SSPDO to the building; (v) it was hoped that the Department would respond to DC’s views and provide more information in a timely manner.

130. Mr CHUM Tak-shing raised the following views and enquiries: (i) the proposed building had no special connection with the facilities in the vicinity; (ii) the provision of staff canteen might generate food waste and more rubbish. He considered that the economy of the neighbourhood area might be boosted if the staff working in the building would dine out; (iii) he enquired about the specific number of staff working in the building, including the number of directorate civil servants; (iv) he enquired about the number of parking spaces provided by the proposed building. Given that heavy vehicles often parked at Ying Wa Street and the development project in Fat Tseung Street West near the - 45 - Action by building did not have enough parking spaces, he was worried that the parking spaces in the building and the vicinity could not cope with the demand.

131. The Chairman indicated his concerns about whether DC would move to DSD building.

132. Mr John LI gave a consolidated response as follows:

(i) The proposed building had 21 storeys and about 4 storeys would be used for the Central Casefile Depository of SWD. When working out the construction plan of the building in 2015, DSD had coordinated with Government Property Agency (“GPA”) regarding how the remaining floor area of the building should be used. Since SWD had to use all the remaining floor area of the building to relocate its Central Casefile Depository; the reservation of one storey for use of DC and SSPDO would affect the overall planning.

(ii) The Department was now carrying out traffic impact assessment for the proposed building and there was no concrete data for the time being. According to initial assessment, the proposed building would only bring limited pedestrian and traffic flow. ArchSD, when conducting detail design for the building in the future, would carry out other assessments as well including ventilation, odour and detailed traffic assessment.

(iii) The proposed building was situated within the site of CSW Station of DSD, with many facilities on the ground. The Department had tried its best to provide parking spaces but only about 28 parking spaces could be provided at most. Those parking spaces would be used by the Department in its daily operation and the vehicles concerned would enter or leave the building at non-peak hours as far as possible.

(iv) DSD had about 1 300 staff. Since there were around 90 restaurants nearby, it was believed that dining needs of staff could be met. Since the space of the building was limited, the Department had no intention to set up canteen.

(v) CSW Station was already equipped with odour control facilities. The Department would enhance odour control measures to coordinate with the construction plan of the building.

133. The Chairman enquired about the floor area of each storey of the building. - 46 - Action by

134. Mr John LI responded that the net operational floor area of each storey was about 1 000 square metres.

135. Mr Aaron LAM raised the following views: (i) he was dissatisfied about the allocation arrangement about the remaining storeys of the proposed building. He opined that it was undesirable for the Department to consult DC after the allocation of the storeys was completed; (ii) he pointed out that the parking spaces in the proposed building and its vicinity were not enough. He considered that the proposed building was government property and should provide parking spaces as far as possible to cater for the need of community development. He suggested DC relay views to TD and DSD.

136. Ms Aubrey WONG responded as follows:

(i) The Central Casefile Depository of SWD was mainly used for managing and storing record files of various types of social security schemes. The Depository was set up at a leased property at Kowloon Bay since late 2003 but there was long-term shortage of space.

(ii) GPA had helped SWD identify suitable government facilities to relocate the Central Casefile Depository permanently and it proposed in late 2015 relocating the Depository in the proposed DSD building. Since the proposed building was an office building for internal use and could provide sufficient floor areas, SWD deemed the arrangement suitable and accepted the relevant proposal.

137. Mr TAM Kwok-kiu raised the following views: (i) he did not oppose the plan of building DSD building; (ii) the problem of inadequate parking space was grave; he asked the Department to review the provision of parking spaces; (iii) quite a number of departments in the district had suffered from insufficient office space. He suggested the Department consult the views of the departments concerned and take care of their needs first.

138. Mr LAM Kwai-sang responded as follows:

(i) ArchSD had established criteria in handling the noise problem generated during construction period. The Department would keep communicating with the two schools near the proposed building. It was ready to listen to their views when working out the works arrangement and would urge the contractors to cooperate as far as possible. In this aspect, the Department had gained relevant experience from several projects completed in the past few years in the district. - 47 - Action by

(ii) According to the Draft South West Kowloon Outline Zoning Plan No. 2S/K20/30, there was no building height restriction for the site concerned. ArchSD had consulted PlanD preliminarily. After taking into account the heights of the buildings nearby, the proposed building, with 21 storeys, was 100 metres above Principal Datum; which was about the heights of the buildings nearby. The Department would confirm the height of the building at the detailed design stage.

(iii) As other development projects would be launched soon in the district, it was expected that the traffic in the vicinity would be busier but the proposed building would not affect the traffic in that district significantly. The Department had commissioned a consultancy firm to conduct traffic assessment and would study with TD the impact of the building on the traffic in the vicinity.

(iv) There were facilities of large-scale pumping plant underneath the relevant site; the land available for constructing the building was limited. Besides, the existing underground facilities had seriously limited the feasibility of building a basement. Owing to space constraints, it was expected that the building could not provide car park at the lower platform as other government offices did. To cope with the basic operational needs of DSD and SWD, the outdoor space of the central part of the site had to be reorganised to provide enough parking spaces for use of departmental vehicles. There was not enough space for providing other parking spaces and it was hoped that Members would understand the restraints involved.

139. The Chairman concluded that DC raised no in-principle objection to the plan of constructing DSD building and DSD was requested to follow up on DC’s proposals and give timely response.

(d) Strong request for retaining Lei Cheng Uk Post Office (SSPDC Paper 4/18)

140. Mr CHAN Wai-ming said that the Chairman had left the chair for the time being and hence he would preside over the discussion of this agenda item.

141. Mr KONG Kwai-sang introduced Paper 4/18.

142. Mr CHAN Wai-ming welcomed the representatives of the Post Office (“PO”) to the meeting and said that before the meeting the Secretariat had invited GPA to send staff to attend the meeting. Yet the Agency could not send staff to attend the meeting. He asked Members to refer to the written response of GPA (Paper 23/18). - 48 - Action by

143. Ms Teresa AU responded as follows:

(i) There were seven post offices in SSP District. Generally speaking, if PO wanted to relocate a post office in the same district, it would inform the public and DC one month before the relocation. If the Department could not relocate the post office in the same district and had to close it, the Department would attend DC meeting 6 months before the closure. PO had issued an information paper to DC on 2 January this year to give an account of relocating the post office to So Uk Estate.

(ii) PO had to take into account various factors when negotiating with the Link on contract renewal issue. Since the relocation of post offices would cost a lot of money, the Department’s policy was to relocate them to government properties or the properties of the Housing Authority as far as possible so that they could operate for a long term and avoid having to be relocated again in the future.

(iii) PO had reviewed the service data of Lei Cheng Uk Post Office and found out that 60% of the service provided were payment service. After the relocation of Lei Cheng Uk Post Office, the residents could pay their bills and buy stamps at the convenience store near the original location of the post office. Besides, PO was studying the provision of street posting box near the original location to facilitate residents to post their mails.

(iv) It took about 10 minutes to walk from Lei Cheng Uk Post Office to So Uk Estate Post Office. Residents could go via Po On Road and Cheung Fat Street before making use of the barrier-free facilities and footbridge in So Uk Estate and reach So Uk Estate Post Office.

144. Mr KONG Kwai-sang raised the following views and enquiries: (i) there were many elderly people in SSP District and the time required for them to walk from Lei Cheng Uk Post Office to So Uk Estate Post Office would be twice as much as those who could walk in a brisk pace. Furthermore, they had to cross two roads, one major carriageway and bus terminus, etc. which would be very inconvenient to them; (ii) the Department reckoned that Lei Cheng Uk Post Office was to be relocated, not closed; hence it only had to inform DC one month before the relocation according to the procedure. However, he opined that due to the special circumstances in the district, the Department should discuss with DC in advance; (iii) payment service had taken up a large proportion of service of Lei Cheng Uk Post Office. Even though the residents could pay their bills at the convenience store in the future, there was only one convenience store in which had no barrier-free facilities. Coupled with the large number of bill payers, he doubted - 49 - Action by whether the convenience store could meet the needs; (iv) he enquired whether the Department had other plans to enhance the postal service for Lei Cheng Uk Estate.

145. Mr TAM Kwok-kiu raised the following views: (i) it was not appropriate for PO to inform DC one month before the post office was to be relocated. He opined that the Department should see DC as a partner and invite the Council and the public to take part in the discussion of this issue. He pointed out that the Council had obtained a lot of information and might help the Department solve the problem of relocating post office; (ii) he reckoned that it would be difficult for the convenience store in Lei Cheng Uk Estate to meet all demands for bill payment service. Moreover, it would be inappropriate to ask the elderly to walk for over 10 minutes to the new post office. He enquired whether PO had other measures to meet the postal needs of residents living in Lei Cheng Uk Estate and in the vicinity of Shun Ning Road; (iii) HD should consult DC on the use of the space of So Uk Estate and discern the needs of new residents. He enquired why the Department set up new post office in So Uk Estate without consulting DC; (iv) the issue touched on the partnership between government departments and DC and he hoped that the District Officer would pay attention to that.

146. Ms Teresa AU responded as follows:

(i) The Department would consider discussing the relocation of post offices or other issues with Member of the relevant constituency in advance.

(ii) She understood the needs of residents of Lei Cheng Uk Estate for posting mails and would provide street posting box near the original site of the post office as soon as possible.

(iii) So Uk Estate Post Office would come into operation on 5 February. PO would keep tabs on its operation and service needs.

147. Mr TSE Chick-lam responded as follows:

(i) HD, PO and GPA had kept close communication so as to achieve seamless transition in the service of the two post offices.

(ii) He would relay Members’ views to the Department and hoped that communication could be enhanced in the future when handling similar cases.

148. Mr KONG Kwai-sang said that the residents’ demands for bill payment service were keen. He enquired whether PO had other arrangement to meet residents’ needs. - 50 - Action by

149. Mr TAM Kwok-kiu asked whether PO would consider arranging mobile post office to provide more postal service for the residents.

150. Ms Teresa AU responded as follows:

(i) PO would pay close attention to the situation and service needs of the new post office in So Uk Estate.

(ii) PO had paid heed to residents’ needs for postal service and would provide new services. For example the new post office in So Uk Estate would set up a iPostal Station operating 24 hours a day to facilitate the public to collect mails by themselves.

151. Mr CHAN Wai-ming concluded that: (i) this Council noted PO’s plan to relocate Lei Cheng Uk Post Office. Lei Cheng Uk Estate was a PRH estate with a long history; with many elderly residents. It was hoped that PO could vigorously consider Members’ proposals and discern residents’ needs by offering alternative plans as far as possible so as to provide convenience to the elderly residents; (ii) PO was asked to keep tabs on the service needs of the new post office after it came into operation and submit to DC as soon as possible.

(e) The outsourcing system is fraught with problems and flaws Request the Government to reform tendering procedures immediately to prevent exploitation of grassroot workers (SSPDC Paper 5/18)

152. Mr YEUNG Yuk introduced Paper 5/18 and expressed his disappointment that only HD had sent representatives to the meeting.

153. Mr CHAN Wai-ming welcomed the representatives of HD to the meeting and said that before the meeting the Secretariat had invited the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau, the Competition Commission and the Labour Department (“LD”) to send staff to attend the meeting; yet the relevant parties did not send staff to attend the meeting. He asked Members to refer to the relevant written responses (Papers 25/18, 26/18 and 27/18) and Paper 27/18 was tabled at the meeting this morning.

154. Mr TSE Chick-lam introduced Response Paper 24/18 and added the following remarks:

(i) If contractors were found to have breached service contract related-laws, e.g. the Employment Ordinance, the Employees’ Compensation Ordinance and other ordinances pertaining to the Mandatory Provident Fund and the - 51 - Action by

Provident Fund, HD would refer the cases to LD for follow ups. If contractors were convicted due to illegal activities, the Hong Kong Housing Authority (“HKHA”) might terminate the contracts in question and strike the law-breaking contractors off the list of HKHA.

(ii) According to the Guide to Registration of Works Contractors and Property Management Services Providers of HKHA, if the relations of companies fell into the definition announced in the Hong Kong Accounting Standard 24 – Related Party Disclosures by the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants (“HKICPA”), they were deemed to be related. Related companies would be permitted to be admitted onto or retained on the cleansing contractor list of HKHA, either in the same or different groups; however, there would be restrictions on placing tenders. For example, only one company could submit a tender for a particular contract; all companies within each group of related companies on the list had to share the list capping limit set for one company on the respective list; and all companies within each group of related companies on the list would be put in quarantine whenever one of these companies was involved in serious incidents. HKHA might take corresponding regulatory actions against one or all companies. Failure to observe the undertaking as stipulated above would render the tenders submitted by those related companies null and void.

155. Mr TAM Kwok-kiu raised the following views and enquiries: (i) whether the two companies involved in the Hoi Lai Estate labour dispute could fulfil the restrictions of Hong Kong Accounting Standard 24 – Related Party Disclosures; (ii) the incident revealed the problem of the outsourcing system for government public service. The inadequate monitoring by the Government allowed the contractors to evade their responsibilities on the length of service and benefits of non-skilled workers; which was tantamount to exploitation; (iii) he cited Nam Shan Estate as an example, saying that the insufficient manpower of the security company responsible for managing the car park in the past three months had affected the service. He reminded that “service could be outsourced but not the responsibilities” and asked HKHA to review whether the outsourcing system could be scrapped to lift service quality and avoid inadequate monitoring.

156. Mr YEUNG Yuk raised the following views: (i) Hoi Lai Estate labour dispute revealed that cleansing workers and security staff did not know clearly the rights they entitled under Labour Legislation. They easily trusted what the contractors said and did things which would undermine their rights (e.g. signing voluntary resignation agreement, etc.); (ii) he suggested HD contact the staff affected when the contracts were about to expire, explaining to them the relevant issues and reminding them that they would not get any severance payment after signing the voluntary resignation agreement to avoid the - 52 - Action by rights of frontline staff being exploited again.

157. Ms Joephy CHAN raised the following views: (i) Hoi Lai Estate labour dispute was not an isolated incident; she hoped that the outsourcing system could be revamped thoroughly; (ii) a LegCo member from the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions had met LWB earlier to discuss how to improve the outsourcing system. Suggestion was made to the Bureau of studying the implementation of special remuneration like end-of-contract gratuity which would be calculated on a yearly basis. Moreover, terms should also be added to safeguard workers from salary or leave reduction in case of contract conversion; (iii) in the long run, it was hoped that the Government would reduce outsourcing work and increase direct employment. This could not only protect labour rights but also increase service stability; (iv) it was hoped that apart from HD, other relevant departments (e.g. FEHD and LCSD) could also review this issue in-depth.

158. Mr LEE Wing-man considered that outsourcing public service could save cost effectively. However, since the Government would adopt the lowest bids for its outsourced services, contractors could only cut the benefits of grassroots workers for more profits. He pointed out that with abundant fiscal reserves it was high time for the Government to review the outsourcing system and consider reducing outsourcing public service gradually.

159. Mr TSE Chick-lam gave a consolidated response as follows:

(i) If the relations between companies fell into the definition of related party of HKICPA, the relevant companies would be deemed as related companies but the two companies involved in the Hoi Lai Estate labour dispute did not fall into the definition of related party.

(ii) The Department outsourced service to contractors through tender exercises mainly in the hope of fully utilising the resources and professional knowledge of private companies and allowing more flexibility in operation. The working group set up by LWB was now reviewing the outsourcing system as a whole.

(iii) When service contracts expired and contractors had to be changed, the Department would issue notices and letters to the relevant staff in advance, reminding them not to sign any documents before they fully understood and agreed to the content. It would also inform them how to make enquiries to LD on labour legislation. The Department would see how the relevant arrangement could be further improved. - 53 - Action by

(iv) When selecting service contractors, HKHA and many government departments would adopt the “two-envelope approach”, not the “lowest bid wins” principle, when they assessed the tender documents.

160. Ms NG Yuet-lan raised the following views: (i) the Department pointed out that the two companies involved in the Hoi Lai Estate labour dispute did not fall into the definition of related parties. Yet they shared the same address and the same shareholders; she considered the account unreasonable; (ii) grassroots workers, with lower education level, could not understand the content of the letter issued by the Department and thus easily duped by others.

161. Mr LEUNG Yau-fong raised the following views: (i) the problem concerned involved the outsourcing system as a whole. He considered that the issue could not be discussed effectively with only the representatives of HD attending the meeting. The Council should keep discussing this; (ii) grassroots workers had low education level and were in a weak position; they would sign unfair contracts in order to earn a living.

162. Mr YEUNG Yuk raised the following views: (i) he requested HD to probe into whether the contractor of Hoi Lai Estate had misled its staff into signing any agreement and gave an account of the issue to the Council and the public; (ii) HD should handle the issue properly; it should not pass the buck to other departments such as LD, etc.

163. Mr TSE Chick-lam responded that Members’ views on the outsourcing system were noted. He said that the Department would continue to follow up on whether the contractor had misled its staff.

164. Mr CHAN Wai-ming concluded that: (i) at present various government departments had outsourced services; the strike of Hoi Lai Estate cleansing workers reflected that there was much room for improvement in the outsourcing system; (ii) in the aspect of worker protection, the Members who had spoken generally considered that the Government should review the current tender procedure and mode of outsourcing service, in particular the “lowest bid wins” mechanism. It should also include terms into the tenders to protect workers’ rights; (iii) the Government should take the initiative to monitor the performance of contractors, including ensuring that the contract terms offered by the contractors when hiring workers had complied with Labour Legislation so as to prevent workers’ rights being exploited. It should also take action to punish non-compliant contractors.

165. Mr CHAN Wai-ming said that he received a provisional motion moved by Mr YEUNG Yuk and seconded by Mr TAM Kwok-kiu. - 54 - Action by

166. Mr YEUNG Yuk introduced the provisional motion as follows: “To avoid frontline grassroots workers being exploited again, this Council requests the Government to take the lead in scrapping the outsourcing system for trades involving non-skilled workers (such as cleansing and security service, etc.).”

167. Mr LEUNG Yau-fong suggested voting by open ballot and hoped that Members would support the provisional motion.

168. Mr Dennis WONG raised the following views: (i) the existing outsourcing system had exploited the rights of grassroots workers. The Government should improve the system and work out options to protect workers’ rights; (ii) the provisional motion asked for scrapping the outsourcing system as a whole but he had reservation on whether such arrangement could completely solve the problem.

169. Mr YAN Kai-wing enquired whether HD would become the direct employer after the outsourcing system was scrapped.

170. Mr LEUNG Yau-fong said that the outsourcing system was proposed by the Chief Executive in early years.

171. The meeting voted on the provisional motion moved by Mr YEUNG Yuk by open ballot.

172. The voting result was as follows:

For: Ms Joephy CHAN, Ms Zoé CHOW, Mr CHUM Tak-shing, Mr Kalvin HO, Mr KONG Kwai-sang, Mr LEE Wing-man, Mr LEUNG Yau-fong, Ms NG Yuet-lan, Mr TAM Kwok-kiu, Mr WAI Woon-nam, Mr YAN Kai-wing, Mr YEUNG Yuk (12)

Against: Mr Dominic LEE (1)

Abstain: Mr CHAN Kwok-wai, Mr CHAN Wai-ming, Mr Vincent CHENG, Mr Ambrose CHEUNG, Mr Aaron LAM, Ms LAU Pui-yuk, Mr LEUNG Man-kwong, Mr Dennis WONG (8)

173. The Secretary announced the voting result: 12 Members voted for the motion, 1 Member voted against it and 8 Members abstained. Mr CHAN Wai-ming announced that the provisional motion was carried.

(Mr CHAN Wai-ming returned the chair to the Chairman.) - 55 - Action by

Item 5: Reports from Committees and Working Groups under the District Council

(a) Reports from Committees

(i) Report from the District Facilities Committee (SSPDC Paper 6/18)

(ii) Report from the Community Affairs Committee (SSPDC Paper 7/18)

(iii) Report from the Environment and Hygiene Committee (SSPDC Paper 8/18)

(iv) Report from the Transport Affairs Committee (SSPDC Paper 9/18)

(v) Report from the Housing Affairs Committee (SSPDC Paper 10/18)

174. The meeting noted the content of the aforesaid reports.

(b) Reports from Working Groups directly under the District Council

(i) Report from the Working Group on Festive Celebration and Publicity (SSPDC Papers 11/18 & 12/18)

(ii) Report from the Working Group on Poverty Problems and Ethnic Minorities (SSPDC Paper 13/18)

(iii) Report from the Working Group on Healthy and Safe Community (SSPDC Paper 14/18)

175. Mr CHAN Wai-ming added remarks on Paper 13/18 that the applicant organisation of “Half-yearly Bazaar” had submitted an amended proposal, changing the “New Year Bazaar” to “New Year Food Fest”. The date of activity was 15 to 16 February 2018 and the venue was changed from the idle site at the junction of Kiu Kiang Street and Hai Tan Street to the junction of Tung Chau Street and Yen Chow Street as well as the open space outside Fu Cheong Estate. The number of food stalls would increase from 30 to 38. He then said that the Working Group on Poverty Problems and Ethnic Minorities (“WGPPEM”) had endorsed the relevant amendments by circulation of paper and asked the Council to note that.

176. The meeting noted the content of the aforesaid reports.

Item 6: Report on District Management Committee Meeting (SSPDC Paper 15/18)

177. Assistant District Officer 2 reported on the District-led Actions Scheme (“DAS”) of SSP District as follows: - 56 - Action by

(i) In respect of strengthening support to “three-nil buildings”, the tendering exercise for the cleansing services of the new term was completed. As SSPDO got an additional allocation of $190,000 in a lump sum from the for carrying out cleansing before Lunar New Year, the number of benefitted target buildings and target locations would increase accordingly. Currently, 242 target buildings and 70 target locations with poor environmental hygiene were included in DAS. 185 target buildings and 60 target locations had been provided with cleansing services so far, with 356 tonnes of refuse cleared in total.

(ii) After cleansing the target buildings, SSPDO had sent staff to carry out household visits with 351 owners, 114 of them were willing to become Resident Liaison Ambassadors. SSPDO had also helped 14 buildings establish owners’ corporations (“OCs”). Regarding buildings with “inactive” OCs, SSPDO had contacted 162 OC members and 48 of them had become “friends of building management and liaison”. SSPDO had also helped eight OCs resume operation.

(iii) In respect of publicity and education, SSPDO had organised 16 evening tea receptions cum theme-based seminars, with about 1 000 people attended. SSPDO would hold a seminar about Fire Safety Directions on 18 January.

(iv) In respect of strengthening support to street sleepers, SSPDO had completed the open tendering exercise for “counselling and support services through social workers” and “support service on physical and psychological health” and the result was that the Society for Community Organization (“SoCO”) and the Salvation Army continued to be commissioned to provide the services. The two organisations would continue the services seamlessly in early December.

(v) As at the end of December 2017, SoCO had, through the “counselling and support services through social workers” commissioned to it, visited over 7 000 street sleepers in the 123 outreach visits made and successfully helped 45 street sleepers to be housed, while the Salvation Army had, through the “support service on physical and psychological health” commissioned to it, visited 1 885 street sleepers in the 132 outreach visits made and successfully referred 124 street sleepers to receive medical services.

(vi) On the meeting of EHC under SSPDC held on 30 November 2017, the Committee agreed unanimously to support the relevant departments to make all efforts to combat the illegal activities in the area underneath Tung Chau - 57 - Action by

Street Flyover and eradicate the unlawful activities carried out using the wooden huts there. In view of the concerns of DC and the public about the issues, SSPDO, SWD, FEHD, LandsD and the Hong Kong Police Force carried out a joint operation on 15 December 2017. After it was verified by a team of social workers that no street sleepers were present, four structures outside Block 3 of the temporary market, which were vacated after the criminal activities inside were cracked down by the Police, were demolished. The departments concerned would continue to maintain close contact. If the Police found other vacated structures after enforcement operations, SSPDO would coordinate with the relevant department to take action. No street sleepers had been found to be gathering inside the subways at Kweilin Street and Pei Ho Street again so far.

178. Mr CHUM Tak-shing raised the following views: (i) the word “cleansing” in “cleansing in the day, household visits in the evening”, the strategy adopted by DAS, made residents misunderstand that FEHD would cleanse the public areas of their buildings. However, FEHD only cleared refuse and mopped the floor. The Department did not remove construction waste, nor did it use water to wash these areas.

179. Assistant District Officer 2 responded as follows:

(i) The Member’s view was noted. SSPDO would look into ways to make residents understand DAS more clearly.

(ii) The contractors of DAS were managed by SSPDO at the moment. They would wash back lanes and carry out cleaning in the public areas of the buildings (such as mopping the floor and staircase).

180. Mr WAI Woon-nam said that as FEHD could enforce the relevant laws to demolish the four structures underneath Tung Chau Street Flyover mentioned above and there was a team of social workers to provide support under DAS, the Government should be able to demolish all the structures there, solving the problem completely. He did not understand why the demolition was delayed again and again.

181. Assistant District Officer 2 responded that regarding the issue about the street sleepers underneath Tung Chau Street Flyover, the relevant department would maintain close contact and continue to clear vacated structures there as appropriate.

182. Mr WAI Woon-nam raised the following views: (i) the Government had no solution to the street sleeper problem. He used the footbridge at Cheong San Lane as an example, pointing out that street sleepers return to the footbridge after the Government - 58 - Action by cleared it; (ii) government departments should be able enforce the relevant laws to demolish the structures and resettle the affected street sleepers afterwards.

183. Mr LAI Kah-kit responded that the relevant departments would check if there were street sleepers living inside the structures and satisfy their welfare needs as far as possible. He used the situation underneath Tung Chau Street Flyover as an example, pointing out that FEHD could enforce the Land (Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance to demolish the structures concerned after verifying the situation.

184. Mr LEUNG Man-kwong used the footbridge at Cheong San Lane as an example, pointing out that street sleepers living inside the structures might not be the same every day. The Government should take the appropriate opportunity and enforce the relevant laws to demolish the structures.

185. Mr TAM Kwok-kiu raised the following views: (i) street sleepers were a social problem, not just an enforcement problem. He hoped that the relevant parties would address the street sleeper problem in depth after WGPPEM had finished the study on street sleepers; (ii) the street sleeper problem must be addressed without delay. The Council had made many suggestions in the past and he hoped that the authorities could draw up timetables and specific plans in this regard and provide them to the Council for reference.

186. The District Officer responded as follows:

(i) Homeless people were a part of SSP District. The Council and departments adopted a relatively tolerant attitude towards them. SSPDO had been addressing the problem concerning homeless people through the outreach services provided by NGOs under DAS as well as Christian Concern For The Homeless Association.

(ii) Many serious crimes were committed in the area underneath Tung Chau Street Flyover late last year and EHC therefore carried a motion urging the Government to eradicate the illegal structures as appropriate, especially those involved in criminal activities. The relevant departments carried out a joint operation on 15 December last year, demolishing the structures involved in criminal activities and sealing off the area right away.

(iii) The structures underneath Tung Chau Street Flyover were involved in serious criminal activities and posed security threats to nearby residents and the community. The Government attached great importance to this matter and was examining how to address the problem concerning homeless people properly. The Government would make a report to the District Management - 59 - Action by

Committee and DC in due course and hoped that DC’s support would be obtained.

(iv) According to the information from SWD, accommodation places were still available in many hostels for single persons, where street sleepers could move to.

(v) When deciding whether to building temporary hostels to settle homeless people, the Government must first understand the will of real homeless people.

187. Mr TAM Kwok-kiu raised the following views: (i) he hoped that the authorities would demolish the structures concerned as quickly as possible after the street sleepers had moved out, lest criminals made use of them; (ii) the Government should punish criminals severely but provide suitable assistance to real street sleepers, for example, arranging for them to move to temporary hostels or implementing the “Landlord Scheme”, with a view to helping those with needs; (iii) many NGOs were addressing the street sleeper problem at the moment and SSPDO could refer to their experiences.

188. The District Officer responded that the problem concerning the illegal structures underneath Tung Chau Street Flyover was complicated. Before carrying out demolition, the Government would take care of the welfare needs of real street sleepers fully and make suitable accommodation arrangements for them through SWD or NGOs when necessary.

189. The Chairman concluded that: (i) the Council attached great importance to the problems concerned and adopted a clear stance that it would never allow the area underneath Tung Chau Street Flyover to become a hotbed of crime; (ii) the Council supported the work of the relevant departments and hoped to review the progress three months later.

Item 7: Any other business

(a) Member of the Regional Advisory Committee of the (SSPDC Paper 16/18)

190. The Chairman said that the Hospital Authority (“HA”) invited SSPDC to nominate a Member as the member of the Kowloon Regional Advisory Committee and the term of office would start on 1 April 2018. Members were invited to make nominations.

191. The meeting agreed that Mr LEE Wing-man would continue to represent this district to join the Regional Advisory Committee of HA. - 60 - Action by

(b) The Hong Kong Food Council’s invitation for the Sham Shui Po District Council to be the supporting organisation of “The 3rd Hong Kong Food Fiesta” (SSPDC Paper 17/18)

192. The Chairman said that the Hong Kong Food Council would hold “The 3rd Hong Kong Food Fiesta” at Fa Hui Park from 23 to 27 November this year and hoped to invite SSPDC to be the supporting organisation.

193. The meeting agreed that SSPDC would be the supporting organisation of “The 3rd Hong Kong Food Fiesta”.

(c) Applications for DC Funds (SSPDC Papers 18/18 to 22/18)

194. The Chairman asked Members to consider whether to endorse the funding applications of the working groups under DC and LCSD and reminded Members to make declarations of interests according to the Standing Orders.

Paper 18/18

195. The Chairman asked Members to consider the funding application for Sham Shui Po Arts Association to organise “Sham Shui Po Arts and Golden Songs” (Paper 18/18) and the amount is $134,176.

196. Since no Member voted against the funding application or abstained from voting, the Chairman declared that Paper 18/18 was endorsed unanimously by the Members present at the meeting.

Paper 19/18

197. The Chairman asked Members to consider the funding application for the Federation of Sham Shui Po Kaifong Associations Limited to organise “2018 Joyous Lunar New Year Lantern Carnival” (Paper 19/18) and the amount is $160,000.

198. Since no Member voted against the funding application or abstained from voting, the Chairman declared that Paper 19/18 was endorsed unanimously by the Members present at the meeting.

Paper 20/18 – 22/18

199. Ms Agnes LEE introduced Paper 20/18.

200. Ms LAU Siu-mui introduced Paper 21/18. - 61 - Action by

201. Ms CHAN Wai-yam introduced Paper 22/18.

202. Mr TAM Kwok-kiu enquired whether LCSD’s applications were applications for DC funds of the next financial year.

203. The Secretary said that DC reserved DC funds for LCSD to organise activities every year. If LCSD’s applications were endorsed, it meant that DC would reserve DC funds in the next financial year for LCSD to use.

204. Since no Member voted against the funding applications or abstained from voting, the Chairman declared that Papers 20/18 to 22/18 were endorsed unanimously by the Members present at the meeting.

(d) Issues relating to the formation of DC committees and working groups

205. The Chairman said that in the past, DC would have re-election of committee and working group chairmen halfway through the term of office. At the beginning of this term, DC had not stipulated that the terms of office of committee and working group members were two years. He asked Members to discuss whether it was necessary to have the re-election halfway through the term of office and said that he was open-minded about this.

206. Mr TAM Kwok-kiu raised the following views: (i) having re-election of committee and working group chairmen halfway through the term of office was an established practice of the Council. If DC wanted to change the established practice, it should have made the decision at the beginning of the term; (ii) changing the established practice was considered a substantial change and it should be stated clearly in the agenda to give Members an advance notice; (iii) re-election of committee chairmen only needed to be held in the meetings of the committees concerned. After the Council had confirmed that the re-election would be held, it could just let the Secretariat follow up on the matter. As for re-election of the chairmen of the working groups directly under DC, it could be held in DC meetings.

207. Mr CHAN Wai-ming enquired whether it was stipulated in the Standing Orders or the relevant laws that DC must have re-election of committee and working group chairmen halfway through the term of office. If not, DC of this term could decide whether to have the re-election or not, provided that the Standing Orders or the relevant laws were not violated. Personally, he was inclined not to have the re-election.

208. The Chairman said that according to Order 33(6) of the Standing Orders, “the District Council shall determine the membership, terms of reference and terms of office of - 62 - Action by its committees. The number of committees under the District Council shall not exceed seven.” In the past, DC would have re-election of committee and working group chairmen halfway through the term of office. However, at the beginning of this term, DC had not stipulated that the terms of office of committee and working group members was two years and that it would have the re-election two years later.

209. Mr TAM Kwok-kiu raised the following views: (i) if DC wanted to change the past practice, such suggestion should be stated clearly in the agenda. He did not accept the Council’s approach of proposing a change to the past practice under “Any other business” suddenly and opined that such approach was unjust. He pointed out that such act might have negative impacts on the operation of OC meetings; (ii) DC of each term usually followed the past practice. If changes were to be made, such changes should be proposed at the beginning of this term. Otherwise, Members would have reasonable expectations that DC would have re-election of committee and working group chairmen halfway through the term of office; (iii) DC of the last term had the re-election halfway through the term of office. He could not see any reason for changing the past practice and opined that procedural justice would be violated if such change was made.

210. The Chairman said that the established practice was not a law and it was not mandatory to adopt such practice. Therefore, DC of one term should not be made to use the established practice of another.

211. Mr Dominic LEE raised the following views: (i) the Standing Orders did not stipulate that DC must have re-election of committee and working group chairmen halfway through the term of office; (ii) as far as he knew, some district councils did not have re-election of committee and working group chairmen halfway through their terms of office; (iii) many issues were discussed in the Council and he opined that the re-election would not bring about substantial changes to the big picture. Therefore, he suggested simplifying the procedures and opined that this would be more appropriate.

212. Mr YAN Kai-wing raised the following views: (i) the established practice referred to the one established by DC of different terms. According to the history of SSPDC, having the re-election halfway through the term of office was an established practice unique to this Council; (ii) if DC wanted to change the established practice, it should give Members an advance notice and allow Members to discuss in detail; (iii) he opined that it seemed inappropriate to change the established practice using the reason that the re-election had not been stipulated at the beginning of the term.

213. Mr LEUNG Yau-fong raised the following views: (i) the Standing Orders were not laws and different district councils adopted different practices; (ii) having re-election of committee and working group chairmen halfway through the term of office was a tradition - 63 - Action by of SSPDC and it was started at the time when the pan-democratic camp dominated DC. He opined that having the re-election was an issue of principle and the Council should respect the tradition.

214. The Chairman said that Members could decide whether it was necessary to have re-election of committee and working group chairmen.

215. Mr TAM Kwok-kiu raised the following views: (i) Members knew the content of the Standing Orders but the current discussion was about whether the process for handling this matter was appropriate; (ii) he opined that Members should not just focus on legality, they should also focus on whether the approach concerned was reasonable; (iii) at the beginning of the term, the Council had not stipulated that it would not have re-election halfway through the term of office. Also, this matter was not stated clearly in the agenda. Therefore, the Council’s tradition and practice should not be changed easily; (iv) it was not possible to suddenly propose changes to certain established practices even at OC meetings. He opined that the approach concerned was inappropriate.

216. The Chairman suggested deciding the terms of office of committee and working group chairmen as well as whether to have the re-election by voting

217. Mr CHUM Tak-shing raised the following views: (i) it was not stated clearly in the agenda that the re-election would be discussed. The Members not present at the meeting had no idea that this matter would be discussed and put to a vote. He opined that this would deprive publicly-elected Members of their voting rights; (ii) he had no opinion on whether it was necessary to have the re-election. However, he opined that re-election of committee and working group chairmen was a major issue and therefore it should be stated clearly in the agenda that this matter would be put to a vote.

218. The Chairman did not agree that Members were deprived of their voting rights and pointed out that there was no requirement stipulating that agenda must state clearly certain issues would be put to a vote.

219. Mr YEUNG Yuk requested the Chairman to propose putting the matter to a vote in writing as provisional motions also needed to be proposed in writing.

220. The Chairman said that this was not a provisional motion and pointed out that the Council could also put “other business” to a vote. He noted the Member’s view and asked Members to make a decision.

221. Mr LEUNG Yau-fong raised the following views: (i) the Council and OCs should not be mentioned in the same breadth. He opined that although DC was not a body - 64 - Action by corporate, it served as a place for discussing matters, which was a more important role; (ii) the Chairman should indicate clearly whether it was necessary to have the re-election and then let Members decide on it by voting.

222. Ms NG Yuet-lan said that voting should not be conducted under “Any other business” of the meeting and suspected that this was a violation of laws. She would rather let the Chairman decide whether it was necessary to have the re-election and indicated that she would not participate in the voting.

223. The Chairman said that he did not agree with Ms NG Yuet-lan’s views.

224. Mr TAM Kwok-kiu raised the following views: (i) the matter concerned was not stated clearly in the agenda and therefore it should not be put to a vote now. Instead, the Chairman should listen to Members’ view and then handle it; (ii) there was still time to have re-election of committee chairmen and it would not affect the operation of committees.

225. Mr CHAN Wai-ming raised the following views: (i) some Members used OCs as an example and he opined that it was not appropriate. He clarified that OCs handled matters related to their buildings according to laws; (ii) he suggested setting the terms of office of committee and working group chairmen of this term to end at the completion of this term and asked the Chairman to handle the matter now; (iii) what he made was only a suggestion but not a provisional motion.

226. Mr TAM Kwok-kiu opined that any suggestions of changing the established practice should be made in writing.

227. The Chairman raised the following views: (i) the Council did not make any changes. DC of each term was independent. Following the past practice was an established practice but it was not mandatory; (ii) DC of this term had not stipulated that the past practice would be followed at the beginning of the term. Also, the Standing Orders stated clearly that DC could determine the terms of office of its committee and working groups; (iii) some Members suggested putting the matter to a vote but it was not necessary to regard such suggestion as a provisional motion.

228. Mr TAM Kwok-kiu said that not following the past practice was considered a change.

229. Mr CHUM Tak-shing queried why it was necessary to re-nominate for co-opted members if the terms of office were four years. - 65 - Action by

230. The Chairman responded that it was stated clearly that the terms of office of co-opted members were two years.

231. Mr TAM Kwok-kiu said that the terms of office of co-opted members were set as two years because of the past practice.

232. The Chairman said that DC of each term could decide whether to follow the past practice or not.

233. Mr WAI Woon-nam opined that the title of this item, i.e. “Issues relating to the formation of DC committees and working groups”, was not clear. The agenda should have stated clearly that re-election of committee and working group chairmen would be discussed.

234. Mr YAN Kai-wing raised the following views: (i) this item was not included in the original agenda and the revised agenda was only issued yesterday; (ii) the committees had to handle important matters such as funding applications. If Members had disagreement over the terms of office, he was worried that the committees’ decisions would be questioned in future.

235. The Chairman said that Mr CHAN Wai-ming suggested setting the terms of office of committee and working group chairmen as four years. He asked Members to vote on the suggestion.

236. Mr TAM Kwok-kiu requested that the suggestion be made in writing.

237. The Chairman said that the meeting would be adjourned for five minutes.

(The meeting was adjourned for five minutes.)

238. The Chairman announced that the meeting was resumed and asked Members to cast their votes.

239. Mr YEUNG Yuk said that he was not clear about the content of the suggestion made by Mr CHAN Wai-ming.

240. The Chairman asked Mr CHAN Wai-ming to read out the content of the suggestion.

241. Mr CHAN Wai-ming read out the content as follows: “It is confirmed that the terms of office of committee and working group chairmen of this term are four years.” - 66 - Action by

242. Mr YEUNG Yuk said that he objected to the suggestion and would walk out of the meeting in protest at it.

243. The Chairman continued to ask Members to continue with their voting.

244. The voting result was as follows:

For: Mr CHAN Kwok-wai, Mr CHAN Wai-ming, Ms Joephy CHAN, Mr Vincent CHENG, Mr Ambrose CHEUNG, Mr Aaron LAM, Ms LAU Pui-yuk, Mr Dominic LEE, Mr LEE Wing-man, Mr LEUNG Man-kwong and Mr Dennis WONG (11)

Against: Mr YEUNG Yuk (1)

Abstain: (0)

245. The Secretariat announced the voting result: 11 Members voted for the suggestion, 1 Member voted against it and no Members abstained. The Chairman announced that the terms of office of committee and working group chairmen were four years.

Issues relating to DC duty visit

246. The Chairman asked the Secretary to give a briefing on issues relating to DC duty visit.

247. The Secretary said that, after discussing with the Chairman, the arrangements for the duty visit were proposed as follows:

(i) The proposed duration was four days. The tentative dates were either 17-20 April or 23-26 April this year and the meeting dates of TAC or the Housing Affairs Committee were required to be changed.

(ii) The itinerary included visits to the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Singapore as well as departments related the handling of street sleepers, urban renewal and environmental issues.

248. Ms Joephy CHAN enquired whether the duty visit could be carried out outside the meeting dates of DC or committees.

249. The Chairman responded that DC meetings were frequent and it would not be in - 67 - Action by recess until August. Therefore, it was suggested that the meetings of the committees concerned be moved. Holding two committee meetings on the same day could be considered if necessary.

SSPDC Spring Reception 2018

250. The Chairman said that the Working Group on Festive Celebration and Publicity under SSPDC would host the Spring Reception at 3 p.m. on 27 February 2018 (Tuesday) at Wonder Land Seafood Restaurant in Shek Kip Mei. The ceremony would start at 3:30 p.m.

Item 8: Date of next meeting

251. The next meeting would be held at 9:30 a.m. on 13 March (Tuesday).

252. There being no other business, the meeting ended at 8 p.m.

District Council Secretariat Sham Shui Po District Office March 2018