Minutes of the 10th Meeting of the Tuen Mun District Council
Date: 2 May 2017 (Tuesday) Time: 9:31 a.m. Venue: Tuen Mun District Council (TMDC) Conference Room
Present: Time of Arrival Time of Departure Mr LEUNG Kin-man, BBS, MH, JP (Chairman) 9:30 a.m. End of meeting Mr LEE Hung-sham, Lothar, MH (Vice-chairman) 9:30 a.m. End of meeting Mr SO Shiu-shing 9:30 a.m. End of meeting Mr KWU Hon-keung 9:35 a.m. 11:47 a.m. Mr TO Sheck-yuen, MH 9:30 a.m. End of meeting Mr CHU Yiu-wah 9:30 a.m. End of meeting Ms KONG Fung-yi 9:30 a.m. 1:16 p.m. Mr NG Koon-hung 9:30 a.m. 2:27 p.m. Mr CHAN Yau-hoi, BBS, MH, JP 9:30 a.m. End of meeting Ms WONG Lai-sheung, Catherine 9:30 a.m. End of meeting Mr AU Chi-yuen 9:30 a.m. End of meeting Ms HO Hang-mui 9:30 a.m. End of meeting Mr LAM Chung-hoi 9:35 a.m. End of meeting Mr TSUI Fan, MH 9:30 a.m. End of meeting Ms CHING Chi-hung 9:30 a.m. End of meeting Ms LUNG Shui-hing, MH 9:30 a.m. End of meeting Mr CHAN Man-wah, MH 9:32 a.m. End of meeting The Hon LAU Ip-keung, Kenneth, MH, JP 9:52 a.m. 11:47 a.m. Mr CHAN Manwell, Leo 9:30 a.m. 2:32 p.m. Mr CHEUNG Hang-fai 9:32 a.m. End of meeting The Hon HO Kwan-yiu, JP 9:40 a.m. 12:41 p.m. Ms CHU Shun-nga, Beatrice 9:30 a.m. End of meeting Mr TSANG Hin-hong 9:30 a.m. End of meeting Ms SO Ka-man 9:30 a.m. End of meeting Mr KAM Man-fung 9:30 a.m. 1:08 p.m. Mr MO Shing-fung 9:30 a.m. End of meeting Mr YIP Man-pan 9:35 a.m. End of meeting Mr YEUNG Chi-hang 9:30 a.m. End of meeting Mr YAN Siu-nam 9:30 a.m. End of meeting Mr TAM Chun-yin 9:30 a.m. 11:47 a.m. Mr LAU Chun-fai, Lawrence Senior Executive Officer (District Council), (Secretary) Tuen Mun District Office, Home Affairs Department
By Invitation: Ms LI Mei-sheung, Michelle Director of Leisure and Cultural Services, Leisure and Cultural Services Department Mr CHIU Chung-yan, Charlson Senior Staff Officer (Headquarters), Leisure and Cultural Services Department Ms CHUNG Yuk-fong, Shirley Chief Executive Officer (Planning)2, Leisure and Cultural Services Department Mr LEE Tsz-chun Chief Librarian (Operations and Computerization), Leisure and Cultural Services Department Mrs YEUNG HO Poi-yan, Ingrid Commissioner for Transport, Transport Department Ms HO Wai-yin, Irene Assistant Commissioner/New Territories, Transport Department Mr MOK Ka-sing, Mark Senior Transport Officer/Tuen Mun, Transport Department Mr HO Wai-kee, Ricky Senior Engineer/Housing and Planning/New Territories West, Transport Department Mr WONG Wai-man Senior Engineer/Special Duties, Transport Department Mr NG Kwok-chi Regional Officer, New Territories West, Independent Commission Against Corruption Mr Franklin CHIU Deputy Regional Officer, Regional Office (New Territories North West), Independent Commission Against Corruption Ms Winnie WA Senior Community Relations Officer, Independent Commission Against Corruption Ms Agnes LAU Project Manager, Charities, Charities Department, Hong Kong Jockey Club Mr Timothy TAM Project Manager, Charities, Charities Department, Hong Kong Jockey Club Ms Charmaine LEUNG Assistant Manager, Asia-Pacific Institute of Ageing Studies, Lingnan University Ms Helen NGAI Project Officer, Asia-Pacific Institute of Ageing Studies, Lingnan University Ms Wing AU Project Officer, Asia-Pacific Institute of Ageing Studies, Lingnan University
In Attendance: Ms FUNG Ngar-wai, Aubrey District Officer (Tuen Mun), Home Affairs Department Mr LO Chun-hang, Simpson Assistant District Officer (Tuen Mun)1, Home Affairs Department Ms CHAN Hoi-ting, Gillian Assistant District Officer (Tuen Mun)2, Home Affairs Department Mr KWAN Yu-keung Senior Liaison Officer (1) (Acting), Tuen Mun District Office, Home Affairs Department Mr CHAU Ka-nin, Eric Senior Liaison Officer (2), Tuen Mun District Office, Home Affairs Department Mr LAU Tse-fung Chief Engineer (Acting), New Territories West 3 (New Territories West), Civil Engineering and Development Department Mr CHENG Kwok-yan, Brian Chief School Development Officer (Tuen Mun), Education Bureau Mr LEE Kam-ho, Edwin District Environmental Hygiene Superintendent (Tuen Mun), Food and Environmental Hygiene Department Ms MAK Wai-man, Tammy District Commander (Tuen Mun), Hong Kong Police Force Ms CHOI Sau-kuen Police Community Relations Officer (Tuen Mun District), Hong Kong Police Force Ms LI Pui-kun Senior Housing Manager, Tuen Mun, Housing Department Mr LAI Kai-tai, John District Lands Officer (Tuen Mun), Lands Department Mr MOK Hing-cheung Administrative Assistant, Lands (District Lands Office, Tuen Mun), Lands Department Mr WONG Shu-yan, Francis Chief Leisure Manager (New Territories North), Leisure and Cultural Services Department Mr WONG Ying-ming District Leisure Manager (Tuen Mun), Leisure and Cultural Services Department Mr LAM Chi-man, David District Planning Officer, Tuen Mun and Yuen Long West, Planning Department Mr TAN Tick-yee District Social Welfare Officer (Tuen Mun), Social Welfare Department Mr HUE Ka-yiu, Daniel Chief Transport Officer/New Territories North West, Transport Department Ms YU Tsz-yan, Blanche Executive Officer I (District Council)1, (Assistant Secretary) Tuen Mun District Office, Home Affairs Department
Action I. Opening Remarks The Chairman welcomed all present to the 10th meeting of the Tuen Mun District Council (“TMDC”). He also welcomed representatives of government departments in attendance at the meeting, and said the Government would continue to assign department heads to attend TMDC meetings in turns to strengthen communication. The two department heads present at the meeting were Ms Michelle LI, Director of Leisure and Cultural Services (“DLCS”) of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (“LCSD”) and Mrs Ingrid YEUNG, Commissioner for Transport (“C for T”) of the Transport Department (“TD”). On behalf of the TMDC, he welcomed Ms Michelle LI, DLCS, who attended the meeting first.
2. The Chairman said that as there were two department heads present at the meeting, he would call a 15-minute recess after the session for DLCS so that Members could proceed to the demonstration area on the ground floor during the recess to present petitions to C for T, who would attend the meeting later.
3. The Chairman continued to say that any Member who was aware of a personal interest in a discussion item should declare the interest before the discussion. He would, in accordance with Order 39(11) of the TMDC Standing Orders (“Standing Order”), decide whether the Member who had declared an interest might speak or vote on the matter, might remain in the meeting as an observer, or should withdraw from the meeting. All cases of declaration of interests would be recorded in the minutes of the meeting.
4. As there were many agenda items at the meeting, the Chairman said he would strictly follow the arrangements on time of speaking set out in Order 28(2) of the Standing Order, by which each member might speak twice, up to three minutes for the first time and one minute for the additional second time, and Members who had submitted papers should be given another three minutes to present their papers.
II. Absence from Meeting 5. The Secretary reported that the Secretariat had received no applications from Members for leave of absence.
III. Meeting between DLCS and Tuen Mun District Councillors 6. The Chairman welcomed Ms Michelle LI, DLCS, again. He also welcomed Mr Charlson CHIU, Senior Staff Officer (Headquarters), Mr Francis WONG, Chief Leisure Manager (New Territories North), Mr LEE Tsz-chun, Chief Librarian (Operations and Computerization), Ms Shirley CHUNG, Chief Executive Officer
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Action (Planning)2, and Mr WONG Ying-ming, District Leisure Manager (Tuen Mun), of the LCSD to the meeting, who would introduce the LCSD’s work and hear Members’ opinions on matters of concern to the local community.
7. Ms Michelle LI gave a PowerPoint presentation on the LCSD’s work in Tuen Mun, including recreation and sports facilities, works projects, libraries, art, intangible cultural heritage, and programmes to be held by the LCSD in celebration of the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong’s reunification with China.
8. After that, a number of Members put forward their comments and enquiries on the LCSD’s work in the district to Ms Michelle LI as follows.
9. A Member hoped Ms Michelle LI would pay attention to the long-standing noise problem caused by music performances of singing groups in parks, which had even been exacerbated after the Government lost a related lawsuit in recent years. In her view, the LCSD failed to manage parks properly and often shirked its responsibility using loopholes in the relevant legislation as an excuse. The existing park management companies hired by the LCSD were utterly ineffective, and the management of Tuen Mun Park and Tsing Tin Playground was even more unsatisfactory. In particular, she pointed out that members of noise concern groups in the district had repeatedly lodged written complaints with the LCSD about the problem in Tsing Tin Playground, but the situation had not been improved. She added that when some interested persons were being assaulted in the park on 9 April this year, the staff of the park management company had not attended the scene to give assistance, and eventually the assaulted persons had been injured and incident had been reported to the Police. She said she had brought up the above incident later at a meeting held on 11 April, but the LCSD’s representatives had failed to give relevant information.
10. A Member noted that while LCSD officers would visit Tuen Mun Park for enforcement, some parks such as Tsing Tin Playground were manned only by security guards, who were often not bold enough to handle disputes in parks, and the overall standard of recreational facilities in the district was thus affected. She further noted that singing groups continued their performances at Tsing Tin Playground after 11:00 p.m. With the LCSD failing to enforce park-related laws, noise makers had no scruples while the affected residents had nowhere to turn to. She hoped DLCS would, with sympathy for the public, visit the parks concerned and step up enforcement to give a tranquil living environment back to residents near the parks.
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Action
11. While recognising the LCSD’s contribution in many areas, a Member said that for many years, he had been running about seeking to solve the problem of noise in parks by, for example, attending meetings of the Legislative Council (“LegCo”) to raise complaints and participating in the setting up of self-entertainment zones; but regretfully, the problem was not yet solved. He said residents suffered badly from the noise coming from parks and playgrounds in the district at night. Therefore, he hoped DLCS would acknowledge the seriousness of the problem. He further said that despite some former LegCo members’ efforts to seek amendment to the relevant legislation, no progress had been made in the previous dozen years or so. He suggested the Government allocate more resources to the district offices of the LCSD and consider building a multi-purpose recreational and cultural complex where interested parties could hold indoor music activities, so that nuisance to other residents could thus be reduced.
12. A Member commended the LCSD for the improvement measures it launched at beaches in recent years. Besides, she noted that before the meeting, two secondary school students who were Tuen Mun’s representatives in swimming events of the Hong Kong Games (“HKG”) had submitted a petition about the maintenance time of swimming pools to Ms Michelle LI. The Member said that among the three swimming pools in the district, Tuen Mun Swimming Pool and Tuen Mun North West Swimming Pool had heated pools, but Tuen Mun Swimming Pool had been closed throughout winter in the previous two years; as a result, the patronage of Tuen Mun North West Swimming Pool surged and residents had to queue more than one hour outside the swimming pool for admission. As Tuen Mun Swimming Pool had a 50-metre standard main pool, she hoped the department would arrange the maintenance time of swimming pools in the district in a coordinated manner and avoid closing Tuen Mun Swimming Pool in winter. Moreover, Tuen Mun Tang Shiu Kin Sports Ground, the only one standard sports ground in the district was open from 6:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. She hoped the department would consider extending its opening hours to between 6:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m. for the convenience of workers who were enthusiastic about exercise.
13. A Member said she had on and on received complaints from the public about the nuisance to residents living near parks in the district (e.g. Tuen Mun Park, Tsing Tin Playground and Butterfly Beach Park) where singing groups held music activities. She had visited the parks for observation and found that security guards in the parks had failed to take action against the problem. In her view, a park was a place for the public to take rest in a tranquil environment and should be immune
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Action from noise problems. Moreover, some singing groups not only used loudspeakers but even charged for their performances. Therefore, she hoped the department would step up enforcement in this regard. In addition, she noticed there was news about some members of the public or Mainland visitors who illegally put up tents at beaches. She called for the department’s strict enforcement, worrying that this trend would spread to Tuen Mun and undermine the beautiful environment of beaches and affect nearby residents.
14. A Member held the view that as noise in parks had caused nuisance to nearby residents but the Government had lost a related lawsuit, it was necessary to put up the relevant legislation for discussion. Yet, as it would take quite a long time to amend the relevant legislation, she hoped DLCS would relay the TMDC’s views to the relevant departments. For the facilities proposed to be built in Areas 16 and 17, she noted that all the work projects concerned had been discussed for more than a decade, and the LegCo was dealing with the construction project for a sports ground in Area 16, but she was not clear about the prioritisation by which it was handled. Besides, the facilities proposed to be built on an open space in Area 17 as described by Ms Michelle LI were different from what the TMDC had discussed years before (The facilitates with which the TMDC had previously agreed included two seven-a-side artificial turf soccer pitches, one basketball court, one skateboard play area and Tai Chi courts), but the TMDC had not been informed about such changes. In view of this, she hoped that after the TMDC’s discussion on these facilities in the future, the department could report on the progress concerned regularly so that Members could answer relevant enquiries from the public.
15. A Member commended the department for the various improvement measures it launched at beaches in recent years. He understood that the department could hardly answer all demands at one go as the public’s requests were numerous and it really took time to discuss beach-related matters. Besides, he said the LCSD had to follow up on and organise a number of projects and programmes and the TMDC devoted considerable resources to projects undertaken by the department, but the projects concerned were not effective. Therefore, he reckoned that the department should step up publicity and work hand-in-hand with the TMDC (e.g. inviting Members to parks to handle the noise problem). Furthermore, he reckoned that to solve the problem of noise in parks, different approaches should be taken and determination was also required so that the problem could be cured eventually.
16. A Member hoped the department would announce the development schedule for the sports ground in Area 16 as soon as possible, report regularly on the progress
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Action to the TMDC or the District Facilities Management Committee (“DFMC”), and consider providing more recreational facilities in rural areas. Besides, he said the Tuen Mun district had sent 198 athletes to participate in the current HKG and the daily training for athletes needed to be strengthened in order for them to achieve good results. Therefore, he hoped the department would continue to invest more resources in sports. He also hoped the department could organise Lunar New Year and Mid-Autumn Festival entertainment programmes in Tuen Mun every year rather than every four years, so as to promote the passing on of intangible cultural heritage and traditional custom. In addition, given there was a heritage museum in Sha Tin, he suggested a heritage museum be built in Tuen Mun as well, so that the public needed not go to other districts to appreciate relics.
[Post-meeting note: The LCSD added that held in different districts on a rotational basis, the Lunar New Year and the Mid-Autumn Festival lantern carnivals in New Territories West took place in Tuen Mun about every two or three years, which was convenient for participation by the public. The department had held the Mid-Autumn Festival and the Lunar New Year lantern carnivals in Tuen Mun Park in September 2013 and February 2016 respectively.]
17. A Member said three parks in the district were black spots of noise, and among them, Tsing Tin Playground saw the most serious problem, with music activities still going on after 10:00 p.m. The Member hoped that before amendment to the relevant legislation, the department would take administrative control measures to address the problem arising from music activities held after 10:00 p.m. For the sports and recreational facilities to be built in Tuen Mun as proposed in the Policy Address, he was interested more in the hard-surface soccer pitch in Leung Choi Lane, saying that all nearby residents welcomed the facilities but worried there would be noise at night after the soccer pitch was open. In view of this, he hoped the department would manage the soccer pitch properly to avoid the above problem. In addition, he commended the facilities of beaches in the district and asked the department to consider opening some beaches in the district to swimmers at an earlier time (e.g. March).
18. A Member cited previous experience, pointing out that the LCSD might tackle noise problems in private housing estates by invoking the legislation relating to noise control from 11:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. or some related legislation which, though imposing no time limit, targeted nuisance. In his view, the department might work with the Police and the Environmental Protection Department (“EPD”) to visit parks and residential units nearby to measure noise levels, and take
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Action enforcement action in case of any excess. For other problems with parks, he noted that pets were not allowed in large parks in the district, while the several existing pet parks were remote and might not be suitable for all pets (for example, facilities in Hoi Wong Road Garden were not suitable for large pets). For these reasons, some pet owners brought their pets to the vicinity of West Rail (“WR”) Tuen Mun Station, but they faced complaints or were forced to leave, being left with a sense of helplessness. Therefore, he hoped the department could designate pet zones in parks. Moreover, he noticed that the public could not view the plants grown by the department on a piece of land near a bus stop at Fung On Street, as the plants were enclosed by wire fence.
19. A Member said there was much work for the department to handle. He particularly appreciated the department’s work in library management, noting that the Tuen Mun Reading Festival held annually since 2012 was an activity not common among other districts. He also said the relevant working groups put forward ideas on community enhancement (e.g. provision of featured seats and beautification of staircases) from time to time, and staircases in the district would be decorated in view of the 20th anniversary the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (“HKSAR”). He hoped the decoration work could carry on in the future. With regard to the HKG, he opined that the event had been more and more successful in recent years. And as representatives of Tuen Mun finished as the second runner-up in athletics in the HKG this year, he believed venues played an important part in athlete training, and therefore more sports grounds in addition to those in Areas 16 and 17 were actually needed in Tuen Mun to promote sport for all. Besides, he hoped the department would invest more resources in the 18 districts in Hong Kong, especially Tuen Mun, to promote the development of cheering team programmes.
20. A Member defended the LCSD and security guards in parks, saying that over the previous six months, he had accompanied LCSD officers to parks to handle noise problems on two occasions where officers of the Police and the EPD were present as well. Yet, the problems had eventually remained unsolved due to loopholes in the provisions of the relevant legislation. In view of this, he would like to know the direction of and the timeframe for amendment to the provisions. For the facilities of sports grounds in the district, he noticed that it was said in the documents submitted by the Government to the LegCo in respect of the sports ground in Area 16 that the pre-construction works were expected to start in the third quarter of this year. In view of this, he wanted to know the progress of the preparations for works and how the department would house the bus depot situated
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Action on the site proposed for the sports ground. He also noted that as both the facilities proposed to be built in Areas 16 and 27 and the government complex in Siu Lun had been discussed for many years, he would like to know whether the directions of the initial plans were still valid. Moreover, as the locations of the above three works were close to each other, he hoped the department would make an overall plan to avoid duplication of facilities. Furthermore, he said he had repeatedly written letters about the use of a site near a bus stop on Fung On Street to the District Lands Office, Tuen Mun, but the office had all along replied that handling was in progress. Therefore, he would like to enquire of Ms Michelle LI about the arrangements for the site.
21. A Member said square dance was quite popular among retired people and housewives in recent years, and some residents had told him that the venues of the LCSD and the numbers of enrolment places in singing classes were too few. In his view, while stepping up enforcement in Tuen Mun Park, the department should also organise more relevant classes and activities. Moreover, he supported the construction of a theme park in Area 44, but he also hoped that when designing the park, the department could explore with the TD or the Planning Department (“PlanD”) ways to answer residents’ needs and address the shortage of parking spaces, such as building a facility with a park and a car park at its upper and lower levels respectively or building a car park on one of the construction sites.
22. A Member indicated that the noise problem in Tuen Mun Park had been going on for over 10 years and it was known by all former DLCSs, but the reply the department gave every time was that follow-ups or active study were in progress. He did not understand why the department was still unable to amend the relevant legislation. He said he would go to a police station on that day to give a statement against noise makers, but this was not effective in rooting out the problem. He said the frontline staff was under tremendous pressure at work as they were subject to verbal abuse by the public and participants in music activities when handling the noise problem. He hoped the department could solve the problem as soon as possible.
23. A Member said the noise problem was not peculiar to parks in Tuen Mun and the same situation occurred in other districts. The Member hoped the department would amend the relevant legislation; otherwise it would be difficult for the department and the Police to take enforcement action. Moreover, as the LegCo would deliberate on the proposal for the sports ground in Area 16, the Member hoped LegCo members would not filibuster when the above issue was under
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Action scrutiny.
24. A Member thanked the department for visiting the TMDC to give a brief introduction and hear the voice of Members. He said that while the population of Tuen Mun kept growing, performance venues in the district were not enough and, over many years, local organisations had repeatedly expressed the view that venues for practice and performances were both in acute shortage. He suggested the department consider providing an accessible and well-equipped performance venue in Tuen Mun for use by residents. In addition, he supported the prompt construction of the sports ground in Area 16 as the utilisation rates of sports grounds in Tuen Mun had reached 100%.
25. Noting that primary and secondary schools in Tuen Mun had to use sports grounds in Tin Shui Wai to hold their sports meets, a Member suggested more sports grounds be built in Tuen Mun. He had been the Chairman of the DFMC since its formation and joined the then LCSD district manager to make site visits to sports grounds in Tseung Kwan O. He had also suggested increasing the number of seats at the sports ground in Area 16 from the initial 3 000 to 5 000, and the department had subsequently accepted the request of the DFMC. He pointed out that the project had been planned for more than nine years, progressing at a pace as slow as that of a leisure park built in Area 27. He further said that at present, most of the training for elite athletes were provided by local sports groups such as sports clubs and the Hong Kong School Sports Federation, but the LCSD failed to provide hardware support. In addition, he knew that the LCSD did not object to the proposal to put up a pai lau at San Wai Tsai Children’s Playground, so he would like the department to explain whether a pai lau was a public facility.
26. A Member suggested that the promenade along Castle Peak Bay and a park in Sam Shing Estate be linked up and both managed by the LCSD, and facilities such as rain shelters be provided there. Regarding the problem of noise in parks, he remarked that LCSD officers and the Police could hardly take enforcement action if the legislation was not amended, so the department should amend the relevant legislation. In addition, he commended LCSD officers for being helpful in handling Members’ enquiries and complaints about facilities in the district.
27. A Member welcomed the provision of an indoor children’s playroom in Siu Lun Complex in Area 14, saying that there were a total of 32 such playrooms in Hong Kong but only one in Tuen Mun, which was not enough to meet the need arising from the continuous growth of the district’s population. He suggested that
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Action consideration be given to providing a children’s playroom in the sports complex to be built on Site 4A (West) in Area 54. Moreover, as the “toy library” in the Central Library provided 1 000 toys of different types for children to play with and this facility was highly commended on the Internet, he hoped “toy libraries” could be set up in Tuen Mun and other districts too.
28. A Member said that thanks to the LCSD’s promotion, lawn bowling had gradually become a popular sport played by many young people. He added that Tuen Mun had won a number of awards in this activity. Some residents who played lawn bowling had told him that there was only one outdoor bowling green in Tuen Mun; but quite the contrary, indoor venues were provided in Tin Shui Wai and other districts. Therefore, he suggested the department build an indoor bowling green in the sports ground or indoor sports ground in Area 16 in the future.
29. A Member noted that early this year, the media had carried out a random test on artificial turf soccer pitches in Wong Chuk Hang and Tseung Kwan O, and the test result had revealed that the amounts of carcinogens contained therein were three times higher than the European Union standard. As the usage rate of the artificial soccer pitch in Wu Shan Recreation Playground was quite high, he asked whether the department would carry out tests on all artificial turf soccer pitches in Hong Kong. He further noted that sports rules were frequently changed and coaches could arrange training for athletes only after referees learned about the latest rules and informed the coaches about them, but referees’ benefits were often overlooked. Citing his own experience, he said that with little financial assistance from the Government, referees often had to join international sports competitions at their own cost. He would like the department to take a look at financial assistance to athletes and sports.
30. A Member enquired about the latest progress on amendment to the legislation relating to noise in parks, as well as the construction timeframe and the latest design of the canopy at Cultural Square. Besides, the Member hoped the sports ground in Area 16 could be built as soon as possible.
31. A Member hoped that after the meeting, the department could provide the PowerPoint slides used in the introduction earlier. On greening work, he supported the beautification of staircases in Tuen Mun Park and pointed out that trees in Tuen Mun Park were ageing. He hoped the department could strengthen beautification and improvement works to trees. Moreover, the usage of facilities managed by Tuen Mun Town Hall (“TMTH”) and the Tuen Mun District Office (“TMDO”) was
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Action almost 100%, but that of the conference room of TMTH was merely 15% to 50%. He suggested the department explore feasible ways to use resources effectively, such as converting the conference room into a multi-purpose activity room so that more residents could use government facilities. Besides, in view of the acute shortage of parking spaces in the district, he hoped the department would pay regard to residents’ need for parking spaces in the development plans for the construction of the sports ground in Area 16 and the theme park in Area 44.
[Post-meeting note: The above PowerPoint slides were emailed to Members for reference on 17 May 2017.]
32. A Member said she had witnessed a person who had committed an indecent act when giving rewards to music performers in Tuen Mun Park. In her view, the department should pay serious attention to the issue. She would like Ms Michelle LI to promptly explore legislative amendment with the Department of Justice and step up enforcement, so as to answer residents’ needs.
33. A Member asked whether the department had set up self-entertainment zones in parks in other districts, whether it could provide a timeframe for the sports ground in Area 16, and whether it had any backup plan if the discussion of the issue was hampered by filibusters at the LegCo. Besides, as the community libraries mentioned by DLCS needed to be run by non-profit-making organisations. He suggested the department consider building a two or three-storey small library on any vacant site in Hang Fu Street or Hang Kwai Street.
34. A Member hoped the department could build a cricket court in Tuen Mun, as many ethnic minorities living in Tuen Mun were enthusiastic about cricket.
35. A Member asked whether the department had strengthened or adjusted the staffing establishment for greening work in Tuen Mun. Besides, the Member remarked that Shenzhen had done quite well in maintaining green landscape, which could serve as a reference.
36. Ms Michelle LI gave a consolidated response to Members’ comments and enquiries as follows: (i) To control noise in parks, the department had made bylaws for Hoi Sham Park in Kowloon City with a view to rooting out noise problems in the park. But in 2016, the court had held that the bylaws were inappropriate. Subsequently, the department had been actively exploring with the
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Action Department of Justice how to amend the relevant legislation and examine whether other legislation could be invoked for enforcement. Undoubtedly, there were different procedures to go through in drafting legislation, but even if the legislation was successfully amended in the future, evidence collection and prosecution would remain the most critical factor. After prosecution, moreover, it was necessary for the court to impose an obvious, punitive and deterrent penalty in order to effectively ameliorate the problem. In addition, she expressed gratitude to Members who had come forward to give evidence; (ii) While considering legislative amendment, the department had also strengthened enforcement and management in parks. Taking Tuen Mun Park as an example, the department had hired nine more security guards to perform duty from 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., some of whom were guards experienced in enforcement. Moreover, the department had assigned security guards to patrol Tsing Tin Playground from 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and public holidays starting from November 2013. Security guards would immediately give advice and take measures if any person was found making relatively loud noise. The department would continue to step up joint enforcement with the Police and the EPD in a bid to minimise the impacts of noise on the public. In addition, the department would certainly report to the Police if there were crimes in the parks; (iii) She had more than once visited Tuen Mun Park, Hoi Sham Park and the buildings nearby for inspection and examined carefully videos and letters relating to complaints about noise. She had also been exploring solutions with LCSD colleagues. She hoped Members would join hands with the LCSD to deal with the matters concerned; (iv) The huge works for the sports ground in Area 16 would be carried out in two phases. The department would finalise the design, conduct site investigation and carry out a technical study in the phase of advance works, and the impacts on users during the works would be carefully examined in the next phase. The department had listened to the DFMC’s opinions and increased the number of seats in the sports ground to 5 000. The sports ground was up to the standards of the International Association of Athletics Federations, enabling the district to host high-level sports events. In the previous week, furthermore, the department had consulted the Panel on Home Affairs of the LegCo about the advance works for sports ground and secured its support. According to the established procedure, the department would proceed to propose the advance works to the Public Works Subcommittee and the Finance Committee of the LegCo, and if the funding
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Action was approved, the department would carry out the work in the hope that the construction works for the sports ground could start within five years; (v) For the enquiry as to whether the opening hours of other sports grounds could be extended before the completion of the sports ground in Area 16, all sports grounds in the 18 districts of Hong Kong were open at 6:30 a.m. unless there were large-scale sports events. The department considered this arrangement appropriate; (vi) For the facilities proposed to be built in Area 17, the DFMC had agreed at a meeting in October 2010 that an 11-a-side soccer pitch instead of two seven-a-side soccer pitches should be built. When working out the design drawings of various works, the department would certainly consult the relevant committees before the designs were confirmed; (vii) Members’ expectations for provision of sports ground facilities were noted. As announced in the Policy Address, a number of relevant works would be carried out in the coming five years (“the five-year plan”). She looked forward to working together with the TMDC to drive progress in the projects; (viii) Thanks were due to Members for their support, which enabled improvements to facilities at beaches. A number of beach improvement works were in full swing. For a Member’s suggestion on the opening hours of beaches, there was already a beach (i.e. Golden Beach) open throughout the year in Tuen Mun. For the issue concerning tents put up at beaches, the LCSD and the Police had taken strict enforcement actions upon receipt of complaints, and the persons involved in the cases had taken down their tents upon advice. The LCSD would continue to step up publicity in this regard; (ix) The current usage rate of TMTH was 100%, and the department also wanted to make full use of different space to provide exhibition venues. As there was still room for improvement in the usage of activity rooms and the conference room in TMTH, the department would actively explore different ways to fully utilise these facilities and enable multi-purpose use of performance facilities; (x) The department kept an open mind about provision of more pet parks. If there were suitable facilities in new or existing parks and a consensus was reached in the district, the department would explore the possibility of building more pet parks; (xi) Regarding the proposal to provide car parks in facilities to be built by the LCSD, car parks were normally not among the facilities provided by the department. Yet, the department might follow it up with the TD and relevant departments. If there was any suitable place, efforts could be made
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Action to explore its feasibility in terms of the design, costs and timeframe for the works; (xii) All the existing artificial turf venues of the department were designed, managed and maintained in accordance with the requirements of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Moreover, an inter-departmental ad hoc group would further examine the safe use of artificial turf venues with the Hong Kong Football Association (“HKFA”) and the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union (“HKRUF”), and the artificial turf venues would be maintained and managed in accordance with international standards, so the public could use them without worry; (xiii) The “toy library” was a facility peculiar to the Central Library, the largest library in Hong Kong, rather than a facility of an ordinary library in Wan Chai. Regrettably, “toy libraries” could not be provided in other libraries; (xiv) The department looked forward to boosting the effectiveness of the publicity for its activities through the TMDC. It would also invite Members to attend LCSD activities as appropriate; (xv) Besides the LCSD, local organisations could also organise Lunar New Year activities. Held by the LCSD, the large-scale Mid-Autumn Festival and Lunar New Year activities in urban districts took place at Victoria Park and Hong Kong Cultural Centre respectively, whereas New Territories East and New Territories West each hosted one activity every year, which was organised by the respective districts on a rotational basis. The department also wished to collaborate with local organisations in holding these activities; (xvi) Congratulations were due to Tuen Mun representatives who had finished as the second runner-up in athletics in the HKG this year. Best wishes were sent to Tuen Mun representatives for continued success in upcoming events; (xvii) While the department would continue to promote the cheering team culture with relevant organisations, it also looked forward to promoting the culture through the TMDC in sustained manner; (xviii) The site on Fung On Street was not managed by the LCSD. It should be an area managed by the District Lands Office, Tuen Mun or the Civil Engineering and Development Department (“CEDD”); (xix) As a public consultation on the works project to put up a pai lau at San Wai Tsai Children’s Playground was underway, the department adopted a neutral position on the project. It was believed that there would be no impacts on the playground facilities provided for the public, because the pai lau needed not take up much space of the planters. After the public consultation was closed, the department would further study the feasibility of the project with the TMDO;
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Action (xx) Lawn bowling was gaining popularity and indoor bowling greens were provided in the completed sports complex in Yuen Chau Kok, Sha Tin, and the sports complex under construction in Area 1 of Tai Po. While the “five-year plan” did not cover the construction of any indoor bowling green in Tuen Mun, a site in Area 54 had been earmarked for a sports complex. The department kept an open mind as to what facilities should be provided in the sports complex. If there was demand for indoor bowling green in the district, the department could consider providing this facility in the sports complex; (xxi) The department worked out the maintenance timetables for the three swimming pools in the district based on the principle of minimising impacts on users. After the meeting, the department’s representatives would share the information concerned with Members. The department welcomed any ideas that could further minimise impacts on users; and (xxii) Thanks were due to the TMDC for its kindness, support and advice to the LCSD. The department would be glad to remain attentive to Members’ ideas that could help the department to do better.
37. A Member said that as the Member of the constituency and the village representative of San Wai Tsai, he had never received any information about the pai lau project. In this connection, he knew that other Members were discussing the works with the LCSD. He wanted to know whether, according to rules, existing facilities could be altered casually. He added that the playground concerned was used by not only villagers but residents living nearby, and any works to the playground would have impacts on them.
38. A Member said there were already laws in place to deal with the problem of noise in parks, but the department failed to enforce them. She pointed out that with no enforcement power, security guards in Tsing Tin Playground could merely ask park users to leave, and that even if the relevant legislation was amended in the future, the department still had to strengthen manpower and station staff with enforcement power at parks for enforcement.
39. A Member noted that North District Sports Ground and Hammer Hill Road Sports Ground were closed as late as 11:00 p.m. As there was only one standard sports ground in Tuen Mun, she hoped the department could extend its opening hours to 11:00 p.m. Besides, as there were only two swimming pool complexes with heated pools in the district, she considered it was unreasonable to close one of them in winter. Therefore, she hoped Ms Michelle LI would explore improvement
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Action measures with the district staff of the department.
40. A Member said schools and organisations of residents near the hard-surface soccer pitch in Leung Choi Lane worried that they might be subjected to nuisance in the future if the soccer pitch was operated as an open venue. He suggested the ball court be converted into a turf pitch with proper management, in order to reduce the possibility of noise problems and crimes. In addition, he hoped Ms Michelle LI would hear the opinions of schools and residents nearby during the planning process.
41. A Member hoped the department would further follow up on the issue concerning the safety of artificial turf venues with the HKFA and the HKRUF in a bid to make the venues safer. Moreover, he reiterated that it was difficult for full-time referees to earn a living and those who served as referees overseas for Hong Kong in order to raise the standard of sports in Hong Kong had to meet all the costs on their own. He hoped Ms Michelle LI would provide more financial assistance for them.
42. A Member asked again about the construction timeframe and latest design of the canopy at Cultural Square.
43. While reiterating that the serious noise problem in Tuen Mun Park was known by Secretary for Home Affairs and all former DLCSs, a Member said that to prosecute the persons concerned, it was necessary for members of the public to come forward to give evidence in court. He added that even if convicted, these persons would be fined several hundred dollars only, which was similar to the amount of money they could earn by performing a song. Noting that the Government had managed to address other urgent matters (such as Mainland pregnant women giving birth in Hong Kong and export of powdered formula) immediately, he wondered why the work of simply amending the legislation concerned was not yet done after more than a decade.
44. The Chairman invited Ms Michelle LI to give a response to the suggestion put forward earlier by a Member on provision of a cricket court in Tuen Mun.
45. Ms Michelle LI gave a consolidated response to Members’ comments and enquiries in the second round of discussion as follows: (i) Although there was currently no cricket court in the district, the department might consider providing it in existing facilities or recreational venues to be built in the future;
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Action (ii) It was understandable that the provision of a hard-surface soccer pitch in Leung Choi Lane might trigger nearby residents’ worry about noise problems in the future. The department would follow up on matters concerning the design of works and the management of facilities with the Member of the constituency concerned in the future; (iii) Generally speaking, if any works were expected to impact on the LCSD’s facilities, the department would examine the degree and extent of such impacts. As the pai lau proposed to be put up at San Wai Tsai Children’s Playground was limited to the planters of the playground, it was believed that there would be no impacts on the facilities provided in the playground and the department therefore adopted a neutral position on the works project. The Member and residents of the area concerned were welcome to offer their views within the consultation period, and the department would examine how to follow the matter up in the future; (iv) Currently the department provided financial assistance for sports associations to cover their operating expenses or sponsor frontline athletes, yet no financial assistance was provided separately for the related referees. Members might express the views concerned in regard to sports policies in the future; (v) The canopy works at Cultural Square were already on a list of the works projects of the Architectural Services Department. The department hoped funding could be allocated in the next couple of years for canopy erection; and (vi) Regarding the control of noise in parks, as the department might not be able to solve the problem alone, inter-departmental cooperation and partnership with the TMDC were necessary to tackle it. And, to effectively ameliorate the problem, prosecution against offenders should be complemented by punitive and deterrent penalties. In this connection, the department noticed that the court might have dealt with this kind of cases with compassion before. She looked forward to making concerted efforts with Members to drive progress in the work.
46. The Chairman thanked Ms Michelle LI for attending the meeting and invited her to consider the TMDC’s views, especially those on the issues that had been concerning Tuen Mun residents for years.
[At this point, the Chairman called a 15-minute recess. The meeting was resumed at 12:07 p.m.]
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Action IV. Meeting between C for T and Tuen Mun District Councillors [The Chairman left the conference room temporarily and the meeting was chaired by the Vice-chairman.]
47. The Vice-chairman welcomed Mrs Ingrid YEUNG, C for T, Ms Irene HO, Assistant Commissioner/New Territories, Mr Daniel HUE, Chief Transport Officer/New Territories North West, Mr Mark MOK, Senior Transport Officer/Tuen Mun, Mr Ricky HO, Senior Engineer/Housing and Planning/New Territories West, and Mr WONG Wai-man, Senior Engineer/Special Duties, of the TD to the meeting, who would introduce the department’s work and hear Members’ opinions on matters of concern to the local community.
48. At Mrs Ingrid YEUNG’s invitation, Ms Irene HO, Assistant Commissioner, started off by giving a PowerPoint presentation to briefly introduce to Members the TD’s work, which covered the scope of its services, the strategy for the long-term transport development in Hong Kong, the strategy for the development of public transport policies in Hong Kong, projects for traffic and transport improvement in Tuen Mun and so forth.
[At this point, the Chairman returned to the conference room to chair the meeting.]
49. After that, a number of Members put forward their comments and enquiries on the TD’s work in the district to Mrs Ingrid YEUNG as follows.
50. A Member expressed gratitude to the TD and the Education Bureau for their efforts to ameliorate traffic congestion on Castle Peak Road. She said she would continue to monitor traffic condition in that area and keep in touch with the relevant departments. She further said there would be up to 8 000 new households as a number of private property projects would be completed one after another in So Kwun Wat, it would be not good for the overall traffic condition if transport connection with Castle Peak Road relied solely on So Kwun Wat Road. For this reason, she suggested a slip road be built at roundabout next to Mrs Cheng Yam On Millennium School to divert traffic to Tuen Mun Road via Grandview Terrace in the future. Moreover, it had been six years since the occupation of Avignon, a housing estate in So Kwun Wat, but no corresponding transport facilities had ever been provided. That was why the owners’ committee of Avignon had submitted a petition to Mrs Ingrid YEUNG on the morning of the meeting day to express their demands.
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Action 51. A Member made three requests as follows: the whole-day service of Route 62X, the expeditious construction of Tuen Mun Western Bypass (“TMWB”), and an open tender and consultation for bus routes on Tuen Mun - Chek Lap Kok Link (“TM-CLKL”). She put flesh on her first request, saying that Route 62X had been in operation for 30 years and she had repeatedly requested an upgrade of Route 62X to a whole-day service, but the department had instead designated Route 259D to detour around Tuen Mun Town Centre during non-peak hours to fill the service gap of Route 62X. Residents often got confused as Route 62X provided different services during peak and non-peak hours, and Tuen Mun Town Centre had a large population. For these reasons, she hoped the department would enhance the service of Route 62X without delay.
52. A Member said traffic was always an issue of greater concern to Tuen Mun residents. With population growth in the district, various means of transport had gradually reached their capacity as exemplified by the overcrowded WR Line (“WRL”) during morning peak hours. In view of this, she requested C for T to specify whether the Government would plan the coastal railway between Tuen Mun and Tsuen Wan (“Tuen Mun to Tsuen Wan Link”). Moreover, in view of the forthcoming openings of HZMB and TM-CLKL, the Traffic and Transport Committee (“TTC”) had been following on the arrangements for transport between Tuen Mun and the airport. She hoped C for T would explain the planning direction in this regard. On parking spaces, she suggested the department build multi-storey car parks as the acute shortage of parking spaces in Tuen Mun had led to rampant illegal parking. She further said it was suggested in the Bus Route Planning Programme 2017-2018 of Tuen Mun District (“BRPP”) of the TD that new routes such as the Tuen Mun to Science Park route be launched, but no consideration was given to the Tuen Mun to Tai Po and Tuen Mun to Tseung Kwan O routes, which had been sought by the TMDC for many years. In her view, the TD should set great store by the TMDC’s views.
53. A Member noted that before the occupation of Lung Yat Estate, the TD had promised at a residents’ forum held at Lung Mun Oasis that it would provide transport services accordingly if a new housing estate was completed. However, the department had not yet confirmed the green minibus (“GMB”) service from Lung Yat Estate to Tuen Mun Town Centre, notwithstanding that it had already been three years since the occupation of Lung Yat Estate, the private properties nearby would be completed soon, and the owners’ corporations of buildings in the nearby factory zone had complained about inadequate transport facilities. Furthermore, the issue of launching a new bus route from Tuen Mun to Tai Po had been discussed
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Action for many years, and the TMDC was merely requesting the department to provide one special departure from Tuen Mun Road Bus-Bus Interchange (“TMR BBI”), but to no avail so far. She opined that the department should give weight to the TMDC’s views. On traffic engineering, she hoped the department would study the alignment of TMWB as soon as possible with a view to diverting traffic from Wong Chu Road in the future, since the already-congested Wong Chu Road might not be able to cope with the increasing traffic, still less to be used up to 2026.
54. Noting that the works for the WR south extension would be commenced shortly as mentioned in the Policy Address, a Member hoped C for T could give an account of the details of the works. Besides, as Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (“HZMB”) and TM-CLKL were closely linked to each other, he wanted to know the clearance arrangements after their openings. On bus routes, it was expected that 50 000 people would be added to the population as Yan Tin Estate in Tuen Mun Area 54 would be occupied starting from late 2017, but the BRPP for the current year merely suggested one more trip be provided for each of Routes 67 and 67M, which could hardly satisfy transport demand in the future. He hoped the department could pay attention to potential demand in the area.
55. A Member said Tuen Mun Area 54 would soon be occupied, and this was coupled with the development of areas such as Hung Shui Kiu, Yuen Long South and Kam Sheung Road; it was thus expected that more than 400 000 people would be added to the population of New Territories West in the future. In view of this, the department should request the MTR Corporation Limited (“MTRCL”) to increase the service frequency of WR and Light Rail (“LR”) and to purchase new cars without delay to meet passenger demand. Moreover, a number of transfers were necessary for passengers to travel from Tuen Mun to Tai Po or Tseung Kwan O, but direct bus services to Tseung Kwan O, namely Routes 290 and 290A, were available in Tsuen Wan, which was also a district in New Territories West. While passengers who travelled from Tuen Mun to East Kowloon could enjoy interchange discounts for transferring to buses to Tseung Kwan O, such discounts did not apply to the whole Tuen Mun, so she requested the launch of bus routes from Tuen Mun to Tai Po and Tseung Kwan O and the other way round. She further pointed out that 20 to 48 places for standees were provided on a bus and most of the external bus routes in Tuen Mun operated via highways such as Castle Peak Road or Tuen Mun Road, so she requested the department to cut or cancel the places for standees on buses to protect the safety of passengers.
56. A Member noted that GMBs and buses to Futian Port were available in both
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Action Yuen Long and Tin Shui Wai, but the TMDC’s repeated request for the launch of bus routes from Tuen Mun to Futian Port was in vain, and its request for an upgrade of the existing GMB routes from Tuen Mun to Lok Ma Chau Spur Line Public Transport Interchange to whole-day services was also not entertained. Therefore, the Member hoped the department could re-consider the suggestions. Besides, the service of Route 258X was simply provided by reallocation of existing resources from Route 258D, with its fares higher than those of Route 258D. As a result, there was no increase in the overall services available for residents and some residents even had to pay higher fares. Many residents were dissatisfied about this. Long Win Bus Company Limited (“LWB”) had earlier upgraded Route E33P to a two-way whole-day service, but this was misleading because in fact LWB merely provided a one-way service in specific hours instead of offering two-way services with regular trips throughout the day. For railway, she remarked that the department should build Tuen Mun to Tsuen Wan Link as soon as possible because WRL, even if enhanced by using eight-car trains, was not adequate to cope with the 400 000 people to be added to the population of New Territories West in the future.
57. A Member was disappointed with the department’s work report, opining that it should focus on expounding macro transport policies instead of merely reporting on district affairs such as how many new roadside parking spaces or pedestrian crossings had been provided in Tuen Mun. Besides, he said the department had repeatedly emphasised the development of a transportation system with railway as the backbone, but it failed to achieve its policy objective, as evidenced by the fact that residents in New Territories West had to use buses as a main mode of transport because WRL had already reached its capacity. In his view, the department should seek to solve this problem by, for example, considering the construction of Tuen Mun to Tsuen Wan Link, instead of merely reporting on minor traffic engineering projects in the district. Moreover, he hoped that before awarding a franchise contract to the Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Limited (“KMB”), the department could visit the TMDC to hear Members’ opinions about the KMB and consider incorporating Members’ ideas on, among others, sectional fares and interchange discounts in the contract terms.
58. A Member noted that many bus routes departing from Yuen Long operated via the areas of Lam Tei, and that the population of Hung Shui Kiu kept rising. Therefore, he requested the TD to enhance the service of Route 63X, upgrade Route 261P to a whole-day service and switch to double deck buses for Route B2 in order to meet passenger demand in the areas of Lam Tei. Moreover, he suggested the department increase barrier-free facilities as appropriate and consider adopting the
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Action elevated mode in developing other roads to reserve at-grade space for widening of Castle Peak Road.
59. A Member suggested the department design comprehensive cycling tracks in Area 54, which could be linked up with the existing cycling tracks in Po Tin, Leung King and Shan King. Furthermore, she said that while GMB Route 40 charged high fares, its compartments were dilapidated and its lost trips were so frequent that passengers often had to wait more than 30 minutes for a minibus. The public had raised the issue with the TD for many times, but no improvement had been seen so far. Besides, she hoped the TD would strengthen the service of Route 258X, which operated on weekdays only with just one departure from the bus terminus in Po Tin Estate each day. She also said that at the bus terminus there was still space available to accommodate more public transport services. She suggested the department launch a GMB or bus route operating from the terminus to places such as Sheung Shui.
60. A Member said that as HZMB would soon be completed to support the development of “Hong Kong 2030+”, it was believed that Tuen Mun would become the pivot of the Pearl River Delta one hour living circle. He hoped the department would give an account of the development blueprint of Tuen Mun’s future transport network. On bus services, he said that on weekends or public holidays, some buses of Route B3X waited for passengers at the Tuen Mun Town Centre stop, making it difficult for buses of Route 506 to call at the stop. He therefore suggested relocating the bus stop of Route B3X to the bus terminus beneath WR Tuen Mun Station. Besides, quite a number of Tuen Mun residents worked at Cathay City on the airport island, but there was only one trip of Route A33X operating via Cathay City during morning peak hours. He suggested all trips of Route A33X call at Cathay City during peak hours. On GMB routes, as Tuen Mun residents had strong demand for the service of GMB Route 44, he suggested the department consider rationalising some bus routes and launching new services by, for example, designating the bus routes concerned to depart from Sam Shing Estate and travel to Sheung Shui without passing along major roads.
61. A Member said there was strong demand for the service of GMB Route 44 in Tuen Mun North West and some residents were still unable to get aboard after waiting 45 minutes. He suggested a bus route to Sheung Shui be launched in Tuen Mun North West for the convenience of residents in Kin Sang, Po Tin and San Wai. Moreover, given the dense population around Kin Sang Estate and Tsing Tin Road and the continual development of Area 54, he opposed siting the north portal of
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Action TMWB in the area. Furthermore, he requested C for T to consider building multi-storey car parks in Tuen Mun and the MTRCL to deploy more coupled-set vehicles to LR services during peak hours.
62. A Member proposed constructing the north portal of TMWB in an underground tunnel. He hoped C for T would deliberate on the proposal, saying that despite the complicated techniques and high works costs involved in alterations to underground drains, this proposal could minimise impacts on the some 50 000 to 60 000 residents living nearby in Tai Hing and Kin Sang. Besides, as some buses did not run via TMR BBI, he suggested the department widen TMR BBI as soon as possible to allow more buses to call at the stop.
63. A Member said TMWB was still under study and was expected to be complete in 2025 to 2027 at the earliest, whereas TM-CLKL would be open in 2019. As the purpose of TMWB was to divert traffic from TM-CLKL, if the two were not commissioned in a synchronised manner, existing roads in Tuen Mun could hardly cope with the added traffic. Earlier, during a visit to Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area in the Mainland, the Chief Executive had indicated that the toll on HZMB might be lowered to boost its competitiveness. It was believed that if the toll on TM-CLKL was adjusted downward in line with that on HZMB, more vehicles would come to Tuen Mun and roads in the district would thus be overloaded. He suggested the department consider imposing relatively high tolls on non-public transport vehicles using TM-CLKL before the opening of TMWB, in a bid to reduce traffic in Tuen Mun. On railway, he requested C for T to report on the progress of Tuen Mun South Extension and plan Tuen Mun to Tsuen Wan Link. Furthermore, the catchment areas of many modes of public transport in urban districts overlapped, whereas choices of public transport services in Tuen Mun were relatively few. He requested the department to improve the overall transport network of Tuen Mun. He added that bus arrival time display panels and seats, which were provided at many bus stops in urban districts, were put up at only a few bus stops in Tuen Mun. He would like to know the prioritisation criteria for installation of these facilities.
64. A Member noted that in recent years, various places around the world saw the emergence of the bicycle sharing concept and an enthusiasm for cycling as a means of transport. He added that a company was even piloting bicycle sharing in Sha Tin and planned to extend it to Yuen Long and Tuen Mun later. Anticipating a continuous rise in residents’ demand for bicycle facilities, he asked whether the department had any plans on corresponding facilities such as bicycle parking spaces
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Action and cycling tracks.
65. A Member said TMR BBI was very welcomed by residents, but at the same time, Tuen Mun Road had become quite congested because of it. Therefore, he urged the department to explore improvement measures. He further requested the department to confirm the construction of Tuen Mun to Tsuen Wan Link, resume the whole-day service of Route 962, extend the cross-boundary coach service at the Kam Sheung Road stop to Tuen Mun, provide more interchange discounts, and improve road facilities on Sam Shing Street.
66. A Member said the TMDC had long been pursuing the proposal to provide Octopus card value-adding service at TMR BBI. He hoped the department would implement the proposal as soon as possible for the convenience of the public. Moreover, TMWB, HZMB, Tuen Mun South Extension and so forth were all conducive to the development of the overall transport network in Tuen Mun, but if there was no coordination between the openings of these projects, it would be difficult for roads around Tuen Mun Ferry Pier to cope with the huge traffic. On bus routes, as the trips of Routes 59X and 59M were seriously inadequate, there were still a large number of passengers waiting for buses of these routes at TMR BBI after 11:00 p.m. Therefore, the department had to strengthen the services of these routes. Besides, he pointed out that the company offering the “bicycle sharing” service in Sha Tin just used public resources to provide a bicycle rental service, which was a far cry from the real “sharing economy”. He would like the department to comment on this business model.
67. A Member said the trips of GMB Route 44A were not adequate, adding that as Siu Hong was an end stop along this GMB route, some residents were still unable to get aboard after waiting more than an hour. Besides, he believed residents’ demand for this route would keep rising, as the nearby Yan Tin Estate would be occupied soon and it was expected that more than 10 000 people would be added to the population. He urged the department to ameliorate the above problem and consider increasing the service frequency of Routes 67X, 67M and 267X to answer passenger demand in the future.
68. A Member said that at Mrs Ingrid YEUNG’s previous visit to the TMDC, he had asked about the definition of lost trip, so he would like C for T to report on the progress of this issue. Besides, he suggested the department consider extending Routes 960 and 961 beyond their current termini, launching bus routes between Tuen Mun on one side and Tai Po and Tseung Kwan O on the other, introducing
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Action inter-company bus interchange discounts and sectional fares, improving the service of GMB Route 44, and planning transport services in Area 54.
69. A Member said it was expected that traffic on Wong Chu Road, one of the major roads in Tuen Mun Town Centre, would increase significantly after the opening of TM-CLKL. He therefore requested the department to build TMWB as soon as possible without prejudice to the areas of Tai Hing and Kin Sang. Moreover, as the TD encouraged the public to use more public transport and suspended the construction of public car parks, the problem of illegal parking was exacerbated in the district. Goods vehicles or dangerous goods vehicles were often illegally parked on Hang Fu Street and Hang Kwai Street, but the department refused to mark double-yellow lines there on the grounds that these road sections were not busy. Opining that it was difficult for the Police to persistently take enforcement action on the above road sections, he requested the department to take action to solve the problem of illegal parking. He added that there were some hard and sharp objects on the roofs of TMR BBI, which might pose danger to upper deck passengers. He suggested the department take a look at the relevant design.
70. A Member said that while direct bus services to Futian Port were available in Yuen Long and Tin Shui Wai, the TMDC’s repeated requests for the same services were not accepted. At the moment, 24-hour clearance service was provided at Huanggang Port only, but given the movement of large groups of people to and from Shenzhen Bay Port and a government official’s earlier recommendation to the public to consider purchasing properties in Shenzhen, he hoped the department or the relevant departments would indicate whether the Government had considered providing 24-hour clearance service at Shenzhen Bay Port to benefit residents of the entire New Territories West. In addition, he urged the department to improve the services of Route B3 series.
71. A Member said the department had cancelled Route 66, a bus route serving Tai Hing and Shan King, and reallocated its resources to Routes 66M, 66X, 258D, 960 series and so forth. The average time residents spent waiting for vehicles had thus lengthened from 15 minutes to between 25 and 30 minutes. Therefore, the Member requested the department to look at the situation. Furthermore, he urged the department to rationalise the bus routes of Route B3 series and called for enhancement of the service of Route B3A. Besides, he agreed with the provision of 24-hour clearance service at Shenzhen Bay Port and requested the MTRCL to purchase LR vehicles. In addition, he opposed siting the north portal of TMWB on Tsing Tin Road.
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Action
72. A Member said the TD used railway as the backbone of the transportation system and encouraged the public to use more public transport. Yet, the department should also pay regard to the fact that Tuen Mun was a new town in which many residents still needed to use private cars as the planning of railways and bus routes in the district was not yet perfect. The shortage of parking spaces in the district had translated into the problem of illegal parking, so the TD should review its policies on car park construction and consider implementing differentiated policies in new towns and urban areas. Besides, he urged the department to review the alignments of Route B3 series and consider lowering the tolls on Lantau Link after the opening of TM-CLKL.
73. A Member said that as TM-CLKL would be commissioned soon, residents were looking forward to improvement in transport services between Tuen Mun on one side and the airport and Tung Chung on the other, but the TD and bus companies had not yet put forth any proposals for consultation with the TMDC. He hoped the department would consult with the TMDC timely before finalising new bus routes. Besides, he urged the department to review the alignments of Route 62X and 259D as well as its policies on parking spaces.
74. A Member said that if the Government was to promote green transport, it should re-examine the positioning of bicycles in society and provide corresponding facilitation in traffic terms. Besides, he opposed private companies occupying public resources to promote profit-making businesses.
75. A Member reiterated that all buses of Route A33X should run via Cathay City during peak hours.
76. A Member requested the department to improve the service of Route 62X in phases, gradually upgrade the route to a whole-day service, and plan bus services in Area 54 as soon as possible.
77. Mrs Ingrid YEUNG said she was glad to have discussion with Members, whether on district affairs or transport policies. She gave a consolidated response to the comments and enquiries on traffic engineering as follows: (i) The limited land and large population in Hong Kong put constraints on efforts to find land for construction of new roads. As roads could hardly cope with persistent growth in vehicles, people in Hong Kong mainly relied on public transport to travel. The department did not encourage the public
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Action to use private cars, and it controlled the number of private cars by policy means such as the relatively high Motor Vehicles First Registration Tax and licence fee; (ii) The TD provided appropriate quantities of parking spaces in accordance with the Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines (“HKPSG”) in force, provided that such quantities would not motivate people who used public transport to switch to private cars. The department would consider increasing the numbers of parking spaces in light of demand in individual districts; (iii) There were two types of demand for parking spaces, namely demand at place of residence and demand at destination. Regarding demand at place of residence, the HKPSG required that parking spaces should be provided proportionately in different buildings; but thanks to the growth in the average incomes of the public and the decline in vehicle prices, more people owned a private car these days than before. In view of this, the department was reviewing the relevant standards with the Transport and Housing Bureau (“THB”). As for demand at destination, while parking spaces were short in some urban areas, but if the department provided more parking spaces in these areas, more motorists would be attracted there and the problem of inadequate parking spaces could never be solved. The department encouraged the public to use public transport to go to urban areas with sound public transport facilities, such as Tsim Sha Shui and Causeway Bay. Furthermore, when increasing parking spaces, the department had to consider different factors including the supply of private parking spaces in the areas concerned, whether the locations concerned were convenient to motorists and so forth; (iv) The department would take the following measures to boost the supply of parking spaces: (a) more roadside parking spaces would be provided: the department had added about 130 roadside parking spaces in Tuen Mun over the previous three years, some of which were goods vehicle parking spaces for use by motorists including professional drivers; (b) public parking spaces would be reserved in public constructions: the department would provide certain numbers of public parking spaces in newly-built government complexes, so that more parking spaces could be provided on a suitable scale in various districts to meet the public’s need; and (c) the numbers of parking spaces in commercial buildings would be examined: as many shopping centres offered parking discounts to attract patronage, the department would examine the parking facilities provided by developers in the hope that they could at least satisfy the parking space demand created by themselves;
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Action (v) It was difficult for the department to completely solve the problem of inadequate parking spaces within a short period of time. While the department would continue to increase the supply of parking spaces, she hoped the public could also acknowledge that it was impossible for roads in Hong Kong to have endless growth. She also hoped they would think carefully before buying a private car; (vi) In Hong Kong, a dense city, it was not easy to find land for construction of at-grade or elevated roads, as exemplified by the considerable difficulties experienced in determining the alignment of the under-planning Central Kowloon Route. Moreover, many people worried that large-scale civil engineering projects would cause noise or affect landscapes in the future. And the department had to ensure the projects were in compliance with air quality standards. For these reasons, the development of large-scale engineering projects was indeed full of challenges; (vii) Residents’ views on the north portal of TMWB, whether they were for or against, were understandable. She would pass the proposal to relocate underground drains and construct the north portal of TMWB in a tunnel to professional engineers for study, and further follow up on the works with the THB and the Highways Department (“HyD”) in a bid to narrow the time gap between the openings of TMWB and TM-CLKL; (viii) The HyD had announced earlier that due to technical difficulties, the opening of the Northern Connection of TM-CLKL was expected to be delayed until 2020. Thus, it was still necessary to use North Lantau Highway for transport between Tuen Mun and the airport in the near future. The department would plan the transport arrangements for TM-CLKL in due course and consult with the TMDC; (ix) In respect of road tolls, the Government had various considerations including construction costs, operating expenses, effectiveness in traffic management and so forth. Given the large number of passengers using public transport, road tolls had little actual impacts on passengers. Even if road tolls for public transport were reduced or waived, there might not be room for downward adjustments to fares. The department would examine the proposal with the THB; (x) The Government was always active in providing barrier-free facilities. Following the first phase of “Universal Accessibility Programme”, the Government had again invited district councils (“DCs”) to offer ideas on the second phase of the programme in the previous year. She would refer the Member’s proposal to expedite the provision of barrier-free access to the HyD for consideration;
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Action (xi) She concurred with the view that the “bicycle sharing” recently seen in New Territories East was in effect no different from bicycle hire, except only that its business model was different from that of a traditional bicycle shop. The “bicycle sharing” service was a profit-making business and used public bicycle parking spaces, but under the current legal regime, bicycle parking spaces were open for free use by the public without specific restrictions. Even bicycles used for meal delivery or those hired by bicycle shops could be parked at public bicycle parking spaces. Yet, she agreed that bicycle parking spaces were relatively short in New Territories, so she would review the current bicycle parking policies with the THB; (xii) It was suggested in the Policy Address for the current year that community bicycle rental services for “first mile” and “last mile” short-distance connection be developed by non-profit-making organisations. Moreover, the department would continue to provide more bicycle parking spaces at suitable locations; (xiii) When examining the proposal to mark double-yellow lines on some road sections, the department would consider whether vehicle standing was unsuitable and whether there was demand for passenger pick-up/drop-off or goods loading/unloading on the road sections concerned; (xiv) The significant rise in the number of private cars in recent years had caused increasingly rampant illegal parking in urban areas and new towns. The number of private cars in Hong Kong had grown by 49% from 2006 to 2016, whereas the length of roads had increased by only 6% over the same period. The department would use different means to mitigate the problem of illegal parking, including stepping up police enforcement, providing more parking spaces at suitable places and proposing a higher fixed penalty for illegal parking; (xv) The proposal for 24-hour clearance at Shenzhen Bay Port involved not only the TD’s public transport arrangements but, moreover, the operational considerations of the Security Bureau (“SB”) and different law enforcement agencies, and the support of Shenzhen authorities was also necessary. She would refer the proposal to the SB and relevant departments for consideration; (xvi) The TD would examine whether it was necessary to build a link leading from So Kwun Wat Road to Kwun Fat Street, which was a new proposal. Besides, she would ask engineers of the department to re-examine the road design of Sam Shing Street; and (xvii) The department would join the CEDD and the Housing Department to follow up on the matters concerning cycling tracks in Tuen Mun Area 54 and the
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Action overall planning for the cycling track network in Tuen Mun.
78. Mrs Ingrid YEUNG gave a consolidated response to Members’ comments and enquires on the services of buses and GMBs as follows: (i) It was the TD’s policy that bus services to a port should be provided in the district nearest to the port. This explained why Yuen Long was the only district with direct bus services to Futian Port among the 18 districts in Hong Kong, and residents in other districts needed to go to Yuen Long for transferring to Route B1 to the port. Moreover, if direct bus routes to ports were launched in every district, traffic conditions around the ports would be seriously affected. She hoped Members would understand that this was a territory-wide transport policy, rather than preferential treatment the department gave to Yuen Long; (ii) The governments of Guangdong and Hong Kong had launched six cross-boundary bus routes in 2004, one of which operated at Kam Sheung Road with fixed stopping points, routings and service schedules. She admitted that the patronage of this route had declined in recent years. The department would explore improvement measures with the operator. If the operator had any plan to set up a stop in Tuen Mun, the department would thoroughly consider its proposal; (iii) Not all bus routes plying between Tuen Mun and urban districts called at TMR BBI, and this had nothing to do with the size or utilisation rate of TMR BBI, but the department’s hope for diversified designs of different bus routes. Statistics showed that it usually took three to five minutes for a bus to call at TMR BBI, drop off and pick up passengers, and then leave the interchange, which was in line with the target of TMR BBI’s design. Moreover, the current utilisation rate of TMR BBI was about 40%, so the department considered that there was no urgent need to expand TMR BBI, but it kept an open mind on expanding TMR BBI and designating more bus routes to call at TMR BBI in the future. Besides, she would contact the HyD for a look at the situation of the roofs of TMR BBI; (iv) Besides selling simple goods, the convenience store operated by the KMB at Tai Lam Tunnel Interchange also provided toilets, Octopus card value-adding service and transport information. Furthermore, the KMB wanted to launch similar services at other interchanges. While it was noted that the Lands Department had no objection in principle to the KMB setting up customer services kiosks at the interchange, the relevant departments still needed time to handle different formalities and administrative work; (v) As the various bus routes plying between New Territories and the airport
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Action were operated under the same franchise, the department could hardly single out individual airport bus routes for re-tender. If a separate tendering exercise was carried out for each airport bus route, there might be no contractor willing to operate routes with relatively low patronage, so the department did not agree with the proposal to single out individual airport bus routes for re-tender. If the public had any opinions on specific bus routes, the department would follow them up with bus companies and request the companies to make improvements; (vi) The department had reminded LWB to increase bus resources and planned to strengthen the services of some routes; (vii) Route A airport buses mainly served passengers going to airport terminals, whereas Route E buses mainly served people working on the airport island. It followed that the arrangement by which some trips of Route A33X operated via Cathay City was an exception. The department would examine with the bus company the proposal that all trips of Route A33X should enter Cathay City; (viii) The department had proposed upgrading Route 62X to a whole-day service and increase its service frequency to every 20 minutes, but the service frequency of other similar routes, such as Route 259D, had to be decreased accordingly for effective use of resources. The TMDC had not supported the above proposal at last. The department would further study the service arrangements for Route 62X with the bus company; (ix) If the department endlessly strengthened direct bus services to urban districts, the already-busy roads in urban districts would become more and more congested, and the efforts for swifter transport to urban districts would come to naught at last. In view of this, some DC members of urban districts had requested the department to keep the number of buses entering their districts down to ease traffic congestion. Thorough examination and consideration were thus called for in the TD’s planning for bus routes; (x) The department would carefully consider the proposal to launch bus routes from Tuen Mun to Tai Po and Tseung Kwan O and the other way round. It would also explore the feasibility of planning the above routes or launching pilot schemes; (xi) Tuen Mun Area 54 would be occupied in phases, with 10 000 or so residents going to move in at the end of 2017 in the first phase and the next phase scheduled for 2020. In view of the occupation of Yan Tin Estate in Tuen Mun Area 54, the department had made transport arrangements accordingly, which included providing two more trips for each of Routes 67X and 67M respectively and two more trips of Route 267X for peak hours in the morning
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Action and afternoon respectively. In addition, the bus company had agreed to increase the service frequency of Routes 67X and 67M in light of patronage, while the department would continue to monitor demand in the district; (xii) The department would study passenger demand in Po Tin Estate and the feasibility of launching new services; (xiii) The proposal to resume the whole-day service of Route 962 had been discussed for a long time, and the response given by the TD’s district representative was the carefully thought-out reply of the department. While the department would consider the proposal with the operator based on the principle of effective use of public transport and road resources, transport to some destinations might still have to rely on transfer services; (xiv) The TD would examine with bus companies whether bus routes departing from Hung Shui Kiu could serve the needs of Lam Tei residents and explore the feasibility of replacing single-deck buses with double-deck ones and offering whole-day services by some routes; (xv) The public needed not worry about the safety of places for standees on buses, as it had been tested and verified by experts. Besides, bus fares were determined having regard to the overall patronage, so if only seats were provided on long-haul buses, patronage would drop as a result and fares would inevitably have to be increased. If the public welcomed this kind of service and did not mind fare adjustments, the department would explore the feasibility of this proposal with bus companies; (xvi) Before the Government’s launch of the funding scheme, the KMB had installed bus arrival time display panels and seats at bus stops with higher patronage on its own initiative. To speed up the installation of these facilities, the Government had rolled out the funding scheme for bus companies in the previous year, under which the facilities concerned would gradually be provided in Tuen Mun in the coming three years; (xvii) The TD had re-defined lost trip in view of the Ombudsman’s recommendations. The department had used to calculate lost trip data on a daily basis: if there were 100 scheduled trips a day, there would be a lost trip if only 99 operated, but there would be no lost trip if 100 trips operated and only some of the trips failed to operate on schedule. Currently, the department used a breakdown approach where lost trip data in different periods of time, including morning and afternoon peak hours, non-peak hours and midnight hours, were calculated. Bus companies had ameliorated the lost trip situations in the recent couple of years, with the lost trip rate of the KMB consistently below 2%. The department would continue to urge bus companies to improve their services;
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Action (xviii) Given the huge demand for public transport in urban districts, railways, buses and minibuses might be running together on the same road sections in urban districts to provide similar services. However, passengers travelling from Tuen Mun to Sheung Shui were relatively scattered, so the route of GMB Route 44 was relatively long to cater for passenger needs and make good use of resources. The department would review the patronage of GMB Route 44 and explore whether there was a need to provide a bus route to supplement the service of the GMB route; (xix) The department had been seeking improvements to transport services in the area of So Kwun Wat, including the proposal to launch Routes 962E and 261B. The TD would keep monitoring passenger demand in the area; (xx) It was proposed in the THB’s study on public transport policies that the number of seats on minibuses be increased to 19, and the bureau would introduce a bill to the LegCo later. It was hoped that the problem of inadequate services of GMB Routes 44 and 45 could be mitigated in the near future. The department would also pay attention to the relevant patronage and, when appropriate, request the operators to increase resources to meet demand; and (xxi) The TD granted the operating right of GMBs through the Passenger Service Licences (“PSLs”) and conducted interim reviews within PSL validity periods. The department had previously given warnings to poorly performing GMB operators after interim reviews and decided after enquiries not to renew their licences upon expiry. The department would use the same approach to manage the performance of operators of GMBs in various districts.
79. Mrs Ingrid YEUNG gave a consolidated response to Members’ comments and enquiries on railway-related matters as follows: (i) Railway development was mainly a duty of the THB and the Railway Development Office of the HyD. She would refer the proposal for construction of Tuen Mun to Tsuen Wan Link to the relevant bureau and department for consideration; (ii) It was expected that WR’s carrying capacity would rise by 14% after all its trains were upgraded to eight-car trains and by 20% after the forthcoming upgrade of its signal system. It was believed that WR patronage would be boosted significantly by the two upgrades; (iii) The MTRCL had procured 40 LR vehicles, 30 of which would be used to replace the existing phase 2 vehicles while the other 10 were new resources. The vehicles would be delivered at different times in 2019. The THB, the
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Action TD and the MTRCL would join together to deliberate on the service routes of the 10 vehicles; (iv) As an open transport system, LR shared roads with other modes of transport. Roads might be congested if the LR traffic volume was significantly boosted by, for example, increases in service frequency and deployment of more coupled-set vehicles. The department had to carefully examine the proposal concerned; and (v) For the proposal to elevate LR to unleash roads for widening of Castle Peak Road, she would refer it to the TD’s engineers and the related departments for examination.
80. A Member said she had proposed many years before that a slip road be built leading from Tsing Ying Road behind Harrow International School to Tuen Mun Road. While the department had rejected the proposal, she would continue to pursue it. Moreover, in the petition she presented to Mrs Ingrid YEUNG on the day of the meeting, it was proposed that another slip road be built leading from So Kwun Wat Road to Castle Peak Road. She hoped the department could give consideration to it.
81. A Member said that as there were a number of restaurants on Shek Pai Tau Road near Tai Hing Estate and many drivers were attracted there, the problem of illegal parking in that area was so exceptionally serious that even bus operation was impaired. He suggested the department consider fitting closed-circuit televisions to the bus stops and traffic lights there to facilitate the Police’s efforts against illegal parking.
82. A Member said she did not accept the department’s explanation about the policy on bus routes to Futian Port. Besides, she requested the department to review Bus Routes B3 and 962 series.
83. A Member said a number of serious traffic accidents had happened since the commissioning of LR, adding that captains had to be particularly cautious on Tsing Lun Road, where a number of junctions were located. In view of this, if the elevated mode was adopted for LR operation between Hung Shui Kiu and Lam Tei, not only could accidents be reduced but the development of Castle Peak Road and Tuen Mun cycling tracks could also be facilitated.
84. A Member requested the department to indicate whether the governments of the two places had discussed arrangements for 24-hour clearance at Shenzhen Bay.
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Action He also called for the TD’s review of the alignments of Route B3 series and suggested GMB Route 44B operate as a circular route to expand its catchment area to Futian Port.
85. A Member said he would oppose Route 962E operating via Sham Tseng unless the whole-day service of Route 962 was resumed.
86. A Member hoped C for T would review the service of GMB Route 40 as promised. She also requested the department’s district representative to keep in contact with her.
87. A Member again requested C for T to give a response on the issue of launching GMB services in Lung Yat Estate.
88. A Member suggested the department request the KMB and the MTRCL to offer monthly pass concessions and request the MTRCL to renovate LR platforms in Tuen Mun. Besides, he enquired whether 24-hour clearance would be implemented at the port of HZMB; and if yes, he would suggest the same arrangement be made at Shenzhen Bay Port, which would be connected with HZMB.
89. Mrs Ingrid YEUNG gave a consolidated response to Members’ comments and enquiries as follows: (i) The department would examine the new proposal to build a slip road leading from So Kwun Wat Road to Castle Peak Road; (ii) It was illegal to park a car at a bus stop. Besides, the Police was considering putting up closed-circuit televisions across the territory to facilitate its efforts against illegal parking. The THB and the TD would render full cooperation; (iii) For clarification, cross-boundary buses and public buses to ports were two different services - the former was a service jointly worked out by the governments of Guangdong and Hong Kong in 2004. As the patronage of the cross-boundary buses departing from Kam Sheung Road declined, the department would review their service arrangements and make improvements accordingly; (iv) Lok Ma Chau Spur Line had initially been designed to provide only rail service for boundary crossing passengers. Later, upon the LegCo’s request, the department had built Lok Ma Chau Public Transport Interchange in the vicinity to allow limited public transport services to the area. Space was
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Action limited in the interchange, and the nearby land had been zoned for different uses. Moreover, the EPD had strongly requested the HyD to limit the number of vehicles travelling to the area to avoid impacts on the environment. Due to these constraints, the TD could hardly allow more public transport to the area. Currently, some parking spaces were reserved in the area for school buses carrying cross-boundary students during peak hours, but the number of cross-boundary students was expected to gradually drop after 2018. If this kind of demand for parking spaces declined in the future, the department would consider allowing other public transport to the area. Except in such a case, the department was unlikely to increase public transport services to the area; (v) The department would review the overall service levels of Route B3 and Route 962 series with bus companies; (vi) Three road sections in Hong Kong, namely Des Voeux Road Central in Central, Nathan Road and Causeway Bay, were low emission zones, and most road sections in Causeway Bay had been designated as low emission zones. Accordingly, the TD had to minimise traffic on these road sections to improve air quality. After persistent efforts over a period of time, the department had managed to rationalise bus routes in Hong Kong Island to reduce traffic in Causeway Bay, and its policy objective would be defeated if Route 960 or 961 was extended beyond its current terminus to Causeway Bay. The department noted the demand of Tuen Mun and would consider this suggestion if there was a need to review bus routes operating via Causeway Bay in the future; (vii) The TD was not the department handling immigration policies. She would refer the proposal for 24-hour clearance at Shenzhen Bay Port to the SB and relevant departments for consideration; (viii) The department would thoroughly examine the alignment of Route 962E, and it promised not to deploy the existing resources of Route 962 to other bus routes; (ix) Records had been checked and the department had never promised to launch GMB routes in Lung Yat Estate. Currently, residents of Lung Yat Estate could go to the bus terminus in Lung Mun Oasis for a number of bus routes. The department would continue to keep track of such demand and adjust relevant services when appropriate; (x) When the department discussed a franchise agreement with the KMB, the KMB had proposed the introduction of a monthly pass and the department had welcomed the proposal. But at the moment, the KMB’s proposal was not in line with the department’s principles, namely (a) the monthly pass
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Action could be widely used in different bus routes and (b) the monthly pass was reasonably priced so as not to bring pressure for fare hikes in the short run. Therefore, the KMB was reviewing its proposal and the department would continue to follow the matter up with the KMB; and (xi) It had been a long time since LR platforms were built, and barrier-free facilities on some platforms required renovation. The department would, as far as possible, urge the MTRCL to improve facilities on LR platforms.
90. A Member held the view that Mrs Ingrid YEUNG had failed to give a precise answer to her question about launching GMB routes in Lung Yat Estate.
91. The Chairman thanked Mrs Ingrid YEUNG for attending the meeting. He invited her to consider the views of the TMDC and examine the arrangements for transport services in Lung Yat Estate.
V. Confirmation of Minutes of the 9th Meeting held on 7 March 2017 92. The Chairman said that on 28 April 2017, the Secretariat had sent the draft of the above minutes to all participants of the meeting. As no proposed amendments had been received thereafter and no amendments were proposed by Members at this meeting, the above minutes were confirmed.
VI. Discussion Items (A) Jockey Club Age-friendly City Project (TMDC Paper No. 16/2017) 93. The Chairman said that as the representatives of the Hong Kong Jockey Club (“HKJC”) who were responsible for introducing discussion item IV(C), namely the Jockey Club Age-friendly City (“JCAFC”) Project, would have other commitments in the afternoon, he suggested the discussion of the above item be brought forward. The TMDC agreed with this arrangement.
94. The Chairman went on to say that representatives of the HKJC and Lingnan University (“LU”) had approached him earlier for an introduction to the JCAFC Project. As he knew, the HKJC Charities Trust had worked with other districts to promote the project before and would like to extend it to Tuen Mun in the current year. Therefore, he had invited representatives from the HKJC and LU to the current TMDC meeting to introduce the project to Members.
95. Then, the Chairman welcomed Ms Agnes LAU and Mr Timothy TAM, Project Managers, Charities, of the HKJC; and also Ms Charmaine LEUNG,
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Action Assistant Manager, Ms Helen NGAI, Project Officer, and Ms Wing AU, Project Officer, of the Asia-Pacific Institute of Ageing Studies of LU, to the meeting.
96. Mr Timothy TAM and Ms Agnes LAU of the HKJC gave a PowerPoint presentation to introduce the JCAFC Project and invited the TMDC to offer views on and give support to the following proposals: (i) The TMDC should act as a partner in the JCAFC Project; (ii) The Social Services Committee (“SSC”) of the TMDC should serve as a discussion platform to give ideas on the action plan and join in the promotion of district-based programmes; (iii) Two or three Members should be nominated to join the District-based Programmes Assessment Group of the JCAFC Project; and (iv) After the Asia-Pacific Institute of Ageing Studies of LU completed its baseline assessment, non-government organisations or local organisations in Tuen Mun should be invited to submit applications for district-based programmes to the HKJC in accordance with the standards/procedures on the use of funding under the project.
97. The Chairman said that as indicated in paragraph 10 of the paper, the TMDC was invited to be a partner in the JCAFC Project. He suggested passing the project to the SSC for follow-up and asked whether Members agreed with the above arrangements. As Members had no objection, the Chairman announced the TMDC’s endorsement of the arrangements. Then, he invited Members to nominate two or three Members to join the District-based Programmes Assessment Group of the JCAFC Project.
98. Mr CHU Yiu-wah nominated Ms SO Ka-man as a member of the above assessment group. Mr CHAN Man-wah seconded the nomination and Ms SO Ka-man accepted the nomination.
99. Mr CHAN Man-wah nominated Ms CHING Chi-hung as a member of the above assessment group. Mr TSANG Hin-hong seconded the nomination and Ms CHING Chi-hung accepted the nomination.
100. Ms LUNG Shui-hing nominated Mr TSANG Hin-hong as a member of the above assessment group. Ms SO Ka-man seconded the nomination and Mr TSANG Hin-hong accepted the nomination.
101. The Chairman concluded by saying that the TMDC resolved to act as a
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Action partner in the JCAFC Project, pass the project-related matters to the SSC for follow-up, and appoint Ms SO Ka-man, Ms CHING Chi-hung and Mr TSANG Hin-hong as members of the District-based Programmes Assessment Group of the JCAFC.
(B) TMDO Annual District Plan 2017/18 (TMDC Paper No. 14/2017) 102. District Officer (Tuen Mun) (“DO(TM)”) briefly introduced the above paper to Members, saying that it explained the directions for the TMDO’s work in the year 2017/18, which included: (i) the work of various committees (e.g. the District Fight Crime Committee (Tuen Mun District), the District Fire Safety Committee (Tuen Mun District), the Tuen Mun District Civic Education Committee, and the Tuen Mun District Youth Programme Committee) and various area committees; (ii) building management; (iii) promotion of tourism in the district; (iv) support to new arrivals; (v) minor works for improvement to the district environment (e.g. rural minor works, district minor works and the Tuen Mun river beautification scheme); (vi) the Signature Project Scheme; (vii) the District-led Actions Scheme (“DAS”); and (viii) celebrations on the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the HHSAR.
103. Regarding the Signature Project Scheme in Tuen Mun District, DO(TM) said that after securing the TMDC’s support, the scheme had received funding from the LegCo in the previous year and its various works had been commenced. The works relating to the project “Revitalisation of Tuen Mun River and Surrounding Areas” were expected to be complete one after another from 2018 to 2019. For the project “Promotion of Youth Development in Tuen Mun”, Yan Oi Tong had formally launched the services on 1 April 2017, and the renovation works for Youth Space in Tseng Choi Street were expected to be complete in the third quarter of 2017.
104. Regarding the DAS, DO(TM) said that in the previous year the TMDO had carried out DAS work in three areas, namely (i) tackling illegal shop-front extension; (ii) tackling illegal parking of bicycles; and (iii) strengthening mosquito/pest control. To sum up, work in all the three areas had delivered results, and were recognised by the TMDC and the Tuen Mun District Management Committee (“TMDMC”). In the year 2017/18, the TMDO’s focus in DAS work would remain on the above three areas.
105. DO(TM) further said the TMDO’s district plan for the year 2017/18 had been submitted to the TMDMC and endorsed by TMDMC members at its meeting on 27 April 2017. She said Members were welcome to offer views on the plan and she
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Action looked forward to Members’ support for the TMDO’s work in the year 2017/18.
106. Members had no comments and enquiries. The Chairman thanked DO(TM) for her introduction to the paper.
(C) Work Plan of ICAC Regional Office (New Territories North West), 2017/18 (TMDC Paper No. 15/2017) 107. The Chairman welcomed Mr NG Kwok-chi, Regional Officer, New Territories West, Mr Franklin CHIU, Deputy Regional Officer, Regional Office (New Territories North West), and Ms Winnie WA, Senior Community Relations Officer, of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (“ICAC”) to the meeting.
108. Mr NG Kwok-chi of the ICAC gave a PowerPoint presentation to introduce the Work Plan of ICAC Regional Office (New Territories North West), 2017/18
109. The Chairman noted that as stated in paragraph 6 of the paper, the ICAC planned to invite the TMDC and the TMDO to join it to organise, and suitable organisations in the district to co-organise, an array of district-based probity promotion activities themed on “All for Integrity” in the year 2017/18, with an aim to disseminate integrity and probity messages across Tuen Mun. He said he learnt that the TMDO had accepted the invitation.
110. The Chairman added that the TMDC had joined the ICAC to organise this kind of probity promotion activities for many years. As in previous times, the ICAC would like to report to Members on the progress of the project and hear the TMDC’s opinions on the project through the SSC. In addition, as the ICAC might need to use the logo of the TMDC in the publicity for the related activities, the Chairman consulted Members about this.
111. As Members had no comments, the TMDC endorsed the above arrangements. The Chairman asked the SSC to further follow up on the related matters.
(D) Request for Stringent Control against Mainlanders’ Street Arts Performance and Begging Activities (TMDC Paper No. 17/2017) 112. A number of Members held the view that the TMDC should not discuss this
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Action paper as the word “Mainlanders” in the paper might be alleged to be discriminatory.
113. The proposer of the paper said he had no intention to label any person, adding that he had collected sufficient information before submitting the paper and the opinions concerned were grounded. References in the paper to the situations in other districts served to explain the social issue concerned and the paper aimed to offer views to the Government. Yet, he had no opinion if the TMDC considered it was not appropriate to discuss the matter concerned.
114. In view of Members’ opinions, the Chairman announced that the TMDC would not discuss the matter in question, adding that if the proposer of the paper wanted to put the matter up for discussion, he might amend the contents of the paper and submit it again for discussion by the TMDC in the future.
VII. Reports from Government (A) Reports by Tuen Mun Area Committees (B) The 3rd Report of TMDMC 2017 (TMDC Papers No. 18/2017 and 19/2017) 115. Members perused the above two reports.
(C) Report by Tuen Mun Police District (TMDC Paper No. 20/2017) 116. Members perused the content of the above report.
117. Ms Tammy MAK, District Commander (Tuen Mun) of the Hong Kong Police Force (“HKPF”), elaborated on the paper, saying that crime figures for Tuen Mun had slightly risen in the previous three months, and the top three crimes in the district had been shop theft, miscellaneous thefts and criminal damage, with the former two crimes taking up 42% of the overall crime figure. She further noted that deception had recently been ranked among the top three crimes in Hong Kong and telephone deception cases were on a rebound, so she hoped Members would urge the public to be vigilant against any persons who claimed to be law enforcement officers or any persons’ requests for personal particulars or deposit of money into their accounts. Also on the rise had been online shopping fraud cases, which mainly involved transactions of concert tickets and luxury brand handbags and watches. Victims in these cases could not receive goods after payment. In view of this, the Tuen Mun Police District would strengthen its efforts to disseminate crime prevention messages in this regard. While the crime figure for serious drug offences in the first three months of 2017 had risen on the same period
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Action in the previous year, this did not point to a worsening situation but showed that the efforts made by the Tuen Mun Police District, the New Territories North Headquarters and the Narcotics Bureau in the previous three months had borne fruit - they had detected a case of dangerous drugs manufacturing, 12 cases of dangerous drugs trafficking and 11 cases of dangerous drugs possession, with 33 suspects arrested.
118. A Member said she and her friends had received similar deceptive phone calls from persons who claimed to be officers of the Immigration Department. The public usually did not report to the Police after receiving such calls, so the actual figure in this regard should be even higher than the figure in the report. She opined that besides councillors, the Government should also widely publicise how rampant the problem was.
119. A Member said that as burglary was rampant in villages (e.g. Tsz Tin Tsuen, Po Tong Ha Village and Siu Hang Tsuen) recently, it was hoped that the Police would step up patrol in villages and promote crime prevention awareness in this regard.
120. Ms Tammy MAK, District Commander (Tuen Mun) of the HKPF, responded that the Police was equally concerned about telephone deception cases and it would continue to promote crime prevention awareness in this regard among the public through different channels. Besides, the Police would get in touch with the staff of banks and exchange shops to remind them to report to the Police immediately about any withdrawals of large sums of money by elderly persons, so that the Police could look into the cases. The Police was also concerned about burglary cases and it noticed that village residents sometimes did not lock up their windows and doors. Therefore, colleagues of the Police Community Relations Office and the Regional Crime Prevention Office, New Territories North, would frequently promote crime prevention awareness in this regard among villagers and introduce some crime prevention facilities to them to protect their lives and property. The problem of burglary in Tuen Mun was relatively steady, but the Police would strengthen patrol against burglars’ actions in villages during weekends and long holidays.
121. The Chairman thanked Ms Tammy MAK, District Commander (Tuen Mun) of the HKPF, for her responses.
(D) Signature Project Scheme in Tuen Mun District 122. DO(TM) gave a PowerPoint presentation to update Members about the
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Action project “Revitalisation of Tuen Mun River and Surrounding Areas”. She said that on the works for installation of decorative lighting, the HyD had completed the first-phase installation works in March 2017, in which some 130 decorative lights were installed at Yau Oi Estate, Wu Shan Recreation Playground, riverside areas near the Citybus depot, and the vicinity of MTR Tuen Mun Station. The HyD was preparing for the second-phase installation works, in which about 67 lamp posts and 108 light caps would be installed on Tuen Mun Heung Sze Wui Road. The works were expected to be complete in the first quarter of 2018. As for the third-phase installation works, part of the proposed road section (i.e. Castle Peak Road - Hoh Fuk Tong to Gold Coast) overlapped with a site of the widening works for Castle Peak Road - Castle Peak Bay Section, which were under judicial review. To avoid endless delay in the decorative lighting installation works, it was proposed that other suitable road sections of Castle Peak Road be selected for decorative lighting installation. The TMDO and the HyD were examining this proposal and would report back to the TMDC in due course.
123. DO(TM) then reported on the latest progress of the project “Promotion of Youth Development in Tuen Mun”, saying that Yan Oi Tong had formally launched the project on 1 April 2017 and provided the services in accordance with the service details and financial arrangements for the year 2017/18, which had been endorsed by the TMDC on 7 March 2017. A ceremony had been held on 18 March 2017 to kick off the renovation of Youth Space in Tseng Choi Street, and the works were expected to be complete in the third quarter of 2017.
124. For the status of other work, DO(TM) said the contract for the works for the open space in Choi Yee Bridge had been awarded on 3 February 2017, adding that the works had been commenced on 20 February 2017 and were expected to be complete in the first quarter of 2019. Attended by more than 10 Members, a lively ceremony had been held on 7 April 2017 to mark the commencement of the works. She further said the beautification works for the riverside near Tuen Mun Swimming Pool and the area near the riverside park had been commenced in January 2017, and were expected to be complete in the first quarter of 2018. Besides, the TMDO was actively discussing the arrangements for artworks display in the district with the LCSD’s Art Promotion Office and Tuen Mun District Leisure Services Office. It also planned to invite local artists to design artworks with practical value. The TMDO would report back to the TMDC in due course.
125. Members had no comments or questions on the above matters. The Chairman thanked DO(TM) for her report.
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Action
VIII. Reports by TMDC Representatives 126. The TMDC representatives had nothing particular to report.
IX. Members’ Enquiries to Government Departments 127. As Members had no questions for the government departments, the representatives of all the government departments except the TMDO left the meeting.
X. In-house Matters (A) Members Joining or Resigning from Committees and Working Groups under TMDC 128. The Secretary reported that no Members had joined or resigned from committees or working groups under the TMDC over the previous two months.
(B) Adjustment to Ceilings of Expenditure Items in TMDC Funding Guidelines on Implementation of “Community Involvement Projects” (TMDC Paper No. A22/2017) 129. Members perused the content of the above paper.
130. The Chairman said many district organisations and Members had expressed the view that the funding caps for various projects were too low, and the overall funding for the new financial year would be increased; therefore, the paper suggested that the caps for all projects within the funding guidelines should be increased by about 10%, and that the funding to projects in respect of which Members proposed special adjustments to caps should be further increased. The proposed amendments to the amounts were marked in revision mode in the annex to the paper. The paper also proposed that the maximum amount of funding to general district organisations in each round and the funding cap for each application should be increased by about 10%. In other words, the maximum amount of funding to general district organisations in each round would be adjusted from $27,000 to $ 30,000 and the funding cap for each application should be adjusted from $16,000 to $18,000. The above adjustments had been recommended by the Finance, Administration and Publicity Committee (“FAPC”) and, if endorsed by the TMDC, they would apply in the applications for activities to be held in or after December 2017.
131. The Chairman asked Members to consider whether they supported the amendments proposed in the paper. As Members had no comments, the Chairman
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Action announced that all the amendments proposed in the paper were endorsed.
(C) Position of TMDC Funds as at 26 April 2017 (TMDC Paper No. A23/2017) 132. Members perused the content of the above paper.
133. The Chairman said the estimated funding in the paper was tentative only, since the Home Affairs Department (“HAD”) had yet to announce the amount of funding for the current financial year. While the actual amount of funding was to be announced, the FAPC and the TMDC had examined and approved earlier certain applications for funding in the current financial year. As at 26 April 2017, the TMDC had allocated a total of $18,258,335 to support 406 Community Involvement Projects, and the actual amount of disbursement was $0.
134. Before the discussion of “Outstanding Payments for Projects Approved in Financial Year 2016/17” and “Draft Budget of TMDC Funds in Financial Year 2017/18”, the Chairman said the TMDC should handle matters relating to declaration of interests in a strict manner in view of the recommendations on ways to handle declaration of interests put forward in the audit report on the “Provision of DC Funds for Community Involvement Projects” newly released by the Audit Commission. Details on the arrangements for declaration of interests could be discussed in depth at FAPC meetings in due course, but for the current meeting, he would like Members to make proper declarations of interests when draft budgets for funding and applications for funding were discussed. If the posts or other capacity of Members involved with any partner organisations or other district organisations of TMDC-funded activities had not yet been stated in the Form for Declaration of Interests in Handling TMDC Funds or the Registration of DC Member’s Interests, the Members were required to declare the interests even if they did not intend to speak or vote on the matters concerned. The Chairman would, in accordance with Order 39(11) of the Standing Order, decide whether the Members who had declared interests might speak or vote on the matters concerned, might remain in the meeting as observers, or should withdraw from the meeting. All cases of declaration of interests would be recorded in the minutes of the meeting.
(D) Outstanding Payments for Projects Approved in Financial Year 2016/17 (TMDC Paper No. A24/2017) 135. Members perused the content of the above paper.
136. The Chairman asked if there were any Members who wished to declare
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Action interests in this funding application. No Member indicated a wish to do so. The Chairman went on to say that the outstanding payments in the financial year 2016/17 would be deferred until the financial year 2017/18. He further said the applications concerned had been endorsed by the FAPC, and those relating to activities with the funding amounts exceeding $100,000 were set out in the paper for final endorsement by the TMDC.
137. As Members had no comments, the Chairman announced that the applications for TMDC Funds set out in the paper were endorsed.
(E) Draft Budget of TMDC Funds in Financial Year 2017/18 (TMDC Paper No. A25/2017) 138. The Chairman asked if there were any Members who wished to declare interests in this funding application. No Member indicated a wish to do so. The Chairman went on to say that the draft budget for the year 2017/18 was set out in the paper and, though not yet announced by the HAD, the approved amount of funding to the TMDC for the financial year 2017/18 was estimated at around $29,900,000. He added that the comments of the chairmen and vice-chairmen of the TMDC and its committees had been included in the draft and the FAPC had endorsed the draft earlier.
139. As Members had no comments, the Chairman announced that the paper was endorsed, and said that if the funding amount to be announced subsequently by the HAD was in a way different from the current estimated amount, the Secretariat might have to fine-tune the funding budget and would consult with Members by circulation of papers, so as to endorse the finalised draft budget.
[Post-meeting note: The HAD subsequently announced that the approved amount of funding to Tuen Mun was $30,330,000, which was slightly higher than the estimated amount. As the difference was insignificant, there was no need for the TMDC to adjust the already-approved funding items. The Secretariat informed TMDC Members about the funding amount by email on 5 May 2017.]
(F) Reports by Committees (TMDC Papers No. A26/2017 to A31/2017) 140. Members perused the above six reports.
141. As Members had no comments on the six reports, the Chairman announced that the TMDC endorsed the above reports.
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Action
(G) Reports by Working Groups (TMDC Papers No. A32/2017 to A34/2017) 142. Members perused the above three reports.
143. The Vice-chairman, who was also the Convenor of the Working Group on Tuen Mun Major Activities, said the Tuen Mun Beach Festival 2017 Carnival and the Tuen Mun Beach Festival 2017 organised by the working group would take place at Tuen Mun Cultural Square at 3:00 p.m. on 21 May 2017 (Sunday) and at Golden Beach on 27 May 2017 (Saturday) respectively. He encouraged Members to attend the events. Besides, the TMDO would deliver the souvenirs of the events to Members’ offices later for distribution to the public.
144. In addition, Mr KWAN Yu-keung, Senior Liaison Officer (1) (Acting) of the TMDO, said the souvenirs included damage-free hanging hooks, meal boxes with environmental bags, cooling towels, beach balls and so forth.
145. The Chairman elaborated on the report of the Working Group on the Study Tour to HZMB, saying that while the working group had set the preliminary directions for the study tour, including the proposed dates of 23 to 25 August or 28 to 30 August 2017, the exact dates would be confirmed after further information (including the detailed itinerary and confirmations from receiving organisations) was available. He added that the working group would submit papers to the TMDC for examination and approval.
146. As Members had no further comments on the above three reports, the Chairman announced that the TMDC endorsed the contents of the three reports.
XI. Any Other Business (A) The 8th “Quit to Win” Smoke-free Community Campaign 147. The Chairman said a letter had been received from the Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health (“COSH”) indicating that the 8th “Quit to Win” Smoke-free Community Campaign would be organised to disseminate smoke-free messages in the community and promote the benefits of quitting smoking to more smokers, with a view to creating an social environment conducive to smoking cessation. The COSH invited the TMDC to act as a supporting organisation of the campaign again to assist in inviting suitable partner organisations in the district and promoting the campaign to residents. Moreover, the COSH wanted to be allowed to display the TMDC logo on the promotional materials of the related activities. The Chairman
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Action further said the TMDC had previously supported the above campaign and passed the related matters to the SSC for follow-up. He asked whether Members agreed that the TMDC act as a supporting organisation of the above campaign again, allow the display of the TMDC logo on the promotional materials of the related activities, and pass the related matters to the SSC for follow-up.
148. As Members had no comments, the Chairman announced that the TMDC agreed with the arrangements concerned and asked the Secretariat to give a reply to the COSH.
(B) “HK Territory-wide Youths Painting Day” 2017 149. The Chairman said a letter had been received from the Young Artists Development Foundation (“YADF”) indicating that the “HK Territory-wide Youths Painting Day” would be held on 8 July 2017 and a flag presentation ceremony would also be conducted at the launching ceremony on the same day. In this connection, the YADF would like the 18 DCs to allow it to display their logos on the flag. The objectives of the activity were to let the youth have a better understanding of districts through depicting district landscapes with their painting brushes and to introduce arts into communities. The Chairman said he knew that the TMDO would undertake to organise Tuen Mun-related activities, adding that the TMDC had supported the above activity and allowed the YADF to use the TMDC logo before. He asked whether Members agreed that the TMDC act as a supporting organisation of the “HK Territory-wide Youths Painting Day 2017” and authorise the YADF to display the TMDC logo on the flag concerned.
150. A Member said the TMDC logo should be used only in the activity in question. The Chairman agreed with this.
151. As Members had no further comments, the Chairman announced that the TMDC agreed with the above arrangements.
(C) Invitation to be Supporting Organisation of “Hong Kong ∞ Impression” Exhibition 152. The Chairman said a letter had been received from the PlanD indicating that the Development Bureau (“DEVB”) and the PlanD would hold an exhibition entitled “Hong Kong ∞ Impression” from mid-June to November 2017 tentatively at City Gallery and Edinburgh Place to celebrate the 20th anniversary the establishment of the HKSAR. The objectives of this event were: to showcase Hong Kong’s planning and infrastructure development over the previous 20 years, to present Hong
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Action Kong’s vision of becoming a more liveable, competitive and sustainable world city in Asia, and to promote Hong Kong’s image of a forward-looking and enterprising city. The PlanD was inviting the 18 DCs to be supporting organisations of the “Hong Kong ∞ Impression” exhibition. It also hoped the TMDC would give support by promoting the exhibition and related activities through its network and actively participating in the exhibition and its various events. The Chairman asked Members if they agreed that the TMDC be a supporting organisation of the “Hong Kong ∞ Impression” and allow the DEVB and the PlanD to use the TMDC logo in the publicity for the related activities.
153. As Members had no comments, the Chairman announced that the TMDC agreed with the above arrangements. He asked the Secretariat to give a reply to the PlanD.
154. The Convenor of the Working Group on Tuen Mun District Organising Committee for the Sixth Hong Kong Games said that while there were still a number of competitions going to be held in the 6th HKG, the teams of Tuen Mun would surely advance to the next rounds or win medals in many competitions. He encouraged Members to attend the closing cum prize presentation ceremony to be held on the afternoon of 28 May 2017 at Kowloon Park to support Tuen Mun athletes, and the Secretariat would provide the details for Members by email later.
155. There being no other business, the Chairman closed the meeting at 3:54 p.m. The next meeting would be held on 4 July 2017 (Tuesday).
Tuen Mun District Council Secretariat Date: 6 June 2017 File Ref: HAD TMDC/13/25/DC/17
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