(Translation)

Minutes of the 23rd Meeting of Sham Shui Po District Council (4th Term) under the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

Date: 25th August 2015 (Tuesday) Time: 9:30 a.m. Place: Sham Shui Po District Council Conference Room

Present

Chairman Mr KWOK Chun-wah, Jimmy, BBS, MH, JP

Member Mr CHAN Keng-chau, BBS, MH, JP Mr CHAN Wai-ming, MH Mr CHENG Wing-shun, Vincent Mr CHEUNG Wing-sum, Ambrose, MH, JP (Attended at 9:35 a.m.) Mr CHUM Tak-shing (Left at 7:30 p.m.) The Hon FUNG Kin-kee, Frederick, SBS, JP (Attended at 10:00 a.m.) Mr LAM Ka-fai, Aaron, JP (Left at 6:12 p.m.) Ms LAU Pui-yuk Mr. LEE Wing-man (Attended at 9:50 a.m. ) Mr LEUNG Man-kwong (Left at 5:30 p.m.) Mr LEUNG Yau-fong (Left at 7:38 p.m.) Mr LI Ki-fung, Bruce Mr LO Wing-man, Lawrence, JP Mr NG Kwai-hung, BBS, MH (Left at 7:30 p.m.) Mr SHUM Siu-hung Mr TSUNG Po-shan (Left at 5:10 p.m.) Ms WAI Hoi-ying Mr WAI Woon-nam (Left at 7:50 p.m.) Mr WONG Chi-yung (Attended at 9:50 a.m., Left at 11:45 a.m.) Dr WONG Chung-leung, JP Mr WONG Tat-tung, MH, JP

- 2 - Action by

In Attendance

Mr MOK Kwan-yu, Benjamin, JP District Officer (Sham Shui Po) Miss CHAN Pui-ki, Kiki Assistant District Officer(Sham Shui Po)1 Mr WAI Chun-yin, Mickey Assistant District Officer(Sham Shui Po)2 Ms CHAN Tsz-yee, Emily Senior Liaison Officer 1, Sham Shui Po District Office Mr WONG Leung-ping, Ben Senior Liaison Officer 2, Sham Shui Po District Office Ms NG Suk-min, Min Senior Liaison Officer 3, Sham Shui Po District Office Ms LAU Wai-mun, Josephine Acting District Commander (Sham Shui Po), Hong Kong Police Force Mr CHEUNG Wai-sing, Sam Police Community Relations Officer (Sham Shui Po District), Hong Kong Police Force Mr WONG Chi-sing, Janson Chief Engineer / Kowloon 2 (Kowloon), Civil Engineering and Development Department Mr LAI Huen-lam, Stephen Assistant District Social Welfare Officer (Sham Shui Po)1, Social Welfare Department Mr LIU Wai-shing, Simon Chief Leisure Manager (Hong Kong East), Leisure and Cultural Services Department Ms LEE Kar-mei, Camay District Leisure Manager(Sham Shui Po), Leisure and Cultural Services Department Mr LAI Kah-kit District Environment Hygiene Superintendent (Sham Shui Po), Food and Environmental Hygiene Department Ms LEUNG Ka-wai Chief Health Inspector 1, Food and Environmental Hygiene Department Mr LUI Kwong-fai Chief Manager /Management (Kowloon West & Hong Kong Region), Housing Department Mr CHOY Chik-sang, Mario Chief Transport Officer / Kowloon, Transport Department Mr TANG King-fai, Eric Senior Estate Surveyor/ Urban Renewal 4 (Urban Renewal Section), Lands Department Ms LEE Shuk-fun, Veronica Estate Surveyor/ Urban Renewal 4 (Urban Renewal Section), Lands Department Ms Oryza Chung Senior Manager, Acquisition & Clearance, Urban Renewal Authority Mr SO Ngai-long Senior Manager, Community Development, Urban Renewal Authority Dr TUNG S Y Nancy Cluster Chief Executive, Kowloon West Cluster, Hospital Authority Dr TSE Doris M W Hospital Chief Executive, Kowloon West Cluster, Caritas Medical Centre, Hospital Authority - 3 - Action by

Dr WONG Tak-cheung Hospital Chief Executive, Kowloon West Cluster, Service Director (Primary & Community Health Care) / Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital, Hospital Authority Dr Patrick P K KWONG Chief of Service (Psychiatric), Kowloon West Cluster, Kwai Chung Hospital, Hospital Authority Mr Andrew C P YEUNG General Manager (Nursing), Kowloon West Cluster, Caritas Medical Centre, Hospital Authority Mr Chow Shing-fat Assistant Energy Services Manager, CLP Eco Building Fund Office Mr Chan King-cheung Assistant Project Manager, CLP Eco Building Fund Office Ms HUNG Fung-ling, Fonnie District Planning Officer / Tsuen Wan & West Kowloon, Planning Department (Acting) Mr WONG Hau-king, James Town Planner/Sham Shui Po 3, Planning Department

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

Absent with Apologies: Mr YAN Kai-wing

Absent: Ms NG Mei, Carman

- 4 - Action by Opening Remarks

The Chairman welcomed Members, representatives from government departments and organisations to the meeting. He then welcomed Ms LAU Wai-mun, Josephine, Acting District Commander (Sham Shui Po), Hong Kong Police Force who attended the meeting on behalf of Mr TSUI Wai-hung, Chief Superintendent, Hong Kong Police Force; and Mr LAI Huen-lam, Stephen, Assistant District Social Welfare Officer (Sham Shui Po) 1 who attended today’s meeting on behalf of Ms KWOK LI MUNG-yee, Helen.

2. The meeting noted the application for absence from Mr YAN Kai-wing.

Item 1: Confirmation of Minutes of the 22nd Meeting Held on 23 June 2015

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

Item 2: Matters for discussion

(a) Resumption of private land at Castle Peak Road/Un Chau Street, Sham Shui Po, Kowloon for the implementation of SSP-016 Development Project by the Urban Renewal Authority (SSPDC Paper 155/15(Revised))

4. The Chairman welcomed the representatives of the Lands Department (“LandsD”) and the Urban Renewal Authority (“URA”) to the meeting.

5. Ms Veronica LEE introduced Paper 155/15 (Revised). She explained the land resumption proposal and compensation mechanism and pointed out that URA’s initial proposal was to build at the said site a residential building with a car park in the basement, a commercial/retail podium on the three lower floors and the 29 upper floors for residential use to provide 261 residential units. The project was tentatively scheduled for completion in 2021-22.

6. Mr SO Ngai-long briefed the meeting on the project progress as follows:

(i) The project commenced on 21 February 2014. Satisfactory progress had been made during the past two years and over 70% of the owners had accepted the acquisition offers so far.

(ii) Unauthorised rooftop structures of up to three storeys were observed in some existing buildings within the project boundary. The buildings were worn and dilapidated, coupled with problems such as waste water leakage, concrete - 5 - Action by spalling and sub-divided units, thus posing serious threats to the safety of both the buildings and the residents.

(iii) Over 70% of the owners had accepted the offers. Besides, seven non-residential rental properties, one owner-occupied residential property and 21 non owner-occupied residential properties (of which 16 were sub-divided units) were not yet acquired. To resolve the housing problem of the tenants of these unsold properties and rooftop occupiers, land resumption was imperative or else arrangements for relocation and compensation could not be made. In order to implement the project as soon as possible, URA arranged to consult the Sham Shui Po District Council (“SSPDC”) and solicit Members’ support today.

(iv) URA would adopt the usual acquisition policy and principles to continue negotiating actively acquisition matters with owners of the unsold properties. Only after the resumption of land was gazetted, URA would be authorised to handle the rehousing issues with the tenants of the unsold properties and rooftop occupiers. It was believed that the living environment of residents could be improved after the implementation of the project.

7. Mr WAI Woon-nam raised the following enquiries and views: (i) the representatives of URA indicated that arrangements for relocation and compensation would be made upon successful acquisition of the properties, but made no mention of rehousing the tenants being affected, in particular rooftop occupiers; (ii) the compensation offered by URA was meagre, which fell short of improving the living environments of the tenants. He hoped that URA would consistently apply its “people-oriented” policy direction to cater for the rehousing needs of rooftop occupiers; (iii) there was a rear lane in the middle of the said site which URA had included within the development project boundary when acquiring the site. However, it was unfair that affected owners and tenants could not partake from it by means of compensation.

8. Mr Vincent CHENG raised the following enquiries and views: (i) he understood that URA hoped to speed up implementing the redevelopment project so that the living environments of the residents could be improved; (ii) he was pleased to see that many owners had already accepted the acquisition offers, but was concerned about the housing problem of rooftop occupiers. He hoped that URA would further elaborate on the concrete arrangements for tenants of the affected buildings, in particular those rooftop occupiers. He also hoped that URA could assist rooftop occupiers to moving into public rental housing (“PRH”) on the premise of not affecting the interests of those who had already been on the waiting list for PRH. - 6 - Action by 9. Ms LAU Pui-yuk raised the following enquiries and views: (i) residents in the district were in general pleased to see URA accelerate its pace in redevelopment. Given the poor living environments in many old buildings, she hoped that URA would enhance communication with property owners to help tenants solve their housing problems; (ii) if rehousing could be provided to the 80-odd rooftop tenants being affected, in which areas would PRH units be available for the tenants to choose from at present or in six months’ time, and what the concrete arrangements would be; (iii) regarding non owner-occupied properties, how many times URA had negotiated with the owners concerned and what the progress was. She hoped that URA would adhere to its people-oriented spirit throughout the acquisition process.

10. Mr Aaron LAM raised the following views: (i) unauthorised rooftop structures constituted serious hazards to the safety of residents, and the buildings concerned should be redeveloped as quick as possible; (ii) a more people-oriented policy should be adopted to help the residents concerned, such as helping eligible residents to moving into public housing. For those ineligible ones, arrangements under the existing policy, such as rehoused into interim housing flats for the time being, should be made as far as possible.

11. Mr CHUM Tak-shing raised the following views: (i) the poor living environments shown in the pictures were to be seen everywhere in Sham Shui Po (“SSP”) District; (ii) he understood that URA hoped to implement the redevelopment project as soon as possible, but it had not explained in detail how it would deal with the interests of the remaining property owners and tenants. It would be irresponsible for SSPDC to support the project under such circumstances. URA should, together with the Hong Kong Housing Authority (“HKHA”) or related departments, explain to SSPDC in the future how many PRH units would be provided for rehousing the households affected and the related schedules if the project was approved. Otherwise, it was feared that those residents who did not fulfill the existing requirements for PRH allocation would have nowhere to stay upon successful acquisition of the properties by URA.

12. Mr LEUNG Yau-fong raised the following views and enquiries: (i) he had been following up URA’s redevelopment projects for over two decades. The Home Purchase Allowance which URA offered came rather close to the market price, but the rehousing arrangement was far from satisfactory; (ii) as far as acquisition for redevelopment was concerned, the Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People’s Livelihood (“ADPL”) insisted on two points, namely, reasonable compensation and local rehousing. If the compensation failed to match the market price, the owners would not be able to purchase any flats in the neighbourhood and would end up having no choice but moving to other districts, thus giving up their original living and social networks; (iii) improvements were seen recently in the compensation which URA offered to property - 7 - Action by owners but there were still inadequacies in the flat-for-flat arrangement. If flat-for-flat option could be offered to the owners, not only would it speed up the acquisition process, but owners could also settle down, thus creating a win-win situation; (iv) regarding the tenants, the compensation for them pursuant to the Landlord and Tenant (Consolidation) Ordinance used to be more generous in the past. Now URA required that once the tenants received the compensation and moved out, they would not be compensated again if they were affected by another acquisition for redevelopment within a specified period. Given the considerable number of redevelopment projects in the pipeline, tenants were likely to be affected by other redevelopment projects again; (v) he requested URA to tell if there would be any local rehousing units available to eligible tenants affected by the project. For tenants who were not eligible for rehousing, the former Land Development Corporation, according to the information he obtained, had several development sites, including 12 Soy Street in Mong Kok, Shun Sing Mansion in Western District, Bedford Tower in Tai Kok Tsui and Rich Building in SSP, where there should be units available for rehousing the tenants. He hoped that URA would provide an explanation.

13. The Hon Frederick FUNG raised the following views: (i) ADPL opposed the compulsory purchase proposed in the paper as it had always stressed that URA had to respect the rights of property owners in redevelopment acquisition; (ii) URA should treat the tenants in a more accommodative manner rather than applying to them the same criteria for ordinary applications for PRH units, because tenants who were evicted due to redevelopment should be entitled to the benefits of redevelopment; (iii) for tenants who had resided in Hong Kong for less than seven years and were thus not eligible for PRH allocation, this proposal would make their PRH waiting time longer, as once they were given URA’s redevelopment acquisition offers and accepted its compensation, they would not be allowed to accept other public housing benefits within two years.

14. Mr CHAN Wai-ming raised the following views and enquiries: (i) while agreeing that compulsory purchase might infringe the private property rights of owners, he noted that the remaining not-yet-acquired property rights involved many tenants of rooftop structures and sub-divided units, whose living environments were very poor and deserved prompt amelioration. Therefore, he opined that the crux of the issue was how to strike a balance between offering adequate compensation to the owners and rehousing the tenants; (ii) he asked URA to give an account of specific post-acquisition rehousing arrangements and indicated that URA should make commitments on tenant rehousing before this Council could decide in favour of the acquisition proposal.

15. Mr CHAN Keng-chau raised the following views and enquiries: (i) the mainstream public opinion supported more expeditious redevelopment of old districts. The buildings concerned were very dilapidated, and their redevelopment not only could - 8 - Action by enhance the cityscape but also improve the living environments of the residents and resolve the building and fire safety problems there; (ii) he hoped that URA would properly handle the rehousing issue of the remaining some 80 tenants. He agreed that relatively loose rehousing policies should be adopted to facilitate smoother redevelopment of the community as a whole. He asked URA to elaborate on the rehousing arrangements; (iii) given that there had been proposals on flat-for-flat and shop-for-shop arrangements, he hoped that this project could make an unprecedented move to put shop-for-shop arrangements into practice.

16. Mr NG Kwai-hung raised the following views: (i) while expressing regret that the property rights of owners had to be acquired compulsorily, he understood that to protect the safety of residents, it was necessary to resume the buildings for redevelopment as their maintenance conditions and living environments were very poor. This Council was caught in a dilemma as to whether or not to support the project; (ii) he agreed that proper rehousing arrangements should be made for residents, but owners of old buildings should fulfill their building maintenance responsibility instead of passing the buck to the Government and being subsidised by public money. He hoped that in future, the Government would not only render assistance to owners of old buildings but press them to shoulder their responsibility for proper building maintenance.

17. Mr Bruce LI said that he had all along supported URA’s resumption and redevelopment projects. As a middle-class taxpayer, he did not agree that the Government should use public money to subsidise owners of old buildings who failed to take their building maintenance responsibility. He opined that thanks to URA’s efforts, there had been many successful redevelopment cases in which the living environments of residents were ameliorated. To avoid the costs of fire safety and building maintenance, some owners of old buildings exploited redevelopment acquisition with intent to shift their responsibility to the Government or URA. He opined that to prevent abuse of public money, the Government should urge owners of old buildings to fulfill their responsibility.

18. Mr LEE Wing-man raised the following views and enquiries: (i) fraught with problems and highly prone to accidents, the buildings concerned should be acquired for redevelopment. The problem lied in how to properly rehouse the tenants, as they were mainly less well-off members of the grassroots community who would found it very difficult to find another similar unit in the neighbourhood. Apart from offering compensation, it would be more realistic if URA could offer rehousing to, inter alia, tenants not yet eligible for PRH allocation. He hoped that URA would give an account of how the problem would be handled and whether relatively loose policies would be adopted for rehousing the tenants; (ii) if URA were concerned about building safety - 9 - Action by problems, how come a quota of only 250 was set on the Integrated Building Maintenance Assistance Scheme launched by URA. He hoped that URA would provide owners with support in building maintenance and strike a balance between building resumption for redevelopment and the concern about building safety.

19. The Chairman raised the following views and enquiries: (i) at least 80% of property rights had to be obtained for acquisition projects in the past, but URA pushed ahead with the current project albeit it had only secured about 70% of property rights. He enquired whether URA had a statutory responsibility for buildings with public safety problems and would apply a different set of acquisition policies to them; (ii) he asked for URA’s supplementary responses on whether there were any hidden defects in the fire service water tanks and architectural structures of the buildings concerned and whether URA had conducted any related safety assessments.

20. Mr SO Ngai-long gave a consolidated response as follows:

(i) Under the Urban Renewal Authority Ordinance, URA had to make an application for land resumption within one year after the project had been authorised by the Government, regardless of the acquisition progress. The proposed resumption in question was progressing rapidly in that over 70% of owners had accepted the acquisition offers in the past six months. In fact, it was not necessary that a certain percentage of acquisition had to be achieved before consulting SSPDC. There were four precedents of which only around 70% of property interests were acquired when they were put to SSPDC for consultation.

(ii) The basic principle of URA’s rehousing procedures was to become the owner of the property concerned by acquisition first before having the authority to handle compensation and rehousing matters. That was why URA wished to consult SSPDC about the proposed resumption as soon as possible. Under URA’s redevelopment and rehousing policies, tenants were entitled to rehousing in urban public housing units as long as they met the rehousing requirements. URA had in hand some urban public housing units, including some in So Uk Estate which would be completed soon, for rehousing purpose. Since public housing units were scarce, URA would allocate them to eligible tenants by drawing lots in an open and fair manner. For tenants who did not meet the eligibility criteria for PRH, URA would first provide them with a cash compensation option. The Board of Directors of URA had already agreed to offer four rehousing blocks, namely the Rich Building in SSP, Bedford Tower in Tai Kok Tsui and 12 Soy Street in Mong Kok for the - 10 - Action by rehousing of tenants not eligible for PRH allocations. The details for allocation were being drawn up. The reasons for tenants’ ineligibility for PRH were not the same and there was not a one-size-fits-all approach to the issue. However, the above new policy had aptly provided an additional rehousing option for the tenants.

(iii) Since the amendment to the Landlord and Tenant (Consolidation) Ordinance in 2004, landlords were no longer required to pay any compensation to tenants if they terminated the tenancy for rebuilding purpose. Nevertheless, URA would still offer tenants compensation that exceeded statutory requirements. A compensation based on 3.5 times of the rateable value would be offered to eligible tenants ($70,000 for a one-person household and $80,000 for a two-person or larger household). In addition, a team of social workers under the trust fund was available to help those with special needs.

21. Ms Oryza CHUNG added the following information:

(i) If rooftop tenants met the general criteria of the Housing Department (“HD”) or HKHA for rehousing in PRH units, or if their rooftop structures were built on or before 1 June 1982 and they had lived in the structures for two years before the freezing survey, they would be eligible to be rehoused in HKHA’s PRH units. The remaining tenants who did not meet the eligibility criteria for PRH could move into URA’s rehousing blocks under the new measure which was applicable to the redevelopment project in question.

(ii) URA would continue to negotiate with the owners before compulsory acquisition. Those who still had not accepted the acquisition offers could apply for re-valuation of their properties. As at the date of the meeting, a total of seven non-residential properties and 27 residential properties had not been acquired. URA had received applications for re-valuation from 17 owners and would make new acquisition offers to them for consideration upon completion of re-valuation.

22. The Hon Frederick FUNG raised the following views and enquiries: (i) how many units in the rehousing blocks would URA provide to tenants not eligible for PRH and whether all of them would be allocated a unit; (ii) whether there was any limitation on the duration of residence in the allocated units; (iii) buildings with fire hazards, unauthorised structures or structural problems were already governed by relevant ordinances. Offenders would be required to remove the unauthorised structures. The warning letter issued to the owner concerned might even be registered at the Land Registry. Such - 11 - Action by problems should not be the reasons for compulsory acquisition. In other words, the acquisition project should not be supported merely because of the fire hazards or unauthorised structures in the buildings.

23. Mr WAI Woon-nam raised the following views: (i) since not all rooftop structures on the buildings concerned were constructed on or before 1 June 1982, some tenants might not be eligible for rehousing; (ii) URA was requested to state if there was a limitation on the duration of residence in the rehousing blocks; (iii) URA should discuss with HKHA and requested a sufficient number of units to rehouse all affected tenants under the project.

24. Mr CHAN Keng-chau suggested that URA could classify rooftop tenants into different groups and handle them on a case by case basis. Those tenants in possession of properties should be treated in accordance with the current regulations; those in possession of assets should be treated with discretion; and those who had not resided in Hong Kong for seven years should be treated leniently.

25. Mr LEUNG Yau-fong raised the following views: (i) although URA operated as a business on commercial principles, he hoped that it could engage more proactively in charity by donating its profits; (ii) the Land Resumption Ordinance conferred considerable powers on URA. URA could make an application for land resumption as long as it could obtain the Executive Council’s approval; (iii) minority owners were the victims, not the beneficiaries. For example, if advertisement signboards on the external wall of a building inflicted injuries, but the building had not formed an owners’ corporation (“OC”) or taken out insurance, the minority owners might be held liable for compensation; (iv) it was not an easy task to form an OC in the old days and the deeds of mutual covenant were not properly drawn up, making it possible for people to abuse the rooftop and erected unauthorised structures thereon. This was not what the owners wished to see; (v) although URA had provided much information at the meeting, he was not convinced to support the project. Apart from constantly improving the acquisition process, URA should provide reasonable compensation and local rehousing options to affected owners and tenants. He urged URA to properly exercise the powers granted by the law to take care of affected residents to ensure that no one would be made homeless because of its redevelopment projects. He reiterated that ADPL would not support the acquisition project at this meeting.

26. Mr CHUM Tak-shing raised the following views: (i) he expressed concern over the whole acquisition process. Although URA had given oral supplementary information, it did not give any written undertakings on the rehousing arrangements for tenants; (ii) URA was trying to test this Council’s bottom line in the whole process. It used to - 12 - Action by consult SSPDC only after acquiring 90% of the property interests but the percentage dropped to the present 70%. He worried that URA would further lower the threshold as to disrespect private properties. All in all, he was not convinced by URA’s presentation to support the project.

27. Mr SO Ngai-long responded as follows:

(i) He thanked Members for their views on the project and would truthfully reflect the views to the management.

(ii) URA was not a commercial organisation. The Urban Renewal Authority Ordinance also specified that URA should prudently manage its finance and effectively use public money.

(iii) As regards rehousing, some units in the four rehousing blocks had already been occupied. URA would allocate some 200 to 300 units in the four rehousing blocks to the affected tenants. The units would be of varying sizes mainly located in Kowloon. The details of allocation such as eligibility, tenancy periods and rents would be endorsed by URA Board in future, and the underlying principle was that URA would, as far as possible, provide these units to tenants at affordable rents for rehousing purpose as long as the tenants did not meet the eligibility criteria laid down by HKHA. In respect of cases with special circumstances, in addition to follow-up and assistance from social workers, URA also put in place a compassionate rehousing scheme to assist tenants with special needs. In view of the urgency of the project, URA consulted SSPDC when only some 70% of ownership was acquired. It meant no disrespect to private property rights but to expedite the arrangements for provision of rehousing and compensation to residents.

28. Mr WAI Woon-nam further questioned the distribution of interests arising from the acquisition of the rear lane of the project site.

29. Mr SO Ngai-long responded that URA had acquired the ownership from the owner through private negotiation. If any rear lane or rooftop was included in the ownership, acquisition would be conducted as usual.

30. The Chairman concluded that: (i) SSPDC had been in great support of the work of URA in the past. However, some Members had expressed opposing views on this project mainly because they considered that URA had not shown full respect to private - 13 - Action by property rights and failed to provide guarantee for the eligibility for public housing of tenants, including the criteria for living in transitional housing. They requested URA to relax the transitional arrangements for rehousing tenants; (ii) since the unauthorised rooftop structures of the buildings posed potential fire and structural safety hazards to residents, he understood why URA considered that there was an urgency for redevelopment and why URA consulted SSPDC even when less than 80% of ownership was obtained for this acquisition project; (iii) a majority of Members supported the acquisition proposal in the hope of improving the living environments of residents as soon as possible. Having said that, SSPDC still hoped that URA and LandsD would give thorough consideration to Members’ views and adopt a relaxed approach to provide rehousing to residents as far as possible, in particular the tenants who were not eligible for PRH.

(b) Introduction of the Work Plan of the Hospital Authority/Kowloon West Hospital Cluster/Caritas Medical Centre for the year 2015/16

31. The Chairman welcomed the representatives of the Hospital Authority (“HA”) to the meeting.

32. Dr Nancy TUNG and Dr Doris TSE gave a PowerPoint presentation on the 2015/16 annual plan for the Kowloon West Hospital Cluster and the 2015/16 annual plan for Caritas Medical Centre (“CMC”) respectively.

33. The Chairman thanked Dr TUNG and Dr TSE for their presentation and invited Members to express their views.

34. Mr CHAN Wai-ming raised the following views and enquiries: (i) having regard to district development such as the completion of PRH estates including So Uk Estate and Cheung Sha Wan Estate, the population in SSP District would increase in the next decade, he hoped that there would be a corresponding increase in the quotas for evening, holiday and weekday general out-patient clinic (“GOPC”) services in the district based on population growth; (ii) he was concerned whether CMC had sufficient resources to cope with the growth in demand arising from population increase; (iii) excessive lead had been found in the drinking water of Wing Cheong Estate, Shek Kip Mei Estate Phase 2 and Un Chau Estate Phases 2 and 4 in the district, but the Government currently only provided blood testing to children who were six to eight years old or below and women who were pregnant or lactating. He suggested HA expand the scope of blood testing to chronic patients and elderly people, and study the feasibility of providing blood testing to the residents who were confirmed being affected by excessive lead content in drinking water and worried about their health condition; (iv) he understood that the resources for blood - 14 - Action by testing were limited, but hoped that the Administration could improve the arrangements. As CMC could not provide blood testing services to eligible residents until mid-September, currently affected residents had to go to other hospitals on Hong Kong Island for blood testing. Despite the provision of shuttle bus services, the arrangements still brought inconvenience to residents; (v) in the event that more and more residents were affected by excessive lead content in drinking water, what measures would be implemented by HA to provide appropriate support to the affected residents.

35. Mr WAI Woon-nam raised the following views and suggestions: (i) he learned from news reports that the boundaries of all hospital clusters in Hong Kong would be adjusted. If CMC referred elderly people in SSP District to Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital for medical consultations, would HA provide appropriate transport services for elderly people and their family members to minimise the inconvenience caused by travelling long distance; (ii) since CMC had suspended obstetrics and gynaecology (“O&G”) services from year 2000 onwards and the redevelopment of Kwong Wah Hospital (“KWH”) was under way, inconvenience would be caused to pregnant women for follow-up consultations during the redevelopment period. Since the population in SSP District was expected to grow in future, would HA consider reproviding O&G services at CMC to benefit pregnant women in the district; (iii) regarding excessive lead content found in the drinking water in PRH estates in SSP District, it would be more convenient for affected residents in Wing Cheong Estate to receive blood test. He hoped that HA would make suitable arrangement accordingly.

36. Mr SHUM Siu-hung raised the following views and enquiries: (i) in the past, patients who needed X-ray services had to use DH’s facilities. Such arrangements were inconvenient to elderly patients. Could HA arrange for patients of GOPC services to receive X-ray examination at nearby hospitals; (ii) although the reprovisioning of Shek Kip Mei Health Centre had been discussed for years and HD had earmarked a site for the reprovisioning, there was still no timetable for the project. He hoped that HA would provide more relevant information and implement the reprovisioning project as promptly as possible; (iii) he hoped that HA would provide information on the standard ratio of population to the consultation quotas for GOPC services; (iv) the estimated population of SSP District would increase from 380 000 in 2011 to over 520 000 the coming decade. Although the Government would provide an additional GOPC near Fu Cheong Estate, he doubted whether the additional resources could meet the needs brought about by the population growth; (v) apart from out-patient services, he enquired whether CMC was adequately large in scale to cater for the needs of the future population of over 500 000 in the district and whether HA would allocate more resources to CMC in light of the population growth. - 15 - Action by 37. Mr LEUNG Man-kwong raised the following enquiries and suggestions: (i) recently, a patient who fainted outside North Lantau Hospital was sent to the accident and emergency department (“A&E department”) after 20 minutes of confusion. The patient had eventually passed away. Similar incidents had occurred at CMC some years ago but it seemed that HA still emphasized more on following guidelines; (ii) most of the residents of SSP District sought medical treatment at PMH, CMC and KWH. Given the high utilisation rate of the services of the hospitals concerned, residents worried that their lives would be endangered in case of emergency in the immediate vicinity of the hospitals if HA continued to accord priority to following guidelines; (iii) at present, residents of Wong Tai Sin (“WTS”) District had to seek medical treatment at other hospitals with A&E departments in the Kowloon West Hospital Cluster. It had increased the pressure on other A&E departments and the waiting time for A&E services of CMC and KWH was very long already. He therefore enquired when WTS Hospital would provide A&E services; (iv) upon the discovery of excessive lead in the drinking water of Wing Cheong Estate in mid-July, most of the affected residents in the district had received blood tests at other hospitals. However, CMC could not provide blood testing to residents until mid-September. He demanded an explanation from HA.

38. Mr Ambrose CHEUNG raised the following views and enquiries: (i) he was pleased that 16 500 additional consultation quotas for GOPC services would be provided in the Kowloon West Hospital Cluster; (ii) to his understanding, there were four GOPCs in SSP District, namely CMC Family Medicine Clinic, Cheung Sha Wan Jockey Club GOPC, West Kowloon GOPC and Shek Kip Mei GOPC. He enquired whether HA would consider providing additional GOPCs in the vicinity of Lai Chi Kok and Mei Foo in view of the keen demand for healthcare services for the chronically ill and the elderly; if yes, he wished to learn the details; if not, he hoped to know the reasons and whether HA would consider providing additional nursing service centres to cater for the needs of the chronically ill and the elderly in the district.

39. Mr LEE Wing-man said that the Kowloon West Hospital Cluster served a population accounting for 27% of Hong Kong’s total population and the population of SSP District would increase to 520 000 in future. At present, CMC did not have sufficient beds to cater for the needs of patients in the district. Even if HA provided additional GOPCs in the vicinity of Fu Cheong Estate, patients with severe illness who required hospitalisation would needed to be transferred to other hospitals in the Kowloon West Hospital Cluster for treatment. Therefore, he hoped to know whether CMC had sufficient room for expansion to increase the number of beds.

40. Mr CHUM Tak-shing raised the following views and enquiries: (i) the “lead in drinking water” incident had made the public realise that they had insufficient knowledge - 16 - Action by in daily life and food, which reflected that there was still room for improvement in HA’s community education and promotion. Therefore, he suggested that HA provide more resources to educational works; (ii) at present, HA’s support to mental patients and ex-mentally ill persons was insufficient. The major psychiatric rehabilitation service provider in the district was the Wellness Centre (SSP) operated by the New Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association. In view of the limited resources of the organization, he asked whether HA would increase manpower and provide additional policy support or enhance co-operation with the Police, so that comprehensive support for ex-mentally ill persons would be available in the community.

41. Mr TSUNG Po-shan raised the following views and enquiries: (i) he suggested that HA improve the arrangements for providing blood testing to affected residents, including enhancing liaison with HD. HD could inform HA about the estimated number of affected residents if excessive lead was found in the drinking water of PRH estates, so that HA could obtain information on the number of available quotas for blood testing at hospitals and co-ordinate blood testing appointments for residents; (ii) the Government was arranging drinking water tests for older PRH estates and blood tests for children aged six or below. Nevertheless, the children aged six or below when moving into the PRH estates back then had reached the age of eight to nine already. Thus, he hoped to know whether the Government would be flexible in handling the situation and include the children concerned for blood testing; (iii) HA had set up a telephone system at PMH to improve and simplify the enquiry service of specialist out-patient services. In this connection, he hoped to know the timetable of extending the said scheme to other hospitals; (iv) in light of the incident of mucormycosis infection occurred in different hospitals on Hong Kong Island, he enquired how would HA prevent and avoid similar incidents; (v) how would HA transfer the demand for healthcare services affected by the redevelopment of KWH to other hospitals in the Kowloon West Hospital Cluster and whether consultation would be conducted in this regard so that Members could be notified of the arrangements as soon as possible.

42. Mr CHAN Keng-chau raised the following enquiries and views: (i) Hong Kong was well equipped with top-class medical facilities and the life expectancy for Hong Kong people was one of the longest in the world; (ii) as workers might not be able to seek medical consultations in daytime, there was a strong demand for evening and holiday GOPC services. In this connection, he hoped that HA would consider providing additional evening and holiday GOPC services; (iii) he had used the Chinese medicine clinic at KWH, but the waiting time was very long and there were many young patients. Therefore, he hoped that HA could increase the provision of Chinese medicine services; (iv) quite a number of residents of PRH estates in SSP District were affected by the incident of excessive lead found in drinking water, he hoped that CMC would increase - 17 - Action by resources to provide blood testing services for residents as soon as possible.

43. Mr LEUNG Yau-fong raised the following views and enquiries: (i) it was learnt that CMC was of lower status than its counterparts in the Kowloon West Hospital Cluster. Its resources and manpower were thus limited. Furthermore, the then Hospital Chief Executive pointed out several years ago that the service level of CMC had been declining. A number of medical incidents had occurred at CMC and the media reported recently that HA would adjust the boundary of the Kowloon West Hospital Cluster. In view of this, he worried that the resources of CMC would be reduced, resulting in a further decline of its service level. However, as indicated in HA’s PowerPoint presentation today, the rumour might not be true; (ii) he asked HA to explain whether the additional 129 staff was to meet the actual need of CMC for provision of basic services or to cater for its future service development needs; (iii) the redevelopment of CMC was expected to be completed and commissioned in autumn 2015. He wished to know the current progress of the redevelopment project; (iv) as the problem of ageing population was serious in SSP District, the elderly in the community had a strong demand for ophthalmology services. In addition, as CMC accommodated the ophthalmic care centre for the whole Kowloon West Hospital Cluster, increasing resources for ophthalmology services might not be able to benefit more residents in the district. He requested HA to provide more information in this respect.

44. Dr Nancy TUNG gave a consolidated response as follows:

(i) The Government had set up an inter-bureau/departmental task force to investigate the cause of excessive lead in drinking water in PRH estates, and would provide blood testing services for affected residents depending on their risk levels. HA understood the worries of Members and residents. However, given the limited manpower resources, HA could only accord priority to providing blood testing services for affected residents.

(ii) The Secretary for Food and Health also discussed the above issue at the Special Meeting of the Legislative Council held yesterday. Furthermore, having regard to the increasing number of affected PRH estates, the Food and Health Bureau (“FHB”) was discussing with private hospitals the blood testing arrangements for affected residents.

(iii) HA had increased the weekly quotas of blood testing from over 300 to about 900. Furthermore, it had purchased equipment to expedite the testing of blood lead level and would send the blood samples to recognised overseas laboratories for testing. She hoped that Members could give time for HA to - 18 - Action by enhance the co-ordination arrangements.

(iv) As the blood testing services fell outside the scope of the routine of CMC, HA had to deploy additional manpower and resources to provide blood testing services for residents. HD also arranged transport for residents. If cases of elevated blood lead level were found, HA would provide further follow-up services for residents.

(v) Noting that residents had a strong demand for GOPC services in the community and having regard to the increasing demand brought by ageing population and population growth, HA had been, in addition to increasing the consultation quotas for GOPC services, conducting improvement works to upgrade clinic facilities such as providing more consultation rooms.

(vi) HA had reflected residents’ demand for evening and holiday GOPC services to the headquarters. Furthermore, it would continue to study the feasibility of increasing the consultation quotas for evening and holiday GOPC services in the future.

(vii) FHB supported the reprovisioning of Shek Kip Mei Health Centre and was concerned about its progress. FHB was carrying out the preliminary planning of the reprovisioning and would continue its efforts to bid for more resources.

(viii) As regards the change of the boundaries of the Kowloon West Hospital Cluster, HA had set up a task force to study the outcomes and recommendations of the review by the Steering Committee on Review of HA. It was expected that the action plan would be implemented in October 2015.

(ix) HA hoped to integrate all types of public hospitals. Different hospitals would play different roles and work in collaboration with each other. With an ageing population in Hong Kong, the public demand for hospital beds would continue to increase. Noting the demand, HA had been allocating additional resources for provision and reprovision of beds over the past few years to enhance hospitals’ capacity to admit patients. Regarding CMC, HA would bid for more resources to increase the number of beds through its annual plan.

(x) In addition to increasing the number of beds, HA and DH would allocate more resources to improve the public’s self-care ability and encourage - 19 - Action by healthy living, thereby reducing their demand for healthcare services and preventing them from delaying treatment. HA would also enhance the daytime and outreach care services. She thanked Members and the public for their support and assistance in promoting HA’s health education programmes.

(xi) The Administration had no plans for the reprovision of O&G services in CMC. At present, there were eight public hospitals in Hong Kong providing O&G services. Since the Administration had stopped providing delivery services to “doubly non-permanent resident pregnant women” and “singly non-permanent resident pregnant women” several years ago, public hospitals were relieved of the pressure to provide O&G services. As there were strict safety requirements on O&G services, it would be more desirable if manpower and supporting facilities could be concentrated in the same hospital. Training and service efficiency of obstetricians, gynaecologists and midwives would be affected if they were too dispersed. The Administration would pay close attention to the changes in population and birth rates for the planning of O&G services development.

(xii) As regards the incident of mucormycosis infection at Queen Mary Hospital earlier, CMC was responsible on its own for laundry services, and would review with the service contractor on the relevant laundry procedures and environmental hygiene conditions. As the current hygiene conditions in the Shum Wan Laundry were still falling short of the standards, the Administration would adopt other facilitating measures to ensure that it could meet the relevant hygiene standards.

(xiii) The number of operation theatres in KWH would be reduced due to the redevelopment project. To tie in with this change, service hours of the operation theatres would be extended and healthcare manpower would be redeployed. Affected patients would be transferred to WTS Hospital and Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital. It was expected that the impact on CMC would be minimal. The Administration would report to and consult SSPDC if CMC was affected by the redevelopment project of KWH.

(xiv) The Administration would review the effectiveness of the telephone system newly launched by PMH. If it was proved to be successful, the Administration would progressively install the telephone system concerned in other hospitals in the coming two to three years. - 20 - Action by 45. Dr Doris TSE gave a consolidated response as follows:

(i) CMC was willing to act in accordance with the arrangement by FHB, and would arrange blood tests for residents on 5, 6, 19 and 20 September 2015 at its blood-taking centre. A quota of more than 300 places for the blood tests was full.

(ii) CMC had its own laundry, and random checks would be conducted to see if linen washed by the laundry was compliant with the hygiene standards. Some of the hospitals had outsourced their laundry procedures. However, as the laundry services of the Shum Wan Laundry were suspended, CMC was willing to provide laundry services to other hospitals in the Kowloon West Hospital Cluster in need.

(iii) Regarding the phase two redevelopment project of CMC, Wai Ming Block had been in service for almost one year. The redevelopment works had made satisfactory progress and did not cause any impact on the clinical services. The external works of the rehabilitation garden and the car park were delayed due to raining, but the works were progressing smoothly and were expected to complete as scheduled.

(iv) CMC expected to increase the number of beds in the short and middle terms. Apart from the 24 new beds in the A&E department added this year, the hospital also wished to add another 32 beds in the A&E department in 2016 and 2017, as well as 16 beds and six day beds for terminal cancer patients in the palliative care department located at Wai Ming Block. Furthermore, the hospital would strive for a day surgery centre in five years to ease the demand for surgical beds.

(v) Provision of oncology services in Kowloon West was currently concentrated in PMH. It was expected that a chemotherapy day centre would be provided in CMC to reduce the travelling time of local patients.

(vi) Wai Shun Block, which was an acute block, had been commissioned for over 10 years. Noting the space constraint of the block, the hospital had planned to expand the service space of the A&E department to provide equipment such as disinfection and negative pressure rooms, etc. Moreover, it would also enhance the diagnostic capabilities of the A&E department by installing equipment such as computer scanners, etc., with a view to dealing with emergencies and preparing for future services. - 21 - Action by (vii) CMC currently conducted drills every year concerning the rescue services for patients outside the A&E department. First aid services were also provided in the vicinity of the hospital. Moreover, basic first aid training and timely updated content about first aid services were provided to security personnel in the A&E department.

(viii) Other hospitals in the Kowloon West Hospital Cluster were also carrying out different redevelopment and extension projects. The hospital would relay to HA the need for extension and the views from Members. At present, the space in the hospital available for expansion was the land in the rehabilitation garden.

(ix) She reiterated that the status of CMC was not lower in the hospital cluster. HA would provide the manpower needed at the time when approving new development projects. In addition, the hospital understood that for some projects such as the provision of X-ray scanning services during non-office hours, more manpower was needed to improve the service quality and to make the operation smoother. Therefore, CMC had recruited additional 130 staff members this year with the cluster’s and its own resources to improve services and prepare for future needs.

(x) The hospital had an increase of 5.7% in manpower in 2015-16, and would recruit more staff according to the increase in budget.

46. Dr WONG Tak-cheung gave a consolidated response as follows:

(i) HA had implemented the Personalised Care Programme in SSP District two years ago. Over 30 case managers were recruited to provide long-term support services to more than 1 500 patients with severe mental illness in the district for at least a year. The needs and risk of mental patients in the coming few years would also be identified to make long-term follow-up.

(ii) The 30-odd case managers were senior and experienced nurses, social workers and occupational therapists. HA had also put in place a platform for co-operation between case managers under the programme and those at the mental health voluntary organisations in the district, with a view to providing stronger support for mental patients in the community.

(iii) HA held regular meetings with the Social Welfare Department (“SWD”), the Hong Kong Police Force (“HKPF”), HD and the mental health voluntary - 22 - Action by organisations in the district to discuss local mental health issues and cases of individual service users.

47. The Chairman enquired whether HA would consider establishing a new hospital with A&E services in WTS.

48. Dr Nancy TUNG responded that residents in WTS had relayed to HA their demand for the construction of a new hospital with A&E services in the district. In view of this, HA had reviewed the proportion of population in WTS and the provision of relevant facilities. Apart from the development of Hong Kong Children’s Hospital in the Kai Tak Development Area, the Government would also build a large hospital with A&E services in the vicinity. It should be able to meet the service demand of residents in WTS and Kowloon City.

49. Mr SHUM Siu-hung asked, on behalf of Mr Ambrose CHEUNG, about the feasibility of providing additional GOPC services in Lai Chi Kok and Mei Foo.

50. Dr WONG Tak-cheung responded as follows:

(i) HA had provided 50 000 additional consultation quotas for GOPC services in the district since 2013, representing an increase of 22%, while the current utilisation rate of GOPC services was 93%. HA would keep a close look at the additional demand arising from the ageing population and population increase in the district.

(ii) HA was very concerned about the redevelopment progress of Shek Kip Mei GOPC and hoped that both its service quality and quotas would be raised through the redevelopment project. In addition, FHB was now striving to achieve in-situ redevelopment of Shek Kip Mei GOPC.

(iii) HA had planned to set up a GOPC in the new government office building near Fu Cheong Estate, Tonkin Street, Cheung Sha Wan. In view of the additional resources and manpower were required for all new services, HA would provide appropriate services in a timely manner. HA also noted Members’ suggestion of setting up GOPCs in Lai Chi Kok and Mei Foo.

51. The Chairman concluded that SSPDC had noted the Work Plan of HA/Kowloon West Hospital Cluster/CMC for the year 2015/16, and hoped that HA and CMC would continue to increase manpower and provide additional facilities to meet the needs of local residents. This Council was also pleased to learn that HA had actively deployed - 23 - Action by resources to meet the needs of reprovisioning Shek Kip Mei Health Centre.

(c) CLP Eco Building Fund

52. The Chairman welcomed the representatives of the CLP Power Hong Kong Limited (“CLP”) to the meeting.

53. Mr CHOW Shing-fat gave a PowerPoint presentation to introduce the CLP Eco Building Fund (“the Fund”), including the target and scope of funding, eligibility for application and preference requirements, funding mechanism, eligible service providers and application procedures, etc.

54. Mr LEE Wing-man raised the following views and enquiries: (i) he noted that the estimated total amount of funding was about $70 million; (ii) OCs or owners’ organisations were required to employ their own qualified consultants to assist them in completing the application forms, and the qualified consultants must be engaged through tendering exercises as stipulated in the Building Management Ordinance. In view of the substantial costs of engaging consultants, it would be difficult for OCs to explain to the owners should their applications be turned down; (iii) for any project granted more than $150,000, the recipient organisation’s statement of accounts had to be audited by certified public accountants, making it that the applicants could only receive very limited amounts of subsidy after deduction of costs; (iv) to enhance the attractiveness of the scheme and to avoid unnecessary costs to the applicants, CLP should deploy staff to provide professional advice to the applicants and help them understand whether their buildings met the requirements for application and how likely their applications would be approved.

55. Mr CHAN Keng-chau praised the Eco Building Fund introduced by CLP and raised the following views and enquiries: (i) he agreed that it would be difficult for OCs to explain to the owners should their applications be turned down. He hoped that CLP would provide details of the application procedures and the time required, and deploy professionals to render assistance to the applicants; (ii) it was hoped that CLP would define clearly the eligibility for application. For example, whether the 99 residential blocks of Mei Foo Sun Chuen were regarded as one applicant or the eight OCs of the estate could each submit a separate application. In the latter case, Meio Foo Sun Chuen might receive a total subsidy of $8 million because the maximum amount of subsidy for each application was $1 million; (iii) whether OCs of Tenants Purchase Scheme (“TPS”) estates could apply for the funding subsidy.

56. Ms LAU Pui-yuk raised the following views and enquiries: (i) she agreed with the - 24 - Action by purpose of the scheme but opined that the application threshold was too high for OCs of old buildings, which was even higher than that of similar schemes introduced by URA or the Government. Therefore, OCs of old buildings which had financial and management difficulties would find the scheme unattractive. She hoped that CLP would streamline the procedures and lower the threshold; (ii) she hoped that CLP could offer incentives, such as free prior assessment, to encourage applications from OCs; (iii) how many buildings in SSP District had submitted applications so far.

57. The Hon Frederick FUNG raised the following views and enquiries: (i) the application procedures for the scheme were cumbersome; (ii) according to CLP, the funding subsidy of $70 million could subsidise around 140 buildings to install energy-saving equipment. As compared with the number of buildings in Hong Kong, the funding subsidy was rather limited; (iii) CLP should deploy professionals to render assistance to the applicants; (iv) CLP could consider offering an electricity charge subsidy as an incentive for energy conservation and it might be more effective than the Fund.

58. Mr CHOW Shing-fat gave a consolidated reply as follows:

(i) CLP had been providing the public with free energy audit services to assess in a comprehensive manner the energy saving potentials of the buildings concerned. A detailed assessment report would be furnished subsequently, setting out suitable and feasible energy saving solutions. Prospective applicants of the Fund could use the service as preliminary assessment before hiring qualified service providers and submission of application, hence greatly reducing the chance of unsuccessful application. Applicants could call CLP hotline in case there was any doubt and CLP staff would explain the details of the report, application procedures for the Fund as well as the chance of approval.

(ii) On top of the subsidies provided by the Fund, CLP would also offer financial aids amounting to 50% of the fees for hiring qualified service providers and certified public accountants. There was no need for applicants to hire certified public accountants for account auditing if the subsidy was below $150,000.

(iii) If the information provided was complete, CLP would process received applications within three months.

(iv) Subsidies would be granted on the basis of applicants. For example, the - 25 - Action by eight OCs of Mei Foo Sun Chuen might apply individually and if the scope of work of each application involved more than one block, the total amount of subsidy would be capped at $1 million.

(v) CLP would take the initiative to contact owners’ organisations of old buildings to provide proper assistance, such as sending representatives to attend general meetings or owners’ committees to answer in detail their questions. CLP staff would help OCs who wanted to apply for the Fund to complete the application forms. In case of doubt, owners might call CLP hotline for assistance.

(vi) Only owners’ organisations were eligible for the Fund, applications from tenants’ organisations would not be accepted.

59. Mr SHUM Siu-hung raised the following views and enquiries: (i) owners of old buildings might not join the scheme due to cash flow problem. He enquired about the way the funding was reimbursed and whether there was any arrangement for advance payment; (ii) as an earlier study of the Consumer Council revealed that some compact fluorescent lamps had failed to save energy, he wondered whether CLP had laid down any requirements for the energy saving equipment used by the applicants; (iii) with limited resources of about $17 million available each year, the Fund could only subsidise 30 or so buildings located inside CLP’s supply area while old single block buildings would find it difficult to join the scheme. Besides, the subsidy was capped at $1 million for each application, which was far from appealing to housing estates. He appreciated CLP’s well-meaning scheme to promotion environmental protection and hoped that the Government could also devote resources and re-launch the Buildings Energy Efficiency Funding Scheme.

60. Mr WONG Tat-tung raised the following views: (i) he appreciated and recognised the intention of the Fund to promote energy efficiency and environmental protection; (ii) he encouraged CLP to step up promotion to attract more owners to submit application, for example, organising more seminars at community level to expound on the application procedures of the Fund; (iii) he suggested CLP consider accepting applicationsfor individual items which required less investment, thus relieving applicants from the financial burden of hiring certified public accountants.

61. Mr WAI Woon-nam raised the following views and enquiries: (i) as other government funds were also available for OCs’ application, he wondered whether the Fund also covered the upgrading of energy saving equipment purchased with subsidies of other funds; (ii) whether applicant buildings were required to hire bidders with the lowest - 26 - Action by prices as their service providers; and whether CLP would follow the practice of URA and allow OCs to have the flexibility of not choosing the lowest bidder when necessary.

62. Mr CHUM Tak-shing raised the following views and enquiries: (i) he hoped CLP could provide the number of applications received and the details of successful applications, for example, the subsidies granted and the content of the projects; (ii) since the approval of application was not a certain, owners might worry that the consultant fees might not be refunded; (iii) whether CLP’s free energy audit services could substitute the audit service provided by consultants.

63. The Chairman asked CLP to provide the application figures for SSP as well as other districts.

64. Mr CHOW Shing-fat gave a consolidated reply as follows:

(i) To date, 22 out of the 50 some applications received by CLP had been approved, with nine of them from single block buildings. Most of these applications involved lift replacement because the cost for such works would be higher and OCs might fully utilise the subsidy by this way. The maximum subsidy amount granted by CLP could be as high as $500,000 for projects of this kind.

(ii) Recipients could apply for reimbursement according to the progress of their projects.

(iii) Individual item was eligible for the Fund and there was no need to hire certified public accountants for account auditing if the subsidy was below $150,000.

(iv) Buildings receiving subsidies from other funds for installation of energy saving equipment were still eligible for the Fund. However, their priority would be lower than those which had never received any such subsidies.

(v) Modelling on the building subsidy fund launched by the Government in early years, the Fund would not oblige recipients to hire service providers offering the lowest bid. Yet the amount of subsidy was still maintained at a level of 50% of the lowest bid for projects to encourage OCs to utilise resources more effectively.

65. The Hon Frederick FUNG raised the following views and enquiries: (i) CLP - 27 - Action by needed not worry about OCs submitting application which was ruinously expensive with a funding ceiling set for each application; hence more flexibility should be given to OCs to ensure greater chance of success; (ii) whether CLP had capped the subsidies for each of the 18 districts.

66. Mr WAI Woon-nam suggested that more autonomy be given by CLP to OCs. The calculation of funding should not be linked with the lowest bid for a project so that the funding would not be too low for OCs to improve the public spaces in their buildings.

67. Mr LEE Wing-man raised the following views and enquiries: The Fund, even though with good intentions, was of no real help due to its complicated application procedures. He had promoted the Fund to flat owners in the district. However, since many of them found the application procedures complicated and worried that they could not be reimbursed for the consultancy fees they had paid if their applications were unsuccessful, only a few owners’ organisations were interested. He hoped that CLP would consider the actual situation of flat owners of old buildings and revise the application procedures accordingly.

68. Mr CHAN Keng-chau raised the following views and enquiries: (i) CLP had yet to alleviate the concerns of OCs which still worried that they could not be reimbursed for the consultancy fees they had paid if their applications were unsuccessful; (ii) HD regarded PRH flats sold under TPS as private housing, while public bodies still considered TPS estates as HD’s properties, which put these estates in an awkward position. He suggested extending the eligibility criteria to include TPS estates.

69. Mr CHOW Shing-fat gave a consolidated response as follows:

(i) The Vetting Committee’s meetings were held on a quarterly basis. The remaining 28 applications were under consideration. Assistance would be provided to applicants throughout the application process. In general, they would have a great chance of success as long as they had submitted all the necessary information.

(ii) At present, funding was not subject to a ceiling for each district. The Vetting Committee accord priority to applications based on first come first served and other priority factors (such as whether the organisation concerned had previously received similar funding).

(iii) Owners’ organisations had the right to make the final decision in selecting the supplier. Nevertheless, the amount of funding would be assessed based on - 28 - Action by the lowest bid, with a view to making good use of the funding resources to subsidise more projects.

(iv) Generally speaking, TPS estates with OCs formed were eligible to apply for the Fund. Individual cases of TPS estates where there were still PRH tenants would be considered separately.

70. Mr WONG Tat-tung supported the Fund and hoped that CLP would give more publicity to it among the community to benefit more people.

71. The Chairman concluded that: (i) buildings with OCs were in principle eligible to apply for the Fund to subsidise the implementation of improvement works for energy saving and emission reduction. At the meeting, Members pointed out the inadequacies of the application arrangements and hoped that CLP would follow up; (ii) it was hoped that CLP would further promote energy saving and emission reduction among the community by launching more publicity campaigns and public education activities before entering into another Scheme of Control Agreement with the Government in 2018; (iii) for the sake of fairness, CLP should consider setting a ceiling for each district so as to benefit all the 14 districts within the power supply network of CLP; (iv) CLP could give further explanations of the arrangements for advance payments and reimbursements in district talks or publicity literature.

(d) Appealing for Sham Shui Po District Council’s support in promoting the development of “Sham Shui Po Fabric Street Market” so as to mobilise local economic development and improve the livelihood of the general public (SSPDC Paper 156/15)

72. Mr LEE Wing-man introduced Paper 156/15.

73. The Chairman said that prior to meeting, the Secretariat had invited the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau (“CEDB”) to send representatives to the meeting but the bureau replied that it was unable to do so. The Chairman referred Members to the written reply by CEDB (Paper 175/15) and asked the Secretariat to write down Members’ views for forwarding to the relevant policy bureaux after the meeting.

74. Mr LEUNG Man-kwong supported the relevant proposals and raised the following views: (i) it was hoped that the bureau would help improve the business environment for fabric traders so that they could transform their business from wholesale to retail with local characteristics to attract the general public and tourists and therefore enhance their competitiveness; (ii) the number of wholesalers in the fabric street market was decreasing while more and more couriers had started their business in the vicinity, causing - 29 - Action by obstructions by cargoes on pavements; (iii) since many design students needed to collaborate with fabric traders, it was hoped that the Government would help improving the business environment and encourage more economic activities in the fabric street market; (iv) it was hoped that discussions would be held to enable the Government to devise a more comprehensive policy on bazaars, together with the implementation framework and direction, so as to facilitate the development of the trade; (v) it was hoped that the Government would promote economic development with more new thinking.

75. Mr CHAN Wai-ming raised the following views: (i) it was hoped that the Government would study the development of SSP for the establishment of thematic streets in the district; (ii) back in 2003, the Government supported the Hong Kong Computer Festival to stimulate the domestic economy. The apparel and fabric wholesale trades in the area of Cheung Sha Wan Road were also distinctive trades in the district. The Government should take the lead in planning the area and developing it into SSP’s and even Hong Kong’s Dongdaemun to promote the development of the economy and the trades; (iii) a balance of views should be achieved for the relevant proposals through consultations. At this stage, this Council’s support was sought to relay the views to the relevant policy bureaux for implementation of the proposals. It was hoped that the next term of District Council would sustain its efforts on that front.

76. Ms LAU Pui-yuk raised the following views: (i) the paper prompted Members to think about the development direction for the Fabric Street, which should take into account economic considerations as well as the domestic economy and the development of SSP, with a view to improving people’s livelihood; (ii) there were stories of small shops which had witnessed prosperity but were now having difficulties in running their business; (iii) after the opening up of the junction between Apliu Street and Nam Cheong Street for pedestrians, there was a greater people flow along Nam Cheong Street and Shek Kip Mei Street, which was welcomed by small shops; (iv) since fabrics were essential to fashion design, many university fashion design students liked to go to SSP for “treasure hunting”. The Government could consider facilitating the development of the fabric trade in the district along this line, so as to promote and develop an economy with local characteristics; (v) it was necessary to conduct consultations and gauge local views for any developments and activities to cater for local needs and situation.

77. Mr LEE Wing-man raised the following views: (i) the fabric market in SSP District had a long history and he suggested giving an official name to it; (ii) there were hundreds of fabric trading shops on the road sections concerned and Ki Lung Street was even the centre for hawker stalls selling fabrics; (iii) CEDB had not replied directly to the proposals in the paper; (iv) if the motion was passed, he suggested writing to CEDB and requested it to consider proactively developing the fabric market. Local and foreign - 30 - Action by visitors would be able to know that there was such a market in Hong Kong and business opportunities could be introduced into Hong Kong when necessary.

78. Ms WAI Hoi-ying said that the fabric market was once quite well-known in SSP District. She hoped that the Government could study feasible measures to boost the market, for example, by holding regular large events such as carnivals, so that its location would be better known to the public in order to attract more customers and visitors.

79. Mr CHAN Keng-chau raised the following views: (i) the paper had a positive effect on the economic development and promotion of SSP; (ii) there were two special features in SSP District: computer market and garment market. The former was quite successful and the latter was once prosperous in the 1970s and 1980s. He considered that SSP District had potential and room to restructure and redevelop the fabric market; (iii) SSP District already had the traders and shops engaging in fabric and apparel accessory trading. With the adoption of the works of design students from universities, a one stop service incorporating materials, accessories, design and garment sales could be provided. He even suggested holding fashion shows in local streets in order to bring the garment industry in SSP to a new stage. The stimulation of the fabric market was the first step in the development.

80. Ms Josephine LAU responded as follows:

(i) The plan could tap SSP’s features to promote the local community economy and create job opportunities for residents, and might even benefit Hong Kong’s overall economy.

(ii) The actual situations of the proposals would be considered from the Police’s point of view. She was glad to know that residents’ wishes and external factors were given due consideration as mentioned in proposal 4. Residents had expressed concerns or lodged complaints about noise pollution, street obstructions, shop front extension, traffic congestion as a result of illegal parking, and over-crowding. She hoped that resident’s opinions would be seriously considered.

(iii) If the plan was implemented in future, she suggested extending the Hawkers’ Charter in SSP from Apliu Street and Fuk Wing Street to the fabric street market to encourage hawkers to be more self-disciplined.

81. Mr LAI Kah-kit replied that the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (“FEHD”) would support SSPDC’s decisions and the overall development of SSP from - 31 - Action by the aspects of environmental hygiene and food safety.

82. The Chairman raised the following views: (i) if more local community economy activities were held in the district, housewives or families in need could join the industry to earn income to relieve their economic burden resulted from inflation; (ii) as there was a request at the district level to make use of the previous fabric market, this Council should seize the opportunity to solve problems in the district; (iii) this Council had to accord top priority to solving potential impacts of the proposals on residents; (iv) he noted that there were funds available from government departments for the development. This Council had to convey the information to local organisations; (v) he understood CEDB’ rationale for mentioning the duties of other departments in the reply because each government department had its purview; (vi) there was no food truck in SSP for the time being. If the motion was passed, he hoped that SSP would put on a new look with the support from this Council and co-operation at the district level.

83. Mr LEE Wing-man added that he had interviewed owners on the streets concerned and they were in support of organising carnivals.

84. The Hon Frederick FUNG considered that the motive of the proposals was positive but he raised the following views: (i) there were quite many fabric traders on the streets concerned, but after all they did not form a market exclusively for selling fabrics. Even if an area was demarcated, signs were installed and Wi-Fi services were provided as mentioned in proposals 1 to 3, the area would not then become a fabric market; (ii) more supplementary information and concrete proposals should be provided in the paper for the consideration of government departments. For example, reference could be made to the specialty markets in Guangzhou where only designated businesses were allowed. Appropriate supporting facilities should be provided to publicise that there was a specialty market on the road sections concerned, or else visitors would not be attracted to it.

85. Mr WAI Woon-nam raised the following views: (i) there were only two fabric shops on Fuk Wa Street north of Cheung Sha Wan Road. Although the clothing industry was quite prosperous 20 odd years ago, most of the shops there had switched to retail business and would close for half day on Saturdays and even the whole day on Sundays since the migration of local industrial operations to the Mainland. He doubted if the industry would agree to organising carnivals on holidays; (ii) the industry wished to promote local culture in recent years and some leather traders at Tai Nan Street had tried to hold bazaars on the street to sell leather handicrafts on Sundays. Around two hours later, FEHD staff stopped their business on the grounds of noise pollution. The traders tried to seek assistance from the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (“LCSD”), but - 32 - Action by the department simply suggested them doing business at the stadium. As could be seen, the industry’s self-initiated business was often subject to government departments’ constraints. He therefore had reservation about the feasibility of the proposals in the paper.

86. Mr CHAN Keng-chau stated that the motion was moved to foster the development of SSP fabric street market and promote local community economy so as to improve livelihood. He proposed SSPDC support the principle first and discuss the details later.

87. Mr WONG Tat-tung raised the following views: (i) Apliu Street, the recycling industry as well as the lives of various ethnic minorities had accentuated the unique characteristics of SSP. Since the fabric market was also a distinguishing feature of the district, he supported the motion to revitalise the industry as a whole; (ii) the motion only aimed to explore the direction of development; one could render support to it so long as he/she agreed that the industry needed development; (iii) the four proposals set out by the paper were only preliminary ones; they could be fleshed out later if this Council supported the general direction put forth; (iv) he hoped that this Council could support local community economy and the development of the fabric market.

88. Mr CHAN Wai-ming raised the following views: (i) supported by the relevant policy, it seemed hopeful that favourable conditions and a virtuous circle for development could be created if the Government could offer more supporting facilities; (ii) the joint effort of the Government and this Council was required to prompt the industry to discuss how to follow up on the establishment of Fabric Street Market with a view to arresting the decline trend of the industry. He believed that was much better than making no headway at all.

89. The Hon Frederick FUNG said that he did not oppose the proposal but would like to raise the following views: (i) he doubted that if the streets concerned which had not yet developed into a fabric market were designated as Fabric Market Street according to the proposal of the paper, other people would follow suit and make impractical suggestions as well; (ii) directional signs for visitors were only added to the jade market in view of its well-developed status; (iii) the paper should put forth more practical advices to help the Government turn those streets into a market, for example, to earmark land for an exhibition centre, to organise fashion shows in SSP District or to work out intern scheme for students to produce cloths in dyeing factories; (iv) proposal 4 in the paper had no bearing with the fabric market.

90. Mr LEE Wing-man raised the following views: (i) the fabric market had come into existence in SSP District for decades though its business had been in the doldrums after - 33 - Action by factories were migrated to the Mainland; he opined that the Government should rolled out policies to foster the development of local community economy; (ii) the paper aimed to tell this Council that SSP had an advantage to develop local community economy with its unique trades, in the hope that the industry concerned could regain it lost lustre.

91. The Hon Frederick FUNG remarked that only proposals 1 and 2 were related to the fabric market. In the past some business people had mooted converting Lai Kok Market into a fashion centre; with concrete planning proposals such as offering concessionary rent for fashion designers and setting aside some areas in the centre for the organisation of fashion shows, etc. He pointed out that this Council should set out the nuts and bolts of how to forge a fabric market at those streets if it intended to submit a proposal to the Government.

92. The Chairman raised the following views: (i) those road sections were in their own right a market though there were no signage to indicate their status and locations; (ii) as a consultative body, this Council would point out the direction for Government’s consideration after listening to the views of local communities and shop operators; (iii) detailed discussion could be carried out with shop operators of the fabric market if the motion was carried; with suggestions of applying for Government funding for the expansion of the fabric market; (iv) it would be more appropriate to commit our support to the direction of development of the SSP Fabric Street Market first; (v) regarding the proposals of erecting featured signage, this Council would write to the Tourism Commission for its reference if the motion was carried; (vi) Wi-Fi infrastructure should be suitably located with pedestrian flow and needs of shop operators in mind, so as to create business opportunity for local shops; (vii) leveraging on the historical background, it was hoped that those shops could hang on and strive to preserve district features; (viii) despite its imperfection, the motion had pointed clearly to the direction of development for the action of government department and the participation of shops; (xi) since food trucks could draw a crowd and make the market even more prosperous, they did bear some connection to the development of the fabric market.

93. The Chairman remarked that the motion was seconded by Mr CHAN Keng-chau, Mr WONG Tat-tung and Mr LEE Wing-man. The Chairman asked Members to vote on the above motion by open ballot as requested by Members.

94. The meeting voted on the motion.

The voting result was as follows: - 34 - Action by For: Mr CHAN Keng-chau, Mr CHAN Wai-ming, Mr Jimmy KWOK, Mr Aaron LAM, Ms LAU Pui-yuk, Mr LEE Wing-man, Mr LEUNG Man-kwong, Mr Bruce LI, Mr SHUM Siu-hung, Ms WAI Hoi-ying, Dr WONG Chung-leung, Mr WONG Tat-tung (12)

Against: (0)

Abstain: Mr CHUM Tak-shing, the Hon Frederick FUNG, Mr LEUNG Yau-fong, Mr TSUNG Po-shan, Mr WAI Woon-nam (5)

95. The Secretary announced the voting result. 12 Members voted for the motion, zero Member voted against it and five Members abstained. The Chairman declared that the motion was carried.

96. The Chairman concluded that: (i) the Secretariat should write to the Tourism Commission, asking them to take heed of the motion carried by this Council and add signage at the relevant place; the actual locations for the erection of signage would be confirmed following the discussion of Members and local organisations; (ii) the Secretariat should write to the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer, asking them to take heed of the motion carried by this Council and study on the provision of Wi-Fi service at locations with heavy pedestrian flow first after discussing with local organisations so that comprehensive free Wi-Fi service could be provided at the Fabric Street Market as soon as possible; (iii) proposals 3 and 4 in the paper required further discussion with local organisations; this Council would inform shop operators and local organisations about the content of the motion carried to facilitate future co-operation.

(e) Appealing for the Police to step up efforts in combating phone scams (SSPDC Paper 157/15)

97. Mr CHAN Wai-ming presented Paper 157/15.

98. The Chairman welcomed the representatives of HKPF to the meeting. He said that prior to the meeting the Secretariat had invited the Office of the Communications Authority (“OFCA”) to send representatives to the meeting but OFCA replied that it was not able to do so. He referred Members to the written response of OFCA (SSPDC Paper 176/15).

99. Ms Josephine LAU responded as follows: - 35 - Action by (i) From January to June 2015, the Police had received a total of 1 370 reported cases of phone scams, which accounted for about 28% of the total number of deception cases. The number of phone scams had increased by 16.3% or 192 cases compared with 1 178 cases for the same period in 2014. The success rate of the crime was about 25%.

(ii) The increase in phone scams was primarily attributable to cases involving impersonation of Mainland officials. The Police had received 1 001 reported cases of phone scams in July 2015 alone. In respect of SSP District, the Police received a total of 159 reported cases in 2014 involving an amount of about $2 million, compared to 124 cases received from January to July in 2015 which involved an amount of around $15 million. The increase was quite significant.

(iii) The Police had analysed the data about phone scams and found that such cases started to emerge in Hong Kong in the fourth quarter of 2010. The bogus callers first adopted the modus operandi of “guess who I am” to impersonate the relatives or friends of the receivers and attempted to trick out of money by claiming that they got involved in sudden accidents. Later bogus callers changed the modus operandi and claimed that they had kidnapped the relatives or friends of the receivers and demanded a ransom.

(iv) The subjects of made-up kidnaps were mainly young people and some were even university students. Some of them were induced by swindlers to conceal themselves in hotels or guesthouses and to replace the SIM cards of their mobile phones with disposable ones. The purpose was to mislead their families into believing that they had been kidnapped so that they would pay the ransom.

(v) The Police had made phone scams one of the operational priorities of the Commissioner of Police in 2015. In addition, the Kowloon East Regional Crime Unit had established a designated unit to co-ordinate all strategic efforts to combat phone scams, including intelligence collection and analysis, professional investigation, prosecution, cross-boundary co-operation, publicity and education.

(vi) On the publicity and education fronts, the Police had broadcast announcements of public interest about phone scams through the television programme “Police Magazine” and the Commercial Crime Bureau’s “Fight Scams Together” platform. The public could also access those information - 36 - Action by through HKPF’s mobile applications, website or YouTube Channel.

(vii) In addition, the Police had maintained close communication with the industry such as the Hong Kong Money Service Operators Association, currency exchange shops and banks in the form of partnership. As at June 2015, the Police had successfully detected 65 phone scams with the information provided by money service operators. The bank sector had also provided information to the Police which contributed to the prevention of 62 scam cases.

(viii) The Fight Crime Committee used “Beware of Deception” as one of the themes of the publicity campaign from 2013 to 2015. The Police would continue to strongly promote publicity and education about phone scams and to co-operate with various sectors to publicise the prevention of deception so as to enhance public alertness and awareness about deception prevention. Those sectors included telecommunication companies, banks, public utilities, remittance agents, public transport operators, members of the Hong Kong Housing Society, fast food chains, clinics and hospitals.

(ix) The Police’s holistic approach to publicity started to bear fruit. The number of phone scams received between 1 and 20 August had dropped to 153, a decrease of around 80% compared to 1 001 in July. In the case of SSP, the Police received 41 cases of phone scams in July, but only six between 1 and 20 August, with only two with monetary loss.

(x) The Police was committed to fighting phone scams and prosecuting swindlers. It would apply to the court for an enhancement of sentence by exercising the power conferred on it under the Organized and Serious Crimes Ordinance (Cap. 455). In a phone scam occurred earlier, the subject reported the case without delay to the Police, which enabled the Police to be well-prepared for the necessary action to arrest the swindler. The swindler was later found to be connected with three other phone scam cases and finally he pleaded guilty. The Police had applied to the court for enhancing the sentence. The court would consider the role, knowledge and shares of proceeds of the defendant in the crime to consider the enhancement of sentence. Generally speaking, the sentence would be increased by one-third.

100. Mr LEUNG Man-kwong raised the following views and enquiries: (i) he did not doubt the Police’s determination to combat phone scams. The Police had allocated considerable resources in organising exchanges with the enforcement departments of - 37 - Action by other Southeast Asia countries in a bid to curb phone scams. Since public awareness about deception prevention was enhanced, there were indications that the number of reported cases about phone scams had decreased; (ii) according to the Police’s statistics, there were six reported cases of phone scams in SSP District between 1 and 20 August, in which monetary loss was reported in two cases. He believed that the victim of one of the cases was a youngster in his twenties residing in Fu Cheong Estate and the money involved was around $20,000. The Police’s publicity work targeted the middle-aged and elderly people, but youngsters and those with high education were not necessarily immune to phone scams. He therefore suggested the Police disseminate anti-deception messages to different age groups and strata through various channels; (iii) would Police adopt new publicity and education methods to enhance the dissemination of anti-deception messages to young people; (iv) social networking sites such as Facebook and Instagram were popular among young people. Many organisations were using WeChat to disseminate messages. He enquired if the Police would consider using similar websites to enhance publicity.

101. Mr WONG Tat-tung raised the following views and enquiries: (i) the Police had carried out much publicity to stem phone scams, for example, two talks were held at Mei Foo to put members of the public on alert of phone scams. The residents in Mei Foo deemed those talks useful and expressed appreciation for the anti-scam work of the Police; (ii) most victims of phone scams aged under 65 as revealed by the talks; (iii) on top of setting up a task force to handle phone scams, he wonder whether the Police would provide a hotline so that members of the public could call the Police directly for help when they suspected to have fallen prey to those scams; (iv) whether couriers, Mainland public security authorities and credit providers would set up hotlines for members of the public to check on the creditability of the calls.

102. Mr CHAN Keng-chau raised the following views and enquiries: (i) the Police had tightened enforcement against phone scams; two talks held at Lei Cheng Uk Estate were met with enthusiastic response; (ii) whether the recent phone scams were operated by China-Hong Kong syndicates and whether there was any exchange between the law enforcement departments of China and Hong Kong; (iii) he hoped the banking sector would stay alert and help prevent deception by reminding customers withdrawing a large sum of money; (iv) he suggested the Police provide channels for enquiry and advise on phone scams with fraudsters posing couriers, officers of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (“Liaison Office”) and District Offices.

103. Mr Ambrose CHEUNG raised the following views and enquiries: (i) one of the victims of the six phone scam cases recorded in SSP from 1 to 20 August 2015 was a - 38 - Action by resident of Mei Foo Sun Chuen, and the amount involved was more than RMB $1 million; (ii) he praised the Police’s efforts in stemming phone scams and opined that the falling number of cases reported might due to the reasons such as the crime syndicates had brought the scams to a temporary halt in response to Police’s actions, public awareness of scams or people failed to report the cases to the Police after receiving such calls. Despite the falling trend, the successful rate of such calls was still as high as 25%, suggesting the prevalence of phone scams operated by crime syndicates; (iii) as many victims of phone scams were young people who would use internet and social media to obtain information, he suggested the Police employ different channels to promote anti-scam messages to different age groups; (iv) phone scams were cross-border crime and the Police should explain to the public the operation mode of those crime syndicates; (v) he suggested HKPF collaborate with Mainland public security authorities to make clear to the public that they would not contact them in such a way; (vi) he enquired of the Police about the long-term follow-up measures adopted against phone scams.

104. Mr LEUNG Yau-fong raised the following views and enquiries: (i) in view of the prevalence of phone scams, Members relayed to the Commissioner of Police during the meeting of the SSP District Fight Crime Committee held in July that the Police should work out more effective ways to enforce law and enhance publicity as crime syndicates had exploit the close relation between China and Hong Kong to commit crime; (ii) whether Mainland public security authorities had worked out any concrete measures against cross-border crimes to help HKPF solve those cases and allay the concern of Hong Kong people; (iii) a resident of Lei Cheng Uk Estate had once sought his help, saying that the fraudster posing as a courier had tricked him into revealing bank account and personal information. The fraudster even claimed to be able to arrest and extradite him to the Mainland; (iv) the Police should also explain to the public the differences in the way law was enforced in the Mainland and Hong Kong saved the apprehension of fraudsters; (v) the Police refused to take up the case mentioned above on the grounds that the victim had borne no financial losses. He questioned the falling number of scam cases received by the Police was a result of victims failing to report the cases or the Police refusing to take up the cases; (vi) police officers should encourage the public to report such cases so that the modi operandi and the tricks pulled by fraudsters could come to light to facilitate law enforcement with a view to safeguarding the property of the public.

105. Mr Bruce LI said that police officers had visited his constituency last week and handed out anti-scam promotional leaflets to enthusiastic residents. He and the residents both deemed the activity a success, an evidence of Police’s concern on the community. He thanked the Police on behalf of the residents and expressed his hope that the Police would organise more activities of this kind. - 39 - Action by 106. Mr NG Kwai-hung raised the following views and enquiries: (i) the ploys of crime syndicates had been evolving in tandem with technological development, making it less tractable for the Police; (ii) the Police had done much publicity work in recent days; last week he and the District Commander of SSP had also distributed leaflets to local residents. He pointed out that residents who took the leaflets were mostly grey heads while people of younger age tended not to take them with a belief that they would not be duped because they were better educated; (iii) like the phone and email scams he had encountered in the past, the phone scams deluged recently were also originated outside Hong Kong, for example the “guess who I am” scams and the calls from fraudsters posing couriers or officials of the Liaison Office. In view of this, he suggested the Police collaborate with other law enforcement bodies such as the Interpol and designate a 24-hour cool-off period for remittance so that receivers could only use the money 24 hours later. This would allow time for victims to retrieve the payment and provide leads for the Police to trace the whereabouts of the money. Such arrangement might affect ordinary course of trade or remittance but credit accounts registered beforehand could dispense with such restrictions.

107. Ms Josephine LAU thanked Members for their views and gave a consolidated response as follows:

(i) Victims of phone scams were no longer limited to elderly people, as the youth had also become a target. In view of this, apart from distributing publicity leaflets to the public in streets, the Police disseminated scam prevention messages through various channels such as YouTube, mobile applications and pop-up advertisements on bank websites, so that people of all ages were aware of such information.

(ii) People often believed that they would not be easily deceived and thus refused to receive scam prevention information, but they were at their wits’ end when dealing with phone scams.

(iii) She had received a scam phone call from an alleged courier. The scammers, who operated as syndicates, were sophisticated in division of labour and well aware of the psychology of victims who often fell prey to phone scams due to inadvertence.

(iv) HKPF was informed by Mainland public security authorities that these phone scams had been prevalent in Taiwan since more than a decade ago. The target group at that time was Mainland businessmen working in Taiwan. The modi operandi adopted included impersonating couriers, pretending to be - 40 - Action by Mainland public security authorities and asking “guess who I am” but scammers would make adjustments in accordance with different communities, how well-informed were the targets and their education levels, etc.

(v) HKPF experienced difficulties in operating a one-stop hotline for public enquiries about caller authenticity. As a matter of fact, each police station, the Commercial Crime Bureau and Kowloon East Regional Crime Unit had set up hotline services for public enquiries. In case members of the public received suspicious phone calls and raised enquiries, the Police would spare no efforts in providing assistance to them.

(vi) To prevent phone scams effectively, members of the public should become more vigilant and beware of scams and pay attention to the scam prevention information disseminated by the Police. They should understand that it took time for the Police to conduct stringent enforcement action or make application to the court to review the penalty level. Moreover, not every scam case could be solved. After the victim had transferred an amount of money to the bank account designated by the scammer, the scammer would transfer the money to his other accounts and withdraw it immediately. In the course of tracing the money, the Police discovered that some accounts were used by scammers without the holders’ knowledge. In other cases, the account holders provided their accounts or personal particulars to the others at a certain price for conducting illegal activities.

(vii) HKPF had maintained close liaison with Mainland public security authorities and often exchanged intelligence, investigation experiences and crime figures with a view to better understanding the case information and formulating appropriate publicity and education measures.

(viii) In a bid to combat phone scams, the efforts of HKPF, other law enforcement agencies and telecommunications service operators alone were far from adequate. Insufficient alertness of the public would also give chances to scammers.

108. Mr Bruce LI raised the following views: (i) due to the prevalence of phone scams, some members of the public refused to answer calls from unfamiliar numbers, including the calls from his office; (ii) his wife had affixed a label with the numbers related to suspected phone scams to his mobile phone, reminding him not to answer their calls.

109. Ms Josephine LAU advised the public to configure the mobile phone to reject calls - 41 - Action by from particular numbers.

110. Mr Sam CHEUNG gave a consolidated response as follows:

(i) HKPF conducted detailed analysis and investigation on each criminal case every day. Noting that there had been a rising trend in phone scams since June this year, SSP Police District expedited its anti-deception publicity in the district. The data for August revealed that notable results had been achieved from the publicity. HKPF hoped to continue its co-operation with Members and the Fight Crime Committee in the prevention of crime.

(ii) To raise the youth’s awareness of scams, HKPF would disseminate scam prevention messages through various platforms, such as the Facebook page of the Junior Police Call.

111. The Chairman raised the following views and suggestions: (i) in its written reply, OFCA pointed out that telecommunications service operators were required to insert a specific sign in the calling number display to help the public identify incoming calls from outside Hong Kong. The insertion of the “+” sign had taken effect recently; (ii) in view of the recent phone scams, the Mainland authorities had reminded the public to pay heed to incoming calls from outside Hong Kong. In order to raise public alertness, he suggested that the Government, with regard to the experience of the Mainland, insert signs or voice notifications to incoming calls from outside Hong Kong.

112. The Chairman concluded that: (i) this Council expressed concern about the rapid surge of phone scams recently, and noted that the Police had been committed to combating phone scams and the number of cases in August had declined evidently; (ii) he urged HKPF to maintain close dialogue and co-operation with Mainland public security authorities so that they could better respond to the emerging crime techniques; (iii) this Council urged the Government to consider and study the proposals on combating phone scams and disseminate the latest information about phone scams to this Council and the public at an earlier time in future.

(f) To pursue for a clean Hong Kong unremittingly (SSPDC Paper 158/15)

113. Mr CHUM Tak-shing presented Paper 158/15.

114. The Chairman said that the Secretariat had invited before the meeting the Home Affairs Department (“HAD”) to send representatives to the meeting but it replied that no representative could be sent. He referred Members to the written response from HAD - 42 - Action by (Paper 177/15).

115. The Chairman said that he had just received a provisional motion moved by Mr CHUM Tak-shing and seconded by the Hon Frederick FUNG (Motion 1).

116. Mr LAI Kah-kit responded as follows:

(i) The “Keep Clean 2015@Hong Kong: Our Home” Campaign (“Keep Clean Campaign”) this year aimed at enhancing the cleansing of streets, rear lanes, public toilets, markets and hawker bazaars, etc. To promote the message of Clean Hong Kong not only required the concerted efforts of various government departments, but also public support and participation. Therefore, FEHD would hold promotional activities in streets, markets and hawker stalls to remind the public of the importance of personal, home and environmental hygiene.

(ii) The department would conduct tender exercise for its service contracts following the procurement standard and procedures of the Government. The tenders would be evaluated with a marking scheme approved by the Central Tender Board so as to obtain the technical score and price score. The assessment items for technical score included the quality of work plans drawn up by tenderers for the relevant contracts, the wages paid to cleansing workers as well as the track records of tenderers in executing relevant government contracts, etc., and tenders with the highest total score would normally be accepted. In other words, contracts were not necessarily granted to tenderers offering the lowest bid.

(iii) The department attached great importance to cases in which cleansing workers were exploited by service contractors. Contractors would be banned from tendering for cleansing contracts if they were convicted for violating the Employment Ordinance or the Employees’ Compensation Ordinance. The department would monitor the performance of contractors and take punitive actions such as issuing verbal warnings, written warnings and default notices as well as deducting contract fees in case contract provisions were breached; the service contract might even subject to immediate termination.

(iv) The statutory power and division of labor of different government departments varied. Taking shop front extension as an example, the - 43 - Action by department would conduct joint operations with other departments to solve the problem.

(v) The day-to-day management of government slopes fell on the department responsible for the management of the relevant slopes. The cleaning of slopes which were not under the management of any department would be taken up by the department. Hence, there was no grey area in slope management.

(vi) The department would provide basic cleaning service for private streets opened for public use on a daily basis. If the private streets were enclosed, the management responsibility would fall on the owners of the streets. Regarding the environmental hygiene problems of private streets not opened for public use, the department would issue Nuisance Notices to the occupiers or landowners in accordance with law, ordering the parties concerned to abate the nuisance within a specified period.

(vii) During the campaign, the department would step up cleansing of public places like back alleys and tighten inspections and enforcement action against irregularities committed by shops, in particular food premises illicitly dumping rubbish and processing food at back alleys. Publicity would take place at various locations to promote the importance of personal, domestic and environmental hygiene to members of the public and shop operators. It would also join hands with the Sham Shui Po District Office (“SSPDO”) to organise various promotional activities and talks to disseminate such messages to the public.

117. The District Officer thanked the Members who had submitted the paper and responded as follows:

(i) The Keep Clean Campaign was co-ordinated by FHB, with the participation of eight bureaux and 19 government departments and organisations.

(ii) Though the launching of the campaign, the Government hoped that the message of keep Hong Kong clean could be disseminated on district level and the public would be involved in those cleaning activities. It was hoped that in the long run the environmental hygiene of our community could be improved constantly under the joint effort of government departments and the public. - 44 - Action by (iii) SSPDO held a Clean Hong Kong Campaign Kick-off Ceremony on 10 August to support the campaign, with a bus criss-crossing various locations in the district; a number of publicity and public education events would also be held.

(iv) The campaign also featured a pilot scheme of providing cleansing service for the “three-nil” buildings in SSP. Although “three-nil” buildings were places under private ownership and the cleansing work was the sole province of the private owners, some of the flat owners of “three-nil” buildings faced difficulties in improving environmental hygiene of their buildings. In view of this, SSPDO would like to take this chance to hire contractors to clean up the common areas such as rooftops, staircases and in yards of some of the “three-nil” buildings in the district. Contractors would be arranged to clean up the common areas in the light of the environmental hygiene conditions of the “three-nil” buildings concerned. Normally speaking, the cleaning operation would last for one to two days. The department believed that the cleaning operation would greatly improve the environmental hygiene of and reduce the potential risks posed by “three-nil” buildings. It was expected that scores of “three-nil” buildings in the district would be benefited from that. SSPDO had issued letters to Members, urging them to provide a list of “three-nil” buildings with woeful hygiene conditions in their own constituency for follow-up action.

(v) SSPDO had issued a letter to Members earlier, informing them the distribution arrangements of cleaning packs to their offices. It was hoped that the packs would be redistributed to local residents through Members’ connections in the community so as to encourage the public to observe good personal, domestic and environmental hygiene practice.

(vi) SSPDO had also contacted schools in SSP District for the organisation of the “Clean My Own School” initiative. Schools were encouraged to participate as partner schools and mobilise students to clean their schools up when the new school year began in early September. It was hoped that students, after cleaning up their schools by themselves, would appreciate the importance of keeping the school clean constantly and bring the idea back home.

(vii) FEHD would intensify its efforts in cleaning up the hygiene blackspots in the district. Proposed by FEHD, an inter-departmental joint operation against second-hand recycling stores was also endorsed by the Environment and Hygiene Committee (“EHC”) in the expectation that the problems posed by - 45 - Action by those stores that had affected residents and the environment could be improved with an “education before law enforcement” approach.

(viii) The relevant departments would strongly promote the campaign. It was hoped that the effect would last even after the campaign so as to create a positive impact on the community and to encourage residents to keep their home clean.

118. The Chairman said that he had received a motion without notice (Motion 2) moved by 16 Members including Mr CHAN Wai-ming and seconded by Mr WONG Tat-tung.

119. Mr WAI Woon-nam raised the following views and enquiries: (i) the Government had held many territory-wide cleansing campaigns in the past few decades. Although the campaigns were able to remind residents to maintain personal hygiene and to keep the living environment clean, the effect could not last long and the poor hygienic condition would recur; (ii) FEHD had outsourced the street cleansing work to contractors. After the contractors’ cleansing hours, especially at midnight, streets, shop fronts and areas outside the markets were filled with refuse again. This showed that the cleansing service was not effective; (iii) FEHD had once required shop operators to keep the space within a certain area of their shops clean and any non-compliance would be punished, but the policy was in vain after implementation for a short time; (iv) the duties of government departments were not clearly defined. For example, the illegal discharge of wastewater into roadside gullies by shops was a hot potato that no department was willing to deal with. The Government should instruct the departments concerned to share the responsibility.

120. The Hon Frederick FUNG pointed out that a territory-wide cleansing campaign was the general direction, but the hygienic problems in different areas would vary at different times. In the case of Lai On Estate, rodent control measures were implemented five years before, bedbug control measures were implemented two years before and mosquito control measures were implemented in the year before. He considered that apart from launching a territory-wide cleansing campaign, the Government should introduce measures to address specific problems in various districts. Furthermore, the environmental hygiene of public housing estates was taken care of by government departments such as HD, but private buildings were not supported by the Government. He therefore urged the Government to offer assistance to them to improve the environmental hygiene of Hong Kong as a whole.

121. Mr CHUM Tak-shing raised the following views and suggestions: (i) sustained efforts should be made in order to enhance environmental hygiene; (ii) the Government - 46 - Action by should implement policies to support the frontline cleansing work; (iii) the Government’s measures and manpower to tackle environmental hygiene were inadequate, and the enforcement actions were too lax. He considered that the Government should enhance education and increase penalty so as to encourage the public to practise common courtesy.

122. Mr NG Kwai-hung shared Mr WAI Woon-nam’s view and raised the following views and suggestions: (i) the hygiene in public areas was undoubtedly the Government’s responsibility. Encouraging the public to keep Hong Kong clean had to be dealt with from education and increased penalty. HKPF actively promoted crime prevention initiatives in a bid to reduce manpower and resources in the long run. Likewise, the government departments concerned should implement measures to stop littering to reduce the manpower required for hygienic matters. As increasing the penalty for littering might provoke criticism, District Councils or representatives of the public should be prepared to support the Government’s policies; (ii) Hong Kong fell behind neighbouring regions in environmental hygiene and special attention should be paid to public toilets. The Government should review the policy and consider allocating more resources to the service provided by contractors. FEHD should also review the management of the outsourcing system and study if there was room for improvement.

123. Mr TSUNG Po-shan raised the following views and suggestions: (i) environmental hygiene was a perennial problem and was closely related to the adequacy of cleaning policies, the provision of public health facilities and the common courtesy of the public. All parties should sustain the efforts; (ii) he and some Members moved a motion at the meeting to call on the Government to address the bedbug problem; (iii) the Government did not have a designated department to deal with bedbug problems. He suggested establishing a task force under the Keep Clean Campaign to control bedbugs and organise relevant departments to solve the problem.

124. Mr CHAN Wai-ming supported the paper and raised the following enquiries and views: (i) the Government launched the Keep Clean Campaign with a view to ameliorating environmental hygiene. During the campaign, publicity, cleaning operations and enforcement actions would be enhanced. What was more important was how to make the operations and enforcement actions a routine practice subsequent to the conclusion of the campaign; (ii) under the outsourcing system, the contracts would be awarded to the lowest tenders. As a result, service contractors might lower the quality of services to control the cost; (iii) the Government had failed to entrench cleansing campaigns in the public’s daily life. Apart from distributing cleaning packs, it should consider encouraging and educating the public to persevere with keeping the environment clean through other means; (iv) he participated in a group activity and daily work of an - 47 - Action by elderly centre recently. He found that the support for the elderly and private buildings in cleaning was inadequate. Hence, he and other Members moved a motion at the meeting to urge the Government to allocate more resources under the campaign to provide cleaning support services to the elderly and residents of private buildings, and to strengthen education and enhance enforcement with the ultimate aim to solve environmental hygiene problems.

125. Mr Ambrose CHEUNG raised the following views and enquiries: (i) sustained efforts should be made in the Keep Clean Campaign and the focus should be on changing the culture and habits of the public; (ii) the Government should review the current policies on environmental hygiene, penalty and incentive scheme and outsourcing system. It should also continue to allocate resources to strengthen enforcement and raise public awareness about keeping Hong Kong clean; (iii) he asked which departments were responsible for the hygiene of the open space underneath Kwai Chung Road Flyover which was possessed by the Government; (iv) the Government should start with hygienic blackspots. For example, the small shop tenants near Mount Sterling Mall had disposed of much refuse and articles around the perimeter fence at the Kwai Chung Road Flyover. If the Government could take the initiative to remove such hygiene blackspots under the campaign, it could set an example for the public to continue to improve the environmental hygiene.

126. Ms LAU Pui-yuk raised the following views and suggestions: (i) she welcomed the Keep Clean Campaign and said that local environmental hygiene problems had been discussed many times in the papers submitted to the meetings of SSPDC and EHC; (ii) if the campaign only aimed to provide more resources to enhance the clean-up of various hygiene blackspots in the district, it would be no different from the current improvement measures on environmental hygiene and the poor hygiene conditions would likely to recur afterwards; (iii) in private developments and areas with markets or hawker stalls such as Apliu Street, the problems of refuse accumulation and street obstruction had caused great annoyance to residents. However, the problems could not be resolved within a short period of time as several departments were involved; (iv) apart from the Government’s efforts, keeping the environment clean also required the participation of small shop tenants, stall operators and residents. The Government should enhance co-operation with the public and shop tenants; (v) quite a number of restaurants disposed of refuse at rear lanes. It was suggested that more large refuse bins be provided at rear lanes to solve the environmental hygiene problems in the long run; (vi) as refuse was often accumulated beside the refuse bin at Pei Ho Street Market, she urged the Administration to monitor closely and improve the situation.

127. Mr Bruce LI raised the following views and enquiries: (i) cleansing campaigns had - 48 - Action by been carried out for decades but the overall hygiene conditions in Hong Kong was unsatisfactory; (ii) he enquired whether the Keep Clean Campaign included the handling of bedbug infestation. Apart from cleaning up public places, the Government should assist private housing estates in bedbug disinfestation; (iii) he urged the Government to adopt new slogan and logo to promote the campaign.

128. Mr LEUNG Yau-fong raised the following views and enquiries: (i) he noted the efforts of SSPDO and FEHD in dealing with the cleanliness issue but the current approach did not seem to be effective; (ii) District Clean Hong Kong Committees were set up in the past to motivate people from different strata to monitor the hygiene conditions and raise the awareness of cleanliness. He did not understand why the committees were dissolved; (iii) since the fixed penalty for littering had been increased to $1,500, the environmental hygiene conditions had been improved. However, as people’s financial situation improved and the departments concerned were too rigid in enforcement, the conditions had been worsening; (iv) some vendors and shops at Pei Ho Street, Shun Ning Road and Po On Road Market showed a lack of civic mindedness as they dumped the unsold food and refuse at shop fronts every day; (v) this one-off cleansing operation might not be effective. He hoped the departments concerned would consider Members’ views and strive to enhance public awareness of hygiene in the long run; (vi) although FEHD staff were not allowed to enter the private premises, they should raise tenants’ awareness of public hygiene by applying the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance; (vii) some tenants of old buildings in the district often dumped household waste on the streets at night. In addition, there was the problem of illegal disposal of construction waste. It was not practically feasible for the Environmental Protection Department (“EPD”) to follow Taiwan’s practice of not placing refuse bins on the streets; (viii) he hoped the Government would tackle public hygiene problems in a more effective way. As a first step, the Government should step up publicity, education and enforcement efforts, including the issue of warning letters in respect of hygiene blackspots.

129. Mr WONG Tat-tung raised the following views: (i) the Keep Clean Campaign helped to educate and remind the public to maintain good personal hygiene; (ii) environmental hygiene issues such as hygiene blackspots, illegal disposal of construction waste and obstruction of streets caused by recovering of electrical appliances had been discussed in the community over the years. There had been considerable difficulty in dealing with the issues as the collaboration of different departments was required. He hoped that the Government could review the co-ordination among various departments for sustainable cleansing initiatives through the territory-wide cleansing campaign; (iii) the departments should review the outsourcing arrangements for awarding the contract to the lowest bidder, as well as enhance the management and impose stiffer penalty. - 49 - Action by 130. Mr Lawrence LO raised the following views: (i) as Hong Kong was an international city and tourism capital, the Keep Clean Campaign could achieve publicity effect and enable tourists to know that Hong Kong had attached great importance to environmental hygiene, with a view to boosting the confidence of tourists. Therefore, the Government should pay attention to the hygiene conditions of tourist attractions such as Apliu Street; (ii) the campaign had been effective in improving the overall environmental hygiene and changing personal habits. He hoped that the Government would allocate more resources having regard to social needs so that the campaign could succeed and become part of the routine cleansing work.

131. Mr LAI Kah-kit gave a consolidated response as follows:

(i) FEHD hoped to tackle the problem effectively through education so as to reduce the resources required for addressing environmental issues. Apart from stepping up publicity and education, the department would also conduct special enforcement actions against littering in public places.

(ii) Under the Public Cleansing and Prevention of Nuisances Regulation, discharging wastewater in public places was an offence, no matter if the wastewater was discharged to roadside or gullies. The department had always been taking prosecution actions against such offence.

(iii) Pest control was the department’s most urgent task as mice and mosquitos were disease vectors. On the other hand, bedbugs were not disease vectors but would cause nuisance to the public. Upon receipt of complaints, the department would send its staff to conduct on-site investigations and provide the relevant parties with technical advice on the measures to control bedbugs, but it would not provide bedbug control services.

(iv) The department would pay more attention to the hygiene problems of public toilets.

(v) To tie in with the Government’s policy of promoting waste reduction, the department would gradually reduce the number of refuse bins on the streets and step up enforcement actions against littering.

(vi) LandsD was responsible for the cleaning up of the fenced-in area under the flyover in Mei Foo, while FEHD was responsible for the daily cleansing of public place outside the fenced area. FEHD would notify LandsD for follow-up if accumulation of refuse was found in the fenced-in area. - 50 - Action by (vii) The department was very concerned about the irregularities occurred near Pei Ho Street Market where many shops including food premises illicitly dumping rubbish and processing food at rear lanes. Cleansing efforts were now stepped up while special law enforcement action taken to improve environmental hygiene.

(viii) The department would participate in inter-departmental joint operations including publicity and education as well as law enforcement action in order to tackle the street obstruction problem posed by recycling industry. Apart from Government’s input, public co-operation and support was also vital, hence the department hoped to disseminate such message to the public through Members.

(ix) If contractors’ performance had failed to meet contract requirements, the department would take punitive actions such as issuing verbal warnings, written warnings and default notices as well as deducting contract fees.

(x) The fixed-pitch hawker area at Apliu Street was one of the target areas of the Keep Clean Campaign.

132. The District Officer gave a consolidated reply as follows:

(i) SSPDO had been keeping tabs on the environmental hygiene of this district and had vigorously co-ordinated and carried out joint operations with other departments.

(ii) He hoped that cleaning packs together with the keep clean messages could be passed to the public via Members’ community connections. As far as pest control was concerned, SSPDO was mainly responsible for publicity and education work, for example, organising talks, handing out leaflets and releasing information to building organisations or Resident Liaison Ambassadors in the district while the implementation was left to departments specialised in those fields. In case of private buildings, flat owners or OCs had to make arrangements for pest control. SSPDO would hold a health talk at Nam Cheong Community Centre from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on 8 September to introduce, among others, ways to control bedbugs. Members of the public were welcomed to the talk.

(iii) The Keep Clean Campaign would clean up scores of “three-nil” buildings in this district and Members could name buildings for participation. The pilot - 51 - Action by scheme would continue the cleansing work for “three-nil” buildings in the next couple of months to improve environmental hygiene. It also encouraged buildings to set up OCs so as to help owners improve building management. Apart from improving environmental hygiene of the common areas of buildings, SSPDO would also invite residents to play the role of Resident Liaison Ambassadors and help with the promotion of environmental hygiene and building management messages. However, SSPDO’s effort was only one part of the equation, the solving of environmental hygiene problem also hinged on the civic-mindedness of the public.

(iv) SSPDO had been following up on problems of illegal shop front extension and street obstruction by the recycling industry. Joint operations of larger scale would be carried out in the hope of improving the situation.

133. The Hon Frederick FUNG remarked that FEHD should not shun from handling bedbugs albeit they were not vectors. HD had refused to provide bedbug control service with the reason that the problem was originated from the furniture items bought from the Mainland by the tenant concerned. However, HD would now tackle the problem for the elderly since bedbugs had caused nuisance to other residents as well. When the bedbug problem of several households had morphed into a community issue, the Government should step in and FEHD should also consider helping private estates to handle bedbug problem.

134. Mr CHAN Wai-ming said that it was understood that bedbugs could breed and spread at the wounds inflicted by their bites and would like the department to provide correct information on that. Whatever the case, the department should not overlook the problem brought by bedbugs.

135. Mr NG Kwai-hung raised the following views: (i) some of the hygiene problems might involve other departments like LandsD; yet to solve the problem, it was recommended that FEHD should handle them first and then charge the relevant department for the cost; (ii) he hoped FEHD could enhance promotion to the fixed-pitch hawkers, urging them to clean up their own pitches or else there would be punishment awaiting them.

136. Ms LAU Pui-yuk raised the following views: (i) the possible decrease in the number of rubbish bins by FEHD worried her; she held that rubbish bins were not enough at present and demanded for more large rubbish bins. She hoped FEHD and the relevant policy bureaux could plump for the right moment to reduce the number of rubbish bins; (ii) FEHD could draw reference from the Apliu Street Hawkers’ Charter launched by the - 52 - Action by Police and fixed-pitch hawkers when carrying out cleansing work for the pitches; even “three-nil” buildings could adopt similar approaches so as to provide more incentives for tenants to keep their places clean.

137. Mr Ambrose CHEUNG raised the following views: (i) the environmental hygiene conditions of the open space under a flyover in Mei Foo was undesirable; with lots of rubbish and junks accumulated outside the fence in the absence of LandsD staff; (ii) although the Keep Clean Campaign was a publicity programme, the Government should seize this opportunity and task various departments to adopt concrete measures for the enforcement of law at hygiene blackspots. He asked the department to respond to that.

138. Mr LEUNG Man-kwong raised the following views: (i) he hoped that the Keep Clean Campaign could become a territory-wide activity organised on a continuous basis; (ii) slogan-type publicity produced little results; the Government should devote more resources to promotion and education and toughen law enforcement as complement; (iii) street cleanliness could not be achieved by reducing the number of rubbish bins. The reduction of rubbish bins in other cities was made possible by other supporting policies, for example, policies on waste charging, landfilling and incineration, etc. He hoped that the department would listen to Members’ views and not to implement the policy of reducing the number of rubbish bins.

139. Mr LEUNG Yau-fong raised the following views: (i) FEHD should consider setting up the District Clean Hong Kong Committees again to solve hygienic problems in the long run through publicity, supervision and co-operation among departments; (ii) the Keep Clean Campaign lasted for only two months. There were not sufficient manpower and resources to keep Hong Kong clean in the long run; (iii) FEHD should start with enhancing cleansing and enforcement in the market areas in the district. SSPDO should continue co-operating with other departments to conduct joint cleansing operations and step up education efforts, or the campaign would become fruitless.

140. Mr SHUM Siu-hung raised the following views and suggestions: (i) resources and manpower were needed if environmental hygienic problems were to be solved by education and enforcement. He was grateful to FEHD for its tremendous effort in the district. Since frontline staff members were already overloaded with work, he was worried that FEHD did not have the required human resources to cope with such a laborious task; (ii) FEHD might not have been granted the adequate power to deal with environmental hygienic problems. For example, a notice had to be posted for four hours for unattended articles causing obstruction before FEHD could make seizure. As a result, the street obstruction problem could not be handled effectively. He suggested FEHD seriously review the relevant legislation. - 53 - Action by 141. Mr LAI Kah-kit gave a consolidated response as follows:

(i) Rodents and mosquitoes were both vectors of lethal diseases, but bedbugs were not. Hence, FEHD’s priority was to control rodents and mosquitoes.

(ii) Regarding the refuse and junks accumulated underneath the flyover at Mei Foo, FEHD would step up inspection and cleansing works at the public areas outside the perimeter fence and would request LandsD to remove refuse inside the fence, if necessary.

(iii) Holders of fixed-pitch hawker licences were required to abide by the licensing condition to keep the hawker stalls clean and to provide adequate refuse bins in the stalls. FEHD would also step up inspection and enforcement.

(iv) FEHD would gradually reduce the number of litter containers placed on the street having regard to the actual situation. It would enhance publicity to educate the public to dispose of household waste in refuse collection points. It would also step up prosecuting offenders who disposed of refuse around litter containers.

(v) If shop operators placed articles in public places and caused obstructions to scavenging operations, FEHD would attach a notice to the articles and order that the articles be removed within four hours, or the articles would be seized. If there was repeated non-compliance, FEHD would prosecute the shop operators directly on the grounds of causing obstruction to scavenging operations.

(vi) The series of cleansing operations under the Keep Clean Campaign could convey the message of keeping the living environment clean to the public, which could help raising their awareness to co-operate in improving the environmental hygiene in the district.

142. The District Officer responded that he took note of Members’ views on environmental hygiene. HAD attached great importance to local environmental hygiene and would continue the present work. It would study with the departments concerned whether more could be done, such as in areas of long-term publicity and education work.

143. The Chairman concluded that: (i) under the Keep Clean Campaign, District Councils would be involved in district-led work to handle the cleansing of public places, - 54 - Action by non-public places and hygiene blackspots. The local community including District Councillors would be invited to advise the Government on non-routine cleansing work ; (ii) SSPDC hoped that FEHD could make the cleansing campaign a routine operation; (iii) EHC would continue to keep an eye on the street hygiene and blackspots; (iv) it was believed that if factors such as public monitoring and scoring by SSPDC could be considered in FEHD’s issuance of default notices, the cleansing work of contractors could be improved and resources to cope with hygiene blackspots could be better allocated; (v) refuse accumulation on the street was attributable to the large amount of refuse which could not be cleaned up in a timely manner. FEHD should increase the frequency of cleansing work or provide larger litter containers to solve the problem; (vi) the publicity of waste reduction was an essential long-term initiative. The Government should help to promote the sustainable development of the recycling industry, in addition to carrying out publicity and education work and introducing quantity-based waste charging, in order to reduce refuse on the street; (vii) FEHD was currently unable to handle the hygienic problem, such as bedbugs, in private places. It could not effectively address the hygienic problems in buildings which had been left vacant for a prolonged period, roadside refuse and illegal disposal of construction waste because of limited legal power. Hence, the Government should confer more power on FEHD through legislation to enforce the law and curb illegal acts.

144. The Chairman asked Mr CHUM Tak-shing to present Motion 1.

145. Mr CHUM Tak-shing said that he was requested by many elders in the district to urge the Government to handle bedbug problems. He presented Motion 1 as follows: “that, in view of the nuisance caused to residents by the serious bedbug problem in SSP, this Council strongly urges HD, FEHD, SWD and HAD to take the opportunity of the territory-wide cleansing campaign to implement measures to provide professional support, such as the use of pesticides and provision of cleansing service, help households in both public and private housing (including elderly singletons, elderly couples, low income families and recipients of the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance) in order to solve the pest problem in the long run.”

146. The Chairman asked Mr CHAN Wai-ming to present Motion 2.

147. Mr CHAN Wai-ming remarked that quite a number of elderly people had complained to him about the bedbug problem. He presented the content of Motion 2 as follows: “This Council supports the Government to launch the Keep Clean Campaign while demanding for more resources to handle the origins of problems at long-standing hygiene blackspots in SSP including construction wastes, the cleaning of markets and back alleys, etc. In parallel, community education as well as street and building - 55 - Action by cleaning should also be improved to resolve long-term problems haunting SSP District, such as dog excreta, bird droppings, rodent infestation and bedbug infestation, etc. This Council demands that the Government provides support such as cleaning and pest control service to grass-roots households living in private and public housing estates through this Council and social welfare organisations to improve domestic hygiene.”

148. Mr CHUM Tak-shing added that the movers of Motion 1 should be amended as: “Mr CHUM Tak-shing, Mr LEUNG Yau-fong, Mr WAI Woon-nam, Mr TSUNG Po-shan, Ms Carman NG and Mr WONG Chi-yung”.

149. Mr SHUM Siu-hung enquired whether SWD had been carrying out bedbug control work.

150. Mr Stephen LAI replied that the SSP District Social Welfare Office of SWD had started to provide bedbug control service since this September for elderly people living alone, elderly couples living together and ex-mentally ill persons under the Keep Clean Campaign. However, due to limited resources, the scheme would operate in a small scale.

151. Mr CHAN Keng-chau enquired about the ways SWD screened beneficiary families.

152. Mr Stephen LAI replied that the District Elderly Community Centres, Neighbourhood Elderly Centres, Integrated Home Care Services Teams and Integrated Community Centre for Mental Wellness in the district would make recommendations on persons in need of the service to join the scheme.

153. The Hon Frederick FUNG hoped that FEHD would consider Members’ views and make reference to the practices of SWD and HD.

154. The Chairman said that he had already expressed in the conclusion his wish for departments to conduct cleaning work on an irregular basis and the bedbug problem was not excluded. SWD had noted the needs of the district and the problem would be handled by the relevant departments.

155. Mr CHAN Wai-ming proposed to amend the last sentence of Motion 2 as: “This DC demanded that the Government provide support such as cleaning and pest control service to grass-roots households living in private and public housing estates through DC, government departments and social welfare organisations to improve domestic hygiene.” - 56 - Action by 156. The District Officer replied that SSPDO might not able to provide professional support in bedbug control. Nevertheless, it would co-ordinate with other departments to carry out publicity and education work, etc.

157. The Chairman ruled that the two motions were parallel motions and would proceed to vote by open ballot.

158. The meeting voted on the motion (Motion 1) moved by Mr CHUM Tak-shing in the first place.

159. The voting result was as follows:

For: Mr CHAN Keng-chau, Mr CHAN Wai-ming, Mr Ambrose CHEUNG, Mr CHUM Tak-shing, the Hon Frederick FUNG, Mr Jimmy KWOK, Mr Aaron LAM, Ms LAU Pui-yuk, Mr LEUNG Yau-fong, Mr Bruce LI, Mr Lawrence LO, Mr NG Kwai-hung, Mr SHUM Siu-hung, Ms WAI Hoi-ying, Mr WAI Woon-nam, Mr WONG Tat-tung (16)

Against: (0)

Abstain: Dr WONG Chung-leung (1)

160. The Secretary announced the voting result. 16 Members voted for the motion, zero Member voted against it and zero Member abstained. The Chairman declared that Motion 1 was carried.

161. The meeting proceeded to vote on the motion (Motion 2) moved by Mr CHAN Wai-ming.

162. The voting result was as follows:

For: Mr CHAN Keng-chau, Mr CHAN Wai-ming, Mr Ambrose CHEUNG, Mr CHUM Tak-shing, the Hon Frederick FUNG, Mr Jimmy KWOK, Mr Aaron LAM, Ms LAU Pui-yuk, Mr LEUNG Yau-fong, Mr Bruce LI, Mr Lawrence LO, Mr NG Kwai-hung, Mr SHUM Siu-hung, Ms WAI Hoi-ying, Mr WAI Woon-nam, Dr WONG Chung-leung and Mr WONG Tat-tung (17) - 57 - Action by Against: (0)

Abstain: (0)

163. The Secretary announced the voting result. 17 Members voted for the motion, no Member voted against and no Member abstained. The Chairman declared that Motion 2 was carried.

(g) Requesting the Community Care Fund to subsidise private building residents in doing water and pipe tests; requesting the Government to offer blood test tickets to qualified persons (SSPDC Paper 159/15)

164. Mr WAI Woon-nam presented Paper 159/15.

165. The Chairman said that prior to the meeting the Secretariat had invited the Home Affairs Bureau (“HAB”), HAD, the Water Supplies Department (“WSD”), FHB, DH and HA to send representatives to the meeting but they all failed to do so. He referred Members to the written response jointly issued by HAB and HAD (Paper 178/15) and the one jointly issued by FHB, DH and HA (Paper 180/15). The Secretariat would take down Members’ views for relaying to the departments concerned.

166. Mr CHUM Tak-shing regretted that the Community Care Fund (“CCF”) had once again failed to send representatives to the meeting.

167. The Hon Frederick FUNG raised the following views and enquiries: (i) as DC was part of the consultative machinery, he found it unacceptable that CCF did not send any member to the meeting; (ii) there were many CCF programmes for subsidising private building residents, especially those living in old buildings or had financial difficulties. On building management, the Hong Kong Housing Society and URA had similar funds available for application by residents; (iii) the problem of excessive lead content in drinking water was not only confined to PRH estates at present. It was also found in a private housing estate in SSP district. Excessive lead content in drinking water was found even in individual schools in the district and university dormitories, which reflected that the problem covered extensive areas. For PRH estates, the Government would take the initiative to arrange for water and blood tests for residents. However, private building residents had to handle their cases by themselves; (iv) although some private buildings had formed OCs, the management of many OCs of these buildings in the district was not tight and the Government should subsidise private housing estates in need with CCF to conduct water tests; (v) if the results of the water tests revealed that lead content was excessive in drinking water, the Government should treat everyone the - 58 - Action by same by taking blood tests for private building residents in need under the practice adopted for PRH tenants and considering the introduction of a subsidy scheme to provide qualified persons with blood test tickets; (vi) amongst all districts in the territory, SSP had a higher proportion of elderly population with a great number of old buildings in the district, but the per capita income was the lowest. Therefore, subsidising private building tenants with CCF to conduct tests on water and water pipes fully met the purpose of setting up CCF.

168. Ms LAU Pui-yuk raised the following views: (i) she was disappointed that CCF did not send any member to the meeting; (ii) the incident of excessive lead content in drinking water had caused a panic throughout the city. Apart from PRH estates, there were also many concerns from private buildings. As OCs and building owners were responsible for the management of private buildings in general, private building residents worried about how to tackle the problem in terms of resources and finance in case excessive lead content in water samples was found upon testing; (iii) the Government should not escape its responsibility for safeguarding drinking water. She hoped that the Government should introduce a CCF subsidy scheme for OCs of old buildings as soon as possible and make it a routine scheme to meet the aspirations of private building residents and OCs. Meanwhile, she also hoped that CCF would provide subsidy programmes for private building tenants to conduct water tests and cleanse water tanks; (iv) the Quality Water Supply Scheme for Buildings introduced by WSD could certify whether the drinking water in private buildings was safe or not. The Government could subsidise private building residents to conduct water tests with CCF and issue certificates to allay the concerns of residents.

169. Mr WAI Woon-nam raised the following views and enquiries: (i) he was dissatisfied that CCF did not send any member to the meeting again and only provided a simple written response; (ii) excessive lead content in drinking water samples from schools had been found at present, which reflected that the problem might have covered from various types of buildings to even government buildings. To control and address the impact of the incident, the Government should conduct water tests for all buildings, in addition to PRH estates, completed in recent years in a holistic way; (iii) private building owners could only rely on contractors to replace water pipes but it could not be ensured whether lead solder would be applied or not, thus their health was not safeguarded; (iv) it was suggested that a letter should be written to urge CCF to attend committees meetings of this Council and request CCF to respond positively to Members’ requests.

170. Mr LEE Wing-man raised the following views and enquiries: (i) he welcomed the content of the Paper; (ii) even if CCF could not continuously subsidise private buildings to follow up on the problem of excessive lead content in drinking water, it could also - 59 - Action by provide a one-off assistance; (iii) some private buildings had carried out large-scale maintenance works in recent years and some drinking water pipes might have been replaced during the maintenance works, resulting in excessive lead content in drinking water. However, residents had no way to identify the problem. The Government should make every effort to provide assistance to residents; (iv) even if there was no problem with the water quality of WSD, it was doubtful if any other materials might have been released, in addition to possible excessive lead content in the water pipes; (v) his office received enquiries from members of the public about whether drinking water tests could be taken for them; (vi) as members of the public were concerned about their health, he supported that CCF should subsidise buildings and OCs to conduct tests on drinking water and opined that CCF could afford the charges incurred.

171. Mr Bruce LI pointed out that WSD had indicated at the 22nd meeting of the Housing Affairs Committee (“HAC”) that it would actively consider including the testing on heavy metal in its review of the Quality Water Supply Scheme for Buildings, and he hoped that WSD would implement the relevant arrangement and reply to Members.

172. The Chairman concluded that: (i) Members’ views would be conveyed to CCF; (ii) as CCF was currently reviewing the relevant subsidy scheme, it did not send any member to the 22nd meeting of SSPDC. HAB and HAD indicated in their written responses that Members’ proposals would be referred to members of the task force for reference; (iii) in light of Members’ requests, the Secretariat was asked to write in the name of the Chairman to CCF to invite its members to attend the 23rd meeting of HAC.

173. The Hon Frederick FUNG said that writing to CCF would not achieve any purpose and proposed that the Chairman lead Members to the office of CCF and meet its members for discussion.

174. The Chairman said that this Council would write to CCF to see when it could meet with Members for discussion. However, since the current term of SSPDC would cease operation with effect from 2 October 2015, this Council could only follow up as far as possible on making an appointment with CCF before the said date. If an appointment could be made before 2 October 2015, the Secretariat would notify Members as soon as possible.

(h) Strongly request to maintain the “Government, Institution or Community Facilities” use of the government site at Yu Chau Street/Wing Hong Street, expand the Wing Hong Street Refuse Collection Point, support the running of cooked food markets & develop Eco-Recycling Park (SSPDC Paper 160/15) - 60 - Action by 175. Mr CHUM Tak-shing introduced Paper 160/15.

176. The Chairman welcomed representatives of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (“FEHD”) to the meeting and asked Members to refer to the written response of the Planning Department (“PlanD”) (Paper 179/15). The Chairman said that the Secretariat had, before meeting, invited the Environmental Protection Department (“EPD”) to send representatives to attend this meeting but in vain. He asked Members to note the written response of EPD (Paper 181/15).

177. Ms Fonnie HUNG responded as follows:

(i) Currently there was a temporary refuse collection point (“RCP”) at the government land at Yu Chau West Street/Wing Hong Street. Since the site was proposed for rezoning, the Government planned to relocate the RCP to the future development. Whether the future RCP would have the capacity to taking care of the refuse handled by the Cheong Wah Street Refuse Collection Point (“CWSRCP”) as well involved technical considerations.

(ii) At the last Council meeting, FEHD mentioned that in accordance with the existing standards, there should be a RCP within every 500 metres. It would cause inconvenience to residents and users within 500 metres from Cheong Wah Street if we extended the Wing Hong Street Refuse Collection Point (“WHSRCP”) to replace CWSRCP. And in that case, refuse would be left on the street for a longer time and constitute bigger environmental hygiene problem.

(iii) According to the relevant outline zoning plan (“OZP”), after the site was converted to “Commercial (5)” zone, eating place would become an always permitted use which did not require a planning approval from the Town Planning Board (“TPB”). If the site was used for the development of commercial buildings, developer might provide eating places at the ground floor or underground floors in light of market mechanism.

(iv) Recyclable collection centre (“RCC”) was an always permitted use at commercial sites and waste recyclers might consider running their business at that location in future. Since the running of recycling park required more space, EPD had, with the aid of PlanD, proactively searching for suitable sites for the development of the waste recycling industry.

(v) Since the site at the junction of Yu Chau West Street and Wing Hong Street - 61 - Action by was only about 0.29 acres in size and close to industrial buildings and commercial area, we proposed to convert the site into commercial zone. Such arrangement would generate synergy effects and was more suitable than the development of a recycling park.

178. Mr LAI Kah-kit responded that if we extended the WHSRCP to replace CWSRCP, private refuse collectors and residents with the service range of CWSRCP would have to travel a longer distance to dispose their refuse at WHSRCP. Apart from the inconvenience caused, it would also generate odor and sewage problems. Besides, the additional amount of refuse collected would also bring considerable pressure on the nearby traffic of WHSRCP.

179. Mr CHAN Wai-ming raised the following views and suggestions: (i) following the discussion in the last Council meeting, he supported the Government taking this opportunity to extend WHSRCP with a view to alleviating the burden of CWSRCP or even replacing it; (ii) this Council’s discussion on the nuisance brought about by CWSRCP to nearby residents began eight years ago but the measures for improving the environmental hygiene of CWSRCP gained little progress and were far from effective. The installation work of drencher and activated carbon filter system also showed no progress. Therefore, the Government should make plans from the perspective of residents, take this opportunity to solve the nuisance brought about by CWSRCP to residents in the long run; (iv) the ratio of apportionment of the maintenance costs of CWSRCP as stipulated in the Deed of Mutual Covenant (“DMC”) of Lai Bo Garden was unfair to the minority owners; (iv) he supported extending WHSRCP to replace CWSRCP and thereby resolving the problems brought about by CWSRCP to residents in the long run.

180. Mr Aaron LAM raised the following views and suggestions: (i) he agreed with the points made in the discussion paper but considered that the proposed development site was inadequate to cope with the three proposals set out in the paper; (ii) web-map showed that there was a slope to the right of the site. PlanD might extend the site simply by conducting formation work at the slope. Besides, according to his observation, the utilisation rate of the nearby Wing Hong Street Rest Garden was low. He suggested PlanD consider reducing the size of the garden by half and revitalising it to spare more space for development; (iii) there were some recyclers running waste recycling yards in the industrial building behind the development site. Among them was a waste metal recycling yard and the sanitary condition and management of which were satisfactory; (iv) it was hoped that the Government would earnestly study the proposal of extending the site to cope with the three development proposals in the paper. Lower floors of the future building might adopt a high-ceiling design to accommodate eating places, higher - 62 - Action by floors might be used for other development purposes, and the WHSRCP could then be extended to alleviate the burden of CWSRCP or even replacing it. Regarding waste recycling yards, they might continue their business at the rear side of the site and would not cause obstruction to the traffic. By doing so, a win-win outcome could be attained for all sides.

181. The Hon Frederick FUNG raised the following views and suggestions: (i) planning strategies should be people oriented and adjusted in view of the actual circumstances of the community. Residents of Lai Bo Garden had been distressed by the problem of CWSRCP for years but today, residents still managed to present their grievances at the meeting rationally; (ii) being a consultation platform at district level, this Council had repeatedly requested the Government to relocate CWSRCP. LegCo Members also inspected the site and requested unanimously the Government to remove the CWSRCP from Lai Bo Garden. Nevertheless, the request was rejected by the Government with the excuse that in accordance with the planning standard, a RCP should be provided within every 500 metres; (iii) it was hoped that the Government would take into consideration CWSRCP’s impacts on the health and living environment of nearby residents, take this opportunity to extend the service coverage of WHSRCP and remove the CWSRCP from Lai Bo Garden.

182. Mr NG Kwai-hung raised the following views and suggestions: (i) he supported the rezoning plan for the proposed development site. He suggested to retain the nearby Wing Hong Street Rest Garden and provide underground facilities, such as waste recycling yards or cooked food markets underneath the garden; (ii) land resources were precious in Hong Kong and the shortage of suitable land for the development of commercial buildings in urban areas had created an upward pressure on the rental of commercial units. Therefore, he considered that the rezoning plan would be able to cope with the overall commercial development of Hong Kong; (iii) the Government might extend the WHSRCP and accommodate eating places in underground development or at nearby venues for compensation. Such arrangements should be more viable; (iv) since waste recycling yards required more space to operate, he would rather give no comment on it.

183. Mr CHUM Tak-shing raised the following views and suggestions: (i) during the past few years, this Council had tried every effort to improve the sanitary condition of CWSRCP as well as appealed and reflected the situation to the administration; (ii) although residents had tried their utmost to act in concert with the environmental improvement measures of FEHD, the fundamental environmental hygiene problems of CWSRCP, such as the concerns over the fact that the humidity inside the CWSRCP would have negative impact on the life expectancy of the building structures, remained - 63 - Action by unsolved; (iii) this Council had done its utmost to look for a suitable place for the reprovisioning of CWSRCP. It took about seven minutes to transport refuse from Cheong Wah Street to WHSRCP. Although private refuse collectors might be affected, it could remove the impacts of CWSRCP on nearby residents; (iv) in view of the increasing amount of refuse and number of new dwellers in nearby residential developments, the burden and the environmental hygiene problems of CWSRCP would aggravate and bring about more negative impacts on the residents of Lai Bo Garden and the neighborhood; (v) owing to the shortage of commercial sites, the Council had earlier supported the Government converting the site of the Cheung Sha Wan Post Office into a commercial site. Local residents expected the Government to redevelop the WHSRCP at the Government site at Yu Chau West Street/Wing Hong Street, i.e. the site proposed for rezoning, so that the CWSRCP could be replaced and a waste recycling centre be developed to reduce the impacts of the facilities concerned on the community. Nevertheless, the Government did not pay heed to the views of residents. Therefore, he objected to PlanD’s rezoning proposal.

184. Mr Bruce LI raised the following views and suggestions: (i) several years ago, he submitted a discussion paper on the problem of Cooked Food Markets at Yu Chau West Street and Cheung Shun Street but the Government did not followed up the matter until the issue of the Audit Commission’s audit report recently; (ii) since the Wing Hong Street Rest Garden was in face of the Roman Catholic Cemetery, the Government might consider extending the development site by converting the land use of the garden or land exchange; (iv) the Wing Hong Factory Building opposite to the development site had already been acquired by the Urban Renewal Authority (“URA”) and was now being redeveloped. The cooked food market in the neighborhood should also be redeveloped to tie in with the above redevelopment; (iv) part of the floors in the future building should be reserved for accommodating modern eating places; (v) the problem of wasteland remain unsolved because the Government did not work on it until the existing term of district council was about to finish.

185. Mr WAI Woon-nam raised the following enquires and views: (i) the industrial area in the neighborhood of Lai Chi Kok had evolved into commercial area as time went by. In case some years later the Government shifted the core of commercial area to Kai Tak area in Kowloon Bay, how would the Government tackle the possible vacancies in Lai Chi Kok Commercial area; (ii) as showed on the map, WHSRCP was the nearest RCP from CWSRCP. If the services of RCPs under FEHD were restricted to 500 metres radius, the Department might extend the service of WHSRCP to cover residents and users along Cheong Wah Street; (iii) the Government might consider using RCP to the west of Cheong Wah Street or other vacant sites in the district to provide a RCP serving the neighborhood of Cheong Wah Street; (iv) So Uk Estate was situated on hillside and was - 64 - Action by more spacious. The Department and HD might explore the possibility of building a RCP over there; (v) apart from developing a commercial centre, the WHSRCP reprovided at the site proposed for rezoning might also serve the nearby industrial area and commercial area as well as handling the household wastes in the neighborhood of Cheong Wah Street so as to spare residents in Shun Ning Street, Cheong Wah Street and Lai Bo Garden from the nuisance induced by the CWSRCP; (vi) the humid environment of CWSRCP might affect the life expectancy of the building structure. Many LegCo Members, District Councillors and local parties had already inspected the situation; (vii) the deodorisation measures taken by FEHD were not effective enough. It was hoped that the Government would take this opportunity to spare residents living in Lai Bo Garden and the neighborhood from the nuisance of CWSRCP by replacing the CWSRCP with an extended WHSRCP; (viii) PlanD pointed out in its response paper that Yu Chau Street Cooked Food Hawker Bazaar was under-utilised. He suspected that the Department was actually referring to the low occupancy rate of the hawker bazaar.

186. Mr LEUNG Yau-fong raised the following views and suggestions: (i) the sanitary condition of CWSRCP was pretty worse in the past. Although improvements had been made under the efforts of various parties, the fundamental problems of the RCP remain unsolved. For example, changes to the requirement of providing a RCP as set out by the Government in the DMC, the mode of operation of the RCP and the ratio of apportionment of the maintenance costs of the RCP were still disallowed; (ii) Members had all along been searching for a suitable site for the relocation of CWSRCP. He hoped that the Government would take this opportunity to extend the WHSRCP so that it might replace CWSRCP and prevent it’s sanitary condition from deterioration; (iii) if the Government converted the site to a multi-purpose site, nearby waste recycling shops, such as those in Shun Ning Road (near Wing Ning Building) , would cause nuisance to nearby residents; (iv) if the concrete structures were soaked and eroded by sewage for a long time, the life expectancy of the building structures would definitely be affected. Even if government departments were willing to shoulder the maintenance cost of CWSRCP, it would not change the fact that the RCP had to be washed regularly and the building were constantly kept in a humid condition. If Members had paid a visit to Lai Bo Garden, you would also notice that the sanitary improvement measures taken by FEHD were not so effective. In fact, the discussion paper had provided an appropriate solution to the above problem. It was hoped that the Department would readily consider the relevant proposal; (v) the garbage bins in CWSRCP were not always covered up and had caused odor and pest infestation problems. He hoped PlanD and FEHD would listen to the views of Members, take this opportunity to extend the service coverage of WHSRCP, develop recycling industry at the rezoning site and reinstate the food stalls of the cooked food market bazaar. - 65 - Action by 187. Mr CHAN Keng-chau raised the following views and suggestions: (i) residents of Lai Bo Garden had been frustrated by the environmental hygiene problems brought about by the CWSRCP for decades. This Council, the Environment and Hygiene Committee (EHC) and the working groups concerned had all failed to resolve the problem. The Government always said that there was no suitable relocation site for the CWSRCP and it was a good opportunity for the Government to resolve this dire problem; (ii) the air ventilation, water curtain and deodorization measures taken by FEHD still could not resolve the fundamental hygiene problems of CWSRCP; (iii) being the Chairman of EHC, he hoped that the Government would understand residents’ concerns. The Chairman of the OC of Lai Bo Garden and EHC members were willing to pay a site visit to CWSRCP with the representatives of PlanD and FEHD; (iv) it was hoped that the Government would take this rezoning opportunity to upgrade the structural design and capacity of WHSRCP and make up planning from the perspective of alleviating the burden of CWSRCP or even replacing it.

188. Ms Fonnie HUNG gave a consolidated response as follows:

(i) The Department had not yet submitted the above rezoning proposal to the Town Planning Board (“TPB”) for consideration. The department would study Members’ opinions carefully and consult the views of departments concerned before submitting the rezoning proposal to TPB.

(ii) Regarding the possibility of extending the site, the existing site was pretty close to the Wing Hong Street Rest Garden. The proposal of providing eating places beneath the garden might not be feasible technically because the headroom of the garden was unable to accommodate one building floor and we had to take into consideration air ventilation issue. Nevertheless, the Department would study Members’ opinions thoroughly.

(iii) The Department would study the possibility of extending the service coverage of WHSRCP and explore the feasibility of providing a RCP at the redevelopment site of So Uk Estate.

189. Mr LAI Kah-kit responded that the Department noted the views of Members. Besides, the Department would take every feasible measure to reduce the nuisances caused by the CWSRCP to nearby residents, including the installation of water curtain type filter system which was expected to complete by the end of this year.

190. The Hon Frederick FUNG enquired whether PlanD agreed to replace CWSRCP by way of extending the WHSRCP and whether FEHD would reject the rezoning proposal. - 66 - Action by 191. Ms Fonnie HUNG responded that the rezoning proposal included the reprovisioning of WHSRCP. The Department and FEHD would study the feasibility of extending WHSRCP to replace CWSRCP.

192. Mr LAI Kah-kit responded that the Department noted the views of Members.

193. The Hon Frederick FUNG opined that FEHD should note the problems of CWSRCP which had existed for years. He hoped that the Department would handle it with care.

194. The Chairman said that he received a provisional motion (Motion 1) moved by Mr CHUM Tak-shing and seconded by Mr LEUNG Yau-fong.

195. Mr CHAN Keng-chau proposed to adjourn the meeting for a while so that Members might discuss on the motion.

196. The Chairman agreed to adjourn the meeting for three minutes so that Members might study the motion before voting on it.

[The meeting was adjourned for three minutes.]

197. The Chairman announced the resumption of the meeting and said he had just received an amended motion (Motion 2) moved by Mr CHAN Keng-chau and seconded by Mr CHAN Wai-ming. He then asked Mr CHAN Keng-chau to introduce the content of Motion 2.

198. Mr CHAN Keng-chau introduced the content of Motion 2 as follows:

“This Council supports to rezone the site from “Government, Institution or Community” (“GIC”) to “Other Specified Use (Business 5)”.

In view of community needs, we request the Administration to:

Use the site of Wing Hong Street Temporary Refuse and its adjacent vacant sites to build a new and modern refuse collection point capable of alleviating the burden of or replacing the Cheong Wah Street Refuse Collection Point.”

199. Mr CHAN Keng-chau advised that the wordings “Wing Hong Street Temporary Refuse” in Motion 2 should be amended as “Wing Hong Street Temporary Refuse Collection Point”. - 67 - Action by 200. The Chairman invited Mr CHUM Tak-shing to introduce the content of Motion 1.

201. Mr CHUM Tak-shing introduced the content of Motion 1 as follows:

“In view of the fact that the development of the government site at Yu Chau Street/Wing Hong Street can satisfy community needs by means of:

1) Using the Wing Hong Street Temporary Refuse Collection Point and its adjacent vacant sites to build a new and modern refuse collection point, so as to greatly increase the refuse handling capacity of Cheong Wah Street Refuse Collection Point and ease its burden, respond to local residents’ persistent dissatisfaction over the operation of the Cheong Wah Street Refuse Collection Point and put an end to the Cheong Wah Street Refuse Collection Point.

2) Reprovide the Yu Chau Street Cooked Food Hawker Bazaar and improve its existing operation environment, including the provision of electricity and air ventilation systems to increase the competitiveness and sustainability of existing operators.

3) Establish a waste paper and waste material recycling centre in response to local residents’ discontentment and resistance against the pollution and nuisance caused by recycling industry and provide a low-cost and suitable environment for the sustainable development and operation of recyclers.

This Council strongly demands the Administration to maintain the “Government, Institution or Community” use of the site and formulate plans to expedite the enhancement of the above facilities.”

202. Mr CHUM Tak-shing advised that the name “Yu Chau Street” appeared in the phrases “the development of the government site at Yu Chau Street” and “Reprovide the Yu Chau Street Cooked Food Hawker Bazaar” in Motion 1 should be amended as “Yu Chau West Street”.

203. The Chairman remarked that the two motions had obvious difference and ruled that Motion 2 was an amendment motion of Motion 1.

204. Mr LEUNG Yau-fong raised the following enquiries and views: (i) the site at Yu Chau West Street/Wing Hong Street was government land zoned for GIC use. He enquired whether this GIC site could be used for public services, such as building refuse collection point, developing waste recycling industry or in-situ rehousing of hawkers of - 68 - Action by cooked food hawker bazaar; (ii) if the site was rezoned to “Business (5)” use, would it allow for the development of recycling industry or cooked food hawker bazaar. If the answer was negative, he would not support the amendment motion. He requested PlanD and FEHD to clarify; (iii) although Motion 2 appeared to be able to address the grievances of residents of Lai Bo Garden, it might not be sufficient to persuade PlanD to close the CWSRCP.

205. Dr WONG Chung-leung raised the following views: (i) PlanD had already replied to the three proposals presented in the paper; (ii) commercial development and the running of cooked food market bazaar were not contradicted to each other and could be decided by the market; (iii) according to the explanation of PlanD, the site was small and not suitable for the development of recycling industry; (iv) he considered that business zone would be more fit for the development of industrial area and hoped that the rezoning proposal might enhance the RCPs in the neighborhood, in particular the CWSRCP. Therefore, he agreed with the rezoning proposal and supported Motion 2.

206. Mr CHUM Tak-shing raised the following views: (i) land use had to be changed for the development of commercial building and a prerequisite for the development of commercial building was the provision of eating places at the lot. PlanD considered that the site was small and not suitable for the development of recycling industry. Therefore, it was relatively more important to convert the land use to tie in with the development needs of the neighborhood; (ii) Motion 2 clearly pointed out that addressing community needs was a prerequisite of rezoning. Therefore, before converting the land use, the Government had to handle the problem of CWSRCP; (iii) he urged Members to seriously consider whether points 1 and 2 of Motion 1 were essential and appropriate before voting.

207. Mr CHUM Tak-shing raised the following views: (i) the essence of Motion 1 was addressing community needs. Although it was important to replace the CWSRCP with an extended WHSRCP, it was not the only community problem needed to be resolved. There were many recycling shops in the district affecting the livelihood of nearby residents and many residents had requested him to help resolving the problem over the past four years; (ii) if the problem of CWSRCP could be taken care of while handling the land use of Yu Chau West Street, it not only could benefit the community but could also increase FEHD’s chance of obtaining the site from PlanD. He thought that the stance of FEHD on this matter was very important and hoped that the Department would proactively consider the use of the site. It would be most favorable if the development of recycling industry, the retaining of cooked food hawker bazaar and the expansion of WHSRCP could all be taken into consideration.

208. Mr WAI Woon-nam raised the following views: (i) Motion 1 aimed at resolving - 69 - Action by the problem of CWSRCP, assisting the operation of cooked food hawker bazaar and developing recycling industry in response to Kaifongs’ aspirations over the years. On the other hand, Motion 2 was almost identical with the Department’s proposal in its paper. He was afraid that Motion 2 might not be able to change the mind of PlanD or FEHD and meet the aspirations of residents; (ii) he hoped that proposer of Motion 2 could empathize with the residents and aptly amend Motion 2 in response to the aspirations of residents.

209. The Hon Frederick FUNG raised the following views: (i) the biggest difference between Motion 1 and Motion 2 was that the latter did not request for the development of recycling industry. Besides, some Members considered that in the original rezoning proposal, eating place should have been included in business site. Therefore, the original proposal had already responded to the request of providing cooked food hawker bazaar. Nevertheless, expansion of the WHSRCP was a common request of the two motions; (ii) Motion 1 requested for the development of recycling industry because there were many existing recycling shops in the district. Without a suitable site for the development of the recycling industry, local recycling activities might continue to disturb the live of residents; (iii) it was worried that FEHD still did not take a clear stance in this matter.

210. Mr WONG Tat-tung raised the following views: (i) the common point of Motion 1 and Motion 2 was that they strived to resolve the problem of CWSRCP for residents; (ii) the difference of the two motions was that Motion 1 requested to maintain the “Government, Institution or Community” use of the site while Motion 2 supported to convert the site to business use so that the business sector might better utilize the site; (iii) since Motion 2 was compatible, capable of resolving the problems faced by the residents and could better utilize land resources, he was in support of Motion 2.

211. Mr CHAN Wai-ming opined that Motion 2 strived for the replacement of CWSRCP with WHSRCP from the perspective of residents. Therefore, Motion 2 had addressed the requests of residents. HE did not want to bundle land rezoning with the problem of CWSRCP. He reiterated that Motion 2 aimed only at replacing CWSRCP with WHSRCP.

212. Mr CHAN Keng-chau opined that Motion 2 request the Government to close the CWSRCP and its content was not the same as the decision of PlanD.

213. Mr LEUNG Yau-fong raised the following views: (i) Motion 1 explicitly demanded the closure of CWSRCP in response to residents’ aspirations while Motion 2 only mentioned about replacing CWSRCP or alleviating it burden. If Motion 2 did not mention about closing CWSRCP, it was not the same as Motion 1. Therefore, he - 70 - Action by objected to Motion 2; (ii) disregarding land use, Motion 2 did not mention about how to assist the operation of cooked food hawker bazaar or the development of environmental recycling industry or state clearly how to handle the CWSRCP; (iii) if the operation of cooked food hawker bazaar was to be decided by the business market, it was believed that it would be eliminated by the high rental cost; (iv) if the site was converted to business use, according to the existing Government policies, it was expected that the future RCP would take up massive space at minimum management cost, which was more or less similar to the problem faced by residents of Lai Bo Garden and would be unfair to future owners.

214. Mr Lawrence LO raised the following views: (i) EPD stated in its response paper that it had entrusted a consultant to study the land demand of the recycling industry and the report would be ready next year. SSP District had all along been concerning the development of the recycling industry. The site mentioned in the paper, if rezoned, would not be restricted for the use of a single industry. That explained why Motion 2 did not mention about the recycling industry but allowed it to be decided by the market instead; (ii) while supporting the Government to rezone the site, the Government should address peoples’ livelihood and should not restrict the site for the use of a single industry; (iii) SSPDC once proposed to develop Cheung Sha Wan into an trade, industrial and commercial development area. The rezoning of the site could generate a synergic effect and promote economic development in the district. Since economic development was intricately linked to the livelihood of people, it was hoped that the rezoning proposal could enhance the living standard of residents as well as bring about positive effects on the economic development of the district.

215. Mr CHAN Keng-chau raised the following enquiries and views: (i) the wordings “ease” and “put an end to” in Motion 1 were no different to the wordings “alleviating” and “”replacing” in Motion 2; (ii) the biggest difference between Motion 1 and Motion 2 was that the latter supported to rezone the site to business use and the two motions’ requests regarding the CWSRCP were unanimous.

216. Mr LEUNG Yau-fong opined that the wordings in Motion 2 only expressed the meaning of alleviating the amount of refuse to be collected but did not specify the location of the RCP to be replaced. If it agreed to close the CWSRCP, it should make itself clear.

217. The Hon Frederick FUNG opined that although the word “ease” in Motion 1 could be interpreted as the co-existence of the two RCPs, Motion 1 did specify the ultimate goal of closing the CWSRCP. On the other hand, Motion 2 did not specify whether it supported the closure of CWSRCP or not. - 71 - Action by 218. Mr CHUM Tak-shing raised the following views: (i) being a District Councillor, he cared much about the needs of residents and the community and what he wanted the most was replacing and closing the CWSRCP; (ii) the recycling activities near Wing Ning Building had caused nuisances to nearby residents. It was necessary to address the problem of the recycling industry in response to community needs; (iii) it would be very ideal if we could identify a suitable site for the development of the RCP and the recycling industry. Moreover, it could also increase FEHD’s chance of obtaining the site from PlanD.

219. Mr CHAN Wai-ming said that one of his reasons for putting up Motion 2 was requesting the Government to replace CWSRCP with WHSRCP. He, with the consent of the proposer Mr CHAN Keng-chau, proposed to amend Motion 2 by replacing the wordings “alleviating the burden of or replacing the Cheong Wah Street Refuse Collection Point” with “replacing the Cheong Wah Street Refuse Collection Point”. He hoped that Members would support the amended motion.

220. Mr WONG Tat-tung said that since he supported the replacement of CWSRCP, he supported Mr CHAN Wai-ming’s amended motion. However, he stressed that Motion 1 and Motion 2 were not the same because Motion 2 supported to rezone and release the site.

221. Dr WONG Chung-leung raised the following views: (i) the interests of residents and the needs of the community as a whole should be addressed in the discussion of land rezoning. The broad direction should be increasing the refuse handling capacity of WHSRCP. Whether CWSRCP would eventually be replaced or closed was not contradictory to the broad direction; (ii) land rezoning was not meant for resolving the RCP problem only. This proposal for business rezoning was a macroscopic consideration meant for increasing the development potential of the district and resolving the RCP problem together.

222. The Chairman said that the meeting had duly considered the meaning of Motion 1 and Motion 2 before voting. Motion 2 not only included the meaning of the original motion but also supported the changing of land use so that the Government might better utilise land resources and speed up land development. In the previous discussion paper, the meeting had expressed its view of including cooked food hawker bazaar in the future development. The Department should take this into consideration during land rezoning. FEHD and PlanD had noted the views of Members and promised to give due consideration to Members’ views before submitting the paper to TPB for its consideration. - 72 - Action by 223. The Chairman invited Members to vote at Motion 2 which was proposed by Mr CHAN Keng-chau. Mr CHUM Tak-shing requested to vote by open ballot. Members showed no objection to it.

224. The voting result was as follows:

For: Mr CHAN Keng-chau, Mr CHAN Wai-ming, Mr Vincent CHENG, Mr Ambrose CHEUNG, Mr Jimmy KWOK, Ms LAU Pui-yuk, Mr Bruce LI, Mr Lawrence LO, Mr NG Kwai-hung, Mr SHUM Siu-hung, Ms WAI Hoi-ying, Dr WONG Chung-leung, Mr WONG Tat-tung (13)

Against: Mr CHUM Tak-shing, the Hon Frederick FUNG, Mr LEUNG Yau-fong, Mr WAI Woon-nam (4)

Abstain: (0)

225. The Secretary announced the voting result with thirteen Members voted for the motion, four Members voted against it and zero Member abstained. The Chairman announced that Motion 2 was carried and it was therefore not necessary to vote on Motion 1.

(i) Development visions of Mei Foo Community – Optimising the use of the space below Mei Foo Flyover and nurturing the young generation (SSPDC Paper 161/15)

226. Mr Ambrose CHEUNG introduced Paper 161/15.

227. The Chairman remarked that the Secretariat had invited EPD, PlanD and LandsD to attend this meeting but they said that no representative could be sent. The Chairman asked Members to refer to the written responses from the three departments (Papers 182/15, 183/15 and 184/15).

228. The District Officer responded as follows:

(i) He noted the meeting’s concern over the environmental hygiene problem at the area under the Mei Foo Flyover and request of utilizing the space over there.

(ii) The $100 million worth Signature Project Scheme (“SPS”) had won the - 73 - Action by support of this Council and would establish a community services centre at part of the site of Shek Kip Mei Estate Phases 3 and 7 (i.e. opposite to Mei Ho House) and a neighborhood activity centre beneath the flyover at Kwai Chung Road (Mei Foo Section).

(iii) Funding for the Mei Foo Neighbourhood Activity Centre (“MFNAC”) had been approved by the Finance Committee of LegCo. He wanted to extend special thanks to the Hon Frederick FUNG for supporting the project in the LegCo. He believed that this was a good opportunity to better utilise the space under the Mei Foo Flyover.

(iv) There were constraints on the use of the space under the Mei Foo Flyover. Taking the MFNAC as an example, there were many technical engineering conditions to consider, such as the centre of the site beneath the flyover was a drainage reserve, the existence of plenty pillars and height restrictions on the building works. Therefore, the relevant designs needed to satisfy all sorts of requirements to guarantee that the project could be carried out smoothly.

(v) Apart from technical constraints, the planning of the space under the flyover was also confined by the Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines as pointed out in the written response of PlanD.

(vi) Currently, there were different facilities and activities carried out under the Mei Foo Flyover, namely a market, elderly centre and holiday agricultural bazaar. It was believed that with the building of the MFNAC, more space could be released from the site for other uses.

(vii) He and departments concerned were willing to listen to the views of the Council and tried their best to utilize the space under the Mei Foo Flyover in response to the aspirations of the local community and the Council.

229. Mr LAI Kah-kit responded that: (i) there were some recyclers storing their recovered items under the Mei Foo Flyover. The Department would drive them out upon receipt of complaints. If the recyclers relocated the items to the nearby agricultural bazaar, the Department would request the person-in-charge of the bazaar to clear them; (ii) the Department would duly adjust the nearby cleansing service in view of the opening of MFNAC.

230. Mr SHUM Siu-hung raised the following views: (i) the district was in support of organic farming but the management of the Mei Foo Agricultural Bazaar had worsen in - 74 - Action by recent years and caused resentment among residents; (ii) there had been recyclers dumping refuse at the agricultural bazaar since 2013; (iii) he did not object to the continued operation of the agricultural bazaar but the operator had to improve its management; (iv) it was such a waste that the site currently only operated six hours a week; (iv) the Council had been following up the land use arrangement of the site under the Mei Foo Flyover for almost eight years. The site was formerly enclosed but then turned into an agricultural bazaar. Now that it was going to be developed into a community services centre; (vi) the site had a great development potential and with the implementation of the SPS, we should seize this opportunity to review the use of the site under the flyover. It was hoped that the Council would support the project and departments concerned would act in concert with it.

231. Mr Ambrose CHEUNG raised the following views: (i) it was necessary to optimise the use of the agricultural bazaar and the site under the flyover so that the future community services centre could be a success; (ii) the proposals in the paper were all acceptable from the perspective of planning; (iii) there had been discussions of organising women or health related activities or facilities at the space under the flyover in the past but it was noted that there were planning difficulties in conducting medical related project at the site. In view of this, he had discussed with representatives from the Kowloon West Hospital Cluster about the feasibility of providing general out-patient facility at the site in the short or medium term; (iv) the running of the agricultural bazaar was tolerable directionally but its modes of operation and management had to be improved. He suggested removing the hoarding and releasing the site for the use of different organisations or parties beyond the opening hours of the agricultural bazaar. Besides, if the continued operation of the agricultural bazaar was supported, focus could be put on improving the arrangement of the stalls and landscaping. It was hoped that SSPDC and departments concerned would continue exploring other feasible ways to optimise the use of the site.

232. Mr WONG Tat-tung raised the following views: (i) he thanked the District Officer for pushing forward the MFNAC project so that more youngsters and women might enjoy the facility and participate in its activities during leisure time and improve their quality of life; (ii) it was an opportunity to revitalise the space under the Mei Foo Flyover. The hygiene condition of the site was unsatisfactory and hopefully the use of the surrounding spaces could also be optimised with the construction of the neighbourhood activity centre; (iii) the value of existence of the agricultural bazaar could not be denied but he was very concerned about its hygiene condition; (iv) it was nice to see the implementation of the neighbourhood activity centre project and he hoped that the project could be perfectly carried out and turning the space under the Mei Foo Flyover and the SSP District at large into a better place. - 75 - Action by 233. The District Officer responded that:

(i) The vision of Members coincided with the Government’s broad direction of making better use of spaces and land resources. The MFNAC served to promote the welfare of local residents and entertain their aspirations. It was hoped that with the concerted efforts of the Council and the support of LegCo, the project could eventually be realized. The Government would continue to listen to the views of Members so as to optimise the use of community resources.

(ii) The hygiene problem at the space under the flyover and the management problem of the agricultural bazaar could be further explored in future.

(iii) SSPDO and departments concerned would continue to listen to the views of the Council and deepen the work on optimizing the space under the flyover.

234. Mr LAI Kah-kit responded that the Department was willing to provide cleansing service at the above-mentioned site after the hoarding was dismantled. The Department would liaise with LandsD after meeting and explore the feasibility of dismantling the hoarding to provide more activity space for the residents.

235. The Chairman said that he had just received a provisional motion moved by Mr WONG Tat-tung, Mr Ambrose CHEUNG and Mr SHUM Siu-hung and seconded by Mr NG Kwai-hung. He invited Mr WONG Tat-tung to introduce the content of the provisional motion.

236. Mr WONG Tat-tung read out his provisional motion as follows:

“This Council supports optimizing the site under the Mei Foo Flyover. With the building of the ‘Mei Foo Neighbourhood Activity Centre’, the Administration should also enhance the overall environment under the flyover, improve its hygiene condition and jointly create a liveable and favorable living space. ”

237. The Chairman enquired whether Members wanted to vote by open ballot. Members requested to vote by open ballot.

238. The meeting voted on the provisional motion moved by Mr WONG Tat-tung.

239. The voting result was as follows: - 76 - Action by For: Mr CHAN Keng-chau, Mr CHAN Wai-ming, Mr Vincent CHENG, Mr Ambrose CHEUNG, the Hon Frederick FUNG, Mr Jimmy KWOK, Ms LAU Pui-yuk, Mr LEE Wing-man, Mr Bruce LI, Mr SHUM Siu-hung, Ms WAI Hoi-ying, Dr WONG Chung-leung, Mr WONG Tat-tung (13)

Against: (0)

Abstain: (0)

240. The Secretary announced the voting result. Thirteen Members voted for the motion, zero Member voted against it and zero Member abstained. The Chairman announced that the provisional motion was carried.

241. The Chairman concluded that the motion would be referred to departments concerned for follow up actions. He also requested the District Officer to follow up Members’ opinion.

Item 3: Reports from Committees and Working Groups under the District Council

(a) Reports from Committees

(i) Report from the District Facilities Committee (SSPDC Paper 162/15)

(ii) Report from the Community Affairs Committee (SSPDC Paper 163/15)

(iii) Report from the Environment and Hygiene Committee (SSPDC Paper 164/15)

(iv) Report from the Transport Affairs Committee (SSPDC Paper 165/15)

(v) Report from the Housing Affairs Committee (SSPDC Paper 166/15)

(vi) Report from the Committee on the Sham Shui Po Signature Project (SSPDC Paper 167/15)

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

(i) Report from the Working Group on Festive Celebration and Publicity (SSPDC Paper 168/15) - 77 - Action by (ii) Report from the Working Group on Poverty Problems and Ethnic Minorities (SSPDC Paper 169/15)

(iii) Report from the Working Group on Healthy and Safe Community (SSPDC Papers 170/15 & 171/15)

242. Mr CHAN Wai-ming said that at the 22nd Meeting of the Housing Affairs Committee (“HAC”), some members expressed that Government departments had not followed up and responded to follow-up matters (such as the Tai Hang Sai Estate Redevelopment Project) in due course. Therefore, Members hoped that the matter could be discussed at DC level.

243. The Hon Frederick FUNG enquired whether the Chairman of HAC had any comments on this issue.

244. Mr CHAN Wai-ming suggested writing to bureaux or departments concerned in the name of this Council, requesting them to follow up the matter.

245. The Chairman remarked that it was the last meeting of this term of the Council. In respect of the Tai Hang Sai Estate Redevelopment Project, Members generally concerned whether the Administration could release relevant land resources expeditiously to resolve housing supply problems.

246. The Hon Frederick FUNG agreed that this Council might requested Government departments concerned to follow up the matter. He also enquired whether this Council would make appointment with the Directors of the Hong Kong Settlers Housing Corporation Limited (“HKSHCL”) to follow up the matter.

247. The Chairman said that the Council might make appointment with private companies in respect of district matters and issues which the Council showed concern (including land issues) and exchange views with their representatives. The Council had in the past met with the Kowloon Motor Bus Company Limited (“KMB”) and the Mass Transit Railway Corporation Limited (“MTRCL”) by appointments.

248. Ms WAI Hoi-ying gave the following views: (i) she thanked the Chairman of HAC for raising the issue of the Tai Hang Sai Estate Redevelopment Project and hoped that the issue could be further addressed at DC level; (ii) many residents of Tai Hang Sai Estate had shown concerns over the rehousing problem. She hoped that the Council would continue to monitor the issue and urge the Government and HKSHCL to follow up the rehousing issue of the 1 300 households affected. - 78 - Action by 249. The Chairman concluded that this Council would make appointment with HKSHCL and Government departments concerned to relay the views of this Council. It was hoped that the date of meeting could be fixed on 2 October 2015.

250. The Hon Frederick FUNG expressed that in case the relevant parties could not make it, Members might consider visiting their office directly for meeting.

251. The Chairman said that this Council would try to fix a meeting date convenient to HKSHCL and Government departments concerned. The Secretariat would make suitable arrangement so that more interested Members could participate.

252. The Chairman said that at the 22nd HAC meeting on 30 July 2015, Members had discussed about the issue of excessive lead content in drinking water recorded in several public rental housing (“PRH”) estates and passed two provisional motions in this regard. The Secretariat had submitted the relevant papers to departments concerned. The Chairman enquired whether HD had anything to supplement on this topic.

253. Mr LUI Kwong-fai thanked Members for their concerns over the issue and responded as follows:

(i) So far the water samples of three PRH estates in Sham Shui Po District (namely Wing Cheong Estate, Shek Kip Mei Estate Phase 2 and Un Chau Estate Phases 2 and 4) were found to have excess lead content. HD had convened a residents’ meeting together with WSD and FEHD on the very night when the Government made the announcement and distributed bottled water to affected residents subsequently.

(ii) Currently, the Government had formed the following bodies for the investigation of excessive lead content in drinking water:

(1) A Task Force formed under WSD and chaired by the Deputy Director of Water Supplies to examine the whole water supply chain and investigate the causes of the presence of excessive lead in water.

(2) A Review Committee on Quality Assurance Issues Relating to Fresh Water Supply of Public Housing Estates formed under the Housing Authority and chaired by the Chairman of the Tender Committee of the Housing Authority to comprehensively review the quality control and monitoring system in relation to fresh water supply installations in PRH estates and suggest ways of improvement to any procedural problems; - 79 - Action by (3) An Independent Commission of Inquiry appointed by the Chief Executive on 13 August 2015 to investigate the causes of the incident. The Hon Mr Justice Andrew Chan Hing-wai, Judge of the Court of First Instance of the High Court was appointed as its Chairman and Commissioner and Mr Lai Nin as Commissioner. According to the Commissions of Inquiry Ordinance, the Commission has the statutory powers to summon witnesses and collect evidence.

(iii) The Department would install filters for Wing Cheong Estate, Shek Kip Mei Estate Phase 2 and Un Chau Estate Phases 2 and 4 from end of August and connect water pipes at their roof-tops in September.

254. The Chairman concluded that the meeting noted the progress report of HD and the issue would be followed up by HAC.

255. The meeting noted the contents of the above reports.

Item 4: Report on District Management Committee Meeting (SSPDC Paper 172/15)

256. Mr Mickey WAI gave a PowerPoint presentation on Paper 172/15 as follows:

(i) The Pilot Scheme’s work targets were “strengthening support for street sleepers” and “strengthening support for “three-nil” buildings.

(ii) In respect of “strengthening support for street sleepers”, supporting services including housing subsidy, household electric appliances and job referrals were provided to street sleepers through the joint efforts of government departments, the liaison work of local organisations and the supporting service programmes provided by the Society for Community Organisation (“SoCO”).

(iii) The reasons for street sleeping were complicated. Over 90% of the street sleepers cases involved housing problems, about 50% involved drug abuses and about 37% involved financial problems. Last year, the two social workers employed under the Watchers’ Project followed up 60 street sleeper cases, 63 out of all the street sleepers contacted had successfully found a fixed abode, 19 of them had moved into fixed abodes for over six months, and the relevant group trainings recorded an attendance of over 200 person-times.

(iv) So far six cleansing exercises had been conducted under the Scheme. Places improved included Kweilin Street Pedestrian Subway, 14 Nam Cheong Street, - 80 - Action by Cheong San Lane Footbridge and MTR Nam Cheong Station Exit C. Some Members reflected that a street sleeper still stayed in 14 Nam Cheong Street after the cleansing exercise. Nevertheless, the case was followed up by social workers and the street sleeper in question had already left the street and the junks left behind by the street sleeper had already been cleared.

(v) In respect of “strengthening support for “three-nil” buildings, SSPDO continued the strategy of “cleansing in the day, household visits in the evening” to improve the hygiene conditions of the buildings and step up publicity and public education to encourage residents to form OCs and upgrade their building management standards.

(vi) District Members had shortlisted a total of 103 target buildings. Within the year, 159 rounds of cleansing exercise had been conducted and 9 tonnes of garbage had been cleared. Over 80% of the tenants remarked that the hygiene condition had been improved. Moreover, SSPDO had conducted 113 rounds of cleansing exercise in 40 target rear lanes and cleared over 11 tonnes of garbage. 26 relevant cases were referred to departments concerned for follow up actions. Departments concerned had jointly improved other problems of the rear lanes, such as fixing damaged drainages.

(vii) Publicity and education works mainly consisted of four parts: (1) organising theme-based seminar and evening receptions; (2) organising building management certificate courses; (3) organising large scale carnivals; (4) publishing a Resident Liaison Ambassadors Newsletter. So far 12 theme-based seminars and evening receptions had been organized under the scheme, covering topics like fire precaution, building maintenance and crime prevention with an attendance of over 670 person times. SSPDO had so far published three issues of Resident Liaison Ambassadors Newsletter to enhance residents’ understanding of building management information. He also thanked representatives from departments concerned for acting as the speakers in the theme-based seminars and evening receptions.

(viii) In general, 352 tenants had been visited under the Pilot Scheme, among them 143 had registered as Resident Liaison Ambassador. Besides, 13 buildings had formed their own OCs.

(ix) SSPDO would extend the Pilot Scheme from this September to March 2016 and continue to strengthen support for street sleepers and “three-nil” buildings. SSPDO intended to hire service organisations to support street sleepers and - 81 - Action by hire cleansing contractors to provide cleansing service at target buildings and rear lanes continuously and Members were welcomed to nominate target buildings.

257. The Hon Frederick FUNG requested to obtain a hard copy of the PowerPoint.

258. The District Officer responded that a hard copy of the PowerPoint would be provided to Members for reference after meeting.

259. The District Officer gave the following report on the Signature Project:

(i) The Shek Kip Mei Community Services Centre and the Mei Foo Neighbourhood Activity Centre under the Signature Project had been endorsed by the Finance Committee under LegCo.

(ii) The Hong Kong Housing Authority (“HA”) launched the founding work for the Shek Kip Mei Community Services Centre on 22 July this year and would convene a ground breaking ceremony together with Po Leung Kuk (“PLK”) at 10:00 am on 14 September this year. Members were invited to attend the ceremony.

(iii) Regarding the Mei Foo Neighbourhood Activity Centre, SSPDO was now preparing the tender work with the project consultant. It was expected that the tender would be issued in September this year and the construction work would commence by this year end at the soonest.

(iv) SSPDO would continue to monitor the progress of the two projects during the recess of this Council.

260. The Chairman remarked that the meeting noted the content of the paper.

Item 5: Any other business

(a) Noise Mitigation Follow-up Meeting and Meeting with MTR Corporation Limited (“MTRCL”)

261. Mr Ambrose CHEUNG hoped that the noise mitigation follow-up meeting and the meeting with MTRCL could be arranged in September this year.

262. The Chairman said that the Secretariat would prepare a follow-up checklist in - 82 - Action by collaboration with parties concerned so that the next term of District Council could commence its work swiftly. A noise mitigation follow-up meeting would be held in September this year and the Secretariat was also arranging a meeting with MTRCL.

263. Mr Ambrose CHEUNG hoped to receive relevant papers a week before the convening of the noise mitigation follow-up meeting.

264. The Chairman said that the Secretariat was now preparing the follow-up checklist and would try its best to issue the papers a week in advance so that Members could prepare for the meeting.

[Post meeting note: SSPDO had met with representatives of MTRCL on 17 September 2015. The noise mitigation follow-up meeting had also taken place on 22 September 2015.]

(a) National Day Reception organized by Sham Shui Po District Council

265. The Chairman remarked that a National Day Reception in Celebration of the 66th Anniversary of the Founding of the Peoples’ Republic of China organized by the Working Group on Festive Celebration and Publicity would be held at 3:00 p.m. on 11th September 2015 (Friday) at Foo Lum Palace, Mei Foo to share the joy with residents. The ceremony would begin at 3:30 p.m. and Members and Government representatives were welcomed to attend.

Item 6: Date of next meeting

266. The Chairman said that this was the last full council meeting in this term and he thanked all Members and Government representatives for their all along participation and support, in particular the contribution of Government representatives for the Signature Project and the Pilot Scheme.

267. There being no other business, the meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m.

District Council Secretariat Sham Shui Po District Office December 2015