Minutes of the 21st Meeting of the HKSAR Third Term of Wong Tai Sin District Council (Summary Translation)

Date: 8 March 2011 (Tuesday) Time: 2:30 p.m. Venue: Conference Room, Wong Tai Sin District Office, 6/F, Lung Cheung Office Block, 138 Lung Cheung Road, Wong Tai Sin, Kowloon

Present:

Chairman:

Mr. LI Tak-hong, MH, JP

Wong Tai Sin District Council Members:

Mr. CHAN Lee-shing Ms. CHAN Man-ki, Maggie Mr. CHAN On-tai Mr. CHAN Wai-kwan, Andie Mr. CHAN Yim-kwong, Joe Mr. CHOI Luk-sing, MH Mr. CHUI Pak-tai Mr. HO Hon-man Mr. HO Yin-fai Mr. HUI Kam-shing Mr. KAN Chi-ho, BBS, MH Ms. KWOK Sau-ying Mr. LAM Man-fai, JP Dr. LAU Chi-wang, James, BBS, JP Mr. LEE Tat-yan, MH Mr. MOK Chung-fai, Rex Mr. MOK Kin-wing Mr. MOK Ying-fan Dr. SHI Lop-tak, Allen, MH, JP Mr. SO Sik-kin Mr. TO Kwan-hang, Andrew Dr. WONG Kam-chiu Mr. WONG Kwok-tung Mr. WONG Kwok-yan Mr. WONG Yat-yuk Mr. WU Chi-wai, MH Mr. YUEN Kwok-keung

Absent with Apologies:

Mr. CHOW Ching-lam, Tony, MH Mr. LAI Wing-ho, Joe 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 1 Mr. WONG Kam-chi, MH, JP

In attendance:

Dr. LAM Ping-yan, JP Director of Health DH ) Re.: Item Dr. MOK Chiu-yau Community Physician DH ) III(i) Dr. Jaime SIN Senior Medical and Health DH ) Officer (Community Liaison)

Mr. SO Kam-leung, Under Secretary for Commerce CEDB ) Re.: Item Gregory, JP and Economic Development ) III(ii) Mr. HOU Ka-chun, Senior Economist (Commerce & CEDB ) Desmond Industry)

Mr. HON Chi-keung, Director of Civil Engineering & CEDD ) Re.: Item JP Development ) III(iii) Mr. TSOI Cheong-hoi Senior Engineer / CEDD ) Media Communications

Mr. IP Wing-cheung Chief Engineer / DSD ) Re.: Item Project Management ) III(iv) Mr. TONG Kin-shing Senior Engineer / DSD ) Project Management 2 ) Mr. CHEUNG Engineer / DSD ) Chun-ning Project Management 8 ) Mr. CHEUNG Engineer / DSD ) Wing-hong Project Management 15 ) Mr. CHAN Ka-lok Principal Engineer Scott Wilson Ltd. )

Mr. TANG Man-bun, Head (Kai Tak Office) CEDD ) Re.: Item Stephen ) III(v) Mr. CHUI Si-kay, Peter Senior Engineer/6 (Kowloon) CEDD ) Mr. SUN Tak-wing, Curator (Archaeology) Antiquities and ) Kevin Monuments Office ) Ms. CHU Ha-fan, Senior Town Planner / Kowloon PlanD ) Jessica 3 ) Mr. CHAN Yuk-ming Principal Engineer AECOM Asia Co Ltd )

Mr. SHIU Wai-chuen, District Officer (WTS) WTSDO William, JP Mr. David Michael District Commander (Wong Tai HKPF GUNTON Sin) Miss Cecilla LI District Social Welfare Officer SWD (Wong Tai Sin/Sai Kung) Mr. Anthony LO Chief Engineer CEDD Kam-yan Mrs. SUNG CHEUNG Chief Manager/Management HD Mun-chi (Wong Tai Sin, Tsing Yi, Tsuen Wan and Islands) Mr. AU Siu-fung, Senior Transport Officer / TD Kelven Wong Tai Sin 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 2 Mr. WONG Wai-wan, District Environmental Hygiene FEHD MH Superintendent (Wong Tai Sin) Mr. LAM Hok-hay, District Leisure Manager LCSD George (Wong Tai Sin) Mr. CHIK Yu-fai, Assistant District Officer (Wong WTSDO Freddy Tai Sin) Mr. CHUNG Chan-yau, Senior Executive Officer WTSDO Patrick (District Management) Mr. TING Tin-sang Senior Liaison Officer 1 WTSDO Ms. PANG Suk-wah, Senior Liaison Officer 2 WTSDO Phyllis Mr. YAM Yiu-hung, Executive Officer I (District WTSDO Nathan Council)

Secretary

Ms. LAM Pui-fun, SEO(DC) WTSDO Maggie

Opening Remarks

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the 21st meeting of the Wong Tai Sin District Council (WTSDC), especially Dr. LAM Ping-yan, JP, Director of Health; Dr. MOK Chiu-yau, Community Physician and Dr. Jaime SIN, Senior Medical and Health Officer (Community Liaison) who attended the meeting for agenda item III(i).

2. The Chairman welcomed Ms. Maggie LAM who replaced the outgoing Secretary of WTSDC Mrs. Teresa SOH. WTSDC endorsed to record a vote of thanks to Mrs. SOH for her contribution.

3. The Chairman welcomed Mr. Freddy CHIK who replaced the outgoing Assistant District Officer Miss Kathy MA. WTSDC endorsed to record a vote of thanks to Miss MA for her contribution.

4. The Chairman welcomed Mr. George LAM who replaced the outgoing District Leisure Manager (Wong Tai Sin) Ms. Lizzy YAU. WTSDC endorsed to record a vote of thanks to Ms. YAU for her contribution.

5. The Chairman welcomed Mr. Kelvin AU, Senior Transport Officer (Wong Tai Sin), who stood in for Mr. Vincent FAN, Chief Transport Officer (Kowloon) who was unable to attend the meeting due to other official commitments.

6. Members noted that Vice-chairman Mr. WONG Kam-chi, MH, JP; Dr. WONG Kam-chiu and Mr. Tong CHOW, MH were absent from the meeting with apologies. Mr. Wong and Dr. WONG would endeavour to attend the meeting.

20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 3 I. Confirmation of the Minutes of the 20th Meeting of WTSDC held on 4 January 2011

7. Mr. SO Sik-kin proposed that the Chinese version of paragraph 5 of the minutes should be amended from “……政府就沙中線(黃大仙段)工程與黃大仙區議 會達成共識前，已於二零一零年十一月二十六日將工程方案刊憲……” to “……政 府就沙中線(黃大仙段)工程與黃大仙區議會未能達成共識前，已於二零一零年十 一月二十六日將工程方案刊憲……”. (The English version of paragraph 5 was not required to amend.)

8. The minutes of the 20th meeting of WTSDC held on 4 January 2011 were then confirmed.

II. Progress Report on Matters Arising from the 20th Meeting of the Wong Tai Sin District Council (WTSDC Paper 14/2011)

9. Members noted the paper.

20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 4

III(i) Director of Health’s Visit to the Wong Tai Sin District Council

10. The Chairman welcomed Dr. LAM Ping-yan, JP, Director of Health; Dr. MOK Chiu-yau, Community Physician and Dr. Jaime SIN, Senior Medical and Health Officer (Community Liaison), and invited Dr. LAM to introduce work plan of the Department of Health (DH) in 2011/12.

11. Dr. LAM said it was the second time he had visited WTSDC. He remarked that Wong Tai Sin was always at the forefront of healthy city development, and congratulated the district for its designation of “International Safe Community” in a ceremony attended by him recently. To allow more time to listen to Members’ views, he would only talk about a few major public concerns:

(i) Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases

(a) Winter and summer were peak seasons of influenza. The winter influenza season in Hong Kong started in mid-January. This year was unusual, as about 90% of the cases were caused by influenza A virus [i.e. H1N1(2009), also known as human swine flu virus], and few cases involved H3N2 or influenza B viruses. It was fortunate that the number of influenza cases had started to drop since early February, and was anticipated that further drop would occur in the coming couple of weeks until the number of cases was back to normal in mid-March. Although there were more influenza cases than in the past two years, it still did not hit the record number in the 2009 influenza pandemic. In other words, the situation was not too serious, and the cases were relatively minor in general;

(b) One should try to learn more about influenza as breakout of the disease was natural phenomenon and would occur annually. DH would step up its publicity and risk communication efforts from time to time, with a view to helping people know more about influenza, including its risk and prevention. Although the number of influenza cases was dropping, high risk target groups were still advised to receive influenza vaccinations through the Government’s vaccination programme, which was originally launched to protect people’s health during the winter influenza season. Members of the public should keep vigilant against influenza as they might catch the disease in any time of the year; and

(c) The Government always advised people to do more exercise, eat more vegetable and fruit, keep ventilation well, quit smoking etc. In addition, Chinese medicine might also be used to prevent influenza. He hoped members of the public would continue to attach high importance to flu prevention 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 5

(ii) Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases

(a) Non-communicable diseases (NCD) such as diabetes, hypertension etc. accounted for 60% of our healthcare expenditure. While Hong Kong’s population was living longer, but more and more people were suffering from stress. They also ate deep fried food and had other unhealthy eating habits. The above situations, if not changed, would shorten the life expectancy of the coming generation and more people would suffer from cardiac diseases at a younger age. Therefore, it was important to formulate a strategy to control and prevent NCD; and

(b) Instead of targeting individual disease, the disease prevention strategy was aimed to improve the living habits of Hong Kong people. The Government had formed a high-level steering committee chaired and vice-chaired by Secretary for Food and Health Dr. York CHOW and Dr. LAM respectively. A number of working groups were formed under the steering committee to work on NCD-causing factors such as over-weight, obesity etc. To tackle these factors, the working groups had proposed a number of actions which would be implemented in phases.

(iii) Promotion of Healthy Eating Habits

(a) Promotion of healthy eating habits was one of the proposed actions implemented. Although local students were familiar with the Food Guide Pyramid, they tended to choose unhealthy food. In this connection, the Government had to change the school environment and parents’ mindset about parent-child relationship. Also, schools should cooperate with parent-teacher associations to improve the food quality provided by lunch suppliers and their own tuck shops. On the other hand, an accreditation mechanism was being introduced into the “[email protected]” Campaign. More than 400 000 students had participated in last year’s Joyful Fruit Day and eaten fruit on the same day. It was expected that this year’s campaign would attract as many as 500 000 students. Although the campaign was only held once a year, it had fostered the important habit of eating fruit daily, and would be very helpful in the promotion of dietary culture;

(b) Members might be aware of the presence of the EatSmart Restaurants in the community. Through the “[email protected]” Campaign launched more than two years ago, DH hoped that restaurants would offer healthier food cuisine to the people. Currently, there were 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 6 more than 600 EatSmart Restaurants. He had tasted the cuisine in the EatSmart Restaurant Cooking Competition, and found that dishes cooked with less oil and less salt could still be delicious;

(c) DH would like to continue to promote healthy eating by cooperating with EatSmart Restaurants, parents and schools. As eating habits were formed at a very early age, DH would extend its publicity coverage to kindergarten students and eventually to babies aged six months starting to eat solid food, helping them to develop the habit of balanced diet; and

(d) He congratulated the district to become “International Safe Community” and commented that this achievement was important and exemplary. As there were different needs in different communities, it was desirable for individual communities to identify their own needs and decide the activities required. He looked forward to working more closely with WTSDC on matters relating to “International Safe Community”.

(iv) Smoking Cessation Services

Apart from the significant increase of tobacco duty, the Government had also vastly increased the amount of resources to smoking cessation services. As most of the smoking cessation clinics were run by the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals (TWGHs), more resources would be set aside for TWGHs. In addition, DH had also collaborated with Pok Oi Hospital and launched a smoking cessation pilot programme using traditional Chinese medicine – first of its kind in the world. The programme was well received. DH would also held a series of community activities to promote the quitting smoking;

(v) Regulation of Pharmaceutical Products

(a) It was rather difficult to regulate pharmaceutical products. However, the Government had provided additional resources to set up a dedicated office to strengthen the control on manufacturing, sale, import and export of pharmaceutical products. DH had adopted all the 75 recommendations made by the Review Committee on Regulation of Pharmaceutical Products in Hong Kong in 2010, and implemented those related to regulations on the industry. In the mean time, DH was drafting the legislative amendments;

(b) The Government had provided additional resources in 2011-12 for setting up a dedicated office on drugs to improve the standard of local pharmaceutical industry, 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 7 with a view to boosting public confidence on pharmaceutical products and protecting people’s health; and

(c) Under the Registration of Proprietary Chinese Medicine (pCms) launched last year, DH would impose more registration requirements, such as those on package, documentation etc. to be introduced at the end of the year. Additional resources were also set aside in this financial year, for the compliance of requirements by all locally produced Chinese medicine. It was anticipated that the target could be met in a few years.

(vi) Primary Care

(a) Primary care was an important and a hot topic. Dr. LAM opined that a healthy city was not defined by the topmost level of its medical services, but proper provision of primary care services. As primary care was the first contact point when one sought service from the healthcare system, DH intended to strengthen the services concerned, so that these services could meet the public’s needs more satisfactorily and lower their medical expenses. Recently, a Primary Care Office (PCO) was established under DH, comprising membership of 20 professionals from the Food and Health Bureau (FHB), DH and Hospital Authority (HA). PCO was tasked to co-ordinate and implement primary care. Recently, PCO had published a Primary Care Directory to promote the concept of family doctor by providing a directory of family medical services providers;

(b) Vaccination subsidy schemes and the Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme, as well as HA’s new initiatives in primary care would be implemented through the Primary Care Campaign. Community Health Centres would also be provided soon. Instead of adopting a standard package, district community health centres would be set up according to the need of individual districts; and

(c) Currently, patients of diabetes mellitus and hypertension might receive different treatments and medication from different doctors. To further enhance the quality of local healthcare services, primary care conceptual models and reference frameworks would be developed to serve as a common reference for doctors.

12. Dr. LAM invited Members to comment on DH’s recent work as depicted.

20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 8 (Mr. LEE Tat-yan arrived at the meeting at 2:50 p.m.)

13. The Chairman thanked Dr. LAM for the detailed description on DH’s work, and drew Members attention to the five submissions tabled by Mr. WONG Yat-yuk (to the Director of Health, Annex I), Mr. WU Chi-wah, MH on behalf of Democratic Party Wong Tai Sin Branch (to Mr. Anthony WU, Chairman of HA; Annex II), ten DAB WTSDC members (Annex III), Mr. SO Sik-kin (to Dr. York CHOW, Secretary for Food and Health; Annex IV), and Mr. HO Hon-man on behalf of East Kowloon District Residents’ Committee (to the Director of Health, Annex V). The Chairman invited them to introduce their submissions before other Members spoke.

14. Mr. WONG Yat-yuk thanked Dr. LAM for visiting WTSDC and consulting Members, and then introduced his submission titled “Request for Provision of 24-hour Accident and Emergency Service in Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital” (Annex I), which requested that 24-hour accident and emergency (A&E) service - or at least 24-hour out-patient service - be provided in the Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital (OLMH). He had clearly stated Tsz Wan Shan residents’ need for A&E service in the paper, viz. they had to take public transport to seek A&E service at other districts. Given the great demand for medical services in the district, this was inconvenient. Therefore, he requested that 24-hour A&E service should be incorporated in the redevelopment plan of OLMH, to meet the needs of the growing population in Fung Wong, Tsz Wan Shan and even the entire Wong Tai Sin, particularly when people were moving into the Shatin Pass Estate.

15. On behalf of Democratic Party Wong Tai Sin Branch, Mr. WU Chi-wai, MH introduced the submission titled “Redevelopment of Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital and Provision of 24-hour Out-patient Service” (Annex II). While the paper was addressed to HA Chairman Mr. Anthony WU, he would like to draw Dr. LAM’s attention on the level of out-patient service in the district, even though the operational responsibilities of providing such service had been transferred from DH to HA gradually. Mr. WU pointed out that the level of service had remained unchanged throughout the years, and 24-hour out-patient service was still unavailable to date. Mr. WU also commented that HA’s criticism against people abusing ambulance service at night was unfair. The Democratic Party strongly requested the Government to provide 24-hour out-patient service in the district, to meet the needs and alleviate workload of A&E departments. On the other hand, despite the facts that primary care had been a subject of discussion for more than two decades and the first report on primary care had been published in 1990s, not much progress had been made. Mr. WU opined that the Government was the culprit of such delay because it did not pay much attention, nor did it invest adequate resources in primary care. Instead, it still considered the utmost important on treatment of diseases. By pointing out that hospitals received far more resources than the primary care sector, Mr. WU commented that the Government should attach more importance to primary care and reflect its attention in terms of resource allocation. In addition, he agreed that it was important to make use of health education to foster good eating habits among people at an early age. Since living in Hong Kong was stressful, he suggested the Government make reference to overseas examples and encourage the local people to have body check, so that they could understand their potential health problems as early as possible and stay alert by receiving targeted inspections. Saying that such body checks and health-related questionnaire surveys were unfamiliar to Hong Kong people, Mr. WU pointed out that people aged above 40 usually knew little about their health problems and implication of certain symptoms. 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 9 As one’s symptoms, medical history, diet and living habit were important considerations in the provision of primary care services, he suggested the Government provide body check service to high risk groups and people above a certain age. They could know their problems and seek proper treatments as soon as possible. While such body check service might help lower the overall medical expenditure, the Government had not put enough efforts in this regard. Moreover, although he had no idea about the effectiveness of the upcoming community health service centres, he hoped that the abovementioned deficiency could be addressed holistically by letting people know their own health condition and thus pay more attention to diet and family medical history, for the sake of disease prevention. “Prevention is better than cure”. As the expenses in disease prevention cost was far less than the expenses in treatment. He hoped that more resources would be invested in primary care to meet community needs.

(Dr. Allen SHI arrived at the meeting at 3:05 p.m.)

16. Mr. KAN Chi-ho, BBS, MH thanked Dr. LAM for visiting WTSDC and listening to Members’ views. He then introduced DAB Wong Tai Sin Branch’s submission titled “Request for Improved Medical Services and Provision of Accident and Emergency Service in Wong Tai Sin” (Annex III). DAB had been asking the Government to improve the district’s medical services, and strongly requesting them to provide A&E service in the district. In consideration of the Government’s lack of respond to date, DAB would like to take the opportunity to advance their requests to the Government again, in the presence of the Dr. LAM. DAB’s major views were:

(i) None of the three hospitals in Wong Tai Sin, namely TWGH Wong Tai Sin Hospital, OLMH and Hong Kong Buddhist Hospital, provided A&E service. Instead of receiving urgent medical attention from these hospitals with the least possible delay, residents of Wong Tai Sin had to go to United Christian Hospital, Queen Elizabeth Hospital or Kwong Wah Hospital in other districts for A&E service. Hence, DAB urged the Government to provide A&E service in the district, so that residents in Wong Tai Sin might enjoy the basic emergency medical service;

(ii) The three hospitals in the district were either extended care hospital or community hospital, providing general out-patient service and maintenance treatment primarily. They failed to meet existing local needs because specialist consultation, obstetrics and gynaecology department etc. were not available. Moreover, while there used to be an obstetrics and gynaecology department in OLMH, the department had been transferred to Kwong Wah Hospital as part of the clustering process. However, in consideration of the change in population composition, it was necessary to provide an obstetrics and gynaecology department in the district. In addition, while out-patient service was also available in maternal and child health centres in the district, many residents, and media also reported that the daily quota was inadequate. As DAB members’ office helped residents to make telephone appointment from time to time, Members were familiar with such inadequacy, and the fact that people could seldom make 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 10 out-patient appointment successfully could aptly reflect the unbalanced demand and supply. Therefore, DAB requested that daily quota of consultation for out-patient service in the district’s hospitals and maternal and child health centres be increased, so that local residents may receive timely treatment when required;

(iii) Medical equipments were ever improving. To provide residents with safer and more effective treatment, the Government should provide more resources to enhance medical equipments in the district’s hospitals and maternal and child health centres. He pointed out that a newspaper reported that some hospitals, including OLMH, had failed to afford equipment which cost only several tens of thousand dollars. While he did not know the present situation, he requested Dr. LAM to respond to the report; and

(iv) DAB requested the Government to announce the planning details of the flagship hospital in the Kai Tai Development Area as soon as possible, and make sure that the hospital could serve residents of Wong Tai Sin as well.

17. Mr. SO Sik-kin thanked Dr. LAM for visiting WTSDC and listening to Members’ views, before introducing his submission titled “Provision of Accident and Emergency Department in Wong Tai Sin” (Annex IV). He said he had written to Mr. York CHOW and received his reply. In his letter, Mr. SO pointed out that medical facilities in Wong Tai Sin failed to serve the 400 thousand people living in the district adequately. Wong Tai Sin suffered most from ageing population among the territory, but there was not any A&E department in the district. He was puzzled about why Wong Tai Sin was still part of the Kowloon West Cluster after the reunification in 1997. Medical resources of the cluster were meagre, and more so when the population in Wong Tai Sin, amounting to 400 000, were counted in. Currently, Wong Tai Sin residents seeking A&E service had to go to Kwong Wah Hospital or Queen Elizabeth Hospital. As both hospitals were far away, and traffic congestion would further delay the treatment, threatening the lives of Wong Tai Sin residents. His office helped residents to book out-patient service over the phone from time to time, but the service was often fully booked, showcasing that the level of service was inadequate. He suggested that 24-hour out-patient service be provided in the district as soon as possible before A&E service was available in Wong Tai Sin. In addition, elders aged 65 in the district told him that after the Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme was launched, clinics that used to charge $120 asked for more than $300 per consultation. In this connection, he queried if the private doctors were abusing the scheme, and enquired if HA had any mechanism to plug the loophole. He commented that it was unfair that one used to pay consultation fee of $100-odd previously was now required to pay an additional amount of $100-odd. Therefore, he opined that the Government should liaise with participating doctors before launching the scheme, to ensure that the vouchers were not useless to elders.

18. Mr. HO Hon-man introduced the submission titled “Strongly Request for Provision of Accident and Emergency Department in Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital and Provision of 24-hour Out-patient Service in Wong Tai Sin” (Annex V). He said 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 11 that his views were similar to others’ and his submission had already set out his points, so he was not going to repeat them in details. He reiterated that the ageing population was the most serious problem in Wong Tai Sin among all districts in the territory, so the Government should carefully consider the provision of medical services, instead of pacifying the residents by giving $6,000 to them. Therefore, he suggested the Government consider long-term solution to the inadequacy in A&E, out-patient, ophthalmology and ENT services. Members put forth similar suggestions on various occasions, including DC meetings, but nothing had been done to date, nor did the Government have any plan to address the said problems. Even knowing that DH was not the A&E service provider, Members still made submissions on improvement of A&E and out-patient services to reflect the residents’ needs. He hoped that DH or HA would seriously consider the correlation between medical services and community development, and allocate their resources more sensibly, instead of giving every one $6,000.

19. Mr. CHAN On-tai suggested setting up a “Kowloon Central A&E Department”. He continued that many new private flats and public estates were built in Wong Tai Sin in recent years, including Shatin Pass Estate, Choi Ying Estate, Choi Tak Estate and Choi Fook Estate, in addition to the existing Tsz Ching Estate, Tsz Lok Estate, Tsz Hong Estate etc. In this connection, he enquired if DH would set up the “Kowloon Central A&E Department” in response to the increasing demand for medical services arising from the projected population growth in the district, with a view to benefiting the residents and reducing the traffic load. At previous DC meeting, he pointed out that “Prevention is better than cure”, which was concurred with by the doctor attending the meeting. He opined that the Government could have done more about sickness prevention. For instance, health education was provided in primary schools only, but no longer in secondary schools. As a result, people in Hong Kong knew little about common diseases. When Mr. CHAN was serving in a hospital, he had realised that few people had knowledge to protect themselves. A diabetic patient should exercise extra care to his wounds. He thus suggested that publicity and education be stepped up, and TV programmes on health topics be produced as TV stations in the Mainland did. Apart from providing tips on disease prevention from the perspective of Chinese medical, health topics should also be covered from the perspective of western medical. Given the important status of western medical in Hong Kong, the Government might try to introduce healthcare knowledge including (1) sickness were caused by three factors, including the neglected emotional status; (2) vegetable stored for an extended period would release nitrites that caused food poisoning; and (3) meat stored for an extended period would also be contaminated by bacteria that caused food poisoning. DH should disseminate such knowledge to the public, and this would certainly help to reduce medical expenses. On the other hand, while Mr. CHAN did not know DH’s view on the health impact of microwave oven, he personally thought microwave oven would cause cancer. Thus it could be catastrophic if people continued to use it. In addition, he suggested that scientific experiments on cow’s milk on children’s growth be carried out to prove whether the milk was a calcium supplement or a cause of calcium loss. The Government should also let people know that cow’s milk was an allergen, so that they might decide to replace it with soy milk or other food. Numbness was the first symptom of a myriad of health problems. People should know about this so that they would not neglect numbness and suffer more afterwards. He considered the importance of “cure a disease when one is healthy”, and thus requested DH to foster this important knowledge to the public.

20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 12 (Ms. Maggie CHAN arrived at the meeting at 3:15 p.m.)

20. Mr. CHUI Pak-tai thanked Dr. LAM for visiting WTSDC and concerned about reprovisioning of OLMH. Established 50 years ago, OLMH had established a close tie with the residents and provided enormous medical support to the district. On the other hand, the great friendship between residents and OLMH gained trust to the hospital during the course of treatment. Although some of the facilities in OLMH were outdated, it still had great value as a district-based hospital and had strong tie with Wong Tai Sin. Currently, residents of Wong Tai Sin had to go to other districts to seek emergency medical service. Everyone might be aware that timely treatment was a must for patients, and the bumps and jumps during the journey would worsen the patients’ condition. As the friendship and mutual trust between OLMH and the residents could enhance the effectiveness of treatments, the Government should optimise the use of existing strengths and resources, and take the opportunity to meet the residents’ needs by reprovisioning OLMH and providing 24-hour out-patient service. By doing so, residents no longer needed to seek emergency medical attention in other districts, and it would also alleviate the workload of A&E departments in other districts. Therefore, he urged DH to consider this win-win solution.

21. Mr. MOK Ying-fan thanked Dr. LAM for visiting WTSDC. He knew well of Dr. LAM who was responsible to the work in Chinese medicine sector in the Chinese Medicine Council of Hong Kong. He would not comment on Chinese medicine out-patient service which had already been on the right track. He concurred with other Members’ comments on A&E service and said the Government or DH should answer the district’s long-standing call for A&E service. Every one might be aware that Wong Tai Sin suffered most from ageing population among the territory. As the saying went, “saving life is as urgent as fighting fire”. The longer the delay in treatment, the more risk the patient faced. Asking residents to seek emergency medical service in other districts was asking them to risk their lives, thus the Government should seriously consider providing A&E service in Wong Tai Sin. Though failure to do so would not necessarily cause massive death of people, but as a medical practitioner he still wanted to save as many people as possible, and thus urged the Government to consider his suggestion seriously. On the other hand, Mr. MOK suggested the Government review its methadone service. He commented that the Government had forced people to quit smoking by increasing the tobacco duty, but continued to provide the methadone treatment service. He noted that the Government had not conducted review on the service for a long period of time and thus it should not have any idea about the service’s effectiveness. In addition, he queried whether the service was still needed in view of the possible change in drug addiction. As he had heard that methadone was costly, he asked Dr. LAM to provide information on the total number of methadone users in the territory and in Robert Black Health Centre. If a downward trend was shown, the Government should review and consider whether the service was still needed. In addition, some studies revealed that methadone had little help to drug addicts as it could only prevent crime by reducing drug addicts’ urge for drug. Mr. MOK thus suggested the Government review the methadone treatment service, with a view to minimise the unnecessary expenses.

22. Dr. Allen SHI, MH, JP thanked Dr. LAM for visiting WTSDC and exchanging views with Members. He pointed out that since he had become the Chairman of WTS District Healthy & Safe City, he had to ask hospitals beyond Wong Tai Sin to provide information about the district’s medical services, injuries sustained 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 13 by residents, emergencies etc., as A&E service was not provided in the district. On top of other Members’ comments, he opined that the absence of A&E service had a negative impact of the district’s level of safety, and thus asked Dr. LAM to listen to Members and note the district’s genuine need for A&E service, then refer the case to departments concerned. In addition, he thanked Dr. LAM for attending the Designation of Wong Tai Sin Safe Community Agreement Signing Ceremony held on 29 January 2011 and witnessed Wong Tai Sin became the 227th “International Safe Community”, or the 8th in the territory. He once again thanked Dr. LAM for attending the event and witnessed this historical moment.

23. Mr. CHOI Luk-sing, MH was concerned about development of Chinese medicine. He pointed out that despite the development of Chinese medicine in Hong Kong in the past decade, most Wong Tai Sin residents may not realise that Chinese medicine out-patient service was available in Hong Kong Buddhist Hospital, probably due to its small scale. Wong Tai Sin was an ageing district, and the elders had eminent need for Chinese medical treatment. As a Chinese medicine practitioner, he also found that young people began to accept Chinese medicine, due to its good efficacy. While legislation was already in place for regulating Chinese medicine and the practitioners, and a number of tertiary institutions provided programmes on Chinese medicine, Mr. CHOI worried about the job security of the graduates as no hospital provided articulation pathway. A doctor, regardless of his experience, might establish his own clinic. However, seniority was very important for Chinese medicine practitioners as people tended to consult older practitioners. Even if a Chinese medical school graduate decided to start his own clinic, it was difficult to run an herb shop. In other words, these graduates would have a gloomy future if the Government did not draw up any supporting measures. In addition, he suggested that 24-hour out-patient service with Chinese medical consultation be available. The discussion about providing A&E department in Wong Tai Sin had lasted for more than two decades. Despite the fact that Diamond Quarry had once been proposed as the A&E department site, the proposal was shelved finally. Therefore, he hoped the Government would expedite the provision of A&E service.

24. Ms. KWOK Sau-ying hoped that Dr. LAM would consider Members’ views seriously and provide A&E department and 24-hour out-patient service in Wong Tai Sin. In addition, she commented that:

(i) Daily quota of consultation and resources allocated to the out-patient service should be increased. When she was accompanying elders to see doctor, she realised that the waiting time in the pharmacy was very long – one could be still waiting for medicine at 7 p.m. even though the consultation ended at 2 p.m. While she had written to the departments about the waiting time in pharmacy and suggested shortening the same by allocating more resources, she would like to draw Dr. LAM’s attention to the situation as well;

(ii) After consolidation of service, Robert Black Health Centre had taken up the role of Mrs. Wu York Yu Health Centre in the provision of methadone treatment in the district. As it was reported that utilisation rate of the methadone service was rather low, Ms. KOWK suggested further consolidating the service, so 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 14 that the district would be served by Ho Man Tin Methadone Clinic or the Kwun Tong Methadone Clinic along the railway service, to optimise the use of Government land and minimise the impact to other services. The Robert Black Health Centre was often full of people because of the provision of various services. Therefore, the under-utilised methadone clinic would reallocate for other uses;

(iii) She concurred with other Members on the need for ENT and ophthalmic services, and suggested that dental service with great demand by the elders be provided as well. Due to under-provision of dental service in Wong Tai Sin, the elders had to seek such service in Kowloon City; and

(iv) Instead of asking people to donate organs through the mass media after a major incident, regular publicity on the organ donation programme should be stepped up. She urged the Government to continue to implement the programme properly and ensure the programme’s sustainability.

25. Dr. LAM thanked the 11 Members for their enquiries and comments. In response to the request for 24-hour out-patient and A&E services in Wong Tai Sin put forth by all of them coincidentally, DH was not responsible for provision of such services, and he would, in the capacity of an HA member, refer the 11 Members’ views for HA’s consideration when planning future services. Regarding other Members’ views, he pointed out that:

(i) Since body check might not reveal all diseases one suffered from, it was difficult to include it as one of the medical services. For instance, one might still suffer from lung cancer even though he had his lungs checked annually, and it might be too late when shades were found in his lungs. Having said that, he concurred with Mr. WU Chi-wai, MH on his comment about the need for people to know their health at different ages, so medical centres would play a role in provision of primary care in the future. Due to cost consideration, not everyone going to a medical centre would be attended by a doctor. Instead, the nurses would use questionnaires to identify high-risk people. By asking simple questions such as waist measurement, body weight-height ratio etc., the nurses could suggest suitable follow-up actions. The simple screening process might be provided in the future community health centre. It was a more effective healthcare initiative than offering treatment to patients;

(ii) The Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme that aimed to subsidise elders aged 70 or above to use the services of enrolled healthcare providers was a pilot scheme. At present, participating doctors were only required to provide information on the nature of the prevention and treatment services provided. However, they did not have to provide any fee information, nor 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 15 the Government had no authority to control the level of consultation fee. When the face value of vouchers was increased, the Government might consider to request doctors to provide detailed fee information;

(iii) Dr. LAM agreed that health education had to be improved. As the Chinese medical theory suggested, prevention of diseases was of utmost importance. Therefore, DH had formed a high-level steering committee two years ago to work on prevention of chronic diseases. In addition, consideration could also be made to enrich the content of health education with health-related information, such as the importance of a balanced diet. Currently, DH was focussing its publicity efforts on important matters, such as prevention of overweighing/obesity, the need to reduce the intake of salty, greasy and high energy food etc., but it would consider incorporating disease-related information into heath education in future;

(iv) His greatest expectation was to incorporate the Chinese medical theory of regimen into health education. Little Chinese medical knowledge was covered by western medical theory. For instance, the benefit of eating suitable fruit / food at suitable time of a year, possible harm of eating water melon at wrong time of a year etc. were not covered. Dr. LAM thus opined that health education should cover such knowledge in a tactful manner, though it might take some time to study the details. While the Mainland might have included Chinese medical theory in health education, Hong Kong had never done so and it would take some time to gauge our people’s acceptance;

(v) It was true that soft drug addicts had outnumbered heroin addicts. However, heroin was still the most addiction-prone drug in Hong Kong. The physiological condition of a heroin addict was very similar to a diabetes patient. Both needed to take medicine everyday to control their problems. As addicts’ brain and nerve system were already damaged by narcotics, detoxification was not easy – and 99.9% of addicts had failed to do so. While methadone was a kind of narcotics, one only needed to take once a day and would not become excited after taking it. On the contrary, soft drug would make the addicts intoxicated. In addition, methadone would not cover up the pre-existing medical conditions of an addict. For instance, a heroin addict suffering from acute peritonitis might not show any symptom after taking that narcotic, but methadone would not cover up the symptoms. Therefore, methadone was still the best medication for treating drug addiction. Methadone was introduced to Hong Kong in 1970s by the Security Bureau when heroin was expensive and addicts had to commit crimes to afford it. At that time, methadone was introduced as a security measure. The Methadone Treatment Programme had been in 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 16 place for many years and it was so successful that even the United Nation treated the programme an exemplar. Each dose of methadone only cost $30. However, he might have to pay $300 if he bought drug from a trafficker. Moreover, as a drug addict would stay conscious after taking methadone, he could still continue to work and live normal life. In fact, among the methadone users, there were professionals in the law and accounting sectors. Actually, heroin addiction was an illness. To prepare for the Kwun Tong Redevelopment Project, the methadone clinic had to be relocated. In the past decade, the Government had been merging methadone clinics. However, in consideration that some drug addicts were unable to receive treatment in other districts, it was necessary to continue to provide a methadone clinic in Wong Tai Sin;

(vi) The Government had once reviewed and was considering another review on the methadone service. In fact, the methadone service in Hong Kong was world-renowned. The Mainland had sent representatives to learn our experience when it launched methadone service recently. Dr. LAM emphasised that the methadone programme was provided by the Security Bureau and was not a healthcare initiative;

(vii) DH would step up publicity efforts on organ donation programme and had set up a computer system in this regard. In addition, the Government intended to erect monuments in parks to attract more participants. DH would step up its publicity efforts on the scheme if Members thought inadequacy of service; and

(viii) ENT and ophthalmic services were provided by HA. Under the current policy, the Government did not provide any dental service. However, Dr. York CHOW would soon study with NGOs on how to provide dental service to the elderly. Further details would be available at a later stage.

26. The Chairman thanked Dr. LAM Ping-yan, JP for attending the meeting, and asked him to refer HA-related matters to the Authority for attention and follow up. In addition, he invited Dr. LAM to WTSDC again when further information on methadone treatment was available. The Chairman then thanked Dr. LAM and other DH representatives again for attending the WTSDC meeting.

(Dr. LAM Ping-yan, JP, Dr. MOK Chiu-yau and Dr. Jaime SIN left at this juncture.)

III(ii) Briefing on Competition Bill

27. The Chairman welcomed Mr. Gregory SO, JP, Under Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development; and Mr. Desmond HAU, Senior Economist (Commercial and Industry) to WTSDC. 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 17

28. Mr. SO said he was glad to meet friends again since he had left WTSDC for eight years, and pointed out that the purpose of his visit was to introduce the Competition Bill (the Bill). Having remarked that Members might have learnt about the competition law from the newspaper, Mr. SO sought Members’ assistance to explain the Bill to the public at district level. He then introduced the paper with the aid of a powerpoint presentation. Highlights were as follows:

(i) If choices were available in the market, a smart consumer would certainly not pay a large sum of money to procure inferior products or services. However, in a non-competitive market, they would have to do so as there were not enough choices. Competition law aimed at providing consumers with adequate choices. A vibrant, fair and open market had four advantages: more choices of product and service, more attractive price, better quality and more innovation. Hence, enterprises would compete with each other in terms of product diversity, price level and brand value. A competitive market would also encourage innovations in design and technology, which were the appeal to many Hong Kong people.

(ii) The competition law had been a subject for discussion for more than a decade. Currently, our competition law only covered broadcasting and telecommunication industries. Competition could facilitate market development. Members might still remember the very expensive monthly fee of mobile phone services 20 years ago. With the introduction of competition into the telecommunication industry, the monthly fee had dropped to only tens of dollars today. Following the publication of the Report on Competition Policy in June 2006, which proposed that coverage of completion law be extended to other industries, the Government launched a public consultation exercise on the framework of competition law in November 2006. The second round of the consultation exercise was launched in May 2008, during which the Government provided details of the proposed competition law. The law drafting work was started afterwards. The Bill was submitted to the Bills Committee of the Legislative Council (LegCo) for vetting in July 2010.

(iii) The competition law was seemed to be complicated but the principle was straight-forward. In a free competitive market, every commercial entity, regardless of size, should compete fairly.

(iv) Scope

The objective of the Bill was to prohibit and deter “undertakings” in all sectors from adopting abusive or other anti-competitive conduct which had the object or effect of preventing, restricting and distorting competition in Hong Kong. An “undertaking” 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 18 was defined as any entity engaged in economic activity and included a natural person. Non-economic activities, however, fell outside the scope of the Bill.

The Bill defined three major areas of anti-competitive conduct, described as the first conduct rule, the second conduct rule and the merger rule.

(a) The first conduct rule covered agreements, decisions and concerted practices. Commercial entities’ agreement on “common price”, or a merchant association’s request for shared price level between members were conducts of price-fixing. When a company increased product prices or service charges conspiredt with others, it was conducting an act of concerted practice.

The Government would handle anti-competitive conducts flexibly and adjust the level of penalty according to seriousness of the breach. Lighter penalty would be imposed to minor irregularity; and heavier penalty, such as fining, injunction etc., for serious ones.

The best known example of concerted practice was “price-fixing and control of price”, viz. enterprises no longer competed with each other price-wise. A merchant association made an advertisement in a newspaper a few years ago, and asked its fellow members increase the price by 10%. As the said breach was rare in Hong Kong, we should not over-react. Two weeks ago, an article in the South China Morning Post by the Office of Fair Trading in UK set out that even though UK had enacted a competition law long ago, there were still price-fixing in the country and consumers had to pay 20% to 25% more than if they bought goods from a normal market with competition. If Hong Kong did not enact a competition law, members of the public might have to pay more as a result of the business sector’s anti-competitive conducts.

“Bid-rigging” was another example of anti-competitive conduct. Mr. SO had visited nine DCs to introduce the Bill. During these visits, many DC members had told him that bid-rigging was very common when owners’ corporations (OCs) were conducting tendering exercises. A company always won the tenders and then arranged sub-contract to other companies, so that all of these companies could take part in the works. Besides, there was also bid rotation. A few companies conspired with each other, and this was not unusual in The third example was “market allocation”, i.e. an agreement between major suppliers of a product who 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 19 allocated geographic territories among themselves, whereby conspirators agreed not to compete within each other’s geographic territories. As a result, a popular product would be sold by a single supplier, and no other suppliers would compete with it. On the other hand, the consumers would not know the existence of such market allocation that limited their choices.

(b) The second conduct rule covered the abuse of a substantial degree of market power in a market. The competition law was not intended to curb the growing business entities because of their outstanding operation, but those which abused their market power and bullied smaller establishments and consumers. In other words, the rule could protect the interests of SMEs and the general public.

“Bundled sale” might also be classified as a breach of the second conduct. For instance, if a large and influenctial establishment required customers of product A to buy new product B as well, it was committing “bundled sale”. As consumers had already accpeted B when they bought A, other establishments would not be able to explore the market of B, and consumers’ right of choice was limited.

A major software company enjoying significant share in the market of personal computer operating system (OS) used to bundle its newly developed media player with the OS, so anyone buying the OS had to use the concerned media player. This had lessened the competitiveness of other media player suppliers. Although some people might think that the competition law could do nothing with large companies, the law was intended to curb their anti-competitive conducts.

Another example was “predatory pricing”. He had told LegCo Members that the competition law would not interfere with normal commercial operation and restaurants might still launch promotional campaigns such as “$1 for a chicken”. However, if a restaurant used the tactic to eliminate the restaurant selling chicken next door and, raised the price once its competitor was eliminated, it had committed the anti-competitive conduct of predatory pricing - setting one’s retail prices below the cost in order to force an existing or potential competitor to leave the market. Normal business operation or innovative sale tactics, however, would not be affected by the law.

(c) The third conduct rule was about mergers. There were provisions in the existing Telecommunications Ordinance about mergers, and the merger control in the forthcoming 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 20 competition law would only be applicable to local carrier licences granted by the Telecommunications Authority. While the merger control would cover the telecommunications industry only, consideration would be made to extend the control to other industries after enactment of the law.

(v) Institutional Framework

An independent statutory Competition Commission (the Commission) would be established to investigate and commence the proceedings before the Competition Tribunal (the Tribunal) in respect of anti-competitive conducts. The Tribunal was responsible for hearing and adjudication of competition cases.

(vi) Allowing Rights of Private Action

The Bill also provided for private actions to be brought by shop operators or consumers who deemed themselves as sufferers of anti-competitive conducts. Such private actions could either follow on from a determination of the Tribunal, the Court of Appeal or the Court of Final Appeal, as long as the complainants could prove that they were suffered from anti-competitive conducts. The cost of “follow-on actions” was relatively lower because the defendants concerned had already been found guilty by the Tribunal. SMEs and consumers might find it easier to claim for compensation. In view of resource constraint, the Commission would handle cases according to their urgency. One seeking prompt handling of his own case might seek a judgement through “stand-alone” action before a determination was made by the Commission. However, “stand-alone” actions were more costly than “follow-on actions”. The Government would continue to protect the judiciary rights of the people.

Mr. SO said he was puzzled about why people worried that large business establishments would abuse the rights of private action and take “stand-alone” legal actions against SMEs. He commented that if they did so, they would be subject to enormous public criticism. In addition, the court might refer the case for the Commission, so that suitable actions could be taken if abuse of the competition law was found.

(vii) As he had just mentioned, the competition law could benefit consumers in various ways. The Government promoted the competition law in district level because the law was made in response to public requests. As consumers and SMEs were primary stakeholders of the law, he wished to consult WTSDC Members through presentation and discussion, and to underpin the legislative process with Members’ view, so that the law could be in place as soon possible for the benefit of the public.

20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 21

(Mr. Andrew TO arrived at the meeting at 3:45 p.m., and Mr. Joe CHAN left the meeting at 4:00 p.m.)

29. The Chairman said a submission by ten DAB WTSDC members on the Competition Bill (Annex IV) was on table, and invited Mr. YUEN Kwok-keung to introduce it.

30. On behalf of DAB Wong Tai Sin Branch, Mr. YUEN Kwok-keung introduced the submission titled “Worries about Competition Bill” (Annex IV). As the competition law was complicated and involved a wide range of aspects such as consumer protection, business environment etc., extra care should be exercised in the formulation of the law. There were lots of grey areas in the Bill. Since some of the provisions were vague, owners of small shops might be prosecuted for inadvertent breaches. DAB supported the Bill for the sake of consumer protection, but opined that efforts should be made as far as possible to end the worries of SMEs, including:-

(i) Poorly Defined Anti-competitive Conducts

At present, the Bill was merely a legislation framework without much substance. Since the regulatory guidelines would not come to being until they were formulated by the Commission, SMEs were worried about inadvertent breaches. To ease their worries, DAB suggested the Government provide more detailed explanation in the Bill, or submit the regulatory guidelines as well to facilitate discussion.

(ii) No Restriction on Mergers

The current Bill only proposed merger restriction for the telecommunication sector, but not for mergers in other trades that might prevent competition. Why it only covered mergers in the telecommunication sector? A bill like this could do nothing to people who tried to prevent competition through mergers.

(iii) The Commission Was Too Powerful

According to the Bill, the Commission would consider and decide on applications for exclusions, handle complaints about anti-competitive conduct and take investigation, prosecution and enforcement actions in this regard. In other words, the same Commission would serve executive, enforcement and prosecution functions - wasn’t it too powerful?

As all Commission members would be appointed by the Chief Executive (CE), DAB was also concerned about the presence of any mechanism to prevent anyone suffering from conflict of interest from being appointed by CE. Should there be any provision about the Commission’s membership composition? Was it necessary to include some SME representatives? Should those SME representatives come from non-government 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 22 organisations, or any management staff of a company should do?

Should the Commission provide advisory service as well, or would the Government establish an advisory service centre? By doing so, business operators who were worried about inadvertent breaches may seek advice before engaging themselves in certain business activities.

(iv) Competition Tribunal’s Method of Hearing

Could both parties in the hearing apply for legal aid, as they might employ a solicitor? Regarding composition of the tribunal, besides judicial members (judges of the Court of First Instance), was it also necessary to appoint non-judicial members, viz. those with expertises in economy, business and competition law to form a jury. Also, should a rotation system be adopted for jury members so that they could handle commercial cases of anti-competitive conduct more efficiently?

(v) Justifications for Granting Exemptions to Statutory Bodies Should Be Given

The Bill provided that the Administration would grant exemptions to the Government itself as well as about 500 public bodies, and provide a list of non-exempted public bodies by means of a subsidiary legislation to be submitted to LegCo. Given the great variety of these bodies’ natures and services, the effectiveness of a one-size-fits-all competition law was questionable. Moreover, it might not be socially beneficial. Hence, while DAB agreed that an overall review should be carried out to determine what public bodies could be exempted from the law, it considered that justifications should be given when exempting or not exempting an individual corporation.

As the Bill was complicated and involved numerous aspects, the Government should consider every detail of the Bill seriously and prudently, in order to protect consumers, to end SMEs’ worries, and not to affect the business environment of Hong Kong.

(Mr. HO Yin-fai left the meeting at 4:05 p.m.)

31. Mr. SO Sik-kin thanked Mr. SO for visiting and consulting WTSDC. He supported introduction of the competition law. As a driver for more than three decades, he discovered that oil companies in Hong Kong were “quick-in-raising and slow-in-reducing” when adjusting fuel prices. To ensure fair competition and stop the unfair treatment to drivers, it was necessary to introduce competition law as soon as possible. When an oil company increased fuel prices, other companies would increase the price in the next day accordingly. Besides urging for the introduction of competition law, he also hoped that the Government would enforce it effectively, as a poorly enforced law was meaningless at all.

20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 23 32. Mr. CHAN On-tai opined that the Government should end the monopoly in oil market. In the past, the Government had counter-acted private property developers’ influence by building public rental housing and implementing the Home Ownership Scheme (HOS). Hence he suggested the Government set up an oil company funded by the Government and MPF. Profit came from increased oil price might be injected into people’s MPF accounts. With the Government’s efforts and the public’s participation, it was possible to strike a balance between the interest of oil companies and the consumers, so that adjustment in oil prices would become more reasonable. He hoped that the concept of HOS housing could help curb the monopoly in oil market. He had also heard about bid-rigging in OCs’ tendering exercises, and commented that prices quoted for works were too high. He thus suggested that the list of approved contractors should be expanded for counter-monopoly purpose. While supporting the Bill, he urged the Government to refine it and make it a broad-based policy.

33. Mr. WU Chi-wai, MH said Members all considered that it was a good idea to launch the competition law. He requested the Bureau to provide an explanation of how it would implement the Bill with a view to tackling the oil companies’ “quick-in-raising and slow-in-reducing” pricing strategy. The Bureau’s submission set out that the competition law was not applicable to the public bodies as their activities were primarily non-economic in nature. It was generally aware that certain public bodies involved much into economical activities. He thus enquired if the Government should review the role of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (TDC) as a venue provider, as well as the prevailing policy that gave priority to railway and forced all other forms of transport to take up a supporting role only. At present, the Government would determine the number of taxi licences and level of fare. In this connection, Mr. WU also queried if the Government could justify its ban on taxi offering 20% discount in fare in terms of public interests. Generally speaking, the intention of the Bill was good. However, as a number of Government controls over the market fell beyond the scope of the Bill, consumers would still suffer from loss due to lessened competition. Apart from taxis, the Government also imposed control over “illegal hiring of vans” and banned these vans from providing service to and from the airport. It was obvious that such a control was imposed to protect the interest of taxi operators and parties concerned as it reduced choices. He commented that the Government should consider the policy’s market implications carefully and provide detailed explanation in this regard, rather than simply exempt statutory bodies from the competition law.

34. Mr. MOK Kin-wing said he had related the public’s and SME’s concerns about the Bill to the Bureau on a number of occasions. Firstly, the details and framework set out in the Bill were rather vague. A case in point was the “threshold” that protected SMEs from being prosecuted by the Commission for certain business operation. In this connection, Mr. MOK commented that the Government should explain whether the “threshold” was determined by an enterprise’s size of market share, its own size or the business turnover. Secondly, while it was anticipated that the Bill was an anti-monopoly measure that protected the interest of consumers, he was afraid that the market would be monopolised by a few large enterprises because these enterprises might make use of their edge in resources and charge relatively low prices for the commodities and services they offered, eliminating the smaller enterprises eventually. By pointing out that there were only three supermarket operators in Hong Kong, namely ParknShop, Wellcome and China Resource Vanguard, Mr. MOK queried whether such monopoly resulted from free competition could benefit consumers, or 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 24 limit their choices. Thirdly, SMEs were worried about their disadvantaged position in private legal actions against large enterprises as they did not have the resources to hire the best legal consultants. Therefore, he requested the Bureau to explain whether the Commission or the Tribunal would provide any legal aid to SMEs in private legal actions.

35. Dr. James LAU, BBS, JP believed that many people were concerned about electricity charge. Both the Hongkong Electric and the CLP Power Hong Kong provided the same electricity but the former charged more. As their electricity supply network were interconnected, it was possible for them to compete with each other though they had never done so nor had the Government requested them to do so. He believed that competition between the two companies would bring down electricity charge. Under the current electricity supply mechanism, CLP might supply electricity to people living in Hong Kong Island. This arrangement, if implemented, would lower their electricity bills. He hoped the two companies would compete with each other, to alleviate people’s burden of electricity charge.

36. Mr. HUI Kam-shing thanked Mr. Gregory SO for visiting WTSDC and listening to Members’ views, and commented that Mr. SO and some of the Members were lawyers and familiar with the Bill. Since the competition law would affect livelihood, he would like to raise a few concerns. First of all, he supported the direction of the Bill. Given the importance of the Commission in the Bill, he enquired how recognition and representative could be achieved, so that the Commission could handle disputes in a fair and square manner. On the other hand, if members of the public thought that the Commission was biased towards large business undertakings and large enterprises, it would not be able to enforce the law effectively. Secondly, he would like to know if the Commission could initiate an investigation proactively to identify price-fixing among power companies, supermarket operators, oil companies, and property developers; and whether it would propose policy change to the Government if any irregularity was found, such as introducing more competition to the market by allowing mainland power companies to provide electricity to Hong Kong. Thirdly, he shared DAB DC members’ views about the mushrooming of legal actions upon enactment of the law. Commenting that large business undertakings and enterprises had enough resources to mount such legal actions, he enquired if the Government would provide any support to SMEs in this regard, and whether the Commission would provide legal aid to law-abiding SMEs as the Consumer Council did.

37. Mr. CHUI Pak-tai enquired why the Bill was not called “Antitrust Bill”. The Government should tackle the problem of unfair competition as it would cause enormous harm to the community, the consumers as well as long term development of the society. Unfair competition was primarily caused by large business undertakings which monopolised the market. He demanded an explanation of the word choice for the Bill’s name, and commented that the coverage of the Bill was not broad enough as it only dealt with consumers’ rights. In addition, if the Bill led to SMEs’ inadvertent breach of the law, it might cause endless resource-wasting legal actions. Mr. CHUI was of the view that monopoly in the property market was damaging the community in various aspects. The same was observed in the oil market as well. As the problem was worsening, Mr. CHUI urged the Government to curb with it by means of legislation, and stop the problem from further damaging the community. If there was any loophole in the competition law, large business undertakings might identify ways to 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 25 bypass the law easily, or minimise its impact on their operation by seeking legal advice. Therefore, he commented that the problem of monopoly could not be eradicated without an antitrust law.

38. Mr. Gregory SO thanked Members’ for their comments. His response was summarised as follows:

(i) On top of the Bill’s framework introduced by him, Members had mentioned a number of detailed arrangements concerned. He was glad to respond to their enquiries, and would like to take this opportunity to account for the Bill’s implementation arrangement.

(ii) Competition law had been enacted in 120 countries in the world, including major trading partners of Hong Kong in Asia. Besides Hong Kong, the only places in Asia that had yet to enact competition law were North Korea, Cambodia and the Philippines. Although Hong Kong had a late start in this regard, it might make reference to exemplar practices and incorporate these practices into its own legislation.

(iii) A Competition Advisory Committee (CAC) had been formed under the current legal framework and Mr. SO attended its meetings as well. CAC would conduct investigation upon receipt of a complaint. However, since CAC had no statutory power of investigation, it had to rely on information provided by the parties concerned. Most of the CAC reports would state that “no conclusive evidence of anti-competitive conduct was found”, although it did not imply that there was no anti-competitive conduct. Therefore, it was necessary to enact the competition law and confer CAC with the power of investigation, so that it could identify anti-competitive conducts according to a specific mechanism and sanction those who committed such conducts. At present, CAC had no right to perform the above functions.

(iv) Regarding Members’ concerns about possible monopoly by oil companies, supermarket operators and property developers, Mr. SO said the Bureau would investigate and take prosecution actions against anti-competitive conducts found in these and other industries upon enactment of the competition law. The competition law would also be applicable to overseas anti-competitive conducts that affected Hong Kong.

In a recent case handled by EU, a number of South Korean and Taiwanese LED panel manufacturers had performed price-fixing conspiracy. Even though this happened in Taiwan, EU still fined these manufacturers heavily after investigation. Also, 11 airlines were also fined heavily by EU for anti-competitive conduct when adjusting the fuel surcharge. These cases showcased that the competition law could 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 26 effectively curb anti-competitive conducts. Regarding Mr. CHUI Pak-tai’s worry about large business establishments could bypass the law easily, Mr. SO commented that as shown in the above examples, the Microsoft, a large business company, could not escape from being punished for their anti-competitive conducts. In other words, large business establishments would not be able to bypass the competition law by using their influence.

(v) First and second conduct rules of the Bill covered conspiracies in anti-competitive conducts and abuse of a substantial degree of market power. As the name suggested, SMEs were not large business establishments. Unless an SME could find a niche market, it would not be able to enjoy a substantial degree of market power and therefore, the second conduct rule would not be applicable to SMEs under normal circumstances.

Regarding first conduct rule, viz. conspiracies in anti-competitive conducts, the Commission would conduct market research and determine the threshold – the highest acceptable market share for enterprises in various trades. It would not institute any action against an enterprise if its market share was lower than the threshold. In other words, SMEs did not need to worry about being sanctioned for breaching the first conduct rule if their market shares were lower than the threshold determined by the Commission. However, no enterprise, regardless of its size, could be exempted from being sanctions if it involved in serious anti-competitive conducts, such as price-fixing, market allocation, bid-rigging and output restriction. All of these conducts were clearly defined. In respect of Members’ worries about inadvertent breaches of enterprises, Mr. SO pointed out that it was easy for enterprises to determine by themselves whether they were committing anti-competitive conducts. Thus it was very unlikely for them to breach the law inadvertently.

(vi) Provisions in the Bill would be implemented by phases. After enactment of the Bill, a transition period would be provided, during which extensive education and publicity would be carried out. When the legislation was first enacted, the Commission might be consulted for clarification of uncertainties, so that enterprises could do their business in an informed manner. While the business sector might think that price-fixing was acceptable, it was actually an anti-competitive conduct that would undermine consumers’ rights. Even if the conduct involved SMEs only, it had to stop.

(vii) Mr. SO thanked Members for their support to the content and spirit of the Bill. Having referred to overseas examples, it was discovered that enterprises might spot the loopholes in specific legislation easily. Therefore, the Bill set out general 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 27 provisions only, as other countries did. These countries would also refine the general provisions with detailed descriptions on enforcement actions.

(viii) Regarding Mr. WU Chi-wai, MH’s enquiry about whether the Bill should cover statutory bodies as well, Mr. SO said it was clearly stated in the Bill that the competition law would only cover economic activities. If a statutory body was not involved in any economic activity, it would not be regulated by the competition law. For statutory bodies involved in economic activities, it was necessary to check if they were competing directly with others. If so, an assessment would be conducted to gauge whether the economic activities in question would affect market efficiency. If these activities were found affecting economic efficiency and the bodies in question were competing directly with others, consideration should be made to determine whether these activities had any direct implications to important public services and policies. Finally, the Government should consider whether exemption was warranted on the ground of strong public policy considerations.

As set out in DAB’s submission, there were about 500 statutory bodies. In this connection, the Government had to carry out lots of work to see if these bodies were involved in economic activities, and make decision accordingly within the existing framework. The Government would prepare a list of the statutory bodies for the Bills Committee’s consideration. Regarding some people’s comments, viz. TDC should not be exempted from the competition law, Mr. SO believed that the Bills Committee would discuss the matter when considering the Bill.

(ix) In response to Mr. CHUI Pak-tai’s enquiry about the reason why the law was not called “Antitrust Law”, Mr. SO said the name was not the main point. “Anti-monopoly Law” was the same as “Competition Law”. The “Anti-monopoly Law” in the Mainland was similar to our competition law, and both included first and second conduct rules.

(x) The principles of the Bill were clear. The Government would not impose any restriction to a successful enterprise enjoying economy of scale as the expansion of business did not constitute anti-competitive conduct. Since regulatory efforts were targeting enterprises that abused their market power, normal and innovative economic activities would not be interfered.

(xi) Regarding the cost of legal proceedings, large business undertakings would find it difficult to eliminate SMEs with legal actions as they should prove that anti-competitive conducts of SMEs had incurred loss to them. In addition, in 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 28 case of abuse of the law, the court might refer the case in question to the Commission for investigation, or refuse to hear frivolous or vexatious cases. It was unlikely that the Bill be abused. As he had mentioned before, a large business undertaking would be under enormous public opinion when it sued a small enterprise with the competition law.

(xii) Regarding Mr. HUI Kam-shing’s enquiry about whether the Commission could initiate an investigation action, Mr. SO said the Commission could investigate and bring proceedings before the Competition Tribunal in respect of anti-competitive conduct either on receipt of complaints, on its own initiative, or on referral from the Government or a court. To filter out frivolous or vexatious cases, the Commission must have reasonable cause to suspect that a contravention of any of the competition rules had taken place or was about to take place before exercising its investigative powers.

(xiii) Schedule 5 of the Bill set out method of appointment and composition of the Commission. Members of the Commission would have expertise or experience in industry, commerce, economics, law, SME or public policy. To ensure that the Commission could reflect concerns from all walks of life about the competition law, the Government would consider including professionals of various field into the Commission’s membership.

(xiv) Competition law was about livelihood. In addition to ending worries of the business sector, the law should benefit the general public as well. The competition law would not only protect the rights of consumers, but would also provide a competitive business environment conducive to SMEs’ survival. In foreign countries, competition law was supported and well-received by SMEs. On the contrary, the local community was worried about the law. Hence, promotional efforts would be made targeting SMEs and the general public. The competition law was a matter of wide public concern as people would benefit from it.

39. Mr. WU Chi-wai, MH further enquired, under the framework proposed in the Bill, whether the Commission had the authority to comment and advise on Government policies that were anti-competitive, and investigate / study whether these policies would impair public interests.

40. Mr. SO replied that the Commission had formulated an exemption mechanism to handle the situation mentioned above. For instance, exemption would be granted to an establishment which had to commit an anti-competitive conduct because it had to observe local legislations.

41. The Chairman said the competition law was a new legislation. While Members supported it in general, they also raised concerns about the Bill’s implications 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 29 to existing legislations. In this connection, he hoped that Members’ concerns and comments could be relayed back to the Bureau, and thanked Mr. SO again for visiting Wong Tai Sin.

(Mr. Gregory SO, JP, Under Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development; and Mr. Desmond HAU, Senior Economist (Commercial and Industry) left the meeting at this juncture.)

III(iii) Director of Civil Engineering and Development’s Visit to the Wong Tai Sin District Council (WTSDC Paper 16/2011)

42. The Chairman welcomed Director of Civil Engineering and Development Mr. HON Chi-keung, JP, Chief Engineer Mr. LO Kam Yan, Anthony, and Senior Engineer Mr. TSOI Cheong-hoi to WTSDC.

43. Mr. HON made a powerpoint presentation on organisation and services of the Civil Engineering and Development Department (CEDD), as well as an account of the department’s projects in Wong Tai Sin and its surrounding districts. Highlights were as follows:

(i) Background and Organisation

CEDD was established on 1 July 2004 with the merging of the former Civil Engineering Department and Territory Development Department (TDD). CEDD was one of the five works departments under the Development Bureau. In addition, CEDD served other policy bureaus, namely the Transport and Housing Bureau, the Environment Bureau, the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau, the Education Bureau and the Home Affairs Bureau.

The Department had a headquarters, led by the Director and one Deputy Director; two functional offices [Civil Engineering Office (CEO) and Geotechnical Engineering Office (GEO)] and four regional development offices (Hong Kong Island and Islands Development Office, Kowloon Development Office, New Territories East Development Office and New Territories North and West Development Office).

(a) Duties of Functional Offices

CEO was mainly responsible for marine and terrestrial infrastructural projects, management of public fill, as well as development and implementation of the Greening Master Plans. GEO was responsible for slope safety and quarry rehabilitation. It also provided advisory service on geotechnical matters.

(b) Duties of Regional Development Offices 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 30

The four regional development offices were mainly responsible for building new towns and strategic development areas, including exploration of new land and implementation of supporting infrastructural projects. The four offices took charge of development of different regions respectively, and projects in Wong Tai Sin were overseen by the Kowloon Development Office.

Currently, CEDD had an establishment of about 1 700 staff, about two-thirds were professional and technical staff.

(ii) Scope of Service

CEDD’s vision, mission and values were summarised into its motto of “We Engineer Hong Kong’s Development”. Its four major areas of services were provision of land and infrastructure, port and marine services, geotechnical services and environment and sustainability services.

(a) Provision of Land and Infrastructure

CEDD (and the former TDD) had built nine new towns in the New Territories. Currently, CEDD were working on Central Reclamation Phase III, Wan Chai Development Phase II and Central-Wan Chai Bypass on the Island; Kai Tak Development in Kowloon; and strategic growth areas such as North Kwu Tong, North Fanling, Ping Che/Ta Kwu Ling and Hung Shui Kiu, as well as the Lok Ma Chau Loop in the New Territories. CEDD was also involved in tourism projects, such as Hong Kong Disneyland, Cruise Terminal at Kai Tak, development of Ngong Ping etc.

(b) Port and Marine Services

CEDD maintained 123 kilometres of seawalls and 314 piers. In addition, it was also responsible for the dredging works in rivers and the harbour, as well as the construction of marine facilities such as public piers and seafront promenade.

(c) Geotechnical Services

The Government established the Geotechnical Engineering Office in 1977 to handle existing substandard man-made slopes in a systematic manner. Since then, number of serious landslide cases dropped drastically, so as the casualties concerned. Through the Extended Landslip Preventive Measures Programme completed in 2010, CEDD had stabilised the majority of high-risk man-made slopes that might affect major roads. In the Landslip 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 31 Prevention and Mitigation (LPMit) Programme that followed, the department would deal with natural slopes, the remaining substandard man-made slopes, and man-made slopes that had become risky in recent years, as well as the rising risk of landslip resulted from population growth and extreme weather.

CEDD had also formed a Community Advisory Unit to provide professional advice to OCs which had received Dangerous Hillside Orders and help them handle slope maintenance matters.

(d) Environment and Sustainability Services

To improve the cityscape of the urban area, CEDD had implemented recommendations set out in the Greening Master Plans by phases. Greening works for Tsim Sha Tsui and Central had been completed in 2007; and the same for Wong Tai Sin had been commenced in 2009 for completion in mid-2011. DCs in the New Territories had been consulted on respectively Greening Master Plans and CEDD had started the preparatory works concerned. In addition, CEDD also carried out slope greening, planting for afforestation/anti-soil erosion purposes, and infrastructure-related greening.

For the sake of sustainable development, CEDD managed the disposal of construction waste. Hong Kong produced about 10 million tonnes of construction waste every year. In the past, such waste would be used in reclamation projects. However, owing to the running down of local reclamation projects in recent years, such waste had to be delivered to Taishan 170km away for reclamation purpose, hiking the handling cost. CEDD would accord a high priority in addressing this problem.

(iii) Works to be Carried out in Wong Tai Sin and the Surrounding Districts

Projects involving Wong Tai Sin included Kai Tak Development, greening works in Wong Tai Sin, the ten-year Extended Landslip Preventive Measures Programme and the Landslip Prevention and Mitigation Programme.

(a) Kai Tak Development

(1) Pedestrian Facilities in the District

The Kai Tak Development Area (KTDA) would span over 320 hectares and provide home to about 86 000 people. According to the current plan, more than 20 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 32 accesses which were 500-600m apart from each other would be provided to connect KTDA with surrounding districts. As far as Wong Tai Sin was concerned, CEDD was building two footbridges at Prince Edward Road East to connect The Latitude and the Rhythm Garden with KTDA. CEDD was also carrying out improvement works at subways in San Po Kong, Tung Tau Estate Playground and Choi Hung Estates; and considering to provide another four pedestrian facilities in the district.

(2) Cruise Terminal

The first berth and main building of the Cruise Terminal were being built by CEDD and ArchSD respectively. It was estimated that the terminal would be commissioned in 2013. The first phase of infrastructure works had been commenced, and a tendering exercise in respect of the second phase was being carried out, to dovetail with the development. A district cooling system was also being built as well, for completion in 2013. CEDD was going to clean the polluted river bed / sea bed of Kai Tak Approach Channel and the typhoon shelter with bioremediation. It was hoped that CEDD’s efforts, together with DSD’s inception works, could reduce the odour of the nullah.

(3) Improvement Works to Kai Tak River

CEDD noted WTSDC’s request for introducing more greening elements and water bodies into the project, jointly implemented by CEDD and DSD. Public Engagement on Building our Kai Tak River (Stage 1) had been completed in November 2010. Stage 2 of the exercise was planned to be launched in mid-2011.

(4) Preservation of Lung Tsun Stone Bridge Remnants

CEDD had conducted two stages of public engagement exercise on preservation of Lung Tsun Stone Bridge Remnants, and noted that most participants hoped that the Remnants be preserved and open space be provided beside the Remnants.

(b) Greening Works in Wong Tai Sin

Greening works in Wong Tai Sin had been commenced in 2009. Alstonia scholaris and Ixora chinensis would be planted at Po Kong Village Road, Liquidambar formosana at Hammer Hill Road, and Chukrasia tabularis at the 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 33 junction of Fung Lai Road and Po Kong Village Road.

(c) 10-year Extended Landslip Preventive Measures Programme and Landslip Prevention and Mitigation Programme

CEDD had carried out slope improvement works in 33 different places in Wong Tai Sin, including Jat’s Incline and Ngau Chi Wan Street. It also planned to implement risk mitigation works for 12 natural hillsides above Shatin Pass Road, Tsz Wan Shan. The works would be commenced in October 2011 for completion in July 2013.

(Mr. Andie CHAN left the meeting at 4:45 p.m.)

44. The Chairman expressed his appreciation to CEDD for its greening works in Wong Tai Sin. About 1 100 trees and 270 000 shrubs had been planted in the district since the implementation of the Greening Master Plan.

45. Mr. HO Hon-man raised three concerns about CEDD’s work in Wong Tai Sin, including the safety of slopes, soil erosion, and illegal graves on the slopes. In 2008, a major landslip occurred in Tsz Wan Shan and filled building lobbies in the vicinity with soil and water, affecting the residents. He pointed out that the landslip involved a large area on the slope, thus the debris flow was very powerful. In this connection, he enquired about how risky the slope was at present. In addition, he pointed out that during a site visit to Winfair Building at Yuk Wah Crescent, Tsz Wan Shan after a ground settlement many years ago, he and geotechnical engineer Dr. James LAU found that the settlement had been caused by soil erosion under the foundation. They also noticed that soil erosion had necessitated frequent repair of certain roads and staircases near Yuk Wah Crescent. He thus enquired whether CEDD had any long-term plan to eradicate the problem of soil erosion, apart from sending staff to follow up related incidents. Finally, Mr. HO voiced his concern about illegal burial beyond the Diamond Hill Cemetery. Knowing that the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department was following up the problem of illegal graves on slopes in the district, he enquired if these graves would affect safety of the slopes, and asked CEDD and FEHD to follow up on this matter jointly.

46. Mr. WU Chi-wai, MH said he had proposed on a number of occasions that bikes should be used as the major form of transportation in KTDA, for the sake of green living and turning KTDA a green new development area. However, to date CEDD only considered cycling as a recreational activity and would only allow bikes in the Metro Park and sitting-out areas. This did not tally with the concepts of low-carbon living, environmental friendly city and smoke-free city. Regarding cycling, Mr. WU quoted findings of a survey published by TD in 2004, which set out that popularity of cycling was related to how the Government designed the routes and promoted cycling as a form of transport, including the provision of segregation between people and bikes, as well as education targeting drivers and cyclists. However, priority was seldom given to these subjects. He hoped that CEDD would put more efforts in promoting cycling as a form of transport within a community, such as the KTDA. In addition, he was concerned about the illegal graves beyond the Diamond Hill Cemetery. According to FEHD, these graves were converted from grave coverings. While FEHD 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 34 was following up these illegal graves, he opined that the department was not capable of ascertaining whether the conversion would affect safety of the slope, and thus suggested CEDD advise and provide guidelines on removal of illegal graves.

47. Mr. LEE Tat-yan, MH thanked Mr. HON for listening to Members’ views at the meeting, and remarked that CEDD had successfully greened and improved the urban area with appropriate use of resources. However, he was concerned about the hygiene around trees because the short perimeter fence could not prevent pedestrians from throwing rubbish inside the fenced area. Also, he enquired about which departments were responsible for the hygienic condition of the area, as well as management and maintenance of plants. Mr. LEE had also noticed that people often stepped on plants near the pavement, hence requested CEDD to review suitability of these locations for planting. In addition, he worried about the possible inconvenience brought to the disabled and the elderly people if the elevators to be provided in the new footbridge near the Rhythm Garden were broken down, as he noticed that all of the four elevators at the footbridge serving Choi Hung Road Market would break down concurrently during a rainstorm. Therefore, he enquired if CEDD had any contingency arrangement to help people to cross the road when the elevators were out of service. Moreover, he had received complains lodged by residents of the Rhythm Garden about the dusty construction site in KTDA. Having visited the affected flats, he found that no construction vehicle entering or leaving the site would pass through wheel-washing pool. He thus requested CEDD to press the contractors to take effective remedial measures.

48. Dr. James LAU, BBS JP said he used to work in CEO and would like to comment on CEDD’s greening and soil erosion efforts. He commended CEDD for conducting workshops to listen to the public’s views on greening, such as the proposed special planting in various locations in Wong Tai Sin, including the Wong Tai Sin Temple and the vicinity of Nan Nian Garden. These special plants would become a unique feature of Wong Tai Sin, so that one would immediately know where he was when seeing them. According to his observation, however, the proposal had not been adopted. He opined that it was fine, and not as monotonous as people might think, to cultivate only one kind of plant in an area, such as cherry blossoms and Osmanthus fragrans in Japan and Guilin respectively. He was also concerned about soil erosion. Having identified soil erosion as the cause of the ground settlement at Winfair Building, he had intended to refer the case to departments concerned but only realised that no department would handle the problem. Finally, CEDD had taken up the issue and conducted ground investigation, but no findings were published to date. He pointed out that the serious problem of soil erosion in Tsz Wan Shan had necessitated frequent road works and resulted in uneven road surface and subsidence of buildings. He also worried that the cracks arising from soil erosion would become homes of rats and cause hygienic problems. In consideration that soil erosion had also been found in the vicinity of Hong Kong Museum of Medical Science in Central, he worried that soil erosion would become a territory-wide problem and thus requested CEDD to follow up and publish findings about the problem in Wong Tai Sin.

49. Ms. Maggie CHAN was concerned that the 12 natural hillside slopes above Shatin Pass Road, Tsz Wan Shan would affect the residents of Stage 1 of Tsz Oi Court, Tsz Ching Estate, and Shatin Pass Estate ready for occupation, hence enquired about the priority of CEDD’s slope stabilisation works. In October 2010, she wrote to CEDD about a hillside slope near a Kwun Yam Temple behind Stage 3 of Tsz Oi Court. As 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 35 the slope was bare, it was often mistaken by the residents as a landslip surface. She urged CEDD to accord high priority to stabilising this hazardous slope and attach high importance to residents’ worries.

50. Dr. Allen SHI, MH, JP commended CEDD for its efforts in realising the initiatives set out in the Greening Master Plans, as well as the extensive greening in Wong Tai Sin. He also thanked the department for improving the environment of the district. He enquired what department was responsible for maintaining these plants, and hoped that the green environment of the community could be sustainable. On the other hand, he suggested CEDD to apply vertical greening on the retaining walls of slopes for further stabilisation and visual enhancement purposes. Although plant management would incur public money, he thought it was worth to do so.

51. Mr. MOK Kin-wing welcomed the Government’s expeditions action in the Kai Tak Development project. He also expressed his concern about accessibility of KTDA, which would facilitate economic development of the area as well as its surroundings. Since he knew that a number of footbridges and pedestrian subways would be built in KTDA, he had discussed with representatives of CEDD and the Planning Department (PlanD) on the possible provision of a pedestrian subway between the sitting-out area in front of Luk Ching House in Choi Hung Estate and the schools and public housing in the north apron area of KTDA. However, work schedule for the subway had yet to be finalised after ground investigation. Since some of the schools in Wong Tai Sin would move to KTDA, he commented that construction works of the subway should be expedited, so that students and other members of the public could travel between Wong Tai Sin and KTDA easily. Regarding the development of Kai Tak River, he pointed out that the sea outlet section of the river would be decked for the construction of carriageway, although the upstream section of the river between Po Kong Village Road and Tai Shing Street would remain undecked. He enquired whether this was an updated design, and worried about the decking would cause inconsistence in design. Therefore, he suggested that fully-depressed design be adopted for the proposed carriageway, so that the entire Kai Tak River could remain undecked.

(Mr. CHUI Pak-tai left the meeting at 5:15 p.m.)

52. Mr. CHAN On-tai said much had been done to the slope at Chuk Yuen Road near Tsui Chuk Garden, and asked if the entire slope works at Ma Chai Hang Road (Tin Ma Court bound) near Chuk Yuen Road had been completed. In addition, he proposed a themed green belt connecting the bottom of the Lion Rock near Tsui Chuk Garden with the sea outlet (of Kai Tak River) in Kowloon City via Fung Mo Street and Junction Road, to complement the theme of greening. Also, he suggested CEDD take aerial photographs of the Diamond Hill Cemetery regularly to check if there was any new illegal grave or any alteration had been taken place, as an initiative to monitor the safety of the slope more closely. In addition, he urged CEDD to gauge the suitability of building a columbarium on the land beside the Diamond Hill Cemetery from the perspective of civil structure. Finally, he enquired about the possibility of constructing a double-level platform in Wong Tai Sin MTR Station.

(Mr. HUI Kam-shing left the meeting at 5:20 p.m.)

53. Mr. SO Sik-kin thanked Mr. HON for attending the meeting and listening to 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 36 Members’ views, and agreed that greening could provide visual, among other enhancements to the community. Also, he commented that the series of greening works proposed by Mr. CHAN On-tai could create a sense of unity and cleanliness, but expressed his concern about maintenance of plants. In addition, he enquired whether the slope stabilisation works carried out at Chuk Yuen Road a few years ago was related to the Shatin to Central Link Project. On the other hand, he said that a serious landslip occurred at the slope near Block 7 and Block 9 of Tsui Chuk Garden, viz. the site of the former Ma Chai Hang cottage area, the traditional footpath connecting Shatin and Kowloon and the Reunification Pavilion. As the trees were in a mess after the landslip, Mr. SO worried that they would cause trouble to hikers and suggested the Government construct a hiking trail to encourage people to go hiking, with a view to promote the concept of healthy living. Moreover, he enquired if CEDD would check slopes that had once affected by landslip as these slopes could threaten residents nearby.

54. Mr. HON said he was pleased to listen to Members’ comments and enquiries, and would try to respond to them as far as possible. Due to time constraint, written reply would be provided in response to some of the questions. Regarding Members’ comments and enquiries, Mr. HON said:

(i) Members of the public should stay away from slopes when a Landslip Warning Signal was in effect, and report any would-be landslip to the Police as soon as possible. A rainstorm in 2008 had caused a number of landslips, damaging many natural hillside slopes in the Lantau Island and the 12 hillside slopes above Shatin Pass Road in Tsz Wan Shan. CEDD had investigated the latter immediately afterwards, and accorded priority to stabilising these slopes. Mitigation measures would be taken by the end this year. Due to the uniqueness of natural hillside slopes, they should not be covered entirely when stabilisation works were taken place. Instead, CEDD would only take precautionary measures such as installing soft protective barriers, retaining walls etc., according to actual circumstances. CEDD had promptly planned the measures required, in a bid to minimise the risk of slopes.

(ii) Members of the public should not worry about illegal graves as CEDD would continue to liaise with FEHD in this regard and advise on safety of slopes concerned.

(iii) The soil erosion in the district might be related to the underground drainage capacity. Soil erosion should not occur if the underground drainage system worked normally. CEDD noted Members’ views and undertook to follow up.

(iv) CEDD implemented themed greening projects in different areas of the district, including “Celestial Garden” in Wong Tai Sin, Diamond Hill and Chuk Yuen, “Shady Palm Garden” in San Po Kong, and “Vibrant Rainbow” in Choi Wan and Choi Hung. Members were welcomed to comment on the effectiveness of these projects to CEDD, which was pleased to follow up on 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 37 their views. CEDD would respond to the public’s views as far as practicable, with a view to providing quality environment for them. FEHD was responsible for cleaning the planted areas, whereas CEDD would provide plant maintenance services some time after planting, during which it would help clean these areas as well. With proper management, plants would grow healthily and improve environment of the community. Therefore, he believed that the people would treasure the plants.

(v) Stringent environmental hygiene requirements were provided in the contract of works related to KTDA. According to these requirements, the contractor should implement environmental hygiene measures under CEDD’s monitoring. To reduce dust, CEDD would urge the contractors to spray water in the construction sites more frequently, and demand that all construction vehicles entering and leaving the sites should pass through wheel-washing pool. On the other hand, the elevators to be installed in the proposed footbridge were intended to improve accessibility of the footbridge and thus durable design would be adopted. In addition, CEDD would endeavour to shorten its downtime, if any.

(vi) Stage 2 of the public engagement exercise for the Kai Tak River project would be launched. He agreed that more greening works should be done and undecked design should be adopted as far as possible.

(vii) CEDD noted the public’s demand for more cycling tracks in KTDA. However, given the limited space available and the abundance of people, it was impossible to use cycling as a form of transport in the existing urban areas. On the other hand, new towns were more cycling-friendly. For instance, cycling was allowed in the entire Tseung Kwan O. CEDD would provide cycling tracks in the KTDA as far as practicable, and it would consult DCs again when the preliminary design was ready.

(Mr. Andrew TO and Mr. KAN Chi-ho left the meeting at 5:30 p.m. and 5:35 p.m. respectively.)

55. The Chairman thanked Director of Civil Engineering and Development Mr. HON Chi-keung, JP and CEDD representatives for visiting WTSDC, and asked the department to follow up on Members’ enquiries and views.

(Mr. HON Chi-keung, JP and Mr. TSOI Cheong-hoi left the meeting at this juncture, and Mr. Anthony LO stayed behind.)

III(iv) Reconstruction, Improvement and Rehabilitation of Kai Tak River from 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 38 Wong Tai Sin Police Station to Tung Tau II Estate (WTSDC Paper 17/2011)

56. The Chairman welcomed Chief Engineer/Project Management Mr. IP Wing-cheung, Senior Engineer/Project Management 2 Mr. TONG Kin-shing, Engineer/Project Management 8 Mr. CHEUNG Chun-ning, and Engineer/Project Management 15 Mr. CHEUNG Wing-hong of Drainage Services Department (DSD), as well as Principal Engineer Mr. CHAN Ka-lok of Scott Wilson Ltd. who attended the meeting for this agenda item.

57. Mr. IP Wing-cheung said when DSD and CEDD introduced the public engagement activities in relation to the conceptual scheme of Kai Tak River to WTSDC on 9 November 2010, many Members requested DSD to review the design of Kai Tai River and see if it was possible to enhance the river’s drainage capacity with minimal decking. DSD reviewed the design of Kai Tak River soon afterwards, and opined that it was not necessary to deck the entire river. The department then requested its consultant to adopt a more natural-looking design for the river, in a bid to launch the tendering exercise as well as the project itself as soon as possible. The Kai Tak River was a main drainage channel in Kowloon East. As the water level would rise suddenly and substantially in a rainstorm, it would be dangerous to stay. Therefore, it was not desirable to open the watercourse to the public. Furthermore, despite the improved water quality, as evidenced by the abundance of fishes and birds, water of the river was still not hygienic enough for direct contact. In response to the views of WTSDC and the public, DSD had included natural elements in the design, with a view to improving the river’s ornamental and ecological values without affecting its role as a drainage channel. In addition to improving the river’s drainage capacity, DSD would like to take this opportunity to turn the river into a green water channel with matching design in upper, middle and lower sections. DSD sought WTSDC’s support for the proposed works at upper stream area of the river as set out in its current submission, so that it could seek funding approval from LegCo for early implementation of the tendering exercise and the project.

58. Mr. CHEUNG Wing-hong made a powerpoint presentation on reconstruction, improvement and rehabilitation of Kai Tak River from Wong Tai Sin Police Station to Tung Tau II Estate. Highlights were as follows:

(i) Background

The upper Kai Tai River near Shatin Pass Road was prone to serious flooding during rainstorm due to the very high flow rate. To improve drainage capacity, DSD planned to carry out works at a section of the river from Wong Tai Sin Police Station to Tung Tau II Estate.

(ii) Scope of works

DSD planned to construct a section of underground box culvert along Choi Hung Road Northbound. Also, it would reconstruct and deepen the existing watercourse to improve drainage capacity.

(iii) Difficulties 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 39

Kai Tak River had two bottlenecks at Choi Hung Road, one near Shatin Pass Road and the other near Tai Shing Street. The existence of public utilities at these bottlenecks affected drainage capacity of the river significantly, and made the river prone to flooding. DSD would reconstruct the junctions of Choi Hung Road with Shatin Pass Road and Tai Shing Street respectively, and relocate the public utilities. In consideration of the complexity of these utilities and the need for DSD to ensure that their functions would not be affected during the works, difficulties and a lengthy works period were anticipated.

To construct box culvert under Choi Hung Road, DSD should relocate public utilities, such as cables, water pipes, gas pipes etc. to provide the necessary space. Therefore, it might take a bit longer to complete the works.

(iv) Related works

Choi Hung Road would be reinstated upon completion of works of Kai Tak River. DSD would deck part of the river at Shatin Pass Road near Choi Hung Road, to provide additional space for the construction of pedestrian crossing facilities. In addition, bus stops at Choi Hung Road near Kai Tak Garden would be reprovisioned; and bus stops at Choi Hung Road near S.K.H. Kei Tak Primary School would be relocated inward into the existing pavement to improve Choi Hung Road’s traffic flow capacity.

In addition, DSD would also rebuild the open-top footbridge between Choi Hung Road and Tung Tai Lane across the Kai Tai River.

(v) Landscaping

Greening and visual enhancement were integral parts of the Kai Tak River project. DSD expressed its gratitude to WTSDC and Dr. Alan LEUNG of WWF for attending a site visit on conservation features of Ho Chung River in Sai Kung on 2 March 2011. DSD would incorporate suitable features of Ho Chung River into the design of Kai Tak River. For instance, natural rocks would be laid on the riverbed to make Kai Tai River’s landscape and water current more natural-looking. Moreover, “fish shelter holes” would be provided as a resting place for fishes when water current was strong, facilitating sustainable ecological development of the river. Vertical and ordinary greening (such as shrub and short trees) would also be used at the river banks.

(vi) Temporary traffic arrangement

Choi Hung Road was a dual two-lane carriageway. DSD would use part of the pavement as temporary traffic lane to ensure that 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 40 the number of traffic lanes at Choi Hung Road remained unchanged during the works.

DSD would carry out works at junction of Shatin Pass Road and Choi Hung Road, as well as junction of Tai Shing Street and Choi Hung Road, to enhance drainage capacity of Kai Tak River in these locations. Temporary traffic arrangement would be taken to minimise the impact on buses and other traffic.

Works at the junction of Shatin Pass Road and Choi Hung Road would be carried out in four phases. The first phase, to be carried out at Shatin Pass Road Eastbound near the Wong Tai Sin Police Station, would not require any temporary traffic diversion. During the second phase at Shatin Pass Road Westbound near the Wong Tai Sin Police Station and Kai Tak River near the police station, left-turning vehicles at Choi Hung Road Northbound heading for Shatin Pass Road would be diverted to travel via Tai Shing Street and Tung Tau Tsuen Road, or Po Kong Village Road, Lung Cheung Road and Ching Tak Street. Due to the complexity of works, this phase would last about 12 months. The third and fourth phases would be carried out between Shatin Pass Road Eastbound and Westbound near the Wong Tai Sin Police Station, and no temporary traffic diversion was needed.

Works at the junction of Tai Shing Street and Choi Hung Road would be carried out in two phases, and both required temporary traffic diversion. During these two phases, left-turning vehicles at Choi Hung Road Southbound heading for Tseuk Luk Street would be diverted to travel via Ning Yuen Street and Shung Ling Street. Despite the diversion, vehicles at Tseuk Luk Street might still go to Tai Shing Street via slow lane of the former. Such diversion arrangement should be feasible as it had been made for previous works. Due to the complexity of works, the two phases would last a total of about 30 months.

(vii) Schedule

DSD planned to commence the works in late 2011. The flood relief works were scheduled to be completed in phases between late 2015 and mid 2017.

(viii) DSD sought Members’ support for its proposal with a view to seeking funding approval of the Financial Committee of LegCo in mid 2011 and commencement of the works as scheduled.

(Dr. WONG Kam-chiu arrived at the meeting at 5:50 p.m.)

59. The Chairman drew Members’ attention to East Kowloon District Residents’ Committee’s submission (Annex VII) on this subject received by the Secretariat. He invited Mr. LAM Man-fai, JP to introduce the submission on the Committee’s behalf.

20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 41 60. Mr. LAM Man-fai, JP introduced the submission (Annex VII) on behalf of the 17 WTSDC members of the East Kowloon District Residents’ Committee (EKDRC), including Mr. LI Tak-hong, MH, JP; Mr. WONG Kam-chi, MH, JP; Mr. LEE Tat-yan, MH, Mr. HO Hon-man, Mr. Andie CHAN, Dr. James LAU, BBS, JP; Dr. WONG Kam-chiu, Mr. CHOI Luk-sing, MH; Mr. Rex MOK, Mr. YUEN Kwok-keung, Mr. SO Sik-kin, Mr. CHAN On-tai, Mr. HO Yin-fai, Mr. MOK Kin-wing, Mr. Tong CHOW, MH and Dr. Allen SHI, MH, JP. EKDRC welcomed DSD’s proposal on the adoption of undecked design and box culverts in reconstruction, improvement and rehabilitation of Kai Tak River from Wong Tai Sin Police Station to Tung Tau II Estate. EKDRC opined that a river could provide vitality to a city, reduce greenhouse effect and purify the air – on the premise that live water was flowing through the river. Over the past years, the Government and members of the public had joined hands to improve water quality of Kai Tak River and turned the smelly water into live water. In 1990s, Funan River of Chengdu, Sichuan was successfully regulated and turned into a live water garden, showcasing the importance of watercourse improvement. As the river was abundant with fishes and birds, an undecked design not only could preserve the ecology, but also turn the river into a scenic spot of “green tourism”. Also, the process through which Kai Tak River was turned from a dirty river into an ecologically important live water river might also be used by schools as a teaching resource for environmental education. EKDRC supported DSD’s proposed improvement measures for Kai Tak River, and would like to put forth the following suggestions:

(i) The box culvert should be equipped with a shutter to keep Kai Tak River with adequate water;

(ii) DSD should keep the water in Kai Tak River flowing, and lay rocks in the riverbed to build ecology ponds, which would support survival of fishes and birds when water level was low;

(iii) Additional greening, such as willow or shade-producing plants, should be planted at the riverbanks;

(iv) Additional viewing terraces and seating should be provided at the riverbanks;

(v) Co-ordination between DSD and other Government departments should be sought, so that Morse Park No. 1, Tung Kwong Raod and area along the riverbanks could be redeveloped into a riverside landscaped area consisting of pedestrian precinct, cycling track etc.; and Choi Hung Road Playground be converted into a waterscape garden. These new features would echo the greening works of Kai Tak River and form part of the Wong Tai Sin Cultural Area;

(vi) As Tai Shing Street, Shatin Pass Road and Choi Hung Road were major roads, duration of works there should be minimised to reduce traffic impact.

(vii) Matching visual enhancements should be adopted for Kai Tak River and the Live Water Garden to be built at the Diamond Hill Comprehensive Development Area, so that a desirable visual 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 42 linkage could be formed between the river’s source, the Wong Tai Sin section and the downstream area in KTDA.

61. Regarding the box culvert under Choi Hung Road proposed by DSD, Mr. WU Chi-wai, MH enquired whether the department had considered building the culvert under Wong Tai Sin Police Station and Lower Wong Tai Sin Estate to reduce traffic impact. According to DSD’s proposed temporary traffic diversion arrangement, left-turning vehicles at Choi Hung Road Northbound heading for Shatin Pass Road would be diverted to travel via Po Kong Village Road, Lung Cheung Road and Ching Tak Street during the construction phase. As the reconstruction works of the footbridge near Hsin Kwong Centre would be completed in 2011, the temporary works site there could be used to provide a temporary carriageway, which could alleviate traffic impact on Ching Tak Street and Tung Tau Tsuen Road as vehicles heading for Shatin Pass Road might choose to turn left into the road from Lung Cheung Road. In consideration of the fact that Kai Tak River emptied into the Victoria Harbour in KTDA, Mr. WU enquired whether gradient of the river was sufficient to prevent influx of seawater.

62. Mr. MOK Ying-fan commented that discussion on the Kai Tak River project had been going on for more than two DC terms. He supported the project and urged DSD to commence the works as soon as possible. Also, he hoped that all fellow Members would support the project as well. DSD and WTSDC had conducted a site visit to Ho Chung River, Sai Kung. Given the satisfactory environment of Ho Chung River, he hoped that the Kai Tak River project would be even more successful. He supported the project arrangement proposed by DSD, and put forth the following:

(i) As pedestrian and vehicular flows at Tai Shing Street were enormous, and many residents shopped at Tai Shing Street Market, the busiest market in Wong Tai Sin, a lengthy construction period could be accident-prone. Therefore, he suggested DSD shorten the construction period for the works in question.

(ii) When consulting WTSDC on the design of Kai Tak River, DSD had suggested that it would remove the wire mesh of Morse Park No.1, so that the river could be integrated into the park. The department should realise that suggestion.

(iii) DSD should perfect the Kai Tak River project with reference to views of various parties, to make the it more successful than the Cheonggyecheon project.

(iv) Currently, members of the public could view the river from the riverbanks. DSD should consider building staircases at the river banks, so that people could come close to the river.

63. Mr. SO Kin-kin had been longing for the Kai Tak River project and supported early implementation of the same by DSD. He also commented that DSD should make reference to watercourse design in the Mainland and build cliff paths along the riverbanks, to facilitate the public’s enjoyment of the river’s landscape. As the Working Group on Government and Public Utilities Works Projects (WG-GPUWP) under WTSDC would meet representatives of works departments regularly to exchange 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 43 views on works in Wong Tai Sin, it might be tasked to follow up on the Kai Tak River project to facilitate regular reporting of the progress made by DSD. On the other hand, members of WG-GPUWP might also relay local views on the project to these departments for possible improvement and flexible resolution of problems arisen during the works. Upon completion of works, DSD should build a nature trail along Kai Tak River and introduce the river’s ecology and conservation work with board display, to arouse the young people the importance of conservation.

64. Mr. CHAN Lee-shing said DSD’s current submission was based on WTSDC’s previous comments on the project, thus the proposal was worth supporting. He also put forth the following for DSD’s consideration:

(i) DSD might install display boards beside the river to show what the Government and WTSDC had done to turn the sewage channel into an ecologically important watercourse;

(ii) Plants chosen in some existing greening projects did not match the surrounding. For instance, some plants were too tall and thus blocked the view. Therefore, he was worried that plants to be used in DSD’s proposed greening works for Kai Tak River might not be compatible with the public’s sight-seeing activity, and thus requested the department to select plants carefully; and

(iii) DSD should provide details about design of the river cliffs and avoid using concrete. More visual enhancements should be provided to meet the public’s expectation.

65. Ms. Maggie CHAN supported the Kai Tak River project and the visual enhancements concerned. She was looking forward to early implementation of the project. Ms. CHAN had visited Cheonggyecheon and found that the river had very different looks during daytime and nighttime, because decorative lighting installed at rocks on the riverbed created a spectacular view at night. She suggested DSD make reference to this design. On the other hand, since DSD would not provide any facility along the river to allow people to get near the river, it should consider building additional walkways across the river. In addition, even though greening works would be carried out at the riverbanks, people might still perceive the watercourse as a nullah, instead of a river, if the cliffs were built with concrete. Therefore, DSD should apply vertical greening to the cliffs as well. As the section of Kai Tak River starting from the former Tai Hom village, via Nga Tsin Wai Village and ending at KTDA near Lung Tsun Stone Bridge was full of relics, DSD might follow the example of Cheonggyecheon, viz. showing historical photographs and playing music along the river, to enrich the public’s experience when they were viewing the river atop.

66. Mr. CHAN On-tai supported the Kai Tak River project. He commented that in addition to UV, DSD might also use ozone to sterilise the water for the sake of hygiene. On the other hand, decorative lighting and artificial flowers might also be used to embellish the river during nighttime. DSD might also provide chairs for people, install additional piping to water the plants with water from the river automatically, and play music and bird chirp recordings to enhance the environment. The hygienic condition of water in the river was very important, as the Water Supplies Department was now using ozone to purify drinking water, DSD should use ozone to 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 44 purify Kai Tak River as well.

67. Mr. Allen SHI, MH, JP supported the Kai Tak River project and opined that Wong Tai Sin section of the river should be beautified and greened. Despite the significant improvement in water quality in recent years, the river was still not suitable for direct contact. Hence, he suggested that additional sitting-out areas be provided along the river. Also, DSD should green the river cliffs to make Kai Tak River a natural-looking watercourse. Reference might be made to the design of Shanghai Expo 2010 venues – in other words, space might be reserved on the cliffs for planting purpose.

68. Mr. LEE Tat-yan, MH paid a site visit to Ho Chung River in Sai Kung with DSD representatives, and realised that the improvement works had turned the river into a very beautiful one. Hence, he supported the project and was confident that DSD would implement the project successfully. However, as the construction works would last five years, he worried about the traffic impacts on Wong Tai Sin resulted when the temporary diversion was in place, thus requested DSD to report to WG-GPUWP regularly, liaise with WTSDC Members closely, conduct site visits, and shorten the construction period as far as practicable to mitigate impacts on residents.

69. The Chairman said when WTSDC met DSD representatives, Members requested that design of Kai Tak River should match its surrounding, as it would be undesirable if Kai Tak River was successfully landscaped but not its surrounding. As set out in EKDRC’s submission, DSD should co-ordinate with other departments to green the river as well as facilities in the vicinity for public enjoyment. In addition, sitting-out areas and suspended walkways should be provided along the river, so that people could appreciate the river from a close distance. As the existing flower beds along the river would block the sightlines to the river, he suggested DSD remove these flower beds and green the pavement or cliffs, so that people could appreciate the river easily. As DSD would reprovide the existing uncovered footbridges across the river, he requested the department to build wider footbridges with viewing platforms. He agreed that WG-GPUWP might be tasked to follow up and provide concrete views on the Kai Tak River project. Also, representatives of departments concerned might be invited to WG-GPUWP meetings to help solve problems.

70. Ms. KWOK Sau-ying had discussed with DSD about the temporary traffic arrangement, in particular its impact on Shatin Pass Road. As the works would last for years, she asked the department to shorten the works period as far as possible. As Kai Tak River was adjacent to the Lower Wong Tai Sin Estate, she requested DSD to take particular attention to the works arrangement to minimise impact caused to the residents. DSD should endeavour to embellish the riverbanks, so that the river could match the surrounding, such as the Wong Tai Sin Cultural Park. She expressed her appreciation to the lookout post at Jat’s Incline built by WTSDC, as this lookout post not only allowed members of the public to see KTDA, but also provided information of the former Kai Tak Airport. As many indigenous residents who had been born and grown up in the district consider Kai Tak River historical, DSD should make reference to the design of the lookout post and build a “Kai Tak Corridor” to show the history of the river, to preserving residents’ collective memories

71. Regarding the suggestion about allowing people to get close to the river, Mr. James LAU, BBS, JP commented that it was dangerous to do so because Kai Tak River 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 45 was a major drainage channel. In addition, after thorough sterilisation, the water might no longer be suitable for fishes, affecting ecology of the river. He shared the view about installing shutters to maintain a fish-friendly water level. When reprovisioning the existing footbridges, DSD should redesign them and beautify their surroundings. DSD might also consider providing glass front to the viewing platforms to facilitate the public’s appreciation of the river.

72. Dr. Allen SHI, MH, JP added that in the Mainland, artificial stones were used as surfacing material of exterior walls, and vertical greening or artificial fall of recycled water were used as embellishment. He suggested DSD adopt these design elements into the cliffs of Kai Tak River and make the river as beautiful as Cheonggyecheon. To facilitate people’s appreciation of Kai Tak River, DSD had already separated the river into portions for drainage and ornament respectively.

73. Mr. SO Sik-kin added that during the site visit at Ho Chung River, representative of DSD had briefed Members of WTSDC on the functions of weirs. He thus suggested DSD install weirs at different locations of the Kai Tak River to maintain the water level, so that a beautiful stream could be formed at downstream area of the river. He supported the reprovision of the uncovered footbridges across the Kai Tak River, but suggested building the new footbridges with wood to create an air of elegance and tranquillity that would make Kai Tak River a scenic spot in Wong Tai Sin.

74. Mr. IP Wing-cheong thanked Members for their support to the Kai Tak River project. In response to Members’ enquiries and advice, he said:

(i) DSD thanked EKDRC for supporting the Kai Tak River project. DSD concurred with EKDRC on its suggestion about using shutters to maintain the water level of the river, and would ask the consultant to study the relevant details, such as number of shutters required, location of shutters, etc.;

(ii) EKDRC suggested making the river more natural-looking and turning the riverbed into an ecology-friendly habitat by laying rocks on it. This was exactly what DSD intended to do and the department would design the river along this direction;

(iii) Many Members suggested greening the riverbanks and commented that the existing flower beds prevented people from seeing the river. Having noted Members’ views, DSD would consider building shorter flower beds or planting shrub, or not installing any flower bed at some section of the riverbanks, to provide unobstructed views to the river;

(iv) DSD considered it feasible to build viewing platforms at strategic locations along the river. At present, people might view Kai Tak River at three locations: the pavements at Shatin Pass Road and Tai Shing Street, as well as the uncovered footbridge joining Choi Hung Road and Tung Tai Lane. DSD would reprovision the footbridge, and had requested the consultant to explore ways to beautify and widen the footbridge, as well as the feasibility of building viewing platforms at Choi Hung Road and Kai Tak 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 46 Garden.;

(v) DSD noted Members’ suggestions about details of the Kai Tak River project, such as installation of decorative lighting. The department would take account of these suggestions and those collected in the public engagement activities to be launched in mid-2011, and fine tune detailed design of the project accordingly;

(vi) DSD had been negotiating with LCSD about matching works to be carried out in Morse Park No. 1 and Choi Hung Road Playground. DSD would continue to talk to LCSD and liaise with WTSDC and other Government departments in a timely manner, to ensure that design of Kai Tak River could match the peripheral facilities;

(vii) DSD noted Members’ request for shortening the construction period to mitigate traffic impact. As the sections of Kai Tak River near Shatin Pass Road and Tai Shing Street were packed with public utilities, DSD should relocate these utilities without affecting their functionality during works. As these utilities could not be removed before a replacement was provided, the construction works had to be carried out in phases. In addition, a number of pillars were erected at the section of Kai Tak River near Tai Shing Street. To increase the drainage capacity, DSD had to remove these pillars. Moreover, more than a hundred piles had to be driven down to the rock stratum 50m underground, further increasing complexity of the project. Also, in view of the traffic volume at Tai Shing Street, DSD would like to keep the left-turning lane at Choi Hung Road to Tai Shing Street. Therefore, the works had to be carried out in phase. In a nutshell, works to be carried out at Shatin Pass Road and Tai Shing Street were complicated and thus very time consuming, so the proposed construction period was rather reasonable. In view of Members’ request, DSD would liaise closely with WTSDC, TD and the Police during works, with a view to shortening the time required;

(viii) DSD was pleased to report latest position of the Kai Tak River project at WG-GPUWP meetings and maintain close with members of the working group on the project during works. In addition, DSD expressed special gratitude to Mr. James LAU, BBS, JP for his valuable advice, and was of the view that WTSDC’s advice was indispensable for the project.

(ix) Mr. WU Chi-wai, MH’s suggestion about moving the box culvert from Choi Hung Road to Wong Tai Sin Police Station and Lower Wong Tai Sin Estate might not be feasible, because there were lots of buildings on the proposed locations and private lots would be involved. DSD understood Members’ concern about impact on the traffic at Choi Hung Road, so the current proposal set out that basically the same number of traffic lanes would be provided when the temporary traffic arrangement was in place, with a view 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 47 to mitigating traffic impact of the works.

(x) Possible influx of seawater caused by tidal action had been considered in DSD and CEDD’s design of Kai Tak River;

(xi) Regarding Members’ suggestion about allowing public access to the riverfront. As mentioned by Mr. James LAU, BBS, JP, Kai Tak River was a major drainage channel. Since water level of the river and the associated culverts could rise when a large volume of rainwater entered it, public access was not recommended. In fact, DSD had all along urged the public not to enter the vicinity of any drainage channel. The department understood that Members were looking forward to a Kai Tak River design that allowed public access as far as possible, so it would actively consider Members’ suggestion about providing viewing platforms along the river; and

(xii) Members opined that concrete river cliffs were unsightly. Quite a few materials (e.g. granite tiles) could make the cliff more natural-looking. DSD would consider these materials and provide visual enhancements to the cliffs as well as the entire river.

75. Mr. WU Chi-wai, MH added that one of the river cliffs would be demolished, as set out in DSD’s paper. In consideration of Members’ request about retaining the existing look of the cliff, he suggested DSD reuse the granite obtained from the demolition during reinstatement.

76. Mr. IP Wing-cheong replied that DSD would request the contractor to keep the granite obtained from demolition and use the same as far as practicable in the Kai Tak River project.

77. The Chairman added that some rocks in Kai Tak River were originated from the demolished Kowloon Wall City and had historical value.

78. Mr. CHAN On-tai had enquired about how DSD purified the water in Kai Tak River, and came to know that UV was used. He remarked that UV and ozone sterilised differently, as the latter could clear turbid water as well. Therefore, he suggested DSD add ozone into the water purification system to cut cost and improve water quality.

79. The Chairman pointed out that water in the Kai Tak River was primarily purified sewage. With DSD’s unfailing efforts in recent years, water quality of the river had been improved significantly. DSD had reported to WTSDC water quality of the river and its improvement on a number of occasions. After this meeting, WTSDC and DSD might still exchange ideas on the Kai Tai River project through various channels, such as workshops and working group meetings. In addition, Members might even contact DSD’s subject officers direct. In a previous workshop, a professor had pointed out that it was already technically feasible to install decorative lighting on rocks on the riverbed without using any external power. The professor would provide assistance if necessary. He also concurred with Dr. Allen SHI on his suggestion, viz. 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 48 DSD might embellish the river cliffs by creating an artificial waterfall with water in the river.

80. Dr. Allen SHI commented that the river cliffs should not be covered with ceramic tiles. Instead, granite should be used to create 3D effect similar to the exterior wall of the former North Kowloon Magistracy. Vertical greening should also be applied to the granite to make the river cliffs more natural-looking.

81. The Chairman thanked Mr. IP Wing-cheung, Mr. TONG Kin-shing, Mr. CHEUNG Chun-ning, Mr. CHEUNG Wing-hong and Mr. CHAN Ka-lok for attending the meeting

(Mr. IP Wing-cheung, Mr. TONG Kin-shing, Mr. CHEUNG Chun-ning, Mr. CHEUNG Wing-hong and Mr. CHAN Ka-lok left the meeting at this juncture.)

III Kai Tak Development Preservation of Lung Tsun Stone Bridge Remnants – Stage 2 Public Engagement (WTSDC Paper 18/2011)

82. The Chairman welcomed CEDD’s Head (Kai Tak Office) Mr. TANG Man Bun, Stephen, Chief Engineer Mr. LO Kam Yan, Anthony, and Senior Engineer Mr. CHUI Si Kay, Peter; as well as Antiquities and Monuments Office’s Curator(Archaeology) Mr. SUN Tak Wing, Kevin, PlanD’s Senior Town Planner/Kowloon (Ag.) Ms. CHU Ha Fan, Jessica, and AECOM Asia Co. Ltd.’s Principal Engineer Mr. CHAN Yuk Ming.

83. Mr. Stephen TANG said CEDD’s public engagement programme concerning the preservation of Lung Tsun Stone Bridge Remnants would be carried out in two stages, and the primary objective of the paper was to inform WTSDC of the information about the second stage. He then made a powerpoint presentation on the paper. Highlights were as follows:-

(i) Location of Lung Tsun Stone Bridge Remnants

The Lung Tsun Stone Bridge was located within KTDA. To date only part of the bridge had been unearthed. CEDD would draw up an excavation plan in the light of the public consultation.

(ii) Stage 1 of Public Engagement Programme

The public considered that the bridge should be preserved in-situ. It should not become a “fraud antiquity” or a place similar to the former “Sung Dynasty City”. Instead, suitable ambience should be created to show people how the Bridge had looked and felt like in the past. Moreover, no armoured glass cover should be used as the water condensation and reflection would prevent the public from seeing the remnants clearly.

20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 49

(iii) Stage 2 of Public Engagement Programme

Stage 2 of the programme aimed to consult the public on land requirement for preserving, and approaches of exhibiting the Lung Tsun Stone Bridge remnants.

(iv) General Arrangements

Below were the planning considerations regarding relics such as the Lung Tsun Stone Bridge remnants and Kowloon Walled City Park, as well as CEDD’s suggestions:

(a) Space Reserved for Conservation

A 25m wide Preservation Corridor would be built along the 2.5m wide Lung Tsun Bridge. With a width equivalent to Lockhart Road in Wanchai, or two dual carriageways, the corridor would provide adequate space along the Bridge for exhibitions and other activities. Most participants of Stage 1 supported this suggestion.

(b) Ambience

To create an appropriate ambience, designs of the Preservation Corridor and KTDA should match each other. Two approaches were being considered – the vibrant approach was about activities and interactive elements, whereas the tranquil approach was exhibition-oriented and centred on greening and provision of sitting-out areas. The majority of views pointed to an approach that used vibrant and tranquil elements in different sections of the 200m long Preservation Corridor.

(c) Connectivity with Neighbourhood

Apart from connectivity, accesses serving the Bridge and Kowloon Walled City Park should also link up relics in the area. According to the current plan, a curvilinear landscaped elevated walkway was suggested to connect San Po Kong, KTDA and Wong Tai Sin. However, if one wished to go the Kowloon Walled City Park from the Bridge, he should first use the walkway to cross Prince Edward Road East, and the pass through Shek Ku Lung Road Playground. This was inconvenient. To dovetail existing development, the proposed walkway should be five to six stories high above ground level. As Lung Tsun Stone Bridge was one to two stories below ground level, the height difference between the walkway and the Bridge would be seven to eight stories high, which is not pedestrian-friendly.

20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 50 (d) Suggestion

CEDD suggested connecting Lung Tsun Stone Bridge and Kowloon Walled City Park with a pedestrian subway which would be two stories below ground level. As the pedestrian subway would be located at more or less the same level as the Lung Tsun Stone Bridge, it would be easier to use it to connect the Bridge with the Shek Ku Lung Road Playground. In addition, as a subway exit would be provided in Shek Ku Lung Road Playground, alteration works could also be carried out to form a visual linkage between the Playground, the Bridge and the Kowloon Walled City Park. In addition to the connectivity function, the pedestrian subway could also be designed as a museum of the Bridge, equipped with encased exhibits and special lighting effects. Also, given the proximity of Shek Ku Lung Road Playground to Kowloon Walled City Park and Carpenter Road Park, sufficient space would be available in the Playground for providing features that would match the design of the Preservation Corridor. However, due to the presence of underground facilities, it was not possible to connect the three places with pedestrian subways. In addition, CEDD believed that opening to an outdoor park from a covered pedestrian subway would provide a unique experience to people. Given the abundance of accesses connecting the Kai Tak Development area, adopting the pedestrian subway option implied that the portion of elevated walkway above Prince Edward Road East could be deleted, and the height of the entire walkway could be reduced to about two stories above ground level. In addition to enhanced accessibility, this option would also allow people to appreciate the Kai Tak River from the 15m wide walkway. On the other hand, the Pavilion for Greeting Officials remnants could be used as a pivot point connecting the Lung Tsun Stone Bridge, Kowloon Walled City Park and the elevated walkway.

(v) Conclusion

CEDD proposed building a Preservation Corridor of at least 25m in width to ensure that the Lung Tsun Stone Bridge could be preserved in-situ for public’s appreciation, and sufficient space be provided for holding activities. In addition, a pedestrian subway and an elevated walkway of modified design were proposed to connect the Bridge with Kowloon Walled City Park.

(Dr. Allen SHI left the meeting at 6:45 p.m.)

84. The Chairman said Mr. LAM Man-fai, JP’s submission, “Conceptual Design for Lung Tsun Stone Bridge Park and Underground City” (Annex VIII), was tabled.

20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 51 85. Mr. LAM Man-fai, JP introduced the paper on behalf of the Community Alliance on Kai Tak Development (CAKTD), which welcomed the preservation plan for the Bridge. CAKTD suggested CEDD align the main axis of the proposed Kai Tak Underground City with the main axis of Lung Tsun Stone Bridge, to show the people the road that officials had used in the past. CAKTD also supported the use of pedestrian subway, instead of elevated walkway, as the linkage between the Bridge and the Kowloon Walled City Park. In addition, it suggested CEDD optimise the design of Shek Ku Lung Road Playground and convert its volleyball court into a history-related facility, which would become part of an exhibition venue to be formed by the sites of the to-be-demolished Block 22 of Tung Tau Estate, Yan Tak Catholic Primary School and the Kai Tak River. Exhibitions on ecology and history would be held in this venue. On the other hand, the area between Kai Tak River and the Bridge might be developed into a folk culture area. The plan “City Park” had been adopted for the West Kowloon Cultural District. However, the rejected plan by architect Mr. Rocco YIM had plenty of folk culture elements. Hence, CEDD might make reference to Mr. YIM’s plan and develop the area between Kai Tak River and the Bridge, as well as the Nga Tsin Wai Village and Kowloon Walled City Park into a folk culture area that matched the ambience of San Po Kong and the older part of Kowloon City.

86. While satisfied with the preservation plan of the Bridge, Mr. HO Hon-man was concerned about the possible visual impact caused by the petrol station near the Shek Ku Lung Road Playground. Hence, he suggested relocating the petrol station upon the expiry of the tenancy agreement, and using the vacant site to facilitate development of the Playground.

87. Mr. CHAN On-tai remarked that the use of modern construction materials should be avoided in the preservation of the Bridge. In addition, he asked CEDD to consult WTSDC again on the preservation plan and provide more information for Members’ consideration.

88. Mr. MOK Kin-wing commented that the Bridge was located in the part of KTDA that would be densely packed with commercial buildings. Given that open space should be provided around the Bridge for sitting-out and other purposes, he asked if CEDD could relocate the commercial area, by site-swapping or other means, to secure adequate space for such uses. On the other hand, he enquired if the Bridge, the former Kowloon City Ferry Pier and the vicinity of the Metro Park would be developed as a whole, how the Bridge and station square of the Kai Tak City Centre would be linked together, and whether water of Kai Tak River would be diverted to the Bridge.

89. Commenting on CEDD’s wish to make the preserved Bridge an attraction, Mr. WU Chi-wai, MH said according to past experiences, a scenic place or a feature could only become popular if it could meet a number of requirements. Hence, featured activities should be held at the Preservation Corridor, and suitable transportation should be provided. He remarked that even a single street could consist of busy and solitary sections, hence thorough consideration should be made in designing the Preservation Corridor to make sure it would not become a forgotten place. There were many feature parks in the territory, including those in the New Territories which centred on historical values. However, visitors of these feature parks were primarily local residents. As CEDD intended to make the Bridge as famous as the Victoria Park, supporting features in addition to the Preservation Corridor should be provided. Otherwise, the Bridge would become another Yuen Long Park that only local residents 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 52 and tours would visit.

90. Mr. Stephen TANG thanked Members for their advice, and replied that:

(i) Design of Preservation Corridor

The area between the Bridge and Sa Po Road was hustle in the past. To re-create the atmosphere, CEDD intended to link the Bridge and other areas with pedestrian subways. Also, CEDD would carefully consider the supporting features to be provided in the Preservation Corridor, with reference to historical elements of the Bridge and ambience of KTDA, to develop the Corridor into an attraction of KTDA. Consideration was being made for the preservation of some commercial elements, as well as the provision of space and support for community cultural performances and activities. CEDD would try not to make the preservation project too commercial. Instead, it would carefully consider views collect and design the project accordingly.

(ii) Transportation

Two MTR stations would be provided in the vicinity of the Bridge. For enhanced accessibility, consideration was being made to connect the two stations and the Bridge with underground streets.

(iii) Petrol Station near Shek Ku Lung Road Playground

According to the views received by CEDD, some people opined that the petrol station would cause adverse visual impact on the Preservation Corridor, but some commented that relocation of the petrol station would cause inconvenience to drivers. CEDD was discussing this matter with PlanD and other departments concerned, with a view to striking a balance between aesthetics and functionality.

(iv) Planning of the Bridge

Remnants of the Bridge were located within a commercial site in KTDA. To strike a balance between commercial viability and conservation, CEDD had reserved a 25m wide area. In response to views about re-creating the large-scale water features in the past, CEDD had amended the Kai Tak Development Plan many times and drastically reduced the population capacity from 300 000 to 80 000. To avoid further reduction of space for development, CEDD had narrowed the underground street from 40m to 20m, to make available space for building the Preservation Corridor. CEDD was considering re-creating the water features around the Bridge using water in Kai Tak River. However, as Kai Tak River was far away from the Bridge, careful consideration should be made in respect of the works’ impact on the district as well as design of the water features. In addition, as CEDD hoped that 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 53 one could see the Bridge from the station square of Kai Tak City Centre, it would continue to study details about space use and exhibitions.

91. Mr. MOK Ying-fan enquired whether CEDD would rebuild the Pavilion for Greeting Officials, and opined that CEDD should consider preserving the Kowloon Walled City Park and the Bridge as a whole. He said the Bridge and the Kowloon Walled City Park were linked together in the past, thus cultural activities held at Southern Gate of the Park would be attractive to locals and tourists alike.

92. Mr. CHAN Lee-shing commented that during the consultation on preservation of the Bridge, CEDD had failed to provide a clear definition on the area concerned. As a result, some views received were about supporting features and facilities required by the entire Wong Tai Sin and Kowloon City districts. Hence, he worried that CEDD might not be able to meet the public’s expectation. He then requested CEDD to clarify whether coverage of the consultation was confined to the Bridge itself, or included its peripheral as well.

93. Mr. Stephen TANG replied that “Power Plant” held at the Kowloon Walled City Park was well-received and he believed that future activities would be similarly popular. By linking up Kowloon Walled City Park with the Bridge and the two neighbouring MTR stations, the Park would become more accessible. Hence, he expected that more activities would be held in the Park. Having consulted the Antiquities and Monuments Office on restoration of the Pavilion for Greeting Officials, CEDD understood that it was a common international practice not to rebuild a historic structure when reliable information was not available. In this connection, CEDD would refer to similar cases overseas and erect a stone tablet to mark the original position of the Pavilion. Consideration would also be made to set up a display kiosk there, as the Pavilion had also been used to display public notices in the past. Given the scope of the consultation exercise, CEDD had publicised it via various channels such as TV, newspaper, webpage, email etc. The department would consolidate and consider views received from different sources, including DCs and individuals, with a view to perfecting the preservation plan for the Bridge.

94. The Chairman thanked the representatives of CEDD, AMO, PlanD and AECOM Asia Co. Ltd. for attending the meeting of WTSDC.

(Mr. Stephen TANG, Mr. Anthony LO, Mr. Peter CHUI, Ms. Jessica CHU and Mr. CHAN Yuk-ming left the meeting at this juncture.)

III(vi) Wong Tai Sin District Annual Policing Plan 2010 (Excluding Sai Kung Division) Half Yearly Progress Report (July – December 2010) and Operational Priorities 2011 (WTSDC Paper 19/2011)

95. The Chairman welcomed Mr. David Michael GUNTON, District Commander (Wong Tai Sin) of the Hong Kong Police Force.

96. Mr. GUNTON invited Members to note the paper. 20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 54

97. The Chairman commented that Members might contact Mr. GUNTON or the Wong Tai Sin District Police Community Relations Office for follow-up actions, and thanked Mr. GUNTON.

III(vii) Changes in the Membership of the Committees under the Wong Tai Sin District Council (WTSDC Paper 29/2011)

98. The Secretary introduced the paper which set out Ms. Maggie CHAN’s application for her inclusion in the Traffic and Transport Committee with effect from 9 March 2011.

99. Members endorsed the paper.

IV. Progress Reports

(i) Progress Reports of the 20th Meeting of the Community Building and Social Services Committee held on 11 January 2011 (WTSDC Paper 20/2011)

100. Members noted the paper.

(ii) Progress Report of the 20th Meeting of the District Facilities Management Committee held on 18 January 2011 (WTSDC Paper 21/2011)

101. Members noted the paper.

(iii) Progress Report of the 20th Meeting of the Traffic and Transport Committee held on 25 January 2011 (WTSDC Paper 22/2011)

102. Members noted the paper.

(iv) Progress Report of the 20th Meeting of the Finance, General and Economic Affairs Committee held on 15 February 2011 (WTSDC Paper 23/2011)

103. Members noted the paper.

(v) Progress Report of the 19th Meeting of the Housing Committee held on 22 February 2011 (WTSDC Paper 24/2011)

20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 55 104. Members noted the paper.

(vi) Progress Report of the 20th Meeting of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Committee held on 1 March 2011 (WTSDC Paper 25/2011)

105. Members noted the paper.

(vii) Progress Report of the 3rd Meeting of the Task Force on Shatin to Central Link held on 18 January 2011 (WTSDC Paper 26/2011)

106. Members noted the paper.

(viii) Progress Report of the Wong Tai Sin District Management Committee held on 11 February 2011 (WTSDC Paper 27/2011)

107. Members noted the paper.

V. Date of Next Meeting

108. The 22nd meeting of WTSDC would be held on 17 May 2011 (Tuesday) at 2:30 p.m.

109. The meeting adjourned at 7:30 p.m.

Wong Tai Sin District Council Secretariat Ref: WTSDC 13-5/5/53 Pt.16 April 2011

Note: Should there be any discrepancies between the Chinese and English versions, the Chinese version shall prevail. This English summary translation is for reference only.

20110407-3_DC[M21]-e.doc 56 Annex I Wong Yat Yuk Wong Tai Sin District Councillor ． R.S.W.

Our Ref.: OT-11008

8 March 2011

To: Director of Health

Dear Sir,

Request for Provision of 24-hour Accident and Emergency Service in Our Lady Of Maryknoll Hospital

As one who has long been concerned about local residents’ demand for medical services, I am writing to provide a brief description of the current situation in order to seek your assistance on the captioned matter.

Currently, there is a population size of 100,000 in Tsz Wan Shan. The large and ageing population has a great demand for medical services. Moreover, there is not any accident and emergency (A&E) department in the vicinity of Tsz Wan Shan, implying that no timely first-aid can be provided. In this connection, I request for provision of a 24-hour A&E department in the Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital (OLMH), to improve medical services in Tsz Wan Shan and meet the residents’ medical needs.

I should be grateful if you would consider Tsz Wan Shan’s demand for medical services and provide a 24-hour A&E department in OLMH, so that patients can be treated timely and suitably. I should be grateful if you would provide a written reply.

WONG Yat-yuk, member of Wong Tai Sin District Council Annex II Democratic Party Wong Tai Sin Branch District Council Members WU Chi Wai, CHAN Lee Shing, WONG Kwok Tung and CHUI Pak-tai Community Officers LUI Wing Kei, LAM Wai Kei, TSUI Ka Tsun, SHUM Wan Wah and LEE Yiu Kei

Flat 3E, G/F, Fu Shun House, Fu Shan Estate, Diamond Hill, Wong Tai Sin, Kowloon

Website: www.dphk.org E-mail: [email protected] Tel.: 2325 0763 Fax: 2327 7082

Our Ref.: 20110308 重建聖母醫院及提供 24 小時門診服務

8 March 2011

To: Mr. Anthony WU, Chairman of the Hospital Authority

Redevelopment of Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital and Provision of 24-hour Out-patient Service

Medical services in Wong Tai Sin, with 430 000 people, are primarily provided and managed by the Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital (OLMH), which also operates Wu York Yu Health Centre and East Kowloon Polyclinic in the district. OLMH, which is the district hospital of Wong Tai Sin, does not provide 24-hour out-patient service. Patients seeking treatment in the midnight should be sent to acute hospitals in other districts. This arrangement is not only a waste of valuable resources in accident and emergency (A&E). It also fails to cater for the medical needs of Wong Tai Sin, an ageing district with majority of low income people.

The Government has all along refused to provide 24-hour out-patient service in the district by saying that there is division of labour between hospitals in the cluster. On the other hand, it criticises people for abusing A&E service in a high-profile manner. The Government is lack of commitment. The provision of 24-hour out-patient service may facilitate optimal use of the hospitals and prevent abuse of A&E service. Moreover, it is cost-effective and meets the needs of the ageing community.

Since commissioned in 1961, OLMH had been undergoing various minor improvement works. However, due to size constraint, the hospital has failed to further expand its services. Instead, it has to close some of its services. The obstetrics department was closed many years ago.

We strongly object to the disregard of patients’ needs, and request the Hospital Authority to provide 24-hour out-patient service to Wong Tai Sin residents. In view of the dilapidated condition of the hospital building, as well as the under-provision of facilities and space, we also urge the Authority to redevelop OLMH so that relevant medical services can be provided to the community.

WU Chi-wai, member of Wong Tai Sin District Council Annex III DAB Wong Tai Sin Branch

Our Ref.: L/WTSDC/20110308/TLF

To: WTSDC Chairman and all Members

8 March 2011

Request for Improved Medical Services and Provision of Accident and Emergency Service in Wong Tai Sin

Among the 400 000 odd residents in Wong Tai Sin, an extremely high proportion – one of the highest in the territory – are aged people. Therefore, there is keen local demand for public medical services, in particular general out-patient service and accident and emergency (A&E) service; whereas comprehensive medical services are essential means to safeguard the health of Wong Tai Sin residents. In this connection, we have been asking the Government and the Hospital Authority (HA) to improve the district’s medical services, and strongly requesting them to provide A&E service in the district. In consideration of the Government’s lack of positive respond to date and shortcomings of the district’s medical services, we would like to take the opportunity to advance our requests to the Government again, in the presence of the Director of Health. Our major views are:

(1) None of the three hospitals in Wong Tai Sin, namely TWGH Wong Tai Sin Hospital, Our Lady of Marynoll Hospital and Hong Kong Buddhist Hospital, provides A&E service. Instead of receiving urgent medical attention from these hospitals with the least possible delay in case of emergency, residents of Wong Tai Sin have to go to other districts for A&E service. Hence, we urge the Government to provide A&E service in the district, so that residents in Wong Tai Sin may enjoy the basic emergency medical service;

(2) The three hospitals in the district are either extended care hospital or community hospital, providing general out-patient service and maintenance treatment primarily. They fail to meet existing local needs because specialist consultation, obstetrics and gynaecology department etc. are not available. Moreover, while out-patient service is also available in maternal and child health centres in the district, many residents told us that they can seldom make out-patient appointment successfully as the daily quota is inadequate, reflecting the unbalanced demand and supply. As there are many elderly people in the district, demand for out-patient service is keen. Therefore, we request that daily quota of consultation for out-patient service in the district’s hospitals and maternal and child health centres be increased, so that local residents may receive timely treatment when required;

(3) Medical equipments are ever improving. To provide residents with safer and more effective treatment, the Government should increase the provision of resources to enhance medical equipments in the district’s hospitals and maternal and child health centres;

(4) We request the Government to announce the planning details of, and build the flagship hospital in the Kai Tai Development Area as soon as possible, and make sure that the hospital can serve residents of Wong Tai Sin as well.

We hope that the Government will seriously consider and accede to our requests, in order to provide residents in Wong Tai Sin with basic and comprehensive medical services.

DAB Wong Tai Sin Branch Members of Wong Tai Sin District Council

Mr. KAN Chi-ho, BBS, MH Mr. LI Tak-hong, MH, JP Mr. HO Yin-fai Ms. CHAN Man-ki, Maggie Mr. LAI Wing-ho, Joe Mr. LAM Man-fai, JP Mr. HO Hon-man Mr. MOK Kin-wing Mr. WONG Kwok-yan Mr. YUEN Kwok-keung

Annex IV Office of District Council Member SO Sik-kin Address: B/F, Block 13, Tsui Chuk Garden, 8 Tsui Chuk Street, Wong Tai Sin, Kowloon G/F, 106 Wai Yuen House, Chuk Yuen North Estate, Wong Tai Sin, Kowloon Tel.: 2155 1199 Fax: 2155 0707 Email: [email protected] Ref.: WTSDC/SSK/010-11

24 January 2011

To: Dr. York CHOW, Secretary for Food and Health

Provision of Accident and Emergency Department in Wong Tai Sin

Recently, many local residents have voiced their concerns to this office about the lack of accident and emergency (A&E) service in Wong Tai Sin. As pointed out by the residents, there is not any A&E department in Wong Tai Sin despite the eminent need, so they have to travel to Mongkok or Kwun Tong to use the A&E departments in Kwong Wah Hospital, United Christian Hospital and Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Any accident in their journeys can delay treatment, causing fatal consequence.

Wong Tai Sin suffers most from ageing population among the territory, thus residents, especially the elderly people, have keen demand for A&E service. However, they are required to seek treatment from other district hospitals as there is not any A&E department in the district. Not only is it inconvenient, but the delay in treatment caused by the long journey can threaten a patient’s life.

The Food and Health Bureau is famous for its people-based policy, and evidenced in its eagerness to respond to requests favourably and provide quality medical services to the public. Therefore, this office would like to seek your assistance to plan and provide an A&E department in the district as soon as possible, in order to end the residents’ worries. For enquiries, please come to this office or contact me at 2155 1199.

SO Sik-kin, member of Wong Tai Sin District Council c.c. Mr. William SHIU, DO(WTS) Mr. LI Tak-hong, Chairman of Wong Tai Sin District Council Annex V East Kowloon District Residents’ Committee Headquarter: Rm. 1201, 32, Tai Yau St., Kln., H.K. Tel.: 2350 2445 Website: www.eastkowloon.org.hk Fax: 2323 4445 Email: [email protected]

Our Ref.: 110308/LR/53/Db/03 Your Ref.:

Dr. LAM Ping-yan, JP Director of Health Hospital Authority 147B Argyle Street, Kowloon Hong Kong

8 March 2011

Dear Dr. LAM,

Strongly Request for Provision of Accident and Emergency Department in Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital and Provision of 24-hour Out-patient Service in Wong Tai Sin

We are writing to express our views on development of medical services in the district. Despite Wong Tai Sin’s pivotal position in transport, industry and residential accommodation in Kowloon East, no public hospital in the district provides the long-deserved 24-hour emergency medical service. Hence residents having acute medical conditions have to seek treatment at medical facilities in other districts. The Committee finds it unacceptable. As the Government agrees that healthcare and housing are basics of livelihood, and Hong Kong’s public healthcare service is among the best in the world, it should look into the increasing demand of accident and emergency (A&E) service as well as the ageing population of Wong Tai Sin, and then decide on the provision of medical supports accordingly.

No district hospital in Wong Tai Sin has an A&E department, and the nearest public hospitals are located in Ho Man Tin, Kwun Tong, Mongkok and Sham Shui Po, of which demand for medical services is very high. In fact, all patients in Kowloon who required urgent medical attention are treated in these four hospitals. It also creates great pressure to the hospital. Timing is critical for A&E treatment. It takes 12 minutes to wait for an ambulance after receiving a call from a patient, and the return trip takes time too. Hence, the travelling time is inevitably longer than travelling to a hospital in the district direct. To safeguard people’s lives, the Government should explore ways to redress the absence of A&E service in the district. As part of the Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital is planning to be redeveloped, the Committee hopes that the Government will include an A&E department in the redevelopment project to cater for residents’ needs.

On the other hand, the ageing population is the most serious problem in Wong Tai Sin among all districts in the territory, and most of the aged people go to out-patient departments when they are ill. The waiting time for out-patient service in public hospitals is excessively long, thus it is not unusual for a semi-urgent patient to wait for hours. This is unacceptable to aged patient. Therefore, the Committee would like to relay the residents’ request and urge the Government to look into the district’s needs squarely, so that 24-hour out-patient service and A&E service can be provided to the district under the existing healthcare framework. Not only can these new services alleviate the workload of other hospitals, but they can also provide better services to the people and shorten the waiting time for medical services.

In addition, the Committee opines that certain specialist out-patient services should be enhanced. Emergency treatment provided by eye clinic; ear, nose and throat clinic; obstetrics and gynaecology department etc. can determine whether one can stay alive or lose an organ permanently, but the public hospitals fail to provide these services adequately. The Committee thus requests the Government to understand the public’s needs and provide the necessary assistance accordingly.

HO Hon-man Chairman of the East Kowloon District Residents’ Committee

Annex VI DAB Wong Tai Sin Branch

Our Ref.: L/WTSDC/20110308_01/TLF

To: WTSDC Chairman and all Members

8 March 2011

Worries about Competition Bill

As the competition law is complicated and involves a wide range of aspects such as consumer protection, business environment etc., extra care should be exercised in the formulation of the law. There are lots of grey areas in the Competition Bill (the Bill). Since some of the provisions are vague, owners of small shops may be prosecuted for inadvertent breaches. DAB supports the Bill for the sake of consumer protection, but opines that efforts should be made as far as possible to end the worries of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), including:-

(1) Poorly Defined Anti-competitive Conduct

The Bill defines three major areas of anti-competitive conduct. The first conduct rule covers agreements, decisions and concerted practices. The second conduct rule covers the abuse of a substantial degree of market power in a market that prevents, restricts or distorts competition in Hong Kong. At present, the Bill is merely a legislation framework without much substance. Since the regulatory guidelines will not come to being until they are formulated by the future Competition Commission (the Commission), SMEs are worried about inadvertent breaches. To ease their worries, DAB suggests the Government provide more detailed explanation in the Bill, or submit the regulatory guidelines as well to facilitate discussion.

(2) No Restriction on Mergers

The current Bill only proposes merger restriction for the telecommunication sector, but not for mergers in other trades that may prevent competition. Why it only covers mergers in the telecommunication sector? A bill like this cannot impose any restriction to people who try to prevent competition through mergers.

(3) The Commission is Too Powerful

According to the Bill, the Commission will consider and decide on applications for exclusions, handle complaints about anti-competitive conduct and take investigation, prosecution and enforcement actions in this regard. In other words, the same Commission will serve executive, enforcement and prosecution functions - isn’t it too powerful?

As all members will be appointed by the Chief Executive (CE), DAB is also concerned about the presence of any mechanism to prevent anyone suffering from conflict of interest from being appointed by CE. Should there be any provision about the Commission’s membership composition? Is it necessary to include some SME representatives? Should those SME representatives come from non-government organisations, or any management staff of a company should do?

Should the Commission provide advisory service as well, or will the Government establish an advisory service centre? By doing so, business operators who are worried about inadvertent breaches may seek advice before engaging themselves in certain business activities.

(4) Competition Tribunal’s Method of Hearing

Can both parties in the hearing apply for legal aid, as they may employ a solicitor? Regarding composition of the tribunal, besides judicial members (judges of the Court of First Instance), is it also necessary to appoint non-judicial members, viz. those with expertises in economy, business and competition law to form a jury. Also, should a rotation system be adopted for jury members so that they can handle commercial cases of anti-competitive conduct more efficiently?

(5) Justifications for Granting Exemptions to Statutory Bodies Should Be Given

The Bill provides that the Administration will grant exemptions to the Government itself as well as about 500 public bodies, and provide a list of non-exempted public bodies by means of a subsidiary legislation to be submitted to the Legislative Council (LegCo). However, it is unclear at the moment that whether LegCo Councillors may propose any amendment to the subsidiary legislation in due course. Given the great variety of these bodies’ natures and services, the effectiveness of a one-size-fits-all competition law is questionable. Moreover, it may not be socially beneficial. Hence, while DAB agrees that an overall review should be carried out to determine what public bodies can be exempted from the law, we consider that justifications should be given when exempting or not exempting an individual body.

As the Bill is complicated and involves numerous aspects, the Government should consider every detail of the Bill seriously and prudently, in order to protect consumers, to end SMEs’ worries, and not to affect the business environment of Hong Kong.

DAB Wong Tai Sin Branch Members of Wong Tai Sin District Council

Mr. KAN Chi-ho, BBS, MH Mr. LI Tak-hong, MH, JP Mr. LAI Wing-ho, Joe Mr. HO Yin-fai Mr. HO Hon-man Ms. CHAN Man-ki, Maggie Mr. LAM Man-fai, JP Mr. MOK Kin-wing Mr. WONG Kwok-yan Mr. YUEN Kwok-keung

Annex VII East Kowloon District Residents’ Committee Room 1201, 32 Tai Yau Street, San Po Kong, Wong Tai Sin, Kowloon Tel.: 2350 2445 Fax: 2323 4445

Our Ref.: 110308/LR/53/DB/02 Your Ref.:

8 March 2011

WTSDC Chairman and all Members Secretariat of WTSDC 6/F, Lung Cheung Office Block, 138 Lung Cheung Road, Wong Tai Sin, Kowloon

Dear Sir / Madam,

Views on Reconstruction, Improvement and Rehabilitation of Kai Tak River from Wong Tai Sin Police Station to Tung Tau II Estate

The Committee welcomes the proposal from Drainage Services Department (DSD) on the adoption of deckless design and box culverts in reconstruction, improvement and rehabilitation of Kai Tak River from Wong Tai Sin Police Station to Tung Tau II Estate.

A river can provide vitality to a city, reduce greenhouse effect and purify the air – on the premise that live water is flowing through the river. Since the Government and members of the public knew little about river regulation in the past, they had turned Kai Tak River into a smelly channel that everyone hated and wanted to cover with a deck. In 1990s, Funan River of Chengdu, Sichuan was successfully regulated and turned into a living water garden. This makes us wonder if Kai Tai River can also be regulated and turned into a live water river.

With public consent, DSD had carried out a series of improvement works at Kai Tai River in recent years, clearing the smell and turning the river into an ecological-friendly watercourse with abundant fishes and birds. An undecked river not only can preserve the ecology there, promote green tourism and facilitate environmental education, but also tally with residents’ expectation for a vitalised and beautiful Kai Tak River.

Apart from embellishing living environment, a river is primarily used as a floodway. Since the time of Dayu, channelling had long been used for flood relief. To solve the problem of flooding permanently, it is necessary to make the river wider and deeper and build flood storage lakes. We support DSD’s proposal as it tallies with the principle about making the river wider and deeper, and it will bring visual improvement to the surrounding.

Regarding DSD’s proposed addition of box culverts that will help embellish and vitalise Kai Tai River, we would like to put forth the following:

1. The box culverts should be equipped with shutters to keep Kai Tak River with adequate water under normal circumstances; 2. The watercourse should be designed naturally, so that the river can be vitalised naturally. Underwater ecology ponds should be built by laying rocks on the riverbed. These ecology ponds provide support to fishes and birds when water level is low. Moreover, they produce turbulences and swirls, which are both essential to vitalisation of water; 3. Additional greening, such as willow or shade-producing plants, should be planted at the riverbanks; 4. Additional viewing terraces and seating should be provided at the riverbanks; 5. Co-ordination between Government departments should be sought, so that Morse Park No. 1, Tung Kwong Road and area along the riverbanks can be redeveloped into a riverside landscaped area consisting of pedestrian precinct, cycling track etc.; and an artificial lake should be built in Choi Hung Road Playground, which will be turned into a waterscape garden. It facilitates vitalisation of water by enhancing water-air contact. The garden may also echo the visual enhancements of Kai Tak River, forming part of the Wong Tai Sin Cultural Area; and 6. Duration of works at Tai Shing Street, Shatin Pass Road and Choi Hung Road should be minimised to reduce traffic impact.

In addition, we request that DSD should give due consideration when planning the future amenity and vitalisation projects for the Kai Tak River, so that these features match the living water garden at the upstream and the runway-converted watercourse at Kai Tak. Besides preparing for once-in-a-century flood, the department should provide a Kai Tak River with live water to Wong Tai Sin residents.

Few councillors have visited the living water garden at Funan River, Chengdu City, Sichuan built in the 1990s, though many of them should have visited Cheonggyecheon in Korea. Both rivers are trendsetting in city river management. We hope that various parties can co-operate and make Kai Tak River a real city river – a landscape-cum-amenity feature that allows people to contact with water. It is important that young people can learn the essential elements in a modern city, such as conservation, vitalisation etc.

East Kowloon District Residents’ Committee Annex VIII

Conceptual Design for Lung Tsun Stone Bridge Park and Underground City

1. Main axis of the original design be moved to run along the main axis of Lung Tsun Stone Bridge 2. Lung Tsun Stone Bridge be preserved in-situ and developed into a park with water features 3. Part of the road be designed as semi-depressed tunnel 4. Carriageway connecting to the former airport be preserved and converted into footbridge 5. Ground surface greening be applied to Area 23, Tung Tau Estate to form a green interface connecting the water features 6. The existing petrol station be relocated and the site in question be redeveloped into a green area 7. The Lung Tsun Channel near Block 22, Tung Tau Estate be reopened and connected to the city wetland 8. Po Yan Catholic Primary School be preserved and developed into a themed primary school focusing on local ecology 9. Southeast part of the Kowloon Walled City Park – location of where the wall was - be redeveloped under the theme of “Kowloon Walled City” 10. Shek Ku Lung Road Playground and its vicinity be converted into a city wetland park 11. Accesses to the underground city be provided at strategic positions 12 Fully-depressed carriageway, green semi-depressed underground city, and possible connection to commercial area 13. Above-ground public space be provided in the park to be built along the two sides of the bridge’s main axis