LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 18 March 2021 4199 OFFICIAL RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS Thursday, 18 March 2021 The Council continued to meet at Nine o'clock MEMBERS PRESENT: THE PRESIDENT THE HONOURABLE ANDREW LEUNG KWAN-YUEN, G.B.M., G.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE ABRAHAM SHEK LAI-HIM, G.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE TOMMY CHEUNG YU-YAN, G.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE JEFFREY LAM KIN-FUNG, G.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE WONG TING-KWONG, G.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE STARRY LEE WAI-KING, S.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE CHAN HAK-KAN, B.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE CHAN KIN-POR, G.B.S., J.P. DR THE HONOURABLE PRISCILLA LEUNG MEI-FUN, S.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE WONG KWOK-KIN, S.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE PAUL TSE WAI-CHUN, J.P. THE HONOURABLE MICHAEL TIEN PUK-SUN, B.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE STEVEN HO CHUN-YIN, B.B.S. THE HONOURABLE FRANKIE YICK CHI-MING, S.B.S., J.P. 4200 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 18 March 2021 THE HONOURABLE YIU SI-WING, B.B.S. THE HONOURABLE MA FUNG-KWOK, G.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE CHAN HAN-PAN, B.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE ALICE MAK MEI-KUEN, B.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE KWOK WAI-KEUNG, J.P. THE HONOURABLE CHRISTOPHER CHEUNG WAH-FUNG, S.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE ELIZABETH QUAT, B.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE MARTIN LIAO CHEUNG-KONG, G.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE POON SIU-PING, B.B.S., M.H. DR THE HONOURABLE CHIANG LAI-WAN, S.B.S., J.P. IR DR THE HONOURABLE LO WAI-KWOK, S.B.S., M.H., J.P. THE HONOURABLE CHUNG KWOK-PAN THE HONOURABLE JIMMY NG WING-KA, B.B.S., J.P. DR THE HONOURABLE JUNIUS HO KWAN-YIU, J.P. THE HONOURABLE HOLDEN CHOW HO-DING THE HONOURABLE SHIU KA-FAI, J.P. THE HONOURABLE WILSON OR CHONG-SHING, M.H. THE HONOURABLE YUNG HOI-YAN, J.P. DR THE HONOURABLE PIERRE CHAN THE HONOURABLE CHAN CHUN-YING, J.P. THE HONOURABLE CHEUNG KWOK-KWAN, J.P. LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 18 March 2021 4201 THE HONOURABLE LUK CHUNG-HUNG, J.P. THE HONOURABLE LAU KWOK-FAN, M.H. THE HONOURABLE KENNETH LAU IP-KEUNG, B.B.S., M.H., J.P. DR THE HONOURABLE CHENG CHUNG-TAI THE HONOURABLE VINCENT CHENG WING-SHUN, M.H., J.P. THE HONOURABLE TONY TSE WAI-CHUEN, B.B.S., J.P. MEMBERS ABSENT: THE HONOURABLE MRS REGINA IP LAU SUK-YEE, G.B.S., J.P. THE HONOURABLE LEUNG CHE-CHEUNG, S.B.S., M.H., J.P. PUBLIC OFFICERS ATTENDING: DR THE HONOURABLE LAW CHI-KWONG, G.B.S., J.P. SECRETARY FOR LABOUR AND WELFARE THE HONOURABLE MICHAEL WONG WAI-LUN, J.P. SECRETARY FOR DEVELOPMENT MR HO KAI-MING, J.P. UNDER SECRETARY FOR LABOUR AND WELFARE CLERKS IN ATTENDANCE: MISS FLORA TAI YIN-PING, DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL MS ANITA SIT, ASSISTANT SECRETARY GENERAL MS MIRANDA HON, ASSISTANT SECRETARY GENERAL 4202 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 18 March 2021 MEMBERS' MOTIONS PRESIDENT (in Cantonese): Good morning. Debates on motions with no legislative effect. Mr Paul TSE will move a motion on "Examining the amendment of the Protection of the Harbour Ordinance and implementing the Kwun Tong Typhoon Shelter reclamation works". Mr Frankie YICK will move an amendment to the motion. This Council will proceed to a joint debate on the motion and the amendment. Later, I will first call upon Mr Paul TSE to speak and move the motion. Then I will call upon Mr Frankie YICK to speak, but he may not move the amendment at this stage. The joint debate now begins. Members who wish to speak please press the "Request to speak" button. I now call upon Mr Paul TSE to speak and move the motion. MOTION ON "EXAMINING THE AMENDMENT OF THE PROTECTION OF THE HARBOUR ORDINANCE AND IMPLEMENTING THE KWUN TONG TYPHOON SHELTER RECLAMATION WORKS" MR PAUL TSE (in Cantonese): President, I move that the motion, as printed on the Agenda, be passed. This motion seems to be a bit outdated because I recall that I proposed it in 2019. Of course, the operation of this Council had been hijacked and delayed for a long time, thus causing this motion to be put off. But President, there is still an advantage for it to be put off. Why? It is because when this seemingly outdated motion is put forward again for discussion now, it turns out that the timing is just right. Recently we have been fervently discussing the proposals on constitutional reform. One of the key points is that there will be Members from the Election Committee, and an overhaul will be conducted. Not only can this preclude attempts of breach of state order and subversion of state power, the most important or probably the real underlying LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 18 March 2021 4203 objective is that after putting right the Legislative Council and putting right the relationship between the executive and the legislature and when the Legislative Council can resume normal operation, a major objective is to enable the Government to deal with the problems of housing supply and land supply when it can operate more effectively. President, as we can see, whether in his remarks made recently at the meeting of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference on 6 March or that of the National People's Congress on 7 March, Vice Premier HAN Zheng mentioned the same problem, that is, there is no solution to the housing problem in Hong Kong and no consensus can be forged, but there has to be a time to start tackling it. President, the time has come now. After improvement is made to the efficiency of the executive and legislature, it is truly important to resist individual interest groups or industries that have long been controlling many development trends or opportunities in Hong Kong, lest the real deep-rooted conflicts in land supply and housing supply cannot be addressed. President, in proposing this motion today I hope to throw out a sprat to catch a mackerel by suggesting a swift, smart and swell approach, so that the Government will not only look at the long term but not the near term in respect of land supply. President, why do I propose reclamation at the Kwun Tong Typhoon Shelter? I am a Member representing the Kowloon East Constituency which covers Kwun Tong. I have all along taken a close interest in the transport facilities and development in Kwun Tong and Kowloon East. The Government has sounded like these districts are most formidable, and there will be a new CBD, but the Cruise Terminal, which has been completed for years, has long been criticized for not being put to good use, and many other landmarks and tourist spots in Kowloon East have not been brought into play. Therefore, there are inherent inadequacies in respect of transport. Even though the Cruise Terminal seems to be only some 100 m away from Kwun Tong, this place is like Siberia and has no synergy effect to speak of. With regard to traffic congestion in Kwun Tong, I think it needs no further elaboration by me. On the Internet there have been unceasing criticisms of the traffic ordeals in Kwun Tong. We have talked about it many times and Members all know the traffic situation in Kwun Tong. As for Route 6, the entire design of the T2 section, for instance, has been delayed for two decades due to the restrictions imposed by the Protection of the Harbour Ordinance ("the Ordinance") under discussion today. Why is it that no improvement can be made to the traffic in these districts? There must be big problems. 4204 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ― 18 March 2021 As I said just now, the Cruise Terminal is like Siberia, especially during the epidemic as it is literally deserted. In view of this, if we do not do something about it, we would only be taking one step closer to perishing together. As we can see from the Chief Executive Question Time yesterday, some Members asked questions about housing, and Members were all very concerned about it. Mrs Regina IP asked a question on the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal, and they were all pertinent questions. So, President, this is why I said that the timing is very good. What are the advantages of reclaiming the Kwun Tong Typhoon Shelter? As Members who have played jigsaw puzzles will know, we are supposed to finish a puzzle based on the picture of it. The Kwun Tong Typhoon Shelter adjacent to the Cruise Terminal is exactly like a missing piece of jigsaw puzzle. It means that this missing piece has caused the entire area outside the Kwun Tong pier to break off from Kai Tak, and we are here to deal with this piece of jigsaw puzzle now. President, it has several advantages. Let me start with transport infrastructure. Certainly, it is most important to address the problem of traffic congestion in Kwun Tong. First, if reclamation works can be carried out at the Kwun Tong Typhoon Shelter, there will be unobstructed two-way people's flow and vehicular flow in all the places from the Kwun Tong Town Centre to the area around the Cruise Terminal and Kowloon Bay, and these movements to be created will be entirely different. Second, regarding this place located some 100 m away as I said just now, actually the residents in Kwun Tong often cannot enjoy this waterfront area and they even cannot go over to the side of the Kai Tak pier.