Minutes of the Nineteenth Meeting of
Central and Western District Council
Date
Time
Venue
: 21 May 2015 (Thursday)
: 2:30 pm
: Conference Room
14/F, Harbour Building
38 Pier Road, Central, Hong Kong
Present:
Chairman
Mr YIP Wing-shing, BBS, MH, JP*
Vice-chairman
Mr CHAN Hok-fung, MH*
Members
Mr CHAN Chit-kwai, BBS, JP*
Mr CHAN Choi-hi, MH*
Mr CHAN Ho-lim, Joseph*
Ms CHENG Lai-king
Mr CHEUNG Kwok-kwan, JP*
Mr CHEUNG Yick-hung, Jackie*
Mr HUI Chi-fung
Mr IP Kwok-him, GBS, JP
Mr KAM Nai-wai, MH
Dr Malcolm LAM
Mr LEE Chi-hang, Sidney*
Miss LO Yee-hang*
Mr MAN Chi-wah, MH
Ms SIU Ka-yi*
Mr WONG Kin-shing
Remarks:
(2:36 pm – end of the meeting)
(3:14 pm – 7:13 pm)
(4:50 pm – 5:38 pm)
(2:30 pm – 6:12 pm)
(2:30 pm – 5:19 pm)
(3:42 pm – end of the meeting)
(2:30 pm – 6:30 pm)
*
Members who attended the whole meeting
( ) Time of attendance of Members
-1-
Item 2
Mr TONG Chi-keung, Donald, JP
Miss YIM Lai-kwan, Cindy
Items 3 and 4
Mrs TING YIP Yin-mei, Jessie, JP
Mr YAN Kwok-yuen, Leo
Item 5(i)
Mr Kenrick KO
Mr TSE Fuk Sum
Mr LUK Yiu-wah, Everett
Mr YIP Koon-keung, Ken
Mr NGAN Siu-ming, George
Item 5(ii)
Mr Michael MA
Item 5(iii)
Mr WONG Chi-pan, Ricky
Miss LEE Hoi-lun, Leonie
Miss AU Wing-yan, Christine
Ms TANG Tsui-yee, Caroline
Mr LAM Shu-kee, Philip
Item 9
Ms CHEUNG Pui-lin, Josephine
Ms LEUNG Man-ling, Teresa
Miss KAN Po-yee, Popi
Mr Glenn LAU
Mr Philip CHAN
In Attendance:
Mr Wise CHOY
Mr CHING Chi-yan, Billy
Mr MAK Chi-biu
Mr LIU Chi-wai
Commissioner for Labour, Labour Department
Senior Labour Officer (Employment Services) (Operation),
Labour Department
Postmaster General, Post Office
Director (Operations), Post Office
Projects Communications Manager, MTR Corporation
Limited
Operations Services Manager (Island Line and Tseung Kwan
O Line), MTR Corporation Limited
Chief Engineer/Railway Development 2-1, Highways
Department
Senior Engineer/Priority Railway 1, Transport Department
District Leisure Manager (Central and Western), Leisure and
Cultural Services Department
Director, Planning and Design, Urban Renewal Authority
Chief Assistant Secretary (Works) 2, Development Bureau
Assistant Secretary (Heritage Conservation) 3, Development
Bureau
Principal Assistant Secretary (Harbour), Development Bureau
Assistant Secretary (Planning)1, Development Bureau
Engineer/Central and Western 2, Transport Department
Principal Executive Officer (Special Duties), Department of
Justice
Senior Project Manager 131, Architectural Services
Department
Project Manager 155, Architectural Services Department
Director, Ronald Lu & Partners
Associate Director, Ronald Lu & Partners
District Commander (Western), Hong Kong Police Force
Police Community Relations Officer (Western District), Hong
Kong Police Force
Chief Engineer/Hong Kong (1), Civil Engineering and
Development Department
District Environmental Hygiene Superintendent
(Central/Western), Food and Environmental Hygiene
Department
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Mr NGAN Siu-ming, George
Mr CHAN Nap-sang, Nelson
Miss CHOW Ho-kiu, Cheryl, JP
Miss LAM Bing-bing, Erica
Mr HO Man-lung, Clark
Mr CHAN Shing-fung
Secretary
Ms WONG Ming-wai
District Leisure Manager (Central and Western), Leisure and
Cultural Services Department
Chief Transport Officer/Hong Kong, Transport Department
District Officer (Central and Western)
Assistant District Officer (Central and Western)
Senior Executive Officer (District Management) (Atg),
Central and Western District Office
Executive Officer I (District Council), Central and Western
District Office
Senior Executive Officer (District Council), Central and
Western District Office
Absent with Apologies
Mr NG Siu-keung, Thomas, MH, JP
Opening Remarks
The Chairman welcomed guests and Members to the nineteenth meeting of the
Central and Western District Council (C&WDC). He welcomed Miss Erica LAM, Assistant
District Officer (Central and Western), who succeeded Mr Winston CHAN, and Mr George
NGAN, District Leisure Manager (Central and Western) who attended the meeting on behalf
of Mr Stanley CHAIONG of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD).
Item 1:
Adoption of the Agenda
(2:30 pm)
2.
Members had no objection to the agenda, so the Chairman declared the adoption of
the agenda.
Item 2:
Meeting the Commissioner for Labour
(2:30 pm - 3:35 pm)
3.
The Chairman welcomed Mr Donald TONG, Commissioner for Labour and Miss
Cindy YIM, Senior Labour Officer (Employment Services) (Operation) of the Labour
Department (LD) to the meeting.
4.
Mr Donald TONG, Commissioner for Labour, briefly introduced the work of the LD
regarding employment services, statutory minimum wage (SMW), statutory paternity leave,
standard working hours (SWH) and importation of labour. The main points were
summarised as follows:
(a)
On employment services, in view of satisfactory economic development in
Hong Kong, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate from February to April
2015 slightly decreased by 0.1 percentage point to 3.2% after remaining
unchanged at 3.3% for nine consecutive periods. The total employment
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reached 3 800 000. The unemployment rate in the Central and Western
(C&W) District in 2014 was 1.9% only. The LD recorded an all-time high of
1 220 000 private sector vacancies in 2014, which reflected the strong demand
for labour in the private sector. The LD processed around 5 000 vacancies
every working day and successfully helped more than 150 000 people to get a
job the year before. There were 13 job centres of the LD and the latest one
was situated in Tung Chung, separately there were two industry-based
recruitment centres for the retail industry and the catering industry. As
mentioned in the Policy Address this year, the third industry-based recruitment
centre would be established to provide services to construction workers and
was expected to come into service around early next year. In addition, job
seekers could search job vacancies through the Telephone Employment Service
Centre, the Interactive Employment Service website and the “Job Easy”
Touch-screen Vacancy Search Terminals. Currently, more than 80% of
vacancies were full-time vacancies, while the remaining part-time vacancies
were more popular among elders and women. The LD would organise more
than ten large-scale job fairs every year, while job centres and industry-based
recruitment centres had organised around 900 and around 500 job fairs
respectively the year before to assist job seekers in seeking employment. The
LD also implemented special employment projects to assist young people
including young people of ethnic minorities and disabled people in job search,
such as provision of training allowance to the employers concerned to provide
incentives for employing these people.
(b)
The SMW was raised from $30 per hour to $32.5 per hour with effect from 1
May 2015, representing an increase of 8.3%. The implementation of the
SMW had been smooth so far. The LD would continue to closely monitor the
situation and carry out extensive publicity activities for employers and
employees.
(c)
The statutory paternity leave had been implemented on 27 February 2015.
Eligible male employees were entitled to three days of paternity leave. If
such employees complied with other statutory requirements, they would be
entitled to paternity leave pay. The LD would review the implementation of
the law one year after its coming into operation.
(d)
The issue of SWH was highly complex and controversial, and both employers
and employees had different views. In April 2013, the Government had
established the Standard Working Hours Committee (SWHC) chaired by Dr
LEONG Che-hung, with 23 Members drawn from the labour and business
sectors, academia, the community and the Government. Among them, all the
members of the Labour Advisory Board sat on the SWHC in an ex-officio
capacity. The SWHC had completed an extensive public consultation and a
thorough statistical study on working hours. With reference to the results of
the two areas of work, the SWHC was exploring the policy direction of SWH
and expected to submit a report to the Government in the first quarter of next
year.
(e)
Importation of labour could alleviate the problem of labour shortage.
Employers who wished to import workers through the Supplementary Labour
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Scheme (SLS) should undergo a four-week local recruitment exercise,
including advertising the vacancies. If employers proved that they had tried
to recruit local workers as far as possible but failed, they could import workers
after approval by the LD in accordance with established criteria. The LD
would carefully consider the applications for importation of workers and
stringently perform its gate-keeping role to ensure that the job opportunities of
Hong Kong workers would not be exploited. As at late March this year,
around 3 200 workers came to Hong Kong for work under the SLS. For the
construction industry which was most concerned by the public, workers
imported for the industry only accounted for less than 10% of the total number
of imported workers.
5.
The Chairman invited Members to express their views.
comments were as follows:
The main points of their
(a)
Mr WONG Kin-shing was worried that some employers would insist that no
suitable candidate was available after advertising the vacancies for four weeks
and apply for importation of workers. He asked the LD how to monitor the
process of placing recruitment advertisements and conducting interviews by
employers.
(b)
Mr Jackie CHEUNG was concerned with occupational safety and enquired
about the recent accident of air-conditioner components falling from Coda
Plaza at Garden Road. He asked whether the LD would initiate prosecution
against the party concerned and what monitoring measures would be put in
place to prevent accidents from happening again. He suggested that the
Government should legislate for occupational safety and that contractors
should install fences and meshes in carrying out large-scale works.
(c)
Mr CHEUNG Kwok-kwan was concerned with the problem of illegal workers.
He observed that many overseas domestic helpers had served as shop
attendants for their employers. He said that some employers were not
knowledgeable about the legislation concerned and some were only aware that
they had committed an offence at the time of arrest. He suggested the LD
strengthen publicity on the legislation concerned.
(d)
Mr Joseph CHAN said that a number of small and medium enterprises had
recruited overseas professionals through head-hunters and recruitment
advertisements, however, the Immigration Department (ImmD) had refused
their applications in the end. He quoted the example of pet care and
grooming and said that higher education level was usually not required for the
vacancies concerned but professional skills were required. He hoped that the
LD could explain the policy concerned. In addition, he said that the
community had reflected the shortage of manpower in the construction industry,
but the Government had not formulated any policy direction and asked what
measures the LD would have. Lastly, he was concerned with the issue of
SWH and indicated that there would be different requirements on SWH for
different sectors and trades, and considered that it was not appropriate to
implement policy across the board.
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(e)
Mr Sidney LEE suggested that the Administration should consider the
requirements of different industries and trades when setting SWH and SMW.
He was also concerned with the problem of illegal workers and opined that
employers might not have sufficient knowledge of the legislation concerned.
He said that various kinds of exhibitions were often held in Hong Kong. If an
employer had employed an employee from overseas to work at exhibitions or
to engage in negotiations, both the employer and the employee might breach
labour law inadvertently. He suggested the LD clearly explain the legislation
concerned.
(f)
Mr CHAN Choi-hi said that currently the underemployment rate was about 2%
to 3%, but the community was mostly concerned with unemployment rate and
overlooked underemployment rate. He hoped that the LD could elucidate and
explain its work on addressing the underemployment rate. In addition, he said
that the rates of importation of labour in other Asian countries were higher than
such rate in Hong Kong, and opined that advertising the vacancies for four
weeks was excessive. The employment of imported workers involved a
number of criteria and formalities, and suggested the LD consider reducing the
requirement to two weeks. He pointed out that currently the LD did not have
a comprehensive policy for importation of labour and enquired how the LD
could make improvements and assist small and medium enterprises in the
employment of imported workers. He also urged the LD to step up
prosecution of illegal workers.
(g)
Mr CHAN Chit-kwai said that a number of large organisations would lay off
senior staff on the grounds of redundancy and reorganisation and replace them
with contract staff in order to save remuneration and welfare costs. He hoped
that the LD could show concern to the issue. In addition, he said that a
number of organisations employed contract staff without concluding permanent
contracts with them. Accordingly, these employees did not have retirement
benefits. He suggested the LD make legislation to fill the loopholes.
(h)
Ms CHENG Lai-king opined that three days of paternity leave were not enough
and said that the Democratic Party had all along supported increasing paternity
leave to one week. She suggested increasing the prevailing maternity leave
from 10 weeks to 14 weeks and revising fourth-fifths of wages to full wages
during maternity leave to provide more time for mothers to take care of their
infants. She also said that some retirees still wished to make contribution to
the society. In view of the low unemployment rate nowadays and the
difficulty of employers in recruitment, she suggested the LD assist retirees in
seeking employment, in particular part-time jobs.
(i)
The Vice-chairman opined that the low unemployment rate was attributed to
the favourable economic performance. He was worried that there would be
excessive manpower in the event of economic downturn. He opined that the
matching approach currently adopted by the LD for assisting in employment
seeking was not forward-looking. He suggested the LD formulate policies
based on population and employment forecast, in order to reduce the negative
impacts arising from changes in the labour market. He also pointed out that
in recent years, a number of people preferred part-time jobs to full-time jobs, in
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particular women and young people. At the same time, a number of
employers reflected their difficulty in employing full-time staff, which showed
a mismatch between demand and supply. Furthermore, there was insufficient
low-skilled labour force such as security guards and cleaners, on the contrary
there were excessive civilian staff. He asked the LD how to solve the
problem.
(j)
Miss LO Yee-hang said that there was also a shortage of qualified lawyers and
legal supporting staff in the legal sector, a number of companies intended to
employ Mainland students who graduated in Hong Kong, but employers held
back because of the complicated approval procedures of the ImmD and the LD.
She suggested the LD simplify the approval procedures.
(k)
The Chairman said that there had been ongoing collaboration between the
C&WDC and the LD, while the C&WDC, the district office and social welfare
organisations in the district jointly held job fairs from time to time. In the
recent job fair, around 11 000 vacancies were offered by 40 enterprises and
young people were attracted to the job fair to attend interviews on the spot.
In view of the tight labour demand currently, he suggested the LD consider
launching concessionary schemes to encourage employers to employ retirees,
such as the grant of tax concessions. Accordingly, retirees could obtain
remuneration from their jobs, enhance their vitality and self-confidence and
integrate into the community.
6.
Mr Donald TONG, Commissioner for Labour, gave a consolidated response as
follows:
(a)
The LD was tasked with ensuring the free flow of information of the
employment market. Through the arrangement of job fairs and other channels,
employers could employ suitable staff and job seekers could seek employment
through the LD which served as an employment platform. He said that the
LD was not the only channel for seeking employment on the market. The LD
was pleased to work with other organisations to provide employment service.
(b)
Regarding job mismatch, he said that it was necessary to understand the
development patterns of various industries in Hong Kong. Taking the
examples of the retail industry, the catering industry and the construction
industry, the LD noted that more job opportunities were available in these
industries and set up industry-based recruitment centres to assist job seekers in
seeking employment.
(c)
Regarding vocational training, the LD worked with the Labour and Welfare
Bureau (LWB), the Education Bureau, the Commission on Poverty and other
relevant policy bureaux and departments to provide vocational training. He
pointed out that in recent years, the Government had explained the
Qualifications Framework (QF) to students through various channels and
hoped that students could realise that admission to degree or sub-degree
programmes was not the only way out. He said that the QF allowed
employees to have promotion opportunities through acquiring higher diploma
qualification and various recognised qualifications and they could serve as
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instructors in future, or even obtain qualifications equivalent to university
degree. The LD would also assist young people in career exploration based
on their characters and hobbies as well as encourage young people to enrol in
the programmes relevant to their career preference. He quoted the retail and
catering industries as examples, the Vocational Training Council provided a
variety of training programmes to employees with lower qualifications,
including training courses for chefs and retailing. Employees could receive
training while working, and gradually move up the career ladder.
(d)
Regarding the problem of shortage of construction workers, he said that there
had been a shortage of skilled workers in the construction industry in recent
years. In this regard, the Development Bureau (DEVB) and the Construction
Industry Council intended to apply for funding approval of $100 million from
the Legislative Council for training semi-skilled workers to cater for the future
demand from infrastructure projects. Currently there were a total of around
80 000 construction workers, around half of them exceeded 50 years old,
therefore there was a need for enhancing the training of young workers to meet
future demand.
(e)
Regarding importation of labour, the LD would continue to request employers
to comply with the requirements of the SLS to undergo a four-week local
recruitment exercise, including advertising the vacancies. If there was no
suitable candidate, and employers could comply with the relevant approval
criteria, they would then be allowed to import workers. He said that during
the period of advertising the vacancies by employers, the LD would also take
the initiative to contact the relevant industry associations to invite them to refer
qualified job seekers for consideration by the employers. The LD had all
along been emphasising the importance of the above job matching service.
After job interviews were conducted, the LD would contact the job seekers one
by one to enquire about the interview details and make arrangement for the
successful candidates to report for duty. If any problems were found, the LD
would follow up with employers. For the job seekers who were not offered a
job, the LD would continue to assist them in seeking employment depending
on their preferences. He said that the Construction Industry Recruitment
Centre, which would come into operation later, could assist in referring
construction workers to the centre for on-the-spot interviews. It was believed
that they could be better assisted in seeking employment.
(f)
Regarding the recruitment of Mainland students who graduated in Hong Kong,
he said that the LD was responsible for importation of technicians and
non-skilled workers while the ImmD was responsible for admission of talents
and well-educated people. He said that currently Mainland students who had
completed full-time post-secondary programmes in Hong Kong could stay in
Hong Kong for one year to seek employment.
(g)
In response to the views that job seekers would prefer part-time jobs, he opined
that employers had indeed encountered difficulty in employing full-time staff
nowadays, and pointed out that young job seekers had different views from the
previous generation on working hours and family life, they cared more about
work-life balance. The LD would also take corresponding action to provide
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more information on part-time vacancies. He said that people who were
unemployed or underemployed were mostly elders, new arrivals, women,
ethnic minorities and persons with disabilities. The LWB was considering the
provision of community support such as child care services to provide
convenience to women for work. He said that a number of banks had adopted
the arrangement of flexible working hours and suggested employers make
reference to the arrangement.
(h)
On encouraging the employment of mature job seekers or retirees, the LD was
actively carrying out promotion to Human Resources Managers Clubs and
various industries. He said that the Employment Programme for the
Middle-aged (EPM), which had been implemented for several years, aimed at
assisting unemployed people aged 40 or above. If employers employed
eligible people to work 30 hours or more per week, the LD would consider
providing training allowance of up to $3,000 per employee to those employers
for a period of three to six months. In view of the keen demand for part-time
jobs, the LD would like to extend the EPM to provide allowance to employers
when eligible people had worked for 18 hours or more per week. The LD
hoped that the EPM could be effective in encouraging employers to employ
mature job seekers.
(i)
On paternity leave, he said that three days of paternity leave were merely a
starting point, a review would be carried out after the law had come into
operation for one year. Regarding maternity leave, he said that female
employees could get maternity leave pay of not less than fourth-fifths of their
average wages when they were on maternity leave, which were higher than
two-thirds of average wages as prescribed in the relevant convention of the
international labour organisation. He pointed out that different from many
other places all over the world, maternity leave offered in Hong Kong was
borne by individual employers in full while in other places, maternity leave pay
was paid out of the social security system with contributions from both
employers and employees. As a result, in assessing whether maternity
benefits should be adjusted, the LD had to balance the affordability of
employers and the benefits of employees. He said that small, medium and
micro-enterprises accounted for 98% of enterprises in Hong Kong, the LD had
to carefully consider the affordability of employers. Otherwise, negative
impacts might be brought to the economic situation of Hong Kong, thereby
affecting employment situation.
(j)
The LD was investigating the accident of air-conditioner components falling
from Coda Plaza. If there was sufficient evidence, the LD would institute
prosecution. The accident involved lifting operation which was one of the
high-risk operations in the construction industry. Other high-risk operations
included working with electricity and working in confined spaces. Recently
the LD was also concerned with safety of working at sea and conducted
frequent inspections. Once the LD discovered any operations that would
endanger the safety of workers, it would immediately institute prosecution and
issue suspension notice until the work arrangement was improved to a
satisfactory level. He said that suspension notices had a deterrent effect on
construction companies to a certain extent and quoted the example of Tregunter
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that the LD had once ordered the suspension of works for several months
which had affected building owners and the construction company. He said
that the LD would implement the legislation relevant to the safety of workers.
If operations in violation of other legislation were found, the case would be
referred to the law enforcement departments concerned for handling.
(k)
7.
Currently the underemployment rate was 1.3% which was lower than
unemployment rate. Despite abundant job vacancies on the market, the LD
was willing to first consider the preferences of job seekers in providing
employment services.
The Chairman thanked guests for attending the meeting.
Item 3:
Meeting the Postmaster General
Item 4:
Concern over the Impact of Revision to Post Office Opening Hours on the
Public
(C&W DC Paper No. 47/2015)
(3:35 pm – 4:30 pm)
8.
The Chairman welcomed Mrs Jessie TING, Postmaster General and Mr Leo YAN,
Director (Operations) of the Post Office to the meeting.
9.
Mrs Jessie TING, Postmaster General of the Post Office, briefly introduced the work
of the Hongkong Post (HKP). The main points were summarised as follows:
(a)
Under the HKP, there were 127 post offices (including three mobile post
offices), more than 1 000 street posting boxes, 28 delivery offices and a total of
1 751 delivery beats. The facility network was effective in covering nearly
three million commercial and residential addresses in Hong Kong. The HKP
also had two large-scale mail item processing centres which were located at
Kowloon Bay and Hong Kong International Airport at Chek Lap Kok
respectively. In terms of operations, the HKP was established in 1841 and
had been operating under the trading fund mode on a self-financing basis since
August 1995. The HKP upheld the corporate purpose of “Linking People,
Delivering Business” to serve the public and provide full support to enterprises
in Hong Kong. The department, operating under the trading fund mode, had
greater flexibility in business operations and financial management. The
income from business development was used to meet operating expenses and
increase service quality. The department also strived to achieve the target
return rate set by the Financial Secretary. The challenges facing the HKP
included: (1) the cost pressure brought about by the provision of universal
postal services and the continued provision of postal facilities; (2) since
electronic communication gradually replaced traditional postal communication,
letter posting business was shrinking gradually, while the popularity of online
purchases continued to drive up the number of parcels, appropriate adjustment
of the workflow was therefore required; (3) the mode of operation of the HKP
was rather labour-intensive, an increase in wages would lead to an increase in
cost; (4) given a large volume of outbound mails in Hong Kong, the HKP was
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operating the outbound mail business with greater difficulties due to increasing
air conveyance costs and terminal dues payments; and (5) customers had an
increasing demand for service quality and the department had to deploy more
resources in response to the demand.
(b)
The five major development strategies of the HKP included: (1) striving to
provide a variety of services and develop customer sources in order to increase
revenues. Apart from traditional postal services, the HKP also provided
various services such as philatelic services, payment and electronic
certification; (2) active cost control and increase in operational efficiency,
including: streamlining the workflow; mechanisation and use of information
technology; increase in ability of mechanical recognition of addresses in
Chinese and English to reduce manual letter sorting; implementation of the
Integrated Postal Services System and development of the Mail Flow
Management and Tracking System to optimise the mail flow; striving for more
affordable prices for purchase of air cargo space; and bilateral negotiation with
other postal authorities on the reduction of terminal dues payments. Currently,
three post offices in the C&W District had implemented the Integrated Postal
Services System, four other post offices would implement the system in the
middle of this year; (3) making good use of the comprehensive postal facility
network of the HKP; (4) periodical review and adjustment of postage rates and
postal fees; and (5) improvement of customer experience, including adoption
of user-oriented design for new and renovated post offices, and establishment
of online posting platform, the HKP mobile app and online verification tool for
local postal addresses.
(c)
Services in support of local small and medium enterprises included: (1)
provision of local and cross-border direct mail service and DMDIY.hk, a
multimedia direct marketing platform and other corporate promotion tools; (2)
provision of delivery solutions that were available in a range of prices, fast and
convenient, catered for the needs of users, and provided delivery to and from
Hong Kong and more than 230 countries/regions in the Mainland and overseas,
as well as provision of “ShopThruPost”, an online product consignment
platform of the HKP; (3) through issuing fabulous stamps, the HKP provided
one-stop customised gifts service and delivery service of gift hampers and
supported customer relationship management of enterprises; and (4) provision
of corporate internal supporting services such as collection of bills, remittance
and electronic certification. The HKP continuously expanded the coverage of
“PayThruPost” payment service, such as the inclusion of bill payment to Senior
Citizen Home Safety Association currently, and bills of individual insurance
companies would be covered later. In view of the growing popularity of
electronic communication, online communication security had become an
important issue. The electronic certification service provided by the HKP
could encrypt electronic information to ensure that there was no alteration of
electronic information.
(d)
In the C&W District, there were a total of seven post offices (including the
General Post Office), 105 street posting boxes, 148 delivery beats and two
delivery offices, namely Sai Ying Pun Delivery Office and General Post Office
Delivery Office.
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(e)
The HKP actively promoted temporary storage service for large mail items to
provide convenience to residents.
When the HKP failed to deliver
non-registered large mail items, postmen would hand over the items to the
building attendants on duty for forwarding to the addressees.
(f)
As the addresses of most buildings in the district were easily confused, she
reminded the public to ensure the correctness of the recipient addresses before
posting mail items, and suggested the public use the online verification tool for
local postal addresses to be launched soon.
(g)
Senders should properly pack mail items and take note of whether prohibited
items or dangerous goods such as lithium ion batteries were included in the
mail items. The mailing of these items by means of air mail was strictly
prohibited.
(h)
The letter boxes of some buildings in the C&W District did not conform to
standards, including irregular arrangement of letter boxes, excessively small
sizes of letter boxes, fading building numbers, and unclear display of letter
boxes. She suggested the public make reference to the notes about installing
letter boxes and purchase standard stainless steel letter boxes available at the
HKP.
10.
The Chairman invited Members to express their views.
comments were as follows:
The main points of their
(a)
Mr Jackie CHEUNG said that the street posting box at 1A Robinson Road in
the Mid-levels was remote, which did not provide convenience to the public,
while the street posting box at 29 Robinson Road was too small. He
suggested the HKP consider reprovision the street posting box at 1A Robinson
Road to a location closer to residential areas, or provide a new street posting
box in the vicinity of 8 Robinson Road to provide convenience to residents to
post letters.
(b)
Ms SIU Ka-yi gave her comments on the written response of the HKP. She
said that the services of the four post offices in the Central District were very
important to residents, shortening service hours would seriously affect the
residents working or living in the district. She said that the distance among
post offices in the Central District was shorter than that set out in the Hong
Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines (Guidelines), but the HKP should
take into consideration the special factor that the Central District was a core
area for finance and commerce in Hong Kong, it was not desirable to adopt the
standards in the Guidelines only for arrangement of postal services. In
addition, she said that the response of the HKP had not indicated the number of
people affected by the shortened service hours of Queen’s Road Post Office.
Finally, she asked the HKP the criteria for considering the locations and
numbers of street posting boxes. She reiterated that the HKP should consider
the unique features of the C&W District.
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(c)
Miss LO Yee-hang appreciated the services of the HKP in support of small and
medium enterprises. For example, the online product consignment platform
could assist enterprises in brand promotion. She asked whether the HKP
would provide similar services to assist the service industry. In addition, she
was concerned with the publicity of the online shopping platform.
(d)
Mr CHAN Choi-hi said that the C&WDC had all along been seeking to have a
post office in Shek Tong Tsui over the years, but the efforts were in vain. He
said that the population growth in Shek Tong Tsui was attributed to the
completion of large housing estates in the district, and a number of university
students resided there, giving rise to the need for a post office in the district.
In addition, he said that the HKP should not focus too much on profit seeking
and suggested the HKP consider how to make contributions to the community
with its profits. He also suggested providing street posting boxes in the MTR
stations along the West Island Line (WIL) to provide convenience to residents
to post letters.
(e)
The Vice-chairman said that the Central District was the heart of Hong Kong’s
economy, finance, commerce and politics. There was a huge demand for
postal services in the district. The shortening of service hours of the post
offices in the Central District would undoubtedly affect the work and
manpower arrangement of enterprises. He asked whether the HKP would
regularly review the demand for postal services in the district after the
shortening of service hours. He opined that the HKP should carry out
publicity to announce the updated service hours of post offices to minimise the
impacts on the public.
(f)
The Chairman opined that the HKP had provided diversified services and
online product consignment, shopping platform and collection service of mail
items had met the consumption pattern of the public on online purchases, and
suggested the HKP strengthen publicity and promotion.
11.
Mrs TING, Postmaster General of the Post Office, gave a consolidated response to
the views and enquiries of Members as follows:
(a)
Regarding the provision or reprovisioning of individual street posting boxes,
she would follow up with the Members concerned after the meeting. She said
that the locations of street posting boxes would depend on the demand of
residents for postal services;
(b)
The HKP had provided a written response in respect of the reasons for
adjustment of service hours of individual post offices in the Central District.
She said that in considering the adjustment of service hours, in addition to the
demand for postal services in the district, operating costs and operational
efficiency were also taken into consideration. Since personal mail items and
business correspondence were gradually replaced by electronic
communications, there was a significant drop in the number of mail items. In
addition, the HKP had provided various measures to provide convenience to
commercial clients and clients using bulk mail service, including direct mailing
at large mail item centres. Together with an increase in the methods for bill
- 13 -
payment in recent years, the demand for counter services was dropping which
had created room for adjusting the service hours of post offices. As a
government department, the HKP had to ensure proper use of funds. The
adjustment of service hours would help to reduce the operating costs and
increase operational efficiency. After adjusting the service hours of some post
offices, the HKP had been closely monitoring the operation and services of
post offices. She said that the HKP would consider strengthening publicity on
the adjusted service hours of post offices;
(c)
Regarding the provision of a post office in Shek Tong Tsui and the provision of
street posting boxes at the MTR stations along WIL, the HKP would first need
to understand the demand for postal services and the mailing quantity in the
district. Currently, the distance between street posting boxes in urban areas
was at least 400 metres, but it did not mean that a street posting box had to be
provided at every 400-metre interval, the number and location of street posting
boxes would depend on the posting need in the district;
(d)
The publicity and promotion of the HKP (such as HKP Circular Service,
cross-border direct mail service and multimedia direct marketing platform
DMDIY.hk) would assist in the publicity and brand building of enterprises in
the service industry. In order to launch focused publicity of the HKP’s
services, the HKP currently introduced various types of services it provided to
local enterprises through trade associations and organisations providing
corporate support. In addition, the PostalPlus for SME was established under
the HKP with more than 40 000 corporate members. These members would
receive information on the services provided by the HKP through various
channels;
(e)
The operation of the HKP did not aim at profit maximisation but serving the
community. Despite a small operating loss recorded in 2014/15, the HKP was
committed to contributing to the community by various means, including the
provision of quality postal services at affordable prices; and
(f)
The counter collection service provided by the HKP matched the online
consumption pattern of the public and was well-received. The HKP was
studying how to develop the business concerned.
12.
Mr CHAN Chit-kwai commended the HKP for keeping abreast of the times in
service delivery. He suggested the HKP consider providing envelope templates so that the
public would find it easier to fill in addresses for mechanised letter sorting. In addition, he
opined that the circular service was effective in the publicity of district work by Members,
and suggested maintaining the service price at a low level.
13.
Mrs Jessie TING, Postmaster General of the Post Office, responded that the HKP
would implement the online address verification service for members of the public to verify
the correctness of addresses and print the addresses as labels, or scan the QR code with
mobile phones and save the addresses in the phone books of mobile phones for future use.
In addition, she said that the existing charges of HKP Circular Service were considerably low.
From early this year to July this year, the HKP implemented a short-term promotion scheme
- 14 -
on a pilot basis to reduce the posting quantity of the circular service from 2 000 identical
items to 1 000 identical items in order to attract more users. The HKP would consider
adjusting the minimum posting quantity in the light of market response to the promotion
scheme.
14.
The Chairman thanked the guests for attending the meeting.
Standing Items
Item 5(i): Progress of the MTR West Island Line Project
- Progress of the Construction Works of the West Island Line
(C&W DC Paper No. 48/2015)
- Request for Additional Shelter Construction on Shade Structures at the
MTR Kennedy Town Station
(C&W DC Paper No. 49/2015)
- Is It not Uncommon to Have Water Leakage at the MTR HKU Station?
(C&W DC Paper No. 50/2015)
- Water Leakage at the MTR HKU Station
(C&W DC Paper No. 51/2015)
(4:30 pm - 5:35 pm)
15.
The Vice-chairman welcomed the representatives of the MTR Corporation Limited
(MTRCL), the Highways Department (HyD), the Transport Department (TD) and the LCSD
to the meeting.
16.
Mr Kenrick KO, Projects Communications Manager of the MTRCL, gave a
PowerPoint presentation on the progress of the construction works of the Island Line
extension to Western District as follows:
(a)
Sai Ying Pun (SYP) Station was opened on 29 March 2015. Structural works
at Ki Ling Lane entrance were underway. The ground freezing works and the
excavation works had been carried out at the remaining 20-metre passenger
adit that connected to the First Street and Second Street entrances. The Ki
Ling Lane entrance was expected to open in the fourth quarter of 2015.
(b)
The reprovisioning works at Kennedy Town Swimming Pool (Phase II) had
commenced in September 2014. Foundation works were underway. The
reprovisioning works were expected to complete in the fourth quarter of 2016.
(c)
On the reprovisioning of open spaces, the open spaces concerned had been
returned to the government departments for management following the
completion of the majority of the works of the Island Line extension to Western
District. The returning of Hill Road Rest Garden, Sai Woo Lane Playground
and Mui Fong Street Children’s Playground, which was originally scheduled
for the first quarter of this year, was expected to be postponed to the third
quarter of this year because of works in progress, such as installation of added
facilities. It was still expected that Centre Street Market Sitting-out Area
would be returned to the Government in the third quarter of this year, and King
George V Memorial Park, Hong Kong would be returned in the fourth quarter
of this year. Since Ki Ling Lane entrance at SYP Station was expected to
open in the fourth quarter of this year, Ki Ling Lane Children’s Playground and
- 15 -
Centre Street Market Sitting-out Area would be returned afterwards.
(d)
On temporary traffic management schemes, the reprovisioning works for the
carriageways and footpaths at Whitty Street/Queen’s Road West, Hill Road and
Pokfulam Road entrances at HKU Station were underway and temporary traffic
management schemes would continue to be put in place. The MTRCL would
complete the works as soon as possible.
(e)
Regarding community activities, the MTRCL had arranged a visit to SYP
Station for C&WDC Members on 18 March 2015 and organised an open day at
SYP Station on 21 March 2015. In the light of Members’ views and
experience from open days earlier, ticket-free admission to SYP Station was
arranged and well received by participants. In the morning of the open day,
“Our Thanks to the Community Party” was held to present certificates of
appreciation to community members and C&WDC Members to thank them for
their continuous support and participation. In addition, an opening ceremony
for SYP Station was held on 29 March 2015.
17.
The Vice-chairman invited Members to raise enquiries and express their views.
Their comments were summarised as follows:
(a)
Mr CHEUNG Kwok-kwan enquired whether shelter construction on shade
structures outside Kennedy Town (KT) Station Exit C should be followed up
by the MTRCL or the LCSD.
(b)
Mr Sidney LEE enquired about the works progress of Centre Street Sitting-out
Area and the reprovisioning arrangement for the transformer room at Western
Garden.
(c)
Mr CHAN Choi-hi said that the way in which the MTRCL dealt with water
leakage at HKU Station could not allay the worries of passengers and the
public. He still found water leakage and water marks at the ceilings of the
station and hoped that the MTRCL could take follow-up action as early as
possible. Moreover, he requested the MTRCL to liaise with the TD to
complete the reprovisioning of the traffic lights at Whitty Street and reopen the
street as soon as possible. He also suggested including Chong Yip Centre and
Wah Ming Centre Block A, Block B and Block C in the directional signs at
HKU Station entrances.
(d)
Mr CHAN Chit-kwai said that a questionnaire survey had been conducted to
collect public views on the WIL after its commissioning. He would relay the
views to the MTRCL for consideration in due course. He suggested
extending the service hours of lifts at the unpaid areas of WIL stations during
holidays. In addition, he suggested improving the services of bus route no.
45A and green minibus (GMB) to provide convenience to the residents of the
Mid-levels for interchange to MTR. He further suggested providing an MTR
Fare Saver at Lyttelton Road.
(e)
The Vice-chairman said that there was no rain shelter at the sitting-out area
outside KT Station, it was therefore important to provide residents with rain
- 16 -
shelters on the shade structures at Forbes Street Playground. He hoped that
the MTRCL and the LCSD could implement the works as soon as possible.
In addition, he said that the contingency response measures of the MTRCL for
water leakage at HKU Station were not satisfactory and hoped that the MTRCL
would conduct a review. He also suggested including Luen Bong Apartment
in the directional signs at KT Station entrances and providing directional signs
on roads. Lastly, he pointed out that the streets outside KT Station Exit C was
dimly lit at night and suggested improving lighting there.
18.
(f)
The Chairman fully supported the proposal of including Luen Bong Apartment
in the directional signs at KT Station entrances. In addition, he was very
much concerned with the insufficient number of directional signs at HKU
Station near Pokfulam Road eastbound and the surrounding road improvement
works, and requested providing a ramp at HKU Station Exit C2 at Belcher’s
Street to provide convenience to people with baby prams and light baggage as
well as elders. He was also concerned with the works progress of the park at
Hill Road near South Lane.
(g)
Mr IP Kwok-him opined that Luen Bong Apartment should be added to the
directional signs at KT Station entrances. In addition, he observed that the
MTRCL had deployed additional manpower to assist passengers at the initial
stage of the commissioning of the WIL. He enquired whether this
arrangement would be long-term. He also pointed out that the facilities of the
public toilets outside KT Station were damaged and property was stolen, and
urged the relevant departments to follow up the case.
Mr Kenrick KO of the MTRCL responded as follows:
(a)
The construction works for shade structures at Forbes Street Temporary
Playground were carried out in accordance with the design approved by the
relevant government department. The construction of shade structures was
completed by December 2014 and handed over to the relevant government
department. The modification of the design of shade structures would require
the consideration of station structure and the relevant facilities.
If
modification was proposed by the government department, the MTRCL would
provide assistance as far as possible.
(b)
The reprovisioning of Centre Street Market Sitting-out Area was expected to
complete in the third quarter of this year. In addition, given that SYP Station
Exits B1, B2 and B3 were of the same group of structure, Centre Street
Sitting-out Area, which was located at SYP Station Exits B1 and B2, could
only be reprovisioned after the opening of SYP Station Exit B3.
(c)
HKU Station was several tens of metres underground and was built below the
groundwater level which might be subject to higher water pressure, resulting in
water leakage. However, the situation would not have any impact on station
structure, station operation and train service. The MTRCL and the contractor
had taken follow-up measures to divert water to the drainage outlet points on
the two sides of the entrance and carry out grouting works on some walls with
improvements in the situation. They would also continue to monitor the
- 17 -
situation. He said that the project team had taken immediate action on that
day in order to minimise the inconvenience caused to passengers, and agreed
that there was room for improvement in handling the case at that time. The
MTRCL would learn from experience and ensure that water leakage would not
affect services and the measures adopted would not give rise to public worries.
(d)
Regarding the reprovisioning of the traffic lights at Whitty Street, the MTRCL
would coordinate with the relevant department to complete the works as early
as possible, and the footpaths there had been opened to public use.
(e)
Regarding the inclusion of Chong Yip Centre and Wah Ming Centre Block A,
Block B and Block C in the directional signs at HKU Station entrances, the
MTRCL would follow it up with Members after the meeting. In addition, the
MTRCL would update the directional signs at KT Station entrances in June this
year and include Luen Bong Apartment and update the nearest entrance to
Smithfield Terrace in the light of the views raised by Members earlier.
(f)
The service hours of the lifts at the unpaid areas within the stations were from
about 6 am to 1 am the next day to tie in with train service.
(g)
The MTRCL would relay the suggestion of providing a MTR Fare Saver at
Lyttelton Road to its dedicated department for consideration.
(h)
The road improvement works near HKU Station at Pokfulam Road were
largely completed. After completing the painting of the shelter of the bus stop,
the MTRCL would hand over both of them. In addition, the MTRCL would
arrange the removal of steel plates near the footpath of the Belcher’s.
(i)
On the suggestion of providing a ramp at HKU Station Exit C2, he pointed out
that four out of the six HKU Station entrances were barrier-free accesses.
Since there was no barrier-free facilities at Exit C2, if a ramp was provided
there, members of the public might mistakenly think that the exit was a
barrier-free access, which might give rise to safety issues.
(j)
The reprovisioning of the ramp at Hill Road near South Lane was underway.
The MTRCL would complete the works as soon as possible to reduce the
inconvenience caused to the public.
(k)
The MTRCL had deployed additional manpower to assist passengers at the
initial stage of the commissioning of WIL as a special arrangement. After
station operation for a period of time, the MTRCL would adjust the manpower
concerned.
19.
Mr George NGAN, District Leisure Manager (Central and Western) of the LCSD,
responded as follows:
(a)
Forbes Street Temporary Playground was managed by the LCSD, shade
structures, public toilets and KT Station Exit C formed the entire structure.
The layout plan for the reprovisioned playground provided by the MTRCL in
- 18 -
the early years did not indicate whether shelter was constructed for the shade
structures. It was found during the hand over the year before that there was
no shelter for the shade structures for ventilation purpose. Since shelter
construction involved the modification of design of the shade structures which
would also affect station structure, the department agreed to the proposal in the
paper that the MTRCL would study and follow up the issue. In addition, he
pointed out that the MTRCL was required to provide one year warranty for the
reprovisioned facilities. If it was necessary to modify the design of facilities,
discussion with the MTRCL was required in order not to affect the validity of
warranty.
20.
(b)
The LCSD would have a site inspection and meeting with the representatives
of the MTRCL, the Office of IP Kwok-him and the Architectural Services
Department (ArchSD), the provision of shelters for shade structures and other
facilities at Forbes Street Temporary Playground and other improvement
proposals would be discussed together.
(c)
The public toilets at Forbes Street Temporary Playground were managed by the
LCSD. The department had arranged security guards and cleaners on duty to
take charge of day-to-day management and urged management staff to be
vigilant against damage of facilities or stealing of property which should be
reported to the Police. The LCSD would study the reinforcement of facilities
inside public toilets in future to avoid damage or theft.
Members made further comments as follows:
(a)
Mr Sidney LEE pointed out that the transformer room at Western Garden and
the temporary public toilets constructed by the MTRCL were located at Centre
Street Market Sitting-out Area, the transformer room and the public toilets
would be reprovisioned at Centre Street Market Sitting-out Area. He did not
understand why the reprovisioning of the transformer room and the public
toilets was related to the works at SYP Station Exit B3. In addition, he
pointed out that the public toilets at Centre Street Sitting-out Area were
dilapidated and smelly. If the reprovisioning works could not be completed
within a short time, he requested the MTRCL to carry out repair works.
(b)
Mr CHAN Choi-hi enquired about the location of street box at Hill Road Rest
Garden and suggested a phased opening of the facilities.
(c)
Mr IP Kwok-him pointed out that the pedestrian crossing at the junction of
Forbes Street and Smithfield was too wide and slightly inclined. Together
with GMB routes passing en route, it was dangerous for the public to cross the
road. He suggested the TD and the Police consider providing crossing
facilities at other locations.
(d)
The Chairman said that complaints and views had been received from a large
number of members of the public and they suggested providing a ramp at HKU
Station Entrance C2 at Belcher’s Street. He urged the MTRCL to give a
careful consideration. He was also concerned when the steel plates at
Pokfulam Road near the footpath of the Belcher’s would be removed to restore
- 19 -
the concrete road as the steel plates were slippery during rainy days.
21.
(e)
The Vice-chairman requested clarification of whether shelter construction on
the shade structures outside KT Station Exit C should fall under the purview of
the MTRCL or the LCSD. In addition, he pointed out that some elders often
did not comply with traffic signals to cross the junction between Forbes Street
and Smithfield at around 7:00 am to go to and from KT Station Exits A and C
to get free newspapers and requested follow up by the Police.
(f)
Mr CHAN Chit-kwai opined that the GMB boarding and alighting area at KT
Station was spacious and suggested relocating the GMB terminal point in KT
Station to that area.
Mr Kenrick KO of the MTRCL responded as follows:
(a)
The transformer room at Western Garden would be reprovisioned at SYP
Station Exits B1/B2.
(b)
The street box at Hill Road Rest Garden would be moved due to the provision
of elderly fitness equipment in order to free up enough space for the
installation of facilities and provide space to users for carrying out activities
safely.
(c)
The MTRCL had arranged a meeting on the issues of reprovisioning the
footpath of the Belcher’s at Pokfulam Road and would follow up the
arrangement for the removal of steel plates.
(d)
The MTRCL and the relevant government departments would have a site
inspection to discuss the proposal of shelter construction on the shade
structures at Forbes Street Temporary Playground.
22.
Mr Ken YIP, Senior Engineer/Priority Railway 1 of the TD, said that the department
had carried out minor improvement works at the pedestrian crossing at Forbes Street,
including adjusting the control mode of traffic lights, provision of road markings and
designation of prohibited zone. If these improvement measures were not effective, the
department would consider carrying out measures on a large scale and conduct district
consultation and seek the views of the C&WDC by then. In addition, he said that he would
relay to the relevant colleagues the suggestion of relocating the terminal point of the GMB
routes in the KT district to the GMB boarding and alighting area at KT Station.
23.
Regarding the non-compliance with traffic signals to cross the junction between
Forbes Street and Smithfield, Mr Wise CHOY, District Commander (Western) of the Hong
Kong Police Force, said that the Police would first appeal to the public to comply with road
safety regulations. If there was no improvement, the Police would step up law enforcement
actions.
- 20 -
Item 5(ii): Report on the Projects under the Urban Renewal Authority in the Central &
Western District
(C&W DC Paper No. 52/2015)
(5:35 pm - 6:05 pm)
24.
The Vice-chairman welcomed Mr Michael MA, Director, Planning and Design of the
Urban Renewal Authority (URA) to the meeting.
25.
Mr Michael MA of the URA gave a PowerPoint presentation on the latest progress as
follows:
(a)
Regarding Peel Street/Graham Street Development Scheme (Project H18), the
foundation works for the Market Block were close to completion, and the
foundation works for the residential blocks would follow immediately. The
removal process of non-fresh food shops at Sites A and C was smooth, some
shop operators were able to find other shops to continue their business in the
district. Currently one shop operator had not yet moved out. The demolition
works for the building at 1-3 Gage Street had been completed and preparation
was underway for phase two of demolition works. Regarding the two boards
of Nam Wah Ink Company at 118 Wellington Street, one board would be
moved to the new office of Nam Wah Ink Company at Stanley Street, while the
other would be placed in the open space for Project H18. The URA would
submit the sketch design and consult the C&WDC in due course. Phase one
of the beautification works for Cochrane Street Sitting-out Area was opened
for public use while phase two was in progress. It was expected that the
completion inspection of the entire beautification works would be carried out
with the relevant government departments in June this year and the sitting-out
area would be fully opened for public use in late June or early July this year.
The URA had received letters from three shop operators on 19 May to
complain about the sewer replacement works at Wellington Street which had
affected their operations. Upon receipt of complaints, the URA immediately
requested the contractor to cease the road works from 12:00 noon to 2:00 pm
from Mondays to Saturdays and copied the reply concerned to the C&WDC
Secretariat for record.
(b)
Regarding Wing Lee Street/Staunton Street Project (Project H19), the
conditions of some buildings in Site B were undesirable, therefore the URA
would discuss with the Government for the redevelopment of Site B on priority.
The URA suggested constructing a residential building in-situ at a height lower
than that of Dawning Height nearby, providing public open space and retaining
the existing street fabric.
(c)
Regarding the Central Oasis, the URA hoped to submit a concrete proposal to
the C&WDC after July. In addition, renovation works for the Oasis Gallery
would be carried out from mid-May to early June this year.
26.
The Vice-chairman invited Members to express their views.
their comments were as follows:
- 21 -
The main points of
(a)
Mr HUI Chi-fung did not concur with the view that the removal process of
shops at Graham Street Market under Project H18 was smooth. He had held
repeated demonstrations to express his strong views prior to 31 March. Since
a shop operator had not yet moved out, the URA was only cheating itself by
saying that there was smooth progress. He hoped that the URA could review
afresh the impacts of the current redevelopment policy on local livelihood,
conservation, shops and community landscape. In addition, he noted that the
URA had taken legal action against the last shop operator to force it to move
out, and would recover the legal costs from the shop operator. He queried
whether the URA had departed from its established policy in this case.
(b)
Mr CHAN Chit-kwai hoped that the Central Oasis project could commence as
soon as possible, otherwise the building there would become dangerous. In
addition, he opined that the proposal which had been extensively consulted on
a number of occasions with the incorporation of public views should not be
abandoned due to budgetary constraint.
(c)
Ms CHENG Lai-king was dissatisfied with the quality of plants at Cochrane
Street Sitting-out Area and suggested the use of aesthetically pleasing and
quality plants. She suggested the URA increase the budget to purchase better
flowers. In addition, she requested the URA to provide the details of the
buildings recommended for priority development in Site B of Project H19 for
reference by the C&WDC. On the Central Oasis, she understood that there
was a considerable increase in project funding, and hoped that the URA could
consider a simple and safe revitalisation plan which would facilitate the early
opening of the Central Oasis in order to prevent the building from turning into
a dangerous building due to years of delay. Finally, she enquired about the
information on the future development of the Western Market.
(d)
Mr KAM Nai-wai was concerned with the relocation of cloth traders at the
Western Market and suggested writing to the DEVB to enquire whether the
Government would renew the tenancy agreement with the URA upon expiry of
the existing tenancy agreement of the Western Market in 2017 and to enquire
about the future development of the Western Market. He pointed out that the
cloth traders had been operating in the Western Market for more than 20 years,
it would be unreasonable if operators could not continue their operations
because the Western Market was no longer managed by the URA. He hoped
to know the URA’s plan for relocation of cloth traders. He also reiterated that
he objected to the relocation of cloth traders and hoped that they could
continue their business operations in situ.
(e)
Mr Jackie CHEUNG enquired about the opening and leasing arrangements of
G7 Centre in Wing Lee Street Project (Project H19) for community use and the
fees concerned.
(f)
The Chairman said that there were a number of restaurants near Cochrane
Street Sitting-out Area, and suggested that the URA take into account of the
impact of oily fume from restaurants on plant growth at the time of planting.
In addition, he opined that the revitalisation plan for the Central Oasis had been
subject to a bottom-up process and a thorough consultation, therefore the URA
should carry out the revitalisation works on the basis of the plan as far as
- 22 -
possible. He pointed out that strangers had access to a lane near the Cochrane
Street entrance of the Central Oasis from time to time, he suspected that some
street sleepers were living there. He also said that it was easy for pigeons to
fly to the Oasis Gallery because of its open design. Pigeon droppings were
found on seats from time to time which affected hygiene. He suggested the
URA solve the said problem in renovating the Oasis Gallery.
27.
Mr Michael MA of the URA gave a consolidated response as follows:
(a)
Regarding the tenancy agreement of the Western Market, as what he had
explained at previous meetings, the project consultant’s report on the structural
investigation of the Western Market revealed that there was water leakage in
some areas of the tiled roof and the paint was in deteriorating conditions. The
waterproof structure would require replacement in the long run. Accordingly,
the URA applied to the Lands Department (LandsD) for extension of the
tenancy agreement of two years and tried to discuss the removal plan with
cloth traders, so that large-scale rooftop maintenance works could be carried
out at the Western Market. He pointed out that the URA would actively
handle maintenance issues and the problems of operators and traders before the
expiry of the existing tenancy agreement.
(b)
Regarding Peel Street/Graham Street Development Scheme (Project H18), the
URA had reached an agreement with non-fresh food shops earlier for them to
select their removal time among one of the five phases of the project in the
light of their operational needs. Since the land had been returned to the
Government, the Department of Justice (DoJ) represented the LandsD to sue
the last shop operator who had not moved out. In addition, after the land
resumption by the LandsD, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department
(FEHD) would not issue restaurant licence to that shop, which meant the shop
was operating without a licence. Furthermore, he pointed out that as stated in
the contract with the shop, no ex-gratia payment would be made to the shop if
the removal was not completed by 31 March this year. As regards the
recovery of rental fees and other related legal expenses, it would be decided by
the LandsD and the DoJ.
(c)
Regarding the Central Oasis, he said that the project was subject to judicial
review twice. The Buildings Department (BD) only approved the project plan
in August 2014, and the project cost surged in the course of waiting for
approval. He reiterated that the URA would not give up the Central Oasis
revitalisation project and would review the plan to accelerate the
redevelopment progress and report the revised plan to the C&WDC after July.
The URA would consider adopting different measures to prevent pigeons from
flying to the footpath on the second floor to reduce the nuisance caused by
pigeons to passers-by.
(d)
The URA had taken into account the environment of Cochrane Street
Sitting-out Area to select suitable flowers for planting. The LCSD had agreed
and approved the species concerned.
(e)
The opening hours of G7 Centre in Wing Lee Street Project (Project H19)
would be reported at the next C&WDC meeting, the proposed rental fees
- 23 -
would be relatively cheap. In addition, the development plan for Site B
would be submitted to the C&WDC for discussion before consideration by the
Town Planning Board.
28.
The Vice-chairman considered that it was not appropriate for the restaurant in Project
H18 that had not yet moved out to operate without a licence and was concerned about safety
and hygiene issues and requested the FEHD to take follow-up and law enforcement actions.
29.
Mr LIU Chi-wai, District Environmental Hygiene Superintendent (Central/Western)
of the FEHD, said that follow-up actions would be taken after knowing the situation of the
restaurant.
30.
Ms CHENG Lai-king opined that care should be taken in choosing the devices for
frightening away birds to avoid adverse reactions from animal concern groups.
31.
Mr Michael MA of the URA said that low voltage devices would only be one of the
suggestions, the URA would consider other options and select the most suitable device.
32.
The Vice-chairman thanked the representative of the URA for attending the meeting.
Item 5(iii): Conserving Central
(C&W DC Paper No. 53/2015)
(6:05 pm - 6:39 pm)
33.
The Chairman welcomed the representatives of the DEVB and the TD for attending
the meeting.
34.
Mr Ricky WONG, Chief Assistant Secretary (Works) 2 of the DEVB, presented the
contents of the paper as follows:
(a)
The Central Police Station (CPS) Compound revitalisation project was expected to
complete in early 2016 in phases, and opened to the public in the latter half of 2016.
(b)
Since its opening in April 2014 to the end of April 2015, the Transformation of the
Former Police Married Quarters (PMQ) on Hollywood Road project had attracted
over 3.67 million visitors.
(c)
Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui (HKSKH) was reviewing its proposal for the Central
site, including study on the construction of a private hospital. HKSKH was
preparing the details of the revised proposal and consulting the relevant departments,
and expected that a more concrete revised proposal would be completed in July 2015
for consulting the C&WDC.
(d)
The former French Mission Building was expected to be taken over by the DoJ after
relocation of the Court of Final Appeal to the Old Supreme Court Building at 8
Jackson Road, Central in 2015. The DoJ and the departments concerned had taken
forward the preparatory work for the renovation of the building. The DoJ would
brief the C&WDC on the works arrangement when the details became available.
(e)
The renovation works for the East and Main Wings of the former Central
- 24 -
Government Offices (CGO) Complex had commenced in July 2013 and had
substantially been completed in late March 2015. For the works related to the
relocation of the DoJ to the West Wing, the Antiquities Advisory Board (AAB) had
endorsed the heritage impact assessment (HIA) report at its meeting on 4 March
2015. The relevant departments were preparing for the works required and the
target completion time was the end of 2018. The DoJ would brief the C&WDC on
the details of the works in Item 9.
(f)
The LandsD had already approved in December 2014 the Master Layout Plan of
Murray Building submitted by the developer, and building plans submitted by the
developer had also been approved by the BD in February 2015.
35.
Miss Christine AU, Principal Assistant Secretary (Harbour) of the DEVB, said that
as the works associated with the construction of the Central-Wan Chai Bypass were still in
progress at Sites 1 and 2 of the New Central Harbourfront, the long-term development of the
two sites would take some time to materialise.
36.
The Chairman invited Members to express their views. The main points of their
comments were as follows:
(a)
Mr Jackie CHEUNG said that at the fifth meeting of the Working Group on
Concern over the Development of the Central Police Station Compound and
Former Police Married Quarters, Members had discussed whether to retain the
item on the development of former Police Married Quarters on Hollywood
Road. He opined that the current term of the C&WDC was about to end, the
Working Group would only hold one to two more meetings. He therefore
suggested retaining this discussion item for the next term of the C&WDC to
decide whether to remove the item.
(b)
Mr Joseph CHAN was pleased to know that HKSKH would include a private
hospital in the conservation plan to provide more medical services in the C&W
District and hoped that the Administration would confirm the plan soon. In
addition, he was strongly dissatisfied that the DEVB had not been able to
submit the traffic impact assessment (TIA) report for the development of
Murray Building for hotel use. He pointed out that the representative of the
TD had been invited to attend this meeting, but he did not make any response
or give detailed explanations on this issue.
(c)
Mr Sidney LEE hoped that the pricing of services of the private hospital in the
HKSKH’s Compound could be affordable to benefit more people.
(d)
Mr CHAN Choi-hi enquired about the detailed schedule for various projects of
the New Central Harbourfront, and the views of the AAB on the CPS
Compound revitalisation project.
(e)
Mr CHAN Chit-kwai said that he was a member of the Working Group on
Concern over the Development of the Central Police Station Compound and
Former Police Married Quarters. He hoped that the exhibitions or activities
carried out in the compound could blend East and West as well as local art
works. He suggested arranging a site inspection as soon as possible for
- 25 -
Members to understand the project progress. In addition, he said that the
designer of PMQ had obtained a number of international awards recently
which proved that the development direction of PMQ was right. He agreed
that the private hospital under the planning of HKSKH should set the direction
of serving the grassroots and the middle class and hoped that the private
hospital could be built and opened soon. He also enquired whether the
existing Murray Building would need to be demolished for its development for
hotel use.
(f)
Ms CHENG Lai-king hoped that overseas visitors would be attracted to various
projects of Conserving Central after their opening for visiting and exploring the
history of Hong Kong. She was concerned with the area for public use after
the conversion of Murray Building into a hotel. In addition, she was
concerned with the future transport arrangement for the CPS Compound. She
was dissatisfied that the C&WDC did not acquire information on the activities
organised at the harbourfront. For example, recently Lai Yuen said that
activities would be held in the Central Harbourfront, and she only learnt of the
details from newspapers.
(g)
Mr MAN Chi-wah was concerned with the project of footbridge connection
between CPS Compound and Central to Mid-levels escalator and walkway
system, and opined that the footbridge and the CPS Compound should be
commissioned concurrently, otherwise it would be necessary to conduct TIA.
(h)
The Chairman was dissatisfied that the Administration had not consulted or
informed the C&WDC of the large-scale activities held at the harbourfront and
opined that the Administration did not respect the C&WDC and requested the
departments or companies concerned to inform the C&WDC before organising
activities. In addition, he said that the disadvantaged in the district must be
taken into account at the time of organising activities at the harbourfront.
37.
Mr Ricky WONG of the DEVB agreed to discuss the terms of reference of the
Working Group on Concern over the Development of the Central Police Station Compound
and Former Police Married Quarters in the next term of the C&WDC. In addition, HKSKH
planned to send representatives to attend the next meeting to introduce the arrangements for
setting up the private hospital.
38.
Ms Caroline TANG, Assistant Secretary (Planning) 1 of the DEVB, said that the
main body of Murray Building was of conservation value and the building would be
conserved. In addition, she explained that the land lease had stated that an area of no less
than 370 square metres would be used by the public as public open space. Regarding the
traffic review report, she said that in the approval process of the Master Layout Plan, the
LandsD had consulted all the departments concerned according to the established practice and
the traffic review report had been approved by the TD.
39.
Mr Philip LAM, Engineer/Central and Western 2 of the TD, pointed out that based
on the information of the Master Layout Plan, the traffic flow (in pcu/hour) arising from
Murray Building originally for office use would be 125 pcu/hour and 83 pcu/hour for morning
peak and evening peak respectively. After conversion of Murray Building into a hotel, the
figures would be 94 pcu/hour and 96 pcu/hour respectively. He said that the traffic review
- 26 -
report had showed that there was no major difference between the traffic flow before and after
the conversion. Together with parking spaces, loading/unloading facilities, coach parking
spaces and conversion of the driveway near Murray Building as one-way traffic lane, it was
considered in the report that the project would not have significant traffic impact.
40.
Miss Christine AU of the DEVB said that the long-term development of Sites 1 and 2
of the New Central Harbourfront had been mentioned in the Urban Design Study for the New
Central Harbourfront. The construction works of the Central-Wan Chai Bypass were in
progress for the time being, the works were expected to complete in 2017 at the earliest.
Report would be made to the C&WDC if there was any new progress. In addition, to allow
the public to enjoy the New Central Harbourfront as early as possible, the Government had
carried out two short-term projects at some sites in which infrastructure projects were
completed, which were excluded from the Conserving Central project. Since May 2014, the
Government had leased one government site to Central Venue Management Limited (CVM)
on a short-term tenancy for three years. Since then, the company had arranged different
types of activities, including free public activities for public participation in accordance with
the lease agreement. Under the arrangement, a majority of the activities held at the site were
run by private companies, the publicity and promotional schedules of the activities were
decided by the operators. The DEVB could have a discussion with CVM in the hope that
private operators could share the information on the activities concerned with Members as
early as possible.
41.
Mr Ricky WONG of the DEVB responded that the HIA on the CGO Complex had
been approved. The representative of the DoJ would give a detailed explanation to Members
in Item 9. In addition, he said that the opening hours of CPS Compound had been reported
at the Working Group meeting, the entrances of the project would be located at two zones, the
opening hours of the upper zone and the lower zone would be 7:00 am to 11:00 pm and 7:00
am to 12:00 midnight respectively. He also pointed out that when CPS Compound was
opened in the latter half of 2016, footbridge connecting between the Compound and Central
to Mid-levels escalator and walkway system had not been completed according to the project
schedule, therefore he suggested the public use the enhanced crossing facilities nearby to
access the Compound during the transitional period. Finally, he said that the Administration
had contacted and discussed with the Police about the crowd management arrangements for
large-scale activities concurrently held at PMQ and CPS Compound.
42.
Miss Leonie LEE, Assistant Secretary (Heritage Conservation) 3 of the DEVB, said
that the DEVB had planned to report the latest progress of HKSKH’s Compound at the next
meeting. In addition, the DEVB would relay the views of Members to HKSKH so that
HKSKH could make reference to the charging patterns and levels of private hospitals which
were more affordable when setting up its private hospital.
43.
Mr Joseph CHAN pointed out that he had repeatedly requested the department to
submit the TIA report on the development of Murray Building for hotel use over the years, but
the department did not respond to his requests. He requested the Government to explain
which department would be responsible for preparing the TIA report and the time for
conducting TIA. In addition, he was discontented with the simple observation and data of
the department, and he expressed deep regret that the TD had not considered the difference in
vehicular traffic flows between an office and a hotel in conducting traffic assessment. He
reiterated that after the conversion of Murray Building into a hotel, the time periods and
directions for entering and leaving the hotel by patrons would be identical to those of the
- 27 -
Mid-levels residents, the increase in vehicular traffic flow arising from the hotel project
would create a heavy burden on the traffic nearby. He did not understand why the
department considered that the project would not have any negative impact on the traffic
nearby and opined that the department should submit the TIA report to the C&WDC for
discussion as a detailed traffic review report had been completed by the department. Finally,
he was extremely discontented with the passive attitude of the department and pointed out that
if any traffic problems arose after project commissioning, the DEVB and the TD should be
held responsible.
44.
Ms Caroline TANG of the DEVB said that the traffic review report had been
submitted by the consultant of the project developer. Due to copyright issues, the report
could only be forwarded to the C&WDC for inspection after seeking the consent of the report
provider, but the representative of the TD in attendance would explain and give an account of
the contents of the report to Members.
(Post-meeting note: The DEVB reported that after the LandsD had consulted the developer,
the developer had agreed to forward the traffic review report for the
project to the C&WDC for inspection. The DEVB had submitted to the
C&WDC the traffic review report as well as the written response on
vehicular traffic flow for developing Murray Building as a hotel on 17
June 2015.)
45.
Mr Philip LAM of the TD said that vehicular traffic flow arising from the project had
been considered for assessing the traffic impact of the project. He gave an example that the
vehicular traffic flow for offices would be assessed based on office areas, while the vehicular
traffic flow for the project would be calculated based on the number of rooms in the hotel.
The District Land Office had circulated the Master Layout Plan submitted by the developer
and the appended traffic review report to the relevant department for perusal the year before.
With reference to the vehicular traffic flow ratio for project assessment in the Transport
Planning and Design Manual, the TD opined that the vehicular traffic flow arising from the
conversion of the building for hotel use would be similar to that of the building for office use
before, which would not give rise to traffic problems. In addition, he pointed out that the
driveway near the project would be converted to one-way traffic lane with a width of six
metres, and considered that there would not be any significant impact on the traffic.
46.
Mr Joseph CHAN expressed his strong dissatisfaction over the TD’s response as
though it was squeezing toothpaste out of a tube and its failure in submitting the report after
repeated requests. At the same time, he opined that the TD had not directly responded to the
problem. He emphasised that the vehicular traffic flows of Cotton Tree Drive uphill bound
and Garden Road downhill bound would be affected if Murray Building was converted into a
hotel, rather than the traffic at Murray Road. He hoped that the TD could make direct
response to the question.
47.
Mr HUI Chi-fung strongly criticised that the TD had still not submitted the document
after repeated requests by Members and provided information as though it was squeezing
toothpaste out of a tube.
48.
The Chairman said that Mr Joseph CHAN had indeed repeatedly requested the TD to
submit the document and expressed his dissatisfaction over the TD’s response to the requests
or questions of Members in a way as though it was squeezing toothpaste out of a tube. He
- 28 -
requested the DEVB to provide a written response on the vehicular traffic flow for the
development of Murray Building into a hotel, and requested the DEVB to submit the
document before the next C&WDC meeting.
49.
The Chairman thanked the representatives of the DEVB and the TD for attending the
meeting.
Item 6:
(6:39 pm)
50.
Chairman’s Report
The Chairman had nothing to report.
Item 7:
Confirmation of the Minutes of the Eighteenth C&WDC Meeting Held on 19
March 2015
(6:39 pm - 6:40 pm)
51.
The Chairman said that the Secretariat had sent the draft minutes of the eighteenth
C&WDC meeting to Members on 5 May 2015 by e-mail, and had emailed and tabled the
amendment proposals made by Mr Joseph CHAN together with the third batch of papers for
Members’ perusal.
52.
Members had no comments on the draft of the amended minutes and the Chairman
declared that the minutes were confirmed.
Item 8:
Action Checklist on Matters Arising from the Last Meeting
(C&W DC Paper No. 54/2015)
(6:40 pm)
53.
The Chairman asked Members to refer to the checklist for the progress of follow-up
of different items.
Discussion Items
Item 9:
Renovation Works for the West Wing of the Former Central Government
Offices for Office Use by the Department of Justice and Law-related
Organisations
(C&W DC Paper No. 55/2015)
(6:40 pm - 7:28 pm)
54.
The Chairman welcomed the representatives of the DoJ, the ArchSD and the Ronald
Lu & Partners to the meeting.
55.
Ms Josephine CHEUNG, Principal Executive Officer (Special Duties) of the DoJ,
said that the Government had decided in December 2012 to adopt the proposal of re-using the
West Wing of the former CGO and preserve and renovate the main body of the West Wing for
use by the DoJ to accommodate its offices that cannot be relocated to the Main and East
- 29 -
Wings of the CGO, as well as for use by law-related organisations. The project was in the
stage of detailed design.
56.
Mr Glenn LAU of the Ronald Lu & Partners gave a PowerPoint presentation to
introduce the works project as follows:
(a)
The scope of the project mainly included renovation and improvement of the
West Wing of the CGO for office use by the DoJ and law-related organisations,
preservation and restoration of the character-defining elements with heritage
value as far as possible, improvement of internal layout and provision of
accessible facilities so that the building could comply with the prevailing
architectural requirements.
(b)
The Antiquities Advisory Board (AAB) had accorded Grade 1 status to the
Main, East and West Wings of the CGO on 17 December 2012. The
renovation works for the Main and East Wings had substantially been
completed. Some offices of the DoJ were expected to move in at around the
third quarter of 2015. The HIA for the West Wing had been submitted to the
AAB for discussion at its meeting on 4 March 2015 and the AAB generally
supported the assessment results.
(c)
The project was generally divided into four parts: (1) conservation works, i.e.
preservation, repair and restoration of character-defining elements of the
building; (2) restoration works, i.e. demolition of obsolete facilities which were
inconsistent with the proposed use or project objectives in order to reinstate the
original design intent of the building; (3) conversion works for complying with
statutory requirements, operational needs and prevailing standards; and (4)
enhancement works for site planning and public access to the open compound.
(d)
The DoJ would withhold the lowering of the fences and removal of the gates
on the site of the Main and East Wings project, as well as the West Wing
project. The DoJ would revisit the arrangements for the gates and fences in
the three wings of the CGO when the planning of the open compound between
the Main Wing and the West Wing was taken forward.
57.
The Chairman invited Members to raise enquiries and express their views. Their
comments were summarised as follows:
(a)
Mr CHEUNG Kwok-kwan enquired which law-related organisations would
use the West Wing of the CGO after project completion, as well as allocation of
the areas to be occupied by these organisations. He also showed his concern
over the cost estimates of the project.
(b)
Mr HUI Chi-fung opined that the fences enclosing the Government Hill should
be removed to improve the accessibility to the CGO Complex.
(c)
Mr MAN Chi-wah enquired which law-related organisations would use the
West Wing, and whether other non-governmental organisations could use the
West Wing. He was also concerned about project estimates. In addition, he
hoped that the DoJ could provide the fees for structural strengthening and
maintenance.
- 30 -
58.
(d)
Mr CHAN Choi-hi enquired whether it was necessary to demolish the lift
tower added in 1998. In addition, he asked whether the capacity of roof tanks
had complied with the requirements of the prevailing Fire Services Ordinance.
He enquired whether the fences could be used for vertical greening and hoped
that the project could be completed and opened for use as soon as possible.
(e)
Mr CHAN Chit-kwai suggested that the carriageway at Ice House Street close
to the West Wing of the CGO could also be widened along with the project in
order to improve traffic. He enquired whether the access to the 7th floor from
the entrance at Queen’s Road Central would be opened for public use.
(f)
Ms CHENG Lai-king agreed to remove the alterations to restore the original
appearance of the West Wing of the CGO. She also criticised the Government
of the additions in the first place. She enquired about the exact location of the
public space and whether it would be opened round the clock. She said that
no fences and gates were available outside the complex in early days. She
hoped that the fences could be removed and the public space could be opened
for public use, so that it was easier for the public could go to Central from the
Mid-levels. She also enquired about the future arrangement for the carpark.
(g)
The Vice-chairman enquired about the standards for preservation or removal of
facilities. He suggested preserving the whole building completely as far as
possible under the current social atmosphere to avoid arousing public concerns
and reactions.
(h)
The Chairman was concerned about the costs involved in the preservation of
the West Wing of the CGO and its future repair and maintenance fees.
Ms CHEUNG of the DoJ responded as follows:
(a)
The law-related organisations mentioned in the paper mainly included the
organisations which provided arbitration, mediation and other dispute
resolution services and law-related services, involving international, regional
and local organisations. This arrangement was in tandem with the policy
objective of enhancing Hong Kong’s status as the legal hub in the Asia-Pacific
region set out in the Policy Addresses in 2013 and 2014.
(b)
The usable areas of the West Wing of the CGO had yet to be confirmed. It
was preliminarily estimated that an area of about 3,000 square metres would be
used as the offices for law-related organisations.
(c)
The Administration realised the importance of the public access at Lower
Albert Road to Battery Path. The DoJ would revisit whether the fences would
be removed when the planning of the open compound between the Main Wing
and the West Wing was taken forward. It would assess the convenience of
public access and the security of the offices in the three wings.
(d)
The consultant was still working out the project estimates. After the
confirmation of the estimates, the DoJ would apply for funding approval from
the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council (LegCo). She pointed out
- 31 -
that the procedure and time required for this renovation project were similar to
those for new construction projects due to considerable preparation and
processes as well as the conservation elements involved. The project was
expected to complete in around early 2018.
(e)
A lift would be constructed at the lobby entrance at Queen’s Road Central for
public use to allow the public to take a lift to the 7th floor of the West Wing
directly and go to the open compound between the Main Wing and the West
Wing through the public corridor.
(f)
The carpark on the 6th floor of the West Wing would serve the staff of the
offices of the DoJ and would not be opened to the public. In the project, a
two-way carriageway would be provided at the carpark for vehicles to access
the vicinity of Lower Albert Road and St. John’s Cathedral in order to reduce
the traffic at the open compound.
59.
Mr LAU of the Ronald Lu & Partners responded that the independent conservation
consultant appointed by the Government had made the conservation and renovation project
plan after discussion with the AAB. He said that the AAB supported the restoration of the
original appearance of the building as far as possible. Since the lift tower at the east end of
the 7th floor of the West Wing was constructed in 1998, which restricted the north-south views
between the Main Wing and the West Wing and made it difficult to make effective planning of
the surrounding space, therefore it was proposed to demolish the structure. Regarding
mechanical facilities, the air-conditioning system would be installed at the rooftop while fire
safety and electricity facilities would be installed on the 6th floor. In addition, the granite
facade at the bottom of the building near Ice House Street and the entrance for the former
Treasury would be preserved due to historical value, it was not possible to widen Ice House
Street. Finally, if it was decided that some fences would be preserved, the Member’s
suggestion would be taken into account to make use of the fences for vertical greening.
Since the original appearance would be affected by vertical greening on the facade of the
building, which did not conform to the conservation principle of the AAB, vertical greening
on the facade of the building was not recommended.
60.
Ms Teresa LEUNG, Senior Project Manager of the ArchSD, supplemented that
building structure nowadays was safe in general and the building had long been use as offices.
The expenses for structural works mainly served the purpose of compliance with the
prevailing architectural and fire safety standards, such as the new fire escapes included in the
project. The expenses involved would not be substantial.
61.
Ms CHENG Lai-king enquired whether the public toilet over Ice House Street would
be retained, and whether the canteen would be reprovisioned on the 7th floor of the West
Wing.
62.
The Vice-chairman opined that the expectations of the public and the media on
heritage conservation were often substantially different from the recommendations of the
AAB, the AAB would give in to public opinions in the end. He queried whether following
the recommendations of the consultant and the AAB currently could meet public expectations.
He said that fences had formed his collective memory, he would be dissatisfied if the fences
were removed. He suggested not making any alterations to preserve the building.
63.
Ms CHEUNG of the DoJ responded that as far as she knew, the conservation
- 32 -
consultant had adopted an objective standard in making the recommendation. The proposed
project would adopt the principle of minimum intervention, mainly to ensure that the building
would comply with the relevant standards and be suitable for office use. Alterations to the
original building would be minimised to balance actual needs and conservation principle as
far as possible. In addition, she said that the public toilet at Ice House Street was not part of
the project. Furthermore, under prevailing Government regulations, no canteen would be
provided at government offices generally unless under exceptional circumstances.
Accordingly, the canteen would not be reprovisioned in the West Wing of the CGO and the
original canteen on the 7th floor would be converted into office space and public corridor.
64.
The Chairman said that members of the public would be concerned with renovation
and repair costs. He hoped that the Administration could disclose the estimates in due
course.
65.
The Chairman thanked the representatives of the DoJ, the ArchSD and the Ronald Lu
& Partners for attending the meeting.
Election of the Chief Executive through “One Person, One Vote”
(C&W DC Paper No. 63/2015)
(7:28 pm - 7:44 pm)
Item 10:
66.
The Chairman said that the representative of the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs
Bureau (CMAB) could not attend this meeting due to other official commitments. The
CMAB had submitted a written response to the paper.
67.
The Chairman invited Members to express their views. The main points of their
comments were as follows:
(a)
Mr CHAN Chit-kwai said that democracy could not be achieved overnight.
He opined that the proposed package put forth by the Government for Hong
Kong people to select the Chief Executive (CE) by universal suffrage was a
great leap forward. He said that the package was supported by a majority of
people and hoped that the LegCo would not impede the exercise of the civil
right of universal suffrage for the selection of the CE.
(b)
Ms CHENG Lai-king said that the community had all along been requesting
dual universal suffrage since the return of Hong Kong to China, which meant
voters could select LegCo Members and the CE by universal suffrage on a
“one person, one vote” basis. However, the current package only allowed the
public to cast votes to the hand-picked candidates, rather than genuinely
allowing the public to have the rights to nominate candidates for election, to
stand for election, to vote and to be voted. She said that the five million
voters included in the publicity of the constitutional reform package only
referred to five million permanent residents, rather than eligible voters.
Finally, she hoped that Members could practically consider the amended
motion she proposed.
(c)
The Vice-chairman said that it was difficult to conclude whether there was
genuine universal suffrage or not and opined that it was a pseudo-proposition.
He quoted an example that voters in a democratic country such as the United
- 33 -
Kingdom could not nominate candidates for the Prime Minister. If the
definition of the pan-democrats was adopted, the elections in the United
Kingdom could only be considered as fake universal suffrage. If Hong Kong
people could select the head of Hong Kong through “one person, one vote”,
Hong Kong had already been a step ahead of the United Kingdom. He also
said that in the US electoral system, candidates with fewer votes could be
elected. In addition, he opined that different voices and views should be
encompassed in democracy instead of insisting on one’s own views, and public
sentiment must be taken into account to make a suitable choice. He hoped
that the pan-democrats could support the constitutional reform package so that
five million eligible voters could vote for the CE.
(d)
Mr CHEUNG Kwok-kwan supported the proposed package put forth by the
Government and opined that the public were allowed to select the CE through
“one person, one vote” under the package, which was an advancement of the
existing system. He hoped that those opposed to the package could support
the package in the first place even though they had a higher requirement on the
constitutional reform package in order to take an important step forward.
Otherwise, if the constitutional reform package was vetoed, it was uncertain
when there could be a step forward.
(e)
Mr Jackie CHEUNG indicated his support to the original motion and to
endorse the constitutional reform package put forth by the Government. He
said that the package was not perfect, but the universal suffrage for CE election
through “one person, one vote” could make history. He said that some
politicians opined that harms would outweigh benefits if the current package
was accepted, but members of the public currently had no opportunity to enjoy
universal suffrage, not to mention success or failure. In addition, there was a
lack of civic nomination in the current package, but if the CE elected could not
gain the confidence of the public, the public could veto the re-election of the
unqualified CE. However, the pan-democrats did not explain this point to the
public. He hoped that the pan-democrats could give due consideration and
support to the package in order not to waste time.
(f)
The Chairman supported the package put forth by the Government and
considered it constitutional, fair, reasonable and lawful. He hoped that people
with different political views could put aside the differences and support the
package so that five million eligible voters could select the CE through “one
person, one vote”.
68.
The Chairman asked Members to vote on the amended motion.
following amended motion was rejected.
After voting, the
Amended motion: “The C&WDC supported the Government of the Hong Kong
Special Administrative Region to seek “genuine universal suffrage”
package from the Central People’s Government according to the
“Basic Law” and strive for the rights of the permanent residents of
the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to nominate
candidates for election, to stand for election, to vote and to be
voted in that five million eligible voters could “genuinely elect”
the next Chief Executive through “one person, one vote” in 2017.”
(Proposed by Ms CHENG Lai-king and seconded by Mr WONG Kin-shing)
- 34 -
(4 Members voted for the motion: Mr KAM Nai-wai (authorised Ms CHENG
Lai-king to vote on his behalf), Ms CHENG
Lai-king, Mr HUI Chi-fung (authorised Ms
CHENG Lai-king to vote on his behalf), and Mr
WONG Kin-shing (authorised Ms CHENG
Lai-king to vote on his behalf))
(14 Members voted against the motion: Mr YIP Wing-shing, Mr CHAN Hok-fung,
Mr IP Kwok-him (authorised Mr CHAN
Hok-fung to vote on his behalf), Mr CHAN
Chit-kwai, Mr CHAN Choi-hi, Mr Sidney
LEE, Mr MAN Chi-wah, Miss LO
Yee-hang, Mr Joseph CHAN, Ms SIU
Ka-yi, Dr Malcolm LAM (authorised Mr
CHEUNG Kwok-kwan to vote on his
behalf), Mr Jackie CHEUNG, Mr
CHEUNG Kwok-kwan and Mr Thomas NG
(authorised Mr Jackie CHEUNG to vote on
his behalf))
(No Member abstained from voting)
69.
The Chairman asked Members to vote on the following motion.
motion was passed.
After voting, the
Motion: “The C&WDC supported the “Consultation Report and Proposals on the
Method for Selecting the Chief Executive (CE) by Universal Suffrage”
prepared by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative
Region according to the “Basic Law” and the “Decision” of the Standing
Committee of the National People’s Congress in that five million eligible
voters could elect the next CE through “one person, one vote” in 2017.”
(Proposed by Mr CHAN Hok-fung and seconded by Mr IP Kwok-him)
(14 Members voted for the motion:
Mr YIP Wing-shing, Mr CHAN Hok-fung, Mr
IP Kwok-him (authorised Mr CHAN
Hok-fung to vote on his behalf), Mr CHAN
Chit-kwai, Mr CHAN Choi-hi, Mr Sidney
LEE, Mr MAN Chi-wah, Miss LO Yee-hang,
Mr Joseph CHAN, Ms SIU Ka-yi, Dr Malcolm
LAM (authorised Mr CHEUNG Kwok-kwan
to vote on his behalf), Mr Jackie CHEUNG,
Mr CHEUNG Kwok-kwan and Mr Thomas
NG (authorised Mr Jackie CHEUNG to vote
on his behalf))
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(4 Members voted against the motion:
Mr KAM Nai-wai (authorised Ms CHENG
Lai-king to vote on his behalf), Ms CHENG
Lai-king, Mr HUI Chi-fung (authorised Ms
CHENG Lai-king to vote on his behalf),
and Mr WONG Kin-shing (authorised Ms
CHENG Lai-king to vote on his behalf))
(No Member abstained from voting)
Item 11:
(7:44 pm)
Members’ Written Reports
70.
The Chairman said that the District Fight Crime Committee (Central and Western
District) had held its 1st meeting (2015-2016) on 15 April 2015 and would hold its 2nd meeting
(2015-2016) on 10 July 2015.
71.
Members had nothing to add.
Item 12:
Work Reports of the Committees under C&WDC
(7:44 pm - 7:45 pm)
72.
The Chairman asked Members to note the contents of the following papers:
(a)
Cultural, Leisure and Social Affairs Committee
(C&W DC Paper No. 56/2015)
(b)
District Facilities Management Committee
(C&W DC Paper No. 57/2015)
(c)
Finance Committee
(C&W DC Paper No. 58/2015)
(d)
Food, Environment, Hygiene and Works Committee
(C&W DC Paper No. 59/2015)
(e)
Traffic and Transport Committee
(C&W DC Paper No. 60/2015)
Item 13:
(7:45 pm)
Reports of the Working Groups under C&WDC (2014-15)
73.
The Chairman referred Members to the papers.
groups had nothing to add.
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The chairmen of the working
Item 14:
Report on the 194th Meeting of the Central & Western District
Management Committee
(C&W DC Paper No. 61/2015)
(7:45 pm)
74.
The Chairman referred Members to the paper.
Item 15:
Reports on the Meetings of the Area Committees of the Central & Western
District
(C&W DC Paper No. 62/2015)
(7:45 pm)
75.
The Chairman referred Members to the paper.
Item 16:
(7:45 pm)
76.
Any Other Business
There was no other business.
Item 17:
(7:45 pm)
Date of the Next Meeting
77.
The Chairman announced that the twentieth meeting would be held on 9 July 2015.
The paper submission deadline for government departments was 17 June 2015, while the
paper submission deadline for Members was 23 June 2015.
78.
The Chairman declared the meeting closed and thanked the guests and Members for
attending the meeting. The meeting was adjourned at 7:45 pm.
The minutes were
confirmed on 9 July 2015
Chairman:
Mr YIP Wing-shing
Secretary:
Ms WONG Ming-wai
Central and Western District Council Secretariat
July 2015
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