Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ3: Improving existing public markets and hawker control
Following is a question by the Dr Hon Cheng Chung-tai and a reply by the
Secretary for Food and Health, Professor Sophia Chan, in the Legislative Council
today (October 25):
Question:
Some public rental housing (PRH) residents have complained that as Link Asset
Management Limited (the Link) has incessantly raised substantially the rents
charged to the shop operators of the shopping centres and markets in public
housing estates under its management in recent years, small businesses have been
replaced one after another by shops run by chain groups, resulting in higher
commodity prices and fewer shopping choices for them. On the other hand, in a
radio programme during her election campaign in February this year, the
incumbent Chief Executive indicated that as the Link was an organisation
operated on fully commercial terms, the Government had no intervention point and
could only propose to redevelop public markets, with a view to providing more
shopping choices for PRH residents. In this connection, will the Government
inform this Council:
(1) of the list of the public markets the redevelopment of which are being
studied and those which have been confirmed; and
(2) whether it will consider relaxing the hawker management policy to enable
hawkers trading in districts near the shopping centres managed by the Link to
have more room for survival so as to provide more shopping choices for PRH
residents; if not, of the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
On the 11th of this month, the Chief Executive (CE) delivered The Chief
Executive's 2017 Policy Address. In her speech to the Legislative Council (LegCo)
that day, the CE clearly stated that the Government would resume the
construction of new public markets to offer wider choices of fresh provisions to
the public, and improve the facilities and management of existing public
markets, including expediting the installation of air conditioners. My reply to
the various parts of the question raised by the Dr Hon Cheng Chung-tai is as
follows:
(1) Based on the new thinking on governance focused on bringing convenience and
benefits to the public, the Government will make available resources for
building new public markets in Tung Chung, Tin Shui Wai and Hung Shui Kiu. The
Government will also study the need and feasibility of providing new public
markets in districts where relevant facilities are alleged to be insufficient.
In planning for new development areas in the future, the Government will
consider the need to include public markets as part of the infrastructure. The
factors to be taken into account include the planning standards for public
markets in the Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines, such as the
population and demographic mix of the area; community needs; the availability of
market facilities and the number of fresh provision retail outlets in the
vicinity; the geographical location, existing and planned uses, and usable area
of potential sites; and ancillary transport facilities nearby, in order to
ensure that, upon completion, the markets will be of a substantial scale and
viability and that public finances and land resources can be optimised.
Regarding existing public markets, the Government will conduct a comprehensive
review and formulate specific improvement measures for both the facilities and
their management in a systematic manner. As far as the hardware is concerned,
the Government will allocate resources to improve the environment of existing
public markets. One of the measures is to expedite the installation of
air-conditioners, including the retrofitting of air-conditioning facilities for
the 11 public markets which have obtained sufficient tenants' consent (a list of
the 11 public markets is at Appendix).
To take forward the above work, the Government will form a dedicated team, to be
led by a directorate officer at the rank of Administrative Officer Staff Grade
C, to conduct a comprehensive review of public markets and formulate concrete
measures in a systematic manner to improve the facilities and management of
public markets, and to consider adopting new approaches to their construction,
design and modus operandi when resuming the construction of new public markets.
The review will cover the positioning of public markets, distribution of
existing and new markets, management mode and structure, rental adjustment
mechanism, hardware improvement and ways to handle markets with relatively low
patronage, etc.
(2) If the hawking locations near the shopping centres of the Link are within
public housing estates or the property management boundaries of the Link, the
authority and responsibility for hawker control will rest with either the
Housing Department (HD) or the property management company concerned. As far as
HD is concerned, in general, if hawkers are hawking in public housing estates
under the Housing Authority (HA), HD or the relevant property management
companies are responsible for hawker control therein. Hawkers hawking within
public housing estate areas give rise to environmental hygiene, noise nuisance
and pedestrian safety problems, and will cause inconvenience to nearby residents
and other persons, as well as generate complaints. Therefore, HD has to
discharge the duties of property management and exercise the authority delegated
to HD officers by the Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene according to
the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance (Cap. 132) and its subsidiary
legislation, in order to take control measures over hawking activities carried
out within the public housing estate areas of HA.
The hawker control in public areas outside housing estates is undertaken by the
Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD). FEHD has been managing
on-street hawking using a pragmatic approach with a view to maintaining
environmental hygiene and food safety while safeguarding public safety and
preventing nuisances arising from hawking activities. Generally speaking, except
for the sale of prohibited/restricted or cooked food, and hawking in major
thoroughfares, areas of high pedestrian flow (such as pedestrian precincts, Mass
Transit Railway entrances/exits, bus terminals and ferry concourses, heavily
used footbridges, overseas workers rendezvous and tourist spots) and places
under substantiated and repeated complaints of hawking activities, FEHD will
adopt the "disperse or else we would arrest" tactic to achieve the objective of
hawker management operations.
Ends/Wednesday, October 25, 2017
Issued at HKT 16:25
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LCQ3 Appendix