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Minutes of the 6th Meeting ofFood, Environment, Hygiene & Works Committee (2018-2019)

Central and Western District Council

Date : 17 January 2019

Time : 2:32 pm

Venue : Conference Room 14/F, Harbour Building 38 Pier Road, Central, Hong Kong

Present:ChairmanMr YEUNG Hok-ming*

Vice-chairmanMr YOUNG Chit-on, Jeremy*

MembersMr CHAN Chit-kwai, Stephen, BBS, JP (2:47 pm – 6:46 pm)Mr CHAN Choi-hi, MH, JP (Beginning of the meeting – 3:49 pm)Mr CHAN Hok-fung, MH, JP*Ms CHENG Lai-king (2:55 pm – end of the meeting)Mr HUI Chi-fung (Beginning of the meeting – 3:45 pm)Mr KAM Nai-wai, MH (3:10 pm – end of the meeting)Mr LEE Chi-hang, Sidney, MH (2:40 pm – 4:12 pm; 5:35 pm – end of the meeting)Miss LO Yee-hang, MH (2:36 pm – end of the meeting)Ms NG Hoi-yan, Bonnie*Mr NG Siu-hong (2:41 pm – end of the meeting)Mr YEUNG Hoi-wing*Mr YIP Wing-shing, SBS, MH, JP (Beginning of the meeting – 6:12 pm)

Co-opted MembersMr LAU Tin-ching, Timothy*Mr LUI Hung-pan*Mr NG Wing-yan, MH (4:52 pm – 6:17 pm)Mr SHIH Jan Noel*Ms WONG Mi-hing, Shirley*

Remarks: * Members who attended the whole meeting ( ) Time of attendance of Members

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Guests

Item 5 (i):

Mr NGAI Chi-choy Buildings Department Building Surveyor/Slope Safety 2

Item 5 (ii):

Mr LEE Tze-wah Food and Environmental Hygiene Department

District Environmental Hygiene Superintendent (Central/Western)

Item 6:

Ms Rhonda LO Food and Environmental Hygiene Department

Coordinator (Hawker Assistance Scheme)

Ms CHEUNG Wai-yee, Jenny

Food and Environmental Hygiene Department

Superintendent (Hawker)

Item 7:

Mr LAU Chi-ming Water Supplies Department Senior Engineer/Project Management 5

Mr CHAN Man-tai Water Supplies Department Project Coordinator/Project Management 16

Mr LEE Cho-yin, Jason Water Supplies Department Engineer/Water Loss Management 2

Mr MA Hok-chi, Frankie Black & Veatch Hong Kong Limited

Principal Engineer

Ms LIM Ting-jin, Jin Black & Veatch Hong Kong Limited

Resident Engineer

Mr TSE Tsz-kin, Keith Black & Veatch Hong Kong Limited

Project Engineer

Item 8:

Mr CHAN Chak-wing, Esmond

Highways Department District Engineer/West

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Item 9:



Ms YIP Wai-sze Hong Kong Police Force Acting Assistant Police Community Relations Officer (Central District)

Ms TO Lai-shan Hong Kong Police Force Neighborhood Police Co-ordinator (Central District)

Mr MAN Chi-chiu, Eric Central and Western District Office

Executive Officer (District Management) 1

Item 10:

Mr LAU Wai-leung Water Supplies Department Senior Engineer/Hong Kong (2)

Mr SO Chi-him Water Supplies Department Engineer/Hong Kong (D2)





Item 11:



Item 12:

Mr WONG Man-wang Drainage Services Department

Engineer/West 1



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Item 13:



Item 14:



Item 15:

Mr LAU Wai-leung Water Supplies Department Senior Engineer/Hong Kong (2)

Mr SO Chi-him Water Supplies Department Engineer/Hong Kong (D2)

Mr WONG Man-wang Drainage Services Department

Engineer/West 1



Item 16:



Item 17:

Mr LEE Ka-chun, Chris Electrical and Mechanical Services Department

Engineer/Transport Services 1/6

In Attendance

Mrs WONG HO Wing-sze, Susanne, JP

Central And Western District Office

District Officer (Central and Western)

Ms WONG Suet-yi, Penny Central and Western District Office

Assistant District Officer (Central and Western)

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Mr MAN Chi-chiu, Eric Central and Western District Office

Executive Officer (District Management) 1

Mr CHEUNG Hiu-wai, George

Buildings Department Senior Building Surveyor/A3





Mr CHAN Wai-man Hong Kong Police Force Assistant Police Community Relations Officer (Western District)

Mr FUNG Chi-wai, Victor Hong Kong Police Force Neighbourhood Police Co-ordinator (Western District)



Ms CHAN Miu-ling Leisure and Cultural Services Department

Deputy District Leisure Manager (Central and Western) 2

Ms TSE Wing-heng, Vivian Civil Engineering and Development Department

Engineer/15 (South)

Mr CHIU Chi-chung Environmental Protection Department

Senior Environmental Protection Officer (Regional South) 1

Mr CHEUNG Chun-kee Lands Department Senior Estate Surveyor/West (District Lands Office, Hong Kong West and South)

Secretary

Ms CHENG Cheuk-yan, Charmaine

Central and Western District Office

Executive Officer (District Council) 3

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Absent with Apologies:

Mr CHEUNG Kwok-kwan, JP

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Opening remarks

1. The C hairman welcomed Members and representatives of government departments to the 6th Meeting of the Food, Environment, Hygiene & Works Committee (FEHWC) (2018/19).

2. On behalf of the FEHWC, the C hairman extended his welcome to Ms TSE Wing-heng, Engineer/15 (South) of the Civil Engineering and Development Department, who stood in for Mr WONG Chi-leung.

Item 1 - Adoption of the agenda(2:33 pm)

3. Members had no comment on the agenda. The agenda was adopted.

Item 2 - Confirmation of the minutes of the 5th FEHWC meeting held on 25 October 2018(2:33 pm)

4. The Chairman indicated that no proposed amendments to the draft minutes of the 5th meeting had been received from Members prior to the meeting. As Members did not propose any amendments to the draft minutes of the meeting, the Chairman declared that the minutes were confirmed.

Item 3 – Action checklist on matters arising from the last meeting (C&W FEHWC Paper No. 16/2019)

(2:33 pm to 2:34 pm)

5. The Chairman invited Members to note the contents of the Paper.

Item 4 – Chairman’s report and working group reports(2:34 pm to 2:35 pm)

6. The Chairman said that the Secretariat had already circulated the following information papers to Members for perusal earlier on:

No. Title of Paper Circulation Date85/2018 Food and Environmental Hygiene Department – Progress

Report on Small Scale District Works in Central/Western District

17 December 2018

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14/2019 Food and Environmental Hygiene Department – First Phase of Anti-rodent Campaign 2019 in Central & Western District

10 January 2019

15/2019 Food and Environmental Hygiene Department –Central/Western District 2019 Year-end Clean-up

10 January 2019

18/2019 Food and Environmental Hygiene Department – Anti-mosquito Campaign 2019 (Phase I) in Central & Western District

10 January 2019

7. The Chairman said that the reports of the working groups had been forwarded to Members together with the second batch of papers on 9 January.

Item 5(i) – Standing item – Leaking drains at Sands Street(C&W FEHWC Paper No. 3/2019)

(2:35 pm to 2:43 pm)

8. Mr NGAI Chi-choy, Building Surveyor/Slope Safety (2) of the Buildings Department (BD), reported to the Committee on the progress of the follow-up action taken by the BD regarding the leaking drains at Sands Street. He said that preparations for the maintenance works had already commenced. As the Chinese New Year was drawing near, the BD planned to launch the Phase 1 works between February and March after communicating with the consultant company, contractor and residents nearby. The works would mainly focus on the location where leakage problem was most serious, i.e. around the rear lane of Axeford Villa.

9. The Chairman invited Members to express their views and raise questions on the issue. The main points made by Members were as follows:

(a) Mr YIP Wing-shing asked the BD the tentative completion time of the works. He pointed out that the footpath on the site was quite narrow. He worried that if a litter container (LC) was placed there, it would lead to accumulation of refuse on the site.

(b) Mr CHAN Hok-fung wanted to know the arrangements regarding the footpath during the works period.

10. Mr NGAI Chi-choy of the BD responded to Members’ enquiry on the progress of the project, saying that the works period estimated by the Department in August 2018 was 289 days. He added that due to the close proximity of the works site to the slope, the Department decided to carry out the works in phases after consulting geotechnical engineers. Regarding Members’ concern over the narrow footpath, he said that currently the bamboo scaffold used for building maintenance of

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Axeford Villa had taken up the footpath space. After consultation, the BD had arranged to commence works after Axeford Villa completed its maintenance project. Works carried out by the BD would occupy part of the footpath, but the contractor would reserve sufficient space to enable wheelchairs and strollers to pass. Prior to the commencement of works, the BD would submit application to the Transport Department (TD) for fencing off the works site with hoardings.

11. The Chairman asked the BD when the works period would begin and end.

12. Mr NGAI Chi-choy of the BD responded that the works period referred to the time required for the entire project. Assuming that the works commenced in February or March as scheduled, the time required would be 289 days counting from the commencement of the works.

13. The Chairman asked the BD whether the works period was calculated in terms of working day.

14. Mr NGAI Chi-choy of the BD responded that the works period was calculated in terms of calendar day.

15. The Chairman invited Members to express their views and raise questions on the issue. Mr CHAN Choi-hi asked whether the BD could provide a timetable about the various phases of the works and whether the Department would consider using truss-out scaffolding to reduce the duration of road closure.

16. Mr NGAI Chi-choy of the BD responded that the BD would provide the timetable later for Members’ reference. Regarding Mr CHAN Choi-hi’s proposal of using truss-out scaffolding for works implementation, he said that the works mainly involved using excavation method to replace the underground drains at the rear lane of Axeford Villa, and the cement and building materials would be transported via Rock Hill Street, hence part of the footpath would be occupied in the course the works. However, the Department would adopt the principle of causing no obstruction to pedestrian and strive to minimise the adverse effect.

17. The Chairman hoped that the BD would provide information on the works schedule.

Item 5(ii) – Standing item - Handling of refuse dumped beside litter containers on pavements(C&W FEHWC Paper No. 17/2019)

(2:43 pm to 2:52 pm)

18. Mr LEE Tze-wah, District Environmental Hygiene Superintendent (Central/Western) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD), reported to the Committee the latest progress on the issue. He said that from October to December 2018, the FEHD had instigated a total

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of 929 prosecutions against offenders for illegal dumping of refuse in the district. Moreover, as a pilot scheme, the Department had installed Internet Protocol (IP) cameras at three illegal refuse deposit blackspots in the district since June 2018. After installing IP cameras, illegal deposits of refuse had been reduced at the above locations. The Department had also planned more effective enforcement actions based on the information and evidence gathered through the footage captured by the IP cameras. As at December 2018, the Department had successfully instituted 12 prosecutions against offenders for illegal dumping of refuse at the above locations. The Department had subsequently extended the pilot scheme on installation of IP cameras to three more illegal refuse deposit blackspots in the district. According to the Department’s preliminary observations, situation at the locations concerned had been improved and illegal refuse dumping activities had been significantly reduced. Regarding the monitoring work on frequency of refuse collection from LCs and recycling bins (RBs), he reported that the Department monitored the performance of contractors through routine inspections and surprise checks. In the past three months, the Department had conducted multiple inspections and issued a total of 21 default notices to contractors who had breached the requirements, and taken prosecution action against 22 offenders for dumping refuse beside LCs. The Department would continue to monitor the performance of the contractors, and would take appropriate disciplinary action against contractors who failed to provide the required services according to the contracts. He further said that from October to December 2018, the Department had received a total of 9 complaints concerning refuse dumped beside LCs and RBs in the district.


(a) The Vice-chairman asked the Department about the prosecutions concerning the locations where IP cameras were installed. He asked whether those prosecutions were successfully instigated due to evidence collected through IP cameras.

(b) Mr CHAN Choi-hi recommended adopting the wordings used by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD) for explaining the purpose of installing IP cameras to the public. He also wanted to understand the progress of the Department’s replacement of LCs with small openings.

(c) Ms NG Hoi-yan said that during the period from October to December 2018, the Department had conducted inspections at the bus stop at the junction of Caine Road and Ladder Street as well as No. 99 Caine Road, and no situation of LCs fully filled with refuse or accumulation of refuse beside LCs were found. However, she had spotted accumulation of refuse beside LCs at the locations concerned. She wanted to know the time at which the Department would conduct inspections.

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(d) Mr NG Siu-hong was concerned about the privacy issues involved in the installation of IP cameras. He recommended posting explanation notices at conspicuous places in the streets and requested using IP cameras only for maintaining environmental hygiene, so that members of the public would understand and feel reassured.

20. Mr LEE Tze-wah of the FEHD responded that the main purpose of installing the IP cameras was to identify the time and patterns of the offences through information captured from the footage recorded for the planning of more effective enforcement actions. In response to Members’ concern over privacy issues, he said that the FEHD had consulted the PCPD on the implementation arrangements prior to installation of IP cameras, and had followed the guidelines issued by the PCPD. As regards Mr NG Siu-hong’s suggestion about stating that the IP cameras were for the purpose of maintaining environmental hygiene only, he said the Department would study how to put it into practice to facilitate public understanding of the use of IP cameras. As regards Ms NG Hoi-yan’s enquiries about inspection time, he replied that the Department conducted inspection at random hours, and would increase the inspection frequency to address the situation reflected by Ms NG.

21. Ms NG Hoi-yan asked whether the FEHD would inspect the locations concerned at night.

22. Mr LEE Tze-wah of the FEHD responded that the FEHD would arrange to inspect the locations concerned at night. He said that the normal service life of the old-type LCs was about two to three years. Depending on the state of the old-type LCs, the Department would gradually replace them with LCs with small openings.

Item 6 – Food and Environmental Hygiene DepartmentProposed Arrangement for Re-allocation of Vacant Hawker Pitches(C&W FEHWC Paper No. 1/2019)

(2:52 pm to 3:47 pm)

23. Ms Rhonda LO, Coordinator (Hawker Assistance Scheme) of the FEHD, briefed the Committee on the proposed arrangement for re-allocation of vacant hawker pitches. She also invited Members to comment on whether the available vacant hawker pitches were suitable for application for a licence to operate at the hawker pitch by interested persons. She said that the five-year Hawker Assistance Scheme (Assistance Scheme) was completed in mid-2018. The Department had also updated the FEHWC on the work progress regarding the implementation of the Assistance Scheme in the nine fixed-pitch hawker areas in the Central and Western District in October of the same year. There were 423 vacant hawker pitches in total throughout the territory upon completion of the Assistance Scheme. Having considered the fire safety and environmental hygiene situations of the pitches and the concerns of traders, the Department considered re-allocation of the vacant hawker pitches suitable. As there were a total of 19 vacant pitches in the Central and Western District, the

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Department proposed to apportion these hawker pitches equally among four categories of applicants, namely licensed newspaper hawkers, licensed itinerant hawkers, registered assistants with five years or more experience at the same hawker pitch and on a cumulative basis, and members of the general public satisfying some basic criteria. The Department also proposed to specify a licence operation validity period for new hawker licences, with a view to facilitating the turnover of vacant hawker pitches and creating more opportunity for anyone interested in hawking to join the trade. It was considered that issuing licences to the new operators would not only enhance the vibrancy of hawker bazaars, but also minimise the illegal occupation of vacant hawker pitches. Since the number of vacant fixed-pitches remained unchanged, the environmental hygiene would not be affected. The Department had previously consulted the trade, including the relevant Hawker Management Consultative Committees and hawker associations, to collect opinions. After consulting Members, the Department would work out the detailed arrangements. The tentative plan was to invite applications in the third quarter of 2019.


(a) Ms WONG Mi-hing considered that the licence fee cum pitch fee were affordable. She said many registered assistants paid rent or key money to the licensees so as to operate the hawker pitches. She agreed that both the registered assistants and members of the public should be eligible to apply for allocation of vacant hawker pitches, but priority should not be given to the former. She also considered a ten-year licence tenure was too long, and said that a validity period of five years would be more reasonable. She pointed out that owing to operational problems, some hawkers would rent their licences to other people during the tenure of the licences; while some would use the pitches as storage until their licences expired if they could not rent them out. She had seen such situations in Smithfield Market. Moreover, she said the paper listed that some representatives of the trade suggested the validity period for new hawker licences should be no less than ten years, but she considered a validity period of ten years was too long and hoped the Department would communicate with the representatives concerned about this.

(b) Ms NG Hoi-yan asked the FEHD whether the proposed location of the vacant hawker pitch at Upper Lascar Row was the only feasible one. She said the borders of the vacant hawker pitch were painted on the ground by the Department, and the operation of businesses nearby might be adversely affected. She therefore hoped the FEHD would consider designating the pitch at other feasible location, such as Eastern Street. Having noted that part of the concrete ramp surface within the area of the hawker pitch had been excavated, she enquired about the objective of doing so. She also wanted to know whether the FEHD would carry out any other works at that

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location prior to allocation of the vacant hawker pitch in the third quarter of 2019.

(c) Mr HUI Chi-fung opined that it was correct to re-issue hawker licence, and expressed support for the policy. However, he pointed out that the Department did not re-issue all hawker licences surrendered under the Assistance Scheme. Precisely speaking, 800-odd licences were surrendered throughout the territory, but only 400-odd licences would be re-issued. This made people thought that the Government caused a gradual decline of the hawker trade; and he found it regrettable. He opined that the Department’s screening process for re-allocation of vacant hawker pitches according to various factors, such as fire safety and environmental hygiene situations, was not transparent. He believed that there should not be 19 vacant hawker pitches only in the Central and Western District, and thus asked the Department the number of vacant hawker pitches which were not included in the re-allocation exercise after screening and the locations of these hawker pitches. Regarding registered assistants, he said many people in the Central and Western District accumulated the years of experience many years ago, so he asked whether the Department would require that the five-year experience specified must be accumulated recently. He also pointed out that some hawking activities had a long history and possessed conservation value, and it took a long time for many businesses to establish a network for operation. He hoped that the Department would adopt a flexible approach and exercise discretion in determining the hawker licence operation validity period.

(d) Ms CHENG Lai-king supported setting five years as the operation validity period for new hawker licences, so as to prevent renting out of hawker licences by licensees. She considered it important to ensure that the re-allocation process was open, fair and transparent. She pointed out that the rents for shops were higher than that for hawker pitches, therefore many shop operators were unwilling to have hawker stalls operating just outside their own shops. She supported putting up the vacant hawker pitches for application by the public. However, she hoped that the Department could release the information, such as the application method, to the public as early as possible so that interested parties would be informed of the relevant procedures.

(e) M r CHAN Choi-hi recommended shortening the licence operation validity period to two to three years. He believed that this arrangement could change the existing malpractices of the hawker trade. Moreover, as some of the 19 vacant hawker pitches in the district were located in areas of high pedestrian patronage, he asked whether the licence fee cum pitch fee were determined by reference to pedestrian patronage. He requested the Department to explain the mechanism. Assuming that the vacant hawker pitches in the district were not completely rented out, he asked whether the Department would consider permitting the District Council (DC) or non-

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profit-making organisations to put up posters of activities or advertisements of the Government at these vacant pitches. He asked whether the Department would add Class IV Commodities to allow artists to display their own works, thereby encouraging the development of cultural and creative industries.

(f) Mr CHAN Chit-kwai said that from the perspective of resource utilisation, the Department should expeditiously re-allocate the vacant hawker pitches. As there should be many people who were eligible for application, he asked the Department whether the demand would far exceed the supply when re-allocating the hawker pitches. He considered that the application right of registered assistants who possessed experience of a certain years should be maintained; and recommended buying back the hawker licences from licensees who did not want to continue the operation of their pitches. Finally, he cited the paper and asked the Department how many pitches were “reserved for resite commitments due to other needs”.

(g) Mr CHAN Hok-fung supported the re-allocation exercise in principle. He opined that as there was a scatter of vacant hawker pitches at present, re-issuing hawker licences would enhance the vibrancy of hawker areas, and give opportunity to those assistants with certain years of service to continue their operation. He noted that the Department’s policy regarding validity period of hawker licence would be changed from permanent validity to a period of five years. He was concerned about the co-existence of a variety of policies, resulting in different hawker licence operation validity periods and charges, etc. He pointed out that stalls in markets had these problems. Therefore, he believed implementing a consistent hawker policy would be conducive to the management work of the Department.

(h) Mr KAM Nai-wai supported the policy that helped maintain the vibrancy of hawking. However, he pointed out that he had received a complaint lodged by operator of a shop located behind the hawker pitch at Lascar Row, indicating that no hawker stall was operating in front of the shop when the operator rented the premises, and no one told the operator the space was designated for providing a hawker stall. The operator found out that there would be a hawker stall operating in front of the shop only after renting the premises. He considered that it was unfair to both the owner and tenant of the shop concerned. He hoped that the Department would give notification to the affected persons, and asked whether the Department had received any related complaints. He suggested the Department relocate the hawker stall in front of the shop to other place in the same street.

(i) The Chairman opined that the Department should give full consideration to provide assistance to hawkers in their operation when formulating hawker policies because

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most people operating hawker pitches belonged to the grassroots. He agreed that the Department should resume the hawker pitches which did not meet the fire safety and environmental hygiene requirements, and of which the licensees did not want to continue the operation of their pitches. However, he hoped that the Department would improve the overall planning of the remaining hawker pitches to maintain the vibrancy of the trade. As individual applicants might not have other skills to earn a living, he also suggested that the Department should take this into account when determining the validity period for new hawker licences and years of experience required for registered assistants, in order to facilitate application by these applicants.

25. Ms Rhonda LO of the FEHD responded to Members’ concern over the number of vacant hawker pitches and said that the Department did not aim to reduce the number of hawker pitches. However, during implementation of the Assistance Scheme, relocation was required for some hawker pitches locating within a radial distance of six metres in front of building staircase discharge points, causing potential hazard to traffic or being included in the rationalisation of the overall layout of hawker areas. In this connection, the Department had earmarked some vacant hawker pitches for relocation of the above hawker stalls. After the relocation exercise, there remained 19 vacant hawker pitches in the district available for selection, including the hawker pitches vacated through the surrender of hawker licences and other reasons, as well as the hawker pitches that had always been left vacant in the past. The Department planned to apportion all the 423 vacant pitches in the territory equally among four categories of applicants. In case the number of applications exceeded the total number of vacant hawker pitches, the Department would determine the selection priority of the first 423 applications by random sequencing, while the remaining applications would be placed on the reserve list. She stressed that the Department had included all the vacant hawker pitches available for allocation in the exercise, with a view to maintaining the vibrancy of hawker bazaars.

26. In response to the views reflected by Mr KAM Nai-wai concerning the obstruction to business operation of a shop caused by the vacant hawker pitch at Lascar Row, Ms LO pointed out that the street was a hawker area in which one vacant hawker pitch was available for allocation. There were more than 400 vacant hawker pitches in the territory, and most of them were located in front of shops. As such, it was necessary for the Department to have reasonable justifications if special arrangements were to be made. She called for Members’ understanding of the situation. As regards the situation reflected by Ms NG Hoi-yan concerning the concrete ramp of the vacant hawker pitch at Upper Lascar Row, Ms LO said that the road section concerned was a public place, but the ramp was an illegal structure, therefore the person who had constructed the illegal structure was required to demolish it, otherwise the Department would refer the case to the departments concerned for follow up. She reiterated that the Department did not add new hawker pitches, but only reused existing vacant pitches. As regards Ms WONG Mi-hing’s concern over some hawker pitches being used for storage purposes, Ms LO said that the Department would handle these cases in accordance with relevant legislation, and would also closely monitor the situation. As regards Mr

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HUI Chi-fung’s enquiries about the requirement on years of experience for registered assistants, she said the Department proposed that relevant persons should be existing registered assistants who had accumulated five years’ experience at the same hawker pitch. In response to the view of Ms CHENG Lai-king concerning the release of application information, Ms LO said that the Department would inform the public about the re-allocation arrangements as early as possible. As regards Members’ enquiries about the licence fee cum pitch fee, she said that the licence fees of all hawker pitches were identical, but the pitch fee was calculated based on the size of each hawker pitch. She said that the Department had been in discussion with the hawker associations on the rationalisation of the layout of hawker areas, and had clearly indicated the location of the hawker pitches concerned in the diagrams. The Department was also willing to inform Members of the locations of the hawker pitches which were deleted due to fire safety and environmental hygiene considerations.

27. Ms LO continued that during the implementation of the Assistance Scheme in the past five years, the Department had to relocate some hawker pitches and had arranged for relocating these hawker pitches to locations within the same hawker area as far as possible. In the course of relocation, it had received complaints lodged by operators of shops located in the rear of the hawker stalls concerned, but the shop operators concerned accepted the arrangements after listening to the Department’s explanation. Regarding the Chairman’s comment on the hawker policy, she said that the Department’s policy objective of hawking was to promote small businesses instead of providing social welfare service or poverty alleviation. Regarding the Chairman’s concern over the registered assistants, she said the Department did not acknowledge that the status of registered assistants was equivalent to hawkers. When the Department processed applications for transferring hawker licence to a person who was not an immediate family member to the licensee concerned, it would exercise discretion depending on special circumstances of individual cases. In response to Members’ comments on the licence operation validity period concerning hawking activities which possessed conservation value, she said that the Department would study this innovative idea. As regards Members’ comments on a standardised licence operation validity period, she said the Department, having regard to the limited land resources in the territory, thought that issuing permanent hawker licence might deprive the opportunity of other persons who were interested in joining the hawker trade. Contrarily, issuing hawker licence specified with licence operation validity period might facilitate normal change of licensees and would be conducive to the long-term development of the hawker trade.


(a) Mr CHAN Chit-kwai requested the Department to reply how many hawker pitches were “reserved for resite commitments due to other needs”.

(b) Mr KAM Nai-wai continued to ask whether the Department would consider

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identifying another location within the same street just mentioned for setting up a hawker pitch, and when it would make a decision. He supported the Department to identify other location for setting up hawker pitch to successfully carry out the re-allocation.

(c) Mr HUI Chi-fung enquired again about the number of vacant hawker pitches which were not included in the re-allocation exercise after screening. He said the community in general opined that some trades were of special conservation value, which included hawkers repairing umbrellas or watches and clocks or cobblers, etc. He hoped that the Department would take the above factors into account when formulating measures, and added that he supported setting a licence operation validity period for hawker licence to abolish the hawker licence “hereditary” system.

(d) Mr NG Siu-hong opined that hawker stalls could bring vibrancy to streets. He asked whether the Department would consider permitting the hawker pitches in Graham Street to sell food. He pointed out that apart from attracting a large number of tourists, Graham Street hawker area was also the place where many nearby residents would go to buy food. He therefore requested to increase the number of hawker stalls for selling foods at Graham Street. He further asked whether the Department would give permission to the hawker pitches outside Graham Street to sell cultural and creative products. He also wanted to know the definition of crafts adopted by the Department, and recommended providing more space for displaying the works of the creative industry.

(e) Mr CHAN Choi-hi said that some countries would provide opportunities and venues for people with disabilities to run businesses. He asked whether the Department would consider modelling on this practice or collaborating with non-governmental organisations to assist the needy in starting their own businesses. He also asked again whether the Department would give permission to put up posters of activities or advertisements of the Government at vacant hawker pitches.

29. Ms Rhonda LO of the FEHD responded to Mr CHAN Chit-kwai’s enquiry, saying that the FEHD had completed the relocation of all hawker pitches, and had included all the available vacant hawker pitches in the re-allocation exercise. As regards Mr HUI Chi-fung’s enquiry on the number of vacant hawker pitches which were not included in the re-allocation exercise after screening, she undertook to provide Members with the information later. In response to Mr NG Siu-hong’s enquiry about whether the hawkers in Graham Street would be permitted to sell food, she said that all food-related dry goods belonged to Class II Commodities in general. If individual items of food-related dry goods had not been included in the commodity list, the FEHD might bring them up to the Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene as appropriate to consider permitting hawkers to sell

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those types of commodities. Regarding Members’ suggestions on encouraging the development of the cultural and creative industries, she said that the operation of hawker pitches had to satisfy the definition of hawking, that is, transactions had to take place thereat. Regarding Members’ suggestions on making optimal use of the vacant hawker pitches, she responded that the Department would explore other feasible uses of the hawker pitches. In response to Mr KAM Nai-wai’s comments, she said that the Department would apportion the existing vacant hawker pitches as soon as possible, and that the Department did not plan to increase the number of hawker pitches.

30. Mr KAM Nai-wai said he requested the Department to identify another location which had less impact on shop operator for relocating the hawker pitch, rather than for increasing hawker pitches.

31. Ms Rhonda LO of the FEHD responded that most of the existing 423 vacant hawker pitches were situated in front of shops. The Department had no reasonable justifications to cancel the hawker pitch concerned. She also stressed that the Department aimed to propose allocation arrangements instead of consider additional hawker pitches for this re-allocation exercise.

32. Mr NG Siu-hong enquired further on whether the Department would impose restriction on the pitches in Graham Street Market for giving priority to selling Class II Commodities.

33. Ms Rhonda LO of the FEHD responded that hawkers were permitted to sell Class II or Class III Commodities at the site, and applicants could decide which class of commodities to sell.

Item 7 - Implementation of Water Intelligent Network, remaining works (Central and Western)

(C&W FEHWC Paper No. 2/2019)(3:47 pm to 4:57 pm)

34. Mr LAU Chi-ming, Senior Engineer/Project Management 5 of the Water Supplies Department (WSD), said that representatives of the consultant company would brief the Committee on the works project No. 196WC “Implementation of Water Intelligent Network, remaining works (Central and Western)”.

35. Mr MA Hok-chi, Principal Engineer of Black & Veatch Hong Kong Limited, briefed the Committee on the paper. He pointed out that exiting problems of the water distribution network included aged water mains and water main bursts and leaks, and the Replacement and Rehabilitation (R&R) Programme of Water Mains implemented in all districts of the territory to address such problems was substantially completed in 2015. To further enhance the water supply service, the WSD planned to implement a holistic water distribution network management initiative called the Water Intelligent Network (WIN), which adopted the concept of “divide-and-rule” as well as

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“monitor-and-manage”. “Divide-and-rule” referred to systematically divide the water distribution network into small and discrete supply zones in the light of topography. “Monitor-and-manage” referred to install monitoring and sensing equipment in each small and discrete water distribution network for collection of water flow data, thereby facilitating systematic processing and analysis of data collected.

36. Mr MA continued that about 2 000 District Metering Areas (DMAs) were being established in stages throughout the territory under WIN. In the light of operational experience and technological advancement, it was believed that sub-dividing some larger DMAs into smaller ones could effectively improve efficiency and the entire network, as well as enhance the effectiveness of active leakage detection. Hence, it was proposed in the remaining works to establish about 400 smaller and additional chambers and DMAs throughout the territory. The works in the territory were expected to start in the fourth quarter of 2019 for completion in the fourth quarter of 2023. The Department planned to seek support from the 18 DCs for implementation of the remaining works of WIN from January to February 2019, and submit the proposal to the Legislative Council (LegCo) Panel on Development, Public Works Subcommittee and Finance Committee for consideration in March, April and May 2019 respectively.

37. Mr MA pointed out that the project included the establishment of about 28 additional DMAs and construction of about 28 chambers in the Central and Western District. Sensors and pressure reducing devices would be installed in the chambers for monitoring of and collecting data on flow of water supply and water pressure. On the principle of not affecting traffic, works for the establishment of additional DMAs would be carried out on footpaths first. Discussions would be held with the Traffic Management Liaison Group (TMLG) comprising the TD, Traffic Wing of the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) and Highways Department (HyD) etc to formulate appropriate temporary traffic arrangements. Works on the relevant road sections would only be commenced after obtaining the consent of the TMLG on the proposals. Regarding environmental review measures, the contractors would arrange for regular watering of the sites and use of quieter construction equipment, and would dispose of construction waste and wastewater of the sites according to the relevant requirement and procedure. Furthermore, works sites would be located as far away from old and valuable trees and heritage monuments as possible.

38. Mr MA added that they would maintain close liaison with the departments concerned before and during the construction period, and make flexible arrangements for works schedule. The works might be carried out in tandem with other related works, if necessary, to avoid repeated road openings. The duration of each temporary suspension of water supply during the construction period would not exceed eight hours, and the contractors would consult and co-ordinate with the DC Members of the constituencies concerned and affected residents well in advance of works implementation. In addition, the notice board erected beside each site would clearly indicate the hotline telephone number, and a community liaison officer would station in the office of the resident

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engineer to handle public enquiries and complaints, so as to ensure that expeditious response could be given where necessary.


(a) Mr CHAN Chit-kwai supported the WSD’s replacement programme of water mains and implementation of the WIN, but remarked that according to his understanding, some water mains in the district had not been replaced yet. He requested the WSD to provide information on the locations in the district where replacement of water mains had yet to implement after the meeting. He believed that the WSD’s divide-and-rule approach was developed out of accumulated experience and would have a relatively smaller impact on the community. He expected that the Department would maintain close liaison with DC Members and carry out relevant consultation exercises. He considered the project duration of four years too long, and hoped that the Department would shorten the duration.

(b) Mr YIP Wing-shing supported the WSD’s enhancement of the water supply service, but requested the WSD to provide more information for Members’ reference. He also requested the WSD to shorten the project duration.

(c) Mr CHAN Hok-fung noted that many DMAs would be set up in Kennedy Town under the current project. He remarked that most of the projects implemented by the WSD in the past failed to complete as scheduled, and therefore hoped that the WSD could provide the detailed works schedule, state the works schedule and project details of individual DMAs, and have early communication with the DC Members of the constituencies concerned to understand the traffic condition and pedestrian flow in the area. As it was difficult to identify water main leaks in general, he asked whether the WIN could predict water main leaks and bursts, and how the WSD would disseminate the information to the public so that the general public and Members would be aware of the exact areas affected by water main leaks or bursts.

(d) Mr KAM Nai-wai said the project title “Implementation of Water Intelligent Network, remaining works (Central and Western)” implied that some of the works had been completed. He said the DC had discussed the issue of water main leaks and bursts several times, hence he wanted to know whether the existing WIN had been able to perform its functions and what the functions were, and whether the WSD had reviewed the effectiveness of the WIN. If the Committee was to determine whether it would support the project, he held that the WSD should first provide the Committee with the data reflecting the effectiveness of the WIN, the locations where

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DMAs had been established under the WIN, the criteria for establishing the 28 additional DMAs and the intended objectives and effectiveness of the project for consideration. He pointed out that there were repeated occurrence of water main bursts in the district, including at Caine Road, Bonham Road, Possession Street, Queen’s Road Central and Water Street, etc. He therefore did not support the project.

(e) Ms CHENG Lai-king enquired if the WIN could predict water main bursts. She noted that the WSD had placed a large freshwater tank on Caine Road where there was no visible water main burst. She later found out that water supply of some buildings in the area was disrupted due to weak water pressure. She pointed out that the DMAs to be established under the current project were generally concentrated in the areas near the waterfront. She therefore enquired whether weak water pressure in DMAs would be detected early so that the WSD could give notification to Members and residents in a timely manner. Moreover, she asked whether the works of the WIN would be carried out on carriageways or on footpaths, whether road closure was needed, and whether the works would have negative impact on traffic.

(f) Mr LEE Chi-hang asked why the WSD did not simultaneously establish the WIN during the previous nine-year replacement programme of water mains. He asked the WSD to provide more comprehensive information on the WIN, including the commencement date and progress of the project. As it was stated in the WSD’s paper that it “would additionally establish about 28 small DMAs”, he hoped the WSD would clearly explain whether the WIN was a new or existing project. He said that the problem of water main burst in areas around Water Street and Queen Street was much more serious than in Centre Street. However, the WSD had planned to establish 8 DMAs around Centre Street, but none around Water Street. He requested the WSD to explain the reasons behind the planning. He also opined that the WSD had neither clearly described the procedures of the works, such as the reasons of setting up chambers, nor explained the effectiveness of the works regarding prevention or forecast of water main bursts. He therefore could not lend his support to the project based on the information provided by the WSD at present.

(g) Mr NG Siu-hong was very discontented with the frequent water main bursts in the Central and Western District. He opined that the WSD did not properly repair the aged water mains in the district. Furthermore, at the time of water main bursts, the WSD admitted only that water main leaks instead of bursts had occurred. He therefore asked the WSD about the definitions of water main bursts and leaks. Moreover, he enquired whether the WSD would disclose the data collected by devices of the WIN for public information. He believed such measure could facilitate public monitoring and enable the public to have an early grasp of the water

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supply situation. He requested the WSD to strengthen the system of supervision and impose heavier penalties on the contractors. Furthermore, he reflected that the impact of temporary suspension of water supply on residents was significant, and hoped the WSD to take note of it.

(h) Mr YEUNG Hoi-wing asked whether advanced intelligent technology was used in the WIN for monitoring of the water distribution network and water main condition, so that the WSD could timely locate the leaks. He wished for the WSD’s early installation of the system if it was able to perform the above function. He also enquired about the operation of the existing WIN, and whether the WIN had successfully detected leakage or water pressure problem. He requested the WSD to assess the effectiveness of the existing WIN, so as to facilitate the Committee in considering whether it should support the establishment of additional DMAs. He said that the additional DMAs planned to be established mainly concentrated in Kennedy Town, Sai Ying Pun, Central District and Sheung Wan. Noting that the WSD did not plan to establish DMAs in Shek Tong Tsui, he enquired about the site selection criteria.

(i) Ms NG Hoi-yan wondered why the Department briefed the Committee on the proposal only in January 2019 since, as quoted from the paper submitted by the WSD, the proposal would be implemented by the end of 2019. She said that water main bursts occurred frequently in areas around Queen’s Road West and Eastern Street. She asked how the WSD selected the sites for establishing DMAs, and whether these DMAs were sufficient to cover the entire water distribution network in the Central and Western District. She also asked the WSD if a water main burst or leak was predicted on the basis of the monitoring data collected, whether the department would notify the public in advance about the possible burst or leak and the emergency measures; and if yes, how advance the notifications would be given. She reflected that the WSD would place water tanks on Caine Road for supplying water to the public from time to time because the water pressure in the area was sometimes unstable. As the WSD had told her that the department regularly checked and closely monitored the water pressure of the area concerned, she enquired whether the establishment of WIN could replace the regular inspection work.

(j) Mr LUI Hung-pan said that from the stand point of the general public, he would support any proposals and projects of the WSD and departments concerned which could effectively improve the water main burst problem. However, he hoped that the WSD would clearly explain the meaning of “remaining works” as stated in the paper and the reasons of selecting the sites concerned to establish DMAs. He was surprised that none of the sites where water main bursts occurred most frequently,

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such as Shek Tong Tsui, Water Street, Sheung Wan, Possession Street and Queen Street, was selected for establishing DMA. As such, he asked whether DMAs had currently been established at the aforesaid sites, and whether the WSD would not consider establishing DMAs at the above sites. Furthermore, he asked the Department what measures could be adopted to reduce water main bursts at the above locations.

(k) Mr SHIH Jan Noel remarked that he had asked the WSD about the current number and distribution of DMAs in the Central and Western District under the WIN, but had not received a direct reply. As the paper stated that the WIN project commenced in 2014, he asked the WSD whether the “remaining works” meant that the Central and Western District was a district in which DMAs would be established at the later stage of the territory-wide project, or the sites set out in the paper were sites for establishing DMAs in addition to the existing ones in the Central and Western District. He also pointed out that the current project had no plans to establish DMAs in the areas around Dried Seafood Street, Shek Tong Tsui and Pok Fu Lam Road. He asked the WSD whether DMAs had been established in the Central and Western District previously, and whether DMAs would be set up in the district in future.

(l) Ms WONG Mi-hing understood that the full name of the WIN was “Water Intelligent Network”, and that the wordings “remaining works” reflected the WSD’s efforts in establishing DMAs for intelligent management in large scale. She held that the concept of the project was good, but the WSD seemed to treat the Central and Western District as a guinea pig (experimental subject). She pointed out that the DMAs planned under the current project located mainly in the low-lying areas near the waterfront. As the Mid-levels was the primary area where the problem of water pressure occurred, she doubted the effectiveness of the project. She remarked that the water distribution network in the Central and Western District was laid many years ago, even the WSD might not have the record of some pipes. She asked whether the monitoring instruments could detect changes in water pressure or flow, and then predict possible water main leaks or bursts. Although she agreed with the WSD’s approach of dividing the water supply system into small zones for monitoring, she pointed out that the WSD did not explain the reasons of implementing the project in a clear and comprehensive manner.

40. The Chairman indicated that water main bursts frequently occurred in his constituency. He definitely would support the project if the WIN could achieve the anticipated result. However, he believed that water mains were divided and monitored under the WIN, rather than the water distribution network. He said the consultant reported at the meeting that most of the water mains in the Central and Western District had been replaced. Nevertheless, the WSD had once informed him

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that all the water mains in Third Street had been renovated, but burst of water mains that had been in use for a few decades subsequently took place. Similar situation also occurred in D’Aguilar Street. He opined that the WSD should replace all the aged water mains in the Central and Western District first, or should carry out the WIN works at the same time when commencing the water main replacement works in 2007, so as to reduce the impact of road opening works on the public and traffic. He requested the WSD to, as a first step, replace the water mains along the areas from Queen’s Road West to Bonham Road near Pok Fu Lam Road and Hill Road. He also pointed out that the WSD claimed to have replaced the major fresh water and salt water mains around Water Street and Third Street, but water main bursts still continued to occur in those areas. He requested the WSD to actively solve the problem, and asked the WSD whether there were data showing that the WIN could help solve the problem. He would consider the WIN ineffective in improving the water distribution network if DMAs had already been established at Water Street. He reiterated his request that the Department should first replace all the aged fresh water and salt water mains, and should establish the DMAs at the same time when implementing the water main replacement works to aid monitoring.

41. Mr LAU Chi-ming of the WSD responded that the WSD launched the replacement programme of water mains in the Central and Western District in 2000. At that time, the total length of water mains in the district was 323 kilometres. The works were substantially completed in 2016. The length of water mains replaced in the Central and Western District was about 164 kilometres, which was equivalent to 51% of the then total length of water mains in the district. The length of water mains in the district had been increased to 408 kilometres in 2018. The WSD understood that replacement of water mains would have impact on the residents and traffic in the vicinities to a certain extent, and therefore planned to monitor the water distribution network with the WIN, so as to specifically address the water mains that needed improvement or replacement. It would be more cost-effective to maintain the healthy state of the network in this way as compared with solely relying on large-scale replacement of water mains.

42. Mr LAU continued that the water distribution network would be divided into numerous small zones for data collection and analysis under the WIN, facilitating the WSD to more efficiently identify areas having water supply problem and carry out leak detection. He then explained to the Committee the reasons why the WSD identified 28 sites for establishing DMAs in the district. He said that the WSD had previously established small DMAs in the territory through minor works projects. In 2015, district metering still had not been fully implemented in the remaining five Major Supply Zones, including Yuen Long, Sheung Shui and Fanling, Kowloon East, Islands and Shatin. At that time, the Department decided to seek funding from the LegCo for establishing an intelligent network management system under Category A works project, with a view to enhancing the efficiency of detecting leakage through consolidating the data collected by about 2000 DMAs in the territory for analysis, and establishing the remaining DMAs in the above five Major Supply Zones. The WSD conducted a review last year regarding the data collected by the system and the experience

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gained under the project, it found that the coverage of some Supply Zones was too large, and therefore hoped to sub-divide these larger DMAs into smaller ones to enhance efficiency. The analysis showed that it was necessary to establish 400 additional DMAs, including the 28 DMAs in the Central and Western District stated in the paper.

43. The Chairman requested the Department to give a reply regarding the effectiveness of the project; explain the number of DMAs already established in the Central and Western District; and provide the relevant data on reducing water main leaks by the existing WIN.

44. Mr LEE Cho-yin, Engineer/Water Loss Management 2 of the WSD, responded to Members’ enquiries about how this project could improve water main leaks. He pointed out that an important function of the WIN was to facilitate early detection of leaks in underground water mains which was more difficult to found out by inspection. According to the data available, the overall situation of leakage in areas established with DMAs was not serious. As such, more obvious examples in the Central and Western District that could demonstrate the effectiveness of DMAs in reducing water main leaks was not yet available. However, marked improvement in reducing water main leaks was seen in other districts.

45. The Chairman requested the Department to focus on explaining the number of DMAs already set up in the Central and Western District and the number of successful cases in detecting water main leaks or bursts by the system.

46. Mr LAU of the WSD added that it was originally planned to establish about 41 DMAs in the Central and Western District (of which 33 had been commissioned and 8 were under preparation or construction). After including the 28 additional ones under this project, the total number of DMAs would be increased to about 69.

47. The Chairman enquired if the WSD could cite some examples of successful detection of water main leaks or bursts by the existing DMAs and the relevant figures. He requested the WSD to provide the details after the meeting if the information was not available at hand.

48. Mr LAU of the WSD responded to Members’ concern over the impact of the works on the public. He said that the previous R&R Programme of Water Mains had greater impact on the public. Comparatively speaking, the scale of the WIN project was smaller. Each DMA was only required to construct a pit which measured about 2 metres by 1.5 metres by 1.5 metres. As the WSD would also try its best to set up pits on footpaths or at locations far away from carriageways, he believed that the works would only have very slight impact on traffic.

49. Mr MA Hok-chi of Black & Veatch Hong Kong Limited responded to Members’ concern over the duration of the works. He said it was expected that the establishment of 400 DMAs

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throughout the territory, of which 28 were in the Central and Western District, would take about 4 years. The contractors would communicate with the Members concerned about the project details prior to commencement of individual works items.

50. The Chairman thought that the WSD did not prepare sufficient information. He said the WSD just now stated that most or even all of the water mains in the Central and Western District had been replaced, but in fact it was not so.

51. Mr LAU of the WSD responded that DMAs of the WIN could assist the WSD in replacing the remaining water mains in the district. The WSD could accurately identify the areas where the leakage problem was more serious by comparing the performance and relevant data of various DMAs, and could therefore devote more resources to areas having more serious problem of water loss. Through analysing the data collected by DMAs under the WIN, the WSD had found out in the past that replacement was still not necessary for some water mains. He pointed out that the WIN could provide additional perspectives for the WSD to consider whether replacement of water mains was needed. He said that DMAs under the WIN might not be able to let the WSD find out directly the location of leakage, but could enable the WSD to carry out timely inspection and improvement.

52. The Chairman requested the WSD to clearly explain the effectiveness of the WIN and the functions that the existing DMAs had performed. Otherwise, it would be difficult for the Committee to support the project. He held that the WSD should complete the replacement of all water mains in the district during the R&R Programme of Water Mains Phase Four, and should not allow contractors to replace only part of the water mains. The Chairman invited Members to express their views and raise questions on the issue. The main points made by Members were as follows:

(a) Mr KAM Nai-wai said he did not support this project. He did not want to have water main bursts in the district, but opined that the WSD did not furnish the relevant information to convince him to support the project. He hoped that the Committee would not support the project. He requested the WSD to provide information after the meeting on the 41 locations originally planned for establishing DMAs; the data regarding water main leaks or bursts cases that had been detected by the WIN in the past; and whether any remedial measures had been taken if leakage had been detected. He also requested the WSD to explain the reasons for selecting the 28 sites under this project, and explain why DMAs were not set up at Bonham Road, Possession Street, and Hollywood Road etc, where there were frequent water main bursts. Finally, he wanted to know the total amount of funding required for the entire WIN project, and considered the DMAs already in operation fully ineffective to perform the monitoring function.

(b) Mr CHAN Chit-kwai said all Members wanted the WSD to improve the monitoring

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of water mains. He pointed out that main bursts occurred less frequently in the Mid-levels where water mains had been replaced. However, the WSD was unable to provide the information on water mains that had not been replaced in the Central and Western District. He held that the WSD should provide a more comprehensive report to facilitate the Committee to understand the WSD’s timetable of replacing water mains in the district, and how the WIN’s district metering system would step up the monitoring of the remaining water mains pending replacement. Only then could the Committee consider whether it was to support the project. He agreed to have further discussion on the item after the WSD had provided Members with adequate information.

53. The Chairman opined that the WSD did not provide adequate data at the meeting, and failed to fully explain the effectiveness of the project and how the project could help the public. Under such circumstances, it would be difficult for the Committee to support the project. He requested the WSD to provide detailed information after the meeting, and said that those information would be circulated to Members for deliberating whether the Committee should support the project. The information requested by the Committee included past record of effectiveness demonstrated by the WIN; targets of the WIN policy; location list of the above-mentioned 41 DMAs and related information; reasons and criteria for selecting the 28 sites under this project; explanation of why DMAs were not established at locations where water main bursts frequently occurred; the number of water main leaks or bursts detected by equipment installed in DMAs and the related data; remedial measures that had been carried out in the case of detected leakage; the estimated amount of funding required for the whole WIN project; as well as information on the remaining water mains yet to be replaced in the district and the anticipated replacement schedule. The Chairman concluded that the Committee did not support the project based on the information provided by the WSD at this stage, but clarified that the Committee did not object to the project.

54. Mr CHAN Chit-kwai said it was not that the Committee did not want to carry out the works. He stressed that the Committee found it difficult to support the project at this moment because of the inadequate information provided.

55. The Chairman believed that all Members would expect the WSD to expedite the implementation of the WIN if it was an effective system. However, it was necessary for the WSD to provide the Committee with adequate data for considering whether the WIN was an effective system. As such, the Committee did not support the project for the time being, hoping that the WSD would furnish the relevant data for consideration. He announced that the Committee would proceed to move the motion.

56. Mr CHAN Hok-fung opined that there was a general discontent among all Members towards the WSD’s approach in handling the matter. He remarked that the word “urges” in the re-

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amended motion was ineffectual, so he would oppose the re-amended motion. He also pointed out that the word “requests” in the amended motion was stronger and could force the government departments to take action accordingly, so he would support the amended motion.

57. Mr NG Siu-hong said that the word “urges” had the meanings of “pressing for” and “requesting for”. He said water main burst was an urgent matter and pointed out that water suspension occurred in the Mid-levels from time to time, hence the wording “unplanned water suspension” was added in the re-amended motion . The re-amended motion also included the word “sanctions” which could reflect the public considered the government department’s supervision and sanctions on the contractors concerned were inadequate.

58. After discussion and voting, the following re-amended motion proposed by Mr HUI Chi-fung and seconded by Mr NG Siu-hong was not adopted:

“This Committee condemns government departments for failing to effectively maintain the water supply system and thus causing the continued occurrence of water main burst and unplanned water suspension incidents. This Committee urges government departments to expeditiously improve the stability of the water supply system; open up the monitoring data; make available detailed information and notify the residents affected in a timely manner when incidents occur; and adopt effective measures and sanctions to monitor the works quality of the contractors responsible for repairing water mains to ensure water main burst and unplanned water suspension incidents will not occur repeatedly.”

(6 affirmative votes by: Mr KAM Nai-wai, Ms CHENG Lai-king, Mr HUI Chi-fung (with Mr NG Siu-hong being his authorised representative for voting), Mr NG Siu-hong, Ms NG Hoi-yan, Ms WONG Mi-hing)

(9 negative votes by: Mr YEUNG Hok-ming, Mr YIP Wing-shing, Mr CHAN Hok-fung, Miss LO Yee-hang, Mr YEUNG Hoi-wing, Mr LAU Tin-ching, Mr LUI Hung-pan, Mr NG Wing-yan, Mr SHIH Jan Noel)

(2 abstention votes by: Mr YOUNG Chit-on, Mr CHAN Chit-kwai)

59. The Chairman declared that the re-amended motion was not adopted.

60. The Chairman opined that the wording “adopt effective measures” in the amended motion covered the meaning “and sanctions” as stated in Mr NG Siu-hong’s re-amended motion, and the phrase even covered positive reinforcement. He considered the wording used in the amended motion covered a wider meaning.

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61. After discussion and voting, the following amended motion proposed by Mr YEUNG Hok-ming and seconded by Mr YEUNG Hoi-wing was adopted:

“This Committee condemns government departments for failing to effectively maintain the water supply system and thus causing the continued occurrence of water main burst incidents. This Committee requests government departments to expeditiously improve the stability of the water supply system; open up the monitoring data; make available detailed information and notify the residents affected in a timely manner when incidents occur; and adopt effective measures to monitor the works quality of the contractors responsible for repairing water mains to ensure water main burst incidents will not occur repeatedly.”

(16 affirmative votes by: Mr YEUNG Hok-ming, Mr YOUNG Chit-on, Mr YIP Wing-shing, Mr CHAN Hok-fung, Mr CHAN Chit-kwai, Ms CHENG Lai-king, Mr HUI Chi-fung (with Mr NG Siu-hong being his authorised representative for voting), Miss LO Yee-hang, Mr NG Siu-hong, Mr YEUNG Hoi-wing, Ms NG Hoi-yan, Mr LAU Tin-ching, Mr LUI Hung-pan, Mr NG Wing-yan, Mr SHIH Jan Noel, Ms WONG Mi-hing)

(0 negative vote)

(0 abstention vote)

62. The Chairman declared that the amended motion was adopted.

Item 8 – Request the Highways Department to repave the section of pavement from Hill Court and Goa Building to Hotel Jen at No. 26-32 Hill Road(C&W FEHWC Paper No. 4/2019)

(4:57 pm to 5:04 pm)


(a) Mr YIP Wing-shing opined that the reply given by the HyD regarding the paper was too general. He said the Department stated in the reply that it would consider resurfacing the location concerned with eco-paving blocks when required in future, he thus asked whether the Department had a specific timetable. He also believed that excavation at the road section concerned in the past two years should be exceeding 11 times which was the record provided by the Department. Moreover, he pointed out that paving footpath with concrete had become outdated. He said owning to a lack of coordination, government departments carried out road opening works one after another. Hence, he hoped the Department would consider using eco-paving

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blocks because it could facilitate road maintenance and could reduce the impact on nearby residents and shops.

(b) Mr SHIH Jan Noel pointed out that the road section concerned was quite narrow and was just wide enough for two persons walking side by side, but it was of high pedestrian flow. He therefore supported resurfacing the pavement. He also pointed out that the pavement had undergone repairs for many times and the rugged surface could easily cause pedestrians to trip and fall.

64. Mr CHAN Chak-wing, District Engineer/West of the HyD, responded that the road section concerned was a concrete pavement about two metres in width. The Department had conducted site inspection and found that the overall condition of the pavement was satisfactory in general except for some damages on the road surface. Maintenance works required would be arranged and the anticipated completion date was February 2019. The Department would continue to monitor the situation and, where necessary, would arrange for repaving the road section concerned. If repaving was necessary, the Department would appropriately select the materials having regard to various factors, such as the environmental conditions.


(a) Mr YIP Wing-shing enquired about the criteria adopted by the HyD in determining the use of eco-paving blocks to pave footpaths. He pointed out that many elderly centres were situated on the road section concerned, and he had received a lot of complaints lodged by the elderly.

(b) The Chairman said that many elders used the road section for access, and the road section concerned was also quite narrow. Should the situation persisted, he opined that the Department and Members would keep on receiving complaints. He therefore hoped that the Department would accede to the request.

66. Mr CHAN Chak-wing of the HyD responded that the Department understood Members’ concerns, and said the Department was gradually resurfacing the concrete pavements of major road sections with paving blocks to facilitate maintenance and road opening works. The Department could not confirm whether paving blocks would be used for resurfacing the road section concerned at this stage, but would consider the issue having regard to factors including the need of excavation due to public utilities projects, pedestrian flow, whether a market or refuse collection point (RCP) was located nearby, whether the site was situated on a slope and so on. After that, the Department would discuss with Members about the resurfacing works.

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67. The Chairman requested the Department to give a direct response to whether the materials used for paving the road section concerned would be replaced.

68. Mr YIP Wing-shing stressed that he, serving as a bridge for communication, wanted to reflect the requests of the public and elderly centres to the HyD. He hoped that the HyD would give a response.

69. Mr CHAN Chak-wing of the HyD responded that he would liaise with Mr YIP Wing-shing after the meeting to arrange for site inspection and discuss the improvement measures required.

Item 9 – Strongly request the Government to take prosecution action against illegal shop front extension by the street level shop of Gold Shine Tower at No. 346-348 Queen’s Road Central(C&W FEHWC Paper No. 5/2019)

(5:04 pm to 5:21 pm)

70. The Chairman asked whether the Members submitting the paper had anything to add. Ms NG Hoi-yan said that the pathway concerned was narrow and had bus stops, pedestrians often had to walk onto the carriageway during evening peak hours when people went home from work. It was very dangerous to pedestrians. She asked how the Department would step up enforcement.

71. Mr LEE Tze-wah, District Environmental Hygiene Superintendent (Central/Western) of the FEHD, responded that the Department had been keeping watch on the operation of the shop at the location concerned. It was found that street obstruction mainly occurred at the side lane of the shop but seldom happened in front of the premises. Nevertheless, he stressed that the Department would take enforcement action if the situation constituted obstruction of access by goods as specified in the law, regardless of the quantity of goods involved. The Department noted that street obstruction caused by the shop concerned had become more serious in July and August last year, and therefore had strengthened enforcement action. However, the operation met with resistance and the shop concerned even made threats. After taking law enforcement action, the street obstruction problem had improved. The Department would continue to monitor the situation, and take follow-up and enforcement actions where necessary.

72. Mr MAN Chi-chiu, Executive Officer (District Management) 1 of the Central and Western District Office (C&WDO), and the representatives of the HKPF said that they had nothing to add.


(a) Mr KAM Nai-wai pointed out that the shop concerned was directly opposite the

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FEHD’s law enforcement office, and the FEHD should not allow the street obstruction problem to persist. He reflected that he had received many complaints concerning the street obstruction case, and requested the Department to explain the penalties resulted from the relevant enforcement action. He said the FEHD stated in its written reply that there was “significant” improvement on the street obstruction problem at the location concerned. However, he found it puzzling that the prosecution figures of the FEHD did not decrease in the last few years. He hoped the FEHD would undertake more enforcement actions. Finally, he enquired why the Police did not institute any prosecution in this regard, and whether the Police had intervened when the staff of the FEHD were obstructed or threatened in the course of law enforcement.

(b) Mr LUI Hung-pan said obstruction caused by shop front extension (SFE) at the location concerned had been an unsolved problem for many years. He believed that inadequate prosecution action taken by the FEHD might not be the sole reason leading to the situation. He enquired whether road safety would still be adversely affected if the shop concerned was operating without contravening the existing legislations. He said that Gold Shine Tower was more protruding when compared with other buildings along the road. Besides, as the footpath was quite narrow, some buses almost drove onto the footpath when parking at the bus stop. Furthermore, the speed of the buses was quite high. All these posed potential hazards. He suggested that government departments should jointly study improvement proposals to tackle the above problem and protect the safety of residents, instead of solely relied on the FEHD to take enforcement actions.

(c) Ms WONG Mi-hing was surprised by the reply given by the Police, which stated that no prosecution had been instituted. She pointed out that enforcement actions taken by the FEHD might not achieve immediate effect. She asked whether the Police had no right to take prosecution action even if SFEs at the location concerned created safety problems for pedestrians.

(d) Ms CHENG Lai-king reflected that the shopkeeper of the shop at the above location collected customers’ payment on the footpath about one foot in front of the entrance of the shop. She asked whether occupation of footpath space for business operation had violated the regulations governing sale and display of goods by shops.

74. Mr LEE Tze-wah of the FEHD responded that the Department had always attached great importance to the problem of street obstruction caused by goods illegally placed in streets by shop operators. He pointed out that the Department would take law enforcement actions against SFEs mainly under the Fixed Penalty (Public Cleanliness and Obstruction) Ordinance at present. Since the

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existing legislation did not specify how much goods illegally placed in public place outside a shop and how much space of public place illegally occupied would constitute an offence, it was necessary for the Department to collect evidence and consider various factors, such as width of the passageway, pedestrian flow, quantity of goods and extent of obstructions caused etc, when it made judgment for taking enforcement action. The Department would continue to monitor the shop at the above location, and consider strengthening prosecution against and arresting offenders having regard to actual circumstances.

75. Ms YIP Wai-sze, Acting Assistant Police Community Relations Officer (Central District) of the HKPF, responded that the Police had not taken any prosecution action at the above location in the past three years and pointed out that it was not the main duty of the Police to take enforcement action against street obstruction. She said that if the FEHD encountered hindrances when taking enforcement action, it could summon assistance from the Police.

(Post-meeting note: Regarding the claim that staff of the FEHD being threatened during performance of duties, the Police, upon receipt of assistance summoned by staff of the FEHD on 15 September 2018, immediately intervened by collecting evidence and arresting the person of the shop involved. The suspect had been charged and judicial proceedings concerning the case had already started at this stage.)

76. Mr MAN Chi-chiu, Executive Officer (District Management) 1 of the C&WDO, said that he had nothing to add.

77. Mr KAM Nai-wai was very discontented with the response given by the Police. Although it was not the main duty of the Police to take enforcement action against street obstruction, he believed that the situation at the location concerned had endangered pedestrian safety for a long period of time. He requested the representatives attending the meeting to reflect the concern of the C&WDC to the Commander and take specific enforcement action against people who had seriously impeded the safety of pedestrians, including prosecution, fine, confiscation, arrest and so on. Finally, he said that the owners’ corporation (OC) of Gold Shine Tower frequently lodged complaints to him about the shop concerned placed articles and refuse at the exit/entrance of the building, obstructing the access of tenants and owners. He requested the FEHD to step up cleansing operation.

78. Mr LEE Tze-wah of the FEHD responded that the Department would step up prosecution.

Item 10 – Concern over water main burst incident at Eastern Street and request for a comprehensive examination and replacement of aged water mains(C&W FEHWC Paper No. 6/2019)Concern over salt water main burst incident at Eastern Street(C&W FEHWC Paper No. 6/2019 Annex)

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(5:21 pm to 5:58 pm)

79. The Chairman invited Members to express their views and raise questions on the issue. Ms NG Hoi-yan said that the water main burst incident at Eastern Street occurred on 11 July, but she got to know about the location of the burst main only until 9 August. She hoped that the WSD would explain why it needed such a long time to identify the location of the burst main. She said the WSD’s written reply stated that the water main concerned was laid in 2004 with a design life of 50 years. However, the current main burst incident showed that the water main could only be used for 14 years. She asked the WSD whether the existing buried salt water mains in the Central and Western District were made of the same material as that of the water main involved in the burst incident, and whether it had made assessment to see if the durability of water mains would be reduced because of the environmental factors in their surroundings.

80. Mr LAU Wai-leung, Senior Engineer/Hong Kong (2) of the WSD, responded that subsequent to the water main burst at Eastern Street on 11 July, the WSD had immediately obtained the relevant water main record plan for reference. As the water main at the location was completely surrounded by concrete, the water coming out from the leakage reached the surface of the footpath from various locations through seepage. After on-site investigation, the WSD found that the actual leak location had changed and was different from the initial leak location. The WSD immediately carried out road opening to confirm the leak location. Owing to congested site condition, deep position of water main exceeding 3 metres below ground, obstruction of congested underground facilities including several fresh water mains and telecommunications cable ducts, and the need to maintain vehicular traffic of Eastern Street at the same time, the emergency repair works required much more time to complete. After analysing the condition of the leak spot, the WSD found that the incident was due to external corrosion of steel main causing by corrosion attack of nearby sewerage leak. During the emergency repair works, the WSD had completely rehabilitated the corroded pipe body and completed the enhanced works of external corrosion protection of the pipe. As regards Members’ enquiries about the materials of water mains, he replied that most of the salt water mains connected to the WSD’s pump room for salt water supply in the Central and Western District were made of steel. As there were generally public utilities laid underground in the territory, the excavation works conducted from time to time might affect the steel mains. The WSD hoped that water mains would remain usable until they reached their expected service life. However, environmental factors might affect the water mains and caused the mains to develop problems such as small-scale leaks before the end of their expected service life. If the problems occurred frequently and the staff of the WSD discovered that pipe condition was unsatisfactory during maintenance, the WSD would carry out maintenance and improvement works as appropriate with a view to maintaining the water mains in good working order and extending the service life of water mains.


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(a) Mr KAM Nai-wai said the WSD’s written reply stated that there was only one main leak case on 11 July 2018 at the junction of Eastern Street and Queen’s Road West involving road opening works for emergency repair in the past five years. As he recalled, there should be more than one such case. He asked the WSD how the figure was calculated. He also cited the figures of main burst and leak cases in Eastern Street and Queen’s Road West in the past five years as stated in the WSD’s written reply, and asked whether the remedial works were completed without excavation works. Noting that the WSD planned to replace the galvanised iron mains in stage, he asked the WSD when the replacement works of all fresh water and salt water mains in areas around Eastern Street and Queen’s Road West would be completed. He also indicated that if main burst occurred in the area, the traffic would be greatly affected, including the vehicular flow from the Western Harbour Crossing (WHC) to the Mid-levels.

(b) Ms CHENG Lai-king said the WSD’s written reply stated that incidents were mainly due to corrosion of galvanised iron fresh water mains and ageing of unplasticised polyvinyl-chloride (uPVC) salt water mains. She asked whether the WSD would no longer use pipes made of the relevant materials. She also pointed out that the expected service life of the water main concerned was 50 years, but problems started to appear after the pipe had been in use for only 15 years. She therefore asked the WSD what the replacement water main was made of and the expected service life of the new water main.

(c) Mr NG Siu-hong said that water main originally expected to be usable for 50 years turned out to have a durability of 15 years only. He asked whether the WSD had taken environmental factors into account when laying the water main; who made the decision to adopt the relevant design; whether the WSD had conducted laboratory test on the quality of the water main; and what was the name of the contractor involving in the supply of the concerned water main. Moreover, he asked that when laying water mains in other areas, whether the WSD had considered the impact of environmental factors on the service life of water mains. He wanted to know which section of the WSD was responsible for the related work. Finally, he asked the WSD about the definitions of main burst and main leak.

(d) Ms WONG Mi-hing said the HyD’s written reply stated that among the 32 road excavation works at the junction of Eastern Street/Queen’s Road West in the past five years, two of them were carried out by the HyD for road maintenance. She hence asked which departments carried out the remaining 30 excavation works. She said that a steel salt water main was involved in the burst incident, and agreed that pipes

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made of stainless steel would be more durable. However, given that the service life of the water main turned out to be 10-odd years instead of the expected 50 years, she asked whether the WSD had checked the water main on site to see if the steel content complied with the requirement during the main laying works. She said the WSD’s investigation found that the salt water main leak incident was due to external corrosion of steel main causing by corrosion attack of nearby sewerage leak. She therefore asked whether the sewage contained chemical substances. She opined that the frequency of main leaks was surprisingly high, and the efforts of implementing the WIN would be futile before the WSD had replaced all the existing water mains. Citing the WSD’s reply that some main leaks could be rehabilitated without involving road opening works, she hoped that the WSD would explain the technology employed in such cases. She opined that the WSD was more active in tackling problems related to fresh water mains than those related to salt water mains. She pointed out that prolonged suspension of salt water supply service would adversely affect the hygiene of residential premises, especially the homes for the elderly.

(e) Ms NG Hoi-yan said that the areas affected by the main burst incident was extensive, including areas around Bonham Road, Hollywood Road and Bridges Street. She also pointed out that the WSD had only replaced the part of the water main which located at the bend of Queen’s Road West and Eastern Street at present, and asked whether further main bursts would occurred at the joints where the old and new pipes connected. Moreover, she noted that the WSD would carry out risk-based term contract works in Queen’s Road West starting from 2019, and enquired about the arrangements of the works.

82. The Chairman said that it took more than one month to rehabilitate the burst main at the concerned location. He opined that the duration of the rehabilitation works was too long and the road excavation works had also greatly affected the residents nearby. He also enquired about the scope of the enhanced works of external corrosion protection of the pipe. Given that the salt water main leak incident was due to external corrosion of main causing by corrosion attack of nearby sewerage leak, he asked whether the problem of sewerage leak had been solved; if not, the sewage might flow along the water main and reach the part of water main without external corrosion protection, and then causing corrosion. He asked what measures were adopted by the WSD to prevent further main burst in areas around the concerned location.

83. Mr LAU Wai-leung, Senior Engineer/Hong Kong (2) of the WSD, responded to Members’ enquiries about the definitions of water main burst and leak. In general, main burst referred to main leakage involving a large volume of water loss, causing significant impact on traffic and requiring the WSD’s immediate emergency repair works. Main leak referred to main leakage involving a

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smaller volume of water loss, and allowing the WSD to temporarily separate the problematic water mains and carry out the emergency repair works later. He added that there were no absolute and clear definitions of water main burst and leak, and the WSD mainly dependent on the frontline staff to classify the cases according to the relevant guidelines and then the WSD’s engineers would examine whether the classifications were appropriate. Regarding the water main burst incident at Eastern Street, the WSD found that the damaged area of the water pipe was smaller than the size of a ten-cent coin. Even so, the volume of water emitted was quite large because of the high supply pressure inside the pipe. As such, the WSD had to install fittings at the damaged part during maintenance, so as to open the water main to identify the spots that needed rehabilitation. The inside and outside of the concerned water main within an area spanning from 500 millimetres in front of and at the rear of the damaged part were manually applied with corrosion protection, but the whole section of water main had not been replaced. Furthermore, the WSD noted that the incident was caused by corrosion due to nearby sewerage leak. Therefore, in addition to applying corrosion protection, the WSD had installed an additional negative protection system for the water main to reduce the chance of corrosion caused by external factors by means of electrode.

84. Mr LAU continued that the steel salt water main in Eastern Street was laid in 2004. It was an additional pipe and was installed to tie in with the programme of providing salt water instead of fresh water for flushing purpose, hence the whole section of the pipe was made of steel which was a more durable material. In 2000, the WSD started to implement the R&R Programme of Water Mains. At that time, more than 2 000 main burst cases were recorded throughout the territory. However, as most of the water mains had been replaced at present, the number of main burst cases had decreased to more than 100. As for main leak cases, the number had also decreased, although the rate of reduction was smaller. Currently, around 1 000 to 2 000 main leak cases were recorded throughout the territory; and there were more than 300 main leak cases in the Central and Western District in the past year. The WSD had conducted analysis on the main leak incidents, and the initial findings revealed that most of the water pipes involved were smaller in size. Also, most of the fresh water mains were galvanised iron pipes (commonly known as lead pipes) without internal corrosion protection, and they were more prone to corrosion which would cause holes. In view of the above findings, the WSD had started to make arrangements for replacing water mains made of such material. However, the WSD was unable to provide an anticipated works schedule for the time being since the actual completion time would depend on the progress of processing the applications for temporary traffic arrangements. The works under the risk-based term contract on Queen’s Road West would commence in 2019, and the WSD would discuss with the DC Member of the constituency concerned on the details of the works. In response to Members’ concern over the connection of old and new pipes in Eastern Street, he said that the WSD had carried out enhancement and maintenance works for the water main concerned at that time without replacing the main.

85. The Chairman wanted the WSD to reply whether the sewerage leak had been solved.

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86. Mr LAU of the WSD said the WSD noted that the sewerage leak located somewhere above the water main concerned, but was unable to identify the exact leak spot at site. Therefore, the WSD could only reinstate the excavated road surface for pedestrian use as soon as possible after rehabilitating the water main concerned. It was believed that the sewerage leak would continue.

87. The Chairman opined that since sewage would easily cause corrosion of water mains, the unsolved sewerage leak problem might lead to corrosion of the water main section not applied with corrosion protection.

88. Mr LAU of the WSD responded that the inside and outside of metal water pipes would have been applied with corrosion protection in general during laying works. After welding, the WSD would conduct tests to ensure that the water mains were free of leakage, and then applied external corrosion protection on the water mains. Mr LAU said the WSD believed that the current incident occurred because the water main had been scratched inadvertently at the time of the pipe laying works, thus damaging the corrosion protection, and subsequently the sewerage leak caused corrosion at the damaged spot and the main burst as a consequence.


(a) Mr NG Siu-hong opined that the WSD lacked clear criteria for defining main burst and main leak, and the relevant data was not of high value for reference. Besides, he said the WSD mentioned that the main burst incident might be attributed to the contractor’s unsatisfactory work procedures for the main laying works. He therefore asked which contractor undertook the main laying works then; the locations in the Central and Western District where the water mains were laid by the aforesaid contractor; and whether the aforesaid contractor was still carrying out water main works for the WSD. He said there was information indicating that drinking water was contaminated by water pipes of the same type. He asked whether the WSD had conducted tests on the drinking water at the location concerned.

(b) Mr KAM Nai-wai hoped the WSD would give a precise answer as to when replacement of water mains at the location concerned would take place, so that he could relay the information to the residents. He asked the WSD why priority could not be given to the location concerned, where more than 100 main leak cases had occurred, for replacement of water mains; and why a works schedule was not available. Understanding that it took time to process application for temporary traffic arrangements, he still hoped the WSD would provide an estimated works schedule after the meeting.

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90. The Chairman noted the WSD’s written reply stated that the water main at the location concerned was replaced in 2004, so he believed the WSD would not further replace the water main concerned within a short time.

91. Mr KAM Nai-wai said paragraph 3 of the WSD’s written reply stated that the WSD was implementing a programme for replacement of old galvanised iron mains and uPVC mains in stage. He hoped that the WSD would respond to this.

92. The Chairman hoped that the WSD would give a written response after the meeting, listing the locations of salt water mains and fresh water mains in the district according to the situation of water main replacement (replaced already/not replaced yet). He said that burst mains were often the ones which the WSD had previously claimed to have carried out replacement. However, after occurrence of burst incidents, the WSD would say that the water mains involved were not yet replaced. He also remarked that if sewage flowed along the leak spot of the current incident to the part of the water main where corrosion protection was damaged, main burst cases would continue to occur. It would waste both time and public money. He hoped that the WSD would solve the problem of sewerage leak or refer the case to other departments concerned for follow up.

93. Mr LAU of the WSD responded to Mr NG Siu-hong’s concern over the definitions of main burst and leak. He said that the public would generally classify the situation of water apparently flowing on road surface as main burst. However, he reiterated that according to the WSD’s internal guidelines, the definition of main burst was main leakage involving a large volume of water loss and requiring the WSD’s immediate emergency repair works. Main leak referred to main leakage involving a smaller volume of water loss, and allowing the WSD to temporarily separate the problematic water mains and carry out the emergency repair works later. He stressed that although the WSD could carry out the maintenance of main leak cases later, it would endeavour to handle the cases immediately so as to fix the relevant systems as quickly as possible. Regarding the water main involved in the current incident, it was a steel main with a diameter of 600 millimetres, and was an additional pipe laid in 2004 to tie in with the programme of providing salt water instead of fresh water for flushing purpose in the Central and Western District. It was not part of the R&R Programme of Water Mains. The WSD had conducted analysis on past main leak incidents in the Central and Western District, and found that most of the water pipes involved were smaller in size. He said that in the past, most of the fresh water mains in the district were galvanised iron pipes. As this kind of pipes were not applied with internal corrosion protection, they were more prone to corrosion, thus resulting in main bursts or leaks. Regarding the main replacement schedule, he said that the WSD aimed to replace all the galvanised iron mains and uPVC mains in the territory within ten years, and would provide the relevant information after the meeting.

94. The Chairman requested the WSD to provide the schedule of the planned replacement of the

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above mains, as well as information on all the salt water mains and fresh water mains in the district that had not been replaced after the meeting.

95. Mr NG Siu-hong requested the WSD to respond to the enquiries about the name of contractor responsible for laying the water main concerned, and whether the aforesaid contractor was undertaking other water main works at present.

96. Mr LAU of the WSD said that based on the WSD’s record, the original contractor went bankrupt during the construction period. As such, the WSD had to commission another contractor to complete the works through re-tendering. In the light of the above situation, the WSD had stepped up monitoring on the project to ensure that the water mains laid were in compliance with the relevant standards.

Item 11 – Concern over hygiene condition around Fo Cheng and No. 425 Queen’s Road West and in Fo Cheng sitting-out area(C&W FEHWC Paper No. 7/2018)

(5:58 pm to 6:06 pm)


(a) Mr YEUNG Hoi-wing said that the above location had always been plagued by rodent infestation. Although the FEHD had installed IP camera at No. 22-44 Whitty Street, he opined that the IP camera might not be able to capture the hygiene situation at the location as indicated in the paper, and wanted to know about the effectiveness of installing IP camera.

(b) Mr SHIH Jan Noel said that although improvement was seen, the hygiene conditions at the above location was still very bad. He said he had found that a lot of refuse such as cigarette butts and peanut shells were deposited at the above location and a large quantity of food waste had been disposed of at the rear lane by food premises with liquid coming out from the garbage bags. He believed that setting poisonous baits could not solve the problem. He wanted to know who were prosecuted by the FEHD and for what offence.

(c) Mr YIP Wing-shing opined that the hygiene conditions at the above location had improved. However, people gathered at the sitting-out area at the above location from time to time, and complaints about people urinating and food premises dumping bagged refuse at the location concerned were received. He hoped that the FEHD would step up efforts in issuing advice to the public and strengthen enforcement

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actions.

(d) The Chairman believed that the sitting-out area was managed by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD), and hoped that the FEHD would display banners at the location where IP camera was installed to achieve deterrent effect. Remarking that people had been dumping refuse at the above location for quite some time and serious rodent infestation was thus caused, he hoped the FEHD would step up rodent control and prevention work, and the FEHD and LCSD would jointly step up cleaning of the sitting-out area.

98. Mr LEE Tze-wah of the FEHD responded that the FEHD had always been very concerned about the rodent problem at the said location and had vigorously carried out anti-rodent operations. He was glad to know some Members agreed that the hygiene conditions at the location concerned had improved, and he said the FEHD would continue to follow it up. Having installed IP camera in the vicinity, the FEHD believed that the measure could help combat illegal disposal of refuse, thereby eliminating the food sources of rodents. Given that improper handling of refuse and food waste by food premises would also cause rodent problem, the FEHD would strengthen publicity in this respect and display banners in future. The Department would first advise the offending shops by giving warnings, and then would step up enforcement actions. In response to Members’ enquiries on the prosecution details, he said that among the 25 prosecution cases, 24 cases were instigated against littering and the remaining one case was against illegal cleaning of bowls and dishes in rear lanes by food premises.

Item 12 – Concern over repeated occurrence of road damage incidents at the junction of Hill Road and Connaught Road West within a short period of time(C&W FEHWC Paper No. 8/2019)

(6:06 pm to 6:15 pm)


(a) Mr SHIH Jan Noel said that the site concerned was a major carriageway leading from Shek Tong Tsui to the WHC. He asked the department concerned why road subsidence had occurred at the same location for three times within two months, and wanted to know whether there were any problems with the quality of the works.

(b) The Chairman said that closure of one lane was required after road subsidence had occurred each time. It was fortunate that there was no vehicle passing through the road section when subsidence took place. However, he pointed out that if road subsidence occurred again while some vehicles were just passing through, it might

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cause casualties. He asked how the HyD would monitor the quality of the road reinstatement works carried out by the contractor, and whether the concerned contractor would be responsible for repairing the road if road subsidence occurred again within a short time after completion of the reinstatement works.

100. Mr CHAN Chak-wing, District Engineer/West of the HyD, responded that the road subsidence incidents were believed to be caused by soil erosion after investigation. He said the HyD would supervise the road works implemented by the HyD’s contractors in accordance with the contract terms and specification of works. If road subsidence occurred due to quality problems during the maintenance period of the works just completed, the HyD’s contractors would be responsible for carrying out the remedial works and would bear the associated costs. If the road works were carried out by other departments or public utilities, the HyD would carry out inspection to check whether the quality of road reinstatement met the HyD’s standards. If defects were found, the HyD would require the holder of excavation permit to carry out the remedial works.

101. The Chairman asked the Department again whether it would require the contractor to conduct reinstatement works free of charge for the road where recurrence of road subsidence took place within one month.

102. Mr CHAN Chak-wing of the HyD responded that if the works concerned involved quality problems, the HyD would require the contractor to bear all the costs.

103. Mr WONG Man-wang, Engineer/West 1 of the Drainage Services Department (DSD), responded that after receiving a notice from the HyD on 30 July 2018, the DSD immediately arranged for a site inspection and identified some damages at the nearby storm-water drainage system. Urgent repair works were completed in two days and the road was then reopened. No further damages on the road section were identified since then.

104. The Chairman invited Members to express their views and raise questions on the issue. Mr LEE Chi-hang opined that protecting the safety of road users should not be left to luck. He asked the Department whether it had made arrangement for monitoring and conducting regular inspection of road safety to prevent road subsidence, especially at the waterfront areas where tidal back flow would easily take place.

105. Mr CHAN Chak-wing of the HyD responded that the HyD believed the incidents were caused by the works or drains leakage nearby, and noted that the DSD had rehabilitated the damaged box culvert. The HyD would continue to monitor the works carried out in the vicinity in future to ensure that such works would not lead to soil erosion and then cause road subsidence.

106. Ms CHENG Lai-king said that the road section concerned was situated on a reclaimed land.

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She opined that if tidal back flow occurred, it might pose serious hazards to road users. She requested the department concerned to enhance communication and monitoring of the road section concerned to prevent accidents.

107. Mr WONG Man-wang, Engineer/West 1 of the DSD, responded that the Department had always maintained close liaison with the HyD, and would immediately follow up such incidents when found.

108. Mr CHAN Chak-wing of the HyD responded that the Department had been in close liaison with the DSD, and would take immediate follow-up action if irregularities were identified.

109. The Chairman said that the Department still had not provided information on measures to be taken to prevent such incident from recurring, and hoped that the Department would give special attention to the location concerned.

Item 13 – Wearing and sinking problems of paving blocks(C&W FEHWC Paper No. 9/2019)

(6:15 pm to 6:35 pm)

110. The Vice-chairman chaired the discussion of this agenda item.

111. The Vice-chairman invited Members to express their views and raise questions on the issue. The main points made by Members were as follows:

(a) Mr CHAN Hok-fung said that eco-paving blocks were easily damaged by storm water and handcarts, thus resulting in uneven road surface. As some elders had lodged complaints to him on stumbling caused by uneven road surface, he asked the HyD how to prevent soil erosion underneath paving blocks caused by storm water, and how to solve the problem of uneven road surface. He opined that the HyD carried out repair works promptly upon receipt of complaints, but this could not solve the problem at root.

(b) Mr CHAN Chit-kwai said that it was difficult to remove the smell and stain of dogs’ excrement left on eco-paving blocks. He pointed out that many dogs excreted beside walls in areas around Lyttelton Road, and hoped that the HyD would find ways to solve the above problem. He recommended the HyD to replace all paving blocks on Lyttelton Road to test the effect.

(c) Mr YEUNG Hoi-wing said that many footpaths in the district were paved many years ago. Although some footpaths were seriously worn out, the HyD still did not make

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arrangements for resurfacing them. He asked whether the department concerned had formulated a schedule to implement resurfacing works to the footpaths, and whether resurfacing works would be implemented at road sections where the paving blocks were seriously worn out. He pointed out that it would often take a long time for the HyD to arrange for resurfacing works of longer footpaths, and enquired about the HyD’s criteria for replacement of paving blocks.

(d) Mr LAU Tin-ching held that the problems of worn-out paving blocks and uneven road surface had all along been serious. He asked the department concerned about the criteria for taking follow-up action upon receipt of the relevant complaints, and whether difficulties were encountered in the course of handling complaints lodged on worn-out paving blocks. He said that the HyD was able to promptly handle road surface identified with apparent problem and depression, but did not deal with some cases involving seriously worn-out paving blocks. He asked why the HyD did not handle these cases. He also asked about the HyD’s frequency of regular inspection on public roads; and whether the HyD had conducted inspection on the footpaths at the junction of Centre Street and Des Voeux Road West in the past six months and if yes, what the progress of the follow-up action after the inspection was. Moreover, he asked how many complaints received by the HyD regarding damaged or rugged paving blocks on footpaths in the district were unsolved cases and why the problems could not be tackled. He asked whether the HyD would consider using paving blocks made of other materials for surfacing the footpaths which were frequently used for placing of heavy articles or for access of people with loaded handcarts.

(e) Miss LO Yee-hang said that the problem had not been solved for many years. In her opinion, Des Voeux Road West was frequently used by people pushing handcarts, thereby resulting in uneven road surface. She hoped the HyD would study the employment of harder and more durable paving materials, and step up efforts in handling roads with worn-out or loosed paving blocks.

(f) Mr LUI Hung-pan said that there were uneven footpaths around Wing Lok Street and Queen’s Road West near Queen’s Terrace in Sheung Wan, and suspected that the uneven road surfaces were caused by vehicles going up onto footpaths. He had lodged complaint on the above situation, but the HyD had only arranged for repair works occasionally without carrying out road resurfacing works. He believed that the problem could not be solved in this way. He recently noted that individual paving blocks on footpaths had come loose, and therefore asked the HyD why this would happen. He also noted that depression of paving blocks appeared between shops and footpaths on the road section linking up Queen’s Road Central and Queen’s Road West, and asked the HyD how this came out and how to solve the

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problem.

(g) Mr SHIH Jan Noel enquired whether other kinds of paving blocks were available for use by the HyD apart from eco-paving blocks, and whether the HyD would use paving blocks made of different materials at targeted locations based on the actual circumstances. He also reflected that the paving blocks of the footpath off the University of Hong Kong Lady Ho Tung Hall on Pok Fu Lam Road were very slippery on rainy days and would easily cause people to slip and fall.

112. Mr CHAN Chak-wing, District Engineer/West of the HyD, responded that the procedures of laying paving blocks involved using sand as the bedding layer, then laying paving blocks, and finally replenishing sand on the surface to fill the gaps between paving blocks. However, loaded handcarts or prolonged erosion by storm water might loosen individual paving blocks. In view of this, the HyD would consider using sand mixed with cement to construct the layer of sand bedding under paving blocks at footpaths often affected by water to increase the stability of paving blocks, or using joint stabilising sealant to seal up the gaps between paving blocks to reduce the loss of sand in the gaps between paving blocks. Moreover, if paving blocks on footpath were found to have defects during inspection or upon receipt of complaint, the HyD would make timely arrangements for the required maintenance works. Nevertheless, large-scale maintenance works might involve large-scale traffic diversion, such as temporary closure of footpath and partial closure of carriageway for use as temporary footpath, hence road resurfacing works might not be arranged within a short time. For Members’ concern over the materials of paving blocks, he said that all eco-paving blocks currently used by the HyD were compliant with the HyD’s standards regarding the hardness and skid resistance of paving blocks. The HyD would replace the old paving blocks of lower skid resistance with the existing concrete eco-paving blocks of higher skid resistance in phases. He would also reflect Members’ views to the HyD’s Research and Development Division for consideration.


(a) Mr KAM Nai-wai asked when the HyD would complete the study on paving block materials. Pointing out that people often slipped and fell on steep roads, he hoped the HyD would use paving blocks of high skid resistance at such locations. He also hoped paving blocks of high hardness would be laid at locations in Sheung Wan and Central District where people frequently accessed with handcarts. He asked whether paving blocks of high hardness and skid resistance were available for use by the HyD, and pointed out that Members of the Committee could provide information to the HyD on locations where application of the above paving blocks was required.

(b) Mr LAU Tin-ching opined that the paving blocks currently used by the HyD were not

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hard enough, and said that the Committee could provide the locations where the HyD should use paving blocks of high hardness for road paving. Moreover, he pressed further on whether the HyD had made plans to replace the paving blocks at relevant places, and wanted to know how long it would take for road resurfacing works.

(c) Mr CHAN Chit-kwai hoped that the HyD would respond to his proposed replacement of paving blocks to reduce the adverse effect of dogs’ excrement.

114. Mr CHAN Chak-wing of the HyD responded that the HyD was concerned about the impact of handcarts or even vehicles on paving blocks of footpaths. The Research and Development Division of the HyD would follow up on and study the issue, but a timetable was not available at this stage. Regarding Members’ enquiry on the works schedule about replacement of paving blocks, he said that he needed to obtain the information on the works concerned from the responsible maintenance section and would provide the supplementary information after the meeting. He responded to Mr CHAN Chit-kwai’s concern over the impact of dogs’ excrement on paving blocks of the footpath on Lyttelton Road by saying that he would refer the case to the concerned staff for follow up.

Item 14 – Monitoring of Lyttelton Road Temporary Refuse Collection Point(C&W FEHWC Paper No. 10/2019)

(6:35 pm to 6:43 pm)



(a) Mr CHAN Chit-kwai was glad to know that the FEHD was studying feasible solutions for placing large LCs. He suggested that the FEHD should consider placing RBs at the location concerned after the implementation of the waste charging scheme. Moreover, he reflected that many LCs were placed on the road during the specific waste collection time every day at present, causing obstruction to vehicular traffic. He hoped that the FEHD would promptly improve the RCP design so that refuse collection vehicles could be parked inside the RCP, thereby improving the traffic condition.

(b) Mr KAM Nai-wai said that he lived near the above location, and asked whether the Government had considered relocating the RCP. He was of the opinion that the Government should incorporate the construction of RCP in the redevelopment programme of the area during planning. He pointed out that the above RCP was in

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open space and it was difficult to ensure good environmental conditions. In addition, he suggested that the department concerned should cut off some parts of the slope for placing containers as temporary storage of refuse, and should give the public a clear idea of the exact boundary of the RCP.

(c) The Vice-chairman noted that the RCP was filled with bulky waste, and therefore recommended the FEHD consider adopting the new design of Bowen Road RCP to improve the situation at the above location.

117. Mr LEE Tze-wah of the FEHD responded that it would be difficult for the FEHD to locate a suitable place for the construction of a permanent and formal RCP since large parts of the Central and Western District were developed areas. Taking into account the need of refuse disposal by residents nearby, the FEHD had selected the location which was easily accessible by the public for placing LCs and serving as temporary storage of refuse. The FEHD had all along been studying improvement plans, including the cutting of some parts of the slope at the concerned location for setting up a larger RCP and storing the large LCs in the streets. It was also communicating with the departments concerned in regard to retaining walls, pipelines and trees on the concerned slope and had submitted the application for land allocation to the Lands Department. Regarding Members’ suggestion about relocating the RCP, he said that the FEHD was willing to relocate the RCP if an appropriate location was identified, but considered it difficult to locate such a suitable place. The FEHD was actively studying the feasibility of cutting the concerned slope, and hoped that the situation could be improved.

Item 15 – Concern over design of manhole covers caused pedestrians to slip and fall (C&W FEHWC Paper No. 11/2019)

(6:43 pm to 7:04 pm)



(a) Ms WONG Mi-hing opined that the manhole covers of the WSD and DSD adopted a raised studs design which would not be slippery. However, she found that the four corners of each manhole cover of some telecommunications companies were made of sheet metal which might easily cause the pedestrians to slip and fall. She asked which department was responsible for regulating the manhole covers of telecommunications companies.

(b) Mr YEUNG Hoi-wing said that the newly installed manhole covers generally

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complied with the anti-skid standards, but those that had been in use over a period of time were worn out and became smooth and slippery. He worried that the slippery manhole covers would easily cause pedestrians to slip and fall on rainy days. He had received many complaints lodged by elders about this, and therefore asked to which department the public should report on the problem of telecommunications companies’ manhole covers. He also asked the departments concerned about the frequency of conducting regular inspection of manhole covers and whether guidelines on regular replacement of manhole covers had been formulated. He hoped that the departments concerned would inspect all manhole covers in the district, and immediately carry out anti-skid remedial measures or even replacement works for the manhole covers as required.

(c) Mr LAU Tin-ching had the impression that the quantity of manhole covers in the Central and Western District seemed to be more than that in other districts, and asked the departments if it was the case. He asked how the departments concerned would repair the worn-out manhole covers to restore adequate skid resistance of manhole covers and ensure the safety of pedestrians. Citing the DSD’s reply that the figures about manhole covers installed in front or at the rear of staircases were not available, he asked whether the DSD would prepare the relevant statistical data.

(d) Mr SHIH Jan Noel said that the manhole covers around Square Street were very smooth and slippery. The department concerned had applied anti-skid dressing on them, but the dressing came off shortly and made pedestrians trip over and fall even more easily. He asked whether the department would consider using reflective materials to alert the public.

(e) The Chairman indicated that the HyD did not answer Members’ enquiries on the inspection frequency of worn-out manhole covers and the assessment criteria of smoothness of manhole covers in its written response. He reflected that at least two accidents had been recently caused by slippery manhole covers. The Department had replaced the involved manhole covers on the footpaths at the junction of Pok Fu Lam Road and Third Street as well as at Smithfield, but the manhole cover on the carriageway at the junction of Pok Fu Lam Road and Third Street had not been replaced yet. He requested the HyD to regularly inspect the condition of manhole covers, and explained the criteria for replacement of manhole cover. He also held that the HyD should not replace the smooth and slippery manhole covers only after an accident had occurred. He said the whole piece of anti-skid dressing came off shortly after application, this reflected that there was something wrong with the quality of the works.

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(f) Ms NG Hoi-yan asked whether the DSD adopted the same criteria for laying manhole covers on steep roads and on even roads. She opined that manhole covers installed on steep roads should be of higher skid resistance. She also wanted to understand whether manhole covers provided on footpaths and that on carriageways adopted the same anti-skid standard. She remarked that since the incident of applying anti-skid dressing on Shing Wong Street, the public considered the HyD lacked supervision on application of anti-skid dressing because the quality of the works was poor. She considered the application of anti-skid dressing ineffective, and asked the departments what other measures would be taken to deal with the situation.

(g) Mr LEE Chi-hang said that according to the Government’s statistics, there were 160 000 manhole covers in the territory. In his opinion, manhole covers installed on steep roads or roads of heavy pedestrian traffic would become more slippery due to storm water and would make people slip and fall more easily. He cited the manhole covers installed in the vicinity of the escalators at Centre Street for illustration. The manhole covers were slippery in the past, and some of them had been subsequently replaced by the HyD. These covered were also painted with bright colour to make the public remain alert. He suggested that the departments concerned should study adding patterns which could effectively prevent slip on manhole covers, thereby providing an ultimate solution to tackle the problem of slippery manhole covers.

(h) Ms CHENG Lai-king said that a fatal accident had occurred on the steep road near the Hong Kong Swatow Christian Church beside the Central-Mid-levels Escalator and Walkway System (CML Escalator System). A manhole cover had caused an old lady to slip and fall, and passed away later. As there were many manhole covers in the district and some smooth and slippery ones would easily cause pedestrians to slip and fall, she hoped that the DSD and HyD would jointly study ways to safeguard pedestrian safety, and recommended the departments study the overseas design of manhole cover.

(i) The Vice-chairman said that there were many manhole covers on the carriageway of Garden Road which would become more slippery on rainy days and had almost caused traffic accidents. He therefore wanted to reflect the seriousness of the problem to the departments.

120. Mr WONG Man-wang, Engineer/West 1 of the DSD, responded that the DSD and HyD would jointly carry out the anti-skid surface dressing works. Regarding the quantity of manhole covers in the Central and Western District, the DSD did not maintain the relevant statistics. The criteria for installing manhole covers in various district throughout the territory were identical. Generally speaking, when there were changes in the size and inclination of a pipeline, then a

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manhole cover would be added to facilitate maintenance in future.

121. Mr CHAN Chak-wing, District Engineer/West of the HyD, responded that manhole covers were designed by the DSD and maintained by the HyD. He said that the HyD would inspect manhole covers on footpaths of high pedestrian patronage once every 7 days and that on footpaths of lower pedestrian patronage once a month. The HyD would also inspect manhole covers on carriageways regularly. If manhole covers were found to be too smooth and slippery, the HyD would arrange for replacement of manhole covers or apply anti-skid dressing as appropriate. For manhole covers managed by the public utilities, the HyD would refer the case to the relevant organisations for follow up in accordance with the existing mechanism. Regarding Members’ report on coming off of anti-skid dressing, he said that it might be due to the different practice of the public utilities. He explained that the HyD would generally apply glue to a manhole cover first, and then place thereon the anti-skid dressing; this way the dressing would not easily come off afterwards. As anti-skid dressing came off on the carriageway at Square Street, he understood that the concerned manhole cover should belong to the public utilities, and the HyD had referred the case to the relevant utility undertaker for follow up.

122. Mr LAU Wai-leung, Senior Engineer/Hong Kong (2) of the WSD, said that manhole covers of the WSD had continued to use the previous British design, but the WSD’s Design Division was reviewing the existing design of manhole covers. He pointed out that most of the manhole covers in other countries were installed on even places. However, Hong Kong was characterised by a lot of steep roads, especially in the Central and Western District, hence the manhole covers were more prone to cause slip and fall. The WSD would continue to study the overseas practices, and pay special attention to anti-skid concern over manhole covers installed in steep roads, with a view to improving the skid resistance of manhole covers. At present, if worn-out manhole covers were found, the WSD would immediately arrange for replacement, and would apply anti-skid dressing on manhole covers that required enhancement of skid resistance. As replacement of anti-skid dressing was required every two to three years in general, it had added to the pressure of the WSD’s maintenance works. In view of this, the WSD was exploring designs that could enhance the skid resistance of manhole covers. The WSD welcomed Members to provide information on locations of manhole covers managed by the WSD in the district which required enhancement of skid resistance, and the WSD would immediately examine and follow up on it.

123. The Vice-chairman said that it seemed to be necessary for Members to continue to follow up the replacement of manhole covers based on the division of labour among the departments concerned.

Item 16 – Concern over poor hygiene in the community as well as rodent and cockroach infestation(C&W FEHWC Paper No. 12/2019)

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(7:04 pm to 7:31 pm)



(a) Mr CHAN Hok-fung pointed out that rodent infestation became more serious due to vibration caused by works during the construction period of the MTR West Island Line. Rodent infestation was once reduced after the completion of the project, but had recurred recently. It was believed that the increased accumulation of refuse in the streets had caused more rodents to appear and even trespass on residential premises to find food. As the FEHD had regularly conducted large-scale cleaning and anti-rodent operations in markets in the past, he asked whether the FEHD would conduct similar comprehensive anti-rodent operations in streets or rear lanes. He also hoped that the FEHD would follow up on improper disposal of refuse and food waste in rear lanes by food premises.

(b) Mr LEE Chi-hang opined that rodent and cockroach infestation had become increasingly serious in recent years. He had even received complaints from residents on upper floors about rodent nuisance in residential premises, and residents of newer residential buildings also encountered the same problem. He pointed out that rodent baits seemed to be inefficacious, and therefore asked whether the FEHD would consider implementing other measures. He worried that the increase in rodent population would lead to the spread of plague, and hoped the FEHD would face up to and solve the problem. He suggested that the FEHD should conduct large-scale cleaning campaign in the district and strengthen inspection on and prosecution action against food premises for illegal disposal of bagged refuse in the streets, with a view to educating the public to maintain good environmental hygiene and make better use of the RCPs operating 24 hours a day.

(c) Miss LO Yee-hang thanked the staff of the FEHD for accompanying her to conduct site inspection earlier and cleaning up the rear lanes in the district. She said the FEHD had always spared no efforts in tackling the environmental hygiene and rodent problems, but thought that there was still room for the FEHD to enhance the work, and recommended that the FEHD should organise large-scale cleaning campaign. She echoed the concern of Members about rodent problem spreading to the upper floors of residential buildings, and indicated that she had received complaint concerning the appearance of rodents on the seventeenth floor of a building. She also remarked that almost half of the total number of flats in a residential building on

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Connaught Road West had experienced rodent infestation. She requested the FEHD to vigorously enhance the cleaning efforts in the district to prevent outbreak of epidemics.

(d) Mr YEUNG Hoi-wing said that placing of food in the rear lanes by food premises would in fact provide food supply to rodents, and therefore requested the FEHD to strengthen cleansing of public rear lanes. Regarding the areas within private rear lanes, he recommended that the FEHD should provide assistance to OCs and property management agencies of buildings.

(e) Ms NG Hoi-yan said that she had received complaints lodged by occupants of the tenement buildings on Hollywood Road about spreading of rodent infestation from food premises on the ground floor to roof on the sixth floor. She had complained to the FEHD about this, but the FEHD’s reply only stated that it would educate owners on prevention of rodent infestation without providing specific measures to solve the problem, such as strengthening the cleansing of streets nearby and advising operators of food premises on no unscrupulous dumping of waste. She noted that some of the cockroach black spots listed in the discussion paper were close to RCP, and asked whether the situation was caused by the FEHD’s procedural defects of refuse treatment.

(f) Mr LAU Tin-ching opined that the FEHD should step up cleansing of rear lanes of food premises, and reflected that rodent problem was particularly serious on residential flats above food premises. Some complaints about rodent problem received were even lodged by households on the twenty-first floor. He hoped that the FEHD would squarely face the rodent problem. Moreover, he suggested that the FEHD should enhance the cleaning of public places, as well as educate the public and OCS on ways about prevention of rodent infestation. He requested the FEHD to explain why rodent infestation aggravated recently, and asked why the FEHD did not model on the rodent infestation rate and prepare a monitoring index for cockroach infestation.

(g) Mr LUI Hung-pan said that public complaints about rodent infestation near Sheung Wan Civic Centre, Queen’s Road Central and the McDonald’s in Cleverly Street were frequently received. The paving blocks on pathway even became uneven due to hole-digging by rodents, reflecting that the rodent problem was very serious indeed. He requested the FEHD and departments concerned to jointly solve the problem.

(h) Ms CHENG Lai-king said rodents would enter any place including private residential premises, but she was told by the FEHD that their staff could not enter private

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premises for rodent disinfestation, they could only place rodent baits in public place nearest the private premises concerned. She said it was difficult to segregate private and public places in terms of rodent problem, and asked whether the C&WDO would consider including the elements of encouraging the public to strengthen rodent disinfestation and cockroach prevention in the District-led Actions Scheme of the coming year. She also held that the departments concerned should educate the public and OCs on the methods of rodent disinfestation.

(i) Ms WONG Mi-hing said that since the development of the Soho in Kennedy Town, there was an increase in food premises in the area. Some of those food premises had dumped bagged refuse in the streets and resulted in a more serious rodent problem. She also reflected that rodent infestation was serious in refuse storage chambers of private buildings. As such, she requested the FEHD to inspect these refuse storage chambers, and educate property management agencies on rodent prevention. She also said some residents had lodged complaints to her, stating that someone would place food beside shops or manhole covers for feeding cockroaches in the small hours every day.

(j) The Vice-chairman opined that rodent problem and wild pig problem would appear side by side since wild pigs would overturn LCs and facilitate rodents and cockroaches to forage for food. He asked how the FEHD would tackle rodent and cockroach problems caused by wild pigs.

126. Mr LEE Tze-wah of the FEHD responded to Member’ enquiries about introducing a monitoring index for cockroach. He said that the Government did not plan to set up a monitoring index for cockroach as the World Health Organization had no relevant guidelines at this stage, but stressed that the FEHD would step up cockroach control at black spots plagued by cockroach infestation. Moreover, the existing legislation in Hong Kong provided that owners and occupants of private properties were responsible for preventing their premises from nuisance caused by insect and rodent. He said that the main cause of rodent infestation and breeding of cockroach was undesirable environmental hygiene which provided these creatures with hiding place and food sources. Therefore, maintaining environmental hygiene was crucial to tackle the problems at root by eliminating the three survival conditions of rodents and cockroaches, namely food, harbourage and passages. The FEHD would continue to make efforts in tackling the problem of illegal refuse deposits in the district to reduce the food sources of rodents and cockroaches, and in enhancing rodent control. Regarding rodent problem in private premises, the FEHD would step up publicity and education to encourage the public to actively participate in maintaining environmental hygiene, and would assist the owners and OCs in need in tackling the environmental hygiene and rodent problems at private rear lanes. The FEHD would focus on implementing intensive anti-rodent operations at locations where rodent infestation was more serious through the anti-rodent operations

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in designated target areas in future. The FEHD would consult Members on locations of “designated target areas” in due course.

127. Mrs WONG HO Wing-sze, District Officer (Central and Western) of the C&WDO, said that the C&WDO, together with the FEHD, had always strived for improving environmental hygiene in the district through the District-led Actions Scheme (DAS). Currently, DAS was focusing at strengthening the cleaning of private rear lanes. The C&WDO would examine the effectiveness of DAS, and then consider continuing to enhance the cleaning of private rear lanes in collaboration with the FEHD in the coming year. She said that the C&WDO was deliberating over the implementation of a large-scale cleaning operation through DAS this year, with a view to educating the OCs and property management agencies of buildings about ways to maintain environmental hygiene. She noted that some charitable organisations and voluntary teams of the business sector had jointly piloted a scheme in Sham Shui Po District earlier. They installed rodent-proof devices for some private buildings to prevent rodents from climbing into residential premises. The C&WDO was willing to explore the feasibility of implementing the scheme in the Central and Western District. If the scheme was found to be effective, the C&WDO would collect information on black spots of rodent infestation from Members for follow up.

Item 17 – Request to improve the problem of frequent failures of the escalators at Centre Street(C&W FEHWC Paper No. 13/2019)

(7:31 pm to 7:50 pm)



(a) Mr LEE Chi-hang said although he had learnt earlier that the failure rate of the escalators at Centre Street had been reduced, he still considered the problem of escalator failure serious. Citing the figures provided in the reply of the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD), he said the failure frequency of each escalator at Centre Street was 3.5 times per month. In addition, it took time for maintenance. At a result, at least one of the escalators would cease to operate every day. He said the problem of escalator failure had been discussed for several times previously, but it seemed that the EMSD still could not come up with measures to make improvements. Some residents had reflected to him that some people made use of the escalators when delivering goods with handcarts, or some drunk persons jumped on the escalators or running on the escalators towards the opposite direction of the escalator movement. Such behavior would adversely affect the operation of

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escalators and even posed danger. He therefore hoped that the EMSD could, apart from improving the machinery, consider installing closed-circuit television (CCTV) and surveillance system to enhance deterrence. Furthermore, he said that maintenance staff would generally arrive on site for inspection and maintenance in about one to two hours after the breakdown of an elevator. He hoped that the EMSD could make faster deployment of staff to attend the incident on site, and expeditiously reopen the escalator for public use.

(b) The Chairman said that the escalators at Centre Street were relatively new but were of a high failure rate, reflecting that there was something wrong with the quality or management of the escalators. Given that the maintenance service of the escalators was still provided by the manufacturer for the time being, he considered the EMSD should make improvement in management. He also suggested that the EMSD should consider requesting the FEHD, which was managing a market in the vicinity, to manage the escalators on its behalf. He pointed out that installation of CCTVs would facilitate the EMSD to monitor the escalators and, in the case of escalator breakdown, make prompt arrangement for maintenance.

(c) Mr KAM Nai-wai did not agree that the escalators at Centre Street should be managed by the FEHD. Citing the figures provided by the EMSD, he said the failure frequency of each escalator at Centre Street was 3.5 times per month, among which 1.9 times were caused by external factors. He enquired if the EMSD would consider arranging for attendants to station at the escalators at Centre Street. He also requested the EMSD to provide the figures of fault repairs for the escalators at Centre Street and the CML Escalator System for comparison, in order to find out whether the CML Escalator System, which was stationed with attendants, would have a lower failure rate. Furthermore, he enquired about the time required for completing the minor refurbishment works of the escalators at Centre Street, and whether refurbishment works would be carried out for all the escalators in Centre Street.

(d) Mr CHAN Hok-fung said residents had reflected that some people used the escalators at Centre Street for delivering goods. Consequently, the EMSD had installed bollards at both ends of the escalators to solve the problem, having regard to the situation of those in need. He asked the EMSD what external factors had caused the breakdown of escalators, and opined that installation of CCTVs could help the EMSD to have a more comprehensive understanding of the causes of escalator breakdown, as well as to ensure the normal operation of escalators. He said that according to his understanding, the CML Escalator System had attendants to immediately follow up on problems related to the escalators, whereas the escalators at Centre Street had no attendants. He therefore hoped that the EMSD would

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consider installing CCTVs at the latter escalators.

130. Mr LEE Ka-chun, Engineer/Transport Services 1/6 of the EMSD, said that the EMSD was appointed by the HyD to carry out maintenance service for electrical and mechanical facilities, such as pedestrian escalators and elevators at pedestrian footbridges and subways, in the territory. He therefore recommended Members to discuss with the HyD on the feasibility of handing the concerned escalators over to other departments, such as the FEHD, for management. Regarding Members’ comments on installation of CCTVs, he replied that the EMSD generally agreed with the proposal, and considered the proposal technically feasible. However, the consent and authorisation of the HyD were required before the EMSD could launch the installation works. In response to Mr KAM Nai-wai’s enquiry about the comparison of failure rates between the escalators at Centre Street and CML Escalator System, he said that failure rates of the CML Escalator System were lower than those of the escalators at Centre Street, both in terms of failure caused by equipment faults and failure caused by external factors. It reflected that failure rate and the availability of attendant might be correlated. He said an accident involving a handcart slamming against an escalator occurred a few years ago. After the accident, the EMSD, together with the HyD and TD, had installed bollards at the escalators at Centre Street. Nevertheless, certain space had to be maintained between bollards to cater for the need of pregnant women and people trawling suitcases, hence the bollards could not completely prevent people delivering goods with handcarts from using the escalators. He said that attendants were deployed to station at the CML Escalator System since its commissioning. Therefore, bollards installed between some escalators of the system could be removed for access by those in need. However, as most of the footbridges managed by the HyD throughout the territory did not have attendants, it was necessary to first seek the HyD’s consent before proceeding to hire attendants to manage the escalators at Centre Street. He continued that the EMSD would carry out minor refurbishment works for the escalators at Centre Street in the 2019-20 financial year. The Department planned to replace the worn-out chains of the escalators to enhance the stability of the escalators and ensure safety. It was anticipated that it would take one to two days for the replacement works for each escalator. However, the exact timetable could only be confirmed after the contractor had completed the arrangements for spare parts delivery and other details.


(a) The Chairman said that the railing beside the escalator on the ramp of High Street had been loosened. He had witnessed someone moving the railing away and attempting to use the escalator to transport the goods carried in handcart. He called a halt to this and the person finally pushed the goods away. He requested the Department to fix the railing or explore other improvement measures to prevent the recurrence of similar incident.

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(b) Mr LEE Chi-hang hoped that the Committee would send a letter and the minutes of the meeting to the Director of Highways, reflecting the Committee’s request for installation of CCTVs and for consideration of hiring attendants. He also reflected that the routine examination of the escalators would usually be carried out during daytime peak hours, and the escalators needed to cease operation temporarily for such purpose. He hoped that the Department would arrange for conducting examination during non-peak hours or at night, because there would be less users during such periods and would greatly reduce the impact on the public.

(c) Mr KAM Nai-wai opposed the installation of CCTVs on the grounds of privacy concerns. He hoped that the HyD would hire staff for managing the escalators at Centre Street. In his opinion, the EMSD’s data regarding failure cases of the escalators at Centre Street and the CML Escalator System reflected that providing attendants could effectively reduce escalator failures caused by human factors. He also hoped that the request would be reflected in the letter to the Director of Highways.

132. Mr LEE Ka-chun of the EMSD responded to Mr LEE Chi-hang’s views on the examination and maintenance time of the escalators, saying that the Department maintained an open mind on the time to carry out examination and maintenance of the escalators by the contractor. He would follow this up with the contractor after the meeting. However, he pointed out that in addition to the maintenance of the escalators at Centre Street, the contractor also undertook the maintenance of some private properties and government facilities. Therefore, it was necessary to discuss with the contractor on the possibility of making adjustment to the arrangement. He also said that maintenance works might generate noise, so the Department and the contractor needed to consider whether it was appropriate to arrange for carrying out the works after 9:00 pm.

133. The Committee reached a consensus on writing to the Director of Highways after the meeting to reflect the aspiration of the Committee to strengthen the management measures of the escalators at Centre Street and the specific recommendations raised.

Item 18 – Issues concerning the Smart Power Building Fund of the HK Electric(C&W FEHWC Written Question No. 1/2019)

(7:50 pm to 7:51 pm)

134. The Vice-chairman chaired the discussion of this agenda item. The Vice-chairman invited Members to note the contents of the Paper.

Item 19 – Comments on food, environment, hygiene and works made by the elderly

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(C&W FEHWC Written Question No. 2/2019)(7:51 pm)

135. The Vice-chairman chaired the discussion of this agenda item. The Vice-chairman invited Members to note the contents of the Paper.

Item 20 – Any other business(7:51 pm)

136. The Vice-chairman chaired the discussion of this agenda item. The Vice-chairman said that there was no other business.

Item 21 – Date of the next meeting(7:51 pm)

137. The 7th meeting of the FEHWC would be held on 14 March 2019. The paper submission deadline would be 21 February 2019 for government departments and 27 February 2019 for Members.

138. The meeting was adjourned at 7:51pm.

The minutes were confirmed on 14 March 2019

Chairman: Mr YEUNG Hok-ming

Secretary: Miss CHENG Cheuk-yan, Charmaine

Central and Western District Council Secretariat March 2019

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