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Following is a question by the Hon Albert Chan and a written reply by the Secretary for Home Affairs, Dr Patrick Ho, in the Legislative Council today (May 16):
Question:
Recently, I have received complaints from many members of the public that bicycles or trolleys, some of which being rather worn-out, are often illegally parked at railings alongside footpaths, in pedestrian subways and on footbridges in many places in Tsuen Wan, Tung Chung and Tin Shui Wai of Yuen Long. Despite repeated complaints lodged by members of the public with the Administration, the problem has not yet been solved. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the number of complaints received in each of the past three years about frequent illegal parking of bicycles or trolleys at railings alongside footpaths, in pedestrian subways and on footbridges, as well as the locations involved;
(b) of the number of clearance operations carried out in each of the past three years in response to the relevant complaints, as well as the locations and the number of bicycles and trolleys involved; and
(c) whether it will consider improving the existing policy, so as to prevent illegal parking of bicycles and trolleys at railings alongside footpaths, in pedestrian subways and on footbridges more effectively; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) In the past three years, most of the complaints received by the Authority about the parking of bicycles or trolleys in Tsuen Wan, Tung Chung and Tin Shiu Wai were related to such locations as railings along walkways, on footbridges and along footpaths at public transport interchanges as well as fences on the boundaries of housing estates. The number of complaints received by the concerned departments is shown in the following tables; as members of the public can refer a same case to different departments, the complaint records of departments may overlap:
Complaints received by the Home Affairs Department:
Number of complaints
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2004 22
2005 47
2006 45
Complaints received by the Transport Department:
Number of complaints
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2004 2
2005 2
2006 1
Complaints received by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department:
Number of complaints
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2004 10
2005 8
2006 2
Complaints received by the Lands Department:
Number of complaints
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2004 31
2005 31
2006 60
(b) Details of the clearance operations targeted at illegal parking of bicycles/trolleys in Tsuen Wan, Tung Chung and Tin Shiu Wai for the past three years are as follows:
Number of clearance Number of bicycles/trolleys
operations cleared
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2004 6 1,226
2005 6 519
2006 17 1,095
(c) The Government has been concerned about the problem of illegal parking of bicycles. We and the concerned departments have reviewed the situation and agreed to adopt a three-prone approach to tackle the problem:
(i) To organise interdepartmental clearance operations against district black spots for illegal parking of bicycles and trolleys;
(ii) To strengthen public education at the district level to call on and encourage members of the public to use legal parking places; and
(iii) To continue our collaboration with the local community and District Councils to identify more locations for designation as bicycle parking places. In this regard, the Government has designated a total of 5,921 additional bicycle parking places in the New Territories in the past three years.
The Government will continue to monitor the problem, and the concerned departments will take appropriate actions having regard to situations in individual districts and views of the concerned District Councils.
Ends/Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Issued at HKT 12:50
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