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Following is a question by the Hon Daniel Lam Wai-keung and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Ms Eva Cheng, in the Legislative Council today (January 23):
Question:
Regarding the car parks in the public housing estates in the New Territories, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of a breakdown by District Council districts of the current average vacancy rates of the parking spaces in the car parks mentioned above;
(b) of the public housing estates in which there are a lot of vacant parking spaces in their car parks, and whether it has studied the causes of this situation; if it has, of the outcome;
(c) whether it has studied changing the use of the car parks mentioned in (b); if so, of the outcome of the study; and
(d) whether the car parks mentioned in (b) will be made available to social enterprises free of charge to support and promote the setting up of social enterprises in the neighbourhood of residential areas and create employment opportunities in the community?
Reply:
Madam President,
Most of the carparks in public housing estates are the properties of The Link Real Estate Investment Trust (The Link). As The Link is a private entity, we do not have information on the utilisation of its carparks. My reply to the four-part question, which concerns only the carparks managed by the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA), is as follows :
(a) The average vacancy rates of the monthly parking spaces in the carparks in the HA's public housing estates in the New Territories, broken down by District Council districts, are as follows :
District Council Number of Vacancy Rate(%)
Districts* Monthly
Parking Spaces
Kwai Tsing 3 314 23
Tsuen Wan 1 104 30
Tuen Mun 1 875 41
Yuen Long 2 268 25
Northern 370 34
Shatin 1 627 25
* The HA has only a small number of monthly parking spaces in Tai Po, Sai Kung and Islands Districts.
(b) The over-provision of parking spaces in public housing estates is mainly attributable to the provision of a relatively large number of parking spaces in the early years of public housing planning. In recent years, due to the aging population in older estates, the improvement of the mass public transport system in Hong Kong and the rising fuel prices, many public housing residents have given up the use of private cars, resulting in the shrinking demand for carparking spaces in public housing estates. Moreover, after the HA's divestment of most of its carparking facilities in November 2005, most of the remaining carparks are located relatively far away from town centres, hence the relatively low utilisation rate. At present, carparks with more vacant monthly parking spaces are mainly located in Tuen Mun and Yuen Long Districts.
(c) The HA would from time to time adjust the number of monthly parking spaces having regard to the demand. Since 2007/08, the study of converting surplus carparking facilities into other community uses has been made a major item in the annual work plan of the HA's Commercial Properties Committee.
In the past two years, the HA has converted the sixth floor of the carpark in Tin Heng Estate and leased it to a welfare organisation for use as a "Tin Shui Wai Integrated Services Centre". Floor 5B of the carpark is also being converted into a "multi-media workshop" to provide a venue for youngsters to develop multi-media creative skills. Moreover, the HA will join hands with the Hong Kong Jockey Club to convert the first, second and part of the fifth floors of the carpark into a "telephone betting centre cum volunteer and training centre", which is expected to provide about 2 500 job opportunities.
For better utilisation of resources, apart from the conversion of the carpark in Tin Heng Estate, the HA is exploring the possibility of conversion of other carparks with relatively high vacancy rates. The HA plans to convert the first floor of the carpark in Choi Hung Estate into a "continuing education and community college" and some floors of the carpark in Nam Shan Estate into an "art education institute". The HA is discussing with the relevant organisations the leasing details.
(d) While the HA would explore the possibility of converting its carparks with relatively high vacancy rates into suitable community uses, the leasing of these carparks to social enterprises may not be the best way to help the social enterprises, as most of these carparks are situated away from the main pedestrian traffic in the public housing estates.
Social enterprises interested in operating on the HA's commercial premises may apply to the HD if they have policy support from the relevant government departments or are receiving subsidies under the community partnership scheme "Enhancing Self-Reliance Through District Partnership Programme". The HD would consider whether there are suitable premises in the estate and whether the nature of business of the applicant is compatible with that of the existing operators. If considered suitable, the applicant may rent the premises at market rent without the need to go through the open tendering process.
Ends/Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Issued at HKT 12:55
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