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Following is a question by the Hon Lau Kong-wah and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Ms Eva Cheng, JP in the Legislative Council today (June 25):
Question:
Regarding the public car parks in public housing estates managed by The Link Management Limited ("The Link"), will the Government inform this Council if it knows:
(a) the average number of staff at each car park, and whether the authorities concerned have examined if all of the car parks have sufficient manpower to undertake security duties; and
(b) as drivers using the hourly parking spaces in these car parks are required to pay by Octopus card, causing much inconvenience to professional drivers (particularly taxi drivers) who do not have Octopus cards with them, whether The Link has received any such complaints over the past year, and of the ways to address the problem?
Reply:
Madam President,
My reply to the two-part question is as follows:
(a) Upon its public listing on November 25, 2005, The Link Real Estate Investment Trust (ˇ§The Linkˇ¨) has become a private entity. So long as The Link complies with the relevant legislation, conditions of government lease, requirements under the Deeds of Mutual Covenant and terms of covenants and agreements made between The Link and the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA), the Government and the HA will not intervene in the day-to-day management and business strategies of The Link. As such, as with other commercial institutions, we do not need to be apprised of the staff employment situation in the estate carparks managed by The Link and will not look into matters concerning the day-to-day business management of The Link.
(b) As mentioned above, The Link is a private entity and we do not have any information concerning complaints received by The Link or how these complaints were handled.
Ends/Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Issued at HKT 18:39
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