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Following is a question by the Hon Andrew Leung and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Ms Eva Cheng, at the Legislative Council meeting today (December 2):
Question:
All along, many members of the public, groups and organisations in Hong Kong had expressed their wishes and views by way of organising and participating in processions or assemblies, and where necessary, the Police and the Transport Department will implement temporary traffic measures such as road closures as well as re-routing of buses and minibuses. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the number of notices of no objection issued by the Police in respect of public processions in the past three years; among such cases, the number of those with temporary traffic measures implemented; the respective numbers of those in which such measures were implemented between 9am to 6pm on Monday to Friday, those which caused traffic congestion as well as those which involved closures of major roads in Central; and
(b) what existing channels are available to members of the public to make prior enquiries about the aforesaid temporary traffic measures, so as to avoid the crowds taking part in the processions/assemblies and the areas with traffic congestion?
Reply:
President,
My reply to the two parts of the question is as follows:
(a) In the past three years (from January 1, 2007 to October 31, 2009), the Police issued 1,831 notices of no objection in respect of public processions, of which 633 involved public processions held in Central. The Police will adopt different levels of temporary traffic measures including road closure, and re-routing of buses and minibuses with due regard to the actual situation and need of individual public processions or assemblies. If extensive road closures, traffic diversions and re-routing of public transport services are required, the Police will discuss with the Transport Department (TD) to formulate temporary traffic arrangements to ensure that public processions or assemblies can be held smoothly, and the effect on the public can be minimised.
According to TD's record, 43 public processions held in the above three-year period involved temporary road closures and/or re-routing of public transport services, 10 of which involved roads in Central. The public processions held in the above period did not require any temporary road closure during the period from 9am to 6pm on Monday to Friday. The above figures do not include intermittent lane closures implemented by the Police in connection with public processions or assemblies.
(b) To facilitate the public, as a general rule, TD will publish details of the temporary traffic and transport arrangements required for public processions or assemblies including road closure, traffic diversion and re-routing of public transport services through TD notices or traffic advice published before the events in Chinese and English newspapers. TD will also issue press releases to the media and request their assistance in disseminating the information. In parallel, such notices or traffic advice will be uploaded onto TD's website for public inspection. Members of the public may also obtain such information through the 1823 Call Centre.
When there are public processions or assemblies that necessitate temporary road closure, traffic diversion and re-routing of public transport services of a greater scale, TD will convene a press briefing before the event to explain the arrangements concerned. In addition, during the course of such events, TD will provide the public with real-time traffic news about the prevailing traffic conditions through TV and radio. If necessary, the Police and TD will implement immediate traffic management and diversion measures to minimise the impact of the events on the overall traffic situation and operation of public transport services.
Ends/Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Issued at HKT 11:57
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