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Following is a question by the Hon Tony Tse and a written reply by the Secretary for Development, Mr Paul Chan, in the Legislative Council today (July 9):
Question:
In order to improve the living environment, the Government has developed Greening Master Plans (GMPs) for all urban areas in the territory and completed the related greening works, and it has been gradually developing GMPs for the New Territories since May 2011. In January this year, the Government completed the development of GMPs for the Southeast and Northwest New Territories, and sought a funding allocation of $350 million from this Council for priority greening works in such areas. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) which professional grades and government departments are involved in the Government's greening work (including work completed, in progress and pending) and the subsequent maintenance work for the plants, and of the number of posts involved, with a breakdown by district; the respective numbers of civil service posts, non-civil service contract posts and other posts (e.g. those created by outsourced contractors) among the professional grade posts; the number of civil servants responsible for the aforesaid work in each of the past three years, with a breakdown by department, grade and rank;
(2) whether it has assessed if there is sufficient manpower to implement the GMPs across the territory at present; if it has not, of the reasons for that and whether it will conduct such an assessment; if it has, the results and whether it will increase the manpower; if it will, of the expected number of posts to be created in the next three years and the relevant timetable; if not, the reasons for that;
(3) given that plant maintenance work is undertaken separately by a number of government departments at present, whether the Government will designate a department or set up a task force to centralise the handling of the maintenance work for the plants planted under the GMPs across the territory; if it will, of the details (including the manpower involved and the implementation timetable); if not, the reasons for that; and
(4) of the Government's follow-up work, as well as whether it will extend the project, upon completion of the development of GMPs for urban areas and the New Territories and the progressive commencement of the related greening works; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
My reply to the four parts of Hon Tony Tse's question is as follows:
(1) Currently, the Civil Engineering and Development Department (CEDD) has a team of 12 Engineer grade and Landscape Architect grade staff (including two non-civil service contract staff) tasked to oversee the implementation of Greening Master Plans (GMPs). The recurrent costs for both maintenance and establishment works for greening works under GMPs are included in the funding applications for respective GMPs of various districts in the urban areas and the New Territories and allocated to the relevant departments. As the greening measures of GMPs mostly involve greening of pavements or roadside verges, the greening maintenance works are mostly undertaken by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD). In this connection, LCSD has deployed the staff originally responsible for greening maintenance works and the additional manpower deemed necessary after assessment to manage the additional works. Take the urban GMPs as an example. Ten civil service posts in the Amenities Assistant grade were created in LCSD to support the original staff in the proper maintenance of greening works implemented under the GMPs. Except for Kwun Tong which was assigned two new staff, the following districts were allocated one new staff each, namely Central & Western, Wan Chai, Eastern, Southern, Yau Tsim Mong, Kowloon City, Wong Tai Sin and Sham Shui Po. Over the past three years, both CEDD and LCSD had contracted out greening maintenance works. The professional posts created and number of staff engaged by the contractors specifically for these works are shown below.
Engineer Arborist
-------- --------
Contractor of CEDD
(As of end at June 2013) 1 2
Contractor of LCSD
(Starting from July 2013) 0 2
Note: The staff in the above table are responsible for the maintenance of greening measures implemented under GMPs as well as other greening measures of the respective districts.
(2) The CEDD is responsible for implementing the greening measures of GMPs in the urban areas and the New Territories. It regularly reviews the manpower resources required at different implementation stages to ensure that there is sufficient manpower to take forward the greening works under GMPs. At present, 12 Engineer grade and Landscape Architect grade staff (including two non-civil service contract staff) are deployed to oversee the implementation of the GMPs. CEDD has also commissioned consultancy professional and technical services and recruited site staff through the consultants to supervise the greening works. As for the manpower required for greening maintenance works under the GMPs in urban areas, please refer to paragraph (1) of the reply above. The actual number of new posts to be created for greening maintenance works under the GMPs in the New Territories will be determined by LCSD in the light of future assessment.
(3) As mentioned above, LCSD is mainly responsible for the maintenance of greening works implemented under GMPs as its staff have the requisite professional knowledge and experience in plant maintenance. Therefore, we do not consider it necessary to set up another dedicated task force to oversee all maintenance of the greening works across the territory.
(4) After formulating the GMPs, CEDD will disseminate their details, including greening themes and corresponding plant palettes, to the relevant departments through the Greening Master Plan Committee. The Development Bureau stipulates in relevant works handbook, such as the Project Administration Handbook for Civil Engineering Works, that requires the departments to refer to the greening themes and plant palettes of the relevant district GMPs in planning and designing greening initiatives for public works. It also issued some technical guidelines in 2012 to require the departments responsible for planning and designing new roads to allocate sufficient space for greening at central median and roadside verges, where practicable, to ensure provision of adequate planting space is not affected by underground utilities. We believe the above measures can ensure effective and sustainable implementation of greening plans under GMPs.
Ends/Wednesday, July 9, 2014
Issued at HKT 14:30
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