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In response to press enquiries concerning the Democratic Party's criticism that more directorate officer posts had been created while the quality of municipal service had worsened after the dissolution of the two Provisional Municipal Councils (PMCs), a government spokesman said the criticism was untrue and unfair.
"In the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD), the number of directorate posts (permanent) now is 14, the same as at January 1, 2000. The only addition concerns a supernumerary directorate post created in December, 2000 to deal with the voluntary retirement exercise lasting only 6 months.
"This compares with 15 directorate posts under Urban Services Department (USD)/Regional Services Department (RSD) dealing with similar duties before the reorganisation of the PMCs.
"In the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD), the number of permanent directorate posts is 12.
"When comparing with a total of 17 permanent directorate posts in the USD and RSD dealing with leisure and cultural services related work, there is a net reduction of five permanent directorate posts.
"Therefore, it is not true to say that the total number of directorate posts in the two departments has increased since the reorganisation of PMCs,"
The spokesman said it was not appropriate to compare expenditure under FEHD/LCSD and USD/RSD as the duties are different.
"For example, FEHD has a much bigger role in food safety as compared with USD/RSD.
"As indicated in papers submitted to the Legislative Council (LegCo) in 1999, it was estimated that about $700m would be saved in recurrent expenses as a result of the reorganisation of the two municipal councils. 56% of the savings was attributable to leisure & culture services and the rest relates to various services including environmental hygiene services,"
The spokesman pointed out that service improvements had been made by the two departments in a number of areas including:
* enhanced street cleansing , refuse collection and toilet
cleansing services;
* reduced time for issuing restaurant licenses
* enhanced control against illegal food premises and slaughterhouses
* enhanced food safety control through risk assessment and communication
* enhanced public education on genetically modified food
* better response to food incidents
* set up customer liaison groups to gauge users' views on the leisure and cultural venues
* extended opening hours of museums, enhanced computer systems in libraries.
As for new initiatives, the spokesman said the FEHD would this month begin consultation on a new scheme to replace the "5 star categorisation" scheme for restaurants.
"The LCSD would implement a "School Sports Programme" and the "School Cultural Day Scheme" to encourage active participation of students in sports and cultural activities," he added.
On the alignment of fees and charges for service in urban area and the New Territories in 2001, the commitment is to realign within 2 years after reorganisation, the spokesman said.
The spokesman said after the dissolution of the two PMCs, LCSD has assumed responsibility for 160 outstanding Capital Works Projects involving leisure and cultural facilities.
"Of these, 11 are priority projects which have received funding approval from the former PMCs. Eight of them have been directly injected into the Public Works Programme as Category A projects, and work has started on some of them. As regards the remaining three projects, they will be injected into Category A as soon as the outstanding technical issues relating to these projects have been resolved.
"Of the remaining 149 projects, 16 have been included in Category C of the Public Works Programme.
The spokesman emphasised that LegCo and the District Councils had all along been kept informed on the progress of these projects.
A sub-committee has been set up by LegCo to monitor the progress of the Public Works Projects left behind by the two PMCs. Starting from 2001, District Councils will be consulted each year on the relative priority of the projects, both capital and minor works, in the respective districts, so that the views of the local councils could be taken into account in processing the projects into the Public Works Programme.
The spokesman said that a review was being conducted by the Government to see how the roles and functions of the District Councils, particularly in respect of the monitoring of the provision and delivery of municipal services, could be further enhanced.
As regards the Hong Kong Central Library, the spokesman said Central Library was originally forecast to be opened around the end of 2000. However, due to unforeseen circumstances caused by the technical requirements concerning the commissioning of the Digital Library System and the tendering for the Specialist electrical and electronic systems and equipment, the Library is now expected to be opened to the general public around April or May 2001.
End/Wednesday, January 3, 2001
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