Members present the president the honourable andrew wong wang-fat, O. B. E., J. P
Download 0.94 Mb.
|
- Navigate this page:
- PRESIDENT
- Supplementary Labour Scheme 6. MR JAMES TIEN
- SECRETARY FOR EDUCATION AND MANPOWER
SECRETARY FOR SECURITY (in Cantonese): I believe I can only answer that the police will do their best to protect the safety of all citizens, including the guests who attend the National Day reception as well as the onlookers, reporters and even the demonstrators who are present. Everyone can see that although there were some slightly unpleasant incidents and there were demonstrations, yet to my knowledge, none of the guests who attended the reception that evening was chased over a few streets by the demonstrators. MR LEUNG YIU-CHUNG (in Cantonese): Mr President, when I asked about the number of demonstrators there would be on 29 September as estimated by the police, I was not delivering a speech, but rather I was raising a question which the Secretary for Security failed to answer. SECRETARY FOR SECURITY (in Cantonese): We did not receive any information about how many people would participate in the demonstration on 29 September. But we could see about 10 to 20 demonstrators when they were marching from O'Brien Road to the Convention and Exhibition Centre at Harbour Road. MR TSANG KIN-SHING (in Cantonese): Mr President, I want to ask the Secretary when the iron railings in front of the entrance of the New China News Agency will be removed. Will they be there until 1997? Those iron railings are usually the cause of clashes there. PRESIDENT: That is outside the scope of the question. Clearance of squatter areas 5. MR CHAN KAM-LAM asked (in Cantonese): Will the Government inform this Council: (a) of the number of squatters in the territory which have yet to be cleared and their location; (b) of the breakdown, by number and location, of public and temporary housing units which the Government has set aside for rehousing squatters who are affected by clearance; and (c) whether, in the event of the number of public and temporary housing units set aside being insufficient to rehouse all affected squatters, the Government will consider deferring the clearance of some squatter areas which do not pose immediate danger, and postponing the target date of clearing all squatter areas before March 1996 as pledged by the Governor in his recent policy address? SECRETARY FOR HOUSING (in Cantonese): Mr President, in 1992, there were about 33 500 urban squatters living on Government land covered by the Government's undertaking to offer rehousing by March 1996. Of these, 28 000 have already been rehoused. The majority of the remaining 5 500 occupy about 2 000 structures in 13 squatter areas: 11 located on Hong Kong Island and two in Kowloon. Please refer to the information I have just tabled (Annex A). These squatter areas are being cleared, and residents are being offered or will be offered rehousing shortly. In 1995-96, the Housing Department has set aside a quota of 1 200 public rental housing units and 2 400 temporary housing accommodation places for all urban squatter clearees. For a breakdown of this provision, please refer to the information tabled (Annex B). The accommodation set aside will be sufficient to meet the rehousing needs of the remaining 5 500 urban squatters on Government land. Annex A Clearances of Urban Squatters on Government Land
(#) Date of clearance will be announced shortly. (*) The balance of 1 750 people out of the 5 500 referred to in the main answer are living in squatter areas on urban Government land throughout the territory. Annex B
available for Residents Affected by Urban Squatter Clearances for the period 1 April 1995 to 31 March 1996 (a) Public Rental Houisng
(*) These flats are in various estates and are reserved for residents affected by urban squatter clearances. (b) Temporary Housing Accomodation
(#) The actual location of THA places for urban squatter clearees will be adjusted regularly in the light of operational requirements. MR CHAN KAM-LAM (in Cantonese): Mr President, as far as I know, according to the government policy, there will be local rehousing for the squatters during the clearance of squatter areas. At present, it is calculated that there should be 300 to 400 squatters in Kwun Tong District. However, the Housing Department has only set aside 20 newly-built housing units for them. Should the Government increase the number of newly-built housing units for the squatters? Would it be a better arrangement? SECRETARY FOR HOUSING (in Cantonese): Mr President, during the clearance of squatter areas by the Government, there is no undertaking that the squatters will definitely be rehoused locally. As a matter of fact, we will try our best to make things convenient for all the clearees. But this does not mean that the Government has formally undertaken to rehouse the squatters locally. The information provided in the Annex is actually about the urban housing units. We reckon that in terms of transport facilities or living conditions, these locations are rather convenient for those squatters. MISS CHAN YUEN-HAN (in Cantonese): Mr President, the Government has now given an undertaking to finalize the entire package of clearance arrangements for the squatter areas concerned by March 1996. However, it is less than five months from October to March next year. I hope that Mr President can relay my enquiry to the government officials concerned. Faced with the clearance of the 13 squatter areas, what arrangements will the Government make during these five months? SECRETARY FOR HOUSING (in Cantonese): In respect to the remaining 13 squatter areas on Government land, we, in fact, sent the clearance notice to the residents of 11 squatter areas very long time ago. The Government will try all means to persuade these squatters and explain to them the rehousing arrangement, that is, the public housing units and the temporary housing accommodation places arranged for them. We hope that we can, as far as possible, persuade these squatters to move out in the coming five months. Generally speaking, we have already cleared many squatter areas in the past and we have not encountered any substantial difficulties during the clearance. We hope that this time we can still make the best use of the same approach in persuading these squatter clearees to accept the government arrangement of moving to public housing units as soon as possible. MR IP KWOK-HIM (in Cantonese): Mr President, in the course of clearing the squatter areas, has the Government encountered any opposition from the squatter clearees, and have they asked to postpone the clearance? If so, can the Government inform us how it would consider whether to accept the request of the clearees? SECRETARY FOR HOUSING (in Cantonese): Mr President, it is a matter of course that during the clearance process in the past, we encountered initial opposition from the squatter clearees. But as I said earlier, the staff of the Housing Department will try their best to carry out door-to-door canvassing. According to past experience, generally there will not be any substantial difficulty. Sometimes, this will surely delay our action. But after a certain period of time, the squatter clearees will accept our arrangement. In the next five months, we will still adopt the same approach of persuasion. We will explain to the clearees that we have already set aside some public housing units for them and hope that they will accept. It is our hope that, during this period of time, we can do our best to deal with the clearance matters according to the spirit of the undertaking that the Government has given. MR YUM SIN-LING (in Cantonese): Mr President, only the information on urban squatter areas is provided in the Annex. Does the Secretary for Housing have any information on the squatter areas in the New Territories? Besides, will there be even more complicated problems in the New Territories due to the closeness of some squatter structures to the small houses of the indigenous residents? SECRETARY FOR HOUSING (in Cantonese): Mr President, in regard to the squatter structures in the New Territories, according to the data that we can obtain, there are about 220 000 squatters. The relevant government policy does not specify any clearance operation to be carried out against the structures of these 220 000 squatters. But that does not necessarily mean that the Government will leave them alone if these people have not applied to be included in the General Waiting List. Here I would encourage them to submit their formal applications as soon as possible. I believe that in a few years time, they can be formally allocated public housing units. In regard to whether the living condition of the indigenous residents in the vicinity will be affected, I think that this situation does not exist. It is because so far we do not have any specific policy to clear these squatter areas. MR CHEUNG HON-CHUNG (in Cantonese): Mr President, it is usual that the squatters will ask for local rehousing. The Secretary for Housing also answered part of the question a moment ago. Can the Secretary reconsider the squatters' request for local rehousing? We can see that in Southern District, more than 2 000 squatters have to be rehoused while there are only 40 housing units. Can the Secretary consider setting aside more housing units in that district so that all the squatters can be rehoused? SECRETARY FOR HOUSING (in Cantonese): Mr President, as I mentioned earlier, local rehousing is not a policy. However, when we formally rehouse these squatters, we will definitely set aside some housing units for them in different districts in the course of housing allocation. There is a batch of squatters in Southern District at present for whom we will reserve some housing units in Hong Kong Island, for example, Eastern District as well as Central and Western District. Generally speaking, we find that these units are not really inappropriate nor is transport too inconvenient. We, therefore, cannot always provide local rehousing for the squatters. But we will try our best to find some convenient locations for the squatters. The figures in the Annex only refer to the number of housing units set aside at the present moment. When it comes to housing allocation, there will surely be some changes later on. Nevertheless, if circumstances allow, we will consider the situation on a case-by-case basis. Yet this cannot be regarded as a rule of thumb. MR CHOY KAN-PUI (in Cantonese): Mr President, can the Government inform this Council whether, in the event of all the urban squatter areas being cleared and all the urban squatters being rehoused by March 1996, those on the General Waiting List will be affected? If so, what kind of and how many people will be affected? SECRETARY FOR HOUSING (in Cantonese): Mr President, in view of the Government's undertaking in this respect, we have already conducted an assessment on the allocation of housing units and set aside some units for the squatters. Therefore, the units set aside at the present moment will not affect those people on the General Waiting List. Their applications will still be processed according to the general procedures and they will still have to wait for the allocation of housing units in the normal course of time. MR FREDERICK FUNG (in Cantonese): I would like to ask about the temporary housing accommodation referred to in item (b) of Annex B attached to the main reply. According to the information announced by the Government and the Housing Authority, 13 Temporary Housing Areas (THAs) will be left uncleared. But by 1997, there will be a review of the possibility of scrapping the Temporary Housing Policy. According to the existing Temporary Housing Policy, when temporary housing is being cleared, the residents of the old units will be rehoused in public housing locally while the residents of the new units will be rehoused in the extended urban areas. At present, the Secretary for Housing is allocating accommodation in three urban THAs to 2 400 people. Does it mean that the Government foresees that in two years time, there will be enough public housing units in these three areas to be allocated to them, or the Government expects that these THAs will still exist after two years? PRESIDENT: I do not quite catch your question, Mr FUNG. MR FREDERICK FUNG (in Cantonese): Mr President, my question is that, according to the information contained in item (b) of Annex B, 2 400 people will be allocated accommodation in three urban THAs. And the existing Temporary Housing Policy is that when temporary housing is being cleared, the residents of the old units can be allocated public housing units locally. Recently, the Government proposed that it would review whether to continue to adopt the Temporary Housing Policy. Can I ask the Secretary for Housing, firstly, whether he has already set aside sufficient public housing units for 2 400 people in these three areas? If so, can he state specifically the housing estates concerned? If not, does the Secretary expect that the Temporary Housing Policy will still in place after 1997? PRESIDENT: It is a bit complicated because you are talking about 2 400 temporary housing units to take care of the squatters, and then subsequently you have to rehouse them into rental flats. You can attempt to answer the question, Secretary for Housing. SECRETARY FOR HOUSING (in Cantonese): Mr President, the 2 400 temporary housing units that I mentioned in the main reply are in fact set aside for some urban squatters. We can rehouse them in these units when necessary. Earlier on, I also mentioned that after 1997 we would indeed need to reserve a small number of THAs, namely, the 13 THAs, for future use when we could provide some accommodation places for people in need where necessary. In regard to these units which can accommodate 2 400 people, it is of course understandable that they will be there after 1997. But before the squatters move in, we will renovate these units so that they will be more comfortable for people to live in. Besides, if we decide that these three THAs have to be cleared in the future, we will naturally arrange rehousing for those in need after 1997 according to the distribution of urban public housing units then. MR FRED LI (in Cantonese): Among the 13 squatter areas which have to be cleared by March 1996, two of them are located in Lei Yue Mun Village of Kwun Tong. And one of those which have been declared for clearance is Ma Pui Village. The living environment of Ma Pui Village is quite good. It nestles at the foot of hills and faces the sea. And there are a lot of stone houses in the area. With the environment even better than that of the public housing estates, it is not surprising that most of the villagers are against the clearance. Worse still, the Government does not have any development plan for Ma Pui Village. May the Government consider shelving the clearance plan in respect of this kind of "super de lusxe" squatter areas? SECRETARY FOR HOUSING (in Cantonese): As I mentioned earlier when responding to Members' enquiries, in the course of clearing the squatter areas, the approach of the Government is to be as mild and low-key as possible, that is, to persuade the squatter clearees and hope that they can accept the public housing units set aside for them by the Government. We will continue to use this approach of persuasion and hope that the residents of Ma Pui Village will accept the rehousing arrangement eventually. Of course, it is our hope that they will move out according to our plan in the near future. Supplementary Labour Scheme 6. MR JAMES TIEN asked: Under the Supplementary Labour Scheme, employers must advertise their vacancies in newspapers for a specific period of time and participate in a job-matching scheme to prove that local workers are not available before they can apply for a quota to import workers. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council: (a) whether the application procedures will be simplified and the processing time shortened, so that factory operators may be granted quotas for importing foreign workers as soon as possible to avoid business losses in cases where the contracts of their existing foreign workers have expired and recruitment of replacement staff has been unsuccessful; and (b) whether the Government, in deciding to terminate the General Importation of Labour Scheme and formulating the Supplementary Labour Scheme, has considered or assessed what adverse effects such a change will have on the industrial and commercial developments in the territory? SECRETARY FOR EDUCATION AND MANPOWER (in Cantonese): Mr President, (a) The objective of the proposed Supplementary Labour Scheme (SLS) is to allow for the entry of a limited number of imported workers to fill vacancies that cannot be filled locally. The proposed procedures under the Scheme are designed to safeguard the employment opportunities of local workers and to ensure that employers who have a genuine need to import workers are able to do so. In the proposals set out in the report on the Review of the General Labour Importation Scheme, employers wishing to import workers are required first to advertise their vacancies in local newspapers for two weeks and undergo a four-week recruitment exercise. After that, they will be required to participate in the Job Matching Programme (JMP) of the Labour Department for two months before their applications are processed further. The Employees Retraining Board will be involved, where appropriate, to organize tailor-made courses or to arrange on-the-job training for local workers. Since the issue of the report on the Review of the General Scheme, we have consulted the Labour Advisory Board (LAB) and are continuing our discussions with Members of this Council. We are also listening to public views. At its meeting on 2 November 1995, the LAB agreed in principle to monitor the SLS. It also recommended some changes to streamline the application procedures and shorten the duration of the recruitment period from three months to two months. This is achieved by allowing the employer to conduct the recruitment exercise concurrently with the Labour Department's JMP. The LAB also recommended that special cases which have already gone through the advertisement and JMP process may be given special consideration for early approval if so recommended by LAB. These are reasonable recommendations which Government will consider positively. (b) Our proposal to terminate the General Labour Importation Scheme and to introduce the SLS followed a comprehensive review of the General Scheme. The review took into account the results of the enhanced surveys which had been undertaken to provide more information on the profile of those who were unemployed and on the job vacancies. It also took into account the community's concern on the matter and the views expressed by Members of this Council, the trade unions and the employers' associations. We do not believe that the termination of the General Scheme coupled with the introduction of the proposed SLS would have any adverse effect on industrial and commercial developments. The General Scheme was introduced in 1989 against the background of a very tight labour market and acute labour shortage. However, the labour market has undergone substantial changes in recent months. We now have a surplus of local workers in those broad occupations which cover jobs of a similar nature to many of the posts now occupied by the imported workers under the General Scheme. But we recognize that there may be areas of labour shortage or surplus of vacancies at the individual job level which cannot be ascertained through any statistical surveys. Also, there may be vacancies that our more sophisticated workforce no longer want to fill. The proposed Supplementary Labour Scheme seeks to retain the policy option of employing a limited number of foreign workers to take up jobs which cannot be filled by local workers, so as to maintain the competitiveness of Hong Kong as an open and flexible economy. As such, it should have a positive impact on the business development of Hong Kong, while ensuring that local workers will not be deprived of any job opportunities. MR JAMES TIEN (in Cantonese): Mr President, in recent months, a lot of applications by companies for imported labour were frozen. Naturally, in the circumstances, we would do our best to encourage those companies to recruit local workers in the first place. After a month or so, some managed to recruit workers, some did not. We told those companies unable to recruit the workers they needed that they could wait till January next year to resubmit applications under the new SLS. In the process, it would take two weeks to advertise the vacancies, one month to complete recruitment work, and then two months to completed participation in the JMP of the Labour Department. Now, my query is about the part of the main reply which says that employers need to completed the above process before their applications are processed further." Would the Government inform us whether it has reached any agreement with Members from the labour sector; or, in other words, has there been any Government-labour collusion in which some under-the-table deals have been completed to the effect that labour refrains from submitting the proposal for a "once-and-for-all" termination of labour importation? What I want to follow up on is just the phrase "before their applications are processed further." Would the Government inform us whether it could provide information to us as to the timetable of the entire application process? Would it take one week to one to two months or even one to two years to complete such an application? Download 0.94 Mb. Share with your friends:
|