Minutes of the 1st Special Meeting of
District Facilities Management Committee (2016-17)
Central and Western District Council
Date: 15 June 2017 (Thursday)
Time: 2:00 pm
Venue: Conference Room
14/F, Harbour Building
38 Pier Road, Central, Hong Kong
Present:
Chairlady:
Ms CHENG Lai-king*
Vice-chairman:
Mr NG Siu-hong*
Members:
Mr CHAN Chit-kwai, BBS, JP*Mr CHAN Choi-hi, MH*
Mr CHAN Ho-lim, Joseph / (2:20 pm – end of the meeting)
Mr CHAN Hok-fung, MH*
Mr CHEUNG Kwok-kwan, JP / (2:28 pm – 2:59 pm)
Mr HUI Chi-fung / (2:28 pm – end of the meeting)
Mr KAM Nai-wai, MH / (2:20 pm – end of the meeting)
Mr LEE Chi-hang, Sidney, MH / (2:24 pm – end of the meeting)
Miss LO Yee-hang / (beginning of the meeting – 2:30 pm)
Ms SIU Ka-yi*
Mr YEUNG Hoi-wing *
Mr YEUNG Hok-ming*
Mr YIP Wing-shing, BBS, MH, JP *
Remarks: * Members who attended the whole meeting
( ) Time of attendance of Members
Item 2:Ms CHAN Suk-fan, Bianca / Deputy District Leisure Manager (District Support) Central and Western, Leisure and Cultural Services Department
Item 3:
Dr TING Sun-pao, Joseph
Mr Kenneth TSE
Mr Steven CHU
Ms WONG Sau-lan, Belinda
Mrs WONG Ho Wing-sze, Susanne, JP
Mr MOK Chi-kin, Jiv
Mr MAN Chi-chiu, Eric
Mr NGAN Suen-wa / Adjunct Professor and Honorary Senior Research Fellow, The Chinese University of Hong Kong & Former Chief Curator, Hong Kong Museum of History
Director, Meta4 Design Forum Limited
Director, Meta4 Design Forum Limited
Museum Director (Museum of History),
Leisure and Cultural Services Department
District Officer (Central and Western)
Senior Executive Officer (District Management),
Central and Western District Office
Executive Officer (District Management),
Central and Western District Office
Inspector of Works (Hong Kong)2,
Works Section, Home Affairs Department
In Attendance:
Mrs WONG HO Wing-sze, Susanne, JP / District Officer (Central and Western)
Ms YEUNG Wing-shan, Grace / Senior Executive Officer (District Council),
Central and Western District Office
Mr MOK Chi-kin, Jiv / Senior Executive Officer (District Management),
Central and Western District Office
Mr MAN Chi-chiu, Eric / Executive Officer (District Management),
Central and Western District Office
Mr NGAN Suen-wa / Inspector of Works (Hong Kong)2,
Works Section, Home Affairs Department
Ms Ms CHAN Shuk-hing, Daphne / Senior Librarian (Central and Western),
Leisure and Cultural Services Department
Mr TONG Pak-yu, Simon / Chief Estate Officer (District Lands Office, Hong Kong East, West and South), Lands Department
Secretary:
Miss SUM Sze-yan, Cyan / Executive Officer (District Council) 4,
Central and Western District Office
Opening Remarks
The Chairlady welcomed all Members and representatives of government departments to the 1st special meeting of the District Facilities Management Committee (DFMC) (2016/2017).
Item 1: Adoption of Agenda
(2:10 pm)
1. The Committee adopted the meeting agenda.
Item 2: Fund Application of District Minor Works Projects – “Provision of Drinking Fountains in Kwong Hon Terrace Garden and Kau U Fong Children’s Playground”
(C&W DFMC Paper No. 35/2017)
(2:10 pm – 2:17 pm)
2. The Vice-chairman expressed support for the project and hoped that drinking fountains suitable for use by both adults and children would be provided. He also asked the reasons why awnings were needed.
3. Mr CHAN Chit-kwai also expressed support for the project, and enquired about the differences between drinking fountains suitable for use by adults, by children and by persons with disabilities. In addition, he hoped the department would consider providing drinking fountains at West End Park.
4. The Chairlady enquired about the method used for filtering and sterilising the water from the drinking fountain.
5. Mr CHAN Hok-fung was concerned about the arrangements regarding the plants after they were removed from the existing flower bed in Kwong Hon Terrace Garden.
6. Ms CHAN Suk-fan of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) replied that two wall-mounted drinking fountains at each site would be provided in the aforesaid venues, one suitable for use by average adults and another low-level one suitable for use by children and persons with disabilities. Furthermore, since the proposed drinking fountains in Kwong Hong Terrace Garden would be located outdoor, provision of awnings was needed for hygiene reasons. Filter cartridge and ultraviolet light would be used to filter and sterilise the water from the drinking fountain, and the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department would carry out maintenance and replace the filter cartridge and ultraviolet light regularly in accordance with the guidelines provided by the producer. For the plants in the existing flower bed, they would be transplanted to other locations in the Garden.
7. After discussion, the Committee endorsed an allocation of $517,000 to the LCSD for implementation of the above project. As the fund application exceeded $300,000, the paper would be submitted to the Finance Committee (FC) for approval.
Item 3: Fund Application of District Minor Works Projects – “Dr Sun Yat-sen Historical Trail – Installation of the Redesigned Memorial Plaques”
(C&W DFMC Paper No. 36/2017)
(2:17 pm – 3:06 pm)
8. Mrs WONG HO Wing-sze, District Officer (Central and Western) (DO(C&W)), presented the paper to the Committee.
9. Ms WONG Sau-lan, Museum Director (Museum of History) of the LCSD, said that the Historical Trail would make use of mobile application to provide more information to the public and visitors to promote tourism. The mobile application would include GPS navigation function to facilitate tourist visits and introduce the Historical Trail through photographs or audio descriptions.
10. Dr TING Sun-pao, Adjunct Professor and Honorary Senior Research Fellow of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Former Chief Curator of the Hong Kong Museum of History, expressed support for the use of mobile application in this project to let the public learn about Dr SUN Yat-sen’s life in Hong Kong.
11. The Chairlady hoped that Members present and other attendees would not take photographs or release the design drawings concerned to the public as intellectual property rights were involved.
12. Mr KAM Nai-wai asked the reasons why the design drawings concerned could not be made public at an open Committee meeting.
13. Mr Kenneth TSE, Director of the Meta4 Design Forum Limited, said he and Mr Steven CHU, another director of the company, were responsible for coordinating the project; and seven other artists were invited to design the memorial plaques. As some artists had not yet finished the design, so they did not want to release the unfinished works to the public at this stage. Nevertheless, the design team still hoped to introduce to the Central and Western District Council (C&WDC) the design concepts and progress at this meeting.
14. Mr KAM Nai-wai expressed respect for the artists’ wish to keep the unfinished works from being released to the public; but since Members were not notified before the meeting that this agenda item would be conducted in closed meeting, he considered it undesirable to make a sudden decision about keeping the documents confidential during an open meeting.
15. Mrs WONG HO Wing-sze, DO(C&W), believed that not releasing the conceptual sketches was a common practice for artists in the arts and cultural sector; and pointed out that minutes and audio record of the meeting would still be uploaded to the C&WDC webpage. To show respect for the copyrights of the designers, Mrs WONG said that several actions could be considered by the Committee, including seeking agreement from all the people present at the meeting on not taking photographs; or conducting closed meeting at once; or inviting the artists to describe verbally instead of display the design drawings.
16. Mr CHAN Chit-kwai opined that the Committee could conduct closed meeting in response to the request of the design team.
17. The Chairlady remarked that views of Members should be sought if closed meeting was to be conduct.
18. The Vice-chairman expressed reservation about conducting closed meeting, and considered it undesirable to conduct closed meeting halfway through an originally open meeting. He said verbal appeal for not taking photographs had been made, and he hoped all the attendees would respect the design team.
19. Mr KAM Nai-wai hoped the artists would understand that this was an open meeting; and stressed that despite the request and appeal, the Chairlady could not totally prevent all the attendees from taking photographs. Mr KAM suggested that the design team should decide by themselves whether or not to display the design drawings in this meeting.
20. Mr Kenneth TSE of the Meta4 Design Forum Limited presented to the Committee the design concepts of five of the memorial plaques. The design featured two periods of DrSUN’s life, i.e. his student days and the revolutionary period; and the memorial plaques would be installed at No. 2 Bridges Street, No.44 Gough Street, No. 13 Staunton Street, No. 20 D’Aguilar Street and the University of Hong Kong.
21. Mr CHAN Hok-fung expressed support for updating the memorial plaques. Nevertheless, as the final design drawings were unavailable at this stage, he was concerned that residents nearby might have strong views on the finalised design because different people had different aesthetic tastes towards art, and so far Members had not seen the final design drawings.
22. The Chairlady hoped that the Central and Western District Office (C&WDO) would conduct thorough district consultation before commencing the project.
23. Mrs WONG, DO(C&W), responded that after discussing with the departments concerned, the C&WDO wished to consult the C&WDC first, and then would liaise with the residents and shops around the areas where the plaques were located; and this was also the established practice of the C&WDO.
24. Mr CHAN Chit-kwai supported the project and expressed appreciation for each plaque having its own unique design, but hoped that consideration would also be given to continuity in the design among each unique plaque.
25. Mr YEUNG Hok-ming also expressed support for the project. He considered his own artistic skills not well enough to comment on the design, and also had faith in the design team’s professionalism, but hoped that the team would take into account public perception on the design concerned.
26. Mr KAM Nai-wai said that as a layman and someone who had no opinion to offer on the design, he nevertheless did not agree with approving the fund application before the complete design drawings were available. Furthermore, Members just learned from the design team that each plaque would have a different design. He thus wanted to know the reasons why the C&WDO proceeded with the fund application in such haste.
27. The Vice-chairman agreed with Mr KAM’s view, and hoped that relevant bodies would endeavour to submit the documents and upload them to the C&WDC website before the meeting. As the plaques would be located at prominent places and probably installed there for several decades, he thus considered that the Government should take note of public response and the Committee should consider the fund application carefully. The Vice-chairman understood there might still be revisions to the design, but hoped that the design team could release the conceptual sketches to the public before the FC meeting, so that Members could collect public views. As far as he knew, the Government was now embarking on the revitalisation works of the Hong Kong News-Expo (i.e. the former Bridges Street Market in Central); hence he hoped that the two projects could complement each other in the structural and design aspects. In addition, the Vice-chairman hoped that the plaques would include text display of relevant historical stories; and also enquired about whether photographs, films and historical stories would be uploaded to the mobile application.
28. Mr LEE Chi-hang said that from the artistic perspective, he had no opinion on the design. However, since the project applied for funding from the C&WDC, Members certainly would want to know about the content of the design. Mr LEE said he would respect the final decision of the design team, but still hoped a complete set of design drawings would be available before the FC meeting. Furthermore, Mr LEE proposed that the Chairlady suspended the meeting to allow Mr CHAN Chit-kwai, Chairman of the Culture, Leisure & Social Affairs Committee (CLSAC), to convene the 9th CLSAC meeting first.
29. The Chairlady adjourned the meeting.
30. The meeting was resumed at 2:58 pm.
31. Mr YIP Wing-shing said if Members supported changing the plaques but still had concerns over the design, he suggested that the Committee could give approval-in-principle to the fund application, and then requested the design team to provide the design sketches after the meeting.
32. Ms WONG Sau-lan of the LCSD remarked that since there were limited spaces on the plaques, the LCSD would identify relevant historical pictures and cultural relics and make films about the design concepts behind each of the memorial plaques, with a view to let the public access relevant information through the mobile application. The LCSD would update the content of the mobile application in future when necessary.
33. The Chairlady pointed out that if the Committee endorsed the fund application, the paper would be submitted to the FC for approval. The Chairlady hoped that relevant party would endeavour to make available the complete set of design drawings before the FC meeting to facilitate discussion in the meeting.
34. Mr YIP Wing-shing and Mr CHAN Hok-fung concurred with the Chairlady’s request.
35. The Chairlady suggested that the C&WDO should carry out consultation, such as conducted residents’ meeting.
36. The Chairlady asked Members whether or not to pass the fund application.
37. Mrs WONG, DO(C&W), hoped Members would understand that as promoting the tourist attractions in the Central and Western District was the Government’s focus this year, in order to complement the overall tourism promotional efforts and enhance the tourism facilities in the district, it was hoped the plaques could be updated by end of this year. Mrs WONG understood that Members considered it necessary to first perusal the complete design drawings, and then approved the fund application at the FC; but explained that the Government hoped to listen to the views of the C&WDC as early as possible even if the complete design drawings were not yet available; and after obtaining the C&WDC’s agreement, the C&WDO and departments concerned would jointly consult relevant residents and shops in the district. Mrs WONG said that Members’ views were noted; and the C&WDO, together with relevant departments, would follow up on the request regarding whether the design team could release in advance the design sketches.
38. Mr KAM Nai-wai indicated that he abstained from voting.
39. After discussion, the Committee endorsed in principle an allocation of $1,170,000 to the C&WDO for implementation of the above project, and expressed the hope that the C&WDO would fully consult the stakeholders before the works commenced. Since the paper would be submitted to the FC for approval as a discussion paper, some Members said they hoped a complete set of design drawings would be provided to Members for comment when the paper was presented to FC for deliberation. The C&WDO noted the suggestion and would follow up with the design team.
Item 4: Any Other Business
(3:06 pm)
40. The meeting was adjourned at 3:06 pm.
The minutes were confirmed on / 20 July 2017
Chairlady: / Ms CHENG Lai-king
Secretary: / Miss SUM Sze-yan, Cyan
Central and Western District Council Secretariat