*******************
Following is a question by the Hon Tony Tse and a reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Wong Kam-sing, in the Legislative Council today (November 13):
Question:
The Country Parks Ordinance (the Ordinance) provides the legal basis for the designation, control and management of country parks and special areas as well as matters such as the setting up of the Country and Marine Parks Board. Regarding the designation, control and management of country parks, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the area of private lands among the lands within the country parks so designated under the Ordinance at present; of the mechanism, criteria and considerations based on which the Government decides whether a certain piece of land is to be designated as country park; in the past decade, whether the authorities have regularly reviewed and revised the relevant mechanism, criteria and considerations, as well as the locations, coverage and areas of country parks; if so, of the details of the review and revision; if not, the reasons for that, and whether they will conduct regular reviews in the future;
(b) of the mechanism through which members of the public may convey their views or aspirations to the Government regarding the designation of country parks, and the mechanism for the Government to address such views and aspirations; the number of complaints received by the Government from members of the public regarding matters such as the coverage, usage and management of country parks in each of the past 10 years; the types of such complaints, the names of country parks involved, and the outcome of follow-up actions; and
(c) of the main facilities for use by the public at various country parks at present; the respective maintenance costs and management expenses incurred for the public facilities in various country parks in each of the past five years; whether the authorities have assessed the utilisation rates and benefits of such facilities; if they have assessed, of the outcome, and the specific proposals for improvement (such as increasing the utilisation rates, upgrading facilities or adding appropriate facilities); if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
My reply to the Hon Tony Tse's questions is as follows:
(a) The Administration has adopted a set of established principles and criteria to assess whether an area is suitable for designation as a country park, including factors such as aesthetic value, recreation potential, conservation value, size, land status, management effectiveness, etc. In fact, at present, there are about 460 hectares of private land in various country parks. In June 2010, unauthorised excavation works were detected on both private land and government land of the country park enclave of Sai Wan, which triggered significant public concerns on the protection of country park enclaves in Hong Kong. After the Sai Wan incident, the Government undertook to either include the enclaves into country parks, or determine their proper uses through statutory planning for better controls. To this end, the Country and Marine Parks Authority (the Authority) reviewed the principles and criteria for designating new country parks in May 2011 and confirmed that the assessment mechanism was in essence applicable. At the same time it was stated that the mere existence of private land will not be automatically taken as a determining factor for exclusion from the boundary of a country park.
The designation, replacement and amendment of country parks are conducted in accordance with the provisions of the Country Parks Ordinance (Cap 208) (the Ordinance). After the review of the principles and criteria for designating country parks, three country park enclaves at Sai Wan, Kam Shan and Yuen Tun were assessed to be suitable for inclusion into country parks. The Country Parks (Designation) (Consolidation) (Amendment) Order 2013 (the Designation Order) was prepared in accordance with the Ordinance with a view to amending the boundaries of the Sai Kung East Country Park, Kam Shan Country Park and Tai Lam Country Park so that the aforementioned country park enclaves can be incorporated into their respective country parks. The Designation Order was tabled at the Legislative Council on October 16, 2013 for negative vetting. The Legislative Council has formed a subcommittee to study the Designation Order.
(b) The Authority will conduct consultations at various stages in the course of the country park designation. In general, the Authority will consult relevant stakeholders before the commencement of statutory procedure, e.g. village representatives, rural committees and district councils. The Authority shall consult the Country and Marine Parks Board (the Board) on the preparation of any draft map under section 8(4) of the Ordinance. Where the Authority has prepared a draft map for a proposed country park under section 8 of the Ordinance, he shall publish in the Gazette and make a copy of the draft map available for inspection by the public under section 9(1) of the Ordinance. Any person aggrieved by the draft map within a period of 60 days of public inspection from the date of gazettal, he may send to the Authority and to the Secretary of the Board a written statement of his objection to the draft map under section 11 of the Ordinance. The Board shall arrange hearing for the objections, and submit the draft map with a schedule of objections and representations to the Chief Executive in Council for approval.
In addition, the number of complaints received by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) in the past five years on the management of country parks is provided in Table 1. Most of the complaints were on maintenance and repair of country park facilities, vegetation management and environmental hygiene, etc. The AFCD has followed up all cases with timely investigations and actions. The AFCD does not have statistics on complaints regarding the coverage and usage of country parks.
(c) The AFCD has provided suitable recreational facilities in various country parks for public use. These recreational facilities include barbeque sites, picnic sites, campsites, hiking trails, mountain bike trails, visitor centres, nature trails and tree walks, etc. The expenditure of the AFCD on the management and maintenance of facilities in country parks in the past five years is detailed in Table 2.
About 13 million visitors to country parks were recorded in 2012. In addition, the AFCD regularly conducts a series of country park educational activities each year to promote country parks and convey the message of nature conservation to the students and the general public. The AFCD has carried out visitor surveys in country parks in the past few years to gauge the views and needs of the visitors for suitable improvement in country parks. Although no survey has been done regarding the utilisation rate of individual facility, based on past survey data, hiking, barbequing and leisure walking have been the major activities in country parks. Overall speaking, the majority of visitors are satisfied with the facilities in country parks. The AFCD will review the arrangement and service quality of the existing facilities in country parks based on survey data and site inspections to meet the needs of the visitors.
Thank you, President.
Ends/Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Issued at HKT 14:20
NNNN
