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Following is a question by the Hon Albert Ho and a written reply by the Acting Secretary for Transport and Housing, Mr Yau Shing-mu, in the Legislative Council today (June 8):
Question:
Regarding the processing of applications by the Highways Department (HyD) for installation of street lights in rural areas in the New Territories, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of the aforesaid applications received by HyD in each of the past five years, and the number of applications being processed as at end-March this year, with a breakdown by the relevant District Council district;
(2) whether HyD has set a quota on the number of the aforesaid applications to be accepted; if HyD has, of the quota for each of the past five years;
(3) whether HyD reviewed, in the past three years, how the processing of the aforesaid applications could be expedited; if HyD did, of the details; whether HyD has set a performance pledge for the time for processing the applications; if HyD has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(4) whether HyD will install solar-powered street lights in rural areas; if HyD will, of the implementation timetable; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
My reply to the various parts of the Hon Albert Ho's question is as follows:
(1) Under the current practice, applications for installation of village lights in rural areas in the New Territories are collected, coordinated and selected according to an annual overall quota for installation of village lights by the Home Affairs Department (HAD) and various District Offices (DOs). They will then be incorporated into the New Territories rural area lighting installation programme for implementation by the Highways Department (HyD).
According to the information provided by the HAD, as at end-March this year, the number of village lighting applications received by the HAD in the last five years (financial year 2011-12 to financial year 2015-16) is at Annex 1.
According to the information provided by the HyD, as at end-March this year, the number of applications processed by the HyD in the last five years (financial year 2011-12 to financial year 2015-16) is at Annex 2.
(2) In financial year 2011-12, the HyD's annual overall quota for installation of village lights was 600. Compared with the past where there was no lighting on an entire village road, applications in recent years involve mostly the installation of an additional village light on a village road already with village lights or increase in illumination coverage of individual areas. Therefore, more manpower and time is needed to contact the applicants one by one to discuss the locations of installation and the routing of cables. Therefore, when compared with the past where the locations concerned of applications for installation of village lights were more concentrated, the HyD now needs more time and resources to process the same number of village lighting applications and installations.
In view of the above, as well as resource constraints, the HyD informed the HAD that the annual quota for installation of village lights is 400 from financial year 2012-13 onwards.
(3) The HyD and DOs have taken measures in recent years to expedite both the processing and completion of installation of village lighting applications yet to be included in the New Territories rural area lighting installation programme. Measures include: in addition to the 400 village lights included in the programme each year, subject to availability of resources, the HyD and DOs will conduct preliminary work such as site inspection and identification of locations for applications yet to be included in the programme. This will allow earlier commencement of installation works once these applications are included in the programme. Moreover, for those cases included in the programme but remain unresolved for a long time due to various reasons, the HAD and the HyD will discuss whether to exclude such cases so as to spare resources for processing the remaining cases. Under the current practice, DOs will inform the applicants of the excluded applications. The HAD and the HyD also hold regular meetings to review the progress of follow-up actions and examine individual special cases.
After the HyD has received the village lighting applications selected by the HAD according to the annual overall quota for installation of village lights, they will be immediately incorporated into the New Territories rural area lighting installation programme for implementation. Therefore, the HyD is of the view that there is no need to set a performance pledge for the time for processing the applications.
(4) The HyD implemented a trial scheme for using solar energy in public lighting in 2006. Under the scheme, a total of 17 solar road lights were installed in rural areas in Tuen Mun, Tsuen Wan and Yuen Long between 2006 and 2009. Findings of the trial scheme indicated that in rural areas, besides sunlight was blocked by trees from reaching photovoltaic (PV) panels, the lamp posts in rural areas could not support the PV panels which are essential to the supply of solar energy. As such, their application has limitations and they perform dissatisfactory in terms of power supply and cost-effectiveness.
To gain more experience in applying the use of solar energy in public lighting, the HyD started another trial scheme in October 2014. Under the scheme, road lights powered by larger-sized PV panels were installed on a highway where daylight conditions were more stable than those in rural areas. However, the HyD found that the performance of these road lights fared worse than traditional electric-powered road lights in terms of stability. The trial scheme is still on-going and the HyD will continue to closely monitor the situation. Therefore, at the moment, there is insufficient justification for supporting the use of solar-powered road lights in rural areas.
Ends/Wednesday, June 8, 2016
Issued at HKT 14:30
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