LCQ10: Display of national flag and regional flag at properties of Hong Kong Housing Authority
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Question:
Regarding the display of the national flag and the regional flag at the buildings and premises (including housing estates, shopping malls and car parks) under the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA), will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether flagstaffs have been installed at the buildings and premises under the HA for flying the national flag and the regional flag; if so,
(i) of the numbers of such buildings and premises, and the percentages of such numbers in the overall numbers of the buildings and premises under the HA;
(ii) of the locations of such buildings and premises; and
(iii) of the reasons why some buildings and premises have not been installed with flagstaffs, and whether the HA has plans and timetables for adding flagstaffs to such buildings and premises; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
if such information is not available, whether the HA has plans to compile such statistics; and
(2) whether the HA has arranged flying the national flag and the regional flag at its buildings and premises on major festive days; if so,
(i) of the numbers of such buildings and premises, and the percentages of such numbers in the overall numbers of the buildings and premises under the HA; and
(ii) of the locations of such buildings and premises;
if such information is not available, whether the HA has plans to compile such statistics?
Reply:
President,
Having consulted the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau, our reply to the question raised by the Hon Ngan Man-yu is as follows:
There are currently four public rental housing (PRH) estates under the purview of the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) with flag poles installed for display of the national flag/regional flag, including Shun Lee Estate, Kwong Tin Estate, Lam Tin Estate and Yat Tung (1) Estate. The HA will facilitate the applications from district councillors/Members of the Legislative Council or local organisations for using the above flag poles and common areas of other PRH estates to display the national flag/regional flag during the festive days. In the past three years, the HA has approved a total of about 70 applications for these activities. When the HA handles their applications for display of the national flag in PRH estates, one of the important factors for consideration is public safety, under which flags displayed in PRH estates should be firmly fastened and should not cause nuisance or danger to the residents or pedestrians in the estates.
Flag poles have been installed at the HA headquarters at Fat Kwong Street to display the national flag and regional flag appropriately in accordance with the National Flag and National Emblem Ordinance. Staff responsible for flag-raising and lowering have been informed of the proper way of flag-raising/lowering in detail.
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government encourages members of the public to use the national flag and regional flag on appropriate occasions. At the same time, they have the responsibility to ensure that the national flag and regional flag are displayed in a proper manner in order to safeguard the dignity of the flags. When local organisations request installing flag poles at existing PRH estates to facilitate activities with raising of the national flag and regional flag, the HA will assess factors such as site layout, environment, safety, etc and follow up the request if the overall situation is considered favourable, so as to ensure that the national flag and regional flag will be raised and hoisted at a suitable location.
Ends/Wednesday, June 22, 2022
Issued at HKT 12:46
Issued at HKT 12:46
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