Proposed creation of two supernumerary posts of one Principal Government Town Planner and one Government Architect in the Works Branch of the Development Bureau with immediate effect upon approval of the Finance Committee up to 31 March 2027
Duties of the two supernumerary posts and their extension arrangements
Regarding the job descriptions as set out in Enclosure 2 to the item EC(2022-23)1, Mr CHAN Chun-ying expressed concerns: (a) about whether Enclosure 2 had reflected the actual changes in the work directions of the two posts as appropriate, having regard to the fact that EKEO had been established for nearly a decade; (b) about the work performance in connection with the two posts in the past decade; and (c) that the Administration should draw up quantifiable performance indicators, put in place a yearly performance appraisal system for the two posts, and formulate key performance indicators for specific duties.
The Administration responded that:(a) with the EKE initiatives going through a number of development stages over the past decade, EKEO had been making multifaceted efforts to facilitate the transformation of KE from an industrial area into a core business district (“CBD”). EKEO had a multi-disciplinary team and its existing structure could meet the actual development needs of KE both at present and in future;
(b) in gist, the work performance of EKEO could be assessed in terms of the following four indicators: (i) the commercial floor space in KE had increased from 1.7 million square metres (“sqm”) in 2012 to 2.9 million sqm at present, which was projected to further increase to about 3.9 million sqm in the coming few years; together with the additional commercial floor space provided in the Kowloon Bay Action Area (“KBAA”), Kwun Tong Action Area (“KTAA”), and Kai Tak Development Area, its scale would be comparable to that of the Central CBD; (ii) redeveloped or newly built public spaces measured over 17 hectares, with nearly 80% of respondents being satisfied with the efforts of the Administration in this regard; (iii) works projects could largely be taken forward within the planned time frames; and (iv) EKEO provided onestop facilitation services to the development projects in KE, with over 80% surveyed organizations expressing satisfaction; and
(c) as the main duties of the two posts centred on leadership, management, coordination, monitoring, etc., it might be relatively difficult to quantify the effectiveness of work.