bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

SCMP Reporter

Gathering plan for domestic helpers

The government will study a proposal to turn underused car parks in Central  into recreational areas for foreign domestic helpers as suggested at a district council meeting yesterday.

The  idea was welcomed by a maids' group, but it  said the  spaces  should not be an excuse to  move them out of  publicly visible areas in the district.

Central and Western district councillor Stephen Chan Chit-kwai,   one of those putting  the proposal forward,  said it was 'highly undesirable' for  maids to  be exposed to bad weather and be deprived of privacy on pavements and footbridges, their usual weekend gathering spots.

He  said the five multi-storey  car parks in the district - located next to the old Star Ferry pier, City Hall, Murray Road, Rumsey Street  and Kennedy Town - were not fully utilised, which  he regarded as a waste of public resources.

The Transport Department revealed the  City Hall car park  averaged only 6 per cent utilisation per day, and the car park next to the old Star Ferry pier was about 20 per cent.

Another councillor, Kam Nai-wai,  said that the maids, public and city scenery all lost out in the present situation, and the suggestion to utilise the public facilities was worth a try.

Joanne Fu Lai-chun,  district leisure manager of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, said  the idea to turn car parks into recreational spaces was fresh.

'We will study it carefully and discuss it further in the next term of the district council,' she said.

Yesterday's meeting was the last one of the  term.

One government department has  reservations  about the suggestion.

Simon Cheung Sai-man,  chief transport officer of the Transport Department, said  that adopting the suggestion would add administrative difficulties to the car parks and that their facilities, such as toilets and fire escapes, were not designed to support crowds.

'It will also be very difficult to handle the safety problems and to classify the responsibilities,' he said.

Eman Villanueva,  a spokesman for United Filipinos in Hong Kong,  welcomed the suggestion with some caution, saying it should not be an excuse  to move the maids from parks or open areas in Central because  some people might consider them 'an eyesore'.

On Sundays and public holidays, crowds of Filipino maids gather  around the city,  including in the atrium on the ground floor of the HSBC headquarters building and Chater Park in Central, and sometimes inside shopping malls.

There are about 226,000 foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong, of whom, roughly half are Filipinos.

Sundays are typically the maids' only day off.  Generally, Filipino maids  tend to go to Central and Wan Chai, and Indonesian or Thai maids are seen in Causeway Bay.

Mr Villanueva, who urged the government to provide more gathering locations, said: 'It is a good idea to open up more space for foreign domestic helpers on Sundays, but car parks may not be the best choice because there are not  many facilities in car parks.'



Car parks proposed for maids' recreation