Following is a question by the Hon James To and a written reply by the Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands, Mr Michael Suen, in the Legislative Council today (June 22):
Question:
To assist owners of buildings in carrying out repair works to their buildings, the Hong Kong Housing Society ("HKHS"), the Urban Renewal Authority and the Buildings Department have their respective incentives and loan schemes for owners. In addition, HKHS and Home Affairs Department also assist owners in forming owners' corporations to improve the management of their buildings. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the implementation of these schemes and the response of owners;
(b) of the promotional efforts made by the Government to facilitate owners' understanding of the contents of the schemes in order to help them identify the ones that can best suit their needs and will accept their applications; and
(c) whether it has been assessed if the target groups of these schemes have overlapped; if they have, whether the Government will consider merging and rationalizing such schemes; if they have not, how it coordinates the work of the above organizations?
Reply:
President,
It is the owners' responsibility to properly maintain and manage their buildings. The lack of proper management and maintenance of some private buildings is a deep-rooted and complex problem. It cannot be resolved completely by the sole effort of the Government and public funds. As such, in addition to the work of the Buildings Department (BD) and the Home Affairs Department (HAD), the Government encourages organisations with resources and experience in building management and maintenance, such as the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) and the Hong Kong Housing Society (HKHS), to introduce various schemes and support programmes to provide comprehensive assistance to more private building owners. The main features of these schemes are as follows:
(i) The URA's scheme aims to provide financial and technical assistance for the maintenance of eligible buildings within its target areas with owners' corporations already formed.
(ii) The HKHS's scheme provides assistance for the maintenance of the common areas of eligible buildings outside the URA's target areas. The scheme also provides technical and financial assistance in respect of building management to eligible property owners across the territory. Loans are also provided under the HKHS's scheme to assist eligible owners to carry out flat interior renovation concerning safety and hygiene.
(iii) The BD's Building Safety Loan Scheme provides loans for maintenance works, including slope improvement works etc, to owners of all types of private buildings in Hong Kong.
Furthermore, the HAD has all along adopted a three-pronged approach to promote proper building management which includes the establishment of a legal framework to facilitate the setting up and operation of owners' corporations, the provision of more effective advisory service and the provision of training courses for the members of owners' corporations.
My reply to the three-part question is as follows:
(a) The URA launched its building rehabilitation programme in April 2004. As at end-May this year, over 100 buildings have participated in the programme, with the loans and subsidies approved amounting to about $23 million.
Since the launch of the HKHS's Building Management and Maintenance Scheme in February this year, the HKHS has received around 1,600 enquiries and 120 applications, of which more than 40 have completed the approval process. HKHS staff has also taken the initiative to approach over 200 buildings and conducted seminars in order to provide assistance to residents on matters related to building management and maintenance.
Since the launch of the BD's Building Safety Loan Scheme in July 2001, the BD has approved about 10,000 applications, involving a total loan amount of about $300 million.
All in all, these schemes are making good progress with active participation of owners and owners' corporations.
(b) To facilitate the provision of appropriate support to owners, the Government has required the URA, HKHS and BD to set up a referral mechanism for their schemes. This is to ensure that when an owner approaches one of the above organisations for advice on building maintenance and management, the organisation so approached will, having regard to the circumstances and needs of the concerned owner, refer him/her to the responsible organisation in charge of the appropriate scheme for follow-up.
Regarding publicity, the BD has taken steps to inform the public of the features of various schemes and helped them identify and apply for the scheme that best suits their needs through its work contacts with owners' corporations, management companies and engineering consultants and its participation in local workshops on building management. In assisting owners to tackle their building management problems, HAD's District Offices will take into account the individual circumstances of owners' corporations and owners to recommend the most suitable scheme to them. To promote wider public awareness of the features of the schemes, the URA, HKHS and BD have also made concrete efforts to publicise their schemes by way of leaflets and advertisements, etc.
(c) Each of the above schemes has different emphases and they complement one another. Although there may be slight overlapping among the schemes, the important objective is to render comprehensive support to owners. To avoid wastage of public resources, the BD, URA and HKHS have already put in place a notification mechanism to prevent an applicant from being provided with multiple loans and assistances in respect of the same item.
To ensure good coordination among these schemes, the Housing, Planning and Lands Bureau has maintained close liaison with the URA, HKHS, BD and HAD to monitor and review the operation of these schemes. The BD, HAD, URA and HKHS also hold regular coordination meetings among themselves to review the mode of cooperation and detailed arrangements.
Ends/Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Issued at HKT 14:02
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