LC: Bill on road excavations introduced

The Land (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Amendment) Bill 2002, which seeks to enable prompt completion of street excavation works, was introduced in the Legislative Council today (April 24).

Moving the second reading of the bill, the Secretary for Works, Mr Lee Shing-see, said that the bill also sought to tighten up control on promoters of street excavation and their contractors. To strengthen the deterrent effect, the maximum fine will be raised from $5,000 to $50,000.

The bill also seeks to allow the authority to charge economic cost for those street excavations, which are delayed unreasonably, according to the type of streets affected by the excavation.

Mr Lee pointed that the Government had also introduced a computerised system for managing road opening applications and their coordination in a more orderly manner, adding that a regular consultation frameworks was set up to communicate with various Government departments and utility undertakings on road opening matters with a view to reducing the number of street excavations.

With the implementation of these proposals, he expected that there would be a noticeable reduction in delays in the completion of street excavations works.

End/Wednesday, April 24, 2002

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