Question No. 5
Reply by Hon. G. Barnes, JP, Secretary for Lands & Works to question by Hon. CHENG Hon-kwan
at Legislative Council on 14 January 1987
Question: In view of the incident on Christmas Day at Kwai Chung, in which a concrete canopy of a building, together with a structure built thereon, collapsed, killing one pedestrian and injuring several others, will Government inform this Council what measures will be taken to effectively control illegal or unauthorised structures in buildings?
Sir,
I should like to say first of all that the
tragic incident at Kwai Chung on Christmas day, to which
Mr. Cheng refers, is likely to be the subject of a
Coroner's Inquiry. I am not able, therefore, to comment
at this stage on the causes of that collapse. It does
however point to the hazards that can be caused by
unauthorised structures, and the need for continuing
efforts to deal with this problem.
The Buildings Ordinance Office established a new
division in 1984 to deal with the problem of unauthorised
building works. It was then estimated that there were
probably more than 25,000 reported or known cases
requiring attention. In view of the magnitude of the task
a selective approach was adopted and the present
operational policies may be summaried as follows:
(a)
priority for investigation and enforcement
is given to all known cases where there
appears to be an imminent danger to life
and limb;
/(b)