HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL · 2 November 1988
香港立法局 一九八八年十一月二日
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nominal sum for the use of opening that road for depriving the public of that part of the road. This method seems to have the incentive of making such companies finish their work as soon as possible. I wonder whether the Secretary would look into this possibility.
SECRETARY FOR LANDS AND WORKS. Sir, this has been looked into before and the counter-balancing factor in this has really been that it would require a great deal more staff to operate such a system because it is done on a measured basis. In the United Kingdom and other countries where this is done it is done on the question of how many days the road is opened. And it would require more people co-operating. But we are in fact internally debating this very measure to consider whether it would be a good one to adopt here.
Fires in guest houses
3. 鍾沛林議員問:鑑於最近有兩宗嚴重火警事件在多層私人住宅大廈內開設的賓館發生,政府 可否告知本局火警的起因,及當局採取何種措施以避免同樣事件的發生?
SECRETARY FOR SECURITY: Sir, there have been two major fires in recent months in composite buildings, that is to say mixed commercial and residential buildings, which also contain guest houses. The first occurred in Mirador Mansions, Nathan Road on 7 August and mainly involved the shopping arcades on the lower floors. No guest houses were directly affected by the fire although occupants were evacuated together with other people in the building. The coroner is still considering whether or not a death inquest should take place and it is therefore not appropriate at present to release the cause of the fire.
The second fire occurred in Chatham Road on 14 September. It mainly involved the eleventh floor of the building where the Baccarat Hotel was located. It was caused by an electrical short circuit in the wiring in the corridor.
After the fire in Chung King Mansions in February 1988, a task force under the chairmanship of a Security Branch officer was set up to look into the problemn of fire hazards in guest houses. The task force completed its work in July and recommended the introduction of a licensing system for guest houses and similar accommodation. This recommendation has been accepted by the Executive Council. The City and New Territories Administration, which has responsibilities for building management, will assume the licensing responsibility.