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LAND, PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES
Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre at Harbour Road with two hotels, service apartments and offices in the four tower blocks above.
Work on the new Bank of China Building in Central, which on completion will be the tallest in the territory, is still in progress, as is the installation of a new 275 KVA Transmission System involving major tunnelling works, from Wah Fu to Bowen Road, by the Hongkong Electric Company, to meet the ever-increasing demand for electricity.
With the amalgamation of the Buildings Ordinance Office and the Lands Department on April 11 into the Buildings and Lands Department, every effort is being made for private sector building proposals to be considered concurrently under the Buildings Ordinance and lease conditions and in relation to town plan zoning. Comments on these aspects, as well as comments from other interested government departments, are now all communicated in one reply to authorised persons and to developers, within the time limit laid down under the Buildings Ordinance, thereby reducing the time taken to convey essential information on proposed building projects.
Legislative amendments pursued in 1986 included a major revision of the Building (Construction) Regulations, and minor updating of the Building (Planning) Regulations, with legislative amendments to facilitate the control of unauthorised building works also being reviewed.
The year saw a growing public awareness of the problem of illegal structures as it affects the environment and the condition of private buildings. The Buildings Ordinance Office received 5 484 complaints. It also carried out 14 976 inspections and issued 3 797 orders to require removal of illegal structures or rectification of illegal alterations or additions to buildings. A high-powered inter-departmental committee was also formed to review enforcement policy and co-ordinate enforcement programmes by various government departments.
With regard to the maintenance of dilapidated private buildings, the Building Authority closed 32 dangerous buildings, served 23 orders requiring the demolition or repair of dangerous buildings, and served 738 orders requiring repairs to defective concrete. Specialised concrete and steel testing instruments were introduced to determine the extent of the problem, which is rapidly becoming a major cause for concern. The authority also served eight orders requiring remedial works to dangerous slopes.
It experienced its busiest year in slope stabilisation works carried out by the government on behalf of private owners. Many jobs in excess of $1 million have been satisfactorily completed, and more are on hand. Recent innovations in this area have been the introduction of shrubs, in addition to hydro-seeding, to give enhanced surface protection and to replace the trees lost during original slope failure.
With the predominance of high-rise buildings and the ever-increasing height of modern structures, the Buildings Ordinance Office is constantly considering new ways to carry out repairs to buildings at high level. In addition to administering the Buildings Ordinance and Regulations, the office also offered expert advice to various government licensing authorities on the suitability of licensed premises. In this respect, 2 554 applications for food business, 724 for places of public entertainment, 210 for schools, 92 for child care centre and 24 for oil storage installations were examined. The office also handled 470 applications for permitted work permits concerning the control of building construc- tion noise.
Following the government's endorsement of a recommendation to upgrade the priority status of work on the alleviation of pollution of Hong Kong's watercourse by industrial effluents and waste, a specialised team, called the Drainage Unit, was formed in November.