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HONG KONG PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
Housing Department will forward the building plans of proposed RCPs to the Urban Services Department for technical advice on the design so as to ensure that the RCPs in PHEs will comply with basic hygienic requirements and facilitate the operation of departmental refuse collection vehicles.
The second part of the question concerns public complaints against the insanitary condition of RCPs in PHEs. For the past 12 months, the Department received 9 public complaints in respect of the insanitary conditions of RCPs in PHEs. The Department immediately referred the particulars of the complaints to the Housing Department for its remedial action. Where necessary the Department offered advice and assistance. Although the Department is able to take prosecution action against the contractors in PHEs and has done so in previous years, no prosecution action was necessary in the past year. The Urban Services Department and the Housing Department have over the years developed a working relationship which enables the two departments to take quick remedial action in response to complaints. In addition, the Department reflects the views of Members to the Housing Department on environmental hygiene matters in PHEs including operations and the design of RCPs. The Department recognises however, that closer liaison between the two departments at the district level could be further strengthened. Accordingly, the Department is pursuing the possibility of holding regular district liaison meetings between staff of the two departments.
On the third part of the question, during the past 12 months, the Urban Services Department has not received any complaint nor taken any legal action about nuisances arising from the channeling of water dripping from air-conditioners to the podium through central water collection pipes in PHEs. This is probably due to complainants preferring to lodge their complaints direct with the Housing Department.
The Urban Services Department has no involvement in the design of the PHE blocks. The Housing Department has its own architectural office to ensure compliance with the relevant building standards for drainage systems in PHEs. However, I am informed by the Department that it has conveyed this anomaly to the Housing Department for its consideration.
Mr. Li Wah-MING (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, of course we do not design housing blocks for the Housing Department, but take Hiu Lai Court in Sau Mau Ping, Kwun Tong for example. Occupation began only a few months ago and it is of the new Harmony design, but its three RCPs are not covered. Was that part of the design plans of these estates concerning the proposed RCPs really forwarded to the Department for consideration as Mr. Chan said in his reply? Does the Urban Services Department still allow RCPs in newly completed public housing estates to be of the open design without covers at all, thereby affecting residents on the lower floors in their operation? I have already received a lot of complaints about the operation. In fact to what extent is the Urban Services Department involved in the housing design process of the Housing Department? And are we
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