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Wednesday, November 29, 1972
Earlier, the Director of Public Works, the Hon, J.J. Robson, told
the Council that the Building Authority had been receiving new plans at the
rate of over 1,000 a month, and that the proposed extension could only be
deleted on the understanding that this was accompanied by an extension of the
operation of Section 30A(2) of the Buildings Ordinance to March 31, 1973.
This means that until that time, there will be no statutory period
within which the Building Authority has to disapprove plans, he said.
The Director said he understood the concern expressed by Council
members about Clause 6 of the bill, but it was simply not possible even to
commence examining the mass of the plans within this period.
He explained that on November 1, there were 967 submissions of plane
which had been with the Building Authority for more than 28 days, and the
number had remained at around the 1,000 mark since July 1, as compared with
350 for the first five months of the year.
"New plans have been submitted at the rate of over 1,000 a month
except for the months of February and July when they were a little less, and
there is no indication of any recession," he said.
Mr. Robson said it would also be obvious that there could be no real
improvement in the situation unless there was either an increase in the strength
of the staff of the Buildings Ordinance Office or a reduction in the number of
plans submitted for approval.
As regards building site inspections by government staff, he said far
more inspections are required while building work is in progress and extra staff
for this purpose was approved following the publication of the Chong Hing Mansion
Report.
/He said