6
Thursday, May 10, 1973
To reinforce this point, a government spokesman today reiterated
previous warnings and appeals made to owners of premises throughout
Hong Kong. "The moral of the King's Road operation is clear", he said.
"Firstly, people moving into new premises should refrain from
putting up unauthorised structures at the outset. Secondly, owners and
occupiers who have put up these structures should now be taking action
to remove them.
"It is distressing, and unnecessary, that those who have put
up such structures and are doing nothing about them are now facing the
liability of a double expense- first the cost of having put the structures
up; then the cost of removal, which could in some cases be more than
the cost of construction.
"Even though the government contractor will do the work as cheaply
as possible, the supervision involved will have to be paid for," the spokesmanı
pointed out.
Appeals
It was also disclosed today that the Building Authority, together
with the Fire Services Department which is taking complementary action on
these buildings, is refraining, out of consideration for the owners and occupiers,
from enforcing the utmost letter of the law.
Some appeals have been allowed against demolition orders in cases
where other occupiers are not affected. This means that for the time being
various kinds of alterations are being tolerated, including: sliding security
doors; cool lofts within units; swing doors that do not obstruct common escape
routes; and some structures on roof terraces.
The government