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BD acts on dangerous and abandoned cooling towers and supporting racks
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In the interest of public safety the Buildings Department will take action against owners of air-conditioning cooling towers and supporting frames which are in a poor state of repair or abandoned if they should ignore the letters advising their removal.
Buildings Department's staff have conducted inspections in San Po Kong and Chai Wan and have found :
cooling towers and supporting frames in poor condition;
six abandoned cooling towers with rusty and damaged supporting frames; and
abandoned rusty supporting racks.
The department is issuing advisory letters to owners and occupiers of the factory units concerned.
These advisory letters allow six to eight weeks for removal of the unsatisfactory or abandoned cooling towers and supporting racks. If they are ignored, then the Buildings Authority will serve statutory orders under section 24(1) of the Buildings Ordinance on the registered owners to effect removal.
Experience gained from this exercise would be valuable to the department for considering similar activities in other areas.
The department's priorities for taking action against cooling towers are:
where there is apparent danger to life and property;
where works are in progress or newly completed.
Large-scale clearance operations, such as "Operation Catherine Wheel" and "Operation Rolling Stone", will also remove such cooling towers when they are found to be unauthorised.
The Director of Buildings, Mrs Helen Yu, said: "There is no need for structures to be unauthorised, including cooling towers. The law provides for proper procedures for submitting plans and seeking approval from the Building Authority."
Mrs Yu appealed to the owners of these structures to fulfil their obligations not only to design and construct them properly, but also to maintain them in a safe and sound condition.
End/Monday, January 9, 1995