XN000022-1972-11-29 — Page 7

- 7

-

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