XN000022-1995-05-26 — Page 19

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Moves to upgrade bedspace apartments

All the 152 registered bedspace apartments (BSAs) in Hong Kong will receive their upgrading requirements earlier than originally planned, the Director of Home Affairs, Mr Joseph W P Wong, said today (Friday).

Speaking at a meet-the-media session, Mr Wong said this was part of an intensive government campaign to improve the safety and living standards of these premises.

He pointed out that the Government had reassessed the position of BSAs following the recent fire at Yeung Uk Road in Tsuen Wan which had heightened the awareness of the potential fire risk in these premises.

"We are therefore initiating a publicity campaign aimed at encouraging BSA operators to comply with basic safety practices in combination with a programme of visits by staff of the Home Affairs Department's (HAD) Office of the Licensing Authority (OLA) to all registered operators.

"In the process, about one-third of the operators will be given their upgrading requirements by July. These are the BSAs which have a large number of illegal structures or other problems which we feel need to be addressed as soon as possible,' Mr Wong said.

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He added that the second 50 or so larger BSAs would be issued with conditions by September while the remaining ones would be issued with requirements by November.

"All registered BSAs would have until November 30, 1996 to comply with the conditions but we are strongly advising operators to carry out the work as expeditiously as possible. This is also in their own interests because it will improve greatly the safety standard of their premises."

Also, the OLA will advise how the work should be scheduled to minimise inconvenience.

Apart from imposing conditions through the licensing scheme, OLA staff will visit every BSA operator over the next few weeks and distribute to him a safety leaflet on the precautions he should take.