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Mr President, the Bill contains a number of necessary amendments to make the Ordinance consistent with the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law. This should contribute a smooth transition through 1997.

End/Wednesday, October 18, 1998

Buildings (Amendment) Bill

Following is the speech by the Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands, Mr Bowen Leung, in moving the second reading of the Buildings (Amendment) (No 3) Bill 1995 in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):

Mr President,

I move the Second Reading of the Buildings (Amendment) (No 3) Bill 1995.

The Amendment Bill was first introduced into this Council on 31 May this year as the Buildings (Amendment) (No 2) Bill 1995. It was not processed for enactment before the expiry of the last session, owing to the heavy workload of the Council at that time.

During the past few months, the Administration has further consulted concerned bodies on supplementary details. The Bill has been refined in a few areas, in particular as regards the supervision duties of different parties in a building project.

The Bill consists of two parts. One aims at improving the system of registration of building professionals. The other aims at tightening safety control over building works and sites with works in progress.

As regards the registration of authorised persons and registered structural engineers, we propose to bring the existing system in line with the provisions of the Architects, Engineers and Surveyors Registration Ordinances.