XN000022-1995-11-16 — Page 9

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Now it is a district matter. Last night in Kwun Tong, in Yan Oi Court, a concrete canopy collapsed and this morning I went to the spot. So there was one death and there were several injuries. I am sure the Governor will know about this incident in Kwun Tong.

Now for this sort of incident, they happen from time to time in old areas and they are about the illegal structures, the illegal canopies. Now it is said that a task force will be set up for investigating. It seems that every time it is post-mortem and then the structures in the vicinity will be cleared afterwards. Can the Government be forward looking? Can the Government do something pro-active and preventive so that these things will not happen again.

Governor: I'm very prepared to answer it because it's obviously a subject of considerable concern to the community and I'd like to offer my condolences to the family and friends of those who were injured and the fatality.

We have, as the honourable member said, appointed an investigation team to establish the causes of the collapse and we have also set up, the Director of Buildings, has set up a special task force to survey the buildings involved and to examine the scope for enforcement action against all unauthorised building works in the vicinity.

The honourable member is correct in saying that we should go beyond that. We do consistently urge the public to seek proper approval for building works in order to comply with safety standards. We don't have as much success as we would like, so what we are planning is to launch an intensive public education campaign in the early months of next year, to try to bring some of the problems to wider attention in the community and to try to avoid people putting up unauthorised buildings with the sort of calamitous consequences that we saw yesterday. I hope that will have some effect. As with industrial accidents and industrial safety, what is important is to combine rigorous enforcement with as much public education as possible and that will be our objective.

Mr Fred Li (in Chinese); Mr Governor, the problem is this. The Buildings Department acted on complaint. If there were no complaints, then perhaps hazardous structures will not be dealt with. Has the Administration considered sending inspecting officers to go to the old areas, not upon complaints but take the initiative to investigate the different floors, especially the illegal food establishments, because that particular incident last night was about food establishments? So you should not wait for complaints. Will you take the initiative? Will you change your tack? Can you do that?