XN000022-1995-12-06 — Page 33

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(a) of the number of buildings under demolition and the number of illegal and dangerous canopies at present;

(b) whether the Buildings Department will deploy staff to inspect buildings under demolition and speed up the removal of unauthorised structures with potential danger, so as to safeguard the public's safety;

(c) what are the details of the Government's plan to introduce legislation to require building owners to submit periodic building inspection reports to the Buildings Department; and

(d) whether there are sufficient qualified professionals in the territory at present to cope with the demand for their services arising from this requirement; if not, what measures the Government will put in place to resolve the problem of shortage of such professionals?

Answer:

Mr President,

The answers to the four parts of this question are as follows -

(a) There are about 150 demolition sites in Hong Kong at present.

Since no territory-wide survey on unauthorised canopies has been conducted, the Administration does not have data on the number of illegal or dangerous canopies.

(b) To protect public safety, staff of the Buildings Department regularly carry out planned surveys to locate dangerous unauthorised building works. (UBW), including dangerous unauthorised canopies. All such structures are cleared once identified. In addition, we will launch an extensive publicity campaign in early 1996 to encourage the public to report suspected dangerous UBW cases to the Buildings Department.

Public safety is the prime concern of the Administration. A dedicated Site Monitoring Team constituting 34 staff was established in the Buildings Department in October 1995. The principal function of the Team is to regularly inspect construction and demolition sites to ensure that proper safety measures are provided. Since establishment, the Team has inspected some 350 sites, and the safety standards of the inspected sites have consequentially improved.