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"The Administration has been, and still is of the firm view that the criminal sanctions proposed are necessary to enforce the safety requirements set out in the new legislation which contains supervision plans that will be able to identify the responsible parties for any wrong-doing.

"We note the concern of some LegCo members that the criminal sanctions only apply in private sector projects. The Administration is committed to completing a review of the application of the new legislation by the end of this year.

"Upon completion of the review, we will consider introducing a new bill into Legislative Council to impose criminal sanction for material deviations from supervision plans directly result in injury to person or damage to properties," the spokesman said.

End

Buildings (Amendment) (No 3) Bill

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

Mr President,

I would like to thank the Honourable Ronald Arculli, Chairman of the Bills Committee, and other Members for their very careful and detailed deliberation on this Bill in the past nine months.

This Bill serves two main purposes. The first aims to strengthen supervision and safety management at construction and demolition sites through the introduction of a supervision plan system. The second is to improve the registration system for authorised persons, registered structural engineers and building contractors. The Bills Committee and other concerned parties, such as the relevant professional bodies and the contractors associations and REDA (Real Estate Developers Association), have given many valuable comments on specific provisions of the Bill. The Administration agrees with most of these comments, and I shall move the necessary amendments to the Bill at the committee stage later on. However, it may be useful if I could explain in some detail the Administration's response to a number of points raised by the Bills Committee and other organisations.