XN000022-1996-11-27 — Page 33

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Disposal of non-departmental quarters

Following is a question by the Hon Ip Kwok-him and a written reply by the Secretary for the Civil Service, Mr W K Lam, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):

Question:

The Deputy Secretary for the Civil Service stated in April this year that the Government had undertaken a programme for the leasing out of vacant non- departmental quarters (NDQs) and the sale of individual units with a view to reducing the number of surplus NDQs, and that a Working Group had been set up to review the progress of the programme. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)

(b)

(c)

of the number of vacant NDQs as at the end of October this year, together with their locations and the total floor area involved;

of the latest progress of the above programme, and the number of vacant NDQs mentioned in (a) above which are now included in the programme; and

whether there is still a surplus of NDQs after the implementation of the programme, if so, what the reasons are?

Reply:

Number of vacant NDQs and their distribution as at end of October 1996:

All units vacated by civil servants are normally advertised for reallocation to eligible civil servants by the Quarters Allocation Committee. Units that are not allocated and are surplus to requirement are designated for leasing out to the public, or conversion to Government/Institution/Community use or sale as appropriate. To date, a total of 217 units have been transferred to the Government Property Administrator for this purpose. Arrangement are being made to vacate selected NDQ site for redevelopment. We expect to be able to release more flats on an on-going basis. As at end of October 1996, there were 20 vacant NDQs at various locations available for allocation. Details on their locations and their floor areas are shown in the Annex. Four of these units have since been transferred to the leasing programme.