XN000022-1997-03-15+16 — Page 4

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"Over the past 12 years, about 1,000 'target' buildings have been selected by BMCTs for inclusion in the improvement programme. More than 400 of them have seen promising improvement and the Department will continue to work on the remaining buildings on the action list.

"Every year, HAD tries to get more buildings to join the improvement project, hoping that more problematic buildings can benefit from it."

Mrs Lau also pointed out that to meet the residents' needs, HAD had stepped up supporting services to them since mid-1995.

One of these is to strengthen staff training, which covers relevant legal aspects and the provision of guidelines to help them handle enquiries from OCs.

Additionally, the number of liaison officers will increase by 10 per cent and more staff will be deployed to the Building Management Team in the headquarters in the coming financial year.

Mrs Lau stressed that HAD had been allocating huge resources and manpower in carrying out the building management work.

The Building Management Seminar '97 was jointly organised by HAD and the Housing Department, with more than 800 flat owners, office-bearers of OCs and mutual aid committees, and building management professionals participating.

Five professionals spoke on their respective areas of expertise, including the formation of OCs in Home Ownership estates, building electricity maintenance, building repair and maintenance, the Building Safety Inspection Scheme and legal aspects of building management.

Apart from an exhibition highlighting the major aspects of building management, the Fire Services Department had also set up a booth with staff from the department on hand to provide professional advice and answer participants' enquiries on fire prevention.

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