TNAG-1607-FCO40-22122-Minutes-and-Hansards-of-the-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-1987 — Page 78

Question No. 5

Reply by Hon. G. Barnes, JP, Secretary for Lands & Works to question by Hon. CHENG Hon-kwan

at Legislative Council on 14 January 1987

Question: In view of the incident on Christmas Day at Kwai Chung, in which a concrete canopy of a building, together with a structure built thereon, collapsed, killing one pedestrian and injuring several others, will Government inform this Council what measures will be taken to effectively control illegal or unauthorised structures in buildings?

Sir,

I should like to say first of all that the

tragic incident at Kwai Chung on Christmas day, to which

Mr. Cheng refers, is likely to be the subject of a

Coroner's Inquiry. I am not able, therefore, to comment

at this stage on the causes of that collapse. It does

however point to the hazards that can be caused by

unauthorised structures, and the need for continuing

efforts to deal with this problem.

The Buildings Ordinance Office established a new

division in 1984 to deal with the problem of unauthorised

building works. It was then estimated that there were

probably more than 25,000 reported or known cases

requiring attention. In view of the magnitude of the task

a selective approach was adopted and the present

operational policies may be summaried as follows:

(a)

priority for investigation and enforcement

is given to all known cases where there

appears to be an imminent danger to life

and limb;

/(b)