ENG-2001 — Page 280

LAND, PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES

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The Government continued to promote the provision of environmentally friendly facilities in new developments by way of exemption from gross floor area calculations in return for the provision of green features.

To further enhance safety and quality supervision of building works, the Buildings Department introduced in August 2000 the Quality Supervision Plan System requiring building professionals and contractors to strengthen supervision on the quality of foundation works and ground investigation field works. Under a new auditing strategy on building works introduced in May, surprise audit checks are conducted on all active foundation and superstructure sites to ensure compliance with specified standards.

To meet the aspirations of the community in tackling the problem of proliferation of unauthorised building works, the Buildings Department announced on April 30 the implementation of a new enforcement policy, which refocuses priorities and broadens the scope of enforcement action. Apart from removing new and dangerous unauthorised items, the new policy also aims at removing unauthorised works which pose a serious hazard or environmental nuisance, major individual unauthorised items, extensive unauthorised works at individual buildings and particular items identified in buildings or groups of buildings targeted for large-scale operations. Also targeted for enforcement action are unauthorised additions or alterations to environmentally friendly features of a building (for example, balconies, sky or podium gardens) for which the Buildings Department has granted exemption from the calculation of the gross floor areas.

During the year, the Buildings Department conducted another round of ‘blitz' clearances to demolish, in a single operation, all external unauthorised buildings works (UBWs) on any one building. This modus operandi — adopted for hundreds of buildings has induced a much greater number of owners to voluntarily comply with removal orders. The number of buildings targeted for such clearances rose to 1 571 in 2001, compared with 307 and 404 in 1999 and 2000 respectively, and will exceed 1 500 in 2002. The department is determined to remove some 200 000 to 300 000 unauthorised building works in five to seven years. To achieve the increased targets, the department has outsourced part of the preparatory work for the 'blitz' clearances. A total of 63 contracts were awarded to 26 consultancy firms to initiate action on 3 290 buildings during the year. The department is also intensifying enforcement action against illegal rooftop structures, giving priority to single staircase buildings, as the fire hazards posed by the illegal rooftop structures to such buildings are the greatest. It aims to clear all 12 000 rooftop structures on 4 500 such buildings within seven years. In 2001, removal action in respect of 402 buildings was completed.

During the year, 13 817 reports on UBWs were processed, 20 647 UBWs were removed (compared with the original target of 15 000) and 392 prosecutions were instigated against offenders for erecting UBWs or failing to comply with removal orders. These resulted in 294 convictions with fines totalling $1,486,244.

To improve fire safety, in respect of prescribed old commercial premises, joint inspections with the Fire Services Department were made on 205 prescribed commercial premises (banks, betting centres, jewellery shops, shopping arcades, supermarkets) under the Fire Safety (Commercial Premises) Ordinance. As a result, 121 Fire Safety Directions were served on these premises to remedy infractions. For specified commercial buildings, a total of 1 643 Fire Safety Improvement Directions