ENG-2002 — Page 273

LAND, PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES

As part of a 10-year Landslip Preventive Measures Programme that commenced in 2000 to enhance the maintenance of slopes, the Buildings Department issued 222 orders to building owners requiring them to investigate and upgrade their substandard slopes. In addition, the department investigated a total of 510 filled slopes and issued nine orders requiring the owners concerned to investigate and repair the buried water-carrying services which might affect slope safety.

The department began a comprehensive review of the Buildings Ordinance and its regulations in 2000. The objective of the review is to rationalise the building control regime and strengthen safety requirements.

The proposed amendments include, among other things, the introduction of minor building works which can be carried out without the prior approval of the Building Authority provided the work is done by registered contractors and, as appropriate, supervised and certified by qualified building professionals. This will provide a fast and proper channel for owners to carry out alterations and additions to their buildings.

The proposed amendments will also empower the department to issue warning notices on illegal structures and register such notices against the property title. It is also proposed that the department should be empowered to prosecute any uncooperative owners if they obstruct an Owners Corporation in complying with an order issued by the department.

In addition, as a deterrent it is proposed to increase the maximum fines for serious offences involving substandard building works or construction dangers.

Legislative amendments have also been proposed to rationalise the composition of the Contractors Registration Committee for specialist contractors and the requirements for renewal of the registration of an authorised person/registered structural engineer/registered contractor; and to enable the department to charge fees for providing non-certified copies of documents and plans, and for public inspection of them.

Furthermore, statutory requirements will also be introduced for provision of emergency vehicular access to all new buildings and for appointment of registered geotechnical engineers to undertake the investigation, design and supervision of geotechnical works.

It is expected that these amendments will be introduced into the Legislative Council in 2003.

The Public Sector

The Architectural Services Department acts as the Government's architect in providing full professional, technical and financial management services for the development and maintenance of public buildings (other than public housing) in three main areas:

(i) monitoring and advisory services for all bureaux and departments, including overseeing projects subvented by the Government. More than 1800 such projects, valued at $ 62 billion, were monitored in 2002;

(ii) professional and technical services for project management, design and supervision of the construction of building projects in the Public Works Programme and those of the Hospital Authority (HA). During the year, the

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