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Following is a question by the Hon Lau Wong-fat and a written reply by the Secretary for Development, Mrs Carrie Lam, in the Legislative Council today (May 16):
Question:
Will the Government inform this Council:
(a) when the authorities started to regulate (including enacting relevant legislation) the buildings built or rebuilt on old schedule lots in the New Territories, together with the relevant details; and
(b) of the details of the regulatory actions taken in the past, including conducting consultation and publicity and education activities, as well as taking enforcement actions (including the respective numbers of verbal or written advice issued and the number of prosecutions instituted), together with a breakdown by year and district?
Reply:
President,
The Buildings Ordinance (BO) (Cap. 123) governs the planning, design and construction of buildings and the associated works in Hong Kong. When first enacted in 1955, the BO was only applied to "Hong Kong, Aplichau, Kowloon and New Kowloon". Since January 1, 1961, the BO has been applied to the New Territories (NT) in the manner provided by the Buildings Ordinance (Application to the New Territories) Ordinance (Cap. 121).
The reference to "buildings built or rebuilt on old schedule lots in the NT" is taken to mean buildings erected on land leased under the Block Government Lease in the NT. The use of such leased land should comply with the relevant lease conditions, including the provision that the property owner should obtain prior approval from the Authority for erection or rebuilding of houses on such land.
My reply to the two-part question is as follows:
(a) Under the BO, building works may only be carried out after obtaining the prior approval and consent of the Building Authority (BA). However, NT village houses which meet the specifications stipulated in the Buildings Ordinance (Application to the New Territories) Ordinance are exempt from specific provisions of the BO and the regulations made under the BO.
The Buildings Ordinance (Application to the New Territories) Ordinance covers all building works carried out in the NT on or after January 1, 1961, including reconstruction works. It also clearly prescribes the exemption for NT village houses which meet the stated specifications. The Ordinance is applicable to all buildings in the NT, irrespective of whether the building is erected on land leased under Block Government Lease.
(b) Any building works not exempted under the Buildings Ordinance (Application to the New Territories) Ordinance and undertaken without the BA's prior approval and consent are illegal.
The Buildings Department (BD) has all along taken enforcement action against unauthorised building works (UBWs) in village houses. In line with the then prevailing enforcement policy, BD's past enforcement action had focused on UBWs which constituted obvious hazard or imminent danger to life or property and UBWs in progress. Having regard to the current regulatory regime for control of NT village houses, the actual situation on the ground and the views of various parties, and also taking reference from the past experience and strategy in tackling UBWs in urban areas, the Administration announced last year an enhanced enforcement policy viz: on the fundamental premise of ensuring building and public safety and in compliance with existing legislation, to enhance enforcement against UBWs in NT village houses through categorisation of UBWs and prioritisation of enforcement. UBWs will be categorised by reference to the severity of their breach of law and the risks to public safety, which are to be dealt with by adopting corresponding measures. The new enforcement policy has been implemented since April 1, 2012.
On publicity and public education, the BD has all along been active in organising publicity through advertisements, posters, TV, radio and public transport, to foster public awareness of building safety on the one hand, and to complement the BD's law enforcement actions on the other. Specifically for publicising the new enforcement policy and the associated arrangement, the BD launched a series of publicity and public education activities on tackling UBWs in NT village houses in November 2011. The publicity activities included direct mailing of promotional pamphlets; Announcements of Public Interest on TV, radio, buses and trains; newspaper supplements; as well as outdoor advertisements and posters. The BD has launched another round of publicity in late March 2012, with emphasis on enhanced enforcement against UBWs in village houses and the implementation of the reporting scheme for UBWs. In addition to the publicity channels mentioned above, the BD has distributed the UBWs report forms, guidelines and promotional pamphlets by direct mailing to NT village households to facilitate their reporting. We will continue to monitor the effectiveness of these publicity activities and enhance the publicity programme as necessary.
As mentioned above, the BD does not make any difference in its enforcement action because of the nature of the land lease. The Department therefore does not keep separate statistics on enforcement actions taken against UBWs in newly built or rebuilt houses on land leased under the Block Government Lease in the NT. According to record, the numbers of advisory letters and removal orders issued by the BD against UBWs in NT village houses, in each of the years from 2007 to 2012 (up to April 30, 2012) as well as broken down by districts, are tabulated below:
Number of Number of
advisory removal
Year letters orders
---- ----------- -----------
2007 158 152
2008 424 423
2009 291 291
2010 305 304
2011 390 377
2012
(up to April 30) 45 45
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Total 1613 1592
Number of Number of
advisory removal
District letters orders
---- ----------- -----------
Islands 20 20
Kwai Tsing 3 3
North 155 150
Sai Kung 290 288
Sha Tin 93 92
Tai Po 327 324
Tuen Mun 101 100
Tsuen Wan 38 37
Yuen Long 586 578
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Total 1613 1592
Where an owner fails to comply with the requirements of a removal order by the specified deadline, the BD would normally institute prosecution under section 40(1BA) of the BO against the owner concerned. The numbers of prosecutions instituted by the BD against non-compliant cases and the numbers of convictions in each of the years from 2007 to 2012 (up to April 30, 2012) are listed below:
Number of Number of
Year prosecutions convictions
---- ------------ -----------
2007 17 12
2008 66 38
2009 132 76
2010 129 77
2011 204 169
2012
(up to April 30) 36 30
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Total 584 402
Ends/Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Issued at HKT 14:30
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