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Following is a question by the Hon Wong Yuk-man and a written reply by the Secretary for Development, Mrs Carrie Lam, in the Legislative Council today (June 15):
Question:
In recent years, the Government has continued to clear unauthorised building works (UBW) in buildings in the urban area, while the UBW problem in village houses in the New Territories, which include small houses, has become increasingly serious. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) in each of the past three years, of the respective numbers and rates of increase/decrease of UBWs involving various kinds of buildings in the urban area and village houses in the New Territories;
(b) in each of the past three years, of the respective numbers of removal orders issued and prosecutions made in respect of UBWs in village houses in the New Territories, as well as the total amount of fines imposed involving UBWs;
(c) in each of the past three years, of the respective numbers of removal orders issued and prosecutions made in respect of UBWs in various kinds of buildings in the urban area, as well as the total amount of fines imposed involving UBWs; and
(d) given that the Government has cleared a large number of UBWs in the urban area in recent years, whether it has any specific plan to implement measures to expedite handling of UBWs in village houses, with the aim of making the same progress as that in the urban area; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
My reply to the four-part question is as follows:
(a) The Administration has not conducted any detailed surveys on the numbers of unauthorised building works (UBW) in the urban area and in the New Territories. It is therefore unable to provide the statistics requested.
(b) The numbers of removal orders issued by the Buildings Department (BD) in respect of UBW in New Territories exempted houses (commonly known as "village houses"), the numbers of prosecution made in relation to non-compliance of such orders and the total amounts of fines imposed by the courts in each of the three years from 2008 to 2010 are listed below:
Number of Number of
removal prosecution Total amount
Year orders cases of fines ($)
---- --------- ----------- ------------
2008 220 66 242,000
2009 155 132 476,000
2010 217 129 273,000
(c) The numbers of removal orders issued by the BD in respect of UBWs in the urban area, the numbers of prosecution made in relation to non-compliance of such orders and the total amounts of fines imposed by the courts in each of the three years from 2008 to 2010 are listed below:
Number of Number of Total amount
removal prosecution of fines
Year orders cases ($ million)
---- --------- ----------- ------------
2008 25,685 2,502 5.717
2009 24,689 2,399 5.847
2010 17,496 2,141 4.079
(d) Village houses in the New Territories have a long history. The control over these houses has all along been different from that for buildings in the urban area. In other words, while they are all "buildings", they are subject to different regulatory and control regimes.
We adopt a two-pronged approach in tackling the problem of UBW in village houses. On the one hand, we have stepped up enforcement action to curb the proliferation of new UBW. At the same time, we are drawing up a proposal for handling existing UBW in a progressive and orderly manner, on the fundamental premise of ensuring building and public safety. We will shortly apprise the Legislative Council Panel on Development of the details of the proposal and seek Members' views.
Ends/Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Issued at HKT 14:34
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