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In response to media enquiries about a protest organised by the Association of Government Technical and Survey Officers (AGTSO) today (October 31), a spokesperson for the Buildings Department (BD) said the department has always attached great importance to building safety in Hong Kong. Based on the premise of effective use of resources, the department will ensure building and public safety by adopting a risk-management principal in setting its enforcement priorities. The department will also continue to maintain communication with its staff and deploy manpower and bid for additional resources to meet operational needs.
The department has conducted various large-scale operations to remove unauthorised buildings works (UBWs) since 2001, the spokesperson said. Over 400 000 UBWs, many of them high-risk UBWs, were removed during the period from 2001 to March 31, 2011.
In response to public comments, the BD reviewed its enforcement policy against UBWs and implemented a revised enforcement policy against UBWs since April 1, 2011 by broadening the scope of actionable UBWs to cover UBWs on rooftops and podiums as well as those in yards/courtyards and lanes of private buildings, irrespective of their degree of risk to public safety or whether they are newly constructed.
From 2001 to 2012, the department issued about 320 000 removal orders and over 80 per cent were complied with, removing about 440 000 UBWs, the spokesperson said. The total number of removal orders not yet complied with was around 59 000. Among them, some are cases in which appeals in accordance with the statutory appeal mechanism under the Buildings Ordinance are underway. In other cases, removal works are being arranged by the owners themselves while there are also cases where the owners who have personal or family problems are being helped by the BD's social services teams.
The department will deal with the removal orders not yet complied with through prioritisation of enforcement. It has put in place a mechanism to closely monitor and review the situation and progress of non-compliance cases and will take immediate action when the department identifies cases with imminent risk.
In response to the requests of technical grade staff of the department, the spokesperson emphasised that the BD attaches great importance to the department's management, manpower deployment and communications with staff. It has maintained communication with the department's two technical grade officers working groups and their union (i.e. AGTSO).
The BD has put in place various communications channels, including regular meetings at various levels, so that staff can express their views effectively and directly while the department can get an overall picture of the problems faced by staff of the relevant grades more quickly, and follow up and respond to their problems in a systematic and comprehensive manner.
The spokesperson said that the department always reviews its workload and work procedures and makes appropriate adjustments. It will bid for additional resources through the current resources allocation mechanism when necessary.
Since 2010, additional resources have been allocated to the BD and the total number of its civil service posts was increased by 327 - from 992 on March 31, 2010 to 1 319 on September 30, 2013 - amounting to an increase of 33 per cent. The number of civil service posts of the two technical grades in the department was increased by 96 - from 307 to 403 - and the number of civil service posts of the two professional grades rose by 128 - from 369 to 497 - in the same period.
"There was an increase of over 30 per cent in the manpower of both professional and technical grades in the past three years or so. The manpower ratio of professional grade staff to technical grade staff is determined in accordance with the actual operational needs of the department and we consider the manpower ratio under the department's current work arrangements generally appropriate," the spokesperson said.
The department is aware of the views and concerns of technical grade staff over the work arrangements and their working environment. It has formulated a series of improvement measures, including streamlining work procedures, strengthening communication and increasing support. The department has categorised systematically and followed up comprehensively on various items in accordance with their nature. It will update the content and progress of each item regularly to ensure they are fully implemented.
On manpower improvement, the department has conducted a comprehensive review of its manpower establishment in recent months and taken necessary follow-up actions. It has applied for additional manpower and creation of more posts through the current resources allocation mechanism.
The department will take into consideration its operational needs and manpower situation and review its work objectives from time to time, the spokesperson said. The department has established audit procedures to ensure the quality of its work is up to standard.
The department hopes that the staff of the relevant grades would understand that the department has been closely following up on various items and implementing improvement proposals. It sincerely appeals to them to maintain communications and to continue to co-operate with the department to facilitate its effective and smooth operation and provision of quality service to the public.
Ends/Thursday, October 31, 2013
Issued at HKT 19:05
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