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Following is a question by the Hon Lau Kong-wah and an oral reply by the Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands, Mr Michael Suen in the Legislative Council today (January 24):
Question:
The Housing Authority is putting up surplus Home Ownership Scheme ("HOS") flats for sale in phases. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of:
(a) the maintenance costs in aggregate so far incurred for each of the HOS courts involved;
(b) the pre-sale defect rectification and maintenance works carried out for the HOS flats put up for sale earlier this month under Phase 1 of 2007, with a breakdown by HOS court of the total expenditure on each type of works and the average costs of such works per flat; and
(c) the defect rectification and maintenance works being undertaken and to be undertaken, the cost estimates as well as the anticipated completion dates for such works in respect of each HOS court to be sold in the future?
Reply:
Madam President,
The Housing Authority (HA) carries out regular inspection to ensure that the surplus HOS flats are generally in good condition. The inspection reveals that only some of them have isolated building defects of a minor and superficial nature, such as mini-cracks on walls, stains, corrosion and malfunction of metal components and require general cleaning. The HA has undertaken touching up and repair works accordingly. As for the public facilities serving these flats such as lifts, pumps and fire-fighting equipment, the maintenance is undertaken by the property management agencies concerned.
My reply to the three-part question is as follows:
(a) As the surplus HOS flats have not been used and are in good condition, there is no need for any maintenance work inside the flats.
The cost of maintenance for the public facilities of these HOS courts have been included the management fees paid by the HA.
(b) Although the flats put up for sale under Phase 1 of 2007 have been left vacant for some time, they are generally in good condition. Only some of them have isolated building defects and the HA has undertaken touching up and repair works to address them. According to the HA's rough estimate, the total cost of the works is $6 million. The average cost for each flat is about $2,000.
(c) Given that the overall condition of the buildings and flats are good, touching up and repair works similar to those undertaken for Phase I surplus HOS flats will be conducted for the HOS flats for sale in the future. The estimated cost of the touching up and repair works for each flat is also around $2,000 on average. The HA has already reserved around $28 million for the touching up and repair works for the surplus HOS flats to be sold. The future works schedule will dovetail with the sale programme of the HOS courts concerned to ensure that the touching up and repair works will be completed immediately before the handover dates.
Ends/Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Issued at HKT 12:50
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