Meeting with deputations on the fourteenth periodic report in respect of Hong Kong under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination; and
Meeting with the Administration on :
1. Concluding observations of the United Nations Committees on :
  1. Initial report of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in respect of Hong Kong under Article 44 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child
  2. Supplementary report by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in respect of Hong Kong under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
  3. Third periodic report in respect of Hong Kong under Articles 2 to 16 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
2. Implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

Members further agreed that the following would be discussed at the regular Panel meeting in February 1997 -

Review of planning standards and guidelines on community centres (members were particularly concerned with the usage and opening hours of community centres); and
Review of Building Management Ordinance, especially the statutory powers of the Home Affairs Department and the problem of illegal structures.

III. Information papers issued since the last meeting

(LegCo Paper Nos. CB(2) 684/96-97)

Members noted that the captioned paper had been issued since the last meeting.

IV. Building management and maintenance

(LegCo Paper Nos. CB(2) 724/96-97(02) and CB(2) 755/96-97)

Problems of building (particularly old buildings) management and maintenance
Publicity activities in private buildings

At the invitation of the Chairman, representatives of the Administration presented the papers and informed members that services provided by HAD on building management were among the duties undertaken by some 324 Liaison Officers (LOs) of its headquarters and 18 District Offices. Training of LOs on building management had been strengthened. They attended owners corporations (OCs) meetings. A Central Information Unit had been set up to gather information on building management problems for reference by front-line staff in formulating problem solving strategy. A request for two additional staff had been made for the Building Management Headquarters Unit in the Resource Allocation Exercise for 1997/98.

Representatives of the Administration stressed that formation of OCs was the most appropriate way for owners to manage their buildings. HAD had assisted in the formation of over 3 400 OCs. Booklets and leaflets on OC formation and on building management had been published and made available to owners free of charge. All District Officers (DOs) had recently issued letters to OCs drawing their attention to the importance of fire safety in buildings.

Building Management Co-ordination Teams

Representatives of the Administration informed members that nine Building Management Co-ordination Teams (BMCTs) had been set up for the following districts -

Central and Western
Wanchai
Eastern
Yau Tsim Mong
Sham Shui Po
Kowloon City
Kwun Tong
Tsuen Wan
Kwai Tsing

In explaining the work of BMCTs, representatives of the Administration informed members that BMCTs identified buildings with serious management problems and compiled reports on the buildings. The buildings would be included in a list of "target buildings". The BMCTs worked closely with the owners/tenants in these "target buildings" and the Building Management Co-ordination Committees of District offices to resolve the building management problems in these buildings. At a recent meeting within HAD, the importance of pro-active BMCTs had been stressed to all DOs. Since the establishment of these BMCTs in 1985, over 1 000 private buildings had been identified for improvement and over 400 buildings had completed rectification work. Whilst some owners welcomed BMCT, some rejected it because they feared a drop in the value of their flats once their buildings became "target buildings".

A member stated that statistically an LO only assisted in the formation of 0.4 OC per year, which was a very low figure. Representatives of the Administration responded that limitation of manpower resources had always been a constraint. Besides providing advice on building management, LOs had other duties such as services for new arrivals from China, community activities, district festivals, and handling complaints within their districts etc. The member commented that the Administration should give priority to matters affecting the safety of human lives. Representatives of the Administration assured that flexibility would be exercised in the deployment of staff and, where necessary, additional resources would be requested.

A member pointed out that there were many old buildings in San Po Kong and suggested that problem buildings in this area should be identified and included in the list of "target buildings". Representatives of the Administration agreed to follow-up the issue with DO (Wong Tai Sin).

Admin

(Post-meeting note : The Administration subsequently responded that there was no BMCT in Wong Tai Sin District. The reason for not providing a BMCT in the district was probably because of the facts that the buildings in the district were comparatively newer and the district enjoyed better town planning and facilities. The fact that there were many public housing estates in the district was also one of the reasons that no BMCT had been provided. HAD would still refer buildings with serious management problems to the respective government departments for attention and for necessary action, even where no BMCT was established in a district.)

In response to the Chairman, representatives of the Administration agreed to provide a paper explaining the work of BMCTs.

Admin

(Post-meeting note : A brief note provided by the Administration on the organization, functions and duties of BMCT was issued vide LegCo Paper No. CB(2) 994/96-97.)

Legislative amendments to Building Management Ordinance

Representatives of the Administration informed members that HAB and HAD had been monitoring implementation of the Building Management Ordinance (BMO) since its enactment in 1993. A number of areas for improvement had been identified. Proposed amendments to BMO would be introduced in the 1997/98 LegCo session. Members views on the proposed amendments to the BMO were welcome. Drafting instructions for the bill were being drawn up by the Administration. One proposed amendment involved empowering an OC to carry out upgrading/decorative works in the common areas of a building. The need for such amendment arose from a recent court case in which the judge ruled that an individual owner should not be compelled to pay his share of payment for upgrading/decorative works in a private building if the work was of a decorative rather than maintenance nature.

A member suggested that, for repair works to common areas in a building, the Administration should follow the practice for dangerous slopes, whereby the Administration was empowered to carry out the necessary work and then claim back the cost from OCs. In the case of repair works for private areas, incidents in which owners ignored the Administrations requests for repairs should be recorded against the relevant property in the Land Registry. As such record would probably affect the security of a mortgage loan from banks, the owners would be more inclined to carry out the required repairs. The Chairman added that the Administration should consider establishing statutory mechanisms and procedures for mediation of disputes, especially those regarding water leakage in buildings. The court should have the right to amend unfair provisions in the Deed of Mutual Covenant. Representatives of the Administration noted these suggestions. They stressed that caution had to be exercised as it involved possible Government intervention into a private deed amongst the owners of a building. As there were about one million illegal structures in buildings of Hong Kong, the Administration would also have to determine its priority in addressing problems in different buildings. It would continue to enhance the knowledge of HAD staff in building management. It was stressed that the Lands Tribunal was empowered under the BMO to adjudicate building management cases.

Admin

Conclusion

The Chairman suggested that the issue of building management and amendments to BMO should be discussed again at the Panel meeting in February 1997.

Admin

V. Minor public works under the Rural Planning and Improvement Strategy (RPIS)

(LegCo Paper No. CB(2) 724/96-97(03))

Representatives of the Administration briefed members on its paper and stressed that remarkable progress had been made since HAD took over minor public works under RPIS two years ago. The RPIS Headquarters Section of HAD comprised 14 staff, including one Chief Engineer, two Senior Engineers, and four Engineers. They were confident that, with adequate support from other Government departments such as Lands, Highways and Drainage Services, minor public works programme under RPIS would be implemented on schedule. They assured that internal re-deployment of staff had been made in HAD to meet the needs of the RPIS programme. They invited members to inspect work sites of minor public works under RPIS programme.

In response to a member, representatives of the Administration explained that the chairmen of District Boards in the New Territories were consulted on minor public works programmes under RPIS. There was no question of treating indigenous and non-indigenous villagers differently in the consultation of residents. Attention had been given to harmonising designs with the natural environment. An example of this was found with the slope improvement work at Yick Yuen, where the gabion wall was covered with green plantation. The rectangular drainage channel at Lau Fau Shan had also been completed, with the co-operation of residents, and the road surface had been completely reinstated. A rectangular channel design was chosen for Wang Tong River in Mui Wo to minimize encroachment on private land. Concrete river beds were preferred to pebble river beds for the reason that the former had a much higher flow capacity.

As regards improvement works involving encroachment on private land, representatives of the Administration informed members that owners consent for works to be carried out in private land would first be sought. Where such consent could not be obtained, resumption of land would then follow. Landscaping would usually be carried out on resumed land upon the completion of works. A member was concerned that there might be abuse in the resumption of land, especially with the anticipated increase in land resumption following the introduction of the Railways (Amendment) Bill. He suggested the Administration to review legislation relating to land resumption. Representatives of the Administration agreed to consider the suggestion.

A member referred to the reconstruction of a damaged footbridge over a river in Sheung Shui and pointed out that reconstruction work was delayed by four years due to an owners refusal to give consent for works to be carried out in private land. Residents in the area were forced, during that period, to walk four to five kilometres to cross the river. Representatives of the Administration stressed that they would not delay any necessary resumption of land. Since the HAD took over minor public works under RPIS two years ago, it had already completed the construction of the footbridge at Sheung Shui.

Admin

In response to a member, representatives of the Administration agreed to provide a paper on improvement works for urban areas, which was undertaken by the Works Section of HAD.

Admin

VI. Follow-up on the United Nations concluding observations on the following reports -

Initial report of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in respect of Hong Kong under Article 44 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child

Supplementary report by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in respect of Hong Kong under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

Third periodic report in respect of Hong Kong under Articles 2 to 16 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

A member commented that since the concluding observations of the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights did not mention the submission of a concluding report on Hong Kong for the period up to 30 June 1997, members should make such a request to the Administration directly. He added that as all the concluding observations stressed the need for continued reporting after the change of sovereignty in 1997, the Chinese and United Kingdom Governments should be asked to sort out the arrangements. The views of the Panel should be reported to the House Committee for further submission to the Administration as well as the Chief Executive (Designate) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It was agreed that these issues would be discussed at the next meeting with the Administration in January 1997.

The meeting ended at 10:40 am.

Legislative Council Secretariat
22 January 1997

Last Updated on 19 August 1998

LegCo Panel on Home Affairs

Minutes of Meeting held on Friday, 20 December 1996 at 8:30 am in Conference Room A of the Legislative Council Building

I. Confirmation of minutes of meeting and matters arising

II. Date of next meeting and items for discussion

III. Information papers issued since the last meeting

IV. Building management and maintenance

Building Management Co-ordination Teams

Legislative amendments to Building Management Ordinance

Conclusion

V. Minor public works under the Rural Planning and Improvement Strategy (RPIS)

VI. Follow-up on the United Nations concluding observations on the following reports -

Minutes of Meeting
held on Friday, 20 December 1996 at 8:30 am
in Conference Room A of the Legislative Council Building