HONG KONG: Families displaced by the collapse of the old apartment building on Ma Tau Wai road will be eligible for relocation to public housing within a couple of days, a Housing Authority (HA) spokesman says. Some residents who used to live in the building attended a special meeting held by the Kowloon City District Council yesterday. The HA spokesman promised that the HA would allocate public housing to eligible families according to need, possibly within a few days.

The Social Welfare Department confirmed that 30 families are eligible to apply for public housing. Their names have been passed to the HA for consideration.

There are 71 residents from 32 families accommodated in the interim housing on the Shek Lei (II) Estate while the rest are staying at the Holy Carpenter Church Community Centre.

At the Legislative Council meeting yesterday discussions continued on the means to enhance the safety of old buildings immediately, to assure there will be no recurrence of last Friday's tragedy.

Legislators pointed out that many flats had been subdivided into small suites, thus posing increased danger to the structures.

Secretary for Development Carrie Lam admitted that the Buildings Department (BD) has difficulty enforcing the law. "Either they are not informed of the situation or they were not allowed to get into the apartments to carry out investigations," Lam said.

Legislators proposed appointment of a commissioner to coordinating building maintenance. Lam worried that the proposal would create redundancy and over-expansion of the Development Bureau (DB). Lam added that the DB would shoulder the responsibility of coordinating building maintenance.

Lam declined to comment on the cause of the collapse, saying she would not speculate as to whether the collapse was related to BD negligence. She said she would keep track of manpower and prioritize resources for the department.

The BD received complaints from the public regarding the building on 45J Ma Tau Wai Road last year. Inspections were carried out in November and December. The building was declared structurally sound even though some defects were found and repair orders issued, with work to be completed by July of this year.

The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) lawmaker Tam Yiu-chung said accelerating city renewal projects can solve the building safety problems. "Locals living in the old buildings prefer their houses to be compensated and renewed by the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) rather than by private property developers," Tam said.

"The URA has just finished some 50 redevelopment projects, and I am sure they have room to take up more projects," he noted.

Apart from speeding up building renewal projects, Tam voiced his concern over unauthorized building works. He urged the BD to be cautious when approving them, since they may affect the structural integrity of buildings.

(HK Edition 02/05/2010 page1)