Following is a question by the Hon Chan Kin-por, and a written reply by the Secretary for Development, Mr Michael Wong, in the Legislative Council today (May 22):
 
Question:
 
     The Government has allocated $2.5 billion to implement the "Lift Modernisation Subsidy Scheme" (LIMSS), which is administered by the Urban Renewal Authority. Under LIMSS, those residential or composite buildings whose average rateable values of the domestic units therein do not exceed the prescribed amount are eligible for subsidies on modernising aged lifts not meeting the current technical standards. LIMSS is open for the first-round applications from March 29 to July 31 this year. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1)  of the current number of buildings eligible for joining LIMSS, and the number of buildings for which applications have been received so far;
 
(2)  whether it has compiled statistics on the current number of aged lifts which have to be replaced completely as they do not meet today’s safety standards of lifts, as well as the average age of the buildings in which such lifts are located;
 
(3)  how the authorities publicise LIMSS; and
 
(4)  notwithstanding that for a building for which an owners' corporation has not been formed and an owners' organisation is not in place, an application for the LIMSS may be still made by a minimum of two owners who have been authorised by all owners of the building, but the authorisation of all owners cannot be secured for some of this type of buildings (e.g. as some of the owners are out of town and cannot be reached), how the authorities provide assistance to the owners of such buildings?
 
Reply:
 
President,
 
     To enhance safety of aged lifts so as to further safeguard public safety, the Government has launched a $2.5 billion Lift Modernisation Subsidy Scheme (LIMSS) over six years starting from the 2019-20 financial year to promote lift modernisation in the community through provision of financial incentive with appropriate professional support to building owners in need. The scheme focuses on aged lifts that have not been equipped with safety devices meeting the latest standards, and priority will be set based on risk assessments. In consideration of the capacity of the industry, we plan to modernise about 5 000 aged lifts in phases in 6 years so as to avoid inflating the market price for the works. The Government has commissioned the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) to be the administrative agent for the LIMSS.
 
     Under the LIMSS, approved applications can receive a subsidy of 60 per cent of the total cost of the lift modernisation works for each lift, including the fee of consultants (note) engaged by participating buildings (at a cap of $20,000 per lift), subject to a total subsidy cap of $500,000 per lift. In addition, eligible elderly owner-occupiers aged 60 or above can receive a subsidy, for one property under their ownership, of the full cost of the lift modernisation works that they need to contribute, subject to a cap of $50,000. The first-round application for the LIMSS started on March 29 for closing on July 31. Eligible applicants will be notified of their priorities by the fourth quarter of 2019. As some building owners may need more time to co-ordinate and reach consensus amongst themselves for taking part in the LIMSS, the scheme has a second round of application with details to be announced later.
 
     Our reply to the questions about the LIMSS is as follows:
 
(1) According to the application criteria for the LIMSS, we estimate that around 13 000 lifts are eligible for the scheme, involving about 4 000 buildings. As of May 16, the URA has received 58 applications, involving about 400 lifts.
 
(2) At present, there are about 68 000 lifts in Hong Kong, of which about 80 per cent have not been equipped with devices of the latest safety requirements. Although lifts installed and put into service in different years have met the technical requirements at the time of their installation, with rapid technological advancements in recent years, modern lifts are equipped with more comprehensive safety devices than the aged ones. Therefore, the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) promulgated the "Guidelines for Modernising Existing Lifts" in 2011. These guidelines introduce measures to enhance safety of aged lifts and recommend retrofitting of safety devices in order to uplift the safety of the lifts. When the responsible persons for aged lifts plan to modernise their lifts, apart from considering to install additional safety devices, they can also replace the entire lifts to enhance safety, reliability and comfortability having regard to the operating conditions of the lifts. As the conditions of each lift are different, the feasibility of implementing different modernisation solutions and the need for replacing the entire lift would require on-site assessment by registered lift contractors or relevant engineering consultants. Therefore, the EMSD does not have information on buildings requiring replacement of the entire lifts and the average age of such buildings.
 
(3) To facilitate the public and building owners to understand the LIMSS, the URA issued two batches of letters to target buildings in January and March this year respectively to introduce the scheme and invite representatives of owners to attend 11 briefings held in April and May in different districts.
 
     In addition, the URA has used various channels to launch a series of publicity events for the scheme, including advertising in TV, radio, newspapers, etc. At district level, the URA has contacted all 18 District Councils for arranging briefing on the scheme in the council meetings. At the same time, with the assistance of 11 non-government organisation (NGO) partners, the URA is approaching target buildings in various districts and assisting their owners in making application for the scheme, with a view to promoting the LIMSS to the public and building owners at different facets.
 
     The public can visit the URA's website – "Building Rehabilitation Platform" at www.brplatform.org.hk for details of the LIMSS. They can download the LIMSS application form and notes from the website or apply directly for the scheme through the website. For further details or enquiry about the scheme, the public can call the hotline 3188 1188 for assistance.
 
(4)  In order to assist buildings without owners' corporation (OC) or "3-nil" buildings to join the scheme and organise the modernisation works, the URA has sought legal advice and the following suggestions have been made according to the relevant provisions in the Deed of Mutual Covenant (DMC):
 
     If the DMC has expressly stated the following provisions, building owners may convene owners' meetings to resolve the carrying out of modernisation works according to the DMC provisions:
 
(i) resolutions on common areas repair, maintenance and improvement can be passed at owners' meetings; and
(ii) such resolutions are legally binding on all owners of the building.
 
     If the DMC has not expressly stated items (i) and (ii) above, the resolutions concerned shall only be deemed valid with unanimous consensus by all building owners. As the DMC is a document legally binding all building owners, it may lead to legal proceedings if building owners fail to comply with it. Therefore, building owners must follow the requirements of the DMC to apply for the scheme and organise the works.
 
     Meanwhile, the URA has proactively contacted owners of such buildings to inform them whether their DMCs have the above provisions so as to facilitate their consideration of forming OCs to join the scheme.
 
     Furthermore, the URA has been encouraging building owners to form OCs for organising repair and maintenance works. Formation of the OC will not only facilitate building owners to reach consensus in organising such works, but also the subsequent maintenance of lifts. If building owners intend to form an OC, they must convene owners' meetings in accordance with the Building Management Ordinance (Cap. 344). In the meeting for reaching consensus to form an OC, building owners should agree to join the LIMSS and nominate at least two building owners as the applicant's representatives, and to submit the application form and all supporting documents to the URA by the deadline of the first-round applications (i.e. by July 31, 2019). After successful formation of the OC, the OC shall submit the relevant meeting minutes and a copy of the Certificate of Registration to the URA by January 31, 2020. If an OC fails to submit all the required documents by the above deadline, the application will be automatically arranged for processing in the second-round applications. If the OC still cannot submit all the required documents eventually, the application will be treated as a withdrawal by the applicant.
 
     To encourage building owners to form OCs to carry out the relevant works, the URA offers small-value financial subsidy to those buildings with OCs successfully formed. Besides, the URA has also partnered with NGOs in a number of focal districts with numerous aged buildings to assist building owners in forming OCs to carry out lift modernisation works if needed.
 
Note: The LIMSS provides free consultancy services to each successful application. The services include scope assessment, cost estimation (for budgeting purpose), tender document preparation based on standard template of tender documents, tendering through the URA's e-tendering platform, tender evaluation (limited to offering technical advice), works supervision and contract management associated with the lift modernisation works. Nevertheless, building owners may engage their own consultants to provide the above services. The Government will also subsidise the consultant fees, at a cap of $20,000 per lift.

The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:
 
     The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) wishes to alert members of the public to a press release issued by Bank of Singapore Limited on fraudulent website, which has been reported to the HKMA.  Hyperlink to the press release is available on the HKMA website for ease of reference by members of the public.
      
     Anyone who has provided his or her personal information to the website concerned or has conducted any financial transactions through the website should contact the bank concerned using the contact information provided in the press release, and report to the Police or contact the Cyber Security and Technology Crime Bureau of the Hong Kong Police Force at 2860 5012.

     Following is a question by the Hon Chan Hoi-yan and a reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Mr Frank Chan Fan, in the Legislative Council today (May 22):
     
Question:

     Some residents of To Kwa Wan and Hung Hom districts have relayed that tourist coaches often bring a large number of Mainland inbound tour groups to the districts for dining and shopping, but parking spaces in the districts are in short supply and the roads therein are narrow. The illegal pick-up/drop-off of passengers by and parking of tourist coaches have from time to time caused traffic obstructions and accidents (e.g. a pedestrian was knocked down and killed last month), thereby impacting gravely on the daily lives and safety of the residents. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) of the number of complaints received from residents of To Kwa Wan and Hung Hom districts about the traffic obstructions in the districts caused by tourist coaches, the number of the relevant law enforcement operations conducted, and the number of fixed penalty notices issued for traffic contraventions involving tourist coaches, by the Police in each month of the past three years;

(2) whether it has compiled statistics on the traffic flows of tourist coaches and the black spots of their illegal parking in the two districts to facilitate transport planning and law enforcement; if so, of the details; if not, whether it will compile such statistics immediately; and

(3) whether it has plans to make use of smart systems to assist in law enforcement against illegal parking in the two districts and to extend the prohibition area for tourist coaches, with a view to reducing the impact on residents' daily lives?

Reply:

President,

     The Government is gravely concerned about tourist coaches illegally parked or picking up/setting down passengers at tourist hotspots. In this regard, the Transport Department (TD) and the Hong Kong Police Force (Police) have been closely monitoring the traffic conditions around the tourist hotspots in To Kwa Wan and Hung Hom, and taking forward a number of targeted measures to strengthen the management of the flow of tourist coaches and enhance road safety.

     My reply to the various parts of the Hon Chan Hoi-yan's question is as follows:

(1) In the past two years, i.e. May 2017 to April 2019, the Police received a total of 2,477 traffic complaints about tourist coaches and issued a total of 4,192 fixed penalty notices to tourist coaches relating to traffic contraventions in the Kowloon City Police District including To Kwa Wan and Hung Hom districts. The relevant monthly figures are set out in the Annex. The Police have not kept any relevant figures before May 2017. As regards enforcement action, the Kowloon City Police District deploys staff to carry out crowd management and traffic enforcement actions at tourist hotspots on a daily basis.

(2) In order to formulate responsive traffic management measures targeting at the operation of tourist coaches in To Kwa Wan and Hung Hom, the TD conducts traffic statistics field work at selected road sections in the two above-mentioned districts from time to time to collect data relating to tourist coaches, including their usage of on-street picking up/setting down facilities and temporary car parks in the districts, which will serve as reference for planning the traffic management measures related to tourist coaches.

     The tourist hotspots in To Kwa Wan and Hung Hom, including areas in the vicinity of To Kwa Wan Road, San Ma Tau Street and Mei King Street, areas around Chi Kiang Street, Sung On Street and Bailey Street, as well as areas near Sze Chuen Street, have been listed by the Police as priority locations for actions against illegal parking. Appropriate enforcement actions are taken in respect of the illegal parking situation of tourist coaches.

(3) The TD has been identifying suitable locations in To Kwa Wan and Hung Hom for providing additional on-street pick-up/set-down points and parking spaces for use by tourist coaches where road safety is not compromised and traffic conditions permit, as well as facilitating the granting of short-term tenancy (STT) car parks for parking of tourist coaches. Currently, the TD provides a total of 96 on-street metered parking spaces and 110 lay-bys for pick-up or set-down purposes in To Kwa Wan and Hung Hom. Besides, there are 73 parking spaces in STT car parks for use by tourist coaches. The TD has also designated "No-stopping Restriction Zones" in suitable road sections in the districts, which limit the pick-up and set-down activities of coaches in restricted hours, so as to maintain smooth traffic flow. The Government has also offered a discounted fee of $6 per half an hour between 9am and 8pm in the temporary car park at the junction of Bailey Street and Sung Ping Street with a view to encouraging parking of tourist coaches there.

     To further strengthen the management of the flow of tourist coaches and enhance road safety, the Government plans to establish additional designated passenger pick-up/set-down areas for tourist coaches in the districts. Consideration is being given to using the temporary car park at the junction of Bailey Street and Sung Ping Street as a pick-up/set-down area; providing ten additional on-street metered tourist coach parking spaces at the junction of Hung Hom Road and Bailey Street; and providing four additional lay-bys at appropriate sections of Chi Kiang Street. To dovetail with these measures, the Government plans to expand the "No-stopping Restriction Zone" for coaches at appropriate road sections on the periphery of tourist hotspots within the districts so as to restrict the pick-up/set-down areas for tourist coaches on public roads, thereby encouraging tourist coaches to use the designated pick-up/set-down areas mentioned above.

     As regards traffic enforcement, the Police have been closely monitoring the situation of illegal parking or picking up/setting down passengers by tourist coaches in the above-mentioned districts, and taking stern enforcement actions against those which have caused serious obstruction to traffic and posed a safety risk. Starting from January 2019, the Kowloon City Police District has been implementing special traffic control measures around Chi Kiang Street, Sung On Street and Bailey Street, as well as around To Kwa Wan Road, San Ma Tau Street and Mei King Street during daily peak periods of tourist coach movements. Under the control measures, tourist coach drivers have to follow the instructions of the police officers on the spot and drive to designated locations for picking up and setting down passengers.

     Besides, the Police have started to take enforcement actions by means of mobile video recording at tourist hotspots in To Kwa Wan and Hung Hom. They use hand-held video cameras to record instances of traffic contravention on an irregular basis in order to combat obstruction to traffic flow and strengthen the deterrent effect. The Police also plan to launch a pilot scheme on Electronic Fixed Penalty Notices within 2019/20 at the above-mentioned tourist hotspots. The frontline law enforcement officers will then be able to access data on vehicles parked illegally via their mobile smart devices and print out fixed penalty notices without delay, thereby enhancing efficiency in enforcement.

     As regards the recent traffic accident involving a tourist coach, the Police are conducting relevant investigation. In parallel, the TD is reviewing the conditions of the road section concerned and planning a series of follow-up measures to prohibit tourist coaches from entering some of the inner streets, as well as prompting the tourist trade to shift the tourist coaches to the main roads. In this regard, the TD is drawing up a detailed proposal for trial and will conduct district consultation in due course.

     Following is a question by Dr Hon Priscilla Leung and a written reply by the Acting Secretary for the Environment, Mr Tse Chin-wan, in the Legislative Council today (May 22):

Question:

    Some members of the public have complained to me that coastal waters (particularly in the vicinity of the Hung Hom Promenade) of the Victoria Harbour (the Harbour) give off unbearable stenches, causing serious nuisance to members of the public. It is learnt that one of the sources of the stenches is the sewage discharged from some private buildings in Hung Hom as their foul water pipes have been wrongly connected to the storm drain systems (misconnections of foul water pipes). On the other hand, a consultancy study on further enhancing the quality of coastal waters of the Harbour (the consultancy study) commissioned by the Environmental Protection Department in 2016 has been substantially completed. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) of the annual and monthly compliance rates of the Water Quality Objectives (WQOs) of the Harbour water control zone (WCZ) in each of the past five years (set out in the table below);
 

(2) of the number of cases of misconnections of foul water pipes causing discharge of sewage into the Harbour WCZ which were followed up by the Government in each of the past five years and, among such cases, the number of those which have now been rectified, with a breakdown by District Council district;

(3) among the cases mentioned in (2) of the respective numbers of those in which (i) rectifications were made after the owners had been given warnings/advice, (ii) rectifications were made after the owners had received statutory repair/removal orders or had been prosecuted, (iii) rectifications were yet to be made despite that law enforcement actions had been taken by the Government, and (iv) rectification works were carried out by government contractors; whether it has reviewed the effectiveness of the relevant law enforcement actions; if so, of the outcome; and
 
(4) when it will publish the report of the consultancy study; of the measures to be taken to follow up the recommendations put forward in the report for improving the quality of the coastal waters of the Harbour, as well as the implementation timetable and estimated expenditure for such measures?

Reply:

President,

    The Government has all along been attaching great importance to improving the water quality of Victoria Harbour and has devoted significant resources to improve the sewage collection and treatment system through implementing the Harbour Area Treatment Scheme and works for enhancing the quality of coastal waters of Victoria Harbour, stepping up enforcement on misconnections of sewage pipes, and clearing sediment from the stormwater drainage systems. These efforts have brought noticeable improvement in the water quality of Victoria Harbour.

     My reply to the question raised by Dr Hon Priscilla Leung is as follows:

(1) The overall Water Quality Objectives (WQOs) compliance rate of marine water in the Victoria Harbour Water Control Zone (WCZ) in the past five years are tabulated below:
 

 
    As the overall WQOs compliance rate is based on evaluation of the annual average level of relevant water quality parameters, there is no monthly compliance rate.  While the compliance rate of individual years would vary due to influence by weather conditions such as sunshine, temperature and rainfall, the water quality as a whole shows trend of recognisable improvement from the past.

(2) The Environmental Protection Department (EPD), Buildings Department (BD), Drainage Services Department (DSD) and relevant government departments have been jointly following up on each case of sewage pipe misconnection, and urge the respective owners to rectify the problem in the earliest opportunity and reduce its impact on near-shore water quality. In the past five years, the EPD found a total of 348 cases of misconnections of sewage pipes in the Victoria Harbour WCZ. Among them, 267 cases (about 77 per cent) have been rectified and the remaining 81 cases are being processed. Please refer to the Annex for a breakdown of these cases by district.

(3) Among the 348 cases mentioned above, about 80 per cent or 267 cases were rectified after issue of warnings or advice. Among cases of pipe misconnection or stormwater drain pollution in private buildings in the territory followed up by the BD in the past five years, a total of 27 cases were rectified by premises owners after the statutory repair or removal orders were served and, up to 2018, 51 cases have not been rectified after the statutory repair and removal orders were served. There is no rectification works carried out by government contractors in the same period. The BD will continue to follow up on the remaining cases, urge or order the respective owners to fulfil their responsibility to rectify the pipe misconnection problems. For the cases of non-compliance with the orders, the BD will take appropriate enforcement actions according to the circumstances, including consideration to initiate prosecution under the Buildings Ordinance.
 
(4) The consultancy study on further enhancement of the near-shore water quality and the general environment of Victoria Harbour has been substantially completed.  The consultants will submit the study report within this year. The Government is gradually pursuing and implementing some measures in advance based on the survey results and study recommendations in order to speed up the improvement of near-shore water quality of Victoria Harbour.
 
     The findings of field surveys on pollution sources show that the near-shore pollution problems of Victoria Harbour are mainly caused by pollutants discharged from stormwater outfalls. This is probably due to misconnection of sewage pipes to stormwater drains and non-point source pollution (e.g. leakage from ageing sewers, street activities and cleansing of public places). The study recommendations for improvement include rectification of the misconnections, enhancing collaboration between departments, raising public awareness on reducing discharge of pollutants to stormwater drains at source, and providing dry weather flow interceptors (DWFIs) near the stormwater outfalls or at other strategic locations.

     The information on sewer misconnections collected in the consultancy study has been passed to the relevant government departments for follow-up. Having regard to the survey findings of the consultancy study, the Government has begun to progressively implement targeted pollution control measures and works, including construction and modification of DWFIs, rehabilitation of ageing sewers, upgrading of sewage treatment works and provision of public sewers, etc. New pollutant removal technology is also being tried.

     Regarding the situation along the Hung Hom Promenade, the study team recommended to construct a newly designed DWFI near the outfall of the Kin Wan Street box culvert at Hung Hom. The EPD and the DSD are planning to include this project in the Public Works Programme this year in order to carry out further study on the works. From planning to commissioning, the entire project is anticipated to take about seven to eight years and the initial cost estimate is about several hundred million dollars. Other than the DWFI, the DSD is also conducting trial application of Hydrogel at the outlet of Kin Wan Street box culvert to reduce the odour from the drain.

     The Government is also progressively planning similar DWFIs at other near-shore areas along Victoria Harbour (for example at Wan Chai East and Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter). The estimated construction time and cost of these projects will be similar to the newly designed DWFI at Kin Wan Street. The Government will continue to take enforcement actions and implement projects for reducing the discharge of pollutants from either side of Victoria Harbour to improve the near-shore environmental and odour problems.

     â€‹The Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Lau Kong-wah, arrived in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan, last night (May 21) to begin his visit. Mr Lau first met with the Governor of Kagoshima Prefecture, Mr Satoshi Mitazono, to brief him on Hong Kong's latest developments and explore opportunities for further bilateral collaboration in culture, sports and youth development.
 
     A bilateral youth exchange programme between Hong Kong and Kagoshima had been in operation under the International Youth Exchange Programme of the former Commission on Youth since 1999. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government included this programme in the Youth Ambassadors in Celebration of the Establishment of the HKSAR Programme in 2017, and the Youth Development Commission has continued this youth exchange programme between Hong Kong and Kagoshima with the regularisation of the YDC Youth Ambassadors Programme since last year. Since 1980, the Hong Kong-Kagoshima Conference has been held biennially in Hong Kong and Kagoshima to foster bilateral exchanges, collaboration and liaison in youth development, culture and sports between the two places. 
 
     Today (May 22), Mr Lau visited some community sports facilities in Kagoshima. He will proceed to Takamatsu this afternoon to continue the visit.