LCQ14: Repair and maintenance of public rental housing

     Following is a question by the Hon Chan Hak-kan and a written reply by the Secretary for Housing, Ms Winnie Ho, in the Legislative Council today (March 27):
 
Question:
 
     The Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) provides various repair services for its public rental housing (PRH) through different programmes, including the Total Maintenance Scheme (TMS) (i.e. proactively inspecting the in-flat conditions of PRH units aged 10 years or above and providing comprehensive repair services), and the Comprehensive Structural Investigation Programme (CSIP) (i.e. conducting detailed inspections of PRH estates that are approaching or over 40 years of age to ascertain whether the buildings are structurally safe, and assessing the repair programmes required for sustaining the buildings concerned for 15 years or more and their cost effectiveness). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) of the average (i) actual inspection costs and (ii) repair costs of the PRH units for which TMS was completed in each of the past five financial years, and set out in the table below a breakdown by the age of the buildings concerned; 
 

 
(2) in respect of the PRH estates for which inspections and repairs were completed under CSIP in the past five financial years, of the average repair expenditure for each unit;
 
(3) in respect of the PRH estates for which the second cycle of CSIP has been completed, whether it has assessed if the buildings concerned can be sustained in good condition for 15 years or more after undergoing the relevant works, and if the cost effectiveness of the relevant works can meet expectations; and
 
(4) in respect of the three PRH estates for which redevelopment was recently completed (i.e. Shek Kip Mei Estate Phases 3, 6 and 7, Tung Tau Estate Phase 8, as well as Pak Tin Estate Phases 7, 8 and 11), of the respective average costs of the redevelopment works (including demolition, land formation and foundation works) for each unit in each of the estates?
 
Reply:
 
President,
 
     My reply to the question raised by the Hon Chan Hak-kan is as follows:
 
(1) The Total Maintenance Scheme (TMS) is a rolling programme implemented by phases for public rental housing (PRH) under the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA). Since its launch in 2006, three phases have been completed. The fourth phase commenced in 2023/24. The past five financial years, i.e. from 2018/19 to 2022/23, fall under the third phase. During the said period, the average repair cost for TMS per rental unit and the age distribution of the relevant PRH estates are as follows:
 

Apart from the above repair cost, the average inspection cost was around 20 per cent of the repair cost.
 
(2) In the past five financial years, the average repair cost for the PRH estates with inspections and repairs completed under the Comprehensive Structural Inspection Programme (CSIP) was about $1,600 per unit.
 
(3) The second cycle of CSIP was launched in late 2018 and is expected to be completed by 2032. For those PRH estates with inspection and repair works completed under the second cycle of CSIP, the relevant buildings can be sustained in good condition for at least 15 years. The cost-effectiveness of the repair works has met the expectations.
 
(4) The last three redevelopment projects completed include Shek Kip Mei Estate Phases 3 and 7 (completed in 2018/19), Shek Kip Mei Estate Phase 6 (completed in 2019/20), Tung Tau Estate Phase 8 (completed in 2019/20), Pak Tin Estate Phases 7 and 8 (completed in 2020/21), and Pak Tin Estate Phase 11 (completed in 2021/22). 
 
     The HA approved the relevant building contracts of the above-mentioned projects in 2016/17 and 2017/18. For these two financial years, the average construction cost per unit (Note) of PRH/Green Form Subsidised Home Ownership Scheme (GSH) based on the cost of building tenders approved by the HA are set out below:
 

 
Note: The average construction cost per PRH/GSH unit, including demolition, site formation and foundation, is calculated based on the cost of building tenders approved by the HA in the financial year. As the number of building tenders approved by the HA and other factors such as scale and design of the projects, as well as market conditions are different in each financial year, the average construction cost for each financial year varies.