Secretary for Development Carrie Lam took on affecting solutions to the serious problem of unauthorized building works (UBWs) - illegal structures, because not only do they contravene the law, they also pose a threat to buildings, safety and to the lives of people who live in them and pass by.

In the past decade, public works departments have removed illegal structures with a particular focus on those posing immediate hazards. Since April 1 this year, a new directive to combat illegal structures, regardless of any immediate hazard, has come into force.

"It is a very big, complicated problem. As Hong Kong is governed by rule of law, we must obey the law," she said, observing ruefully that the problem to such magnitude does not exist in other countries. "Given the magnitude and complexity of the problem, we would deal with it step by step based on gravity and building safety."

The government does not have a precise number of UBWs in the urban area and outlying villages, she admitted. It was roughly estimated there were about 800,000 UBWs in the urban area 10 years ago and half have been eliminated, but the number of new UBWs is unknown. In the New Territories, there are about 36,000 small village houses, with at least several UBWs attachments on each of them.

"We are now conducting a city-wide stocktaking on the number of UBWs. By this time next year, we will be able to provide a more exact figure and hope this will help our law enforcement planning," she disclosed.

The UBWs in village houses are less hazardous than those on urban structures, because each village house has only a few storeys, she said.

There are three types of problems. Houses that only slightly exceed the three-story maximum or have small installations, such as solar power panels, on the top floor, will be spared any enforcement action. Action will be taken against serious violations, such as houses with four or more storeys and illegal structures built upon illegal structures.

For existing UBWs in village houses that pose less serious contravention of the law or pose a lower safety risk, a registration system will be introduced, she said. The owners will be required to hire qualified professionals to certify the structural safety of the village houses once every five years.

"Everyone will agree the registration system is lawful, fair and reasonable, although many urban people say we are too kind to the villagers," she explained.

(HK Edition 12/23/2011 page4)