The Maintenance Bureau has hired 100 people for the first time. Some urban construction projects have been completed. The "Urban Renewal Strategy" will be adjusted. Members hope to strengthen building rehabilitation.

Ming Pao reporter Huang Weichao

After the fire in Wang Fook Court in Tai Po, the government studied the launch of an enhanced version of the "proper tendering" system, which was promoted by the establishment of an exclusive subsidiary of the URA. As of late September this year, the authorities have been accepting applications for the formulation of three "pre-qualification lists" of consultants and contractors under the new building maintenance support service. At the end of last month, they also announced the establishment of a government-led maintenance bureau to strengthen the provision of building maintenance support to owners. It is reported that this move has changed the original deployment of the URA. The whereabouts of more than 100 employees in the building restoration department of the bureau are unknown, and many people are concerned about future work arrangements.

Focus on 3 areas of work in the initial stage and take over the services of the Urban Renewal Bureau in phases

In response to this report, the Development Bureau stated that in the initial stage of its establishment, the Maintenance Bureau will focus on three major areas: formulating updated building maintenance measures, providing new support services to owners, and developing and managing building maintenance project pricing and other information systems, including prioritizing About 1,800 maintenance projects that have not yet been appointed to a contractor will be taken over in phases from the original "tendering completed" building maintenance subsidy scheme currently under the responsibility of the Urban Renewal Bureau. The Bureau is discussing with the URA to formulate specific arrangements such as manpower transfer to ensure a smooth handover.

After checking the information, it was found that the URA's "Integrated Building Rehabilitation Support Scheme" provides a variety of financial subsidies. Five of the government subsidies include "Operation Building Renewal 2.0", "Building Drainage System Maintenance Subsidy Scheme", "Fire Safety Improvement Works Subsidy Scheme", "Lift Optimization Subsidy Scheme" and "Needy Persons Maintenance of Owner-occupied Property Subsidy Scheme", which are expected to be taken over by the Maintenance Bureau later.

Establishment does not involve legislative amendments, open recruitment and selection of CEO

The Development Bureau stated that the Maintenance Bureau is a non-statutory company wholly owned by the Financial Secretary Incorporated. Its establishment does not involve legislative amendments and will operate on a self-financing model in the long term. The government and the Urban Development Bureau are assisting the Maintenance Bureau in open manpower recruitment. It is expected that there will be approximately 100 employees in the initial stage. Their responsibilities include the preparation and management of "pre-qualification lists", case handling (including tendering and evaluation, monitoring progress, etc.), development and maintenance of information technology systems, customer service, legal support, office administrative accounting support and internal auditing.

There will be an open recruitment for the CEO of the Maintenance Bureau. The Development Bureau stated that the selection committee will mainly be composed of government personnel. The appointment process will refer to the CEO recruitment procedures of other similar government-owned companies. The goal is to complete the registration of the Maintenance Bureau, appointment of the board of directors, office establishment, office leasing and other preparatory work before the end of the year.

Development Bureau: URA will focus on redevelopment of old areas in the future

According to the Urban Renewal Strategy and the Urban Renewal Authority Ordinance, one of the statutory functions of the URA is to promote urban renewal. When asked whether the "Strategy" and "Ordinance" need to be revised in the future, the Development Bureau stated that the URA will focus on the redevelopment of old areas in the future, and the authority will review the "Strategy" at an appropriate time to reflect the URA's work priorities; and the "Ordinance" empowers the URA to implement a basket of functions, including different modes of urban rehabilitation (not limited to individual building repairs). Therefore, at this stage, the "Ordinance" still gives the government and the URA sufficient flexibility to consider the URA's future work.

Chen Xuefeng, a member of the DAB Legislative Council who is also a non-executive director of the URA, welcomed the government's re-examination of the Urban Renewal Strategy. He believed that in addition to redefining the work priorities of the URA, the role of the Maintenance Bureau and the responsibilities of building rehabilitation functions could also be added, and even building rehabilitation could be strengthened to alleviate the urgency of demolition and reconstruction. He said that in addition to rebuilding old buildings in promoting urban renewal, it is also important to carry out building rehabilitation. In particular, the quality of the buildings built in recent years is better. Coupled with economic and cost-benefit considerations, the pace of urban renewal may slow down in the future, and there will be an even greater need for proper maintenance and repair of buildings.