Hong Kong Housing Authority and Housing Department

Chairman, Members,

The last twelve months have been a period of frenetic activity for Members of the Housing Authority and staff of the Housing Department. This will be obvious from the Committee Chairmen's reports tabled at this meeting. However, I have sought the Chairman's permission to speak first because I wanted to summarize for you in simple terms the quite extraordinary achievements of the past year.

I say the past year, although, as all of you are aware, last year was the culmination of work begun much earlier and effort sustained over a five or six year period before that.

Nevertheless, this milestone merits special mention, if only because last year we broke every record in the book:

• We allocated some 28,000 flats to families on the Waiting List, thereby reducing the Waiting List to a twenty year low.

• Waiting time has never been shorter. We have reduced the average to just under four-and-a-half years. We are on track to reduce it to 3 years by 2003.

• For elderly singletons the average is still lower, at just over 2 years, despite a pro-active registration campaign, which has pushed up the number of elderly applicants to 11,400 as of the end of last month.

• We have cleared the last of the old-style Temporary Housing Areas, in a series of exercises, which involved the re-housing of 3,700 people last year.

• We re-housed 800 people from the old Cottage Areas. Two were completely cleared last year and we will clear the last three this year.

• Last year we also re-housed nearly 2,600 people in development clearances covering a total of 92 hectares of land. This included Diamond Hill squatter area, a mammoth exercise involving not only families but a large number of commercial and industrial premises as well.

• All of these clearances were conducted peacefully.

• Similarly, the clearance and demolition of 49 old rental blocks under the on-going Comprehensive Redevelopment Scheme. Over 20,000 families were re-housed under this Scheme last year.

• 41,500 families became home-owners last year with the Housing Authority's assistance.

• Some 6,600 of these opted for loans under the Home Purchase Loan Scheme. Over 60% of them were previously public housing tenants. More than half used the loans to buy second-hand, or secondary market Home Ownership Scheme flats.

• We offered another 26,400 tenants the chance to buy their flats under Phase IV of the Tenants Purchase Scheme. As with previous phases, there has been a warm response. In fact, the average take-up rate for the first three phases of the Scheme is over 70%. It is obviously popular, and I note with some satisfaction the calls for an expansion of the Scheme in the recent Legislative Council Motion Debate.

• Another 10,300 families bought new Home Ownership Scheme flats. Just over 40% of them were previously public housing tenants. Every phase has been over-subscribed. And in every phase, around 70% of applicants have incomes well below the reduced income limits now in force.

• On the Management side, a total of 74 Owners Corporations were formed for HOS Courts. Owners Corporations have also been successfully formed in all 18 estates sold under the first three phases of the TPS.

• Under the Phased Transfer of Management and Maintenance Services programme, a total of 12 new property services contracts, covering 24 rental and TPS estates, were awarded and are functioning well. The industry's response to this initiative has been very satisfactory.

• Still more satisfying from a personal point of view has been the initiative shown by our own staff in responding to the opportunity to form their own companies and bid for contracts. A total of 17 such Management Buy Out enterprises bid for the 6 contracts in the first exercise. These have now been awarded and the Companies will commence operation on the ground on 1 July.

• Another company formed by former HD staff bid successfully in the open market for a management contract awarded by the Owners Corporation of an Estate sold under Phase One of the TPS.

• The Commercial Properties Division also broke all records, successfully letting some 92,000 square metres of commercial space, much of it in new shopping centres.

• At the same time and despite the economic doldrums, the vacancy rate in our commercial premises has been held at half that in the private sector.

• And, another significant milestone, we completed the outsourcing of all front line management of shopping centres.

• On construction quality, in the year since consulting on our proposed reforms, we have not stood still. We have already proceeded to implement 37 of the 50 initiatives, in whole or in part. The rest, most of which rely on joint effort with other partners, will follow.

• Most important, the message that we will insist on quality has got through. This is evident from the virtually trouble free hand-over and occupation of last year's record breaking production.

Mr. Chairman, these record breaking production - 89,000 flats, 107,000 square metres of commercial space and 9,300 parking spaces - lie at the heart of the achievements listed earlier. They provide a convenient summary, but they do not tell the full story. In particular they do not tell the story of the extraordinary pressures on staff at all levels, in all grades and disciplines, in all divisions and sections of the Department in preparing for this production peak, and in turning lines on a plan into homes for the needy.

I am happy to say that this has not gone unrecognized. Last year was a record year for prizes and awards, more than 30 in a wide range of endeavour; for quality service enhancement, architectural design, IT application and personal achievement. I will mention only three:

• The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers - Structural Division Special Award, for the shopping centre at Lam Tin;

• The Civil Service Excellence Awards for Quality Service Enhancement; and

• Third Prize in the Housing Authority's own Open Architectural Design Competition for Shui Chuen O.

All this in addition to a special commendation on our efforts in the housing field from the United Nations' Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in reviewing the annual report on Hong Kong.

In closing, allow me to take this opportunity to salute all staff of the Department for their extraordinary achievements of the last twelve months, and to express my gratitude to all Members for your encouragement and support.