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2.1	Last year was an exceptionally busy year for the HD and I would like to start by commending staff for their commitment and resilience. I will highlight two of the challenges we face.
2.2	In May last year, the HA endorsed a proposal for a phased transfer of estate management and maintenance functions to the private sector. This decision recognized two related trends, one already underway, the other just begun. The first is the emergence of private sector management companies over the last few years as cost-effective service providers. The second is the fact that, with the gradual transformation of the Authority's tenants into owners over the next few years, responsibility for appointing management agencies will pass out of the Authority's hands into those of the new owners.
2.3	A special HA Task Force was established to examine and make recommendations on implementation. At the same time, the Department set up a special committee to examine the implications for staff and to propose a package of options both for those who wish to remain as civil servants and for those who wish to leave and join the private sector. Inevitably, there have been moments of drama and tension as discussions between staff and management have progressed, I am proud to report that staff have behaved responsibly and have not allowed their anxieties over the future to affect the quality of service which they provide day-to-day to our customers. The matters were brought to a satisfactory conclusion early this year.
2.4	The peak of production activity to which the Chairlady refers in her message, is the peak of a wave rather than a mountain. It first struck the planners about two years ago and has moved on since through contract documentation, tendering and letting of contracts to piling, and is now well into the superstructures of a record number of projects. Over the next two years it will race through these to finishing, sales and letting of both domestic and commercial units. Its surge and stress is felt by every member of the Department at some point in its passage. Again I commend them for their resilience.
2.5	Unusual pressures produce unusual problems and these have been particularly acute during a period when economic recession has coincided with frenetic activity on site. There can, however, be no excuse for the sort of failures in construction quality which we have seen over the last year, and whether the fault lies with overly bureaucratic systems, inadequate specification or supervision, contractors cutting commercial corners, individual negligence, or a wider industry cultural malaise, they must not be allowed to recur. My staff and I are committed to getting to the root of these problems, working with the industry to devise solutions and ensuring that they do not happen again.
2.6	I cannot end this message without mentioning one incident which occurred in the wake of one of a series of serious tropical storms which hit Hong Kong over the last summer. At the height of one of these storms, a young member of the management team at Shek Kip Mei Estate spotted a fault developing in a slope behind two of the blocks and raised the alarm. What happened thereafter speaks volumes for the Department's traditional esprit de corps. Orders did not have to be given. Staff from all around the territory simply arrived and set to, working straight through the next 48 hours, coordinating the evacuation of the predominantly elderly population of the affected blocks, making arrangements with colleagues in other departments for their immediate special needs and arranging for their re-housing.
2.7	We look forward to continuing to serve the community in this same spirit in the new millennium.

	2001 Housing Authority. All rights reserved.