We had a successful and fruitful 2005/06. One major milestone achieved is the development of this, our first ever Sustainability Report which highlights our achievements across a more comprehensive platform. Not only have we continued to improve on our environmental targets and initiatives, we have now expanded our coverage to include our wider economic and social contributions to our stakeholders and to Hong Kong in general.

• Recorded only one environmental conviction against contractors for waste water pollution in 2005/06, comparing to four environmental convictions in 2004/05 and eight in 2003/04. It demonstrated the effectiveness of the implementation of environmental management measures within the Housing Authority and among our contractors;
• Improved energy efficiency of our premises including a 4% cut in energy consumption compared to the previous year at our headquarters building;
• Implemented mandatory use of water recycling systems on our construction sites, further minimizing our consumption of natural resources;
• Made significant advances in increasing the use of pre-cast and prefabricated elements during building construction works to cut down on environmental impacts (waste and use of natural resources) generated on our constructions sites; and,
• Continued support and partnership with our residents and stakeholders in taking initiatives for environmental protection, for instance the 'Green Delight in Estates' showed an improved level of environmental awareness among our residents and stakeholders.

• Decreased the accident rate and no fatalities in our construction sites;
• Improved building safety and living environment via the implementation of the Total Maintenance Scheme;
• Continued enforcing hygiene and health measures such as anti-mosquito breeding, cleansing campaigns, prevention of avian influenza and the like;
• Continued to implement tenancy control measures including serving of notice-to-quit to enhance safe, healthy and harmonious living environment for residents;
• Maintained average waiting time (AWT) for general Public Rental Housing (PRH) applications and for elderly single applicants well within the pledge of three years and two years respectively.
• Carried out modifications in estates to improve the quality of life for our blind and tetraplegic tenants; and,
• Revised and implemented a comprehensive contract package to ensure security of our contractors' workers.

• Divestment of our retail and car park facilities through The Link REIT has improved Housing Authority's financial position to deliver its housing programme and further enabled implementation of HA's environmental and social initiatives;
• Launched the last phase of the Tenants Purchase Scheme (TPS), involving 23,290 units in five public rental housing estates. Some 16,000 surplus Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) flats will be put up for sale in batches from 2007 onwards to eligible households;

• Upgraded our assets via the Total Maintenance Scheme and comprehensive structured investigation of older estates which also helped to give a better quality of living environment to our residents;
• Launched the Modified Guaranteed Maximum Price (MGMP)/Open Book Contracting Model in a pilot project to generate cost-saving incentives from contractor and integrate contractor's expertise and innovation thus enhancing design and buildability of the project;
• Introduced e-payment card for easier monthly public housing rental payment process. The wider adoption of e-payment is expected to save up to HK$20 million each year in operating and staff cost;
• Adopted more flexible letting strategies such as shortened letting process and provision of short-term leases to reduce the vacancy of the non-divested retail facilities; and,
• Implemented measures to reduce rent arrears.

• Excellence in Practice Award for 2005, awarded by the American Society of Training and Development to our Training and Development Centre;
• A Merit Award under the Innovation/Application of Technology entry in the 2005 Civil Service Outstanding Award Scheme was won by our Corporate Identity Management Programme;
• Green Property Management Award in Public Housing for six of our housing estates, two of which won Gold Awards and four Certificate of Merits;
• Top-level Platinum Rating (Provisional) under the Hong Kong Building and Environmental Assessment Method (HK-BEAM) for the Upper Ngau Tau Kok Phases 2 and 3 and Lam Tin Phases 7 & 8; and,
• Participation in the 2005 World Sustainable Building Conference held in Tokyo, Japan.