1 Contractor fined $42,000 for violating safety rules
Hong Kong Government, 13 March 2008
Success Design Consultants Limited was fined $42,000 at Shatin Magistrates' Court today (March 12) for a violation of the Construction Sites (Safety) Regulations. The prosecution was launched by the Labour Department.
The case involved a fatal accident at a construction site in Sha Tin on December 18, 2006. A worker fell from a glass canopy to the ground and died three days later.
According to Regulation 38B(1) of the Construction Sites (Safety) Regulations, a contractor must take adequate steps to prevent a person on site from falling from a height of two metres or more. Any contractor who fails to do so is liable to a fine of $200,000 and to imprisonment for 12 months.
According to Regulations 38A(2) of the Construction Sites (Safety) Regulations, contractors must also provide safe access to and egress from a place of work. Failure to do so could mean a fine of $200,000 and imprisonment for 12 months.
2 LCQ17: Historical buildings
Hong Kong Government, 13 March 2008
Following is a question by the Hon Cheung Hok-ming and a written reply by the Secretary for Development, Mrs Carrie Lam, in the Legislative Council today (March 12):
Question:
Some people in the New Territories have relayed to me that New Territories villages, with their long history, are a rich source of historical buildings of heritage value and traditional folk culture (e.g. Qilin dance, Hakka folk songs, marriage ceremonies and Shengong opera, etc.), which are valuable tangible and intangible cultural heritage. They have also pointed out that although the Government has established three thematic museums focusing on the presentation of traditional New Territories culture, intangible culture cannot be preserved simply by exhibiting the hardware, as it has to be inherited and passed on from one generation to another. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether currently there is any policy on the conservation of historical buildings in villages, if there is, of the details, and the respective expenditures incurred in the past three years on conserving historical buildings in villages and in urban areas; if there is no relevant policy, whether it will study the formulation of such a policy; and
(b) whether it will consider injecting appropriate resources into the conservation of the intangible culture of villages, and cooperating with Heung Yee Kuk and various Rural Committees in the New Territories in formulating measures for assisting in preserving the intangible culture of villages?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) The Government is committed to preserving built heritage in Hong Kong, including those historic buildings in villages in the New Territories. The Antiquities and Monuments Office (AMO) under the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) is responsible for the recording, research and conservation in this regard. Out of the historic buildings declared as monuments under the Antiquities and Monuments Ordinance, 36 are located in the New Territories. They are properly maintained and open to the public. Moreover, the Government has established two heritage trials respectively in Ping Shan and Lung Yeuk Tau to introduce the historic buildings of the areas in a systematic way. The Government has also converted the old Ping Shan Police Station into the Ping Shan Tang Clan Gallery cum Heritage Trail Visitors Centre to showcase the history of the Tang Clan and points of interest along the Heritage Trail there. The annual operating expenditure of the Visitors Centre is about $3 million.
The expenditure of the AMO in restoration and maintenance of historic buildings over the past three years is shown in Annex.
Furthermore, the Government will expand the coverage of the financial assistance scheme for repairs and restoration from the current coverage of privately-owned declared monuments or deemed monuments to privately-owned graded historic buildings.
(b) The Secretary for Home Affairs is responsible for the policy on intangible cultural heritage. The Home Affairs Bureau attaches great importance to the preservation of intangible cultural heritage including in the New Territories. Public museums under the LCSD such as the Hong Kong Museum of History and the Hong Kong Heritage Museum are dedicated to the documentation of the traditional rituals and customs of local villages as well as collection and exhibition of New Territories relics. With the enforcement of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (the Convention) in April 2006, an Intangible Heritage Unit was set up under the Hong Kong Heritage Museum in the same year to undertake the necessary work in compliance with the Convention. The Government is now planning to commission a territory-wide survey on the intangible cultural heritage of Hong Kong with a view to compiling a comprehensive inventory. A task force comprising local experts and representatives from the community will be set up to advise the Government on the territory-wide survey. We will maintain liaison with the Heung Yee Kuk and rural committees to facilitate the conduct of the survey. Upon drawing up the inventory, the Government will examine the overall policy related to intangible cultural heritage and consider allocating resources to enhance the safeguarding, education, inheritance and promotion of intangible cultural heritage in Hong Kong including that in the rural areas.
Established in December 1992, the Lord Wilson Heritage Trust aims to preserve and conserve the human heritage of Hong Kong by organising activities and providing funding support to assist organisations and individuals to undertake heritage-related activities and research projects. The Trust invites applications for grants annually, and the majority of the funding applications are submitted by individuals, non-governmental organisations and tertiary institutes. The projects approved can be mainly divided into three categories - education and publicity; restoration and conservation; and research and study. Grants amounting to $3.52 million and $2.03 million have been awarded for 13 and 15 applications respectively in 2006 and 2007.
3 Building sites ordered to stop work in bid to improve Games air quality
Martin Zhou in Beijing, SCMP 13 March 2008
First it was steel mill managers, petrol station operators and motorists. Now it's the turn of construction project chiefs to feel the impact of Beijing's massive campaign to clean up the city's air before the Olympic Games.
Authorities yesterday ordered the capital's thousands of construction sites, which together cover 100 sq km, to scale down their operations from next Thursday before coming to a complete standstill for two months from July 21, two weeks before the Games open on August 8.
"From March 20 through to July 20, construction sites should cease to carry out any operations which could generate excessive dust, including earthworks, under gusty or sandstorm conditions," a circular issued by the municipal government said.
The complete ban would be in place for the Olympics and the following Paralympics, which end on September 17.
Aside from exhaust emissions, dust pollution from construction sites is believed to be a major source of particulate matter - solid airborne pollutants.
In Beijing, the concentration of such tiny hazardous particles, which can go deep into the respiratory system and damage lungs, often hovers at levels around three to four times above World Health Organisation safety standards. It remains a sore point in Beijing's multibillion-yuan cleanup campaign.
Officials argue they have kept the growth of most other major airborne pollutants, such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, under control by imposing a mixed bag of measures, including cutting back on the output of energy-intensive factories in the suburbs, limiting vehicle use and revamping petrol stations.
Beijing Vice-Mayor Liu Jingmin confirmed that millions of cars would be banned from the roads but did not say how long the ban would last.
"With all such measures in place, I'm fully confident that air quality in Beijing will meet the health standard during the Olympics," Wu Xiaoqing, a deputy head of the State Environmental Protection Administration, said on the sidelines of the National People's Congress meeting.
The Ethiopian runner Haile Gebrselassie, a world record holder, announced this week he would not run in the Olympic marathon in Beijing because of concerns over air pollution.
4 Construction output for the fourth quarter and the whole year of 2007
Hong Kong Government, 13 March 2008
In 2007, the total gross value of construction works performed by main contractors increased by 2.7% in nominal terms compared with 2006 to $92.7 billion, according to the provisional results of the Quarterly Survey of Construction Output released today (March 13) by the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD).
After discounting price changes, the total gross value of construction works performed by main contractors increased by 0.4% in real terms between 2006 and 2007.
Gross value of construction works in real terms is derived by deflating the corresponding nominal value with an appropriate price index to the price level in 2000.
Analysed by type of construction works, the gross value of construction works performed at private sector sites totalled $28.8 billion in 2007, up by 15.7% in nominal terms as compared with 2006. In real terms, it increased by 11.5%. The increase was mainly associated with the progressive stepping up of works at some large commercial building sites.
The gross value of construction works performed at public sector sites amounted to $14.4 billion in 2007, down by 15.9% in nominal terms as compared with 2006. In real terms, it decreased by 16.4%. The decrease was mainly due to completion of works on some large transport projects.
On the other hand, the gross value of construction works performed by contractors at locations other than construction sites amounted to $49.5 billion in 2007, up by 2.7% in nominal terms over 2006. In real terms, there was a 0.4% increase. Construction works at locations other than construction sites include minor new construction activities and renovation works at erected buildings and structures; and electrical and mechanical fitting works at locations other than construction sites.
Analysed by end-use group, residential building projects accounted for the largest share in the gross value of construction works performed at construction sites in 2007. The gross value of construction works performed for these projects amounted to $15.8 billion, up by 1.7% in nominal terms as compared with 2006.
Commercial building projects constituted the second largest group of construction site works. The gross value of construction works performed for these projects totalled $10.9 billion in 2007, up by 58.5% in nominal terms as compared with 2006.
Comparing the fourth quarter of 2007 with the fourth quarter of 2006, the gross value of construction works performed by main contractors increased by 5.2% in nominal terms. In real terms, the increase was 2.5%.
Within this total, the gross value of construction works performed at private sector sites increased by 17.4% in nominal terms in the fourth quarter of 2007 from a year earlier, while that for public sector sites decreased by 24.1%. As for construction works performed by contractors at locations other than construction sites, the gross value increased by 9.4% over the same period.
In real terms, the gross value of construction works performed at private sector sites increased by 10.2% in the fourth quarter of 2007 from a year earlier, while that for public sector sites, decreased by 26.5%. On the other hand, the gross value of construction works performed by contractors at locations other than construction sites increased by 9.2% over the same period.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, the gross value of construction works performed by main contractors increased by 5.9% in nominal terms or 5.0% in real terms in the fourth quarter of 2007 compared with the third quarter of 2007.
Tables 1 and 2 show the gross value of construction works performed by main contractors in the fourth quarter and the whole year of 2007 respectively. Table 3 shows the revised figures for the third quarter of 2007.
Owing to the widespread sub-contracting practices in the construction industry, a construction establishment can be a main contractor for one contract and a sub-contractor for another contract at the same time. The gross value of construction works performed by main contractors covers only those projects in which the construction establishment takes the role of a main contractor, but not projects in which it takes only the role of a sub-contractor. However, sub-contractors' contribution to projects should have been included in the gross value of construction works performed by main contractors for whom they worked.
More detailed statistics are given in the "Report on the Quarterly Survey of Construction Output, 4th Quarter 2007". Users can download this publication free of charge at the website of the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) (www.censtatd.gov.hk/products_and_services/).
Print version of this publication is available for sale at HK$25 per issue. Purchase can be done in person at the Publications Unit of the C&SD (Address: 19/F Wanchai Tower, 12 Harbour Road, Wan Chai; Tel: 2582 3025) or through mail order by returning a completed order form which can be downloaded from the C&SD’s website (www.censtatd.gov.hk/products_and_services/other_services/). Print version of this publication is also available for sale online at the Government Bookstore of the Information Services Department (www.bookstore.gov.hk).
For enquiries about the survey results, please contact the Construction and Miscellaneous Services Statistics Section of the C&SD at telephone no. 2805 6426 or email address building@censtatd.gov.hk.
