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The Government today (January 10) announced that specific fees under the Builders' Lifts and Tower Working Platforms (Safety) (Fees) Regulation will be revised on February 23.

"Current fees were introduced on December 20, 1997 and have been frozen since then as an exceptional measure to ease the burden on the community at a time of economic setback," a Government's spokesman said.

"Existing fees can only recover about 82 to 90 per cent of full costs of the services and it is not in line with the user-pays principle," said the spokesman.

"In view of the current state of economic recovery, we propose to increase the fees by 10 per cent with a view to achieving full-cost recovery within two to three years," he added.

The Amendment Regulation will be published in the Gazette on January 12 (Friday).

END/Wednesday, January 10, 2001

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