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The Home Affairs Department (HAD) announced today (September 13) that its four Building Management Resources Centres will close at the end of this year. The department will continue to provide building management services through its District Building Management Liaison Teams in 18 districts.
A department spokesman said: "After careful consideration and a comprehensive review of the existing building management services, we have decided to rationalise our building management resources. We will close our four Building Management Resource Centres in Kowloon (Yau Ma Tei), New Territories East (Sha Tin), New Territories West (Tsuen Wan) and on Hong Kong Island (Central), and concentrate on a more localised service provided by the District Building Management Liaison Teams to meet the specific needs of the residents in respective districts.
"As different districts have their own characteristics, we set up the District Building Management Liaison Teams in the 18 districts in 2001 to cater for different needs. The teams are capable of providing a more comprehensive service specifically for residents in the districts.
"Since each District Building Management Liaison Team serves only one district, it is more familiar with the problems in its own district and so able to provide more appropriate and timely assistance to owners, owners' corporations and management committees," the spokesman added.
"In addition to the HAD, public bodies like the Hong Kong Housing Society (HKHS), have also allocated a lot of resources to assist the public in private building management in recent years. The HKHS has set up a number of district Property Management Advisory Centres to provide free guidance on building management and maintenance to owners and owners' corporations since 2004.
"To cope with Government's initiatives in promoting building management and maintenance, the Housing Society will expand the existing services of advisory centres. At these centres, the public will be able to make appointments with representatives of professional bodies for free advice on building management," the spokesman said.
The spokesman said that through this rationalisation exercise, public resources could be better managed and utilised.
Information on building management, especially expert advice on building maintenance, can be obtained through HKHS's advisory centres in Sheung Wan, Shau Kei Wan, Sham Shui Po, To Kwa Wan, Tai Kok Tsui, Tsuen Wan and Tai Po. A centre in Yau Ma Tei is scheduled to open at the end of this year and one in Yuen Long will open early next year.
The advisory centres will also upgrade their database to provide more information on building management.
"It is government policy to encourage and assist owners to form owners' corporations for effective management of their own buildings. This is also done to fulfil their responsibility as property owners. The Government will continue to encourage and assist the owners to manage and maintain their buildings through different means," the spokesman said.
For details of services provided by the HAD's District Building Management Liaison Teams and the Property Management Advisory Centres, please visit the websites at (http://www.buildingmgt.gov.hk) and (http://bmms.hkhs.com/eng/bmms_index.html)
Ends/Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Issued at HKT 21:58
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