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Following is a question by the Hon Lau Kong-wah and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Ms Eva Cheng, in the Legislative Council today (October 24):
Question:
Will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the effectiveness of the Marking Scheme for Estate Management Enforcement implemented in Public Housing Estates ("the Marking Scheme") by the authorities concerned in public housing estates in the past two years, as well as the names of the five housing estates with the most cases of allotment of points; and
(b) given that the Marking Scheme may not necessarily be applicable to estates under the Tenants Purchase Scheme, of the number of reports received in the past two years by the authorities concerned about misdeeds under the Marking Scheme committed by tenants of such estates, with a breakdown by housing estates, and the measures in place to extend the Marking Scheme to such estates?
Reply:
Madam President,
My reply to the two-part question is as follows :
(a) Between October 11, 2005 and October 10, 2007, the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) recorded a total of 2 653 allotments of penalty points under the Marking Scheme for Estate Management Enforcement (the Marking Scheme) in its public housing estates. The five estates with the highest number of cases are Kwai Chung Estate (85), Tai Hing Estate (62), Choi Hung Estate (59), Ping Tin Estate (57) and Tsui Ping South Estate (55).
Since the implementation of the Marking Scheme, the environmental hygiene in public housing estates has improved considerably. The latest Public Housing Recurrent Survey shows that tenants' satisfaction over estate cleanliness has increased from 52% in 2003 to 71% in 2007. 81% of the households considered that the Marking Scheme helped improve the cleanliness of the housing estates and 70% considered the penalty reasonable.
(b) At present, there are about 74 000 public rental housing (PRH) households in the 39 Tenants Purchase Scheme (TPS) estates. Between October 11, 2005 and October 10, 2007, 89 cases of allotment of points involving 14 TPS estates were recorded. The details are as follows:
Name of Estate No. of Cases of
Allotment of Points
Long Ping Estate 19
Tsui Lam Estate 17
Fu Shin Estate 12
Shan King Estate 9
Tak Tin Estate 8
Po Lam Estate 7
Cheung Fat Estate 6
Lei Tung Estate 4
Hing Tin Estate 2
Cheung Wah Estate 1
Hin Keng Estate 1
Nam Cheong Estate 1
Wah Kwai Estate 1
Heng On Estate 1
Total 89
Since the common area of a TPS estate lies outside the ambit of the HA and is managed by its Owners' Corporation (OC) in accordance with the Deed of Mutual Covenant, the Housing Department (HD) must obtain the relevant OC's consent before it can implement the Marking Scheme to regulate the misdeeds of PRH tenants in the common area of the estate. At present, the Marking Scheme applies to the common area of 15 TPS estates. The misdeeds committed in the flats of PRH tenants in TPS estates are regulated by the Marking Scheme. The HD would send representatives to attend the meetings of the OCs on a regular basis to report the progress of the implementation of the Marking Scheme and tender advice as appropriate.
Ends/Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Issued at HKT 12:06
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