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The following is issued on behalf of the Housing Authority:
The Marking Scheme for Estate Management in Public Housing Estates will include ¡§water dripping from air-conditioner¡¨ as a new misdeed. Five penalty points will be allotted following advance warnings.
The Housing Authority's Subsidised Housing Committee (SHC) today (October 23) endorsed the inclusion of the new misdeed, to take effect in phases starting from January 1, 2009, in response to the increasing number of complaints over air-conditioner (A/C) water dripping.
¡§It is necessary to restrain individual tenants from causing nuisance to others by allowing water dripping from their own A/Cs indiscriminately,¡¨the Chairman of the SHC, Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung said. "A warning system has been put in place to allow tenants sufficient time to rectify the misdeed first.¡¨
Water dripping from air conditioners generates frequent complaints in public rental housing (PRH) estates, especially during the summer.
To facilitate the discharge of A/C condensation water, PRH blocks built after 1996 have already been provided with A/C drain-pipes. Among the 670 blocks built before 1996 and without the fittings, 336 blocks consist of flats with living areas adjacent to balconies / verandahs which facilitate the discharge of A/C condensation water conveniently through the drainage systems installed there.
For the remaining 334 blocks where flats do not have balconies / verandahs or where the balconies / verandahs are separated from the living area by the kitchen, lavatories or solid walls, tenants have to install their A/Cs at the windows of the external walls, rendering it inconvenient in the discharge of condensation water.
To curb the problem, the Housing Department (HD) launched in 2006 a four-year programme to install drain-pipes in phases for the 334 blocks.
¡§While installation work for 141 blocks has been completed, there is, however, a 24% increase in the number of complaints over A/C water dripping in PRH estates, from 18,900 in 2005/06 to 23,400 in 2007/08.¡¨Professor Cheung said.
Among the figures in 2007/08, as high as 57% was received from estates with the A/C drain-pipes already provided or installation work completed.
The high percentage of complaints from these estates is attributable to either the A/C water conducting hose not properly connected with the wall-mounted drain-pipes or the A/C water conducting hose disconnected from drain-pipes during a typhoon.
Taking into account that drain-pipes have yet to be installed for about 190 blocks, the SHC decided to adopt a phased implementation approach for the misdeed.
¡§For those PRH blocks pending installation of A/C drain-pipes, the revised Marking Scheme will only be applied two months after the completion of such work.¡¨Professor Cheung said, adding that all PRH tenants will be informed of the arrangement by general notice.
¡§The Marking Scheme has provided an effective framework for consistent enforcement actions against environmental or management-related misdeeds.¡¨ he said.
Since the implementation of the scheme in August 2003, substantial improvement in environmental hygiene has been achieved in PRH estates.
Members of the Committee noted the findings of the latest Public Housing Recurrent Survey which revealed that an overwhelming majority of tenants (97%) had knowledge of the Marking Scheme whilst tenants¡¦ satisfaction with estate cleanliness had increased by 18% compared with 2003 when the Marking Scheme was introduced.
Ends/Thursday, October 23, 2008
Issued at HKT 18:26
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