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Following is a question by the Hon Starry Lee and a written reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (January 27):
Question:
It has been reported that some property owners have, in exploitation of the grey areas of existing legislation, renovated their units in tenement buildings on land zoned as Residential (Group A) and, without obtaining the license for operating a temple or applying for changes in land use, operate them in the form of Taoist monasteries to provide hundreds of private columbarium niches. It has also been reported that in the absence of any licensing regime for the regulation of private columbarium facilities at present, the Government has indicated that it will examine setting up a voluntary registration system. However, the effectiveness of such a registration system is open to question. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the number of complaints received by the authorities in respect of operation of temples in different forms in tenement buildings in each of the past three years and, among them, the number of complaints involving columbarium niches, the nature of such complaints, and how the authorities followed up the complaints;
(b) given that the problem of operating columbarium facilities in tenement buildings falls within the scope of work of various government departments such as Planning Department, Lands Department and Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, whether the Government will consider designating a government department to deal with the problem in a uniform manner; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c) whether it will consider afresh the setting up of a licensing system for the regulation of private columbarium facilities, so as to put the operation of private columbarium facilities onto the right track; if it will not, of the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
(a) As advised by the Development Bureau (DEVB), among the complaints received by the Lands Department (LandsD) concerning flats of old multi-storey buildings in urban areas in the past three years, six were suspected cases of operation of columbarium niches in breach of the land lease. The Planning Department (PD) received five complaints about the use of flats of tenement buildings in urban areas for the purpose of temples over the same period, all of which involved columbarium niches. Besides, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) received nine complaints of similar nature and seven of them were related to columbarium niches.
The Government departments concerned have handled matters, enquiries and complaints involving temples and private columbarium niches in accordance with their respective mandates and relevant legislations, or referred the cases to other responsible departments for follow-up. As advised by the DEVB, the LandsD has examined the land leases concerned with regard to the complaints received and confirmed that there is no restriction on columbarium niches or related uses. For the PD, it can only take enforcement and regulatory actions in respect of land use in areas covered by Development Permission Area Plans (i.e. the rural areas in the New Territories). As such, the areas involved in the above cases do not fall within its purview.
The FEHD has, upon receipt of the complaints, sent its staff to investigate the cases. However, no unlicensed operation of undertaker of burials business or environmental nuisances has been found.
Moreover, the Home Affairs Bureau (HAB) also received two complaints about the operation of different types of temples in buildings, but neither of them involved columbarium niches.
These complaints mainly concern the issues of building safety, land use, environmental nuisances (such as noise and air pollution), fire safety and psychological stress, etc.
(b) As the operation of private columbarium niches is an issue that involves the work of a number of bureaux and departments, they will continue to handle cases falling within their respective portfolios and work in close liaison. In this connection, the Food and Health Bureau has set up a task force in conjunction with relevant bureaux and departments, including the DEVB, the HAB, the LandsD, the PD and the FEHD to coordinate the relevant work on the supply of columbarium niches and the operation of private columbarium niches.
(c) The operation of all trades in Hong Kong, including that of private columbarium niches, must be in compliance with statutory requirements, planning requirements, building design and construction standards, as well as conditions of the land leases. It must also be pointed out that human ashes do not give rise to public health or environmental hygiene concerns. The Administration calls on the trade to raise public confidence through self-discipline and enhanced transparency. The Government is currently working on measures to promote information transparency in the trade and strengthen consumer protection. The setting up of a voluntary registration system is one of the measures under consideration.
Ends/Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Issued at HKT 15:06
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