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In response to media enquiries about the Sale of Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) Flats 2014, a spokesman for the Housing Department (HD) said today (May 15) that under the established mechanism, the HD will conduct detailed vetting of each application after the open ballot, in accordance with the initial order as announced, to ensure that the applicants are eligible for the purchase of HOS flats and that their relative priorities are in order.
As data entry errors were found in some of the application forms during the detailed vetting stage, resulting in the need to adjust the flat selection order of some of the applicants, as a precautionary measure and to alleviate concerns of applicants, the HD immediately requested the service provider responsible for data entry to double-check each application form to ensure accuracy of data input. As it was envisaged that only applicants applying under the Priority Scheme for Families with Elderly Members (the Scheme) would likely be invited for flat selection, apart from requesting the service provider to conduct double checks, HD staff also focused their efforts in reviewing all application forms under the Scheme to ensure that no applicant's flat selection opportunity would be affected due to miscategorisation.
The double-checking has been completed. The HD has also finished the detailed vetting of the first batch of applications. HD started from May 14 to issue letters, in lots in accordance with their priorities, inviting eligible applicants to select flats seven days later, the spokesman said. The flat selection date for the first lot of eligible applicants will be May 21. In the meantime, the HD will continue the detailed vetting of the following batches of applications until the flat selection process is completed.
"We will take into account the experience gained in handling a large volume of applications this time to improve the work procedures and arrangements including the quality control of data entry and the processing of applications in order to enhance our service quality and efficiency," the spokesman said.
Ends/Friday, May 15, 2015
Issued at HKT 17:11
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