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The opening up of two Assistant Director (AD) posts of the Buildings Department was in the interest of the community and would not affect building safety, a spokesman for the Buildings Department said today (December 7).
Speaking after the opening up proposal was endorsed by the Establishment Subcommittee of the Legislative Council today, the spokesman reiterated that converting the two posts from single-disciplinary to bi-disciplinary would provide the senior management more flexibility in the choice of the most suitable and capable candidate from both the Building Surveyor (BS) and Structural Engineer (SE) grades to fill the posts.
Rejecting the claim that there was a mismatch of manpower resources in the Buildings Department which might compromise building safety, the spokesman stressed that officers of both the BS and SE grades in the Existing Buildings Divisions of the department have the necessary professional expertise to deal with unauthorised building works (UBWs) and repair of existing buildings.
"The previous arrangement restricts the department to consider potential candidates for the AD posts concerned from BS grade only. With the endorsement of the proposal, the department can deploy manpower resources at the senior management level in a more efficient and effective manner with a view to enhancing regulatory control of existing private buildings," the spokesman explained.
The spokesman noted that a mechanism is in place for BD colleagues of each of the BS or SE grades responsible for controlling UBWs and the maintenance of existing buildings to seek when necessary specialist professional advice from their counterpart in the other grade on individual cases.
"The department fully recognizes the professional services provided and dedication displayed by both BS and SE grades in the past few years resulting in the removal of some 170,000 UBWs and the successful implementation of various large scale operations," he said, adding that the department would continue to rely on the support and cooperation of the two grades in its future endeavor in improving the healthy and safety standards of private buildings.
Ends/Wednesday, December 7, 2005
Issued at HKT 19:13
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