Housing Authority to spend $386 million on addition of laundry rods for public housing estates with appropriate block types
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As an enhancement of existing estate facilities, the Subsidised Housing Committee (SHC) of the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) decided today (September 12) to add laundry rods to all rental flats in appropriate block types.
The appropriate block types include Harmony Blocks, New Harmony 1 Blocks, New Harmony 1 Annex 5 Blocks, New Cruciform Blocks, Single Aspect Blocks, Small Household Blocks and Non-standard Blocks of public rental housing (PRH) estates. The total cost of installation is estimated at about $386 million. The programme will be implemented in phases. The first phase will start in April 2017.
"Following a review of the laundry facilities provided to PRH tenants, the SHC has decided to introduce further enhancement to meet tenants' genuine needs for laundry and reduce the potential risk of incautious use of laundry rods previously installed by tenants at a high level by adding laundry rods at a low level at the living room façade in appropriate block types and replacing the associated fixed window grilles with an openable type. The latter is subject to individual tenants' agreement," the spokesman for the HA said.
Tenants will continue to be allowed to opt for joining the 2014 replacement scheme on a voluntary basis. Irrespective of their previous choice to participate in the 2014 scheme, they are still entitled to join the current scheme.
"For those laundry rods previously installed by tenants with the HA's approval and in compliance with the Housing Department (HD)'s guidelines, they will be retained and the HA will take over the maintenance responsibility. At the same time, the HA will remove those installations not complying with the HD's guidelines," the spokesman added.
Consultation with Estate Management Advisory Committees and local District Council members on the associated works arrangement will be arranged before commencement of the works.
In addition, the SHC also approved a proposal by the Civil Service Bureau (CSB) for a special one-off allocation of 200 PRH flats and 250 Green Form Certificates (GFC) outside the Civil Service Public Housing Quota (CSPHQ) scheme for eligible junior civil servants who were unable to secure a quota place under the CSPHQ scheme in previous years, up to the 2015-16 CSPHQ exercise. The special one-off PRH allocation will be reflected in the Estimated PRH Allocation for 2017-18.
"Based on past experience, the impact of the additional allocation will likely be absorbed over a period of two years or more. Taking the various sources of supply into consideration, we should be able to absorb the proposed one-off allocation of 200 PRH flats. Moreover, the proposed special one-off allocation of 250 GFCs will be unlikely to cause an adverse impact on the demand and supply of subsidised sale flats," the spokesman said.
The CSPHQ scheme has been set up to provide, on a discretionary basis, a better opportunity for junior civil servants and retirees to obtain public housing. The CSB is responsible for determining the scheme rules such as eligibility criteria and relative priority among different categories of applicants, whereas the HD is responsible for allocating PRH flats and issuing GFCs to eligible applicants. A quota for the CSPHQ scheme is included in the Estimated PRH Allocation for the approval of the SHC each year.
Ends/Monday, September 12, 2016
Issued at HKT 19:16
Issued at HKT 19:16
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